Community celebrates completion of Newport Beach Junior Lifeguard’s new $7.8 million facility

• June 13, 2024

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held this week to welcome the new Newport Beach Junior Lifeguard building, a years-long, $7.8 million project that will also be an events space for the community during the off season.

Dignitaries, donors and the public checked out the new digs on Wednesday, touring the 5,400-square-foot facility that sits just south of the Balboa Pier.

A  “donor wall” decorates the side of the building, a memento thanking community members who pitched in to cover more than $2 million for the project through the nonprofit Newport Beach Junior Lifeguard Foundation, which spreaheaded the fundraising efforts.

The city used $5.2 million received through the American Rescue Plan Act for the remainder of the project.

The Newport Beach Junior Lifeguard program, established in 1984, is one of the city’s most popular youth education programs, employing about 60 instructors and averaging 1,400 participants each summer. The seven-week program operates from late June through early August.

And for its first 40 years, the Newport Beach junior lifeguard program operated out of makeshift trailers.

There was no running water and each summer portable bathrooms were set up for the 1,500 kids who participated in the popular beach safety program.  The cramped trailers served as the office for the 50 or so instructors who each day showed up to teach the youngsters at the seaside classroom set on the sand.

The new facility includes administrative and event space, expanded storage, locker rooms and private and public restrooms. Construction also included improvements to the nearby parking lot and the addition of electric vehicle charging stations.

Graham Harvey, chairman of the Newport Beach Junior Lifeguard Foundation, said seeing the building open is an exciting, rewarding moment that marked 12 years of planning and fundraising efforts.

“It really brought every stakeholder together, from junior guard families, regular citizens, city staff, nonprofits – all for one united project,” he said. “It just shows how important the program is to the community. Our hope is that this building truly generates the next generation of lifeguards and really enhances the program for the current junior lifeguards.”

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​ Orange County Register 

Motorcyclist ejected, killed in DUI crash in Fullerton, police say

• June 13, 2024

A motorcyclist was killed and the driver of a BMW sedan was arrested on suspicion of DUI after they crashed in Fullerton Wednesday night, June 12, authorities said. As police investigated, the driver of a Tesla on auto-pilot slammed into a police cruiser blocking traffic, but no one was injured.

At around 9:45 p.m., a motorcyclist aboard a Harley Davidson was stopped on Orangethorpe Avenue at a red light at the intersection of Gilbert Street, according to Fullerton Police Department spokesperson Kristy Wells. The BMW was heading east on Orangethorpe and drove through the red light, rear-ending the motorcycle and ejecting the rider east of the intersection.

The motorcyclist was pronounced dead at the scene.

The BMW dragged the motorcycle under the front of the vehicle, and bystanders kept the driver from leaving until police arrived, Wells said.

The driver, 44-year-old Francisco Garcia-Vargas, of Fullerton, was arrested on suspicion of driving without a license, felony driving under the influence and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, police said.

Around midnight while authorities were still investigating the crash — with emergency lights on and flares placed in the roadway — a Tesla crashed into a patrolvehicle that was blocking traffic, Wells said.

The patrol car was empty, and officers near the vehicle were able to avoid the collision.

The driver of the Tesla admitted to engaging the vehicle’s ‘self-drive’ mode while using his cell phone, Wells said. The Tesla driver was uninjured and was not arrested though it was not clear if he was cited.

Police are asking anyone with information about the collision involving the car and motorcycle to contact Fullerton Police Traffic Accident Investigator Manes at 714-738- 6815 or via email at jmanes@fullertonpd.org.

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​ Orange County Register 

As Californians’ stance on crime hardens, Republicans try to regain relevance

• June 13, 2024

Over the last dozen years, Democrats have gained, lost and finally nailed down supermajorities in the California Legislature. Now they hold more than 75% of its 120 seats.

Having achieved total control, Democratic leaders could — and did — completely ignore the dwindling numbers of Republican legislators, now just 18 in the 80-member Assembly and eight in the 40-seat Senate.

Republicans have been allowed to carry only minor pieces of legislation and are completely frozen out of budget negotiations, thanks to a 2010 ballot measurelowering the required budget vote to a simple majority, which Democrats and their labor union allies sponsored.

Last year one Republican state senator, Shannon Grove, defied the odds by relentlessly pushing legislation to increase penalties on those who traffic in children.

After her bill was blocked in an Assembly committee, she raised a stink in the media about Democrats protecting sexual predators. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic legislative leaders felt the heat and the measure was resuscitated, passed and signed by Newsom.

Other Republicans took note, realizing that growing public concern about crimeclashes with the Democratic Party’s aversion to putting more offenders behind bars by increasing criminal penalties.

Since 2010, pressure from federal courts to reduce overcrowding in state prisons has spawned two major ballot measures — Proposition 47 in 2014 and Proposition 57 two years later — which reduced sentences for nonviolent crimes. The Legislature has enacted other criminal justice reform legislation and the prison population has been cut nearly in half.

However street crimes, such as smash-and-grab raids on stores, home robberies and carjackings, have spiked. The public’s fear of crime has risen. Just before the 2022 elections, a Public Policy Institute of California poll confirmed public attitudes about crime were shifting.

“Californians’ perception of crime spiked during the pandemic — as did certain types of crime,” the PPIC found. “Nearly 2 in 3 Californians call violence and street crime in their local community a problem. This includes 31% who call them a big problem, a noticeable increase from February 2020 (24%).”

Law enforcement officials, with support from Republican political figures and some big city mayors, have qualified a ballot measure for next November’s election that would revise Prop. 47, one of the two prior measures that reduced criminal penalties.

The proposal seems to have political legs, even though voters rejected a 2020 ballot measure that would have shredded Prop. 47.

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Legislative leaders, worried about a crime backlash, have fashioned a 14-bill package that would tighten up punishment for the most blatant offenses, such as organized looting of stores, and hope it would undermine the pending ballot measure.

This week, the leaders said they would amend their bills to automatically repeal them should the ballot measure pass. They said it would head off legal conflicts between their package and the ballot measure, but the amendments, dubbed “poison pills” by opponents, are obviously aimed at peeling off deep-pocket sponsors of the measure.

Leaders of both parties staged news conferences to trade insults and allegations of playing political games with the public’s concerns about crime.

If nothing else, the dustup indicates the Republicans may be down — way down — in terms of influence in the Capitol, but they’re not quite out. It also underscores an increasing role ballot measures may play as a way around the left-leaning policies of the Legislature’s Democratic supermajority.

Dan Walters is a CalMatters columnist.

​ Orange County Register 

Here’s where to find $5 fast food deals until McDonald’s comes through

• June 13, 2024

When McDonald’s made news a month ago over a $5 value meal, it seemed likely that its competitors would respond in kind.

It didn’t seem obvious that Starbucks would be among them. But the Seattle-based coffee chain came out with an offer this week.

Its “pairings menu” includes tall iced or hot coffee or tea and a butter croissant for $5 and the same beverages with a breakfast sandwich for $6. Double Smoked Bacon and the Impossible breakfast sandwich raise the price to $7, according to terms on the Starbucks app. There are no substitutions, and customizations might cost extra.

In Starbucks speak, tall is the same as small at other places.

To order on the Starbucks app, select items individually. A deduction is made at checkout.

The McDonald’s deal is expected but the fast food giant hasn’t posted a press release on the matter. According to news reports from outlets such as CNBC, it will start June 25, run about a month and include a sandwich, chicken nuggets, fries and a drink.

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In-N-Out Burger says it raised prices because of minimum wage increase
Is California the worst state for fast food operators?

On Tuesday, Burger King came out with a similar deal called the $5 Your Way Meal, which also includes a sandwich, nuggets, fries and drink.

Wendy’s continues to offer Biggie Bags with the same four items, but a spot check of Southern California restaurants showed prices ranging from $7 to $9.

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Arby’s has a one-time offer for its rewards members, five Classic Roast Beef Sandwiches for $5. It’s available through Sunday, June 16. Orders must be made online or through the app.

McDonald’s has been dogged by rumors in recent weeks, including one spread on YouTube that the chain will pull out of California. According to SFGate, the claim is not supported by evidence and appears in web postings that show signs of being generated with artificial intelligence.

On May 29 Joe Erlinger, president of McDonald’s USA, released an “open letter” denying claims of price gouging in the midst of inflation.

​ Orange County Register 

Flag Day ceremonies planned in Newport Beach and Dana Point

• June 13, 2024

While many people pull out their flags for the Fourth of July holiday, June 14 is actually the day to officially honor Old Glory, the nation’s most enduring symbol.

And, two coastal South Orange County towns are making sure people know about the national recognition with massive flag displays.

The Newport Beach Civic Center has been covered in at least 249 flags, said Mayor Will O’Neill, “maybe even a few more.” The display was put up by volunteers from the city and the Newport Harbor Exchange Club.

The number of flags is also a nod to the U.S. Army, which celebrates its 249th birthday on Friday. The Army was established on June 14, 1775, in Philadelphia, more than a year before the Declaration of Independence.

“There’s so much negativity in the world, celebrating Flag Day and what it stands for is a simple way to celebrate and bring people together,” O’Neill said.

Also read: Anaheim celebrates the red, white and blue ahead of Flag Day

In Dana Point, 249 flags are also displayed at Baby Beach in the Dana Point Harbor. The idea for the display came from Fifth District OC Supervisor Katrina Foley, who also encouraged Dana Point boaters to raise flags on their vessels on Friday.

“Flag Day offers an opportunity to celebrate our nation’s greatest symbol of freedom and our history,” Foley said in a statement. “The white stripes on our flag represent purity and innocence; the red, hardiness and valor; and the blue field represents vigilance, perseverance and justice. With the Army’s birthday falling on the same date, we also recognize our Army service members and their commitment to protecting our freedoms and the values our flag represents.”

Flag Day was started by a Wisconsin school teacher in 1877. The date was exactly 100 years after the Flag Resolution of 1777, when the Continental Congress decided how the nation’s banner would look: “That the flag of the 13 united states be 13 stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

President Woodrow Wilson issued a 1916 proclamation declaring June 14 as Flag Day, and in 1949, President Harry S. Truman signed the formal observance into law. After another congressional dictum in 1966, it fell during Flag Week.

In Newport Beach, a ceremony is planned for 1 p.m. and will include flag etiquette and a presentation of colors by the American Legion Post 291 Color Guard. Boy Scouts will also demonstrate flag folding.

In Dana Point, a ceremony will include remarks from Dolores Padgett of the Dana Point VFW 9934 and an honor guard led by Rick Jauregui, commander of the Dana Point VFW 9934. Starting at 6 p.m., the ceremony will conclude with Foley slicing a U.S. Army birthday cake with a saber.

For Capt. Angelo Matz, commander of the Army’s Anaheim Recruiting Company, the national holiday and the service branch’s birthday bring back memories of his own experiences as a boy in Port Jervis, New York, he said.

“When I was 10 or 11, my grandfather, Art, helped me earn a merit badge with the Boy Scouts by showing me the correct flag-handling etiquette,” Matz said. “Folding, storage, and respect for that symbol of freedom throughout the world must have stuck with me because to this day – I think about that day with my grandfather during the ceremonies. He was drafted in World War II and went on to serve in the Navy as an ensign.”

The Army’s local birthday celebration continues next week when Matz’s unit participates in a Change of Command ceremony planned for June 20 at Dana Point’s Lantern Bay Park.

Lt. Col. Matthew Upperman will be replaced by Lt. Col. Edgardo Alvarez as the commander of the U.S. Army Southern California Recruiting Battalion.

O’Neill and Foley both said they are hoping for a good turnout at the Flag Day ceremonies.

“Remembering our nation and those who served it will always be worth the effort,” O’Neill said. “Grounding ourselves in our nation’s traditions matter.”

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​ Orange County Register 

Fontana’s widely condemned interrogation helps fuel efforts to stop police from lying

• June 13, 2024

They call it “the box” — the cramped, anxiety-inducing room where police conduct interrogations, pushing and probing for a confession or at least case-solving information.

It was in the box that Fontana police detectives grilled Thomas Perez Jr. in August 2018, ardently urging him to admit to killing his missing father, saying they had recovered the body and it now bore a toe-tag in the morgue. They suggested the family dog, Margosha, would be euthanized because of Perez’s actions.

After 17 hours, the psychologically coercive tactics did their job and a mentally exhausted Perez attempted to kill himself in the interrogation room and finally confessed. But the confession unraveled when police discovered that his 71-year-old father, Thomas Perez Sr., wasn’t dead, but was at Los Angeles International Airport awaiting a flight.

While Fontana police had engaged in trickery, deception and outright lying, the department maintains it did nothing illegal and had substantial reason to believe an assault had been committed. But the tactics — which cost the city nearly $900,000 to settle a civil rights lawsuit — have added fuel to a growing movement in California and throughout the nation to change the way law enforcement officers conduct interrogations.

Science-based training

California’s Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) has begun phasing in new science-based training that does not allow deceptive and aggressive, psychologically manipulative techniques. Instead, it favors a more empathetic, humane approach. Training programs that teach deception, such as lying about DNA results or an accomplice’s cooperation, will not be certified by the state, said spokesperson Meagan Poulos.

Additionally, the Fontana case is being used by at least one trainer as an egregious example of what not to do.

“Those are horrible tactics. You don’t tell someone, ‘We’re going to impound your dog if you don’t tell us the truth,’ ” said Dennis Gomez, a former Orange Police Department officer and the new owner of Behavioral Analysis Training, or BATI, in Tustin. “This is very extreme. … I was completely shocked (by the Fontana interrogation) and I was disgusted by it.”

BATI has trained 40,000 officers throughout California and is changing its curriculum in line with the state’s shift in interrogation techniques, Gomez said. While some Fontana officers have taken the BATI course, it does not appear the detectives involved in questioning Perez went through the training, he said.

“This is still happening and I don’t know why,” Gomez said. “(We teach) do not go through these aggressive tactics, do not lie, do not deceive, do not, do not, do not.”

Wherever they were trained, the Fontana investigators thought they could stretch the limits.

“It’s like if one aspirin is good, four would be awesome,” said El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson, a leading reformer in California. “They’re well-intentioned. They think they’re trying to solve a case and they have been trained it’s acceptable to lie and be aggressive and, the fact is, it’s not.”

Pierson added: “We need to take a pause and say maybe we shouldn’t be telling officers to lie to people to get them to tell you the truth.”

Pierson has instructed his prosecutors to reject any case primarily built on confessions obtained through deceptive, threatening or psychologically manipulative interrogations.

Why lying is legal

For decades, hundreds of thousands of police officers throughout the United States have been told that it is legal to deceive suspects.

The U.S. Supreme Court, in the 1969 ruling Frazier v. Cupp, held that deception alone wasn’t a good enough reason to throw out a confession. That ruling was supported by lower courts in various states and taught in interview and interrogation classes from coast to coast.

Armed with the court decision, experts say, police were free to deceive and psychologically manipulate suspects, increasing the chance of getting a false confession. Research shows that one-fourth of the cases exonerated through DNA testing involved people who confessed to crimes they didn’t commit, according to a 2012 paper by Daniel Harkins in the Southern Illinois University Law Journal.

“When your defenses are worn down, when you’re cognitively and emotionally depleted, when police lie … it creates this perfect storm where confession seems to be the best idea at the moment,” said Hayley Cleary, an expert in police interrogations at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia.

“That’s the fundamental problem in America, accusatory-style interrogation. They are trained to go in looking for a confession, confirmation bias,” Cleary said. “If you’re convinced this guy is guilty and he gives you information that conflicts with his guilt, you’re going to ignore their denials.”

Roots in Salem witch trials

Evidence of false confessions can be found as far back as the Salem witch trials, researcher Saul M. Kassin wrote in 2009. According to Kassin, from the 19th century through the 1930s, police employed the “third degree,” physically assaulting suspects and using psychological torture — including the deprivation of food — to draw out the “truth.”

Kassin said the technique began to wane in the 1960s and was virtually nonexistent by 1986. Nowadays, police officers are trained, for the most part, not to inflict physical harm or deprive subjects of their physical needs, such as bathroom breaks.

But aggressive, confrontational, manipulative techniques by detectives often feigning empathy are still taught, reformers say. Also taught are what reformers call “pseudoscience,” in which interrogators attempt to determine who is lying based on body language, word choice and behavioral cues, such as avoiding eye contact, giving a delayed response or not proclaiming their innocence ardently enough.

Success through such methods amounts to a coin-flip, maybe a little more for law enforcement, reformers say.

“Interrogators confront the suspect with accusations of guilt … that are made with certainty and often bolstered by evidence, real or manufactured, and refusal to accept alibis or denials,” Kassin wrote.

He added that false confessions occur when a person develops such a profound distrust of their own memory that they become vulnerable to the influence of an interrogator.

The Reid technique

In the United States, the premier interview and interrogation program was developed more than 60 years ago and taught by Chicago-based John E. Reid and Associates. More than half a million officers nationwide have been trained in the Reid technique, which teaches that nonverbal and behavioral cues can be indicators of lying. Reid also counsels investigators to follow the law, which allows deception, but not to lie about “incontrovertible” evidence, such as the existence of fingerprints.

The Reid technique distinguishes between the introductory interview and the harsher interrogation, counseling that investigators should only interrogate people they believe are guilty and disregard weak denials. Nevertheless, according to company literature, suspects should be treated with “decency, respect and understanding.”

The Reid method has become the target of reformers and critics who say it could generate false confessions.

“They maintain they don’t interrogate innocent people,” researcher Cleary said. “They’re thinking that they can deduce someone’s guilt or innocence based on their emotional reaction is false.”

Joseph Buckley, president of Reid & Associates, disputes that there is any scientific evidence that the firm’s methods cause false confessions. Company literature also says that eliciting the truth, not getting a confession, is the main goal.

‘Society has changed’

Besides teaching legal deception, Reid trains police officers to minimize the moral seriousness of the crime, to suggest “face-saving excuses” by blaming financial pressures, an accomplice, emotions or alcohol as a way of getting the suspect to open up. The interrogator implies the crime is somehow morally excusable, justified or accidental.

“Your serious bad guys aren’t going to acknowledge anything unless they are caught,” Buckley said. “If they don’t think the investigator has it … and is just fishing, they don’t think there is reason to tell us anything.”

He continued, “The courts haven’t changed. Society has changed. … When the courts change their view of something, all of us will change our practices.”

Raul Saldana, a retired Hermosa Beach detective sergeant, says lying to suspects within the confines of the law is a valuable tool for investigators already hobbled by such requirements as advising suspects of their Miranda right to remain silent.

“We’re just evening the playing field,” said Saldana, who served 28 years in law enforcement. “Sometimes you have to get creative. You do what you have to do against bad people. … Sometimes you’ve got to fudge.”

In California and six other states, lawmakers have made it illegal for police to lie in any way to juvenile suspects, who are deemed more impressionable than adults. Lying to adults remains legal.

Nuances of new techniques

However, POST, the state agency in charge of certifying police officers and their training, is rolling out new interview and interrogation techniques that do not rely on deception or dishonesty. Downplaying the seriousness of the crime or justifying the behavior — a practice called minimization — while not condoned by POST, would not necessarily be considered dishonest unless the investigator is saying something he or she knows to be false, Poulos said.

Presenters who teach behavioral analysis that relies on such things as body language to gauge deception also must submit proof to POST that this technique is supported by scientific evidence and doesn’t lead to false confessions.

The changes by POST means that more officers will be taught and subsequently use more ethical techniques, said Pierson, who has pushed since 2020 for the change. He has hosted training sessions for 107 California law enforcement agencies in the new techniques.

‘Urban myth’ of old tactics

“There has been an urban myth within policing for decades that the only way to obtain information is to use interviewing tactics that employ pseudoscience and psychological coercion, and that urban myth is finally being debunked,” he said.

New courses are being developed through POST borrowing from scientifically confirmed methods first developed during the Obama administration by Liverpool-based forensic psychologists Laurence and Emily Alison for use in the international intelligence community.

Their method, known as Observing Rapport-Based Interpersonal Techniques, or ORBIT, has shown that rapport-based methods based on active listening, genuine empathy and professional curiosity generate higher rates of evidential information. The end goal is to gather information to test against the evidence rather than get a confession.

“(It’s) nonjudgmental, not ‘finger-wagging, finger-pointing, I’ve already figured it out,’ ” said Laurence Alison, who with Emily Alison analyzed thousands of hours of interrogations of suspected terrorists.

“We are seeking the truth, what is able to be proven or not, not can I get this person to confess regardless of what the evidence says,” added Emily Alison.

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‘Being straight’ with suspects

To that end, the method does not rely on threats, intimidation or making accusations, but on trying to clear up discrepancies in the subject’s story until it either becomes clearer or falls apart. It is based on curiosity, keeping an open mind and being straight with the suspect.

“Rapport-building sounds very warm and fluffy, that’s why people think it’s not going to work,” Emily Alison said. “(But) if that person feels seen by you, it’s actually much harder for them to lie.”

Laurence Alison said any method that encourages police to make their own judgment about someone’s guilt and then seek a confession is biased and shouldn’t be taught.

The research couple said the United States is at a tipping point in how interrogations are conducted.

“People want to keep a few bits of the old and tack on a few new bits, and that’s not the way it works,” Emily Alison said. “To be effective, the investigator’s whole mindset has to shift from seeking confession to seeking the truth.”

​ Orange County Register 

Sparks reward Dearica Hamby with 1-year contract extension

• June 13, 2024

LOS ANGELES — The Sparks signed forward Dearica Hamby, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, to a one-year contract extension, designating her as a “foundational” player on a rebuilding roster.

Hamby’s salary was not disclosed Thursday.

Fifteen months after giving birth to her second child, Hamby, 30, is having the best season of her 10-year career. The reigning WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week is averaging 20 points, 11.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.6 steals while 54.1% shooting from the field, including 48% from 3-point range.

“Having Dearica and her family as part of the Los Angeles Sparks is an honor. She has become foundational,” Sparks general manager Raegan Pebley said in a statement. “Dearica brings leadership, mentorship, skill, toughness, grit and courage daily. Some of her best days are still ahead of her, and we are excited to partner with her as she pursues them.”

A 2022 WNBA champion with the Las Vegas Aces, Hamby is a two-time All-Star and two-time Sixth Woman of the Year, who was selected sixth overall by the San Antonio Stars in 2015. The Sparks traded for Hamby from the Aces in January 2023 when she was pregnant with her son Legend.

“I’m grateful for finding a home in L.A. with an ownership group and organization that believes in me and has been nothing but supportive since the day I got here,” Hamby said. “I look forward to continuing to build with my teammates and getting the Sparks back to the standard that has been historically set.”

Hamby started 19 of 40 games in her first season with the Sparks and averaged 8.9 points and 5.9 rebounds in 24.8 minutes.

However, 12 games into her second 40-game regular season with the Sparks, Hamby has become the team’s go-to player and leads the WNBA in double-doubles (10) and rebounds per game. She is sixth in scoring, third in 3-point percentage and sixth in overall shooting percentage and is playing a team-high 36.2 minutes per game.

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Hamby, who was set to become an unrestricted free agent after this season, is now under contract through the 2025 season. The 6-foot-3 forward now joins Julie Allemand, Cameron Brink, Lexie Brown, Rae Burrell, Layshia Clarendon, Zia Cooke and Rickea Jackson as players who will be under contract through at least next season.

“I’m so excited about Dearica’s extension. She has been an incredible addition to our team and locker room since her arrival,” Sparks head coach Curt Miller said. “She is enjoying a fantastic year and leading our young team on and off the court. She has an outstanding motor and brings us energy each day.”

​ Orange County Register 

Chargers minicamp review: Jim Harbaugh emphasizes the details

• June 13, 2024

COSTA MESA — The Chargers completed the third and final day of their three-day minicamp Thursday and headed home for vacations or to continue their offseason workouts in preparation for the start of training camp next month. Here’s what we saw, what we learned and what we heard this week:

DETAILS, DETAILS, DETAILS

Coach Jim Harbaugh’s attention to details was passed down through his coaching staff and to the players, all of whom stressed the importance of doing and saying things the right way at all times. Everyone spoke of meeting Harbaugh’s high expectations for all things great and small.

“The details are really important,” outside linebacker Joey Bosa said. “You could pretend that leaving your shoes a mess or your locker a mess isn’t a big deal and what matters is playing football, but I think all of those tiny details and things kind of add up and leak into the important stuff like what you’re doing on the field.”

For what it’s worth, Bosa’s locker stall was among the messiest in past seasons, with all manner of cleats, running shoes and other equipment strewn across the floor. Reporters were not granted access to the locker room during offseason workouts, so it wasn’t immediately clear whether Bosa’s locker was orderly.

“If you can have your toe behind the line or have your locker in order and all of these things, they kind of stack up into performing well and playing well when things count,” Bosa continued. “I appreciate that it also hasn’t been a fight with the guys in the locker room. They buy in. It’s a lot of young guys and I think they’re hungry to learn, hungry to compete and win.”

CHANGE FOR THE BETTER

Quarterback Justin Herbert is working with his fourth offensive coordinator and his third head coach in five seasons, after he had three head coaches in four seasons while at the University of Oregon. He shrugged it off as simply a part of playing the game he loves at such a high level.

“I think you go through it and you have experience with it and you’ve seen it before and you’re familiar with it,” Herbert said. “It’s unfortunate that you lose a coach to another team, but it is what it is. You have to keep moving forward. There’s nothing you do and look back and wish you could change.

“It doesn’t work like that.”

Greg Roman will be Herbert’s fourth offensive coordinator with the Chargers, following Kellen Moore, Joe Lombardi and Shane Steichen. Lombardi was on the job for two seasons; the others were with the Chargers for one season apiece. Herbert’s past head coaches were Anthony Lynn and Brandon Staley.

INJURY UPDATES

Herbert said his surgically repaired right index finger was back to normal in late February or early March and had zero impact on his throwing during organized team activities and minicamp through April, May and June. He certainly showed no signs of the injury, which happened Dec. 10 against the Denver Broncos. …

Harbaugh said he expected running back Gus Edwards to be sound enough to join his teammates when training camp begins in late July. Edwards did not participate in OTAs or minicamp, but he did work out with an athletic trainer on the sideline this week. Harbaugh didn’t provide specifics on Edwards’ ailment. …

Tight ends Will Dissly and Donald Parham Jr. did not participate in team activities because of undisclosed injuries. Harbaugh said he expected Dissly to be ready for training camp. Dissly and Hayden Hurst were offseason additions to the tight end group, signing as free agents during the offseason. …

Wide receiver Joshua Palmer took his time recovering from a knee injury suffered during the Chargers’ season finale against the Kansas City Chiefs. But by the time minicamp arrived, he appeared to be running at full speed during individual and team drills. He said he didn’t need knee surgery.

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WHAT COMES NEXT

A moving van was in evidence as the Chargers wrapped up their final activities in Costa Mesa this week. When they reconvene for training camp next month, they’ll be headquartered at a new building in El Segundo. The new facility, dubbed The Bolt, will feature three grass fields and numerous upgrades.

“I’m really excited to see it,” Herbert said. “I haven’t seen it yet. I’ve seen renderings, pictures. I went back a couple of years ago for the groundbreaking ceremony (May 18, 2022). I think a lot of the guys are going (Friday). I assume it’ll be completed soon and I’m really excited to see it.”

​ Orange County Register