Laguna Beach, Esperanza, El Dorado boosted by Yorba Linda football forfeits

• October 6, 2026

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Laguna Beach football coach John Shanahan respects the CIF-SS rules but knows the sting that forfeiting games can cause.

While coaching at Tustin many years ago, he remembers the Tillers forfeiting games in football and baseball.

“It was just gut-wrenching,” he said.

So when the news broke last week that Yorba Linda forfeited four victories, including a 34-21 win against Laguna Beach in the teams’ season-opening game, Shanahan offered his support. He sent an encouraging message to first-year Mustangs coach John Domen.

“I know what those kids and those coaches are going through,” Shanahan said. “When (Yorba Linda) beat us, they were incredibly classy coaches, incredibly classy kids. They played hard, they played clean.”

“That’s as good of a program as there has been in Orange County,” he added of Yorba Linda, a two-time CIF-SS champion. “That’s such an unfortunate thing.”

Yorba Linda forfeited wins against Laguna Beach, El Dorado, Esperanza and Long Beach Poly because of CIF-SS violations that involved administrative oversight and undue influence, the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District stated last week.

“The substantiated violations involve more than one student and more than one incident,” the district stated in a press release. “The investigation documented deficiencies over time in eligibility verification, communication between coaches and athletic administration and participation clearance.”

The forfeits dropped Yorba Linda’s record to 0-5. The Mustangs lost to No. 6 San Clemente 28-0 later in the week in their Alpha League debut to fall to 0-6 overall.

Yorba Linda plays host to No. 4 Mission Viejo (5-1, 1-0) on Thursday.

Esperanza coach Tommy Leach also empathized with Yorba Linda and the district.

“I have friends on the staff there and that is my daughter’s alma mater,” the Aztecs’ first-year coach said. “I know this is hard for the kids there and their community. I know as a district it must be hard as well. We will take the win and actually we can all learn from this.”

“Transfers are tricky,” he added.

The wins via forfeit gave Esperanza (3-3) its third victory. That could be a key threshold for the Aztecs since starting this season, teams need to have at least three victories or a .300 winning percentage to apply for an at-large berth to the playoffs.

El Dorado (4-2) already had three wins on the field before receiving the forfeit.

The playoff brackets, including the at-large selections, are constructed using the power ratings from HSratings.com.

Do forfeits affect a team’s computer-generated power ratings?

“Forfeits just aren’t counted,” Ned Freeman of HSratings.com explained. “You can’t do power ratings with forfeits counting or, for example, the worst team in the country could literally get a win over the best team in the country, and that would destroy the ratings of everyone who’s played either of them and so on.”

INJURY UPDATES

Laguna Beach quarterback Jack Hurst suffered a dislocated knee cap last week in a 28-14 victory against Troy and will be out four to six weeks, Shanahan said. “Underlying structure is OK,” the coach added. …

Laguna Beach running back Charlie Christian sprained his ankle against Troy and will miss three to five weeks, Shanahan said. ..

Los Alamitos running back Kamden Tillis didn’t play in the Griffins’ 61-10 loss against San Juan Hills last week because of injury, Los Alamitos coach Rory Schoonmaker said. “Kam will be having some evaluations done for a lingering injury,” Schoonmaker said.

IN THE WORKS

Santa Margarita and Sierra Canyon are discussing playing a nonleague game next season, Eagles coach Carson Palmer and Trailblazers coach Jon Ellinghouse said.

Santa Margarita and Sierra Canyon are ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the CIF-SS by HSratings.com this week.

Last season, Santa Margarita defeated Sierra Canyon 21-9 in the Division 1 playoffs. In 2023, Sierra Canyon beat the Eagles 37-20 in the playoffs.

SHORT ROUTES

Players from Santa Ana’s Class of 1976 are expected to attend the Saints’ homecoming game Friday against Garden Grove at Santa Ana Stadium. In 1975, Santa Ana’s football team was dubbed the “Cardiac Kids” after winning seven of its games within the final two minutes. …

Marina coach Charlie TeGantvoort earned his 100th win in Orange County as the Vikings defeated Northwood 25-14 in the teams’ Iota League opener last week. He earned 76 victories at Santa Ana before taking the helm at Marina. …

Loara (6-1) has matched its best start since 2010. The Saxons lead the Tango League by one game with a 5-0 record. Loara takes it bye this week before playing at Santa Ana Valley on Oct. 16.

​ Orange County Register 

Disneyland ends Magic Key no-show policy that frustrated passholders

• October 6, 2026

Disneyland will no longer put Magic Key annual passholders in “time out” if they have too many unexcused absences with a new policy change made in response to feedback by the Anaheim theme park’s most loyal customers.

Disneyland will remove the Magic Key no-show penalty starting on Wednesday, Oct. 7, according to an email to passholders by Disneyland Resort President Jill Estorino.

ALSO SEE: Disneyland raises ticket prices with the smallest increase in years

Disneyland understands the no-show policy created some angst when plans changed at the last minute and felt the frustration around the policy needed improvement, according to Disneyland officials.

Magic Key passholders will still be required to make advance reservations to visit Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.

Passholders will be able to modify or cancel reservations up to 11:59 p.m. on the day of their reservation date.

“We ask that you please modify or cancel your reservation if your plans change so we can offer that availability to other guests,” Estorino wrote in the email.

Passholders are no longer required to cancel their reservations, but Disneyland “kindly asks” they do so out of courtesy to other visitors.

Passholders are currently required to cancel or modify their reservations by 11:59 p.m. on the day before their reservation date or receive a no-show on their account.

The current Magic Key policy limits passholders to three no-shows in 90 days. Violators with three no-shows are prohibited from making or modifying reservations for 30 days.

Under the revised policy, any Magic Keyholders who currently have three no-shows will have their blocked status removed on Oct. 7.

​ Orange County Register 

Fall-O-Ween returns to Lake Forest’s Heritage Hill, here’s what to know

• October 6, 2026

Orange County families looking for a little Halloween fun without another fright to their wallets can head to Lake Forest this month.

OC Parks’ annual Fall-O-Ween returns to transform Heritage Hill Historical Park for its sixth year, taking place Oct. 16-18 and Oct. 23-25.

Here’s what to know before you go.

What is Fall-O-Ween?

Fall-O-Ween is OC Parks’ family-friendly Halloween celebration at Heritage Hill Historical Park.

Visitors can wander through the decorated grounds and stop at a variety of Halloween and fall-themed photo displays. The event also includes a straw maze and a scavenger hunt, with prizes available while supplies last. Light refreshments will be available for purchase.

The event is open to all ages, and costumes are encouraged. Pets can also join the festivities as long as they are kept on leashes no longer than 6 feet.

Why Heritage Hill Historical Park?

Fall-O-Ween comes with a bit of local history.

The 4.1-acre Heritage Hill Historical Park preserves four restored and furnished buildings representing different periods in the early history of the Saddleback Valley and El Toro area.

The oldest is the Serrano Adobe, built around 1863 and dating to the Mexican Rancho era. The grounds also include the El Toro Grammar School, built in 1890; St. George’s Episcopal Mission, built in 1891; and the Harvey Bennett Ranch House, dating to 1908 and the area’s citrus farming days.

Heritage Hill opened in 1981 as Orange County’s first historical park. During regular operations, visitors can explore the grounds for free, while access inside the historic buildings is generally limited to scheduled guided tours.

Fall-O-Ween

• When: 4:30-8:30 p.m. Oct. 16-18 and Oct. 23-25
• Where: Heritage Hill Historical Park, 25151 Serrano Road, Lake Forest
• Cost: Free
• Parking: Free
• Information: parks.oc.gov

​ Orange County Register 

Republicans return to tough-on-crime message before difficult midterm elections

• October 6, 2026

By MATT BROWN

WASHINGTON (AP) — Political advertising warns about Democratic plots to defund the police. Campaign events feature law enforcement unions and tough talk about law and order. Stump speeches boast about record low levels of violent crime.

From coast to coast, Republicans are focusing on public disorder, illegal immigration and violent crime in midterm campaigns as voters sour on their party’s handling of the cost of living and the war with Iran.

Democrats have tried to counter the attacks by recruiting candidates with law enforcement backgrounds and emphasizing their own anti-crime plans, but Republicans believe it’s a rare opportunity to go on the offensive in an otherwise challenging year.

“Do you know that right now we have the lowest violent crime rate in 126 years in America right now? Because we emphasize the rule of law,” House Speaker Mike Johnson recently told an audience at Louisiana State University. Crime rates have generally trended down since the 1990s with a brief spike during the COVID pandemic. “We have the most secure border we have had in the past half century.”

President Donald Trump returned to the topic Monday night in Nebraska, warning about how the country used to be before he returned to the White House.

“We had a border with people pouring in, crime like nobody’s ever seen,” he said.

Republicans say Democrats will ‘defund the police’

In Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Texas and Wisconsin, Republican candidates for governor have attacked their Democratic rivals as weak on crime or warned they could cut police funding. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, for instance, has lambasted Democratic nominee and state Rep. Gina Hinojosa for not supporting legislation that would require judges to deny bail to illegal immigrants charged with a violent crime.

Hinojosa has campaigned on her tenure as a civil rights lawyer and criticized Abbott’s crime policies as violating civil liberties.

Rick Jackson, a billionaire healthcare executive running in Georgia, has repeatedly attacked Democratic opponent Keisha Lance Bottoms over her tenure as Atlanta mayor.

“I grew up in the type of neighborhood Keisha Lance Bottoms abandoned,” Jackson said at a summer campaign rally. “I know who gets hurt when politicians defund the police.”

In an interview with Atlanta station 11Alive, Bottoms emphasized that her administration gave pay raises to police and firefighters, and said she called for increased federal funding for public safety during her time as mayor.

Crime warnings pervade congressional races

It’s a similar story in U.S. House races.

In Virginia’s first congressional district, Rep. Rob Wittman has attacked his Democratic opponent, prosecutor Shannon Taylor, over her allegedly “soft on crime” record in office. In Michigan’s 10th district, Republican Michael Bouchard is running on his service as a Bronze Star Army captain and son of a longtime local sheriff. He’s claimed his Democratic opponent, former prosecutor Christina Hines, supports “woke, soft on crime, socialist policies.”

In Colorado’s eighth district, Rep. Gabe Evans touts his time as a police officer against Democratic challenger Manny Rutinel. And in Wisconsin’s third district, Rep. Derrick Van Orden hopes to win a third race against Democratic nominee Rebecca Cooke by painting her as a communist who wants to defund the police.

Republicans hope that by reprising warnings of crime and disorder the party can reenergize their disillusioned base and win back skeptical moderate voters who have drifted over concerns like affordability.

Democratic rivals have responded in kind. Taylor aired an ad featuring 13 local sheriffs who endorsed her campaign. Rutinel aired ads with local police and rolled out a safety plan that called for greater police funding and drug prevention programs. Hines said she’ll continue to prioritize public safety and prosecute corruption in Washington. Cooke has vowed to fully fund police departments in Congress.

Not all Republicans see crime as a winning issue

It’s yet to be seen if the strategy will prove effective.

“We’ve got to talk about it. I think that in many ways, we are the victim of our own success because it’s off the headlines a little bit more,” said Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Missouri Republican and former state attorney general. “Having a completely secure border now, no one even talks about it. But that’s a huge accomplishment from where we were at before.”

An AP-NORC poll conducted in September found that border security — which Trump and Republicans often link to crime — was a relative strength for the Republican president, with 48% of U.S. adults saying they approved of his performance on the issue. But that was still a decline from a year ago, when his approval on border security was at 55%.

Not everyone in the party is sold on Republicans rehashing the crime message.

“I don’t see that bubbling up as a major issue for the voters,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who chose not to seek reelection this year. Aiming to make the race to succeed Tillis a referendum on crime, Republicans have run ads claiming that Democratic nominee Roy Cooper went easy on convicts during his two terms in the governor’s mansion.

Black political leaders have criticized the ads as racist and reminiscent of past Republican campaigns that used dog whistles to appeal to suburban white voters. Trump made the message explicit when he invoked the infamous 1988 “Willie Horton” ad and displayed dozens of mugshots of men of color on a jumbotron during a rally stumping for Michael Whatley, Cooper’s Republican rival.

In contrast to his party’s messaging, Tillis noted his state’s safety in recent years.

“Frankly, when I hear somebody talking about crime in Charlotte, I live 25 minutes from downtown. I’m not worried about walking through Charlotte at night,” said Tillis.

Democrats accuse Trump of corruption

National Democrats contend that Republicans’ message on violent crime is undercut by the Trump administration’s hardline immigration enforcement actions, which resulted in the killing of two American protesters in January and the fatal shootings of multiple undocumented people. They accuse Trump of corruption and have hammered Republicans for alleged complicity in the president’s self-dealing.

“This is the biggest criminal organization that we’ve ever seen,” said Sen. Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat, of the current White House.

He added that, “Democrats should be pushing back with the fact that, if not for the fact that he was president, this guy would be leading some type of mafia right now.”

Lauren Bis, a White House spokeswoman, said “extreme Democrats are trying to deflect from their radical soft on crime agenda.”

​ Orange County Register 

Far-right election win leaves migrants questioning their future in eastern Germany

• October 6, 2026

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER

BERLIN (AP) — Ever since the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party won a regional election last month, not a day goes by without Ola Akhras and her husband discussing whether they should go back to Syria.

The couple live with their two young daughters in Magdeburg, where Saxony-Anhalt’s newly elected state legislature met Tuesday for the first time since the Alternative for Germany, or AfD, surged to its best result yet and put the party in a strong position to form Germany’s first far-right regional government since World War II.

During its first sitting, the 83-seat legislature elected Tobias Rausch from AfD as its speaker, a job that traditionally goes to the largest party and was considered an initial symbolic victory. The state’s next governor is unlikely to be chosen before December.

“It’s bad — we’ve built our lives here, we really loved being here, but now we don’t feel welcome anymore,” said Akhras, who fled Homs for Germany in 2018. She speaks fluent German and works as a doctor at the local hospital, where she is completing her specialist training in internal medicine.

Akhras, who wears a hijab, says she feels appreciated at work, but has lately encountered hostility while shopping and no longer feels safe leaving home in the evening. Her sense of not belonging has become overwhelming since the election.

“Our children will never be recognized as Germans here,” she said.

The mood toward migrants has soured since 1 million arrived in 2015

The mood in society is very different from a decade ago, when Germans welcomed more than a million migrants from war-torn countries such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan under Chancellor Angela Merkel. Many built new lives, learned the language and found work.

However, as Germany’s economic problems — slow growth, high inflation, rising energy prices — have worsened, public sentiment toward the newcomers has deteriorated. The AfD and other critics of immigration have blamed migrants for the country’s problems.

The 13-year-old party has gained support particularly rapidly in Germany’s formerly communist and economically weaker eastern states, including Saxony-Anhalt. However, it also continues to gain on the national level. It is the strongest opposition party in parliament and leads recent polls.

The AfD’s victory in Saxony-Anhalt last month underlined the party’s skill in capitalizing on discontent with issues well beyond its core theme of curbing immigration as Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s unpopular national government struggles to turn around Germany’s stubbornly sluggish economy.

The party’s strong showing has unsettled migrants and those Germans who thought the nation was immune to nationalism after the horrors of the Nazi past.

Many migrants fear AfD’s campaign will lead to more deportations

It remains uncertain that AfD will form the next government in Saxony-Anhalt — it fell three seats short of a majority in the Sept. 6 election. But many immigrants and refugees fear that if the far-right party succeeds in heading the state government it could try to implement its campaign promises, which include more and faster deportations as well as restrictions on the admission of asylum seekers.

There are no figures yet showing whether racist incidents have increased since the election, but “counseling centers are extremely busy, the phones are ringing off the hook, counseling appointments are fully booked, and people are in great need of counseling and support,” said Undra Dressler, the executive director of the Saxony-Anhalt State Network of Migrant Organizations.

“We know of people who have left, people who are considering it, and people who have made a conscious decision against it and say: ‘I’m staying. I won’t accept these conditions. Now more than ever, I’m going to get involved,’” Dressler said.

One of those determined to stay is Mohamad Aldabagh, a pharmacist from Homs who fled to Germany in 2015 at the height of Syria’s civil war. That year, hundreds of thousands crossed the Mediterranean on flimsy rubber boats in hopes of finding a safer future in Europe.

“It’s been a very good experience living in Germany over the past 10 years,” said Aldabagh, a 34-year-old father of two young children who works at a pharmacy in Magdeburg. “I’ve rebuilt my life here, and I won’t let anyone take that away from me.”

While he says he has experienced racism as well, he believes that skilled workers like himself or the many foreign doctors working in Germany are needed and that society can’t afford to treat them badly.

AfD wants no ‘culturally foreign’ workers despite skilled labor shortage

While the AfD program for Saxony-Anhalt does not reject labor migration altogether, it takes a highly selective approach to recruiting foreign workers.

The party explicitly proposes refraining from recruiting workers it describes as “culturally foreign” and ending a state program designed to support the integration of foreign skilled workers, says Rahim Hajji, a professor of social and health services at Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences.

“This raises a fundamental question,” Hajji said. “How is a state with an ageing population and growing labor shortages supposed to meet its demand for skilled workers if it substantially restricts the pool of international workers it is willing to recruit?”

As of this August, more than one in four doctors, or 27.1%, in Saxony-Anhalt’s hospitals did not have German citizenship, according to a survey by Mediendienst Integration group, which researches migration in Germany.

“We want to contribute to the well-being of society here,” said Aldabagh. “We are needed. We are not the black sheep in this country.”

He then paused and added: “But if we don’t get respect anymore, then we’ll move to another state where AfD isn’t as strong.”

AP writer Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

O-Town Walls Mural Festival brings noted street artists to Ontario

• October 6, 2026

Ontario’s festival of colorful walls returns this year, from Oct. 12 to 17 and it’s worth going to see the 14 new murals being painted in front of your eyes downtown over six days.

The 2026 “O Town Walls Mural Fest” includes international artists from as far away as the Netherlands, Ireland and Spain. If you can’t get there in person, you can also follow the progress on Instagram at instagram.com/otownwalls_dto

This year’s theme is “Butterfly Effect.”

As part of the festival, there will be a block party and breakdancing competition from 5 to 10 p.m. on Oct. 16 and 17, with live music, food for sale and more.

Last year, 17 murals were painted by 16 artists and remain now to beautify the city.

Here’s a location to follow the walls’ transformation from a bare and ugly state to decorated and fun: otownwalls.org/2026/walls/

Learn more: otownwalls.org/2026/

​ Orange County Register 

Much of the world sees tragedy in Gaza. Many Israelis, scarred by Oct. 7, see only a threat

• October 6, 2026

By CARA ANNA

SDEROT, Israel (AP) — One by one, Israelis peered through the tourist-style binoculars at the shattered Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, a distance of several football fields away, where buildings tilted in the rubble like broken teeth. The only noticeable movement was dust kicked up by Israel’s military.

The Israelis squinted for a few moments and gestured others over. The lookout is a rare place where they can confront the Palestinian territory firsthand, and some celebrate its devastation.

An Israeli documentary released this year included one onlooker exclaiming, “Wow, destroyed beautifully.” The Associated Press heard similar sentiments there.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led fighters killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel and abducted 251 others, leading to a devastating war and, eventually, a fragile ceasefire.

Three years on, a visit to the communities attacked that day made clear: It’s too soon for many residents to see the Palestinians next door as anything other than a threat.

Barbecue reminds one woman of ‘the smell of hell’

The highway running parallel to Gaza, where fighters gunned down people trying to flee, is dotted with memorials. Victims’ smashed and bullet-pocked cars are assembled elsewhere, rusting and piled a half-dozen high. Portraits of young female military spotters, whose warnings about a potential attack were disregarded, mark their deaths that day.

One resident, Deganit Bar Hay, said she still can’t barbecue because the smell of burnt flesh — “the smell of hell” — is a trigger.

Globally, there is shock and condemnation over how Israel has conducted the war, and how Gaza remains in ruins and cut off from the world a year since the ceasefire. Over 74,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and the vast majority of its 2 million residents live in rat-infested tent camps or among the debris.

But empathy for them is still unthinkable for many in Israel, with memories raw. Israeli media report little on the Palestinians of Gaza, and Israelis rarely if ever hear their voices unless they seek them out.

A new Israeli documentary, “NAZA,” in which military insiders describe what they said was the systemic killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, has sparked outrage at the filmmakers, not the government. Everywhere in Israel — at train stations, beaches, the Gaza viewpoint — are dozens of stickers in memory of the hundreds of soldiers killed on Oct. 7 and in the ensuing war.

“We are post-traumatic, all of us,” said Ziporah Livneh, outside a cafe catering to tour groups and soldiers a short drive from Gaza. Much of her family died in the Holocaust, and she came to Israel at the age of 2.

Now, she said, the answer for Gaza is to keep believing in people’s humanity but respond strongly to acts of evil. A society and a country can’t be built on revenge, but for the world to think “we can be Mother Teresa, it is a hypocrisy.”

‘Many people around the globe don’t understand us’

Many Israelis are still turned inward. They say their story isn’t being heard or understood. They assert that Palestinians in Gaza receive more attention, even as Israel’s government still prevents journalists from entering the territory except under rare, highly managed visits — and very few Palestinians can leave.

From the day the war began, Israeli news and hearts were focused on the dead and the hostages taken into Gaza, a land that despite being an hour’s drive from Tel Aviv has long felt remote. Cross-border contact had been severely limited since Hamas seized power in 2007. Then, on Oct. 7, fighters ripped the fence apart.

This is the first anniversary since the attack that all remaining hostages are out of Gaza, alive or dead.

There is rebuilding in the Israeli communities where fighters went home to home, burning and shooting. There is also the insistence on keeping Oct. 7 memories alive, with hope that the outside world will come to understand how Israel’s sense of security was smashed.

“I know many people around the globe don’t understand us,” said Mor Izreal, director of an Oct. 7 virtual reality exhibit in the border city of Sderot. She said over 10,000 people have visited since it opened a year and a half ago, most from overseas. Reactions range from sadness to rage to connectedness, she said.

The first election since the war brings fresh anger

This year, for the first time since the attack, there is also an election, a momentous and angry one.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is deeply divisive. Many Israelis accuse him of failing to prevent the Oct. 7 attack and not securing the hostages’ release sooner, before many of them were killed. He is also accused of corruption and threatening democratic institutions.

But there has been little criticism of how his government has treated the Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel’s military now controls over 60% of the territory, squeezing them into an ever-smaller space.

Next to a bullet-pocked rocket shelter outside Sderot, a man held a banner calling for an official inquiry into the security failures surrounding the attack. Netanyahu has long resisted one.

Amit Gurfinkel said he spent Oct. 7 in a safe room with his daughter in the nearby community of Netivot, holding a knife and expecting the worst.

Gurfinkel is a minority in a population that has long supported Netanyahu. Posted across Sderot are campaign banners for his far-right allies, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir — the national security minister who has called for killing “30 to 40” people in targeted assassinations in Gaza each night.

Security is paramount, especially in Sderot, where residents have just 10 seconds to seek shelter when rockets are fired from Gaza. But Gurfinkel sees Israel’s reputation as crucial, too. He shook his head over passing drivers who shouted their support for Netanyahu, whose government is isolated over the destruction in Gaza and who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court.

“This is pathological. I don’t know,” Gurfinkel said. “Sociologists and psychologists will have answers in the years to come.”

There is little discussion of Palestinian civilians

Some Israelis argue there are no real civilians among Palestinians in Gaza, pointing to Hamas’ entrenchment. Some Palestinians feel the same way about Israelis, noting that military service is mandatory for most Jewish men and women.

“Death to Arabs” is written inside a rocket shelter across from the Sderot police station that was besieged and then destroyed. “Hamas is still in Gaza” is scrawled on a guardrail on the highway where bodies spilled from vehicles on Oct. 7. “Make Gaza Jewish Again” is on a banner in a public square in Jerusalem’s Old City.

There is little public discussion about how everyday Palestinians are doing after three years of war.

“I think about them, and it’s complicated,” Adi Marmelstain said of the people in Gaza. She was visiting the sprawling memorial for the Nova music festival, where hundreds of people were shot dead on Oct. 7.

Her 20-year-old daughter, a member of the security forces like many young Israelis, stood in shorts and a tank top, her rifle slung across her. Both knew people who had been killed.

Marmelstain recalled waking up another daughter on Oct. 7 and sending her to war with bottled water and cookies. She later asked herself what she had been thinking. Three years later, life is not much easier to contemplate.

The world doesn’t see Israel in the right light, she said. And the Palestinians in Gaza?

“I think they have the right to live, but they choose not to,” she said.

Associated Press video journalist Alon Bernstein in Sderot, Israel, contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

Ukraine fires nearly 900 drones at Russia as Kyiv braces for expected huge aerial attack

• October 6, 2026

By SAMYA KULLAB

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian air defenses intercepted nearly 900 Ukrainian drones overnight over multiple regions of the country, as well as the occupied Crimean Peninsula and the Sea of Azov, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said Tuesday.

Unconfirmed media reports said a major fuel depot in the Moscow region was on fire after the attack that killed two people.

Ukraine’s domestically developed long-range drones and, increasingly, missiles have allowed Kyiv to hit Russian soil during the more than 4 ½ years since Moscow’s forces launched a full-scale invasion. It has hit targets as far east as the Urals and Siberia.

The bigger Russian military’s air superiority during the war has made aerial attacks on civilian areas of Ukraine routine.

Ukrainian officials are now bracing for what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Tuesday is an upcoming “massive” aerial attack by Russia.

“Today, we received updated intelligence on Russia’s preparations for a massive strike. We are preparing countermeasures,” Zelenskyy said on social media. “We set deadlines for a significant part of the tasks, and the highest-priority ones are already being implemented.”

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said last week that Kyiv estimates Russia is holding 600 ballistic missiles in reserve and can produce up to 140 ballistic missiles per month. Without ammunition for its U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems, which is in short supply, Ukraine is at the mercy of Russia’s ballistic weapons.

Ukraine fires more than 700 drones toward the Moscow region

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 650 drones flew toward the capital region between Monday evening and Tuesday morning. Most were destroyed far away, and 105 were downed as they approached the city, he said.

Sobyanin later reported 68 more drones targeting Moscow were downed during daylight on Tuesday morning.

Ukraine has regularly targeted Russian oil refineries and storage depots, claiming last weekend that it had disabled 51% of Russia’s oil refining capacity. The claim could not be independently verified. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that the attacks had cost Russia roughly 1% of its gross domestic product.

Russia has traditionally been the world’s third-largest producer of refined fuel products from crude oil, after the U.S. and China. The Kremlin has banned diesel exports due to the Ukrainian strikes, pushing global prices higher. That prompted U.S. President Donald Trump last month to urge Ukraine to stop hitting Russia’s refineries.

After hitting Kyiv bridges, Russia targets a bridge in southern Ukraine

After several days of targeting bridges in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, as part of a campaign to make civilian life difficult, Russia attacked one of the bridges over the Dnipro River in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, according to Mykhailo Semikin, the regional military administration chief.

Traffic across the bridge was temporarily suspended, he said.

A nighttime Russian attack on a Zaporizhzhia residential building wounded five people and a daylight strike on a warehouse in the city caused a large fire, Semikin said.

Russian forces are also trying to choke shipping in Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea, denying Kyiv vital grain export revenue.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces overnight struck targets in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region on the Black Sea coast with drones. An ammunition depot was hit, as were a bulk carrier in the Chornomorsk port carrying dual-use goods and port infrastructure in Izmail, the ministry said.

A Russian drone strike in the Black Sea hit a cargo ship flying the flag of the Marshall Islands, killing one person and wounding seven others, Odesa regional governor Oleh Kiper said. The vessel was carrying rapeseed oil, he said.

Moscow warns against a bigger US presence in Lithuania

A senior Russian official criticized developments in Lithuania, saying they would escalate tensions in the region. The Baltic nation has offered to host a U.S. military base and the Lithuanian parliament is voting on a bill to allow the deployment of American nuclear weapons.

“If military infrastructure belonging to a key NATO member moves closer to our borders, then naturally, this can only be perceived as a step toward escalating tensions, just like the deployment of nuclear weapons on the territory of a neighboring state,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Trump said Monday he would consider establishing a permanent U.S. military base in Lithuania, one of three small Baltic states seen as particularly vulnerable to Russia.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned last month that Moscow is planning hybrid strikes with drones or rockets on European countries supporting Ukraine, which include Poland and Lithuania.

Meanwhile, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Tuesday his country will deploy Patriot air-defense systems and about 100 troops to Poland to help protect the airport in Rzeszow, which is the main logistics hub for military aid deliveries to Ukraine.

AP reporter Claudia Ciobanu in Warsaw, Poland contributed to this story.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

​ Orange County Register