Ducks searching for offense going into game with Islanders

• October 29, 2024

The Ducks flew east and landed in a rut, dropping both ends of a back-to-back set that matched them with two of the three New York area teams before sending them ahead to a clash with the Islanders on Tuesday.

They were able to tread water in a competitive 2-1 game with the contending Rangers but sank fast in the second period of a lopsided 6-2 affair in New Jersey the next night. In all, they’ve lost three of their past four games in regulation and mustered just four goals in those losses.

“We’re just having a hard time scoring goals right now,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin told reporters after the loss to the Rangers. “You get energy in a game and you get some chances that don’t go in, we’re at that point now. I think guys are starting to press. We’ve got to find a way to score some blue-collar goals.”

Even-strength offense was labored for much of the 120 minutes against the Rangers and Devils, with the Rangers earning superior quality chances and the Devils also generating a noticeably higher volume of opportunities. Against New Jersey, there were also uncharacteristic defensive breakdowns.

One area that seemed invigorated was the power play, with new orientations and progressions that looked more dangerous across three scoreless opportunities in two games. The chemistry between Leo Carlsson and Troy Terry appeared particularly promising.

“When he’s going, he’s our best player, [he’s] super special to watch,” Ducks forward Ryan Strome told Daily Faceoff. “You don’t see many guys with that [Jack] Eichel style who are 6-foot-4 and dice through the neutral zone – super shifty, super dynamic, and a really good guy.”

Terry, who is coasting on a seven-game points streak and sitting on 99 career goals, hit the net three times with the man advantage in the back-to-back losses. Terry and Carlsson already had the only two power-play goals for the Ducks this season.

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The Islanders join the Ducks in the bottom five in power-play conversion rate. The two clubs were among those tied for eighth league-wide for fewest goals allowed.

Former Duck Kyle Palmieri leads the Islanders in scoring with seven points in eight games, though they’ve relied primarily on goalie Ilya Sorokin (1.74 goals-against average and .937 save percentage). The most offensive-minded Isles, Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat, rolled out to modest starts (each has four points in eight games).

The Islanders tried to bolster their attack by dipping into the international free agent market for Maxim Tsyplakov and by signing Anthony Duclair, who was a 31-goal scorer for Florida three seasons ago. Though the two have combined for eight points in 13 games played, Duclair (lower-body) was placed on long-term injured reserve over the weekend. They also brought back veteran Matt Martin on a one-year deal, meaning he and Pierre Engvall, who was waived earlier this season and just recalled, could get games in Duclair’s absence.

DUCKS AT ISLANDERS

When: Tuesday, 4 p.m. PT

Where: UBS Arena, Elmont, N.Y.

TV: Ch. 13

​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers star Freddie Freeman and his family are giving away tickets to the 2024 World Series

• October 29, 2024

For fans looking for a way to watch the Los Angeles Dodgers play against the New York Yankees in the 2024 World Series in person without having to spend thousands of dollars on tickets, Dodgers star Freddie Freeman has one solution.

The first baseman along with his wife Chelsea Freeman announced on social media that they would be doing a giveaway to send a lucky winner to the World Series.

Related: Shohei Ohtani in Dodgers’ lineup for Game 3 of World Series

In a collaboration Instagram post between their accounts, the couple shared that they wanted to give back to fans. “We are so thankful for your support and kindness to our family this season and want to give back to one of you.”

Catch up on the latest Dodgers news and game updates

In addition to receiving two tickets to the World Series, the winner will also receive a signed Freddie Freeman baseball.

Details for how to enter the contest are available in the caption of the Instagram post announcing the contest. The winner will be picked at random and announced this week.

Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam that ended game one remains one of the most talked about moments from the World Series so far. In addition to captivating viewers at home as well as those watching the game live at Dodger Stadium, it was the first ever game-ending grand slam in Series history.

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​ Orange County Register 

Washington Post loses more than 200k subscriptions following non-endorsement, according to report

• October 29, 2024

NEW YORK — More than 200,000 people have canceled subscriptions to The Washington Post since the newspaper announced its decision last week not to endorse a candidate for president, a published report said Monday.

NPR reported the figure, citing “two people at the paper with knowledge of internal matters.”

The reported loss of subscriptions of that magnitude would be a blow to a news outlet that is already facing financial headwinds. The Post had more than 2.5 million subscribers last year, the bulk of them digital, making it third behind The New York Times and Wall Street Journal in circulation.

A Post spokeswoman, Olivia Peterson, would not comment on the report when contacted by The Associated Press.

The Post’s editorial staff had reportedly prepared an endorsement of Democrat Kamala Harris before announcing instead Friday that it would leave it up for readers to make up their own minds. The timing, less than two weeks before Election Day, led critics to question whether Post owner and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos had been concerned about whether Republican Donald Trump might retaliate if he were elected president.

The Post’s retired former editor, Marty Baron, had denounced the decision on social media as “cowardice, with democracy as its casualty.”

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Some journalists, including Post columnist Dana Milbank, urged readers not to express their anger at the decision by canceling subscriptions, for fear it could cost reporters or editors their jobs.

The Post’s decision came only days after the Los Angeles Times also said it would not endorse a presidential candidate, which the newspaper has acknowledged has cost them thousands of subscribers.

An article on the Post’s website about the fallout from the non-endorsement had more than 2,000 comments, many of them from readers saying they were leaving.

“I am unsubscribing after 70 years,” wrote one commenter, claiming to have lost hope and belief that the Post would publish the truth.

​ Orange County Register 

Two men convicted in robbery-murder of marijuana dispensary employee in Santa Ana

• October 29, 2024

Men identified as the shooter and driver were convicted of murder on Monday, Oct. 28, for their roles in the 2019 slaying of a marijuana dispensary worker who was run off the road and shot to death on the edge of the Santa Ana College campus while transporting tens of thousands of dollars in cash.

An Orange County Superior Court jury found John Taylor — the alleged shooter — and Ryan Jones — the alleged driver — guilty of special circumstances murder for killing 29-year-old Osvaldo Garcia of Santa Ana during a robbery on Sept. 16, 2019. The two men now face up to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

A third man — Antonio Lamont Triplett — was convicted during an earlier trial of special circumstances murder for his role in the slaying and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors in that earlier trial referred to Triplett as a “bag man” who ran off with Garcia’s backpack and the dispensary money.

Garcia was responsible for picking up and transporting cash from a marijuana dispensary in South Los Angeles. On Sept. 15, 2019 he left the dispensary around 11 p.m. with a backpack filled with tens of thousands of dollars cash. He planned to meet his girlfriend that night at an In-N-Out in Santa Ana.

Another vehicle — which prosecutors allege was driven by Jones — forced Garcia’s car off the roadway near the Bristol and 17th streets intersection, a collision captured on security cameras at the nearby Santa Ana College campus.

Garcia’s vehicle went over a sidewalk and onto a raised embankment and hedges. His girlfriend — who was on the phone with him at the time — heard Garcia exclaim “They are shooting at me, help me!”

Security footage showed two men — identified by prosecutors as Taylor and Triplett — get out of the other vehicle and run up to Garcia’s car, one of whom began firing multiple gunshots. Garcia, who tried to escape by crawling out of the passenger window of his car, was pistol-whipped, beaten and shot five times.

During the recent trial, prosecutors alleged that Taylor was the one who beat and shot Garcia, who died at the scene.

“This was an execution and a robbery,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Anna McIntire told jurors during her closing arguments last week.

A marked Santa Ana police vehicle passed by on Bristol Street shortly after the shooting, but the occupant or occupants apparently didn’t see the crashed vehicle or Garcia’s body. Triplett ran off moments later with Garcia’s backpack, cutting through campus and a nearby shopping center.

Minutes later, the vehicle that had forced Garcia off the road left with the other men.

Worrying that Garcia had been kidnapped, his girlfriend went to the campus and was quickly taken by police to the nearby Santa Ana Police Station. Officers realized that Garcia’s girlfriend had never ended the call to her boyfriend’s phone, which had been stolen by one of the men.

With the help of a police helicopter, investigators tracked Garcia’s phone to Corona, then along several Los Angeles-area freeways to a parking lot in Carson, where the occupants of several vehicles were seen moving items from one car to another.

Two vehicles were stopped by police as they left the lot in Carson. A third car, which had the stolen cell phone in it, was followed by officers to Long Beach.

Among those ultimately taken into custody that morning were Triplett, Taylor and Jones, as well as a woman who worked at the same dispensary as Garcia.

Blood on Triplett’s shoe tied him to Garcia. Cell phone data showed Jones near the dispensary earlier that night and Jones, Triplett and Taylor in Santa Ana at the time of the robbery and killing, according to prosecutors.

Defense attorneys representing Jones and Taylor denied that they played a direct role in Garcia’s killing.

Taylor — who described himself in courtroom testimony as an apartment janitor, part time Uber driver and a drug addict — was tricked into allowing other men to use his car that night and was “high as a kite” at the time of the shooting, his attorney, Cameron Talley, told jurors.

Taylor testified that the shooter was a man who went by the nickname “Hustle,” who he said was himself shot and killed in St. Louis shortly after Garcia’s slaying. Taylor said “Hustle” had convinced him to go along the night of Garcia’s killing by making him think it was going to be a marijuana deal.

Taylor said he was asleep as someone else drove to Santa Ana, then was awakened by the “bang” of the collision with Garcia’s car. Minutes later, Taylor testified, he heard gunshots.

“I was frightened,” Taylor testified. “I heard the shots and I looked up and I see Hustle coming back in the car with a gun… He just said ‘Let’s go.’”

Talley, Taylor’s attorney, told jurors that his client had been “duped.”

“He had no idea whatsoever that his car was going to be used in a murder,” the defense attorney said. “He thought he was going to get some cheap pot.”

Both Talley and Jones’ attorney, Associate Defender Kelly Rozek, described the evidence against their clients as circumstantial.

“We have no clue what he knew or what his role was,” Rozek said of Jones during her closing arguments. “The prosecution wants you to fill in the blanks, they want you to fill in information you do not have.”

The prosecutor argued that as the suspected driver who ran Garcia off the road, Jones had a direct role in the killing. She added that Taylor’s testimony that he was asleep until collision was “ridiculous.”

Taylor and Jones are scheduled to return to court for sentencing on Dec. 13.

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​ Orange County Register 

As Democrats court Haley supporters, the former UN ambassador is still waiting to hear from Trump

• October 28, 2024

By MEG KINNARD

CHAPIN, S.C. (AP) — Nikki Haley received more Republican primary votes than anyone who challenged Donald Trump for this year’s presidential nomination. She has said she’s voting for him, and she released her delegates so they could support him at the Republican National Convention.

But unlike some of Trump’s other GOP primary rivals, such as Vivek Ramaswamy and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, she hasn’t been on the campaign trail supporting her party’s nominee. According to a person with knowledge of the situation, Haley has given Trump’s campaign a list of dates on which she would be available to help him, but no appearances have been scheduled.

Trump’s campaign did not respond to a message from The Associated Press asking why Haley, his former U.N. ambassador and a former South Carolina governor, had not campaigned with the nominee or how such conversations had gone. The person who confirmed that appearance dates had been offered spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss logistics.

There was no love lost between Trump and Haley during the GOP primary, during which Haley repeatedly questioned the fitness for office of both Trump and President Joe Biden and called for cognitive tests for older politicians. Haley repeatedly warned that nominating Trump would land Democrat Kamala Harris in the White House, implying that Biden — then still in the race — would be unable to serve another term.

“We are going to have a female president of the United States, and either it will be me or it will be Kamala Harris,” Haley said as part of nearly every stump speech or media appearance, saying that “chaos” follows Trump.

Trump’s irritation only grew after Haley stayed in the race, becoming his last remaining primary rival.

“Anybody that makes a ‘Contribution’ to Birdbrain, from this moment forth, will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp,” Trump wrote on Truth Social following a Haley event in South Carolina in late January, using the nickname he crafted for Haley and the abbreviation for his “Make America Great Again” slogan.

When Haley did end her 2024 presidential campaign after the Super Tuesday contests, she waited two months to endorse Trump. In June, she released her delegates so that they were free to support him at the Republican National Convention. At the July gathering, to which Haley was a last-minute invite, she told her supporters, “You don’t have to agree with Trump 100% of the time to vote for him.”

She has said for months that she’s “on standby” to stump for Trump. She’s launched her own Sirius XM radio show, on which she frequently makes the case against electing Harris, and she has recorded robocalls for the campaign and made low-dollar fundraising appeals, according to her advisers.

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Despite not being on the trail for Trump, Haley has made clear that she’s supporting her party’s nominee in the general election, even though some of her voters aren’t as convinced. Harris’ campaign launched “Republicans for Harris” to win over GOP voters put off by Trump’s candidacy, with a particular emphasis on primary voters who backed Haley.

“Kamala Harris and I are total opposites on every issue,” Haley said in a statement Monday to the AP. “Any attempt to use my name to support her or her agenda is deceptive and wrong. I support Donald Trump because he understands we need to make America strong, safe, and prosperous.”

Not campaigning with Trump — but having endorsed him — may ultimately benefit Haley in a future campaign of her own, according to veteran Republican strategist Terry Sullivan.

“She wants to run again and wants to be able to have it both ways,” Sullivan said. “Have the never-Trumpers still like her but have the pro-Trump voters like that she endorsed him.”

Associated Press writer Colleen Long in Washington contributed to this report.

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

​ Orange County Register 

Lakers’ Anthony Davis receives Player of the Week honor

• October 28, 2024

PHOENIX — Lakers star Anthony Davis was honored on Monday for his strong start to the season.

Davis was named the NBA’s Western Conference Player of the Week for the first week of the season (Oct. 22-Sunday) – the sixth Player of the Week honor he has received as a Laker and the 11th of his career.

He was last named Player of the Week for Week 22 of the 2023-24 season (March 18-24, 2024).

The Lakers’ All-Star big man averaged a league-best 34 points on 57.1% shooting from the field to go with 11 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.3 blocked shots and 1.7 steals while the Lakers started 3-0 with home wins against Minnesota, Phoenix and Sacramento.

With his 31-point performance in Saturday’s victory over Sacramento, Davis became the fourth Laker to start a season with three consecutive 30-point performances (36, 35, 31), joining Elgin Baylor (1961-62; 1962-63), Jerry West (1961-62; 1969-70) and Kobe Bryant (2005-06).

Baylor, West and Bryant opened the aforementioned seasons with four 30-point performances, meaning Davis entered Monday night’s game in Phoenix one 30-point performance from tying the record and two from breaking it.

Boston Celtics wing Jayson Tatum was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week.

Lakers star LeBron James was a nominee for West Player of the Week.

More to come on this story.

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​ Orange County Register 

Convicted sex offenders denied early release under Elderly Parole Program

• October 28, 2024

Two convicted sex offenders from Riverside and Orange counties have been denied early release from prison under the state’s Elderly Parole Program, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Cody Woodsen Klemp, 68, of Moreno Valley and Oscar Mendez, 57, of Santa Ana were denied parole Thursday, Oct. 24, following a hearing by a three-member panel of the Board of Parole Hearings.

Klemp, who is serving a 170-year sentence at the California Institution for Men in Chino for repeatedly raping his 14-year-old niece in his home throughout 1990, will be eligible for another hearing in five years, unless he petitions the board to advance his next hearing date in three years and it is approved, said CDCR spokesperson Mary Xjimenez.

“This is just a small victory, but a victory nonetheless,” said Klemp’s victim, now 49, in a telephone interview Monday, Oct. 28. She said she and the sister of a kidnapping and sex abuse victim out of Riverside County are working on proposing legislation that will exclude sex offenders from qualifying for early release under the Elderly Parole Program. She said they have the full support from the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.

“We’re on a mission to get this legislation passed before (Klemp) can go up again” for another parole hearing, she said.

Mendez, who is serving a sentence of 30 years to life at Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City for sexually abusing and exploiting two boys in Santa Ana from October 2003 to March 2004, will be eligible for another hearing in three years, Xjimenez said. Mendez had founded a church in his garage and befriended the boys and their parents under the guise of offering spiritual guidance.

The Elderly Parole Program, established in 2014 via court order to help thin out the state’s prison population and ease the cost and burden of aging inmates straining the prison health care system, allows prisoners with lengthy sentences who reach the age of 50 to qualify for early release if they have served 20 continuous years of incarceration.

However, those sentenced to death or life without the possibility of parole, those sentenced under California’s three-strikes law as a second- or third-striker and those convicted of first-degree murder of a peace officer do not qualify for early release until they reach the age of 60 and have served 25 years of continuous incarceration.

According to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, more than 27,500 inmates in the prison system are at least 50 years old.

Klemp was granted parole in November 2023, prompting pushback from his victim and Riverside County prosecutors. Gov. Gavin Newsom blocked the decision in March  and requested the Board of Parole Hearings take another look at his case.

The Elderly Parole Program has come under sharp criticism from victims of violent crime and prosecutors who argue that violent sex offenders and murderers should not qualify for early release. They are rallying to try to change the law.

At least one lawmaker, Sen. Brian Jones, R-Santee, already tried to get legislation passed in 2021 to exclude sex offenders from qualifying for early parole under the program. However, his Senate Bill 445 was rejected by the Senate Public Safety Committee.

“Radical Senate Democrats on the Public Safety Committee rejected my proposal on a party-line vote, choosing to protect rapists and turning their backs on rape victims,” Jones said in an email, in which he urged Newsom to “step up, do the right thing, and deny parole” for violent rapists like Klemp.

Jones did note in his April 2021 press release that Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, R-Yucaipa, was the only member of the Senate committee to support his bill.

State officials said they conduct diligent screening of early release prospects and tout an extremely low recidivism rate for released prisoners. The Elderly Parole Program has contributed to a nearly 30% decline in the state prison population, which dropped from 135,600 inmates in 2014 to 95,700 in 2022, according to the CDCR.

According to CDCR statistics, about two-thirds of prisoners have been denied early release under the Elderly Parole Program since its inception.

​ Orange County Register 

Biden looks to maintain relevance in political conversation in final sprint to Election Day

• October 28, 2024

By AAMER MADHANI

NEW CASTLE, Del. (AP) — As President Joe Biden ’s 50 years in elected office near an end, he doesn’t appear content to quietly exit the political stage.

With a week to go before Election Day, Biden is intent on promoting his administration’s record and making the case for Americans to support Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats on the ballot — whether they want him or not.

He’s determined to keep up a busy schedule during the final sprint to Nov. 5 even as many in his party appear to be keeping their distance from him.

Biden, in an exchange with reporters Monday, played down the fact that he hasn’t campaigned side-by-side with Harris since their joint Labor Day campaign appearance in Pittsburgh and that he’s held few public campaign appearances with Democrats in competitive races.

“I’ve done a lot of surrogate stuff, and the fact of the matter is that I’ve also had to continue to be president at the same time,” Biden told reporters after casting his early vote on Monday in his home state of Delaware.

Biden said that he and Harris still “talk all the time.” He added that he has also made several visits to battleground states in his official capacity in recent months, and he plans to do more campaigning in the days ahead in Pennsylvania, including his childhood hometown of Scranton.

Officials say Biden also plans to attend a campaign-related event in Maryland on Tuesday with U.S. Senate candidate Angela Alsobrooks, conduct a series of campaign calls on Thursday, and return to battleground Pennsylvania on Friday to spotlight Democratic support for unions.

Biden said the Harris campaign is asking him to go “where they think I should be to help them the most.”

He had pledged to campaign hard for Democrats after dropping out. Yet few Democrats have invited him to campaign by their side since he ended his reelection bid.

The dynamic has meant the outgoing president has had to pick his spots carefully as he tries to remain a relevant voice in a chaotic political season.

Trump on Monday took to his social media platform to mock Harris and Democrats for keeping Biden at arm’s length.

“The Democrats have not only greatly demeaned and embarrassed Crooked Joe Biden, but now they’re demanding that he be nowhere near Lyin’ Kamala’s Campaign,” Trump said on Truth Social. “It’s not good enough that they took the Presidency away from him, just like you take candy away from a baby, but now they have to further embarrass him by telling him to, “GET LOST.”

To be certain, not all Democrats are avoiding Biden.

Two Democratic Senate candidates, Pennsylvania incumbent Sen. Bob Casey and Delaware Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, campaigned with Biden this month. Both have deep ties to the president.

Biden on Monday stopped at a breakfast spot near his home outside Wilmington with Rochester, a longtime ally who is vying to become the first Black woman to represent Delaware in the U.S. Senate.

The night before their breakfast, he formally endorsed Blunt Rochester in a short video that her campaign released on social media. Biden, in his endorsement, praised Blunt Rochester for being “Delaware through and through.”

The four-term House lawmaker has known Biden for about 30 years and is heavily favored to win the seat in the Democratic-dominated Delaware.

At several moments over the last few weeks, Biden has used campaign trips in friendly settings to troll Trump.

At a Pittsburgh union hall on Saturday, Biden wound through a mostly standard campaign speech before veering into a sharp attack on Trump backer Elon Musk. He accused the billionaire tech mogul of working illegally when he first came to the United States to attend college.

The “wealthiest man in the world is now his ally, right?” Biden said, referring to a recent Washington Post report questioning Musk’s status when he was a student at Stanford University. “Well, that wealthiest man in the world turned out to be illegal worker here when he was here” as a student.

Musk, who was born in South Africa, denies the allegation.

Last week, during a stop at a New Hampshire campaign office to meet Democratic volunteers, Biden borrowed some of Trump’s sharp rhetoric.

“We’ve got to lock him up,” Biden told the volunteers, before quickly amending his comments to note he meant that Democrats need to “politically lock him up.”

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Blunt Rochester joined Biden on Monday as he waited in line for about 40 minutes at a busy early voting location not far from his home.

Biden thought he had one more election in him before deciding to end his campaign in July because of Democrats’ growing worries about his chances of defeating Trump.

He chatted with voters as he waited in line to cast his ballot, and helped push an older woman in a wheelchair who was ahead of him. He handed his identification to a election worker, who had him sign a form and announced: “Joseph Biden now voting.”

Outside the polling place, Biden told reporters that the moment was more “sweet” than bitter. He expressed confidence when asked if he thought Democrats — including Harris — would win.

“I think we will,” he said.

AP reporter Colleen Long in Washington contributed reporting.

​ Orange County Register