President Trump fires Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden

• May 9, 2025

By SEUNG MIN KIM, LISA MASCARO and ZEKE MILLER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump abruptly fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden as the White House continues to purge the federal government of those perceived to oppose the president and his agenda.

Hayden was notified in an email late Thursday from the White House’s Presidential Personnel Office, according to an email obtained by The Associated Press. Confirmed by the Senate to the job in 2016, Hayden was the first woman and the first African American to be librarian of Congress.

“Carla,” the email began. “On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as the Librarian of Congress is terminated effective immediately. Thank you for your service.” A spokesperson for the Library of Congress confirmed that the White House told Hayden she was dismissed.

Hayden, whose 10-year term was set to expire next year, had come under backlash from a conservative advocacy group that had vowed to root out those standing in the way of Trump’s agenda. The group, American Accountability Foundation, accused her and other library leaders of promoting children’s books with “radical” content and literary material authored by Trump opponents.

“The current #LibrarianOfCongress Carla Hayden is woke, anti-Trump, and promotes trans-ing kids,” AAF said on its X account earlier Thursday, just hours before the firing was made public. “It’s time to get her OUT and hire a new guy for the job!”

All around the government, Trump has been weeding out officials who he believes don’t align with his agenda, from the Justice Department to the Pentagon and beyond. At times, the firings come after conservative voices single out officials for criticism.

Earlier Thursday, the acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency was pushed out one day after he had testified that he did not agree with proposals to dismantle the organization. Trump has suggested that individual states, not FEMA, should take the lead on responding to hurricanes, tornadoes and other crises.

At the Pentagon, more than a half-dozen top general officers have been fired since January, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. CQ Brown Jr. The only two women serving as four-star officers, as well as a disproportionate number of other senior female officers, have also been fired.

The unexpected move Thursday against Hayden infuriated congressional Democrats, who initially disclosed the firing.

“Enough is enough,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, who called Hayden “a “trailblazer, a scholar, and a public servant of the highest order.”

Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said Hayden was “callously fired” by Trump and demanded an explanation from the administration as to why she was dismissed.

“Hayden, has spent her entire career serving people — from helping kids learn to read to protecting some of our nation’s most precious treasures,” said Rep. Joseph Morelle of New York, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee that oversees the Library.

“She is an American hero,” he said.

The Library of Congress, with its stately buildings across from the U.S. Capitol, holds a vast collection of the nation’s books and history, which it makes available to the public and lawmakers. It houses the papers of nearly two dozen presidents and more than three dozen Supreme Court justices.

It also has collections of rare books, prints and photographs, as well as troves of music and valuable artifacts — like a flute owned by President James Madison, which the singer and rapper Lizzo played in a 2022 performance arranged by Hayden.

The Democratic leaders praised Hayden, who had been the longtime leader of Baltimore’s library system, for a tenure that helped modernize the Library and make it more accessible with initiatives into rural communities and online. She is a graduate of Roosevelt University and the University of Chicago.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., applauded Hayden as “an accomplished, principled and distinguished Librarian of Congress.”

“Donald Trump’s unjust decision to fire Dr. Hayden in an email sent by a random political hack is a disgrace and the latest in his ongoing effort to ban books, whitewash American history and turn back the clock,” Jeffries said.

“The Library of Congress is the People’s Library. There will be accountability for this unprecedented assault on the American way of life sooner rather than later,” he said.

New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich, the top Democrat on the Senate panel that oversees funding for the library, said the firing, which he said came at 6:56 p.m., was “taking his assault on America’s libraries to a new level.”

“Dr. Hayden has devoted her career to making reading and the pursuit of knowledge available to everyone,” he said.

Robert Newlen, the principal deputy librarian, said he would serve as acting librarian of Congress “until further instruction” in a separate email seen by the AP.

“I promise to keep everyone informed,” he wrote to colleagues.

Hayden spoke recently of how libraries changed her own life, and opened her to the world.

“Libraries are the great equalizer,” she posted on X during National Library Week last month.

“And when you have a free public library in particular,” she said, it’s an “opportunity center for people all walks of life, and you are giving them the opportunity to make choices on which information, entertainment and inspiration means the most to them.”

​ Orange County Register 

China’s exports to US sink, offset by trade with other economies, as US tariffs hit global trade

• May 9, 2025

By ELAINE KURTENBACH, Associated Press Business Writer

China’s exports to the United States tumbled in April while its trade with other economies surged, suggesting that President Donald Trump’s tariffs offensive is hastening a shakeup in global supply chains.

Total exports from China rose 8.1% last month from a year earlier, much faster than the 2% pace most economists had been expecting. That was much slower than the 12.4% year-on-year increase in March. Imports fell 0.2% in April from the year before.

Shipments to the U.S. sank 21% in dollar terms as Trump’s tariffs on most Chinese exports rose to as high as 145%. With Chinese tariffs on U.S. goods at 125%, business between the two biggest economies has grown increasingly uncertain.

China’s imports from the U.S. dropped more than 13% from a year earlier, while its politically sensitive trade surplus with the United States was nearly $20.5 billion in April, down from about $27.2 billion a year earlier.

In the first four months of the year, China’s exports to the United States fell 2.5% from a year earlier, while imports from the U.S. fell 4.7%.

A potential break in the tariffs stalemate could come as soon as this weekend. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and other senior trade officials are due to meet with Chinese officials in Geneva on Saturday. But Beijing and Washington are at odds over a raft of issues, including colliding strategic interests that will may impede progress in the talks.

Some of the punitive tariffs, including Beijing’s retaliatory 125% tariffs on U.S. exports, could be rolled back, but a full reversal is unlikely, Zichun Huang of Capital Economics said in a report.

“This means China’s exports to the U.S. are set for further declines over the coming months, not all of which will be offset by increased trade with other countries. We still expect export growth to turn negative later this year,” Huang said.

Whatever the outcome of those discussions, the rapid increase in Chinese exports to other countries reflects a restructuring that began years ago but has gained momentum as Trump has raised barriers to exporting to the U.S.

Global manufacturers have been looking for alternatives to a near total reliance on manufacturing in China after disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for more diverse options.

The need for more versatile supply chains grew more apparent as Trump hiked tariffs on Chinese exports during his first term in office. Most of those remained during former President Joe Biden’s term.

Exports to the United States accounted for about a tenth of China’s total exports in April and the U.S. is still China’s largest single-country market. But the European Union and Southeast Asia are larger regional export markets.

Trade with a broader grouping, the 15-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which does not include the United States, is still bigger. And exports to countries participating in China’s “Belt and Road Initiative,” a vast network of Beijing-supported infrastructure projects, are bigger still.

In the first four months of the year, exports to the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations rose 11.5% from a year earlier, and those to Latin America also climbed 11.5%. Shipments to India jumped nearly 16% by value, and exports to Africa surged 15%.

Some of the fastest growth was in Asia, reflecting moves by Chinese and other manufacturers to diversify their supply chains outside of the Chinese mainland. Most notable were exports to Vietnam, which jumped 18% year-on-year. Exports to Thailand were up 20%.

Back in China, preliminary data have shown a sharp decline in shipping and other trade activity. Earlier this week, Beijing announced a barrage of measures meant to counter the impact of the trade war on its economy, which was already struggling to regain momentum after the pandemic and a lengthy downturn in its housing sector.

Associated Press researcher Yu Bing in Beijing contributed.

​ Orange County Register 

Message, humor of Chance’s ‘Chinese Lady’ strives to reawaken our humanity

• May 9, 2025

For all the Very Big Ideas that “The Chinese Lady” makes one ponder (racism, sexism, immigration, exploitation, xenophobia et al), it’s important to remember one crucial detail:

It’s very funny.

“I am ambivalent about the fork,” muses the earnest, 14-year-old Afong Moy, touted as the first Chinese woman to set foot on American soil  — and exhibited as a “living curiosity” — in 1834.

“I have seen it in use and I understand its functionality; it seems a useful tool for the stabbing of food,” she continues, stab, stab, stabbing. “But ultimately I feel it lacks grace. Chopsticks are poetic. Forks are violent and easy.”

Actress Michelle Krusiec then proceeds to do an over-the-top, arm-waving “chopsticks as objects of wonder” demonstration for her audience — worthy of a Monty Python routine — with a perfectly straight face.

Yes, the Anaheim Chance Theater’s regional premiere of “The Chinese Lady” by Lloyd Suh arrives with devastating timeliness in fertile soil. A remarkable 30% of Orange County residents are foreign-born, and 47% speak a language other than English at home, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Nearly a quarter of county residents are of Asian descent, and about a quarter of those trace their heritage to China. Both of my daughters are among them, and both look over their shoulders lately as China is cast as international villain, big bad bully, sinister force on the world stage. The government and the people, we keep saying, are not the same thing. But even here, in fabulously multicultural OC, they feel the unnerving gaze of otherness.

“My family has sold me for two years of service to Misters Nathaniel and Frederick Carnes, traders of Far East Oriental Imports to New York,” Krusiec’s Afong says. “I will be on display here at Peale’s Museum, for your education and entertainment, at a price of 25 cents adults, 10 cents children. Thank you for coming to see me.”

Moy was a real person, and she was displayed in a way that emphasized her “exoticism,” wrote Natalia Duong, Chance’s dramaturg — in long silk gowns and intricate jewelry, embroidering or playing the zither. “Living exhibits” were popularized by the likes of P.T. Barnum, “who monetized the display of non-Western bodies and produced the image of them as foreign.” Otherness — it can sell!

The play’s only other (human) character is Atung, played by Albert Park, the funny but tragic translator for and self-appointed protector of Afong. His self-proclaimed “irrelevance” says something about the societal invisibility of Chinese men of that era.

Afong, though, is genuinely excited to explain her culture to her audience. She’s alight at the prospect of being a bridge of cross-cultural understanding, fascinated by the differences as well as the similarities between the two cultures. But, for reasons we won’t spoil here, things don’t always work out as planned, and she can’t always get the message across.

“What I’m drawn to is her perseverance, the way the character is built with this internal light that just will not go out,” Krusiec said. “I think that is so human. We all — at one time or another! — had this undying ember, this desire to achieve something, to reach something. She is just so full of hope.”

Atung is her flip side, the world-weary antidote to her brazen, unabashed hopefulness, Park said. It’s important to tell this story now because experiencing — or, at least, attempting to experience — life through the lens of others couldn’t be a more timely lesson. Park hopes it will generate compassion —  but beyond all that, “it’s a funny (bleeping) play! It’s a really good time.”

Director Shinshin Yuder Tsai walks the actors through their blocking, the chopsticks schtick, the tea service, the respectful bows.

“I have a really personal tie to this play,” Tsai said. “My parents left their roots and support system in Taiwan for America in pursuit of opportunities we wouldn’t have had there. I have to imagine that Afong’s parents sold her with the idea there was opportunity to be had in America, that it was worth the sacrifice. She is trying against all odds to define who she is in a place that is not readily wanting to understand.

“We all want to understand others, and be understood,” he said. “In this show, Afong reclaims her history, reclaims her voice.”

Their experiences — and the experiences of the Chinese in America — cast an illuminating, if not particularly attractive, light on this particular moment in American history.

“Moy was part of a longer, complicated history of immigration that has resonance in today’s world,” dramaturg Duong wrote. “As Moy toured the U.S. during the mid-19th century, Chinese immigration to the U.S. increased, largely driven by the California Gold Rush (1848-1855) and an increased demand for laborers to construct the Transcontinental Railroad in the 1860s. However, the large majority of these immigrants were male.

“While her exhibit did educate American audiences about Chinese culture, it also solidified racial and cultural stereotypes that often portrayed Chinese people as a perpetually foreign monolith. These negative stereotypes, and anti-Chinese sentiment that was on the rise due to labor competition, particularly in places like California, resulted in the passing of The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which barred immigration of Chinese people to the U.S. and made it nearly impossible for Chinese immigrants to become naturalized.”

The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first legislation in history to restrict immigration based on nationality, and it remained in law for more than 80 years — ! — until the Immigration Act of 1965 officially did away with it, Duong wrote.

For those doing the math, that was only 60 years ago. “Keep these histories in mind as you encounter the story of ‘The Chinese Lady’ in today’s world,” Duong wrote.

Indeed. Other bits of Chinese American history Tsai thinks are important: Chinese American food is one of the most popular and voraciously consumed cuisines in the country; and it was Wong Kim Ark, born in San Francisco to non-citizen parents in 1870 and later told he was not, in fact, a United States citizen, who fought all the way to the Supreme Court and established the principle of birthright citizenship for all.

“The Chinese Lady” runs from May 16 through June 8. For more information, see chancetheater.org.

What does Tsai want folks to take away when they leave the theater? “That they can be an agent of change,” he said. “That it’s in their hands. That it’s through wanting to understand someone — someone we may not understand — that change can occur.”

With my older daughter at college, I’ll be taking my China-born younger daughter to this one, and we’ll certainly have a lot to talk about afterward. Meantime, though, I’ll never look at a fork, or chopsticks, quite the same way again.

​ Orange County Register 

Most Americans disapprove of Trump’s treatment of colleges, a new poll finds

• May 9, 2025

By JOCELYN GECKER and LINLEY SANDERS, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A majority of U.S. adults disapprove of President Donald Trump’s handling of issues related to colleges and universities, according to a new poll, as his administration ramps up threats to cut federal funding unless schools comply with his political agenda.

More than half of Americans, 56%, disapprove of the Republican president’s approach on higher education, the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds, while about 4 in 10 approve, in line with his overall job approval.

Since taking office in January, Trump has tried to force change at universities he says have become hotbeds of liberalism and antisemitism. The spotlight most recently has been on Harvard University, where Trump’s administration has frozen more than $2.2 billion in federal grants, threatened to strip the school’s tax-exempt status, and demanded broad policy changes.

The Trump administration also has cut off money to other elite colleges, including Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University, over issues including the handling of pro-Palestinian activism and transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports. Harvard has framed the government’s demands as a threat to the autonomy that the Supreme Court has long granted American universities.

The poll shows a disconnect between the Trump administration’s targeting of universities and an American public that sees them as key to scientific research, new ideas and innovative technology. About 6 in 10 U.S. adults say colleges and universities make more of a positive contribution to medical and scientific research than a negative one, and a similar share favors maintaining federal funding for scientific research.

“Let’s talk about Harvard for a minute,” said Freddy Ortega, 66, a Democrat and a retired military veteran in Columbus, Georgia. “The way he took away all that money in funding, impacting things that Harvard has been working on for the betterment of the world.”

“One man should not have that much power,” Ortega continued. “This is something for Congress to deal with.”

Ortega, who’s Hispanic, also said he’s concerned about Trump’s attempts to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs across U.S. society. “I came up in the military. I know the good that those programs do,” he said. “It changes the direction that people’s lives are going to take.”

Republicans are divided on cuts to colleges’ federal funding

Trump’s stance on higher education resonates more strongly with Republicans, most of whom see college campuses as places where conservatives are silenced and liberal ideas run unchecked. About 8 in 10 Republicans approve of how Trump is handling issues related to colleges and universities — which, notably, is higher than the share of Republicans, 70%, who approve of his handling of the economy — and about 6 in 10 say they’re “extremely” or “very” concerned about liberal bias on campus.

Republicans are more divided, however, on withholding federal funding from schools unless they bow to Trump’s demands. About half are in favor, while about one-quarter are opposed and a similar share are neutral.

“I’m all for it,” said Republican voter Hengameh Abraham, 38, a mother of two in Roseville, California. She supports cutting federal funds and opposes DEI programs, saying she emigrated to America from Iran as a teenager and worked hard to get ahead in school without the help of affirmative action programs.

“Your racial identity, nationality and background should not be a factor in getting accepted to college or getting a job,” said Abraham. She supports Trump’s focus on campus antisemitism. When pro-Palestinian protests swept U.S. colleges last year, some of the demonstrators’ messaging was anti-U.S., she said.

“I do not think if you have any kind of anti-American agenda or slogan that you should be allowed on a university campus in the United States,” she said.

In Harvard’s case, Trump has threatened to remove its tax-exempt status, and his administration has implemented funding cuts. Those measures are divisive among the general public: Nearly half oppose withholding federal funding as a punitive action, while about one-quarter favor it. About one-quarter are neutral.

Charles Jolivette, 43, a college career counselor who lives in New Orleans, sees Trump’s education policies as an attack on free speech and people of color.

“Not only is the president going after anyone he feels is an opponent and anyone who is not compliant, but he’s attacking some of the most important elements of our society,” said Jolivette, a Democrat. “It’s rampant bullying from the president of the United States, who is supposed to be crossing the aisle.”

The cost of tuition far outweighs other concerns

A top concern of most Americans is the cost of a college degree. About 6 in 10 U.S. adults are “extremely” or “very” concerned about the cost of tuition. That concern is shared by majorities of Democrats and Republicans and far outweighs concerns about antisemitism and liberal bias on campuses among the general public.

“College costs a lot more than it needs to. To get an education, you should not have to break your pocketbook,” said Eunice Cortez, 68, a Republican near Houston.

Cortez, who’s originally from Mexico, did not go to college, but she made sure her U.S.-born children did and is proud that her grandchildren are getting college degrees. She supports Trump but is concerned that some of his policies, including funding cuts, will make it harder for people who need tuition aid to get an education. She sees it as the government “getting in the way” of an educated society.

The poll shows a divide between college-educated Americans and those without college degrees, highlighting a possible cultural rift that Trump has seized on in the past.

Most Americans with a college degree, 62%, are opposed to withholding funding from universities that don’t comply with the president’s requirements, while those without a college degree are split, with about 3 in 10 in favor, a similar share opposed, and about 4 in 10 saying they don’t have an opinion.

Kara Hansen, 40, a registered independent in Seminole, Oklahoma, is a few credits shy of a college degree. She supports the idea of dismantling the Education Department to shake things up. But she said she’s concerned by what she calls Trump’s “authoritarian tendencies” and a growing fear on college campuses to speak up and voice opinions.

“It feels like everybody has a muzzle on,” Hansen said. “They can’t fully express themselves because they’re afraid of getting in trouble, and afraid of Trump.”

About 3 in 10 U.S. adults say students or professors can freely speak their minds “a lot” on college and university campuses. About 4 in 10 say they can do this to “some” extent. Republicans feel their views are stifled: About 8 in 10 say liberals can speak their minds “a lot” or “some” on campus, but fewer than half say the same about conservatives.

The AP-NORC poll of 1,175 adults was conducted May 1-5, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Gecker reported from San Francisco.

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

​ Orange County Register 

Yoshinobu Yamamoto has worst start of season as Dodgers lose to Diamondbacks

• May 9, 2025

PHOENIX — Talking about the start of a four-game series against the NL West rival Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday afternoon, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts made this observation.

“We’ve seemed to bring out the best in them.”

And the Diamondbacks brought out the worst in Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

An early (very early) Cy Young Award frontrunner, Yamamoto gave up a grand slam to Gabriel Moreno and a solo home run to Ketel Marte as the Diamondbacks beat the Dodgers, 5-3, on Thursday night at Chase Field.

“Overall, my stuff wasn’t too bad,” Yamamoto said through his interpreter. “But the grand slam, that cost (us) the game.”

Yamamoto came into the game off his best start of the season – one hit in six scoreless innings at Atlanta last week. But he was pitching on five days of rest for the first time this season after being on a one-start-per-week schedule through the first six weeks of the season.

Yamamoto’s command was off along with his calendar. He gave up three hits in the first three innings then walked Pavin Smith to start the fourth.

Josh Naylor hit a ground ball up the middle that Mookie Betts made an outstanding play to get to – but his attempt to flip the ball to Hyeseong Kim for a force at second base went badly. When Yamamoto hit Eugenio Suarez with an 0-and-2 slider, the bases were loaded with no outs.

Moreno emptied them when Yamamoto left a 2-and-0 cutter over the heart of the plate. The opposite-field grand slam was Moreno’s first home run of the season.

“I don’t think he was as sharp as he has been,” Roberts said. “Even the 3-2 breaking ball to Pavin Smith — if he strikes that, I think it’s a different inning, a different game. He has count leverage on Suárez and hits him with a slider to load the bases.

“I honestly thought Moreno took a good swing on a 2-0 cutter. It was behind in the count. To go opposite way, really good swing. … But again, I think the story is he just wasn’t completely sharp tonight.”

Marte played just his 14th game of the season Thursday night due to a hamstring injury. So he hadn’t hit a home run either – until he lined another Yamamoto cutter into the seats for a solo home run in the fifth inning.

Yamamoto’s worst start of the season lasted just five innings. The five runs he allowed doubled his ERA in an evening, from 0.90 to 1.80. The six hits he allowed are a season-high.

Diamondbacks starter Brandon Pfaadt, meanwhile, kept the Dodgers’ offense thin. But the Dodgers did win the exit velocity consolation prize.

The Dodgers hit 10 balls with exit velocities of 100 mph or higher, seven of them as Pfaadt was holding them scoreless (95 mph is the Statcast standard for a “hard-hit ball”). None of the seven hit off Pfaadt was a hit.

Michael Conforto  hit two of those — a 398-foot flyout to center field and a line drive at Marte. He hit another ball 95.2 mph on the ground that Marte turned into a rally-killing double play in the eighth inning.

“I’m definitely frustrated,” said Conforto, mired in the depths of a 1-for-40 stretch. “Happy with a couple hard-hit balls today. Frustrated to be in position to keep a rally going and not being able to beat that ball out. It’s frustrating. It makes me sick.”

Pfaadt allowed just four hits while taking a shutout into the seventh inning.

The Dodgers put runners at the corners with two outs in the first inning but Will Smith grounded out to end the inning. They did the same thing in the sixth but Pfaadt struck out Andy Pages.

“You’ve got to give credit to their defense tonight,” Roberts said. “I thought they really caught the baseball well. Certainly in the outfield. I thought we squared up a lot of baseballs and didn’t get anything to show for it. Overall, I don’t think the line score speaks to how well we swung the bats.

“But you’ve got to give credit to those guys running it down out there. And also that double play ball off Conforto’s bat was a heck of a play by Marte.”

The Dodgers finally broke through in the eighth inning against Diamondbacks reliever Juan Morillo. Singles from Mookie Betts and Smith set up an RBI double by Max Muncy and an RBI single by Pages. But Marte started a nifty double play on Conforto’s ground ball to end the inning.

Ohtani tightened things up with a solo home run in the ninth before Kevin Ginkel closed it out for the Diamondbacks.

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County scores and player stats for Thursday, May 8

• May 9, 2025

Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now

Scores and stats from Orange County games on Thursday, May 8

Click here for details about sending your team’s scores and stats to the Register.

The deadline for submitting information is 10:45 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 p.m. Saturday.

THURSDAY’S SCORES

BOYS VOLLEYBALL

CIF-SS PLAYOFFS

DIVISION 1

Pool A

Beckman def. San Clemente, 25-17, 25-19, 19-25, 25-17

Note: Beckman finishes pool play 1-2, San Clemente 0-3.

​ Orange County Register 

Lead, other toxins present on destroyed parcels after Eaton, Palisades wildfire debris, soil removal

• May 9, 2025

Soil collected in a county study from properties in both fire areas showed that even after debris and soil was removed, toxins such as lead and other chemicals could still be present above health screening levels.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Thursday, May 8, announced the findings during a virtual town hall. The county contracted with Roux Inc. which conducted the sampling study.

Results released Thursday evening came from soil collected at 15 parcels in each fire area where Phase-2 debris removal had been completed. At each parcel, 10 samples were collected including portions of the parcel where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers removed soil and debris and where original surface soil remained.

Officials did not provide more specific information about where the parcels were located in each fire area.

According to Adam Love with Roux Inc., in the Eaton fire area, about 27% of samples from areas the army corps removed soil contained lead levels above health screening levels. However, in samples from where original surface soil remained exceedances were in 44% of samples.

“While the U.S. Army Corps doesn’t decrease the risk in the Eaton area down to zero, it does reflect a significant improvement in the risk associated with the soils there,” Love said.

In the Palisades area, while removing soil did not completely remove the presence of heavy metals and chemicals, the percent exceedances were much lower than in the Eaton fire area.

Love said in light of the findings, those rebuilding should consider a soil impact assessment and management plan as part of the rebuilding process. He suggested using an environmental professional and on site mitigation to prevent exposure.

Soil testing on properties being rebuilt, Love said, should focus on soils that will be exposed to high use like play areas, eating areas, gardens or walkways.

According to an U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dashboard, debris removal and final sign-off has been completed on 4,150 properties out of approximately 10,300 eligible properties total in both fire areas.

FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps have come under scrutiny for not conducting soil testing and only removing the top six inches of soil as part of Phase-2 debris removal.

Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Nichole Quick said the county has been conducting weekly observations of debris removal in both fires. Quick said 10 sites have been referred to CalOSHA for unsafe conditions.

She said the most common concerns observed by the county include workers dry cutting debris without water suppression, using heavy machinery near others with no barriers and not having the right protective gear.

“Often these are seen on unpermitted or opt out clean up sites where oversight is limited,” Quick said. “We have seen improvements where agencies are present.”

Last month, the county released the findings of the first two stages of the study which found elevated levels of lead on standing properties downwind of the Eaton fire. In the Palisades area, testing found localized chemical impacts in soil samples but there was not evidence of widespread contamination.

Since those results, the county approved $3 million for additional soil testing for those near the Eaton fire burn area and Pasadena Unified School District began its own soil testing at all school sites.

Quick said a county self-collection testing program is expect to launch the week of Monday, May 19 and will run through December.

About 26,000 eligible homes will receive a postcard invitation to participate. Those who do will receive simple instructions for how to collect soil samples from their own yards and will be able to drop off the samples in Altadena.

Residents should expect results back via email in seven to 10 business days.

Quick said lead is a neurotoxin, which at low levels of exposure can affect learning, development and behavior in young children. Lead exposure to pregnant women can increase the risk of miscarriage, premature birth, low birth weight and developmental issues.

Adults exposed to lead can lead to high blood pressure, kidney damage, mood disorders and problems with memory and concentration.

According to Quick, as of Monday May 5, all but three out of 775 people who have had their blood tested for lead have had results come back below the CDC’s threshold. The three people who tested above the threshold were men in their 70s.

“It is not a safety line but it is a signal that someone’s level is higher than what is seen in most children across the U.S. It helps us identify and respond to potential exposure early,” Quick said. “No amount of lead is considered safe.”

The town hall was streamed on YouTube.

​ Orange County Register 

Long Beach State, UCLA cruise into NCAA men’s volleyball semifinals

• May 9, 2025

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Long Beach State and UCLA men’s volleyball teams moved one step closer to a potential national championship rematch with quarterfinal sweeps at the NCAA tournament on Thursday, while Pepperdine extended its late-season magic.

Top-seeded Long Beach (28-3) defeated No. 8 seed Fort Valley State, 25-21, 25-16, 25-16, while third-seeded UCLA (21-6) dismissed sixth-seeded Belmont Abbey, 25-18, 25-21, 25-19.

LBSU will face fifth-seeded Pepperdine (21-9), which outlasted fourth-seeded Loyola-Chicago in four sets, in a semifinal on Saturday at 2 p.m. PT. Two-time defending national champion UCLA will square off with second-seeded Hawaii (27-5), which defeated No. 7 seed Penn State in four sets, in the second semi at approximately 5 p.m.

Freshman setter Moni Nikolov paced Long Beach to a .367 hitting percentage as he dished out 31 assists. The 6-foot-10 Nikolov added eight kills, eight digs, three aces, and one block, moving three aces from tying the national single-season record.

Senior outside hitter Nato Dickinson had 12 kills, two blocks and five digs while hitting .429, and middle blocker Ben Braun had nine kills while hitting .800. Long Beach hit .450 in the second set and .476 in the third, closing the match on a 5-0 run.

Freshman libero Kellen Larson (seven digs) anchored a defense that held Fort Valley State (16-10) to a .129 hitting percentage.

UCLA hit .455 in its match and three Bruins finished in double-digit kills: Zach Rama had 13, while Cooper Robinson and Sean Kelly each finished with 11. Setter Andrew Rowan paced the offense with 37 assists.

Belmont Abbey (17-9) held leads of 8-5 and 14-12 in the third set, but a Rama service ace sparked a UCLA run. Rowan dumped the ball over the net to tie the score at 16-all, before a block by middle blocker Cameron Thorne and Robinson gave the Bruins their first lead of the set at 17-16. Rama hammered home a kill on the following point, and the Bruins eventually extended their lead to 24-19 with a triple block at the net before closing it out.

Playing in the last match of the day, Pepperdine dropped its first set against Loyola before rallying for an 18-25, 28-26, 25-13, 25-20 win to advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2019.

Ryan Barnett had 17 kills and 2.5 blocks and Cole Hartke had 11 kills, five digs and three aces to pace the Waves, who sprung a pair of upsets against UCLA and USC to win the MPSF Tournament last month.

Pepperdine hit .295 and held MIVA champion Loyola (25-4) to a .218 showing. Parker Van Buren had 15 kills to pace the Ramblers, while Daniel Fabikovic had nine kills and six digs.

Pepperdine lost its only regular-season meeting with Long Beach State this year, dropping a 3-2 decision in Malibu in late January.

Big West Tournament champion Hawaii hit just .238 but defeated the Nittany Lions, 25-19, 21-25, 25-23, 25-23, in its match.

Freshman opposite hitter Finn Kearney led the Rainbow Warriors with 16 kills, 10 digs, four aces and three blocks, but also committed 11 attack errors and two blocking errors on a day when Hawaii played well below its recent level.

Penn State (15-16) took advantage in the second set, but the Warriors did just enough to eke out set wins in the third and fourth frames, with middle blockers Kurt Nusterer (nine kills while hitting .571) and Justin Todd (eight kills, four block assists while hitting .800) helping anchor the attack. Setter Tread Rosenthal had five kills and 38 assists.

Matthew Luoma had 17 kills on .195 hitting to lead EIVA champion Penn State, which hit just .211.

Hawaii and UCLA did not meet during the regular season.

​ Orange County Register