Dodgers’ level-headed Will Smith keeps getting better

• April 5, 2023

LOS ANGELES — They have become baseball’s unicorns – catchers who handle the difficult defensive responsibilities of that position while also contributing offensively.

Last year, catchers across MLB combined for a slash line of .228/.295/.368. Each of those parts – batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage – as well as the OPS of .663 were the lowest for any position on the field and it wasn’t even close. Only three catchers had an OPS over .800 last year – Philadelphia’s J.T. Realmuto, Baltimore’s precocious Rookie of the Year runner-up Adley Rutschman and the Dodgers’ Will Smith.

“I think he’s one of the top three catchers in all of baseball,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who began putting Smith in that ranking during the 2021 season. “I think him, you’ve got to put Realmuto and Rutschman in that conversation. … Given his ability to post and work both sides of the baseball, hit in the middle of the order – you don’t find guys like that.”

Not often these days.

On Opening Day this season, more catchers batted eighth or ninth in their teams’ lineups (13) than batted in the top five (12). Only four batted in the top three – Kansas City’s Salvador Perez, Rutschman and the Team USA tandem from the World Baseball Classic, Realmuto and Smith.

Now entering his fifth major-league season (and third full season), Smith has been a catcher who hits since he arrived in MLB. The Dodgers’ first-round pick from their ultra-productive 2016 draft (14 of their first 16 picks have made the big leagues) has a career OPS of .866. His bat has become so valuable to the Dodgers that Smith started 24 games as the DH last year.

And he only seems to be getting better. Smith started this season with a four-RBI game in the season opener, has driven in 10 runs in the first five games while going 8 for 19 (.478) with home runs in each of the past three games.

“It’s a sign that his swing is in a good place and he’s making good swing decisions,” Roberts said.

Smith has shown an ability to do that in the clutch throughout his career.

In at-bats deemed high-leverage, Smith is actually a better hitter – a .281 career average and .926 OPS with 44 of his 75 career home runs coming with the score tied or within one run. With runners in scoring position, he has hit .296 with a .921 OPS.

“He still looks like he’s 15 but he carries himself like a veteran,” Roberts said of the 28-year-old husband and father who still looks like he should be headed to study hall to cram for mid-terms. “He has since he got here.”

Roberts has repeatedly cited Smith’s “slow heartbeat” and calm demeanor at the plate as a key component of his success.

“That’s the big part of it,” the manager said. “When you’re in a position of failure in the sense of hitting, how do you combat knowing you’re going to fail more than you’re going to succeed? The way you do that is you’ve got to have some type of calm and be able to turn the page. He does that as well as anyone from pitch to pitch, at-bat to at-bat, game to game.”

It’s an innate part of his personality, Smith said, one that his parents cultivated.

“I think I’ve always kind of had that, probably from a young age,” he said. “I think my parents raised me a certain way – to be confident but don’t boast, if you fall, get back up. I think that was instilled in me from a young age.

“I’ve seen how that can translate into being a big-league baseball player. It doesn’t work for every guy but it works for me.”

The other component of handling the defensive responsibilities of a catcher and still contributing offensively is to keep the two separate, Smith said.

“I just compartmentalize the two,” he said. “Every day I can go out there and be super-prepared to call a game. It’s easier to control a lot more when I’m catching. I obviously can’t control where the pitcher is putting the ball. But I can control being prepared every day, catching the ball and all that.

“Hitting, sometimes you’re feeling good, sometimes you’re not. You know that going into the year. You just try to stay steady. Separate the two and treat it like two different jobs.”

Not letting momentary successes or failures at one job bleed over into the other is Smith’s strength, Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior said.

“One thing that makes him great is he’s just so level-headed. He doesn’t ride the emotions,” Prior said. “Even when he’s going really well, you might get a smile out of him. And when things are maybe not going as well for him, you never see a ton of frustration. I just think his emotional maturity is ahead of what his age and experience is. I think that’s why he plays so well.”

Handling the defensive responsibilities at catcher has been a bigger challenge with Smith slowly smoothing the rough edges of his defensive game.

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“I think it was the beginning of ’21 you could see there were – not mistakes but some inexperience things,” Prior said. “I think we saw a huge step from the beginning of ’22 to the end of ’22 and he’s just continued that. It’s really just being in situations, understanding what the gameplan template is. And that’s literally just a template. Once we get into a game, we see what they’re doing, you see what your pitcher has and his ability to execute or not execute. And he’s been really good at adjusting on the fly. I think that’s where the growth is, not being too constricted or restrained by, ‘This is what we’re going to do.’”

Youthful as he might look five years into his big-league career, Smith is playing a position that tends to age players at a rapid rate with exposure to injury on every pitch and wear and tear that no other position creates. Maintaining himself physically is a matter of establishing “a good routine” with the idea of doing “as little but as much as possible” from day to day, Smith said.

“It’s listening to your body,” he said. “If I’m feeling worn out, I’m not going to go in the cage and hit a ton. I’ll save my bullets for the game. It’s having the confidence and knowing that you don’t need to take 200 swings before every game. Do 10 flips and be ready to go take an at-bat. Having the confidence to do that, over the long run, is good for your body.”

​ Orange County Register 

15 displaced after fire rips through Buena Park apartment complex

• April 5, 2023

Fifteen people, including four children, were displaced after fire ripped through multiple apartments at a complex in Buena Park early Wednesday, April 5, authorities said.

Orange County firefighters responded to the complex in the 7700 block of 10th Street, just west of Beach Boulevard, shortly past 1 a.m., Capt. Thanh Nguyen said.

The fire started on a first floor apartment and quickly spread to second story units, then to a second building, Nguyen said.

It took more than 40 firefighters about 50 minutes to extinguish the flames, the captain said.

No injuries were reported and the Red Cross was assisting five families, Nguyen said.

The fire, which was caused accidentally by unattended cooking, caused an estimated $2 million in structural damage and about $250,000 in damage to personal property inside the units, Nguyen said.

It wasn’t known specifically how many apartments were damaged by the fire, or how many of those units were occupied when the blaze erupted.

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​ Orange County Register 

Kings prepare to face Vegas and possibly Jonathan Quick

• April 5, 2023

What could have resembled a winner-takes-all tilt with a Kings franchise legend facing his former team for the first time Thursday might have seen its luster diminished with Tuesday’s loss, but there are no small games at this time of year.

The Kings have just four opportunities to make a push skyward, toward home ice in the first round and potentially even throughout the Western Conference playoffs, beginning with a joust against the Pacific-pacing Golden Knights in Vegas and, potentially, former franchise goalie Jonathan Quick.

Quick started Tuesday, losing in overtime to the Nashville Predators. The prior two games, both wins over the Minnesota Wild, and the third period of another match went to another Vegas netminder, Laurent Brossoit. Whom Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy tabs Thursday probably won’t be known until the morning skate, but the Kings have pondered the prospect of facing Quick since the winningest goalie in team history was traded late on a fateful February night.

“We’re still going to go out there and try to win. That’s for sure. I would love to score on Quickie,” said fellow two-time Stanley Cup champion Drew Doughty while the bitter aftertaste of the trade still soured his palate. “But it’ll be tough if we have to play against him, I’m not going to lie.”

The Kings trail Vegas by four points for first place in the division and are also trying to get on the right side of Edmonton. The Oilers blanketed the Kings with two victories in five days by an aggregate score of 5-1, but all that wool only left them hanging by a thread, leading the Kings by just one point.

The Kings will split their remaining games between Crypto.com Arena and the road, while Edmonton has just one home game remaining. The Kings will face Vegas and defending champion Colorado before wrapping up the year by hosting Vancouver and visiting the lowly Ducks. Edmonton has a softer schedule, with Colorado as its only playoff-bound opponent mixed into a meeting with the Ducks and two with the cellar-dwelling San Jose Sharks.

While figures, percentages, measures and statistics, both basic and advanced, have proliferated in recent years, much of the stretch run and playoffs has always hinged on the unquantifiable and barely seen – the fire in bellies and desire in eyes.

“I think all of those intangibles that you can’t open up the newspaper and read are at a fairly high point with our team right now,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “The focus is there, the attention to detail is there quite a bit, the drive to win, the game management, we’re in a good spot. We have to continue to build on that and make sure that we’re keeping our gas tanks full.”

A full tank is one thing and a complete roster is quite another. The Kings were without defensemen Mikey Anderson and Alex Edler as well as top point-producer Kevin Fiala and natural goal-scorer Gabe Vilardi on Tuesday. McLellan declined to provide any injury updates, and all four players should be deemed doubtful for Thursday, especially given that the Kings recalled another defenseman, Jordan Spence, from the minors Wednesday. Fiala’s lower-body injury has been the most mercurial, as he returned to the lineup and then vanished anew.

Without Fiala and Vilardi, the Kings’ once-robust power play has continued to sputter, even as they have thrived in their own zone and prospered in the standings. Absent a four-for-five performance against St. Louis, the Kings have converted on just 7 of 45 power plays since the game after the Quick trade on March 2, the sixth-worst clip in the NHL during that span.

On Tuesday, the Kings’ man–advantage savvy faltered once more with an 0-for-4 showing, while Edmonton broke their season-long drought against the Kings on the power play, as both goals allowed by Pheonix Copley came with the extra man.

“The thing that would stand out was special teams. Vilardi and Fiala are kind of key guys for us in that aspect,” said defenseman Sean Walker, who this time last year was among several injured Kings. “But again, on the back end, losing two solid defensemen like that isn’t great for us, but it’s something that we’ve dealt with before. So, next man up, and do your job.”

The next task will be confronting Vegas, which has led the division practically wire-to-wire this season, though the Kings have taken both meetings since the Golden Knights’ opening-night victory.

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The Vegas attack is led by centers Jack Eichel and Chandler Stephenson, but their lineup has often been improvised. Already entering the year with long-term injuries to center Nolan Patrick and goalie Robin Lehner, Vegas has had to use four different netminders due to injury (they currently have two goalies sidelined). Among other injuries, they’ve also been without a top defenseman, former Duck Shea Theodore, for a good portion of the season between two separate stints on IR, and he remained sidelined Wednesday.

Kings at Vegas

When: 7 p.m. Thursday

Where: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas

TV/Radio: Bally Sports West/iHeart Radio

​ Orange County Register 

Red tags expected to be removed from three San Clemente landslide buildings

• April 5, 2023

Red tags are expected to be removed in the coming days from three oceanfront apartment buildings in San Clemente, where a landslide in mid March sent debris, parts of concrete patios and furniture down the slope and onto a beach path below, Mayor Chris Duncan said.

Residents and short-term renters of 20 units in four apartment buildings in north San Clemente were swiftly evacuated following the storm damage on March 15 that sent sections of hillside sliding several hundred feet toward the ocean. Duncan said he was told geology reports have deemed three structures safe and residents will be allowed to move back in.

One building remains red tagged, but is in the process of completing the necessary paperwork required by the city, Duncan said.

“We’re very excited,” said Clayton Robinson, owner of one of the buildings with his wife, Kim. The couple, who live in Long Beach, bought their property 20 years ago and use it as their primary income. “We’ve been working with the city all week long, we knew it was coming.”

The sudden scenario of possibly losing their property has been a “nightmare,” but the city has been on top of the process, Clayton Robinson said, while he worked around the clock with geologists to ensure all the paperwork was in place.

“We’re just so thankful it’s progressing in such a way,” he said. “We were afraid we were going to lose everything.”

Buildings along Buena Vista are still red tagged in San Clemente, CA, on Wednesday, April 5, 2023. The landslide in North San Clemente forced families out of their apartments a few weeks ago. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Insurance typically does not cover landslide damage, so the loss could have been in the millions.

The San Clemente landslide helped spur a federal emergency declaration for Orange County, which should help fund some of the city’s and the county’s response, but financial help has been limited for the residents who needed to suddenly find new temporary housing until the buildings were deemed safe.

The popular beach trail that runs from North Beach along the damaged area, where heaps of dirt still remain, will stay fenced off to the public until it can be cleaned up, Duncan said.

To have the red tags removed, the property owners had to get geology reports done and submitted to the city for review, Duncan said. There will be additional fixes needed to the back patio areas of two of the properties, where pieces of the concrete patio broke off, to ensure the areas are safe, he said, but that can happen later.

Buildings along Buena Vista are still red tagged in San Clemente, CA, on Wednesday, April 5, 2023. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

He called it “really good news for our residents.”

“I am very pleased with the city staff that they’ve been processing these reports submitted by the building owners’ geologists expeditiously,” he said. “Safety comes first, so we will make sure everything is in place.”

Duncan said he has been inspired by how the residents came together to help each other during the past month, even as their lives were disrupted.

“They acted in a very professional and calm manner, despite the seriousness of the situation and tragic nature of being forced out of their homes,” he said. “I hope soon all of them will be able to be back home.”

Robinson said there’s still work to be done in the damaged area – installing a fence and other safety measures – before the units closest to the ocean can be rented out again.

“The geologist assured us it was just the face that fell, but that the hill is stable, the ground is not going anywhere,” he said. “From his perspective, there’s no threat to the property at this point.”

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The pool, which came inches from falling down the slope, is helping to stabilize the area, he said. “The pool, the geologist feels, is working like a retaining wall, holding the rest of it together. He said, ‘Don’t use, don’t fill, don’t empty … leave it alone.’”

Robinson said he plans on working with a geologist, the city and the California Coastal Commission on any possible further steps that could be taken to shore up the property in the long term.

Buildings along Buena Vista are still red tagged in San Clemente, CA, on Wednesday, April 5, 2023. The landslide in North San Clemente forced families out of their apartments a few weeks ago. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The city will also be asking those questions for the rest of San Clemente’s coastal bluff tops as part of a coastal erosion study currently in the works, Duncan said. “As part of that, I know we want to focus in on the bluff failure and landslides like this as well; it’s all linked. That is something we will be continuing to look at.”

Since the landslide happened a month ago, the Robinsons’ faith has kept them optimistic about the future, Clayton Robinson said.

“We declared our faith on the first day, we trusted the city and the process,” he said. “Our faith has been proven sound and we’re happy and thrilled we got it back. Even if we lost everything, we wouldn’t let it shake our faith.”

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​ Orange County Register 

Before an earthquake: How to set up a family plan and make your house safer

• April 5, 2023

These checklists are a good place to start in preparing your family and your house for emergencies including earthquakes, wildfires and flooding.

Assemble your emergency kit. It’s crucial to have a go-bag and other earthquake supplies at the ready. Here are the details on what you’ll need.

Have a family plan. Make sure all members of your household know your strategy.

Pick a place to meet if you are in different places when a disaster strikes.
Determine who will pick up the kids from school, and who will check on the pets and, if necessary, prepare them for evacaution. Know the school’s emergency plan, and keep your kids’ emergency release cards up to date.
Designate a person outside your area (at least 100 miles away) as a message contact. Make sure this number is in everyone’s mobile phone, including the kids’. If local lines are jammed, it’s often easier to get through to somebody farther away.

Know these things about your home:

How to open your garage door and/or security gate if the electricity is off.
Where the utility connections are and how to shut off the gas, electricity and water if necessary; same with propane tanks. Pacific Gas & Electric advises not to turn these off unless you suspect there’s a leak or damaged wires. With gas, it could be a long time until a utility crew can turn it back on.

Make the inside of your home safer.

Move beds away from windows and glass skylights. Remove heavy pictures and shelves from above beds.
Secure tall furniture — bookcases, cabinets — to studs in walls. Make sure heavy hanging objects, such as lights, are attached to ceiling studs.
Put latches on cabinet doors.
Install emergency lights, particularly in halls and stairways.
Strap your water heater to the wall. Most hardware stores sell kits for this purpose for about $30. This is particularly important for preventing gas leaks.
Install safety film on large windows or glass doors.

Make sure your home is structurally safe.

Consult with a structural engineer about foundation bolting, crawl space reinforcement, chimney bracing, flexible gas connections.
The California program Earthquake Brace + Bolt provides $3,000 seismic retrofit grants for homeowners in certain areas. Registration is open for 30 days each year; check the program’s website to see if you’re eligible.

Make sure you have adequate insurance coverage.

Standard homeowners and renters insurance doesn’t cover most earthquake damage. If you have homeowners insurance, the provider is required to offer to sell you an earthquake policy, which is usually from the California Earthquake Authority. If you’re a renter, you can buy additional quake coverage for your possessions and for expenses associated with living elsewhere while your unit is repaired.

Compile a household inventory document and update it every year.

RELATED: Earthquake kits: What to put in a go-bag, plus what supplies to keep at home and in the car

​ Orange County Register 

Perspire Sauna Studio adding 8 Southern California locations

• April 5, 2023

Perspire Sauna Studio is expanding its Southern California footprint, bringing new studios to eight area cities.

Founded in 2010, the Costa Mesa-based sauna franchise operates 12 locations, including Irvine, Huntington Beach and Santa Monica.

The expansion into 2024 will include eight new studios in San Clemente, Irvine, Laguna Woods, Calabasas, Manhattan Beach, Brentwood, West Hollywood and Venice. Three additional locations are coming to Berkeley, Chico and West San Jose.

Most Perspire studios are located in spaces that were previously occupied by other retail tenants.

Perspire founder and CEO Lee Braun said California is the company’s biggest market because of the state’s health-conscious communities.

“If you’re living in California, you generally want to be outdoors exercising and enjoying that kind of lifestyle,” he said. “Our studios offer the opportunity for a bit of recovery.”

Perspire offers infrared and red-light therapy that, unlike traditional saunas that heat up the air around you, heat up the body without warming the air. The company says the infrared waves, which penetrate the skin, muscles, joints and tissues, are designed to improve circulation, oxygen flow and help to detoxify the body, according to Braun.

“It’s really like an improvement on traditional saunas,” he said. “With a traditional sauna, you stay in 15 minutes and your nose is burning and you’re overheating. But our saunas just warm up your core temperature by two to three degrees and you’re able to stay in longer. You have more of a cathartic, overall sweat experience.”

Perspire has 30 locations open with more under development throughout the U.S.

Maria Kirgan operates Perspire Sauna Studios in Dana Point and Laguna Niguel. In February, she opened another one in San Clemente. (Photo courtesy of Perspire Sauna Studio)

Maria Kirgan operates Perspire studios in Dana Point and Laguna Niguel. In February, she opened another one in San Clemente.

“We’re getting about 600 people a week at each location,” the 50-year-old Laguna Nigel entrepreneur said. “In January, we hit about 3,000 sessions in Dana Point.”

Perspire’s studios have individual rooms in which customers can sit or lie down, with 40-minute sessions ranging from $39 to $49, depending on the location.

A $59 monthly membership will give a customer four sessions a month, while a $139 monthly membership fee provides unlimited access.

Launching a Perspire studio requires an investment of $444,067 to $590,667, which includes a $45,000 franchise fee, according to the company’s website.

Patrick Findaro, co-founder of Vetted Biz, an online source that evaluates franchise opportunities, said Perspire franchisees should also be prepared to pay fees of $70,000 to $80,000 every four years for equipment and studio upgrades.

Kirgan, who endured chemotherapy and radiation treatments to successfully treat breast cancer, said she first visited a Perspire Sauna Studio as a customer. The experience prompted her to become a franchisee.

“When I was at the tail end of my treatments it really helped with pain, anxiety and depression … all of that stuff,” she said. “And when I got laid off from my job as an executive in technology I decided I really didn’t want to travel anymore, so I changed my quality of life.”

Expected timeline for the newest Southern California openings:

San Clemente (Early 2023)
Irvine-Orchard Hills (Summer 2023)
Calabasas/Porter Ranch (Summer 2023)
Manhattan Beach (Spring 2024)
Brentwood (Spring 2024)
Laguna Woods (Spring 2024)
West Hollywood/Studio City (Spring 2024)
Venice (Spring 2024)

“We’re growing like crazy,” Braun said. “There is so much demand for people taking wellness into their own hands. Our goal is to have 500 locations nationwide by 2027.”

​ Orange County Register 

Kansas bans transgender athletes from women’s, girls’ sports

• April 5, 2023

By John Hanna

TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas is banning transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports from kindergarten through college, the first of several possible new laws restricting the rights of transgender people pushed through by Republican legislators over the wishes of the Democratic governor.

The Legislature on Wednesday overrode Gov. Laura Kelly’s third veto in three years of a bill to ban transgender athletes, and came a day after state lawmakers passed a broad bathroom bill. Nineteen other states have imposed restrictions on transgender athletes, most recently Wyoming.

The Kansas law takes effect July 1 and is among several hundred proposals that Republican lawmakers across the U.S. have pursued this year to push back on LGBTQ rights. Kansas lawmakers who back the ban are also pursuing proposals to end gender-affirming care for minors and restrict restroom use.

The measure approved by Kansas lawmakers Tuesday not only would prevent transgender people from using public restrooms, locker rooms and other facilities associated with their gender identities but also bars them from changing their name or gender on their driver’s licenses. Kelly is expected to veto that.

“It’s a scary time to be raising a trans child in Kansas,” said Cat Poland, a lifelong Kansas resident and mother of three who coordinates a Gay-Straight Alliance at her 13-year-old trans son’s school about 40 miles (65 kilometers) northwest of Wichita. “We may face the very real threat of having to move, and it’s heartbreaking.”

The ban demonstrates the clout of religious conservatives, reflected in the 2022 platform of the Kansas Republican Party: “We believe God created man and woman,” and echoes many Republicans’ beliefs that their constituents don’t like any cultural shift toward acceptance.

“I wish it was 1960, and, you know, little Johnny’s a boy and Mary’s a girl, and that’s how it is, period,” Republican state Rep. John Eplee, a 70-year-old doctor, said during a committee discussion of the bathroom bill.

LGBTQ-rights advocates say its part of a national campaign from rightwing traditionalists to erase transgender, non-binary, gender-queer and gender-fluid people from American society.

Alex Poland, an eighth-grade cross-country runner who hopes to play baseball next year, said he thinks legislators are pursuing “bills against children” who “haven’t done anything to harm anyone” because they don’t know many trans people.

Alex, who went with his mother to lobby for trans rights at the Statehouse last week, said it’s good for the mental health of trans kids to be allowed to play on teams associated with their gender identities, and that most kids don’t care.

It’s mostly adults who “care so much about what the trans kids are doing,” Alex said.

The first state law on transgender athletes, in Idaho in 2020, came after conservatives retrenched from the national backlash over a short-lived 2016 bathroom law in North Carolina. In Kansas, conservatives’ biggest obstacle has been Kelly, who narrowly won reelection last year after pitching herself as a political centrist.

Conservative Republicans in Kansas fell short of the two-thirds majorities in both legislative chambers needed to override Kelly’s vetoes of the transgender athlete bills in 2021 and 2022. But this year, the House voted 84-40 to override her veto, exactly what supporters needed. The vote was 28-12 in the Senate, one more than a two-thirds majority.

Across the U.S., supporters of such bans argue that they keep competition fair. Track and field last month barred transgender athletes from international competition, adopting the same rules that swimming did last year.

Supporters argue that they’re also making sure cisgendered girls and women don’t lose the scholarships and other opportunities that didn’t exist for them decades ago.

“Over the past 50 years, females have finally been able to celebrate our differences and create a division that enabled us to achieve athletic endeavors similar to our male counterparts,” Caroline Bruce McAndrew, a former Olympic swimmer and member from the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame from Wichita, testified to lawmakers.

LGBTQ-rights advocates acknowledge that arguments about competition resonate outside Republicans’ conservative base because of the longstanding assumption that men and boys are naturally stronger than women and girls.

They’re also frustrated that the debate often focuses on whether transgender athletes have or can win championships.

Hudson Taylor, a three-time All-American collegiate wrestler said youth sports should be about learning discipline, “healthy habits,” and having fun in a supportive environment. He founded and leads the pro-LGBTQ group Athlete Ally.

“There’s been a professionalization of youth sports over the last 40 years,” Taylor said. “So often, the legislators and people who oppose trans-athlete inclusion really go directly to the most elite, top talent, Olympic-hopeful athletes.”

The Kansas measure bans transgender athletes from women’s and girls’ teams starting in kindergarten, even though sports and other extra-curricular activities aren’t overseen by the Kansas State High School Activities Association until the seventh grade.

That’s one reason LGBTQ-rights advocates are skeptical that the true issue is fair competition. Another is the scarcity of transgender female athletes.

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The state association said three transgender girls competed in sports in grades 7-12 this year, two of them seniors. Taylor said transgender athletes in college likely number fewer than 500. The NCAA says about 219,000 women play collegiate sports.

The international track and field ban doesn’t affect a single transgender female athlete.

Cat Poland, the Kansas mother with a trans son, said: “They just keep taking the next, the next step, the next step, until where are trans people supposed to go? Where can they can exist to be safe and live happy and fulfilling lives?”

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​ Orange County Register 

Johns Hopkins surgeons get $21.4 million to study pig-to-human organ transplants

• April 5, 2023

Angela Roberts | (TNS) The Baltimore Sun

BALTIMORE — Two Johns Hopkins Medicine surgeons will receive $21.4 million over the next two years to advance research needed to successfully transplant living cells, tissues and organs from animals to humans.

The scientists, Dr. Kazuhiko Yamada and Dr. Andrew Cameron, will receive the funding under two research agreements with the United Therapeutics Corp., a biotechnology company that focuses on projects meant to expand the availability of transplantable organs, Johns Hopkins Medicine said last week in a news release.

Over the next two years, Yamada and Cameron plan to advance the use of genetically modified pigs in human organ transplants, improving techniques already used in the approach to reduce the risk of organ rejection and failure and to increase the likelihood of a patient’s long-term survival.

The funding will help Yamada and Cameron complete the necessary studies in animals requested by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before the first clinical trials of genetically modified pig kidney transplants in humans can begin, the researchers said in the release.

“Then, hopefully, we can finally realize that promise,” Yamada, a surgery professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in the release.

Human clinical trials could lead to xenotransplantation — the transplantation of living cells, tissues and organs from one species to another — becoming a way of alleviating the nation’s organ transplant shortage, said Cameron, surgeon-in-chief and director of the Hopkins medical school’s department of surgery.

The number of usable organs for transplantation remains extremely low in the U.S. According to the federal Health Resources & Services Administration’s organdonor.gov, 17 people die every day because they cannot get a transplantable organ.

Last year, there were about 96,000 people on waiting lists for a kidney, but only about 25,500 transplants were performed, according to the agency’s Organ Transplantation & Donation Network. End-stage kidney disease, which results in kidney failure and death without treatment, can only be remedied with dialysis or a kidney transplant from a deceased or living donor, the release read.

For decades, researchers worldwide have investigated the potential of using pig organs — primarily hearts and kidneys — for xenotransplantation in humans because of similarities between the species in how their organs work. Though the FDA has not yet approved these kinds of transplants for clinical use, the agency has permitted “compassionate use” exceptions on rare occasions, according to the release.

Yamada, who was recruited in August to lead Johns Hopkins Medicine’s xenotransplantation research program, performed the first pig-to-primate kidney transplant in 2003 using genetically modified pig kidneys.

Doctors at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of Maryland Medical Center transplanted a genetically modified pig heart into man in January 2022 to save his life. The man died two months later of heart failure. However, in the weeks after the transplant, the man who had been bedridden was able to get out of bed, begin rehabilitation and spend time with his family.

“It was either die or do this transplant. I want to live,” the man said in a statement before the operation. “I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice.”

To boost the chances of a successful pig-to-human organ transfer, researchers modify swine so that they don’t have the gene that produces alpha-gal sugar — a compound on cell surfaces that stimulates the immune system and is believed to be a trigger of transplant rejections in humans.

Under the new research agreements, Yamada and Cameron will study this technique — called a gene “knockout” — as well as “knocking in,” or adding, human genes to the donated pig organ to make it seem more human.

The researchers also will study an approach meant to teach the human immune system to recognize the donated pig organ as its own ― transplanting a pig kidney concurrently with thymus tissue from the same animal. The thymus gland is a small organ that lies in the upper chest, under the breastbone, that makes white blood cells, which protect the body against infections.

“By transplanting pig thymus tissue along with the donor kidney, the immune response of the recipient is reduced, prolonging the viability of the organ, and with less need for medical immunosuppression,” said Yamada, who pioneered the transplant approach.

©2023 The Baltimore Sun. Visit at baltimoresun.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

​ Orange County Register