Gascón recall proponents file lawsuit challenging election certification process

• July 7, 2023

Nearly a year after Los Angeles County election officials doused the campaign to recall District Attorney George Gascón, proponents filed a lawsuit Friday, July 7, demanding certification of their petition, alleging tens of thousands of valid voter signatures were incorrectly and unlawfully rejected.

The signatures were disqualified in August 2022 due to the registrar-recorder’s flawed counting process and inflated signature requirements stemming from bloated voter rolls, the Committee to Recall District Attorney George Gascón alleges in the complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

“For nearly a year, the Registrar of Voters tried its best to stymie the review, including blocking reasonable access to the recall petition, blocking access to the voter data needed to evaluate signature rejections, and more,” the committee said in a statement. “The committee was forced to seek and obtain a court injunction to get even a modicum of reasonable access to perform their examination of the recall petition. What the committee found when it obtained that access was astounding.”

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office referred questions about the lawsuit to Gascón’s political campaign spokesperson, Elise Moore, who declined to comment.

The registrar-recorder’ was unaware of the suit until contacted by the Southern California News Group.

“As with the other claims made by the recall proponents, we will respond in accordance with the legal framework without regard to the political narrative,” said Michael Sanchez, a spokesperson for the registrar-recorder.

In the past, election officials have defended their handling of the recall petition.

In July 2022, the recall committee submitted 715,833 petition signatures, of which 520,050 signatures were found to be valid and 195,758 were deemed invalid, according to election officials.

To verify the sufficiency of the recall petition, the recall committee said, election officials utilized nearly 400 people, most of whom were temporary workers with no background in election law or the registrar’s computer system.

To qualify for the ballot, election officials maintained that recall organizers required 566,857 valid signatures due to a requirement that the total must equate to at least 10% of Los Angeles County’s active registered voters, which at the time was purported to be 5,668,569.

The committee alleges the registrar-recorder’s office required the 566,857 signature threshold even though it knew that figure was inaccurate.

Election officials have since acknowledged in writing that Los Angeles County had only 5,438,400 active registered voters — 230,169 fewer than what was originally claimed — when the petition was submitted, according to the committee.

Additionally, the recall committee said it has reviewed 94,000 of the 195,758 rejected signatures and has identified at least 20,587 signatures that should have been validated.

The alleged wrongful rejections include:

Instances where the signer made a mistake filling out the address section, stopped and moved to the next signature number, and then signed and filled in the information correctly.
Rejections for canceled voter files, even though the voter signed the petition prior to the cancellation, according to the registrar’s own voter records.
Rejections for a “different address,” even when the address on the petition matched exactly what appeared in the registrar’s voter file.
Rejections based on voters being not registered, even when the voter could easily be identified as registered by typing in the name or address on the petition.
Rejections based on the registration date, meaning the voter allegedly was not registered at the time of signing. In almost all cases, the voter was not only registered, but had been for five to 20 years, the committee said.

The Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s Office also allegedly disqualified at least 5,597 additional signatures by applying unconstitutional review standards preventing petition signers from correcting deficiencies in their signatures.

“The gravity of the Registrar’s errors cannot be emphasized enough,” the committee said. “The Registrar disenfranchised over 26,000 Los Angeles County citizens — and likely many more — by wrongly refusing to count their signatures in support of the recall petition.”

An initial attempt to recall Gascón fizzled in early 2021 when organizers apparently were hampered by the rapid spread of COVID-19. The second attempt, launched in October 2021, was bolstered by a no-confidence vote from officials in 36 cities.

Gascón, a self-described progressive determined to reform criminal justice in Los Angeles County, has come under fire from some prosecutors and residents who perceive him as being soft on crime.

Immediately after taking office in December 2020, Gascón issued nine directives that his critics maintain coddle criminal defendants. Among the most controversial were the elimination of cash bail and sentence enhancements and an end to the prosecution of juveniles in the adult court system, regardless of the seriousness of the crime. He has since backpedaled on some of those blanket policies.

Gascón will be up for re-election in 2024.

​ Orange County Register 

Dutch PM resigns over failure to craft migration policy

• July 7, 2023

By Mike Corder | Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced his resignation and that of his Cabinet on Friday, citing irreconcilable differences within his four-party coalition about how to rein in migration.

The decision by the Netherlands’ longest-serving premier means the country will face a general election later this year for the 150-seat lower house of Parliament.

“It is no secret that the coalition partners have very different views on migration policy,” Rutte told reporters in The Hague. “And today, unfortunately, we have to draw the conclusion that those differences are irreconcilable. That is why I will immediately … offer the resignation of the entire Cabinet to the king in writing.”

Opposition lawmakers wasted no time in calling for fresh elections.

Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-immigration Party for Freedom, tweeted, “Quick elections now.” Jesse Klaver, leader of the Green Left party also called for elections and told Dutch broadcaster NOS: “This country needs a change of direction.”

Rutte had presided over late-night meetings Wednesday and Thursday that failed to result in a deal on migration policy. More talks were held Friday evening, and he had declined to answer questions about the issue at his weekly press conference before the discussions.

“Everybody wants to find a good, effective solution that also does justice to the fact that this is about human lives,” Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag, a member of the centrist D66 party, said before the talks began.

The discussions underscored ideological divisions in the coalition between the partner parties that do not support a strict crackdown on migration — D66 and fellow centrist party ChristenUnie, or Christian Union — and the two that favor tougher measures — Rutte’s conservative People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy and the Christian Democrats.

The coalition tried for months to hash out a deal to reduce the flow of new migrants arriving in the country of nearly 18 million people. Proposals reportedly included creating two classes of asylum — a temporary one for people fleeing conflicts and a permanent one for people trying to escape persecution — and reducing the number of family members who are allowed to join asylum-seekers in the Netherlands.

Last year, hundreds of asylum-seekers were forced to sleep outdoors in squalid conditions near an overcrowded reception center as the number of people arriving in the Netherlands outstripped the available beds. Dutch aid agencies provided assistance.

Just over 21,500 people from outside Europe sought asylum in the Netherlands in 2022, according to the country’s statistics office. Tens of thousands more moved to the Netherlands to work and study.

The numbers have put a strain on housing that already was in short supply in the densely populated country.

Rutte’s government worked for a law that could compel municipalities to provide accommodations for newly arrived asylum-seekers, but the legislation has yet to pass through both houses of parliament.

The prime minister also promoted European Union efforts to slow migration to the 27-nation bloc. Rutte visited Tunisia last month with his Italian counterpart and the president of the EU’s executive commission to offer more than 1 billion euros in financial aid to rescue the North African nation’s teetering economy and to stem migration from its shores to Europe.

Rutte’s coalition government, the fourth he has led, took office in January 2022 following the longest coalition negotiations in Dutch political history.

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There will likely be an election for the 150-seat lower house of the Dutch parliament later this year amid a polarized and splintered political landscape. Rutte’s Cabinet would likely remain in office as a caretaker administration until a new government was formed.

During provincial elections earlier this year, a populist pro-farmer party put Rutte’s party into second place. The defeat was seen as a possible incentive for Rutte to do his utmost to hold together his coalition until its term ends in 2025.

​ Orange County Register 

Two Ducks draft picks and their long, winding road to the NHL

• July 7, 2023

IRVINE — One lasting image of the NHL draft – those heart-warming moments in the arena featuring players, their families and friends – has a celebratory launching-day vibe.

But that isn’t a full representation of a draft with worldwide repercussions.

Thousands of miles away from last month’s draft in Nashville, in Northern Italy, goaltender Damian Clara was watching the proceedings from his family’s garden with friends and got word that the Ducks would be selecting him in the second round. The Ducks used their third pick (No. 60) of their three selections in that round on him.

“I told everyone to look at the screen,” Clara said.

Later that day, defenseman and Newark-born/Swiss-raised Rodwin Dionicio was on the train returning from practice – eagerly watching the draft on his phone – and received a call from his agent. The Ducks took him in the fifth round at No. 129 overall.

“I was really excited on the train,” Dionicio said, adding. “I couldn’t yell or be too excited.”

Life moves extra fast when you are an NHL draft choice. One day, Clara and Dionicio were newly minted draft picks getting the word in Europe and less than a week later they were in Southern California for the first time, taking part in the Ducks’ development camp, which wrapped up Friday. They had the full-fledged American experience, hanging out in Huntington Beach on the Fourth of July and playing beach volleyball.

Presumably, the 6-foot-6 Clara was a top volleyball draft pick that day.

“I can play at the net,” he said, smiling. “I can block and slam it over, not the most skilled guy.”

Naturally, the laser-like focus lands on the first-round draft picks at development camps around the league – for instance, No. 1 Connor Bedard in Chicago, No. 3 Adam Fantilli in Columbus and, of course, No. 2 Leo Carlsson of the Ducks.

But Clara and Dionicio are intriguing stories in their own right.

Dionicio moved with his family from New Jersey to Switzerland before he was six months old. He speaks four languages and “a bit” of French and grew up in the same town of Herisau as veteran NHLer Timo Meier of the New Jersey Devils.

“I worked out and skated with him,” Dionicio said. “It was pretty cool to take that in and learn from him and do whatever he does to get better at it. So it’s pretty cool to have the option.”

Another former NHL player made an important impression on Dionicio. This past season, Dionicio was traded in a multi-player deal in January from the OHL Niagara IceDogs to the Windsor Spitfires, which was then coached by Marc Savard, who played 807 NHL games upon wrapping up his career with the Boston Bruins in 2010-11.

Savard, who also played three-plus seasons in Calgary, was recently named an assistant coach with the Flames. Dionicio learned a lot from Savard in a short period of time.

“I thought he was a players’ coach,” Dionicio said. “He did his role really well. I was a fan of it. As soon as I joined the team, it was like home right away. It was pretty cool being coached by him. He knows what he does. He likes to try stuff and does some things other guys wouldn’t do.

“He was one of the best coaches I’ve ever had in my career.”

There is no shortage of talented young defensemen in the Ducks’ prospect pool. The goalie pipeline, however, could use a few more prospects, which is why the Clara selection was important.

Clara is the first Italian-born goaltender to be drafted in the NHL, and the last time the Ducks selected a goalie in the second round was when they took John Gibson at No. 39 in 2011. In fact, they’ve picked a goaltender in the second round only three times – the other occasion was Ilya Bryzgalov in 2000 (No. 44 overall).

Good company, indeed.

“It’s a huge step, and I hope I can inspire some kids at home to dream a little bit bigger maybe,” Clara said. “I’m grateful I have this opportunity to step up. And the Olympics are just around the corner, a huge goal of mine to represent my county.”

Milan-Cortina will host the 2026 Winter Olympics and the Italian federation made a big splash by hiring Mike Keenan to coach its men’s hockey team. Not only has Keenan coached 1,386 games in the NHL, topped with a Stanley Cup championship in 1994 with the New York Rangers, he has vast international experience.

Keenan isn’t given to flattery for the sake of flattery. So it means something when he said that he thinks Clara will “definitely” play in the NHL some day.

“He’s a really great kid and exceptional athlete and very, very bright,” Keenan said in an interview with the Orange County Register on Thursday. “I’m really pleased he was drafted in the second round. I think he was a little surprised, but he probably earned it.

“He played in a couple of World Championships (Division 1, Group A, in Nottingham, UK) – he didn’t lose a game. That was important for his confidence. He handles himself exceptionally well.

“He’s just a sponge and couldn’t get enough instruction.”

Other NHL teams were checking in with Keenan about Clara leading up to the draft in Nashville.

“In fact, I had calls after he was drafted, saying they were disappointed they didn’t get him,” Keenan said.

The Italian national team will have a mini-camp at the end of July. There was interest in Clara from many CHL (Canadian Hockey League) junior teams, but Clara is committed to play on a loan to Brynäs IF in the HockeyAllsvenskan, which is Sweden’s No. 2 tier, and scheduled to be in tandem with former NHLer Anders Lindback.

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​ Orange County Register 

Here are five books people have asked the Huntington Beach Public Library to remove

• July 7, 2023

The Huntington Beach Public Library has denied five requests in as many years to have books in its collection removed, according to library records, with the majority of materials concerning LGBTQ themes.

One 2020 request involving now Councilmember Gracey Van Der Mark asking to remove “Gender Queer,” a graphic memoir that deals with gender identity and sexuality, ended with library officials choosing to move the book to the adult section, but refusing to outright remove it.

“As with any book that deals with a difficult subject, there is the potential for extreme and strong reactions to what is included in a book,” now-retired Library Director Stephanie Beverage wrote in a letter sent to Van Der Mark, who had yet to be elected to the council. “That does not mean the book is without merit or needs to be removed from the collection.”

The American Library Association says “Gender Queer” was the most challenged book in 2022.

Other books patrons requested to be evaluated for removal included “This Day in June,” a picture book about a family attending a Pride parade; “Anne Frank: Her life in Words and Pictures;” “Open: An Uncensored Memoir of Love, Liberation, and Non-monogamy;” and “The Hips on the Drag Queen go Swish, Swish, Swish.”

Last month, Van Der Mark lead the majority of the Huntington Beach City Council in asking city staffers to find new ways to make it harder for children to access sexually explicit books in the city’s five library branches.

During her presentation at that June 20 meeting, Van Der Mark said she had filed a complaint for “Gender Queer” to be removed.

“I didn’t think having images of two young people performing oral sex was appropriate,” Van Der Mark said then. “It was a battle. I did go through the process currently in place right now — not without being treated pretty disrespectfully by the former librarian.”

In a phone interview, Beverage said once a material evaluation form is filled out, library staff meet to review the title in question. They look at book reviews, awards, the target audience and the demographics of the community. Once a decision is made, a letter is sent to the filer and Beverage said she would try to talk to them about the process that occurred.

Beverage recalled her phone conversation with Van Der Mark discussing the library’s decision to not remove “Gender Queer” as “respectful and calm.”

“I did explain the book in question had merit,” Beverage said. “It would be difficult, but that would be something for her to determine with her child.”

Van Der Mark said after filing the request, she didn’t hear back for a while and began calling Beverage for a response. On the phone with Beverage, Van Der Mark said she “got a lot of lecture about why what I was doing is wrong.”

That experience, Van Der Mark said, is part of what pushed her to write her proposal looking for options of what the council could do. Van Der Mark was elected in the November.

City staff won’t come back with recommendations for Van Der Mark’s proposal until later in the year. A council study session is supposed to be held when ready. Van Der Mark said she didn’t have an update to provide on what they were considering.

Current Library Services Manager Jessica Framson has denied two requests for books to be removed so far this year, according to the library records obtained.

A library patron wanted “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish” to be removed for what they said was “not age appropriate for preschoolers or any minor.” Framson, in a February letter, said the book would remain since it met the library’s collection development policy and the  American Library Association’s  bill of rights.

Beverage said in her 34 years working as a librarian, she never saw a book removed, but there’s been a growing trend to challenge titles.

“I wasn’t expecting things,” she said, “to become as extreme as they have over the last few years.”

​ Orange County Register 

Judge throws out sexual assault charges against Newport Beach surgeon and girlfriend

• July 7, 2023

A Newport Beach surgeon and his girlfriend who drew international headlines after local prosecutors accused them of drugging and raping seven women will not face trial on any sexual assault-related charges, a judge ruled on Friday, July 7, effectively gutting a case that had already been drastically pared back to focus on only two alleged victims amid years of political controversy.

While lesser drug possession, gun and poisoning-related charges remain, Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael Leversen on Friday morning ruled there isn’t enough evidence to support the allegations of drugging and assault with intent to commit a sexual offense that comprised the heart of the criminal case against Grant Robicheaux and Cerissa Riley and led to years of courtroom debate over whether the pair are “swingers” or predators.

Prosecutors argued that testimony showed two women — referred to in court proceedings by the pseudonyms Jane Doe 1 and 2 — met Robicheaux and Riley on separate occasions at Newport Beach nightspots, were quickly befriended by the couple who bought them drinks — and gave one of them cocaine — to get them intoxicated before they woke up later at Robicheaux’s Balboa Peninsula home in a state of undress.

“What are the chances that two women, strangers to one another, will describe similar nights years apart?” Deputy Attorney General Namita Patel asked the judge. “And what is their motive to make it up?”

Attorneys representing Robicheaux and Riley argued that contradictions in the various interviews that Jane Doe 1 gave to investigators over the years made her unreliable, and said there is no proof in the recollections by Jane Doe 2 that either of the defendants had actually attempted to sexually assault her against her will.

“The evidence introduced at the preliminary hearing reflects that Robicheaux and Riley were in a ‘swinging’ relationship, used and shared drugs and alcohol, and sometimes invited other women to join them in sex. None of that makes them rapists,” the defense attorneys wrote in a recent brief to the judge. “The government’s case rests on the unfounded assumption that anyone who engages in casual sex while drinking and using drugs also intends to rape anyone who elects to party with them but ultimately opts not to join them in a sexual encounter.”

Attorneys for the couple sharply criticized prosecutors for not dismissing the case earlier, arguing that Robicheaux and Riley’s reputations have been irreparably damaged, and may never recover.

“It has been devastating to see what has happened to him, to his future,” Attorney Philip Cohen said of Robicheaux.

Riley sobbed as the judge announced his ruling that there wasn’t enough evidence to proceed on the sexual assault-related charges. Both Riley and Robicheaux — who have attended every court hearing together — embraced and congratulated their attorneys following the ruling.

Since the ruling came at the end of a preliminary hearing there was a lower burden of proof, with the judge only required to find probable cause that the defendants should face the charges rather than the higher criminal jury trial standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Unlike a jury trial, investigators were able to testify on behalf of the alleged victims, rather than the woman having to take the stand.

Jane Doe 1 told investigators that she was out drinking and dancing with a roommate at Baja Sharkeez when Riley met and befriended the pair, introducing them to Robicheaux. After taking a few sips of a drink Robicheaux bought her, Jane Doe 1 told investigators that she “blanked out,” waking up later in a state of undress next to her topless roommate in Robicheaux’s dark bedroom.

Unable to wake up her roommate, Jane Doe 1 told investigators, she found Robicheaux in a bathroom and asked him what was going on, at which point she claimed Robicheaux grabbed her arms and told her, “You wanted this, you wanted to come back here.” A struggle between Jane Doe 1 and Robicheaux ensued, the woman told investigators, in which he struck her until she screamed and Riley walked up and told Robicheaux, “It is going too far, it is not worth it.”

Hearing the screams, neighbors called 911. Officers in reports and later interviews said Jane Doe 1 told them that night that she hadn’t been sexually assaulted. But, in an interview with prosecutors shortly before the recent preliminary hearing, Jane Doe 1 reportedly said she had told the officers that she had been sexually assaulted but they didn’t believe her and had laughed at her.

Jane Doe 2 met Robicheaux on a dating app while visiting Orange County on Easter weekend in 2017, and the two met up at Nobu Newport Beach. Jane Doe 2 said she was surprised that Riley was also there, since she thought it was a date, but indicated she warmed up to Riley and had drinks with the couple and agreed to take cocaine Riley allegedly offered her.

The rest of the night was hazy, Jane Doe 2 told investigators, but she remembered the couple touching her and Robicheaux taking off her shirt, Robicheaux handing her a drink he had put some sort of substance into and locking herself into a bathroom until she could call an Uber and leave. Jane Doe 2 recalled Riley at one point telling her “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” and Riley later telling her “He makes me do this” referring to Robicheaux.

A police search of Robicheaux’s home allegedly turned up cocaine, the drug Gamma-hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, and MDMA, or Ectasy, as well as two unregistered weapons, a Bushmaster rifle and a Century Arms RAS47 rifle.

During testimony in the preliminary hearing, the defense attorneys repeatedly asked why investigators didn’t question apparent inconsistencies, particularly in Jane Doe 1’s multiple interviews. They also noted that Jane Doe 1’s roommate — with whom she apparently had a falling out — told investigators that “(Jane Doe 1) tends to think everyone is trying to do sexual things to her.”

The case was first announced in a high-profile news conference in 2018, when then-District Attorney Tony Rackauckas described the couple as meeting a series of women in bars and restaurants, drugging them and luring them back to Robicheaux’s home to sexually assault them. An orthopedic surgeon, Robicheaux had appeared on a Bravo television show, “Online Dating Rituals of the American Male.”

After unseating Rackauckas, current District Attorney Todd Spitzer accused his predecessor of mishandling the case, apologized to the couple and moved to have the charges dismissed. Attorneys representing the women fought back, and a judge refused to sign off on what he described as a “back-room dismissal” in a case that had been “infected” by politics.

The judge opted instead to take the rare step of removing the DA’s office from the case and turning it over to the state Attorney General’s office. At that point, there were still seven alleged victims.

A judge later agreed to dismiss charges related to two of the women, who decided they no longer wanted to be involved after deciding they had been “grossly mistreated” and “dragged through the mud.”

Then, a third judge agreed to a request by the Attorney General’s Office to dismiss charges related to three other women, leaving two remaining alleged victims. State prosecutors told the judge they had walked into a “political firestorm” when they took on the case, and while they weren’t saying they didn’t believe the alleged victims, they believed they couldn’t prove the criminal allegations they had decided to dismiss.

Both prosecutors and defense attorneys — along with attorneys representing the remaining alleged victims — declined to comment after Friday’s ruling.

Robicheaux and Riley once faced decades in prison had they been convicted of the charges announced by the former DA in 2018. It wasn’t immediately clear what they face if they are convicted of the current, drastically pared-back charges. The arraignment on those charges is July 19.

No trial date has been set.

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​ Orange County Register 

He’s been rescued, he’s rescued others, now an OC therapy horse is off to retirement

• July 7, 2023

Retiring at 22 may seem too young, but for county firefighters and employees and clients of The Shea Center, Friday’s retirement party was a deserved, yet bittersweet, send-off for the therapy horse Choco.

Choco made headlines in July 2021 when he had to be rescued from a ravine by firefighters with the Orange County Fire Authority’s Truck 56. His rescue sparked a collaboration between the OCFA and The Shea Center, one of the largest therapeutic equestrian centers in the world, to rekindle a training program on how to rescue large animals.

Choco has spent the last five years at The Shea Center helping adults and youth through equine-centered mental and physical therapy. Due to his age and a cataracts diagnosis, Choco is retiring to a farm in Fallbrook.

“The coolest thing about the whole deal is, with our job, more often than not, we come into chaotic scenes, whether it’s a medical aid or a car accident, we send the individual to the hospital and we don’t ever get the closure or end up seeing what happens,” OCFA Capt. Danny Goodwin said.

But with Choco, the rescuers have been able to keep up with horse and now even celebrate his retirement, Goodwin said. “It’s just cool to have that closure and see him and know we made a small impact that helped him live a long life.”

Two years ago, Sarah Booth, The Shea Center’s communications director, was taking Choco on a routine fitness ride when a bird flew into the horse, spooking him. Choco fell 10 feet down into a ravine behind the center. Booth found Choco lying on his back, with concrete and rebar jutting into his flanks.

She feared the worst.

“When I was in that rock pit with him down the ravine, he was so scared, but he stayed calm for me. He listened to me, he let me stroke him,” Booth said. “And he could have killed me with his legs flailing, but he didn’t. He just trusted me to be able to know that I was going to help him, and that was a really powerful memory for me.”

Veterinarians had to sedate Choco so OCFA firefighters, led by Goodwin, could dig the horse out. With a makeshift harness of netting, he was lifted and flown out of the ravine by helicopter.

Booth called the rescue “nothing short of miraculous.” Goodwin called it a once-in-a-lifetime call.

Goodwin said the rescue was a wake-up call. Although the OCFA had once had a program to teach firefighters how to deal with large animals, the trainers had retired. Already that year, the department had rescued one horse before Choco, and everyone realized the training needed to resume, Goodwin said.

So Goodwin partnered with Booth and The Shea Center to create an equine urban search and rescue training program.

Goodwin said it was important for the OCFA to attend Choco’s retirement to show support for The Shea Center and its surrounding San Juan Capistrano community and their investment in the program.

“The Shea Center, and Choco especially, have done so much for our program and have given so much back to us that we need to show that we still care,” he said.

About a hundred firefighters from Anaheim, Orange, Huntington Beach and the county have taken part in the training over the last two years. It started as a three-day session to introduce firefighters to horses and get them used to working with large animals. As lessons have been learned for other rescues, the training has evolved.

Booth said the nonprofit organization’s horses are very well-trained for situations that would normally spook a horse, making them ideal for firefighters to train with.

Choco has participated in training firefighters, but he primarily worked in The Shea Center’s adaptive riding program and helped combat veterans with PTSD, Booth said. She described Choco as sensitive, a trait that benefited his work with the center’s mental healthcare program.

Liam Jepsen, a 15-year-old high school student from Laguna Niguel, said he formed an affectionate connection with Choco after riding with him frequently and attributed the horse with helping manage his ADHD.

“That showed me that if I stayed calm around the horse, they would stay calm around me, and that’s how my ADHD fell low and I was able to control it, all thanks to Mr. Choco,” Jepsen said.

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Choco will retire to the Rock Hills Ranch in Fallbrook, which is 45 minutes away from The Shea Center.

Two other horses from the center have retired there, too, Booth said. Choco will spend his days grazing in pastures with other horses and receive care from the people who run the property.

“I, personally, and some of us that are close to him, are just so sad to see him leave,” Booth said, “but know he’s earned it.”

​ Orange County Register 

UFC 290: Alexander Volkanovski says he’s better after losing

• July 7, 2023

LAS VEGAS — Alexander Volkanovski is coming off a fight in which he lost – and was congratulated for it.

He wasn’t all that comfortable at first about hearing the kudos for moving up a weight class to come close in a fight that Volkanovski said even many close to him didn’t think he had much of a chance to win.

Now he’s back in his more familiar featherweight division, where he won five title fights, to take on interim champion Yair Rodriguez (16-3) on Saturday for the belt in UFC 290.

Having gone up in weight and come back down, Volkanovski (25-2) said the experience of trying to add more bulk should serve him well.

“It feels good to be at featherweight again and being as sharp as ever,” the 145-pound champion said. “Definitely, that bulk made me stronger. Rising to that challenge, to that occasion, put my skills on a whole other level.”

He moved up to lightweight to face Islam Makhachev on Feb. 11 for the championship. The 155-pound title fight went five rounds, with Makhachev winning by unanimous decision. That loss, before a pro-Volkanovski crowd in his home country of Australia, ended his 22-match winning streak.

Even in losing, the 34-year-old Volkanovski took a big step in solidifying his reputation as one of the UFC’s top pound-for-pound fighters, trading blows and coming close on the scorecards at 48-47, 48-47 and 49-46 despite facing an opponent 4 inches taller and 15 pounds heavier.

“So many people thought I’d get manhandled and didn’t think I stood a chance, and there are probably people close to me that thought that,” said Volkanovski, second in the official pound-for-pound rankings to Jon Jones. “The loss did help me.”

He is a substantial favorite at minus-400, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, against Rodriguez, a 30-year-old from Mexico. A convincing victory will help cement the claim that Volkanovski is the greatest featherweight in UFC history.

Rodriguez said he can’t add much to the superlatives that have already been attached to Volkanovski.

“He can kind of keep the same pace for five rounds, which is really important in this game,” Rodriguez said. “He’s able to figure out his opponents, the style or the little mistakes they (make) and takes advantage of those situations.”

That said, Rodriguez isn’t entering the fight to be just fodder for Volkanovski to make a triumphant return.

“I just think it’s going to be really difficult for him to beat me,” Rodriguez said. “He probably thinks it’s going to be easier. My style is completely different to what many people think. Being in front of me in the cage is difficult. It’s hard for anybody.”

Their bout headlines the International Fight Week card that also includes a second title matchup when Mexico’s Brandon Moreno (21-6-2) puts his flyweight championship on the line against Brazil’s Alexandre Pantoja (25-5).

Moreno, 29, is a minus-205 favorite, but the 33-year-old Pantoja has beaten him twice.

“I can feel he’s motivated, like ‘I can do it again.’ I can see it in his face and his body language,” Moreno said. “I’m just changed. I’m just different. I just want to show that to the world this Saturday. I don’t want to talk that much about it, but man, I’m ready. I’m ready to shine this Saturday.”

Pantoja said he isn’t relying just on history in trying to win for the third time. The last one was five years ago, and Pantoja acknowledged that Moreno is a different fighter.

But …

“Maybe he’s keeping that in his head,” Pantoja said of the prior losses.

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​ Orange County Register 

Kings sign Tobias Bjornfot, Samuel Fagemo and Tyler Madden

• July 7, 2023

The Kings agreed to contract extensions with three players Friday, each with an annual average value of the NHL league minimum of $775,000.

Defenseman Tobias Bjornfot signed a pact with a two-year term, while forwards Samuel Fagemo and Tyler Madden inked one-year deals. Bjornfot’s is a one-way contract, whereas Fagemo and Madden will continue to be two-way players with greater flexibility to pass between the NHL and American Hockey League.

Bjornfot, 22, has the strongest chance to start the upcoming season with a firm slot in the Kings’ lineup, not only due to the commitment shown by the organization but because he is at once the most experienced and most needed player among the group. Though Jacob Moverare and newly signed Andreas Englund also give coach Todd McLellan left-shooting options for the third defensive pairing, and prospect Brandt Clarke has experience on the left side as a right shot, Bjornfot may well have the inside track.

A 2019 first-round pick, Bjornfot has logged 116 NHL games, including 10 last season. The departure of veteran Alex Edler, as well as a slew of trades that sent away Sean Durzi, Sean Walker and Helge Grans, have opened up opportunities on the blue line.

Up front, Fagemo, a sniping winger, and Madden, a versatile skater capable of playing center or wing, could also challenge for time and will likely be counted upon by the big club at some point during the season. They are both 23 years old.

Madden, a former third-round pick of the Vancouver Canucks and the son of former New Jersey Devils forward John Madden, has yet to make his NHL debut. He has become an AHL regular since leaving Northeastern University in 2020.

Fagemo has three points in 13 NHL games, having enjoyed a cup of coffee with the parent club in each of the past two seasons. He was beat out for a roster spot in training camp last year by Gabe Vilardi, who was the centerpiece of the package that brought center Pierre-Luc Dubois from Winnipeg. Fagemo has piled up 50 goals over the past two seasons in the minors and should figure into a robust competition for the spots flanking center Blake Lizotte on the fourth line.

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