At least 1 dead as train derails near The Hague, Netherlands

• April 4, 2023

By Peter DeJong and Mike Corder | Associated Press

VOORSCHOTEN, Netherlands — A passenger train slammed into a construction crane and derailed near The Hague in the early hours of Tuesday, sending two carriages into a field next to the tracks. One person died and 19 were hospitalized, Dutch emergency services said.

Police opened an investigation to establish if any crime was committed. Another independent probe was opened into the cause of the crash.

Television images showed people using temporary bridges and ladders to cross a narrow drainage canal running alongside the rails to reach the stricken train in the darkness. Many windows in the train carriages were broken. It was not clear if that happened during the accident or as passengers attempted to escape.

Two of the bright yellow and blue train carriages came to rest perpendicular to the tracks across the small canal and partially in a field. What appeared to be the front of the train was badly damaged. Other parts of the train were partially derailed.

Video footage from inside the train in the immediate aftermath of the crash showed chaotic scenes as passengers tried to get out of the wreckage in darkness.

Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima also expressed their sympathy in a tweet, and Willem-Alexander visited the site late Tuesday morning.

The four-carriage passenger train was carrying about 50 passengers at the time of the crash.

John Voppen, CEO of the rail network company Pro Rail, said that the passenger train and a freight train both hit a crane that was being used to carry out maintenance work. He said the crane was on tracks that were not being used by train traffic and it is not clear how the trains collided with the crane.

“We don’t understand how this could have happened,” he told reporters at a news conference.

The identity of the person killed in the accident was not immediately released. But Dutch media reported that the person was part of a maintenance team from construction company BAM working on the railway. The company did not immediately return a call seeking confirmation.

The maintenance team had been at work on the rails between the cities of Leiden and The Hague when the crash happened around 3:25 a.m. (0125 GMT) in the town of Voorschoten.

Railway company NS also said in a statement that a passenger train, a freight train and a construction crane were involved in a collision, but the company gave no further details.

“Like everyone else, I’m full of questions and we want to know exactly what happened,” NS CEO Wouter Koolmees said in a statement. “A thorough investigation must be carried out. At the moment, all attention is focused on the wellbeing of our travelers and colleagues.”

The regional coordinator of emergency services said that 11 of the injured passengers were treated in homes near the line and 19 were transported in a fleet of ambulances to five hospitals, including a “calamity hospital” opened in the central city of Utrecht.

“A terrible train accident near Voorschoten, where unfortunately one person died and many people were injured. My thoughts are with the relatives and with all the victims. I wish them all the best,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in a tweet.

Ingrid de Roos, a spokeswoman for local fire services, told news show WNL that a small fire broke out at the rear of the train but was quickly extinguished.

Corder reported from The Hague.

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County scores and player stats for Tuesday, April 4

• April 4, 2023

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

Scores and stats from Orange County games on Tuesday, April 4

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

TUESDAY’S SCORES

BASEBALL

NATIONAL CLASSIC

Quarterfinals

Servite 4, Villa Park 1

Ser: Dominguez (W, 4IP 1H 1R 3K). Vanderhook (Sv, 3IP 1H 0R 2K). Woodson 3-4, 2R. Scott 2-3, RBI.

RYAN LEMMON SPRING INVITATIONAL

Woodbridge 3, Trabuco Hills 2

University 5, Davis (UT) 2

San Clemente 5, Segerstrom 3

Bountiful (UT) 2, Irvine 1

​ Orange County Register 

The Compost: For the love of the distressed desert

• April 4, 2023

Welcome to The Compost, a weekly newsletter on key environmental news impacting Southern California. Subscribe now to get it in your inbox! In today’s edition…

Tesa Madsen-Hepp, an ecology doctoral student at UC Riverside, is sounding the alarm: Even our hardiest desert environments are transforming in alarming ways due to climate change.

I spent time over the weekend in that environment, as my husband and I continued an annual tradition of going on a scavenger hunt to track down all of the Desert X art installations that appear in the Coachella Valley each spring. Several of this year’s installations, which are on display through May 7, comment on climate change and how our planet is transforming.  That includes the interactive exhibit Hylozoic/Desires in my photo above, by Himali Singh Soin of India and David Soin Tappeser of Germany, where poetic commentary and indigenous music wash over the sand as the area’s famous wind turbines spin in the background.

Just south of that spot, the Mojave Desert transitions into the Sonoran Desert, which is the hottest such climate in North America. If any place stands a chance at thriving through climate change, it’s here, right? That’s why the latest findings from Madsen-Hepp are so alarming.

“We tend to have this perspective that deserts are super resilient, ” she said. Instead, her team discovered pinyon and juniper pines, thought to be extremely heat and drought tolerant, have moved up in elevation over the past few decades — and still aren’t thriving. But they found less hardy shrubs, including ocotillo, also have moved down to take their place. If the planet keeps warming, and extreme times of drought and chaotic precipitation continue, Madsen-Hepp told me she fears what’s next will be nothing but barren land.

“Once they reach their threshold, there’s no other plant species we can just go in and plant and hope that they’ll take over and make that ecosystem flourish,” she said.

Some people already see these stretches of desert as wasteland. But visit now and that notion will be quickly pushed aside. Thanks to our wet winter, we saw blooming Joshua trees and cholla cacti. We saw bright yellow brittlebush and desert sunflowers and purple native verbena painting the sand this superbloom season.

One wet winter won’t reverse long-term trends, though, Madsen-Hepp cautioned. Her research shows the desert is responding primarily to rising temperatures, which show no sign of slowing down. So the only cure, she said, is to curb emissions to curtail climate change.

“I shouldn’t overlook the desert when thinking about climate impact,” Julie Babyar wrote on Twitter in response to the story.

Others who emailed me about the story were less convinced.

“Another piece about the ‘climate crisis.’ Perhaps treating your depression with a different psychologist?” one email read.

I’m increasingly encountering this narrative from climate change deniers that anyone who follows the science must be suffering from mental illness. Climate anxiety, of course, is very real, and my conversation with Madsen-Hepp was sobering. But standing in the desert this weekend, thinking about my article as I observed the work of artists Soin and Tappeser and the other Desert X artists, I didn’t feel depressed. I felt more inspired and motivated than ever to help save this special ecosystem that’s one of many reasons I love living in Southern California.

Ignorance may be bliss, but information is power. And I, for one, am feeling empowered.

— Brooke Staggs, environment reporter

 HYDRATE

Record snowpack: The snowpack has gone from 35% of normal this time last year to 237% of normal this year, tying with 1952 as the biggest haul since official records began shortly before that. My family in Big Bear reported they were briefly getting more snow  flurries Monday. Now we just need to hope for no early warm spells, to avoid major flooding risks… Our Bay Area colleague Scooty Nickerson has the tale. …READ MORE…

Key quote: “Once you get up above some level, you are mostly concerned with how fast it melts rather than how big is the snowpack.”

Fill ‘er up: ICYMI, our Monserrat Solis reported that the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California was refilling Diamond Valley Lake, its 810,000-acre-foot reservoir near Hemet, for the first time in three years. It had dropped to 60% of capacity during the drought. There also happens to be quite the superbloom happening near the lake, with a special wildflower trail now open. …READ MORE…

 BREATHE

Carbon removal boom: “It effectively needs to be a wartime effort. The oil and gas infrastructure that currently exists out to the horizon needs to be replaced with carbon removal.” Here’s Laura Klivans with KQED on the potential for a carbon removal boom in California that could reduce warming and create jobs, though some are worried about unintended consequences. …READ MORE…

Dive deeper: Brian Kahn writes for Rolling Stone about a $925 million fund Silicon Valley companies have created to pull that carbon from the sky.

Get a roundup of the best climate and environment news delivered to your inbox each week by signing up for The Compost.

 PROTECT

Ditch the flush: Ladies, who’s still flushing period products? I talked with a director at Roundhouse Aquarium in Manhattan Beach who has made it a mission to raise awareness about how microplastics and chemicals in many products can harm marine life, and to push companies to do better. …READ MORE…

Most disturbing detail: Fish eat algae, which can absorb microplastics. We eat fish. So yes, bits of those flushed products might eventually end up inside of us.

Pit update: I told you last week about lawsuits looming over Newport Beach’s plan to deal with contaminated sediment that needs to be dredged from channels in Lower Newport Bay by burying it in an underwater pit at the heart of the harbor. It’s now official: the Orange County Coastkeeper has sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over the project, arguing in a 33-page suit that the federal agency didn’t properly study how the pit might impact protected wildlife and what other mitigations and alternatives were possible.

Big park could get bigger: One of Southern California’s largest state parks may soon grow by another 842 acres if a ridgeline is purchased to keep housing off and protect wildlife. Our Steve Scauzillo has the tale. …READ MORE…

 TRANSPORT

Green trucking gets green light: The Biden administration on Friday cleared the way for California’s plan to phase out a range of diesel-powered trucks. The EPA ruling will let California require manufacturers to sell an increasing number of zero-emission trucks in the next couple of decades to help the state reach emissions targets. Some observers are questioning whether the state grid is ready and are expressing concerns over the burden the transition will be on truckers and trucking companies. …READ MORE… 

Speaking of green trucking…: The Long Beach City Council is slated to hold a public hearing tonight on whether to let a company demolish structures on lots on the west end of town and develop a green trucking and outdoor temporary container storage facility for trucks en route to the Port of Long Beach. While the project calls for features such as zero emission charge stations for onsite trucks, our Kristy Hutchings reports it has drawn opposition from at least one group over potential impacts on traffic and the environment. …READ MORE…

Get ’em while they last: The IRS lists more than three dozen electric or plug-in hybrid passenger vehicles made in North America that now are eligible for a $7,500 federal tax credit. But some won’t qualify or will get only half once new Treasury Department rules announced Friday take effect, the Associated Press reports. …READ MORE…

 EQUITIZE

Uneven pollution: A new report showed that drought and extreme heat worsened air pollution for low-income and non-white communities throughout California, further degrading health in neighborhoods that have long struggled with environmental inequities. Dorany Pineda with the Los Angeles Times has the story. …READ MORE…

Key quote: “We have a tendency as a state and as a country to really outsource pollution based on needs that are occurring elsewhere.”

 CELEBRATE

Thanks, Earth Day: Enjoy this column from our contributor Rececca K. O’Connor about how Earth Day recently helped her check off something that had been on her bucket list since she was 10 years old. …READ MORE…

Repair Cafe returns: Here’s a fun article on an important sustainability issue, as our contributor Anissa Rivera covers the return of the Pasadena-based Repair Cafe after a pandemic-related hiatus. People can bring damaged items to the pop-up event for free repair by volunteers who are working to end our throwaway mindset. …READ MORE…

Flowers bloom as Roxanne Bradley and Tom McDonnell hike through the new Saddleback Wilderness area in Orange, CA, on Monday, March 27, 2023. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

 EXPLORE

Trails reopen: It was wild. Then it was a popular motocross course. Then it was closed to the public and allowed to become wild again. Now 3.3 miles of trails in a hilly area near Irvine Lake are open to the public again during special access events to protect the delicate ecosystem. Our Heather McCrea as the story. …READ MORE…

 PITCH IN

Share Earth Day events: For this week’s tip on how Southern Californians can help the environment… Know about an Earth Day event happening anywhere in Southern California on or around April 22? Send the details my way to [email protected] so I can share a roundup in an upcoming issue of The Compost and hopefully generate more support for the work you all are doing to protect our corner of this wild and wonderful planet.

Thanks for reading, Composters! Don’t forget to sign up to get The Compost delivered to your inbox and to share this newsletter with others.

Related links

The Compost: Is it time to reform California’s bedrock environmental law?
The Compost: How a local university ended up on the front lines of the hydrogen debate
The Compost: Is classroom air clean enough?
We have a new Southern California environment email newsletter. Sign up today for The Compost!

​ Orange County Register 

Virgin Orbit files for bankruptcy

• April 4, 2023

By Amelia Pollard, Rachel Butt and Loren Grush | Bloomberg

Virgin Orbit Holdings in Long Beach filed for bankruptcy after the satellite launch firm tied to British billionaire Richard Branson failed to secure the funding needed to keep operating and cut about 85% of its staff.

The company listed $243 million in assets and $153.5 million for its total debt in a Chapter 11 petition filed in Delaware.

The move punctuates the rapid fall of the company, after a high-profile launch failure in January and a collapse in its stock price. Virgin Orbit halted operations in March while it sought additional capital and later laid off about 671 employees.

Branson’s Virgin Investments Ltd. has committed to providing an added $31.6 million to keep the pared-back operation going while it seeks a buyer. The 72-year-old billionaire had already pumped in $70.9 million since November, according to bankruptcy filings.

Chief Executive Officer Dan Hart said he’s seeking a transaction that will position Virgin Orbit and its assets “for future opportunities and missions,” according to a statement.

The firm — part of Branson’s empire that includes Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd and spaceflight company Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. — hasn’t turned a profit as a public company. It lost about $191.2 million last year, Virgin Orbit said in a regulatory filing.

The launch company officially began in 2017 as an offshoot of Virgin Galactic. Virgin Orbit’s business centered on launching small satellites into orbit.

Unlike some competitors that launch rockets from the ground, Virgin Orbit uses a technique known as air launch, in which its LauncherOne rocket is deployed at a high altitude from underneath the wing of a modified Boeing Co. 747 plane. The company began developing the rocket at Virgin Galactic, years before the satellite-launch business was formally created.

Virgin Orbit successfully launched its first mission to orbit in January 2021 and completed four successful flights through 2022. It has placed 33 satellites into precise orbit, the company said.

The company had planned to increase its launch frequency this year but had to reassess after the failed January mission, which was slated to be the first orbital launch from British soil. Its vehicle never reached orbit after incurring a problem with a fuel filter during the flight, leading to the loss of nine small satellites.

Cash crunch

The mishap accelerated a cash crunch underway since the SPAC transaction that took Virgin Orbit public in December 2021. That deal netted just $67.8 million for the company, significantly less than expected, CEO Hart said in a court filing.

Virgin Orbit began working with Goldman Sachs & Co. and BofA Securities Inc. in early 2022 — soon after it went public — to pursue a sale or raise more capital, according to Hart.

In June of last year, the company sold $50 million in convertible notes to Yorkville Capital Management, according to a court submission by Brian Whittman, a restructuring adviser at Alvarez & Marsal who was brought on in February. All but $1 million was converted prior to the bankruptcy filing, and Yorkville provided another $1 million in convertible funding last week, according to court filings.

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Higher interest rates and changes in capital markets contributed to Virgin Orbit’s failure to raise enough money, Hart said. He also cited competition from better-funded rivals, a slow-developing market for government-sponsored satellite launches and other factors, including the company’s own launch difficulties.

In a regulatory filing Tuesday, Virgin Orbit said Chief Operating Officer Tony Gingiss was leaving after his position was eliminated as part of the company’s previously announced workforce reduction.

The company’s shares tumbled 20% at 9:34 a.m. in New York, trading under 16 cents apiece.

​ Orange County Register 

Trump’s surrender creates New York spectacle

• April 4, 2023

By BOBBY CAINA CALVAN and DEEPTI HAJELA (Associated Press)

NEW YORK (AP) — A small park built on a site that was once a swampy, sewage-filled pond was ground zero for the frenzy surrounding former President Donald Trump’s expected surrender Tuesday at a courthouse in Lower Manhattan.

Hundreds of onlookers, protesters, journalists and a few politicians swarmed into the confines of Collect Pond Park, which sits across the street from the criminal courthouse where Trump was to be arraigned.

• Photos: Protesters gather outside of Trump Tower, DA’s office ahead of Trump’s arraignment

The crowd was small, by the standards of New York City protests, which routinely draw thousands. And fears that unruly mobs might force police to shut down swaths of the city proved to be unfounded, with security measures mostly disappearing within a couple of blocks.

But within the park and the surrounding sidewalks, there was plenty of chaos.

Metal barricades separated Trump supporters from anti-Trump protesters, and police stepped in to break up small skirmishes. Journalists, some of whom had taken turns waiting in line all night to reserve a coveted seat in the courtroom, pressed in on notable figures who appeared.

• Related: 2 injured, 1 arrested after fight at pro-Trump rally in Huntington Beach

Whistles and jeers from anti-Trump protesters nearly drowned out remarks by U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, who had come to support Trump. But she drew cheers from the pro-Trump contingent before making a fast exit as journalists jostled for position around her.

Also on hand to support Trump was U.S. Rep. George Santos, the besieged Republican congressman facing multiple investigations into lies about his biography that he told while running for office.

“I’m not here for the cameras,” he insisted to reporters. “I want to support the president, just because I think this is unprecedented, and it’s a bad day for democracy.”

The crowds grew larger as the hour drew closer to Trump’s arrival at the courthouse to become the first president or former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges.

New York police had said they were ready for large protests by Trump supporters, who share the Republican former president’s belief that the New York grand jury indictment and three additional pending investigations are politically motivated and intended to weaken his bid to retake the White House in 2024.

A few hundred did show up to support Trump on Tuesday, waving Trump flags and wearing “Make America Great Again” hats.

But security was loose enough in the neighborhood that plenty of passers-by walked through the park just to see what was going on.

One woman went through what looked like a Tai Chi routine, steadfastly ignoring the reporters.

At one point, a tour guide led a group of tourists through the area. The guide stopped to take photos of the scene, then continued on. Others lingered after wandering near the large pack of journalists.

Kyle Heath, 37, from Carmel, Indiana, was in the city for a family vacation that had been planned for some time. He walked through the park amid the throngs of journalists, taking it all in.

“We wanted to come down and kind of witness what was going on, and say that we were as close to it as we could be,” Heath said. “In Indiana, we don’t have this much excitement.”

In the late 1700s, Collect Pond Park was the site of a small body of water that had become an open sewer as the city grew. It was filled in in the early 1800s, but for decades was part of Manhattan’s notorious “Five Points” slum, known for gang warfare.

A different sort of tension ran high around the courthouse and park Tuesday as news media jostled for position. Television networks hired security personnel who pushed people away. Some reporters had begun lining up for a seat in the courtroom on Monday afternoon, and stayed there all night or paid others to hold their place.

A small skirmish erupted when anti-Trump protesters unfurled a large banner that read “TRUMP LIES ALL THE TIME” in the middle of a Trump supporters. Police quickly diffused the scene.

“I think it’s very important. I think it’s very symbolic, you know, it shows that at least in New York with the DA that no man is above the law,” said Gregory Williams, 57, who showed up with a life- size cutout of Hillary Clinton and a handmade sign saying “Lock Him Up.”

Associated Press writer Paul J. Weber in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

Recipe: Here’s an easy way to make spicy, pan-seared shrimp

• April 4, 2023

Fancy sauces aren’t needed for this spice-coated shrimp. Each one is a satisfying bite on its own. The chef-testers at America’s Test Kitchen mastered these tasty crustaceans by using steps that ensure that they retain moisture even though they are seared over high heat.

The searing is interesting, and it works like a charm. The shrimp starts in a cold skillet, and then the heat is turned to high. Once the heat-side of the shrimps are spotty brown and the edges turn pink, the skillet is removed from the heat and the beauties are turned over to finish cooking in the off-the-stove residual heat. A mix of garlic, cumin, paprika and cayenne pepper comes to the party, with a final flourish of cilantro, parsley, lemon juice and pistachios.

Pan-Seared Shrimp with Pistachios, Cumin, and Parsley

Yield: 8 servings

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 pounds extra-large shrimp (21 to 25 per pound), peeled, deveined, and tails removed

1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided use

1 garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground paprika

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided use

1/8 teaspoon granulated sugar

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, leaves and tender stems

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, leaves and tender stems

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup shelled pistachios, toasted and coarsely chopped

DIRECTIONS

1. Toss shrimp and 1/2 teaspoon salt together in a bowl; set aside for 15 to 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, combine garlic, cumin, paprika, cayenne, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt in a small bowl.

3. Pat shrimp dry with paper towels. Add 1 tablespoon oil and sugar to bowl with shrimp and toss to coat. Add shrimp to cold 12-inch nonstick skillet in single layer and cook over high heat until undersides of shrimp are spotty brown, and edges turn pink, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove skillet from heat. Working quickly, use tongs to flip each shrimp; let stand until second side is opaque, about 2 minutes. Transfer shrimp to platter.

4. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to now-empty skillet. Add spice mixture and cook over medium heat until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Off heat, return shrimp to skillet. Add cilantro, parsley, and lemon juice; toss to combine. Transfer to platter; sprinkle with pistachios and serve.

 Source: “The Complete Small Plates Cookbook” by America’s Test Kitchen  (America’s Test Kitchen, $34.99)

Cooking question? Contact Cathy Thomas at [email protected]

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​ Orange County Register 

Orange County girls athlete of the week: Berkley Vance, Los Alamitos

• April 4, 2023

The Orange County girls athlete of the week:

Name: Berkley Vance

School: Los Alamitos

Sport: Softball

Year: Senior

Noteworthy: Vance was named Most Valuable Player of the Michelle Carew Classic after she pitched the Griffins to a 4-2 victory over No. 1 seed St. Francis of Mountain View in the Gold Bracket final. She pitched a complete game and allowed two runs on eight hits with five strikeouts. She also pitched a shutout in a 3-0 win over Mission Viejo in the first round. Vance, who signed with Seattle University, missed all of last season after having surgery to repair an ACL injury.

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​ Orange County Register 

Orange County boys athlete of the week: Tyler Bellerose, Huntington Beach

• April 4, 2023

The Orange County boys athlete of the week:

Name: Tyler Bellerose

School: Huntington Beach

Sport: Baseball

Year: Sophomore

Noteworthy: He was chosen MVP of the National High School Invitational in North Carolina. Huntington Beach beat JSerra 8-1 in nine innings in the tournament championship game. Bellerose, a right-hander, pitched six scoreless innings before giving up the Lions’ only run in the seventh. He struck out six and gave up four hits. For the tournament, Bellerose pitched nine innings, allowed one earned run and had eight strikeouts with three walks. He committed to Pepperdine.

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​ Orange County Register