Artist of the Year winners take center stage at Chapman University

• May 8, 2025

Winners of the Orange County Register’s 12th annual Artist of the Year program sang, danced, acted and discussed their work at a ceremony Wednesday evening, May 7 in Chapman University’s Memorial Hall.

Six of the seven winners appeared at the event. Allie Molin of Mission Viejo, a jazz trumpeter who won the instrumental music category, was in New York on Wednesday to perform at Lincoln Center. Molin provided a video of her performing with a jazz combo.

The evening reflected the broad diversity of the winners, featuring a modern dance work by Piper Rovsek of Newport Beach, who won the dance category, a dramatic monologue by theater winner Isabella Kim of Fullerton and an opera aria by Fullerton’s Madison Becerra, who was named Artist of the Year in the vocal music category.

Fine arts Artist of the Year Helen Zhang discussed how the imagery in her paintings explores themes of resilience and vulnerability, inspired in part by her experience of being deaf in one ear. Film and TV winner Noah Villanueva of Irvine screened his short film “Pocketwatch,” which deals with the quest for impossible perfection. Jennifer (Doyeon) Kim of Tustin, the Artist of the Year for media arts, displayed products she had designed, such as tactile scarves for autistic people, as a form of personal empowerment and advocacy.

The seven winners were drawn from a field of 923 high school juniors and seniors who were nominated by schools, arts organizations and private instructors. Panels of high school teachers narrowed the list to 112 seminfalists. Panels of arts professionals and faculty members from local colleges then selected the Artists of the Year and 29 finalists. Semifinalists and finalists were also honored at Wednesday’s ceremony.

Artists on Wednesday were introduced by several leaders from Orange County’s arts community, including representatives of Chapman University and the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, whose sponorships make the program possible, and Arts Orange County, which serves a fiscal partner for the Artist of the Year program.

If you would like to support Artist of the Year with a donation, you can contribute here. Donations will be made to Arts Orange County on behalf of Artist of the Year.

​ Orange County Register 

Ex-model tearfully tells jury that Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted her when she was 16

• May 8, 2025

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and JENNIFER PELTZ, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A former model tearfully testified Thursday that Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted her when she was 16 years old, calling it the most “horrifying thing I ever experienced” to that point.

Kaja (KEYE’-ah) Sokola, an aspiring actor at the time, told jurors at Weinstein’s #MeToo retrial that the onetime movie honcho put his hand inside her underwear and made her touch his genitals at a Manhattan apartment in 2002.

Sokola said she saw Weinstein’s eyes — “black and scary” — staring at her in a bathroom mirror as it happened.

Afterward, she said, he told her to keep quiet about what had happened, touting that he’d made the careers of A-listers like Gwyneth Paltrow and Penélope Cruz and that he could help her Hollywood dreams come true.

“I’d never been in a situation like this,” Sokola testified, as riveted jurors scribbled notes. “I felt stupid and ashamed and like it’s my fault for putting myself in this position.”

Weinstein is not charged with any crime in connection with the alleged assault, which Sokola first detailed in a lawsuit a few years ago. The timing put it outside the statute of limitations for criminal charges.

Sokola is testifying because Weinstein is charged with forcibly performing oral sex on her at a Manhattan hotel four years later, around the time of her 20th birthday. Prosecutors say it happened after Weinstein arranged for Sokola to be an extra in the film “The Nanny Diaries.”

Sokola reported the allegation to authorities a few days into Weinstein’s first trial in 2020, but was not a part of that case. Prosecutors added her to the retrial, joining two women who testified in the first case, after his conviction was overturned last year.

Weinstein, now 73, looked down and away from Sokola as she recounted the earlier allegation, pressing his left thumb and index finger against his face like a shield.

Sokola testified that she first met the then-studio boss at a Manhattan restaurant in 2002, three or four days before the alleged assault. During the short chat, she said, Weinstein asked her if she wanted to be an actress.

A few days later, she said, he invited her to lunch — ostensibly to talk about acting — but instead took her to an apartment, where led her into a bedroom and then a bathroom, instructed her to take her top off and assaulted her.

“He told me to take my clothes off and I didn’t want to do that. I was panicking,” Sokola testified. “And then he said that if I want to be an actress, that’s what actors do in films, so I should get used to it. If a director says you have you take your clothes off, you have to take your clothes off. I was scared. I was scared of him.”

Sokola avoided looking at Weinstein as she walked to the witness stand — testifying for a second day after detailing on Wednesday her upbringing in Poland, entrée into modeling and her professional career as a psychotherapist and author who recently launched a film production company. She peered briefly at Weinstein when asked Thursday to point him out in court.

Weinstein has pleaded not guilty and denies sexually assaulting anyone.

His lawyers contend that his accusers consented to sexual encounters with him in hopes of getting movie and TV opportunities, and the defense has emphasized that the women stayed in contact with him for a while after the alleged assaults. The women, meanwhile, say the then-producer used the prospect of show business work to prey on them.

Sokola sued Weinstein after industry whispers about his behavior toward women became a chorus of public accusations in 2017, fueling the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct. Prosecutors have said Sokola eventually received $3.5 million in compensation.

Prosecutors have said they began investigating Sokola’s claims in 2020 but set the inquiry aside after Weinstein was convicted. They revived the investigation after New York’s highest court reversed his conviction.

Weinstein’s lawyers fought unsuccessfully to keep Sokola out of the retrial, accusing prosecutors of “smuggling an additional charge into the case” to try to bolster other accusers’ credibility.

One of the others, Miriam Haley, testified last week that Weinstein forced oral sex on her in 2006. The third accuser in the case, Jessica Mann, is expected to testify later.

The Associated Press generally does not name sexual assault accusers without their permission, which Haley, Mann and Sokola have given.

​ Orange County Register 

Newport Beach officer fatally shoots motorcyclist after struggle over Taser, video shows

• May 8, 2025

The officer who shot and killed a motorcyclist last month in Newport Beach did so after the 45-year-old old man fought with him and took his Taser, according to body-worn and dash-camera footage and interviews released on Wednesday, May. 7.

The footage aligns with what police have said generally happened, although it offers a detailed look.

Following the release of the footage, the man’s family issued a statement through their attorneys expressing “grave concern” over the officer’s actions.

The event unfolded around 9:15 p.m. on April 17. Dash-camera footage shows the motorcyclist getting pulled over after stopping for a red light and then running it at Coast Highway and Superior Avenue.

The driver was later identified as Geoffrey Shyam Stirling, 45, a Laguna Hills resident and brother of “Real Housewives of Orange County” alum Lydia McLaughlin.

Footage shows the officer approaching Stirling and asking if he is OK.

“I haven’t been drinking, officer,” Stirling responds. “I’m fully sober, I’m just trying to stay safe. People have been almost hitting me all day.”

Stirling steps off of the bike. But when instructed to sit on the sidewalk, he refuses and tries to get back on.

The officer radios that Stirling is uncooperative, and the two continue arguing.

“I don’t care what you’re telling me to do,” Stirling says.

When the officer asks for his name, Stirling does not respond and instead reaches into his jacket.

“I’ll show you my ID,” he says. “Don’t shoot me.”

The officer instructs him not to reach for anything, and Stirling appears to comply, but still does not sit down.

During the ongoing argument, the officer points out that Stirling appears to have urinated in his pants. The officer also informs him he is being detained and is not free to go.

As the officer turns to call for backup, Stirling takes a few steps toward him.

When the officer turns back, he puts his hands on and pushes Stirling, who then grabs the officer. A struggle ensues, and the officer’s body-worn camera is knocked to the ground.

Dash-camera footage appears to show Stirling striking the officer in the head several times and grabbing the officer’s Taser. At one point, Stirling has the Taser at the back of the officer’s head, police would say.

The officer breaks free and steps back.

They are steps apart, with the officer backing into a traffic lane.

The officer orders Stirling to drop the Taser, pointed at the officer. When Stirling does not comply quickly, the officer fires six shots.

Fire personnel arrive and render aid to Stirling, but is later declared dead at the hospital.

A civilian police employee on a ride-along remained in the patrol vehicle throughout the incident, Sgt. Steve Oberon said in the video released on Wednesday. Newport Beach Police Chief Dave Miner added that the California Department of Justice is investigating the shooting.

The Stirling family’s statement says that the video appears to show Stirling moving away from the officer when he was shot, although the video shows that the officer’s and Stirling’s movements at the end of the confrontation were fast-moving.

The family says Stirling was experiencing a mental-health crisis. He posed no deadly threat to the officer, the statement says. The family also alleges that although multiple officers responded, no immediate aid was given to Stirling after he was shot.

“The family remains heartbroken and devastated that Geoff was taken from them in what appears to be an unjustified use of lethal force,” the statement reads. “Equally tragic is that there may have been other options and tactics available to the officer that he failed to use.”

​ Orange County Register 

Father of 15-year-old who killed 2 at Wisconsin religious school faces felony charges

• May 8, 2025

By SCOTT BAUER and TODD RICHMOND, Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The father of a Wisconsin teenage girl who killed a teacher and fellow student in a school shooting was charged with felonies Thursday in connection with the case, police said.

The shooting occurred at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison last December.

The shooter’s father, Jeffrey Rupnow, 42, of Madison, was taken into custody around 3:45 a.m. Thursday, police said.

Rupnow was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a child and two counts of providing a dangerous weapon to a person under 18 resulting in death. All three charges are felonies, punishable by up to six years in prison each. He was scheduled to make an initial appearance in court on Friday.

Rupnow’s daughter, 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, opened fire on Dec. 16, 2024, at Abundant Life Christian School, killing a teacher and a 14-year-old student before killing herself. Two other students were critically injured.

Jeffrey Rupnow did not immediately respond to a message The Associated Press left on his Facebook page. No one immediately returned voicemails left at possible telephone listings for him and his ex-wife, Melissa Rupnow. Online court records indicate he represented himself in the couple’s 2022 divorce and do not list an attorney for him in that case.

Police had said they were investigating how Natalie Rupnow obtained two guns she had the day of the attack. Police have not discussed a clear motive in the attack. Former Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said shortly after the shooting that a “combination of factors” motivated the shooting, but he declined to specify what they were.

Jeffrey Rupnow is the latest parent of a school shooter to face charges associated with an attack.

Last year, the mother and father of a school shooter in Michigan who killed four students in 2021 were each convicted of involuntary manslaughter. The mother was the first parent in the U.S. to be held responsible for a child carrying out a mass school attack.

The father of a 14-year-old boy accused of fatally shooting four people at a Georgia high school was arrested in September and faces charges including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter for letting his son possess a weapon.

In 2023, the father of a man charged in a deadly Fourth of July parade shooting in suburban Chicago pleaded guilty to seven misdemeanors related to how his son obtained a gun license.

Killed in the shooting were Abundant Life teacher Erin Michelle West, 42, and student Rubi Patricia Vergara, 14.

Abundant Life is a nondenominational Christian school that offers prekindergarten classes through high school. About 420 students attend the institution.

​ Orange County Register 

US retires database tracking billions of dollars of climate change-fueled weather damage

• May 8, 2025

By ALEXA ST. JOHN, Associated Press

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is retiring its public database meant to keep track of the cost of losses from climate change-fueled weather disasters including floods, heat waves, wildfires and more. It is the latest example of changes to the agency and the Trump administration limiting federal government resources on climate change.

NOAA falls under the U.S. Department of Commerce and is tasked with daily weather forecasts, severe storm warnings and climate monitoring. It is also parent to the National Weather Service.

The agency said its National Centers for Environmental Information would no longer update the billion-dollar Weather and Climate Disasters database beyond 2024, and that its data — going as far back as 1980 — would be archived.

For decades, it has tracked hundreds of major events across the country, including destructive hurricanes, hail storms, droughts and freezes that have totaled trillions of dollars in damage.

The database uniquely pulls information from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s assistance data, insurance organizations, state agencies and more to estimate overall losses from individual disasters.

NOAA Communications Director Kim Doster said in a statement that the change was “in alignment with evolving priorities, statutory mandates, and staffing changes.”

Scientists say these weather events are becoming increasingly more frequent, costly and severe with climate change. Experts have attributed the growing intensity of recent debilitating heat, Hurricane Milton, the Southern California wildfires and blasts of cold to climate change.

Assessing the impact of weather events fueled by the planet’s warming is key as insurance premiums hike, particularly in communities more prone to flooding, storms and fires. Climate change has wrought havoc on the insurance industry, and homeowners are at risk of skyrocketing rates.

One limitation is that the dataset estimated only the nation’s most costly weather events. But the information is generally seen as standardized and unduplicable, given the agency’s access to nonpublic data.

Other private databases would be more limited in scope and likely not shared as widespread for proprietary reasons. Other datasets, however, also track death estimates from these disasters.

The move, reported Thursday by CNN, is yet another of President Donald Trump’s efforts to remove references to climate change and the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on the weather from the federal government’s lexicon and documents.

Trump has instead prioritized allies in the polluting coal, oil and gas industries, which studies say are linked or traced to climate damage.

The change also marks the administration’s latest hit to the weather, ocean and fisheries agency.

The Trump administration fired hundreds of weather forecasters and other federal NOAA employees on probationary status in February, part of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency efforts to downsize the federal government workforce. It began a second round of more than 1,000 cuts at the agency in March, more than 10% of its workforce at the time.

At the time, insiders said massive firings and changes to the agency would risk lives and negatively impact the U.S. economy. Experts also noted fewer vital weather balloon launches under NOAA would worsen U.S. weather forecasts.

More changes to the agency are expected, which could include some of those proposed in the president’s preliminary budget.

The agency’s weather service also paused providing language translations of its products last month — though it resumed those translations just weeks later.

Data journalist Mary Katherine Wildeman contributed from Hartford, Connecticut.

Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at ast.john@ap.org.

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

​ Orange County Register 

Where are rents still falling in Southern California?

• May 8, 2025

Southern Californians seeking an apartment deal are finding this chore is getting tougher.

My trusty spreadsheet reviewed April’s rent report from ApartmentList for the 250 largest U.S. cities, including 32 from Southern California. ApartmentList combines pricing patterns for all-sized rentals from its own listings with government rent-cost data to create its rent indexes.

Locally, the statistics show rents declined from April 2024 in just six of the 32 markets tracked, or 19%. That compares with price drops in 14 markets, or 44%, in the previous 12 months.

Or consider how the region’s median rent has swung over two years. It was $2,245 a month in the 32 markets in April – up 1.5% from the previous year compared with a 0.2% decrease in the year ending in April 2024.

Let me remind you that price cuts were found in an average 49% of local cities for all of last year and in 66% of the big rental markets in 2023. Of course, there was the renter pain of 2022 when only 10% of cities had price dips.

So why did landlords regain pricing power? Well, a construction boom cooled, easing supply growth. Meanwhile, homebuying remained prohibitively unaffordable, upping demand.

Plus, January’s horrific wildfires in Los Angeles County, which destroyed 11,000 homes, increased the need for rentals.

Renting elsewhere

Tenants in the rest of the state saw a similar pricing pattern, suggesting California’s tardy home construction pace may be a major culprit in rent’s rebound.

Apartment prices declined in the past year in only two of 16 California markets outside of the south, or 13%. Compare that with cuts in seven markets, or 44%, in the previous 12 months.

April’s median rent was $2,474 in non-Southern California markets – up 0.4% in the past year vs. a 1.7% gain previously.

Nationally, discounting remains common as apartment developers were far more active outside of California in recent years.

Rents declined in 102 of the 250 U.S. markets tracked, or 41%, through April. That’s a slight decline in cuts from 126, or 51% of the 250 in the previous 12 months.

April’s median U.S. rent was $1,525 – off 0.6% in the past year vs. a 0.5% hike the previous 12 months.

Who’s cutting locally?

Here are the six Southern California markets with rent declines in the year ended in April …

Temecula: Off 4.3% past year vs. 0.8% gain in the previous 12 months, to $2,202 monthly.

Murrieta: Off 1.7% past year vs. 0.5% gain previously to $2,096.

West Covina: Off 1.2% past year vs. 0.3% dip previously to $2,158.

Long Beach: Off 1.2% past year vs. 0.6% gain previously to $1,759.

Escondido: Off 1.1% past year vs. 1.8% gain previously to $2,141.

Santa Clarita: Off 0.1% past year vs. 1.8% gain previously to $2,482.

And some of the region’s biggest gains are close to January’s wildfire damage …

Pomona: Up 6.1% in the past year vs. 1.6% gain in the previous 12 months to $1,973 monthly.

Pasadena: Up 5.2% past year vs. 1% previous gain to $2,574.

Oxnard: Up 4.7% past year vs. 1.8% previous gain to $2,255.

Victorville: Up 4.7% past year vs. 5.8% previous drop to $1,661.

Huntington Beach: Up 4.5% past year vs. 0.8% previous dip to $2,565.

True bargains

The region’s lowest rents among the 32 markets can be found in these five spots, as of April …

Victorville: $1,661 monthly – up 4.7% in the past year vs. off 5.8% previously.

Long Beach: $1,759 – off 1.2% past year vs. up 0.6% previously.

Riverside: $1,819 – up 1.5% past year vs. off 1.8% previously.

Moreno Valley: $1,905 – up 0.4% past year vs. off 0.8% previously.

Pomona: $1,973 – up 6.1% past year vs. up 1.6% previously.

And Southern California’s costliest places to rent, as of April …

Irvine: $3,028 monthly – up 2.2% in the past year vs. a gain of 1.1% in the previous 12 months.

Thousand Oaks: $2,883 – up 2.1% past year vs. up 1.4% previously.

Simi Valley: $2,823 – up 1.1% past year vs. up 2.8% previously.

Costa Mesa: $2,599 – up 3.8% past year vs. up 2.5% previously.

Pasadena: $2,574 – up 5.2% past year vs. up 1% previously.

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com

​ Orange County Register 

Q&A with LAFC’s Steve Cherundolo: ‘Eager about the next stage of my life’

• May 8, 2025

For the first time since the news broke nearly three weeks ago that 2025 would be Steve Cherundolo’s fourth and final season as head coach of the Los Angeles Football Club, the 46-year-old American answered questions about his pending departure in the fall.

A day after FIFA announced that LAFC would play Club América for the right to occupy a vacant slot in this summer’s FIFA Club World Cup, Cherundolo spoke with the Southern California News Group about his decision to leave the U.S. for Europe, where he famously played fullback in Germany for Hannover 96 during the entirety of his 15-year career.

Describing a return to Germany with his wife and daughters as a “little bit of a leap of faith,” Cherundolo’s move came with opportunity in mind.

“The truth is the next phase, personally and professionally, I would like to take on in Europe,” said Cherundolo, who led the Black & Gold to the Supporters’ Shield and the MLS Cup title in his first season in 2022.

Q: First of all, could I get your reaction to being announced that there’s a chance to get to the Club World Cup? It’s not anything that caught you by surprise, but how does it feel now to know that shot is coming your way?

A: I guess without offering any opinion about how we got to this point, we’re excited for the opportunity. It’s a huge opportunity for us and one that we take very seriously. We’re going to give it everything we have. Yeah, playing in the Club World Cup is something that doesn’t come around very often and this is the first ever on this side and we’re excited about it.

Q: Another big moment for LAFC. Certainly you’ve been a part of a lot of them. The last few weeks have been really interesting. The club seems like a tough gig to walk away from. How are you feeling about that, in particular, leaving a place you know you can compete and have moments you want as a footballer? What are you going through?

A: I think it’s what you can imagine. Mixed emotions. But I’ve always been somebody who looks forward to the future. I’m eager about the next stage of my life, professional and personal. Personal always being the most important. And that’s it. In the short term, obviously giving LAFC and more important the team my undivided attention and effort.

Q: You’ve talked about how you liked the way the team has responded since you made the news announcement. That process of revealing it to them and going through that, and you didn’t really want to talk to us about it, I appreciate you talking about it now. How do you feel the fallout has been from your decision? Are you back to business, there’s nothing different about the way you’re operating before the announcement?

A: “Fallout” is the wrong adjective. I think there’s been no turbulence whatsoever. The team is playing their hearts out and giving their 100% effort. … I haven’t seen a change at all and that confirms the timing of our message and the method of the messaging. It also confirms the mentality of the group and how we work at LAFC.

Q: You made it known a couple weeks ago. When, for you, did leaving become a real possibility? Something you were genuinely considering?

A: A couple months ago.

Q: Was there anything in particular that brought that on? Why now?

A: I would say nothing in particular. I guess the question I would have for you is, what are you hoping to get out of this conversation? And what are you hoping to hear? Because what I would like to avoid is really speaking about my personal life a whole lot. And I don’t want to read “leaving for personal reasons,” or “that’s the biggest driver.” That’s part of it, but I’d like to keep that as private as possible. What are you hoping to get out of this?

Q: Just an accurate understanding of what you were thinking in leaving the job. Really, that’s it. Whatever it is, it is. I’m not looking for anything more than that.

A: I think the truth is quite simple. The truth is the next phase, personally and professionally, I would like to take on in Europe. And that’s the truth. Really there’s no negative reason, or other reason, why after four years of being the head coach I feel like it’s a good time to do that. Or the right time.

Q: So you’re going with opportunity in mind. I understand that. How will Germany be better than the U.S. for you professionally right now?

A: I don’t know. And that’s the big unknown. In these larger decisions, it’s not just professional, so I don’t know. That’s also a part of coaching. You don’t really know what’s around the corner and it’s a little bit of a leap of faith. But at the very least reconnecting with the European market and watching more games, and replenish, brushing up on our contacts and friendships, and being more connected to the European game as opposed to North American and South America.

Q: After this season, it will be five years coaching here with USL and MLS. How has the last five years informed your understanding of pro soccer in the U.S.? Your entire career was in Europe, so how much did you learn about the game here, and what are some of your key takeaways from your time here just in terms of the state of soccer professionally?

A: Before moving to Europe, I think I was offered one of those Project-40 contracts back in high school before I went to college. Now looking at the league, it’s incredible how far the league has come. We’re now competing against 29 other teams. A league of 30 teams. Wonderful soccer-specific stadiums. A new broadcast partner with Apple. The product has come such a long, long way. It’s awesome to see and be a part of. That’s the first and foremost thing that I have recognized and come to appreciate and everyone who has had a role in that should be congratulated. It’s been pretty insane and in my role personally just trying to push it further in areas I can push it further. And that’s, more specifically, my particular team. I try to play a successful and intense way, one that I learned how to do as a player in Europe and where I took my first steps as a coach. I think those are the first impressions that I’ve had. The most interesting and lasting impressions that I’ve had. Coaching at the USL level as well was also interesting to see that level of play and still the passion and the quality there, which would be considered not our first division but our second, was a great experience as well.

Q: Compared to German soccer, do you have any pros/cons about the way you think about soccer here? There are obvious differences. I wonder how you view those.

A: Yeah, I think not having relegation gives you the advantage to create a style of play and allow coaches a little more time to stick to a style of play and create a way of play. You know, fighting relegation or fighting for survival changes the way you approach games. It will inform your tactics. It will change the way you have to play. It will change the way you sub players in. It will change the transfer policy. You cannot paint a picture from an empty canvas. That’s not how it works. You also do not get the advantage of having the same budget in a salary-cap league. So in MLS, you can kind of do what you think is right and stick to it. I think there’s more idealism in MLS, which is fun to watch. You see a more complex clash of tactics. Throughout the league, every team has their own way of playing, and that’s interesting to coach in and fun to watch. On the other hand, I do think watching teams fight against relegation or playing for Europe do, at certain moments in the season, create more intensity, and I think those are the biggest differences having been involved with both worlds. I’m not saying one is better than the other. Those are just the differences that I have noticed.

Q: My opinion as an aside: I think the lack of promotion/relegation does mean less intensity across all levels and that’s a reason why maybe we’ve not gotten over the hump internationally. That’s just my opinion from an outside watching perspective, for whatever that’s worth, which isn’t much.

A: Your opinion matters, Josh. You might be right. Maybe that is the reason. I think until you try it you won’t know for sure. So I don’t know. I guess we all have our opinion, but I think there is something to be said about consequences in competition and having a players union and making life better for players is great. but you also see more intensity on rosters if it’s a little more incentive-based, which we obviously don’t want. We want stability. So it’s give and take. You can’t have both. You can’t have stability and increased competition and intensity. It’s very difficult to do that.

​ Orange County Register 

Sen. John Fetterman raises alarms with outburst at meeting with union officials, AP sources say

• May 8, 2025

By MARC LEVY

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was meeting last week with representatives from a teachers union in his home state when things quickly devolved.

Before long, Fetterman began repeating himself, shouting and questioning why “everybody is mad at me,” “why does everyone hate me, what did I ever do” and slamming his hands on a desk, according to one person who was briefed on what occurred.

As the meeting deteriorated, a staff member moved to end it and ushered the visitors into the hallway, where she broke down crying. The staffer was comforted by the teachers who were themselves rattled by Fetterman’s behavior, according to a second person who was briefed separately on the meeting.

The interaction at Fetterman’s Washington office, described to The Associated Press by the two people who spoke about it on the condition of anonymity, came the day before New York Magazine published a story in which former staff and political advisers to Fetterman aired concerns about the senator’s mental health.

That story included a 2024 letter, also obtained by the AP, in which Fetterman’s one-time chief of staff Adam Jentleson told a neuropsychiatrist who had treated Fetterman for depression that the senator appeared to be off his recovery plan and was exhibiting alarming behavior, including a tendency toward “long, rambling, repetitive and self-centered monologues.”

Asked about the meeting with teachers union representatives, Fetterman said in a statement through his office that they “had a spirited conversation about our collective frustration with the Trump administration’s cuts to our education system.” He also said he “will always support our teachers, and I will always reject anyone’s attempt to turn Pennsylvania’s public schools into a voucher program.”

Fetterman earlier this week brushed off the New York Magazine story as a “one-source hit piece and some anonymous sources, so there’s nothing new.” Asked by a reporter in a Senate corridor what he would say to people who are concerned about him, Fetterman said: “They’re not. They’re actually not concerned. It’s a hit piece. There’s no news.”

Reached by telephone, Aaron Chapin, the president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association who was in the meeting with Fetterman, said he didn’t want to discuss what was a private conversation.

Surviving a stroke, battling depression

The teachers union encounter adds to the questions being raised about Fetterman’s mental health and behavior barely three years after he survived a stroke on the 2022 campaign trail that he said almost killed him. That was followed by a bout with depression that landed him in Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for six weeks, barely a month after he was sworn into the Senate.

The scrutiny also comes at a time when Fetterman, now serving third year of his term, is being criticized by many rank-and-file Democrats in his home state for being willing to cooperate with President Donald Trump, amid Democrats’ growing alarm over Trump’s actions and agenda.

Fetterman — who has been diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, in which the heart muscle becomes weakened and enlarged, and auditory processing disorder, a complication from the stroke — has talked openly about his struggle with depression and urged people to get help.

In November, he told podcast host Joe Rogan that he had recovered and fended off thoughts of harming himself.

“I was at the point where I was really, you know, in a very dark place. And I stayed in that game and I am staying in front of you right now and having this conversation,” Fetterman said.

But some who have worked closely with Fetterman question whether his recovery is complete.

In the 2024 letter to Dr. David Williamson, Jentleson warned that Fetterman was not seeing his doctors, had pushed out the people who were supposed to help him stay on his recovery plan and might not be taking his prescribed medications. Jentleson also said Fetterman had been driving recklessly and exhibiting paranoia, isolating him from colleagues.

“Overall, over the last nine months or so, John has dismantled the early-warning system we all agreed upon when he was released,” Jentleson wrote. “He has picked fights with each person involved in that system and used those fights as excuses to push them out and cut them off from any knowledge about his health situation.”

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where Williamson works, declined to make him available for an interview, citing privacy and confidentiality laws protecting patient medical information.

A lone wolf in the Senate

Fetterman has long been a wild card in the political realm, forging a career largely on his own, independently from the Democratic Party.

As a small-town mayor in Braddock, the plainspoken Fetterman became a minor celebrity for his bare-knuckled progressive politics, his looks — he’s 6-foot-8 and tattooed with a shaved head — and his unconventional efforts to put the depressed former steel town back on the map.

He endorsed the insurgent Democrat Bernie Sanders in 2016’s presidential primary and ran from the left against the party-backed Democrat in 2016’s Senate primary. In 2020, when he was lieutenant governor, he became a top surrogate on cable TV news shows for Joe Biden’s presidential bid and gathered a national political following that made him a strong small-dollar fundraiser.

Elected to the Senate in 2022, he has made waves with his casual dress — hoodies and gym shorts — at work and at formal events and his willingness to chastise other Democrats.

Fetterman returned to the Senate after his hospitalization in 2023 a much more outgoing lawmaker, frequently joking with his fellow senators and engaging with reporters in the hallways with the assistance of an iPad or iPhone that transcribes conversations in real time.

Yet two years later, Fetterman is still something of a loner in the Senate.

He has separated himself from many of his fellow Democrats on Israel policy and argued at times that his party needs to work with, not against, Trump. He met with Trump and Trump’s nominees — and voted for some — when other Democrats wouldn’t.

He has stood firmly with Democrats in other cases and criticized Trump on some issues, such as trade and food aid.

One particularly head-scratching video of Fetterman emerged earlier this year in which he was on a flight to Pittsburgh apparently arguing with a pilot over his seatbelt.

Despite fallout with progressives over his staunch support of Israel in its war in Gaza, Fetterman was still an in-demand personality last year to campaign in the battleground state of Pennsylvania for Biden and, after Biden dropped his reelection bid, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Since Trump won November’s election — and Pennsylvania — things have changed. Many one-time supporters have turned on Fetterman over his softer approach to Trump and his willingness to criticize fellow Democrats for raising alarm bells.

It nevertheless brought Fetterman plaudits.

Bill Maher, host of the political talk show “Real Time with Bill Maher,” suggested that Fetterman should run for president in 2028. Conservatives — who had long made Fetterman a target for his progressive politics — have sprung to Fetterman’s defense.

Still, Democrats in Pennsylvania say they are hearing from people worried about him.

“People are concerned about his health,” said Sharif Street, the state’s Democratic Party chairman. “They want to make sure he’s OK. People care about him. There’s a lot of love for him out there.”

Associated Press reporter Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington contributed to this report. Follow Marc Levy on X at https://x.com/timelywriter.

​ Orange County Register