Clippers fall to Kings in second-highest scoring game in NBA history

• February 25, 2023

LOS ANGELES — This game had all the vibes of a playoff contest with a packed arena, full of fans snapping cell phone pictures of the newest Clippers player in his first game and high expectations of a victory.

And Russell Westbrook didn’t disappoint in his debut in a 176-175 double-overtime loss to the Sacramento Kings on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena – the second-highest scoring game in NBA history. It was his first game since being traded by the Lakers two weeks ago and then signing with the Clippers earlier this week.

After receiving an enthusiastic standing ovation in the same arena where he previously had been booed, the point guard scored the Clippers’ first two points on free throws. He then dished off passes to Marcus Morris Sr. and Mason Plumlee. The Westbrook era had begun, not with a victory but with a wild, entertaining game that got away from the Clippers down the stretch.

After the Clippers led by as many as 14 points with 4:28 left in regulation, the hosts and the Kings engaged in a show of one-upmanship in two overtime periods. Kawhi Leonard finished with a season-high 44 points (one short of tying his career high) for the Clippers, but the Kings took advantage of 25 Clipper turnovers and came up with key baskets from Malik Monk (career-high 45 points) and De’Aaron Fox (42) in the final seconds.

Coach Tyronn Lue said the turnovers were the Clippers’ downfall when they still had a double-digit lead in regulation.

“I think we had three in a row, live ball turnovers, which allowed them to get out and get six easy points without having to work for it,” Lue said. “When you have 25 turnovers off 42 points, it’s tough to try to win that game.”

The Clippers had a 175-169 advantage with 1:57 remaining in the second overtime before the Kings (34-25) scored the final seven points, including Fox’s jumper with 36.5 seconds remaining. The Clippers (33-29) had the final shot, but Nicolas Batum missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer.

Westbrook, who started, figured in both overtime periods, logging two baskets and two assists and finished with 17 points, 14 assists and five rebounds (and seven turnovers) in 39 minutes before fouling out with 1:49 remaining in the second overtime. His 14 assists matched Andre Miller’s 2002 effort for the most by a player in his Clippers debut.

“It was great just to get back on the floor,” Westbrook said. “Just obviously you want to win, that’s the most important part. I’ll watch the film, get ready to go on Sunday.”

After a tumultuous season and a half as a Laker, he appreciated the warm reception.

“It’s a blessing, just the excitement in the building,” Westbrook said. “The enthusiasm from fans and just the support that they have, not just for me, but for the overall team was great and hopefully we can keep that going as the season goes along. I’ll do my part by playing as hard as I can, when given an opportunity.”

Lue had said a day earlier that he just wanted “Russ to be Russ” and this looked a lot like the Russ of a few years ago, not recent history. He passed the ball, played defense, pushed the pace and took shots when it made sense.

“Whatever I need to do, he needs to do, the team needs to do to win, that is what we have to do,” Lue said. “And he is on board with that.”

As a bonus, the fans got to see Mason Plumlee make the most of his first start and second game as a Clipper. The 7-foot center, who was filling in for Ivica Zubac (knee), was omnipresent on the court – his long arms grabbing rebounds, disrupting shots, scrambling for loose balls all the while adding eight points and nine rebounds.

But the bulk of the night belonged to Leonard, who posted 30-plus points for the eighth time in his past 17 games. He shot 16 for 22 from the field (6 for 9 from 3-point range) and went 6 for 6 from the free-throw line in 46 minutes. His 21 points in the third quarter tied his career-high for most points in a quarter.

“I thought he did a great job getting to a spot with the 3-point shots and attacking the basket,” Lue said of Leonard.

Paul George contributed 34 points and 10 rebounds in 41 minutes and Norman Powell added 24 points.

George passed Dirk Nowitzki and moved into 15th place on the NBA’s all-time 3-point field goal list with his first long-range shot in the first quarter, and added four more before the game was over.

Leonard’s performance was overshadowed by Monk and Fox, who also had 12 assists and five steals and became just the 12th player since 1973-74 with 40 points, 10 assists and five steals in a game.

The Clippers fed off the crowd’s energy early to keep pace with the Kings, who have the best road record in the Western Conference. The first half was a shootout, with both teams shooting near the 60% mark in a close game. The half ended with the Clippers holding an 80-76 lead.

The game continued to be a high-scoring back-and-forth affair with the crowd cheering every Clippers basket and there were many. Their 26 3-pointers were a season-high and they shot 60.2% from the field. The Kings, who had four other players score in double figures, shot 58.6% overall and made 18 3-pointers.

But the momentum shifted in the final two minutes of regulation. The Clippers, who had a 145-131 advantage with 4:25 left, found their lead trimmed to 147-140 when Fox stole the ball from George and scored. Keegan Murray followed by intercepting a bad pass from George to score a layup and trim the lead to 147-142.

Powell was called for an offensive foul, leading to layups by Fox and Domantas Sabonis to cap a 10-0 Sacramento run that left the Clippers clinging to a one-point lead at 147-146 with 1:22 left.

After the teams traded free throws, Westbrook scored on a short jumper to give the Clippers a 151-148 lead. The Kings followed with a layup by Fox before George hit two free throws with 8.5 seconds left.

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The game headed to the first overtime after Monk’s 3-pointer tied it at 153 with 1.1 seconds left.

The Clippers had a 162-156 lead with 3:04 remaining in the first overtime before the Kings scored six straight to even it. Monk hit a pair of free throws with 20.4 seconds left to tie it at 164. The Clippers had a chance to win it, but Leonard was unable to convert a tip-in at the buzzer.

“I thought it was a great game, especially for the fans,” Lue said. “Crazy game – a lot of momentum shifts, but we did some good things and just defensively, I just thought we had a lot of breakdowns and the pace they play at, they put you in some tough positions with Fox being the head of the snake.”

Kings coach Brown agreed the game provided a little bit of everything.

“From a fan’s standpoint, I can see how this game would have been a lot of fun to watch,” Brown said. “There was unbelievable shot-making and great defense. There was high-level talent that was on display. Kudos to the players.”

RECORD-CHASING

Detroit beat Denver, 186-184, in triple overtime on Dec. 13, 1983, in the highest-scoring NBA game. This was only the second time in the NBA’s 76-year history that both teams have scored at least 170 points. A team has scored 170 points in a regular-season game only seven times. … The teams combined for 44 3-pointers, tied for the most in a game in NBA history. Both teams also shot at least 58% from the field and were 80% or better from the foul line.

GAME OF THE YEAR CONTENDER.

Re-live every WILD moment from down the stretch of the 2nd highest scoring game in NBA history

Kings outlast the Clippers in 2OT, 176-175. pic.twitter.com/MiU7A8lViT

— NBA (@NBA) February 25, 2023

17 points
5 rebounds
14 assists

Russ put in work as the Clippers fought a wild 2OT battle with the Kings on his debut pic.twitter.com/PJTuNxHM1x

— NBA (@NBA) February 25, 2023

Clippers stars showed out in their WILD 2OT battle with the Kings tonight

Kawhi: 44 PTS, 4 REB, 4 AST, 6 3PM, 73% FG
PG: 34 PTS, 10 REB, 5 AST, 5 3PM pic.twitter.com/MaE6RxfxJw

— NBA (@NBA) February 25, 2023

De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk BALLED OUT tonight in the Kings 176-175 2OT win

Monk: 45 PTS, 6 AST, 6 3PM
Fox: 42 PTS, 5 REB, 12 AST, 5 STL

It’s the first time in Kings franchise history that 2 players have scored 40+ in the same game pic.twitter.com/ItKLnu4UES

— NBA (@NBA) February 25, 2023

​ Orange County Register 

Kings power past Islanders with 3-goal second period

• February 25, 2023

By SCOTT CHARLES The Associated Press

NEW YORK — The Kings erased a few days of frustration with a flurry of goals then held on for the first win of their five-game road trip.

Phillip Danault, Arthur Kaliyev and Gabe Vilardi all scored in a six-minute stretch of the second period and the Kings ended a two-game skid by defeating the New York Islanders, 3-2, on Friday night.

The Kings had been on the wrong end of a pair of one-goal losses to begin the trip – nearly being shut out in a 2-1 loss to the Wild on Tuesday night in Minnesota followed by a 4-3 overtime defeat against the Devils on Thursday in New Jersey.

On Friday night, the Kings scored their three goals in a span of 5:34 to take a 3-0 lead.

“We started to shoot the puck,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said, citing that as a key reason the game tilted in their direction.

“The shot pulls people out of position,” he added. “I didn’t think we did enough of that in the third period. We held onto pucks, killed time, played on the outside, but there’s still opportunities to go to the goaltenders’ pads and we didn’t do it. But that was the momentum swing early in the game.”

Jonathan Quick made 16 saves for his 370th career victory, moving into 19th place on the NHL’s all-time list. Quick also surpassed Tom Barrasso for third place on the career victories list by a U.S.-born goaltender, trailing only John Vanbiesbrouck (374) and former Duck Ryan Miller (391).

“I immediately think of all the great teams I’ve been a part of,” Quick said. “Teammates, coaches – everyone had some influence on those wins. … The guys that are at the top of the list were unbelievable goaltenders for a long time, just to kind of be in a category with them is an honor and humbling.”

Noah Dobson and Adam Pelech scored, and Ilya Sorokin finished with 25 saves but the Islanders’ two-game winning streak ended as they fight for a playoff spot in a tightly contested Eastern Conference wild-card race.

Danault opened the scoring when he put home a rebound at 6:40 of the second frame after Viktor Arvidsson hammered a slap shot that Sorokin failed to swallow up. Mikey Anderson also assisted on the play.

The Kings took advantage of Sebastian Aho’s neutral zone miscue to double their lead 1:25 after Danault’s goal. Rasmus Kupari gained control of the puck misplayed by Aho and beautifully fed Kaliyev for the easy one-time finish.

“There are games when if you make a mistake, it ends up in the back of your net,” Islanders coach Lane Lambert said. “It’s that simple, and that’s what happened tonight on a couple of occasions.”

Vilardi notched his 18th of the season at 12:14 to cap the Kings’ assertive stretch. The 23-year-old forward launched a one-timer that sailed past the blocker of Sorokin.

Dobson helped the Islanders trim their deficit to two when he tallied a power-play goal at 16:34 of the second. On the previous shift, Kyle Palmieri’s individual effort allowed the Islanders to maintain possession in the offensive zone and eventually led to Sean Walker’s penalty.

The Kings outshot the Islanders 24-13 through the first 40 minutes.

Pelech pulled the Islanders to within one goal when he tossed a backhand shot to the top of the crease that deflected off Kings defenseman Matt Roy and past Quick at 15:23 of the third period. Matt Martin extended his point streak to four games with an assist on the play.

“I thought we played better tonight with a lead,” Danault said. “We were playing on our toes more than our heels.”

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The teams will meet again on March 14 at Crypto.com Arena to close out their season series.

IRON MAN

Zach Parise extended his consecutive games played streak to 145 games, making it the 19th-longest active streak in the NHL. Since joining the Islanders in October 2021, he has played in all 144 games with them.

UP NEXT

The Kings continue their five-game trip against the New York Rangers on Sunday at 2 p.m. PT.

More to come on this story.

Coach McLellan @LAKings | #LAKingsLive pic.twitter.com/31spOL2tJm

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) February 25, 2023

Kaliyev with a huge goal tonight@LAKings | #LAKingsLive | @CarrlynBathe pic.twitter.com/q3sBeAMywS

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) February 25, 2023

Birthday Boy sounding off after that victory @LAKings | #LAKingsLive | @CarrlynBathe pic.twitter.com/XJkm20uXK6

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) February 25, 2023

A historic night for Quick @LAKings | #LAKingsLive | @CarrlynBathe pic.twitter.com/CmlFlRodgQ

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) February 25, 2023

​ Orange County Register 

Exposition Park, home to past Olympics, will get revamp and green space

• February 25, 2023

California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot joined state and local leaders this week to promote future plans for Exposition Park, including dramatic updates to its existing museums, the addition of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art and plans to transform 14 acres of badly needed green space to serve neighborhoods south of the park.

On Thursday, Feb, 23, newly appointed Exposition Park General Manager Andrea Ambriz greeted dignitaries and supporters before her swearing-in ceremony at the Los Angeles Coliseum, the centerpiece of Exposition Park.

Ambriz has a big job ahead, overseeing the park’s proposed master plan which is aimed at creating greater access, equity and sustainability at one of L.A.’s urban jewels. Expo Park is among the top five tourist and visitor destinations in Southern California, drawing 4 million visitors annually.

The event this week focused on an update to the park’s master plan, which officials said “charts a course for greater access, equity and environmental sustainability.”

Exposition Park, a 152-acre site just south of Downtown Los Angeles, is home to world-class museums, famed sporting venues and community assets aimed at educating and entertaining local residents and tourists.

It was a site of the famed 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympic Games and will be a site for the 2028 Olympic Games. It will also host events related to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

​ Orange County Register 

Feds seek to limit telehealth prescriptions for some drugs

• February 25, 2023

By Amanda Seitz and Lindsay Whitehurst | Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration moved Friday to require patients see a doctor in person before getting attention deficit disorder medication or addictive painkillers, toughening access to the drugs against the backdrop of a deepening opioid crisis.

The proposal could overhaul the way millions of Americans get some prescriptions after three years of relying on telehealth for doctor’s appointments by computer or phone during the pandemic.The Drug Enforcement Administration said late Friday it plans to reinstate once longstanding federal requirements for powerful drugs that were waived once COVID-19 hit, enabling doctors to write millions of prescriptions for drugs such as OxyContin or Adderall without ever meeting patients in person.

Patients will need to see a doctor in person at least once to get an initial prescription for drugs that the federal government says have the the most potential to be abused — Vicodin, OxyContin, Adderall and Ritalin, for example. Refills could be prescribed over telehealth appointments.

The agency will also clamp down on how doctors can prescribe other, less addictive drugs to patients they’ve never physically met. Substances like codeine, taken to alleviate pain or coughing, Xanax, used to treat anxiety, Ambien, a sleep aid, and buprenorphine, a narcotic used to treat opioid addiction, can be prescribed over telehealth for an initial 30-day dose. Patients would need to see a doctor at least once in person to get a refill.

Patients will still be able to get common prescriptions like antibiotics, skin creams, birth control and insulin prescribed through telehealth visits.

The new rule seeks to keep expanded access to telehealth that’s important for patients like those in rural areas while also balancing safety, an approach DEA Administrator Anne Milgram referred to as “expansion of telemedicine with guardrails.”

The ease with each Americans have accessed certain medications during the pandemic has helped many get needed treatment, but concerns have also mounted that some companies may take advantage of the lax rules and be overprescribing medications to people who don’t need them, said David Herzberg, a historian of drugs at the University of Buffalo.

“Both sides of this tension have really good points,” said Herzberg. “You don’t want barriers in the way of getting people prescriptions they need. But anytime you remove those barriers it’s also an opportunity for profit seekers to exploit the lax rules and sell the medicines to people who may not need them.”

U.S. overdose deaths hit a record in 2021, about three-quarters of those from opioids during a crisis that was first spun into the making by drug makers, pharmacies and doctors that pushed the drugs to patients decades ago. But the grim toll from synthetic opioids like fentanyl far outstripped deaths related to prescription drugs that year, according to Centers for Disease Control Data. Fentanyl is increasingly appearing on the illicit market, pressed into fake prescription pills or mixed into other drugs.

The proposed rules deliver a major blow to a booming telehealth industry, with tech startups launching in recent years to treat and prescribe medications for mental health or attention deficit disorders. The industry has largely benefitted from the reprieve on in-person visits for drugs brought on by the pandemic, although some national retailers stopped filling drug orders generated by some telehealth apps over the last year.

The DEA has grown increasingly concerned over the last two years that some of those startup telehealth companies are improperly prescribing addictive substances like opioids or attention deficit disorder medication, putting patients in danger, a DEA official told The Associated Press on Friday.

The official said the agency plans to have the new rule in place before the COVID-19 public health emergency expires on May 11, which will effectively end the loosened rules. That could mean people who may seeking treatment from a doctor who is hundreds of miles away need to start developing plans for in-person visits with their doctors now, pointed out Boston-based attorney Jeremy Sherer, who represents telehealth companies. Patients will have six months to visit their doctor in person when the regulation is enacted.

“Providers and their patients need to know what that treatment is going to look like moving forward and whether, once the public health emergency ends in May, if they’re going to need to figure out a way to have a visit in person before continuing treatment, and that can be a real challenge,” he said.

Many states have already moved to restore limitations for telehealth care across state lines. By October, nearly 40 states and Washington, D.C., had ended emergency declarations that made it easier for doctors to see patients in other states.

​ Orange County Register 

Magnolia girls soccer wins school’s first CIF-SS title by edging La Quinta in OT

• February 25, 2023

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GARDEN GROVE — Magnolia captured its first CIF Southern Section team championship in any sport Friday night behind its resilient girls soccer team, which was led by a player who knew how to use the wind to the Sentinels’ advantage.

Junior Brisa Medina scored twice on direct shots off corner kicks, including the game-winning strike in the middle of the first sudden-death overtime period to lift Magnolia past La Quinta 2-1 in the CIF-SS Division 7 championship in rainy and windy conditions at Bolsa Grande High.

Magnolia High, which opened in 1961, has crowned individual section champions but before Friday it had never won a title in a team sport.

“It feels amazing,” Medina said after a celebration with dozens of fans who braved the harsh weather. “This is an unforgettable feeling. We got to where we are with teamwork.”

Medina scored on direct shots off corner kicks by sending the boots high into the wind, where the ball flew into the net courtesy of consistent winds of about 20 miles per hour that blew toward the north end of the field.

The winning goal arrived on her second consecutive corner kick, sneaking into the near corner with 4:10 left in the sudden-death period.

“It was just a matter of looking toward the corner and the wind helped me out, which was great,” said Medina, who has a team-leading 15 goals for the Sentinels (17-9-1).

Magnolia played with the wind at its back for the first overtime period and answered a goal late in the second half by La Quinta’s Jillian Ferguson.

The Aztecs (16-7-5), who played the second half with the wind at their back, drew a hand ball against Magnolia in the penalty box and Ferguson scored on a penalty kick to tie the score at 1-1 with about 13 minutes left in regulation.

Earlier in the second half, the Garden Grove League champion almost scored off a corner kick from the same spot as Medina but goalie Xuan Mai Johnson scrambled to the ball.

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Medina bent in her first corner kick for a goal in the 33rd minute to give the Orange League champions a 1-0 lead.

The title was special for longtime Magnolia coach Erland Jones and his coaching staff of alumnus Alyssa Garcia and Wilfredo Velasco. In his 21st season, Jones had five children and one foster child graduate from Magnolia, where he and his late wife Deborah worked.

“We’ve been the underdog a lot of times,” Jones said with tears in his eyes. “It’s amazing (to win).”

​ Orange County Register 

COVID-19 effects on California will linger for years

• February 25, 2023

Gov. Gavin Newsom says California’s COVID-19 state of emergency will end on Feb. 28, just four days shy of three years since he issued the first of countless orders he said were necessary to cope with the pandemic.

“Throughout the pandemic, we’ve been guided by the science and data – moving quickly and strategically to save lives,” Newsom said in October announcing the February end date. “The state of emergency was an effective and necessary tool that we utilized to protect our state, and we wouldn’t have gotten to this point without it.”

The efficacy of Newsom’s pandemic orders will be debated for years, particularly the shutdowns of schools and businesses and the billions of dollars in no-bid contracts his administration issued.

What cannot be debated, however, is that their impacts on millions of Californians will linger for years, decades or perhaps even generations.

Nearly 3 million Californians lost their jobs due to the shutdown orders. While the state has, on paper, recovered all of the jobs it lost, countless small businesses that shut their doors have not reopened.

With work-at-home the growing norm, restaurants and other businesses dependent on concentrated employment were clobbered. The downtowns of the state’s larger cities – including the state capital, Sacramento – were hollowed out and have not, in the main, recovered.

California’s stark divide between haves and have-nots grew wider. Upper-income Californians could do their jobs from home but lower-income service workers simply lost their jobs. Some qualified for unemployment insurance, but a managerial meltdown at the state Employment Development Department delayed, sometimes for months, benefits for legitimate claimants while EDD handed out billions of dollars to fraudsters.

School shutdowns, and the fitful efforts to continue instruction via the internet, had a devastating effect on students, especially those from poor families which lacked technology and whose parents could not work from home. The “achievement gap” that has long plagued California’s public school system widened even further, recent research has found.

Several new studies add even more evidence that the steps taken by the state to combat COVID-19 will have long-term negative impacts.

An analysis by The Associated Press, Stanford University’s Big Local News project and Stanford education professor Thomas Dee determined that 234,000 students in 21 states vanished from public school enrollment rolls during the pandemic. More than half of them were in California.

Overall, in those states, enrollment dropped by about 700,000 students, but most of the decline could be explained by enrollments in private schools, movements to other states or shifts to at-home instruction. Of the remaining 234,000 absences for which there was no explanation, researchers said, 152,000 were in California.

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The Public Policy Institute of California crunched the numbers and discovered that not only did COVID-19 kill about 100,000 Californians but that the state’s life expectancy, which had been tied for the nation’s highest with Hawaii at 80.9 years, has dropped by two years – the first such decline since World War II.

PPIC found that the higher death rate has disproportionately affected non-white Californians, particularly Latino and Black residents. “Between 2019 and 2021, the death rate (deaths per 1,000 residents) increased 51% among Latinos, 31% among Blacks, 26% among Asian-Americans, and 17% among whites,” the PPIC reported.

Finally, a new study UCLA Center for Health Policy Research found that Newsom’s stay-at-home orders, affecting businesses, child care centers and school, created financial hardships that led to psychological distress and a sharp increase in turmoil and conflict, including domestic violence.

Some COVID-19 victims are experiencing long COVID, with lasting debilitative effects. California suffers from lingering effects as well.

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to Commentary.

​ Orange County Register 

The Book Pages: Octavia’s Bookshelf owner Nikki High on an incredible first week

• February 25, 2023

If you’ve ever thought a bookstore would be the best place to wait out a cold, stormy Southern California day, well, you’re right.

Yesterday, I caught up with Pasadena’s most celebrated new bookstore owner, Nikki High of Octavia’s Bookshelf, and she described the shop that day.

“I had a great day. It was cozy, the rain was coming down on the skylight, and there was just a lot of conversation, mostly around Octavia Butler,” says High. “It just felt so fulfilling. There were a couple of kids in there and some couples and friends and solo shoppers and people just conversing with each other and looking at the books.

“I sat back and looked around and thought, This is it. This is what I was hoping to do,” says High, sounding both deeply moved and extremely tired.

The BIPOC-focused bookstore, which is just in its first week of business, is already a phenomenon, one that has touched people as a place to celebrate representation, community and, of course, books.

The store opened on Saturday, Feb. 18, and there was a line – a very long line – to get into a bookstore. And nobody seemed to mind.

I was there and it was incredible: hundreds came for the event, which featured poet Joshua Evans starting things off with a poem that brought High to tears. It was a beautiful moment, one of many, and set the mood of the day.

With crowds of patrons lined up and down the street, owner Nikki High welcomes them to Octavia’s Bookshelf on Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023, at 1361 N. Hill Ave. in Pasadena. (Photo by John McCoy, Contributing Photographer)

“You probably saw me crying; I cried throughout the day and they were just tears of joy and relief that we got our doors open. And it was, I would say, probably one of the best days of my life.” (It was a good day for the rest of us, too.)

So yes, the line was long – I waited an hour or so to get inside and shop and some waited nearly two hours – but it was full of happy, smiling people. (You can read my colleague Georgia Valdes’ report with photos by John McCoy, including the lovely one above, for more on the day.)

This was special: The people I waited with were all strangers to each other, but we didn’t stay glued to our phones ignoring each other – a feat, considering we were a bunch of bookish introverts. Up and down the line, people chatted, exchanged book recommendations and held each other’s places, generally making the whole thing a total pleasure.

“Readers are an incredible community, but the way that they showed up to support this store,” High says, laughing in amazement, “selling close to 3,000 books in two days. It was quite successful.”

The store is a compact oasis of excellent books and authors: Octavia E. Butler, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, R.F. Kuang, Lauret Savoy and many more.

I got myself a copy of Butler’s novel “Dawn,” which had been recommended by one of my linemates, along with Justina Ireland’s “Dread Nation,” which injects a zombie apocalypse into the American Civil War (that should be interesting to read in between episodes of “The Last of Us”). Finally, I picked up Aaron Philip Clark’s “Blue Like Me,” a 2022 crime novel set in LA that sounded terrific.

Along with books, I got cards and a tote bag – because I like tote bags almost as much as bookstore T-shirts. I left happy and looking forward to my next visit.

On Thursday night, High sounded pretty happy, too.

“I am just so lucky to be a part of that. I met so many people, and I just felt such community and love and support,” says High. “You know, you mentioned folks standing in line for hours – some people up to two hours – and they were just all in a really good mood.

“I could not have imagined a better outcome. It’s beyond my wildest dream.”

For more info, go to octaviasbookshelf.com. And High is scheduled to be among the local booksellers, authors and food trucks at the inaugural Be The Change Book Festival at Central Library 222 East Harvard Street, Glendale, on Saturday, February 25th, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. (It’ll be indoors!)

Remembering Tom Verlaine’s life among the books 

Tom Verlaine of Television performs during the All Tomorrows Parties festival held at UCLA on March 15, 2002. (Photo by George Campos / The Press-Enterprise)

Speaking of bookstores, Seattle’s Phinney Books alerted me to a piece of writing I wanted to share with you all, because I just loved it.

Following the death of Television singer and guitarist Tom Verlaine, Colin Groundwater wrote a lovely remembrance of the influential musician for Literary Hub. (Television’s “Marquee Moon” is a beautiful album I’ve listened to many, many times.)

But the piece wasn’t about Verlaine’s musical life; it was about his yearslong ritual of haunting the $1 book carts that line the front of New York City’s epic bookstore The Strand. While the store has faced difficulties in recent years, it is a wonder, a place I always try to visit when in New York.

Verlaine, who took his stage name from the French poet, was one of the shoppers known as “cart sharks,” the determined, intense devotees who focused almost exclusively on finding treasures in the cheap books outside. The article describes a kind of ecosystem of seekers of which Verlaine was one.

As someone who worked in a record store and encountered the delightful range of serious music shoppers, I appreciated Groundwater’s description of The Strand’s clientele.

And, honestly, there’s something kind of moving about Verlaine, a rock icon, if not a rock star, spending his time pawing through books when not on tour or recording.

While the cliche of rock stardom is parking your Rolls in the swimming pool, that never seemed very appealing to me.

But looking for good books?  If that’s not making it, I don’t know what is.

OK, some final thoughts before we get to the Q&A. Did you see “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”?

I support your judgment either way.

But – minor spoiler ahead – my favorite part of the movie involved an author reading at San Francisco’s City Lights Bookstore.

Although, I found that scene harder to buy than shrinking heroes and quantum realms. As a lifelong comic book reader, I can buy into most every crazy plot point except for this: If an actual superhero gave a reading at a local bookstore, it would be a lot better attended than the one in the movie.

Finally, I wanted to share this photo of my dog, just as I found her one afternoon, hovering over author Rebecca Makkai’s new book, “I Have Some Questions for You.” This, you can take as a recommendation; the book is terrific.

No, I didn’t pose this. I came upon my dog eyeing (and yes, licking) Rebecca Makkai’s wonderful “I Have Some Questions for You.” (Photo by Erik Pedersen)

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​ Orange County Register 

As storm pummels region, homeless folks often left to weather cold outside

• February 25, 2023

Frigid temperatures, heavy rain and snow — and even hail — brought by a severe winter storm that will continue into the weekend has forced Southland residents to bunker in their homes.

But not everyone has a home in which to seek shelter.

While forecasters and government agencies have advised residents to avoid the outdoors as the worst of the storm makes its way along the West Coast, for the thousands who are homeless across Southern California — including nearly 70,000 in Los Angeles County alone — the options for shelter are limited.

In Long Beach, for example, about 100 people without shelter camped out under the awning of the Billie Jean King Main Library, in downtown, on Thursday evening, Feb. 23, in an attempt to keep safe.

Tony Johnson, who’s been without permanent shelter on and off for the past 10 years, was among them.

“We just try to stay warm and dry as best we can,” Johnson said on Friday morning.

Several local agencies have increased their outreach efforts this week to ensure those in danger of hypothermia or other health hazards are protected from the cold.

But the region, officials say, lacks the general infrastructure to handle such harsh winter conditions. And the infrastructure that exists is distributed unevenly. San Bernardino and Pasadena, for example, lack winter shelters entirely, while Los Angeles County’s homeless population is so large it’s unlikely near-unlimited resources would be enough to help everyone.

So many of those on the streets have no other recourse than to endure the tempest the best they can.

“There are fewer people experiencing homelessness who die of hypothermia in New York than there are in LA,” said Kimberly Roberts, deputy chief programs officer at the nonprofit LA Family Housing. “We see more health-related incidents as a result of cold and wet weather because we don’t have the shelter system that colder states and communities have actually established.

“We just don’t have that system,” she added in a Friday interview, “and we don’t have those resources available at the same scale.”

Hypothermia — which often occurs by overexposure to cold weather or water — happens when the body loses heat faster than it can produce it. If left untreated, the condition can cause heart and respiratory failure, and often results in death.

The medical emergency is a chief concern among unhoused folks, particularly during severe weather events — like the one making its way through Southern California this weekend.

The region’s geography, though, poses another threat to people without shelter:

Flooding.

The Los Angeles foothills, in particular, are prone to flooding and mudslides, Roberts said, and the banks of the LA River — which some unhoused folks camp out on — can overflow, with strong currents able to sweep people away.

“People are often residing in places that flood very easily — but not often, so they may not know the risks of being in a specific area,”  Roberts said. “We’re faced with trying to make sure people are not dealing with the elements that lead to health issues like hypothermia; we’re also trying to make sure that they’re at high enough ground — when the flooding and the water does come  — to be safe.”

LA Family Housing’s outreach teams have worked to connect with folks across the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys over the past week, Roberts said, offering interim housing, transportation to higher ground, emergency winter shelter and other resources.

“For those that were not able to find shelter, or were not interested in shelter, we’re offering them resources to stay as safe as possible and reduce risk,” Roberts said. “We’re offering sleeping bags, tents, tarps, shoes, umbrellas, ponchos, food — anything that we can offer to keep them as dry and as warm as possible in the rain.”

LA Family Housing, alongside multiple other nonprofits throughout the county, work in tandem with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority to provide interim shelter.

But as it stands, the agency has just under 300 beds available through its winter shelter program, according to agency spokesperson Ahmad Chapman.

“We have great concern and operate with all due urgency for all of our people experiencing homelessness in LA County,” Chapman said in a Friday interview. “In times like these, with severe storms, our outreach teams work even harder to make sure that as many people as possible can feel every resource we have available, so that folks can be safe and get out of the cold and wet like we’re experiencing this weekend.”

Alongside the traditional winter shelter program, which is seasonal, LAHSA also activated an augmented version of the program, Chapman said. That program gets activated during severe weather conditions.

“The augmented winter shelter program has been reimagined so that we can offer hotel and motel rooms to folks so that they can escape the cold and wetness that we’re experiencing this week,” Chapman said.

LAHSA currently has about 500 vouchers available for hotels and motels, he said.

In Long Beach, which has its own Homeless Services Bureau, officials are also taking advantage of the county’s augmented winter shelter program, according to agency manager Paul Duncan.

The city’s own winter shelter, at the former Community Hospital, is currently at capacity.

Long Beach was set to open a second winter shelter at the Silverado Park gym next week — but that plan is currently being reconsidered entirely after pushback from the community.

But regardless, those beds would come online too late for the current storm.

Outreach staff from the Long Beach Fire and health departments, though, hit the streets on Thursday and Friday to alert people living along the LA River about the potential flooding hazard, Duncan said.

“The goal is to ensure everyone is aware of the impeding weather and any risks and asking people to move from areas that look like they could be more highly prone to flooding,” Duncan said in a Friday email, “and (ensure) that they are aware of resources and have items that can be beneficial in keeping warm through the rain.”

The city will conduct further outreach throughout the weekend, Duncan added.

Members of the Long Beach Rescue Mission, an organization the provides shelter and social services to unhoused folks, spent the bulk of Friday driving around the city in their own outreach van to hand out care packages and lunches — and transport people back to their shelter to stay dry.

“This is actually our first rainy day since we’ve been doing this program,” John Wimberly Sr., an outreach coordinator at the Rescue Mission, said.

By early afternoon, he’d already taken three people back to the shelter, he said.

Volunteers and staff focused their efforts on MacArthur Park — a popular spot for those who are homeless, on both rainy and sunny days — where a handful of folks without shelter took cover from the storm. Many were bundled up in blankets, some only reaching out a hand to accept a lunch or care package.

“We start out with lunches and care packages, sometimes we have clothes to accommodate certain people,” Wimberly said. “If we don’t have clothes for them now, we’ll come back again after we go back (to the shelter) to stock up.

“We had restocked with a full complement of sweaters and jackets and jeans,” he added, “and we went on location and we pretty much cleared out.”

But so many folks were seeking shelter from the storm, Wimberly said, that the Rescue Mission staff had trouble finding people in the locations they normally frequent.

Pasadena, meanwhile, doesn’t have a winter shelter set up at all — though the city is currently in talks with a site that is expected to serve as its emergency location next winter.

“We wish we had a bad weather shelter but we have not been able to identify an appropriate site over the last, well, since the beginning of the pandemic,” Housing Department Director Bill Huang said Friday.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, Pasadena had an emergency shelter operate every winter for the past 30 years.

“In lieu of having a bad weather shelter,” Huang said, “we do have some weather-activated motel vouchers.”

Those are provided by a local nonprofit, Friends In Deed. About 75 people have been moved into motels through that program, Huang said.

Tony Zee, a Pasadena firefighter and member of the city’s homeless outreach team, said his crew have helped about 20 people find shelter from the storm over the past week.

“The hardest part is finding enough hotels,” Zee said Friday.

In the Inland Empire, San Bernardino also doesn’t operate an emergency shelter, according to a Friday email from city spokesperson Jeff Kraus.

Instead, those without shelter must rely on emergency shelters run by local nonprofits.

Operation Grace, for example, is one such facility that assists women and children under 11 years old — but it only has six beds.

And those beds are already occupied by people progressing through a 90-day program geared toward getting them back on their feet.

Still, Operation Grace has been able to link those who are homeless to other shelters and services during the storm.

“This is a really tough winter season,” Executive Director Jessica Alexander said by phone Friday. “We typically see an increase in requests for shelter in the winter months anyway, but this is an especially tough winter, so all nonprofits, including Operation Grace, are seeing an increase in calls for service.”

In Riverside County, storm outreach teams have been engaging unsheltered residents everywhere — offering them places to stay. Transportation to shelters also is being provided as needed.

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The county is coordinating with its in-house Emergency Management Department to expand assistance efforts should concerns worsen, said Housing Department Deputy Director Tanya Torno.

Nonprofits are an immense help with homeless response in Southern California, Roberts said.

But the reliance upon those organizations, she said, has also triggered questions about how the system, as a whole, can function better — including during crises.

“There’s definitely conversations across the community to address the need for a more responsive system,” Roberts said. “But that’s true regardless of the weather.”

It’s times like these, though, when usually temperate California finds itself trapped in a tempest, that homeless folks need a robust support system.

Or they’ll have to survive on their own.

Staff writers Christina Merino, Brittany Murray, and Brian Whitehead contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register