Bankrate: Why is it harder to get a car loan in 2023?

• June 30, 2023

Rebecca Betterton | Bankrate.com (TNS)

When the time comes to purchase your next vehicle, you want to focus on finding your dream car, not fighting for affordable financing. But since the pandemic’s early days, the car market has shifted. Inflation made finding competitive rates challenging, and supply chain issues pushed average car prices above MSRP.

Before setting out to find summer deals on new wheels, consider how the state of our economy will impact your price.

Economic outlook makes lenders cautious

Securing vehicle financing is a challenge for borrowers right now due to one primary issue.

“It’s harder to get a car loan now because it’s hard to get a car,” shares Satyan Merchant, SVP and Head of TransUnion’s Auto Finance Business.

The current state of the economy has shifted the lending environment to make buying a challenge, even for those drivers who’ve found their perfect set of wheels.

Lenders have tightened their standards, leading to a decrease in vehicle loan originations. And higher rates make even inexpensive vehicles a challenge to afford.

Vehicle originations down

With vehicle prices lingering above average compared to pre-pandemic years and interest rates still climbing, it’s no surprise that buyers are wary.

The third quarter of 2022 closed with 6.6 million originations, down from 7.3 million in the same quarter in 2021, according to TransUnion data. What’s more interesting on the consumer side is while subprime borrowers tend to receive the worst rates, originations are down the least amount compared to other credit bands.

While this seems out of line, it is important to note that subprime borrowers tend to be in more complicated financial situations than prime borrowers, for example. That originations in this credit band remained steady could be explained by many borrowers falling under subprime still needing financing to afford a vehicle — even if that means signing off on less-than-ideal rates.

Lenders tightening their standards

Banks, credit unions and online lenders exist in the same economic environment as borrowers. Just as many Americans are having to tighten their budgets, lenders must tighten their spending and lending habits in response to the increased cost of lending.

The Dealertrack Credit Availability Index, a Cox Automotive measure of access to credit, tightened in the month of May. A decline of 0.4% brought availability to its lowest since February 2021. That means it’s currently harder to get auto financing than it’s been in the last two years.

Proving the point, auto loan approval rates are down 2.4 percentage points year over year, the report noted. So not only are many consumers avoiding vehicle financing altogether, but more lenders are turning drivers down.

Cox Automotive observed more borrowers choosing longer loan terms and fewer borrowers putting down large payments.

Many borrowers opt for long loan terms to walk away with a smaller monthly payment, but experts recommend against extended loan terms. They can leave you paying more across the lifetime of the loan and being stuck with the same vehicle longer.

Putting down a sizeable down payment is a good move as it lowers your monthly cost.

Potential wins of cheaper cars negated by high rates

The month of March finally brought with it a month-over-month average new-vehicle transaction price decline. On average new vehicles cost buyers $48,008. While this number is still quite high, it is below MSRP for the first time in 20 months, according to Kelley Blue Book. In May, prices rose slightly but remained under sticker price, averaging $48,528.

But while car prices are steadying, the cost to finance said vehicles is increasing. Merchant compares the combining factors influencing monthly payments to ingredients mixing in a cauldron. The amount you pay each month comprises the amount you finance, the terms you agree to and the interest rate you receive.

“When you mix it all up,” he says, “the average monthly payment on both new and used vehicles continues to tick upwards.”

He explains that “even if there’s some easing on one of those factors in the cauldron,” other factors may work against each other.

Many buyers are seeing that “there’s some easing on the cost of the vehicle, but at the same time that interest rate went up,” Merchant concludes.

This means walking away with a good deal, especially for borrowers with poor credit, is a challenge. It’ll likely stay a challenge over the next year, as rates are not expected to drop soon.

How to get vehicle financing even with high rates

Increased vehicle interest rates will be an unavoidable truth, at least for the next year. If you’re planning to buy a new vehicle before the new year, consider the following tips to secure the best auto loan.

•Shop around. When looking for the best financing option, it is important to compare at least three different lender choices. Pay close attention to available fees, terms and rates for your credit score.

•Apply for loan prequalification. Prequalification gives you a firm grasp on expected monthly payments to ensure you can truly afford what you sign off on.

•Add a co-signer. If your credit is lacking and affordable rates are out of reach, adding a co-signer with strong credit can dramatically improve your rates.

•Calculate the true cost of ownership. Consider the all-in cost of owning and operating your vehicle before agreeing to a monthly cost.

Next steps

It takes many moving parts working in synchrony to get your dream car to the dealership lot — and then into your driveway. With inflation adding friction to the system, you should prepare to spend a bit more money on financing. Lenders are apprehensive about providing funding for borrowers, so those with strong credit will be the most likely to find competitive rates.

©2023 Bankrate.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers co-owners behind women’s pro hockey league shakeup

• June 30, 2023

Organizers announced plans Friday to launch a new women’s professional hockey league in January that they hope will provide a stable, economically respectable home for the sport’s top players for years to come.

The North American league has many unanswered questions – how many teams, where they will play, will the economic model work after earlier leagues fell short – but an initial framework is in place. The effort also has deep pockets behind it: Dodgers co-owner Mark Walter and wife Kimbra, team President Stan Kasten and tennis legend and minority Dodgers owner Billie Jean King will help run the league.

“Over the past four years, we have worked tirelessly to close the gap on what young girls and boys dream to become in this sport,” said U.S. women’s star Kendall Coyne Schofield, a member of the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association.

The agreement ends a long standoff between the seven-team Professional Hockey Federation (PHF) and the PWHPA. The latter group includes Schofield and many other U.S. and Canadian national team players who were unwilling to join the PHF, whose assets were purchased by Walter’s firm.

It also could bring the National Hockey League to the table in a support role, perhaps in a way similar to how the NBA supports the WNBA. Commissioner Gary Bettman has said the NHL did not want to get involved in a dispute between leagues and would throw weight behind one, once it was formed.

“The National Hockey League congratulates the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association and the Premier Hockey Federation on their agreement,” the NHL said. “We already have initiated discussions with representatives of this unified group regarding how we can work together to continue to grow the women’s game.”

The PWHPA had been working with the Mark Walter Group and Billie Jean King Enterprises over the past 14 months on the new venture. PHF Commissioner Reagan Carey called the agreement the most significant development in the sport “since women’s ice hockey became an Olympic sport 25 years ago.”

“This is an extraordinary opportunity to advance women’s sports,” King said. “I have no doubt that this league can capture the imagination of fans and a new generation of players.”

The new league is expected to bring together North America’s most accomplished female players as well as players from Europe and Asia who have played in the PHF. Carey and PWHPA chief Jayna Hefford are expected to have leadership roles.

The PWHPA was certified as a union this spring and has completed negotiations on a collective bargaining agreement. A 62-page CBA was presented to PWHPA members Thursday night, and they have until Sunday night to ratify it and the new league’s constitution, according to a person familiar with the details who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity before the deal was announced.

If approved, the deal will run through 2031 and features a minimum salary of $35,000 for players on active rosters, the person said.

Among the many issues that need to be sorted out is the number of teams and where they will play. The PHF, which had recently doubled each team’s salary cap to $1.5 million, had teams in Boston, Toronto and Montreal along with East Rutherford, New Jersey; Hartford, Connecticut; Buffalo, New York; and Richfield, Minnesota.

In the meantime, existing PHF player contracts have been voided, though an agreement is in place to pay those under contract a portion of their salary through September, two people with knowledge of the information told AP. Some players are losing out on contracts they signed worth more than $150,000 over two seasons.

The higher salaries helped the PHF attract several high-profile international players as the league headed toward its ninth season, including Switzerland’s Alina Muller, Sweden’s Emma Soderberg and former Finland goalie and ex-PWHPA board member Noora Raty.

North American women’s pro hockey has seen leagues come and go, with the Canadian Women’s Hockey League folding in 2019 after 12 seasons featuring some of the best players in the world. Dani Rylan Kearney launched the National Women’s Hockey League in 2015 as an investor-funded, four-team league, but it scuffled at times and was later rebranded as the PHF.

The PWHPA was formed in 2019 in the fallout of the CWHL demise. Its members balked at joining the NWHL and instead pursued their vision of a league with a sustainable economic model and better compensation.

Earlier this month, PWHPA board member and U.S. star Hilary Knight insisted that the PHF was not the best model for building the women’s pro game, even as the divide in the sport persisted.

“I make this distinction: The more women we can have get paid to do the sport they love, I think that’s awesome,” Knight said. “What bothers me is the illusion of professionalism and what women’s hockey should be, and settling for what it is, right? And I think that’s the big distinction is let’s call it what it is.”

​ Orange County Register 

The Book Pages: Remembering the LA Dodgers’ Penguin classic

• June 30, 2023

There are plenty of iconic Southern California sports highlights, but possibly my favorite took place in a suburban Sears in Pasadena.

Growing up in Southern California, I was a huge fan of the Dodgers, especially their classic infield of Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell, and my favorite, Ron Cey, a six-time All-Star third baseman and 1981 co-World Series MVP.

While my friend was a fan of Garvey, whose unmussed affect didn’t appeal to me, Cey seemed endearingly human, a hardworking player who got things done. Even his nickname, the Penguin, which a college coach had bestowed upon him for his waddling gait, was hardly the stuff of glory.

Cey has been on my mind since I found out from my colleague J.P. Hoornstra that the former Dodger has a new book out (with Ken Gurnick), “Ron Cey: Penguin Power” about his years with the team. I just got a copy and have been reading around in it, enjoying its low-key, conversational voice.

“Ron Cey: Penguin Power” by Ron Cey with Ken Gurnick. (Courtesy of Triumph Books)

The book also reminded me of the time I met Cey when I was a kid and he was still playing for the team.

I’d read in the newspaper that Cey was coming to the Pasadena Sears for an appearance to promote a line of extremely polyester Dodger shirts the team had whipped up, possibly in some sort of bizarre co-branded campaign with the petroleum industry.

But the chance to see a penguin in the wilds of Pasadena? I had to go. My memory goes blank at how it came together but I wouldn’t be surprised if it involved some hard-core pestering on my part. Or maybe I just asked nicely and my lovely mom said yes. Let’s just go with that.

Knowing I watched all the games and could mimic (poorly!) the batting stance of the entire starting lineup, my mom took time out of her Saturday to take me to line up to see Cey up close. I don’t remember what the shirts actually cost but they weren’t cheap and I’m fairly certain my parents’ budget at the time didn’t have a place for silky synthetic leisurewear. Times were tight.

Inside the department store, the line stretched through the main aisle on the ground floor; it was full of young families, kids in their Little League uniforms and probably an autograph hound or two. The turnout wasn’t huge – maybe 100 people or so – but it was easily the longest line I’d ever stood in to meet someone other than Santa Claus.

Would it be worth the price of a plastic shirt? To me, yes. I could see Cey up ahead, sitting at a card table ready to start writing his name all over our possessions the way we fans like it.

Still, there was some unease. Many in line hadn’t understood that it was a no-shirt, no-service kind of deal, that we were gonna have to pay the piper to peep the Penguin. (These days, that’s pretty much a given at a signing event, but these were simpler times, young people.) (Also, sorry.)

Things got a little heated as the chatter built up about the T-shirt thing, so a rep for the store did that move that always calms a crowd: Adopting the booming tone of an overwhelmed substitute teacher announcing that everyone had detention, she proclaimed to the crowd you had to buy a shirt if you wanted to have something signed by Cey.

A collective groan arose with a slight undertone of mutiny that did not bode well for this event.

Until Ron Cey went to bat for the fans.

Dodgers third baseman Ron Cey at a Pasadena branch of Sears during his playing days. (Photo by Erik Pedersen)

My favorite baseball player proved I’d chosen my sports hero wisely. He bolted up – even possibly standing on the seat of his metal folding chair – and made his own announcement, sounding more than a little annoyed, but not at the fans.

What I remember him saying was this: I never agreed to that, and I’m not doing that. Shirts, gloves, pictures – bring it; I’ll sign whatever you want. You don’t need to buy a shirt if you don’t want to.

Then, with some of that barely concealed irritation starting to show, Cey added that if the store didn’t like it, he’d invite everyone to step outside into the parking lot where he’d sign anything for anyone for as long as they wanted.

A cheer went up that rattled the Craftsman tool sets and shook Toughskins from their plastic hangers. Probably.

Seeing the possibility that a long line of customers might abandon the store, the rep announced that Mr. Cey was correct, no one needed to buy anything – but, you know, it’d be nice if you did – and he’d sign your stuff.

As far as I know, this graceful play wasn’t captured on film — other than the shaky snapshot of mine — and the only replay I’m aware of has come from my telling and retelling this story over the years, so you’ll just have to settle for my glorious memory of it.

I’d been a fan when I went there, but seeing him stand up for all the moms with anxious, squirrely kids and grown-up guys clutching their battered old gloves sealed it for me. I’m grateful my mom took me, and I’m grateful I got to see Cey behave the way you hope your childhood heroes will. That’s priceless.

And the shirt? My mom bought me one and it was scratchy and felt like being embraced by a humid Florida motel room, but I held onto it until at some point my Dad tossed it out, probably worried it was a fire hazard.

Years later, I was playing softball with a bunch of writers and told my Ron Cey story to my friend and former colleague, Dan Epstein, the author of the baseball books “Big Hair and Plastic Grass” and “Stars and Strikes.” Dan’s joy at hearing the story reminded me of how special that day was.

For more from Dan on a related topic, check out his excellent roundup of books about West Coast baseball (or he’s got a Substack, too).

And there’s a coda: I took that photo of Cey – one! since film was expensive – and we went home. But after about 45 minutes, I got antsy and asked if we could go back. Someone, maybe my dad this time, took me back to Sears where I recall Cey was still sitting at the card table, though the crowd had dispersed. He’d agreed to stay for a certain amount of time and was fulfilling his duty.

I remember sitting awkwardly next to him for a few minutes, unable to think of anything to say. I probably came off a bit like Chris Farley in that sketch with Paul McCartney where he blurts things out like, “You remember when you were with the Beatles?”

That’s how I remember it anyway.

Former Dodger Ron Cey signs autographs before the start of the 2015 California/Carolina All-Star game at LoanMart Field in Rancho Cucamonga, Ca., June 23, 2015. (Photo by John Valenzuela/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)

(And if you came looking for the other kind of Penguin classics, please check out the publisher’s website.)

What are you looking forward to reading this summer? Please feel free to email me at [email protected] with “ERIK’S BOOK PAGES” in the subject line and I may include your comments in an upcoming newsletter.

And if you enjoy this free newsletter, please consider sharing it with someone who likes books or getting a digital subscription to support local coverage.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Elizabeth McKenzie never wanted this book to end

“The Dog of the North” is the latest novel by author Elizabeth McKenzie. (Photo by Donka Farkas / Courtesy of Penguin Press)

Elizabeth McKenzie is the author of “Dog of the North” and several other novels set in California. She spoke with Michael Schaub about her favorite book recommendations and more for the Book Pages Q&A.

Q. Is there a book or books you always recommend to other readers?  

“1Q84” by Haruki Murakami, “All the Birds in the Sky” by Charlie Jane Anders, “Nicotine” by Nell Zink, “The Unconsoled” by Kazuo Ishiguro, “The Hearts of Horses” by Molly Glass, “The Sea, The Sea” by Iris Murdoch, “The Dog of the South” by Charles Portis, “Atmospheric Disturbances” by Rivka Galchen, “State of Wonder” by Ann Patchett, “Independent People” by Halldor Laxness.

Q. Do you remember the first book(s) that made an impact on you? 

“A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’Engle in third grade. “Slaughterhouse-Five” by Kurt Vonnegut in high school. “The Portrait of a Lady” by Henry James in college.

Q. Can you recall a book that felt like it was written just for you?  

“Same Bed, Different Dreams” by Ed Park, coming out in October. I never wanted it to end.

Q. What’s something – a fact, a bit of dialogue or something else – that stayed with you from a recent reading?  

I’ve just read Brigitta Olubas’s “Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life” and was struck by the fact that Shirley and her husband Francis Steegmuller read aloud to each other before bed, including the entirety of Edward Gibbon’s “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.”

Q. Do you have a favorite book or books? 

For today, I’ll say “War and Peace,” “The Trial,” and “I Capture the Castle.”

Q. Which books do you plan, or hope, to read next? 

“Pedro Paramo” by Juan Rulfo, “God Went Like That” by Yxta Maya Murray, “Crook Manifesto” by Colson Whitehead, and “Extended Stay” by Juan Martinez.

Q. Is there a person who made an impact on your reading life – a teacher, a parent, a librarian or someone else?

My father was a librarian and book collector. He’d take our requests and bring home whatever we wanted to read next.

More stories on books, authors and bestsellers

Prepare for a summer of romance with these novels. (Covers courtesy of the publishers: Abrams, Berkley, Dell, Hyperion Avenue, Sourcebooks Casablanca, St. Martins Griffin)

Summer’s lovers

We pick 17 must-read romance novels for summer and beyond. READ MORE

• • •

Kelly Link is the author of “White Cat, Black Dog.” (Photo credit: Sharona Jacobs Photography / Courtesy of Random House)

Linked stories

Kelly Link says writing is miserable work. But it’s better than anything else. READ MORE

• • •

“Stay True: A Memoir” by Hua Hsu is among the top-selling nonfiction releases at Southern California’s independent bookstores. (Courtesy of Doubleday)

The week’s bestsellers

The top-selling books at your local independent bookstores. READ MORE

• • •

Bookish (SCNG)

What’s next on ‘Bookish’

Find out about the next Bookish event with the authors Eliza Jane Brazier and Jillian Lauren and hosts Sandra Tsing Loh and Samantha Dunn.

Did you miss the last one with Mona Simpson and Peter Wohlleben? You can watch it here.

Sign up for The Book Pages
Miss last week’s newsletter? Find past editions here
Dive into all of our books coverage

​ Orange County Register 

July 4 2023 fireworks: How to buy, where to watch and what’s canceled in Southern California

• June 30, 2023

We’re heading into July 4th weekend! If you’re still making plans, here’s our guide to help. 

Fireworks news updates

Are fireworks losing their spark? Escalating problems  – and rising costs – suggest they might be. We take a look at the future of one of America’s oldest traditions.

Redondo Beach won’t have a Fourth of July fireworks show over King Harbor this year, a consequence of new rules Los Angeles County’s water-quality watchdog implemented in late May. The new rules put restrictions on over-water fireworks, such as requiring the launch area to be enclosed with three walls and performing underwater surveys.

Pasadena leaders vow to some day restart the Rose Bowl’s Fourth of July fireworks show. But for now, what had been a decades-old annual Fourth of July AmericaFest celebration – one of the nation’s largest and longest running shows that drew audiences from around the region –  has been shelved as revenue losses plagued the event in recent years.

Where to buy

Want to put on a home-grown show? Here’s our annual guide to getting the most bang for your buck, and how to do it legally. 

Buying fireworks for Fourth of July 2023? Here’s what you need to know
60 Southern California cities allow you to legally buy and set off fireworks

Where to watch

Want to leave it to the experts and go to a show? You have options:

10 great fireworks shows in Southern California
Headed to the beach for the Fourth of July? Here’s some valuable tips

LA County shows

Where to see fireworks in LA, Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties
Long Beach’s Big Bang on the Bay is happening on July 3
Rancho Palos Verdes plans to celebrate with a drones show

Orange County shows 

Where to see fireworks in Orange County
Dana Point started planning in January to, as they always say, put on the “Best Show in South Orange County.”
These 10 Orange County restaurants offer views for watching Fourth of July fireworks

Inland Empire shows

Where to see fireworks on July 4th in the Inland Empire
After a three year hiatus, fireworks will return to the top of Mount Rubidoux
Here’s the history of the Mount Rubidoux show
And where to get one of the best views

More events

For 50 years, the Ironman has been the quintessential Hermosa Beach party, with hundreds competing in the time-honored — and boozy — rite of passage
And here’s what’s happening at Southern California casinos

From our archives

Longtime Orange County Register photographer Mark Rightmire wrote some tips for how to take great photos of fireworks.

How to help your pet stay calm when the fireworks start.

Enjoyed this article? Your friends might, too.

Here’s how you can share this article with your friends on Instagram: Click the Reel below to open it in the app and press the paper airplane icon. You can either add it to your stories for all your followers or share it with someone specific.

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

California taxpayers pony up for transit systems they’ll never use

• June 30, 2023

SACRAMENTO – The last time I considered using public transit was in San Francisco last month, where I dreaded the thought of climbing up the long incline from Chinatown to Nob Hill. I decided to make the calorie-burning trek on foot after realizing I needed to pre-purchase my ticket on the touristy cable car. I can’t recall the last time I actually took transit. When is the last time you hopped on a bus or light-rail line to get to work or anywhere at all?

If your answer also is “years ago,” then we’re in good company. The Southern California Association of Governments found the “median” resident of SCAG’s six counties (Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura and Imperial) made zero transit trips in a year. The “average” resident made 35 annual transit trips, which isn’t impressive given I made six trips in my truck and motorcycle yesterday.

SCAG finds only 2 percent of the region’s population uses transit “very frequently” and that’s concentrated among the poorest residents. That’s not to say transit isn’t important. It makes sense in urban centers, for certain commutes (think Metrolink) and, again, as a last resort for people who can’t afford cars. Those SCAG numbers come from 2018 – before the pandemic, which caused ridership to plummet. It’s only recovered moderately.

Yet before Monday’s budget deal, transit supporters were predicting doom if Gov. Gavin Newsom didn’t agree to bail out these systems. He resisted for months, but finally agreed to a $5.1-billion package that provides additional operating subsidies and construction dollars. That spares transit systems from facing difficult choices regarding which lines to keep operating, which projects to fund and which departments to trim. Perish the thought.

“Like many public transportation systems around the country, some of California’s transit agencies are reeling from pandemic-induced declines in ridership and the risk that federal COVID aid will dry up,” wrote Farhad Manjoo in a New York Times op-ed backing a California bailout. “Transit agencies are preparing to adjust their budgets and services to new travel patterns, but implementing those plans will take time – and in the short term they are pretty strapped.”

Oh, please. Transit agencies were struggling long before anyone had heard of COVID-19. Ridership levels in almost every major transit system nationwide had been plunging for two decades. The agencies have had plenty of time to adjust to reality, but have not used it to develop new business models that appeal to riders. They haven’t even turned the corner on transit crime waves that literally scare off riders.

Instead of cutting superfluous bureaus or staff, reducing compensation (or at least reforming benefit packages), outsourcing contracts and adjusting routes or trying innovative solutions (smaller buses, privatized alternatives), they’ve continued to offer these services in an antiquated way. Transportation planners are heavily invested in prodding Californians to give up their cars and use transit, yet they don’t offer systems that are reliable or appealing.

Instead, they offer the banal choice of more public money or fewer routes, which leads to transit boosters’ concerns about a “death spiral.” If people aren’t taking transit now, even fewer will take transit if it cuts service, which leads to even fewer riders and lower revenues, and then further cuts. Rinse and repeat. How long before the state’s transit agencies will burn through their coming cash infusion and then start lobbying for even more subsidies?

As I noted in my new short book, “Putting Customers First,” the state’s major transportation agencies focus on a variety of social concerns ranging from “equity platforms” to promoting affordable housing. The Caltrans future blueprint is more about battling greenhouse-gas emissions than creating bus systems that arrive on time and freeways that are less congested. It’s a long mish-mash of politically correct goals, bolstered by legislation that treats customer concerns as a side issue.

Related Articles

Sure, effective transportation can boost equity, encourage housing creation and fight climate change – but it will do so with fewer costly internal bureaucracies and a razor focus on improving transit offerings. By dumping more money into current systems without any mandate for change, we only get more inanity – e.g., “road diets” that increase congestion by reducing the number of traffic lanes in a silly quest to prod us into abandoning our cars.

Newsom promised that the bailout deal features new “accountability” measures in exchange for the extra money, but the details haven’t been forthcoming. In my experience, spending proposals always promise new oversight and accountability measures to provide political cover for lawmakers who are reticent about loosening the purse strings. After the spending bill passes, those measures prove ephemeral. They might result in a toothless commission or useless future report.

In the meantime, transit service gets drearier for the few Californians who rely on it. The rest of us just continue to bypass the systems altogether, dealing with the ever-worsening roadways however we can.

Steven Greenhut is Western region director for the R Street Institute and a member of the Southern California News Group editorial board. Write to him at [email protected].

​ Orange County Register 

ESPN fires 20 on-air employees in latest round of job cuts

• June 30, 2023

By Gerry Smith | Bloomberg

Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN is laying off about 20 on-air employees, part of an effort to shore up its finances before the sports media giant faces greater scrutiny from investors.

The employees being let go have contracts that extend beyond Friday, and the network intends to honors those deals, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Among those being let go is Jeff Van Gundy, a commentator on ESPN’s NBA broadcasts, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing personnel matters.

The cuts are part of an effort to burnish ESPN’s finances. In the coming months, Disney plans to begin break out the network’s quarterly results for the first time, putting the business under Wall Street’s microscope.

Like other TV channels, ESPN is struggling with the decline of cable-TV subscribers as more consumers embrace streaming.

In the coming months, the network will also look to save more money by renegotiating or not renewing certain contracts with on-air personalities.

“These difficult decisions, based more on overall efficiency than merit, will help us meet our financial targets and ensure future growth,” the network said Friday in a statement.

In April, ESPN laid off several employees who work behind the scenes and said on-air changes would follow. Those cuts were part of Disney’s push to eliminate around 7,000 jobs this year.

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

Alan Arkin, Oscar-winning ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ actor, dies at 89

• June 30, 2023

LOS ANGELES — Alan Arkin, the wry character actor who demonstrated his versatility in comedy and drama as he received four Academy Award nominations and won an Oscar in 2007 for “Little Miss Sunshine,” has died. He was 89.

His sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony confirmed their father’s death through the actor’s publicist on Friday. “Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man,” they said in a statement.

A member of Chicago’s famed Second City comedy troupe, Arkin was an immediate success in movies with the Cold War spoof “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming” and peaked late in life with his win as best supporting actor for the surprise 2006 hit “Little Miss Sunshine.” More than 40 years separated his first Oscar nomination, for “The Russians are Coming,” from his nomination for playing a conniving Hollywood producer in the Oscar-winning “Argo.”

In recent years he starred opposite Michael Douglas in the Netflix comedy series “The Kominsky Method,” a role that earned him two Emmy nominations.

Arkin once joked to The Associated Press that the beauty of being a character actor was not having to take his clothes off for a role. He wasn’t a sex symbol or superstar, but was rarely out of work, appearing in more than 100 TV and feature films. His trademarks were likability, relatability and complete immersion in his roles, no matter how unusual, whether playing a Russian submarine officer in “The Russians are Coming” who struggles to communicate with the equally jittery Americans, or standing out as the foul-mouthed, drug-addicted grandfather in “Little Miss Sunshine.”

“Alan’s never had an identifiable screen personality because he just disappears into his characters,” director Norman Jewison of “The Russians are Coming” once observed. “His accents are impeccable, and he’s even able to change his looks. … He’s always been underestimated, partly because he’s never been in service of his own success.”

While still with Second City, Arkin was chosen by Carl Reiner to play the young protagonist in the 1963 Broadway play “Enter Laughing,” based on Reiner’s semi-autobiographical novel.

He attracted strong reviews and the notice of Jewison, who was preparing to direct a 1966 comedy about a Russian sub that creates a panic when it ventures too close to a small New England town. In Arkin’s next major film, he proved he could also play a villain, however reluctantly. Arkin starred in “Wait Until Dark” as a vicious drug dealer who holds a blind woman (Audrey Hepburn) captive in her own apartment, believing a drug shipment is hidden there.

He recalled in a 1998 interview how difficult it was to terrorize Hepburn’s character.

“Just awful,” he said. “She was an exquisite lady, so being mean to her was hard.”

1968’s “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter,” in which he played a sensitive man who could not hear or speak, again elevated Arkin’s status in Hollywood. He starred as the bumbling French detective in “Inspector Clouseau” that same year, but the film would become overlooked in favor of Peter Sellers’ Clouseau in the “Pink Panther” movies.

Arkin’s career as a character actor continued to blossom when Mike Nichols, a fellow Second City alumnus, cast him in the starring role as Rossarian, the victim of wartime red tape in 1970’s “Catch-22,” based on Joseph Heller’s million-selling novel. Through the years, Arkin turned up in such favorites as “Edward Scissorhands,” playing Johnny Depp’s neighbor; and in the film version of David Mamet’s “Glengarry Glen Ross” as a dogged real estate salesman. He and Reiner played brothers, one successful (Reiner), one struggling (Arkin), in the 1998 film “The Slums of Beverly Hills.”

“I used to think that my stuff had a lot of variety. But I realized that for the first twenty years or so, most of the characters I played were outsiders, strangers to their environment, foreigners in one way or another,” he told The Associated Press in 2007.

“As I started to get more and more comfortable with myself, that started to shift. I got one of the nicest compliments I’ve ever gotten from someone a few days ago. They said that they thought my characters were very often the heart, the moral center of a film. I didn’t particularly understand it, but I liked it; it made me happy.”

Other recent credits included “Going in Style,” a 2017 remake featuring fellow Oscar winners Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman, and “The Kominsky Method.” He played a Hollywood talent agent and friend of Douglas’ character, a once-promising actor who ran an acting school after his career sputtered.

Arkin also directed the film version of Jules Feiffer’s 1971 dark comedy “Little Murders” and Neil Simon’s 1972 play about bickering old vaudeville partners, “The Sunshine Boys.” On television, Arkin appeared in the short-lived series “Fay” and “Harry” and played a night court judge in Sidney Lumet’s drama series “100 Centre Street” on A&E. He also wrote several books for children.

Born in New York City’s borough of Brooklyn, he and his family, which included two younger brothers, moved to Los Angeles when he was 11. His parents found jobs as teachers, but were fired during the post-World War II Red Scare because they were Communists.

“We were dirt poor so I couldn’t afford to go to the movies often,” he told the AP in 1998. “But I went whenever I could and focused in on movies, as they were more important than anything in my life.”

He studied acting at Los Angeles City College; California State University, Los Angeles; and Bennington College in Vermont, where he earned a scholarship to the formerly all-girls school.

He married a fellow student, Jeremy Yaffe, and they had two sons, Adam and Matthew.

After he and Yaffe divorced in 1961, Arkin married actress-writer Barbara Dana, and they had a son, Anthony. All three sons became actors: Adam starred in the TV series “Chicago Hope.”

“It was certainly nothing that I pushed them into,” Arkin said in 1998. “It made absolutely no difference to me what they did, as long as it allowed them to grow.”

Arkin began his entertainment career as an organizer and singer with The Tarriers, a group that briefly rode the folk musical revival wave of the late 1950s. Later, he turned to stage acting, off-Broadway and always in dramatic roles.

At Second City, he worked with Nichols, Elaine May, Jerry Stiller, Anne Meara and others in creating intellectual, high-speed impromptu riffs the fads and follies of the day.

“I never knew that I could be funny until I joined Second City,” he said.

The late AP Entertainment writer Bob Thomas provided biographical material for this story.

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

California home insurance: What’s more important, coverage or cost?

• June 30, 2023

California’s home insurance challenges are a complex web of risk management, construction costs, pricing algorithms, climate forecasts and regulatory minutia.

Recently, State Farm and Allstate — two major home insurers in California – chose to stop writing new property policies, citing rising costs. Their moves raise fears of a potential statewide insurance shortage.

This begs the question: What are fair premiums and how will they offer homeowners decent protection while providing insurers a fair profit?

Now, insurance pricing logic makes the average human’s head hurt. It requires calculating the risks of everything from major catastrophes to modest calamities at just one home. The variables run from climate to construction to crime.

Add that up and then make a big bet: How much money for how much protection?

Let my trusty spreadsheet try to explain this odd dynamic, using some awfully basic math to highlight the tussle between a property owner and an insurer.

Proper premiums

We all know that many things tied to housing in California are expensive.

So, it might surprise you to know that California’s home insurance rates look relatively affordable when compared with premiums across the U.S.

California had the 37th-highest annual premiums at an average $1,434 a year to cover $360,000 in damages, according to my look at policy price rankings from Nerdwallet, Insurance.com, and Bankrate.

The national median was $1,963. And the highest premiums were found in Middle America where wind and hail pound homes – Oklahoma at $4,766, then Nebraska at $3,985, Kansas at $3,774, Texas at $3,389 and Arkansas at $3,172.

One argument the insurance industry makes to explain their wariness about protecting more California homes is that they don’t feel they’re being adequately compensated for their risks. Remember, insurance premiums are regulated by the state’s Department of Insurance.

Costly construction

Building housing in California isn’t cheap – and that’s a hefty slice of insurance cost.

For starters, the California construction workers who’d fix your home are pricey.

They earn the nation’s fifth-highest annualized average pay of $89,300, according to federal job stats. These jobs pay better only in Massachusetts ($101,200), New Jersey ($90,500), Illinois ($90,100), and New York ($89,700). Nationwide, construction wages run $80,300.

Those paychecks are one reason why California ranked No. 3 among the states with an average construction expense of $188 per square foot, according to my combination of building expense benchmarks from Today’s Homeowner and Forbes. The national median was $149 and only two states were costlier: Hawaii at $206 and Alaska at $189.

On the other hand, the typical home in California is far smaller than the typical American residence. That might offer some savings on a significant repair bill.

The median California house is 1,860 square feet, 37th among the states vs. the 2,014 U.S. norm, says the American Home Size Index. The biggest houses are in Utah at 2,800 square feet and the smallest are in Hawaii at 1,164.

Combine cost and size and you get a rudimentary replacement value for a quasi-typical California home: $349,000. That’s eighth-highest in the nation and far above the nation’s $304,000. The highest was in Utah at $427,000. The low was in Iowa at $213,000.

Now before you scoff at those guestimates, much of a California home’s huge price tag comes from the lofty value of the land it sits on. You still have a lot even if, say, a wildfire burns the home to the ground.

Another wrinkle is the age of housing. Old homes typically required the cost of being brought up to modern construction codes when repaired.

California ranked 16th for the age of housing stock at 45 years vs. 35 nationally, according to the Census Bureau. The oldest housing is in New York at 63. The youngest is in Nevada at 25.

What are the odds?

The owner and the insurer both want the premium to properly reflect the likelihood a housing hazard will damage the property.

And it’s a good bet that the largest perils can be tied to Mother Nature.

California had the fifth-most dangerous conditions, according to my composite of climate-risk scorecards from CoreLogic, WorldPopulationReview, WalletHub, and MoneyGeek. No. 1 was Texas, then Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma. The lowest risk, by the way, was found in Rhode Island, Delaware and Connecticut.

However, this is a broad brush for scoring home insurance’s risks.

Remember two large hazards — flooding and earthquakes — are not protected by a typical California home insurance policy. Plus, home policies also cover losses such as plumbing leaks theft and various legal liabilities.

Bottom line

This math barely scratches the surface of the pricing debate.

Plus, no two owners or insurers will see the California risks the same way. And state insurance regulators have their own views, too.

Look, there are far more questions than answers surrounding California’s home insurance headaches. But there’s an over-arching issue that California will have to figure out: What’s more important, coverage or cost?

Should the regulation err on the side of availability of insurance in a state where owners have to protect considerable real estate values?

Or is the price of protection paramount in a state where housing expenses aggressively stretch many family budgets?

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at [email protected]

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register