Jobless claims fall for third straight week — and that could be bad for the economy

• March 2, 2023

By MATT OTT | AP Business Writer

The number of people applying for unemployment benefits in the U.S. fell for third straight week. That’s good news for American workers, but potentially bad news in the fight against inflation by the Federal Reserve, which has been ratcheting up its benchmark interest rate for a year in an effort to cool the economy, loosen the labor market and tame inflation.

Applications for jobless claims in the U.S. for the week ending February 25 fell to 190,000 from 192,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said Thursday. It’s the seventh straight week claims were under 200,000.

The four-week moving average of claims, which evens out some of the weekly volatility, rose by 1,750 to 193,000, remaining below the 200,000 threshold for the sixth straight week.

Applications for unemployment benefits are considered a proxy for the number layoffs in the U.S.

In February, the Fed raised its main lending rate by 25 basis points, its eighth rate hike in less than a year. The central bank’s benchmark rate is now in a range of 4.5% to 4.75%, its highest level in 15 years.

The Fed’s hawkish interest rate policy appeared to be slowing inflation, but recent data has suggested otherwise. Some economists now expect the Fed to raise its benchmark rate by a substantial half-percentage point when it meets later this month.

The Fed’s rate hikes have done little to cool a red-hot U.S. job market, which has put upward pressure on wages, and as a result, prices.

Last month, the government reported that employers added a better-than-expected 517,000 jobs in January and that the unemployment rate dipped to 3.4%, the lowest level since 1969. Fed policymakers have forecast that the unemployment rate would rise to 4.6% by the end of this year, a sizable increase historically associated with recessions.

Though the U.S. labor market remains strong, layoffs have been mounting in the technology sector, where many companies overhired after a pandemic boom. IBM, Microsoft, Amazon, Salesforce, Facebook parent Meta, Twitter and DoorDash have all announced layoffs in recent months.

The real estate sector has also been battered by the Fed’s interest rate hikes. Higher mortgage rates — currently above 6% — have slowed home sales for 12 straight months. That’s almost in lockstep with the Fed’s rate hikes that began last March.

About 1.66 million people were receiving jobless aid the week that ended Feb. 18, a decrease of 5,000 from the week before.

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​ Orange County Register 

Kelp help: Aquarium of the Pacific tries to preserve underwater forest

• March 2, 2023

Bull kelp — while unassuming — is an essential fixture in the marine ecosystem up and down the West Coast.

The expansive underwater forests provide protection for vulnerable sea creatures, including sea urchins, stars, otters, crabs and snails. And many sea creatures rely on bull kelp as a food source. Bull kelp also helps out humans, thanks to its plentiful oxygen production, and protects the coasts from erosion and other damage caused by waves.

The kelp itself, though, is in dire straits.

The kelp has faced mass destruction recently, threatening the marine ecosystem — but the Aquarium of the Pacific has swooped into help.

The Long Beach aquarium has partnered with the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and California Sea Grant, an organization that provides funding for marine and coastal research, on a preservation project.

A culmination of several events in 2014 — including a underwater heat wave and an explosion in the sea urchin population — resulted in the destruction of more than 95% of Northern California’s bull kelp forests, according to the National Science Foundation.

“That really was the first event that took out a lot of the Northern bull kelp,” said Jessica Soski, a senior aquarist in the Aquarium of the Pacific’s Northern Pacific Gallery. “The big (challenge) is going to be climate change — kelp needs very specific conditions to reproduce and to live, and the warmer water is really hard on it.”

But there are other problems, Soski said: Around the same time as the underwater heat wave event, sea stars along the Pacific coast began to die off en masse because of a little understood condition called sea star wasting disease. Sea star population levels remain low to this day — resulting in a dramatic increase of their natural prey, sea urchins.

“So what can happen is the urchins get out of balance when their predator is taken away,” Soski said, “and then they eat all of the kelp.”

Satellite images taken by the National Science Foundation in 2021 show that the once plentiful kelp forests along the Northern California coast have been nearly completely replaced by sea urchin barrens.

The preservation project the Aquarium of the Pacific is part of is hoping to help reverse some of the damage by collecting genetic material from the kelp forests.

“We’re going out and collecting it now and basically trying to save it for later,” Soski said. “In case we have catastrophic events that take out all the bulk kelp, we (can) go back to these libraries that we have of the genetic material and use that for future restoration work.”

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Aquarium of the Pacific staff will preserve 1,400 bull kelp genetic specimens, according to a Wednesday, March 1, news release. Those genetic materials, or gametophytes, will be stored in stasis at the aquarium — where they can be preserved for decades.

“Unlike most plants that just drop seeds that grow into a new plant, kelp release spores and then those spores settle on the ocean floor,” Soski said. “Those spores can be basically turned into either a tiny little microscopic male or a tiny little microscopic female — and that’s what we’re holding in our test tubes.”

Once preserved, the kelp specimens can be extracted and planted back into the ocean to hopefully repopulate decimated kelp forests in the future. The University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, Soski added, also has its own library of bull kelp genetic material — so there is a backup should anything happen to either preservation project.

“It’s a very hopeful project,” Soski said.  “In a perfect world, we wouldn’t need to use these — but we have them in the event that we do.”

​ Orange County Register 

Alpine Village shopkeepers get confirmation: they’re being evicted

• March 2, 2023

Alpine Village, a community jewel near Torrance known for its iconic German-themed restaurants and shops, has one month left before shuttering for good.

The Alpine Market closed this week. The popular swap meet and a cafe closed last week. And now, the dozen remaining merchants in brick-and-mortar shops — all that’s left of the once-thriving Bavarian-themed retail center — have received an eviction notice.

The merchants received the letter on Wednesday, March 1, the day after they got word the Alpine Village had been sold. The letter, which the Southern California News Group obtained, says the shopkeepers have 30 days to vacate the premises.

The new owner is listed only as 833 Torrance Boulevard LLC – Alpine Village’s address.

“All Tenant responsibilities under the Lease remain in effect and unchanged through 3/31/2023,” the Wednesday letter, written by CBRE Property Management on behalf of the new owner, said. “Please note that under California law, your month-to-month tenancy can be terminated on 30 days’ notice.”

CBRE did not return requests for comment.

But several tenants told SCNG that the CBRE representative that gave the the eviction notice also said Alpine Village will be converted to a truck yard to store cargo containers and vehicles for the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

How that will happen is unclear, since the village’s buildings have historic status, though that designation is only for the exteriors.

The spokespeople for both the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports said they didn’t know about the sale or the new owner.  Matt Schrap, a representative with the Harbor Trucking Association, also said he wasn’t familiar with plans for the Alpine Village.

And the office of county Supervisor Holly Mitchell, who represents the area, did not return requests for comment.

But Elke Schulz, owner of Alpine Toys, said the decision makes sense because of the village’s proximity to the harbor.

The ports faced a storage issue during a cargo surge that began in the second half of 2020 and lasted more than 18 months That surge, which has since abated, led to lingering cargo at the ports, ships lining the coastline down to Orange County and overflowing warehouses, all of which underscored the need for more places to store cargo.

“Over the years, we have heard many times they want to put container storage for the harbor,” Schulz said, “because it’s so close to the freeway. It’s easy for them to go to the harbor and fill them up.”

The Alpine Village, a chalet-style shopping court near the 110 Freeway, opened in 1968 and for decades was a hub of German American activity. It boasted a soccer field, a German market, bakery and even a petting zoo where small animals roamed.

But in recent years, the Alpine Village has slowly deteriorated, with regulars and tenants pointing fingers at poor management, as well as changing demographics and aging clientele.

Its restaurant and bar, home to one of the South Bay’s most popular Oktoberfests, shut down in 2020 because of financial hardship. The swap meet the Alpine Market both shuttered late last month, despite protests from vendors and shopkeepers.

“It was just not making any money for them anymore,” Schulz said, “because you have nothing going on, so how could you be making much money/”

Schulz runs the toy shop with her Mom, Marlene Schulz. Their business has been in operation since 1974. Like many others, the village has a special spot in her heart.

“This was like my neighborhood growing up,” the younger Schulz said. “I played with all the other kids around here. Some kids play on their street at home. This was my street.”

Schulz said she will sell her products online while trying to find another brick-and-mortar location.

“I am not mad that they are selling,” she said. “I just didn’t like how they handled it.”

Nephy Nunez, who has owned a sign printing shop at Alpine Village for 13 years, said the previous owner did not disclose that the property was being sold until Tuesday.

The initial letter informing merchants of the sale cited a non-disclosure agreement during negotiations as the reason for not letting them know sooner.

Still, Nunez said, the decision will negatively impact all of the stores at the complex.

“First of all, we will not have any new customers coming in,” he said. “Second, who is going to incur all the expenses of us moving out? And third, the loss of business. So it will affect us. We are a small business in the City of Torrance in Los Angeles County. This is completely shocking to us.”

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Mike Mueller, owner of Salamander Shoes, acknowledged that the new owner offered to help extend their stay if tenants needed more time to move stuff out. But the merchants are not allowed to make any sales beyond the 30-day period, he said.

“I just think what they did to us after being here for that many years was very unfair, very inhumane,” Mueller said. “I mean, you couldn’t just have a simple conversation with all the store owners, it’s only 10 or 11 people, and say, ‘This is what’s happening and you guys should make your own arrangements and plans.’

“It’s a shame. This place has been here for a long time. A lot of people have memories here,” he added, “and it’s finally over.”

​ Orange County Register 

SpaceX launches US, Russia, UAE astronauts to space station

• March 2, 2023

By MARCIA DUNN | AP Aerospace Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Hawthorne-based SpaceX launched four astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA on Thursday, including the first person from the Arab world going up for an extended monthslong stay.

The Falcon rocket bolted from Kennedy Space Center shortly after midnight, illuminating the night sky as it headed up the East Coast.

Nearly 80 spectators from the United Arab Emirates watched from the launch site as astronaut Sultan al-Neyadi — only the second Emirati to fly to space — blasted off on his six-month mission.

Half a world away in Dubai and elsewhere across the UAE, schools and offices broadcast the launch live.

Also riding the Dragon capsule that’s due at the space station on Friday: NASA’s Stephen Bowen, a retired Navy submariner who logged three space shuttle flights, and Warren “Woody” Hoburg, a former research scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and space newbie, and Andrei Fedyaev, a space rookie who’s retired from the Russian Air Force.

“Welcome to orbit,” SpaceX Launch Control radioed, noting liftoff occurred four years to the day after the capsule’s first orbital test flight. “If you enjoyed your ride, please don’t forget to give us five stars.”

The first attempt to launch them was called off Monday at the last minute because of a clogged filter in the engine ignition system.

“It may have taken two times, but it was worth the trip,” Bowen said.

NASA’s space operations mission chief, Kathy Lueders, said Thursday’s launch enhanced a night sky already showcasing a conjunction of Venus and Jupiter. The two planets have appeared side by side all week, seeming to grow ever closer.

“We added a bright new star to that night sky tonight,” she told reporters.

The space station newcomers will replace a U.S.-Russian-Japanese crew that has been up there since October. The other station residents are two Russians and an American whose six-month stay was doubled, until September, after their Soyuz capsule sprang a leak. A replacement Soyuz arrived last weekend.

Al-Neyadi, a communications engineer, thanked everyone in Arabic and then English once reaching orbit. “Launch was incredible. Amazing,” he said.

He served as backup for the first Emirati astronaut, Hazzaa al-Mansoori, who rode a Russian rocket to the space station in 2019 for a weeklong visit. The oil-rich federation paid for al-Neyadi’s seat on the SpaceX flight.

The UAE’s minister for public education and advanced technology, Sarah al-Amiri, said the long mission “provides us a new venue for science and scientific discovery for the country.”

“We don’t want to just go to space and then not have much to do there or not have impact,” said the director general of the UAE’s space center in Dubai, Salem al-Marri.

The Emirates already have a spacecraft orbiting Mars, and a mini rover is hitching a ride to the moon on a Japanese lander. Two new UAE astronauts are training with NASA’s latest astronaut picks in Houston.

Saudi Prince Sultan bin Salman was the first Arab in space, launching aboard shuttle Discovery in 1985. He was followed two years later by Syrian astronaut Muhammed Faris, launched by Russia. Both were in space for about a week.

Al-Neyadi will be joined this spring by two Saudi astronauts going to the space station on a short private SpaceX flight paid by their government.

“It’s going to be really exciting, really interesting” to have three Arabs in space at once, he said last week. “Our region is also thirsty to learn more.”

He’s taking up lots of dates to share with his crewmates, especially during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month which begins this month. As for observing Ramadan in orbit, he said fasting isn’t compulsory since it could make him weak and jeopardize his mission.

Bowen, the crew’s leader, said the four have jelled well as a team despite differences between their countries. Even with the tension over the war in Ukraine, the U.S. and Russia have continued to work together on the space station and trade seats on rides there.

“It’s just tremendous to have the opportunity to fly with these guys,” Bowen said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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​ Orange County Register 

Mater Dei girls basketball clamps down on Sage Hill, advances in regional playoffs

• March 2, 2023

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SANTA ANA — One of the alluring qualities for the Mater Dei-Sage Hill girls basketball clash Wednesday night was its setting in the CIF Southern California Regional playoffs. Monarchs coach Kevin Kiernan saw another selling point, too.

“I told the kids tonight this was the Orange County CIF champion,”  Kiernan said. “I don’t know if we get a ring for it but this was for the Orange County CIF championship.”

Mater Dei earned local bragging rights for another year.

The Monarchs, ranked No. 1 in the county, introduced a wrinkle to their pressing defense to slow down the No. 2 Lightning en route to a 59-44 victory in the first round of the Open Division playoffs, earning a trip Saturday to juggernaut Sierra Canyon in the semifinals.

The Trailblazers (30-0), ranked No. 1 in the nation by MaxPreps, received a first-round bye after claiming the CIF-SS Open Division title against Etiwanda at the Honda Center on Saturday.

“We’re going to go take a swing,” Kiernan said of facing USC-bound Juju Watkins and Sierra Canyon. “It’s going to be a big challenge but you get to do it. That’s a big thing for us here. At a place like Mater Dei, we want to play those guys. It’s a big game and we want to be in it.”

Mater Dei (29-3) finished 12-0 in against Orange County opponents this season, including 2-0 against Sage Hill (21-10), the reigning state Division II champion.

The Monarchs beat the Lightning 62-50 in mid-December when Sage Hill was without Annabelle Spotts. The junior forward was back Wednesday, scoring 12 points, but so was the Mater Dei defense.

The Monarchs switched between a three-quarter of the court and a full-court press and adjusted where they trapped on the floor. The result was more contested shots and holding the Lightning to seven points in the fourth period.

“And we just gave it our all. We went hard the whole time,” said Mater Dei sophomore Addison Deal, who scored a team-high 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds. “Pushing the (trap) back a little definitely made them panic more. They couldn’t really move as far forward, so I think that really impacted the game.”

Deal also helped the Monarchs’ offense land the knockout in the middle of the fourth period. She grabbed a rebound and raced for a layup for a 50-40 lead, Mater Dei’s largest at that point.

Deal then answered a Sage Hill basket with a slick pass off a drive into the key to post Jenessa Cotton for another layup.

Mater Dei freshman Kaeli Wynn highlighted the fourth with one of the biggest defensive plays. The forward blocked a shot and grabbed the rebound in a sequence that eventually led to her 3-pointer, which gave the Monarchs a 55-42 lead with 1:23 left. Deal recorded the assist.

“I said (to Wynn), ‘Best play you’ve made all year,’ ” Kiernan said of the block.

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Sage Hill trimmed a nine-point Mater Dei lead to two on a 3-pointer by Amalia Holguin (13 points). The freshman sank another 3-pointer to open the fourth to cut the Monarchs’ lead to 44-40 but Mater Dei pulled away with its defense, rebounding and depth.

Mater Dei’s bench, which included Wynn, Amaya Williams, Isabel Clark and Emily Shaw, outscored the Lightning bench 18-0.

“Mater Dei is the standard in Orange County, and is the standard for a lot of the state,” Sage Hill coach Kerwin Walters said. “We’re going to test that resolve with everyone next year.”

​ Orange County Register 

Pac-12 Tournament: USC women upset by Oregon State

• March 2, 2023

LAS VEGAS — The USC women’s basketball team couldn’t close out a victory and the Trojans now find themselves heading home early from the Pac-12 Tournament.

Raegan Beers scored 18 points and went 8 for 9 from the free-throw line and Adlee Blacklock added 15 points as 11th-seeded Oregon State upset sixth-seeded USC, 56-48, on Wednesday night in a first-round game at Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay.

Jelena Mitrovic added 12 points for Oregon State (13-17), which advances to face No. 3 seed Colorado on Thursday night. USC is still projected to make the NCAA Tournament, which would be its first appearance since 2014.

Oregon State outscored USC 21-5 in the final 6:53 and made all eight of its final foul shots at the end to secure the win.

Kadi Sissoko scored 16 points and Destiny Littlejohn scored 12 for USC (21-9).

The Trojans swept the regular-season meetings with Oregon State, winning 69-58 in Corvallis and 60-56 in overtime at the Galen Center.

Beers’ layup with 4:41 left in the third quarter gave Oregon State a 30-26 lead, but the Trojans responded with an 11-4 run to close the quarter for a 37-34 advantage.

USC created some cushion when Okako Adika’s 3-pointer put the Trojans ahead 43-35 with 7:11 left, but Oregon State went on an 11-0 run with six points coming from the free-throw line. AJ Marotte made a pair of foul shots and followed with a layup for a 46-43 lead and the Beavers led the rest of the way.

UP NEXT

USC awaits the reveal of the NCAA Tournament bracket, which will be announced on Sunday, March 12.

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​ Orange County Register 

Surf City goes all in to push NIMBY agenda

• March 2, 2023

Huntington Beach Mayor Tony Strickland has apparently forgotten that he no longer serves in the state Legislature given his plan to defy state laws that make it easier for developers to build housing. Strickland and the GOP council majority voted 4-3 to direct the city attorney to challenge Senate Bills 9 and 10 – setting up Surf City for a costly and doomed legal battle.

We have no problem with realistic legal challenges to state laws, but we only support those lawsuits that uphold some high-minded or liberty oriented principle. SB 9 allows property owners to build duplexes on a “by right” basis in neighborhoods zoned for single-family homes. SB 10 allows developers to build higher-density housing along transit routes. They promote property rights and deregulation.

The Legislature isn’t known for loosening up regulations, but the depth of the state’s housing crisis convinced lawmakers to do the right thing. They reduced onerous California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) restrictions and eliminated subjective criteria by which localities reject development proposals.

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“Really the issue is a matter of local control,” said Councilman Casey McKeon, according to published reports. “It should be incumbent on the residents who live here to decide how they zone their city, and if they want to allow ADUs.” That is a perfect encapsulation of the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) position, which uses “local control” to empower local bureaucrats rather than property owners.

It also shows why the state passed these laws. The Legislature realized that cities, in an attempt to placate existing residents who oppose new construction, are a prime cause of the state’s unaffordable housing prices. Previously, Mayor Strickland whined about efforts to “urbanize Huntington Beach.”

Councilman Dan Kalmick, who opposed the challenge, wrote that, “the city has not received a single SB 9 application for a lot split.” The law isn’t changing the character of Huntington Beach – but it has provided slow-growthers with a soapbox. Strickland and his allies ought to spend more time tending to the city’s problems and less time pretending to be state legislators.

​ Orange County Register 

Commercial fire in Laguna Hills causes $2 million in damage

• March 2, 2023

Orange County firefighters battled a three-alarm blaze Tuesday at an electric bicycle company in Laguna Hills for five hours before getting it under control.

The blaze broke out around 1:15 a.m. in the 23000 block of Alcalde Drive and was brought under control at about 6:08 a.m., Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Steve Concialdi said.

Firefighters were still on the scene Wednesday night as they overhauled stubborn heat areas in debris piles removed from the building, said Capt. Sean Doran.

A warehouse and offices “sustained significant damage,” Concialdi said.

About 75 firefighters battled the blaze, which was fueled by cardboard boxes containing the bikes, Concialdi said.

No one was injured in the blaze, he added.

The fire caused $1 million in damage to the building and $1 million in damage to the bikes, Concialdi said. The cause of the fire was under investigation.

​ Orange County Register