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    Swanson: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is here to break your heart
    • March 24, 2023

    LOS ANGELES — Shai vs. L.A. this week, and so far, it’s all square.

    By splitting two games with the fifth-place Clippers, Oklahoma City remains 2½ games behind them, with an identical 36-37 record as the Lakers, who the Thunder face in a possible SGA-vs.-L.A. rubber match on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena, both teams jockeying for a place in the play-in.

    That game won’t be as emotionally fraught for the home team as the previous two this week, but the Lakers could have the same issue as the Clippers did: SGA.

    He’s a problem. A big one. And he’s not going away.

    The 24-year-old is blossoming into a full-blown superstar, better even than the best-case scenario imagined for him by adoring Clipper fans when he was their rookie and answering to “Slinq,” as Lou Williams called him.

    Better even than what the Oklahoma City faithful who have had a front-row seat for the past three seasons pictured at the start of the season, when they were debating his chances of making the All-Star team – not which All-NBA team he’ll land on.

    Better than seemingly everyone but Gilgeous-Alexander anticipated, because it turns out he’s been plotting this the whole time, starting as an artistic kid in Toronto, basketball in hand always, loving the game even when it didn’t love him back.

    No, he didn’t make his high school team in ninth grade, but resist the urge to ridicule a coach, because that experience proved an important eye-opener for the young player. And if you’ve seen how saucer-wide Gilgeous-Alexander’s eyes can get when he spots an opening on the court, you know there’s no diminishing the dude’s willingness to bite off as much greatness as he can chew.

    “I was pissed” about being cut, he told me in 2019, when he’d just begun his NBA career as a self-assured rookie in L.A. with so much drive but no driver’s license. “So I just told myself, ‘I’m gonna make them regret it.’”

    If Gilgeous-Alexander now is in make-the-Clippers-regret-it mode, he’s always been too polite to say much about it aloud.

    But his actions make a good point, even if he’s not outwardly obsessed with sticking it to the team that traded for him on Draft Night in 2018 only to ship him to OKC a year later. He was, you remember, a key piece of the blockbuster deal that brought aboard Paul George and, with him, free agent Kawhi Leonard.

    The deal will go down as an all-time heist if the Clippers aren’t able to win a title in the next couple of seasons, especially because it also included a boatload of draft picks, one of which turned into rookie sensation Jalen Williams.

    Oh, and there’s this: The kid the Thunder got in that trade? He didn’t come in looking for help or to help, he came in with the intention of butting in on the conversation about the game’s greats.

    It ain’t Shai-on-L.A., it’s Shai vs. Shai.

    “Mentally I tell myself every night that I’m the best player on the floor and I want everybody in the arena to know that and feel that,” he said on “Pass the Rock,” the NBA’s app series.

    “I wanna be known as one of the best players to play the game. Watching guys like Kobe growing up, I go to school and the debate is, who’s better, Kobe or LeBron? Who’s better, Kobe or Michael? I want those conversations to be about myself.”

    And that’s when Gilgeous-Alexander volunteered that in the LeBron vs. Kobe debate, he’s always been a Kobe guy, inspired by Bryant’s desire to “kill you with skill.” Though, yes, the camera caught Gilgeous-Alexander musing, “it is fun beating ’Bron,” before pausing a beat and then finishing his thought: “It’s fun beating everybody though.”

    Even with Thursday’s 127-105 loss, he and his mates on the NBA’s youngest team have been beating almost everyone, winning eight of their past 12 games.

    Don’t expect a sudden change of pace from the guy who came into the league having mastered it; according to Tankathon.com, the Thunder have the second-easiest schedule remaining among Western Conference teams.

    Since Gilgeous-Alexander made his All-Star Game debut last month, he’d willfully improvised his way to 34.4 points per game (shy of only Damian Lillard’s 35.1). And he hasn’t been missing many notes, shooting 53.3% from the field, including 43.8% from 3-point range.

    That’s even better than his historically stellar showings in L.A.; he returned this week having averaged 28 points, four rebounds and six assists in six games in the city since being traded.

    He’s climbed to eighth on the NBA’s “race-to-the-MVP ladder,” which means he’s currently just five rungs below where George left things in 2018-19, his final season with the Thunder and the best of his career at 28.

    And only Michael Jordan has produced a statistical season like the one Gilgeous-Alexander is finishing: averaging at least 31 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal and 1 block for a season. “Sounds pretty good,” he said Thursday.

    Me: “Only you & Michael Jordan have ever averaged 31-4-5-1-1. How do that sound to you?”

    Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: “It sounds pretty good. I know he did that & won a lot more games.”

    Me: Jordan was 24 his 1st time, too.

    SGA: “Makes it a little better.”

    pic.twitter.com/Ua5AGevL4U

    — Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) March 24, 2023

    And it appears Gilgeous-Alexander could be available to play both ends of back-to-back contests going forward, something he did not do while he was nursing an abdominal strain earlier. He said he planned to face the Lakers on Friday, so long as he didn’t wake up experiencing discomfort.

    As far as callbacks go, that Gilgeous-Alexander is in town for this pivotal week in the Clippers’ season is quite the brutal twist from whoever is contriving the plot. What a wicked flourish to drop unwelcome reminders and fill even the most rational viewers’ heads with what-ifs.

    Already on Tuesday, there’d been another whoa-nelly of a dunk followed, minutes later, by another heart-stopping, gut-punch of a knee injury. And that led to another opaque news release calling it a “sprained right knee,” in George’s case, which reminded close viewers of the “right knee sprain,” used initially to describe Kawhi Leonard’s 2021 torn anterior cruciate ligament.

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    Talk about heightened dramatic effect, having SGA across the way throwing daggers. Having him carve up the Clippers on Tuesday for 20 of his 31 points in the second half, death by Slinky? His go-go-Gadget arms wrapping up the season tiebreaker between his current team and his former team?

    And then having him drop 30 points in 27 minutes Thursday?

    He rested in the fourth quarter, on the bench while the game got away from Oklahoma City, with another big one around the corner the next night in the same building.

    But after one of his 10 buckets Thursday, a woman in the stands said aloud what was on everyone’s minds: “I miss Shai.”

    The young man’s become a killer. A killer with skills.

    And a most formidable foe on this week’s late-season installment of the NBA in L.A.

    ​ Orange County Register 

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    Kawhi Leonard leads Clippers past Thunder in first game without Paul George
    • March 24, 2023

    LOS ANGELES — The Clippers have been in this position before, as recently as last season when Paul George missed 32 games because of injury. So, there wasn’t any panic or hand-wringing Thursday night. Like before, the team was going to need contributions from several players.

    It’s a message Coach Tyronn Lue sent to his team, starting with star Kawhi Leonard and down to seldom-used Bones Hyland.

    “We’re definitely ready for the challenge,” Lue said. “We have a lot of guys in this locker room, and we’re excited for the challenge.”

    The Clippers were not only prepared to move forward without George but did so convincingly with a 127-105 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, the same team they lost to by one point on Tuesday when George went down after colliding with Luguentz Dort late in the game.

    Perhaps some of the Clippers’ motivation stemmed from the news that George did not suffer ligament damage in his right knee and will not require surgery. He will be re-evaluated in 2-3 weeks.

    He posted on Twitter, “Appreciate y’all.”

    Until George returns, Lue said the Clippers (39-35) need Leonard specifically to step up in a big way, to be in an “attack mode” from the opening tip. And that started with Thursday’s rematch with the Thunder.

    “We’ve been used to playing with one of those guys out, so we kind of know how to play,” Lue said. “It’s just a little different because now we have Russ, (Mason) Plumlee and now Eric Gordon. And so, for those guys to try to fit in and try to understand how we want to play it might be the thing that’s going to be the most difficult, but we’ll be fine.”

    Leonard responded to the challenge and started strong, scoring 15 of his game-high 32 points in the first quarter while going 7 for 7 from the field. And the rest of the team followed, as Terance Mann and Hyland, seeing his first minutes in three weeks, picked up the pace.

    Turnovers (10), poor defense and a lack of scoring by Leonard in the second quarter hurt any momentum the Clippers had garnered. Leonard failed to score in that stretch, allowing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to settle in. He had 19 of his team-high 30 points in the first half.

    The Clippers, however, regained their focus, perhaps remembering Lue’s earlier words, and began playing with a renewed sense of purpose. They cut down on their turnovers, collecting just three in the second half, and began finding their touch from beyond the 3-point line.

    Behind the shooting of Leonard, Russell Westbrook’s hard-charging drives and the support of Hyland and Mann in the second half, the Clippers broke open a tie game to avenge Tuesday’s loss.

    The Clippers closed the third quarter with a 27-12 run, including 10 in a row, to lead 92-80 going into the fourth. They made seven consecutive 3-pointers over the end of the third and start of the fourth, with Nicolas Batum and Hyland hitting three each. Leonard had the other 3-pointer in pushing the Clippers’ lead to 101-85.

    The Clippers kept it up, sinking another three 3-pointers in a row, capped by one from Westbrook that extended their lead to 114-89. They outscored the Thunder 35-25 in the fourth.

    Leonard finished 13 for 15 from the field, grabbed six rebounds and doled out six assists. Westbrook added 24 points and seven assists, while Hyland hit four of the Clippers’ 18 3-pointers and finished with 16 points, seven assists and four rebounds. Mann had 14 points.

    Lue said George was “a little disappointed” to not be playing, especially so close to the playoffs. The Clippers have eight regular-season games remaining.

    “I think we got the best-case scenario as far as what we thought it could be,” Lue said. “So, being re-evaluated in two, three weeks is something that we are looking forward to. His spirits are down, but that’s to be expected when it’s late in the season and when you want to help your team. But we are going to support him a hundred percent.”

    More to come on this story.

    ​ Orange County Register 

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    Ducks allow late goal, lose third straight game
    • March 24, 2023

    Anaheim Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler, right, celebrates with left wing Max Jones, after Fowler scored against the Winnipeg Jets during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Anaheim, Calif., Thursday, March 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)

    Winnipeg Jets center Mason Appleton, left, celebrates with teammates after scoring against the Anaheim Ducks during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Anaheim, Calif., Thursday, March 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)

    Winnipeg Jets defenseman Dylan DeMelo (2) checks on referee Kyle Rehman, center, after Rahman was hit by a puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Anaheim Ducks in Anaheim, Calif., Thursday, March 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)

    Winnipeg Jets center Vladislav Namestnikov, right, watches the puck as Jets center Adam Lowry, second from left, collides into Anaheim Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal, left, with Ducks center Jayson Megna defending during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Anaheim, Calif., Thursday, March 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)

    Winnipeg Jets left wing Pierre-Luc Dubois shoots against the Anaheim Ducks during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Anaheim, Calif., Thursday, March 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)

    Winnipeg Jets left wing Kyle Connor, left, reacts after scoring against Anaheim Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal, right, with right wing Nino Niederreiter, center, looking on during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Anaheim, Calif., Thursday, March 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)

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    ANAHEIM — Even for teams hanging around near the bottom of the NHL standings there are unexpected wins in the final month, or failing that, a bright spot surfacing to ease fan angst, at least temporarily.

    Those moments have been harder and harder to find for the Ducks this week, practically requiring a search party. And it was not much different on Thursday night in their 3-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets at Honda Center, their third straight loss and fifth in the past six games, as the Jets erased a 1-0 deficit with a first-period goal by forward Mason Appleton and a second-period goal by forward Kyle Connor.

    The game-winner came at 10:47 of the third with center Adam Lowry tipping in defenseman Brenden Dillion’s pass past Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal. Dostal made 30 saves.

    The Ducks had tied the score at 2-2 on Frank Vatrano’s third-period, power-play goal from just inside the blue line at 5:40, which was his 18th goal of the season.

    “There was a pass and the guy was basically alone on the side,” Dostal said of the game-winner. “I knew there was a guy behind me. You can’t open the short side. … I didn’t really want to cheat on the play. I just felt it might go back door but it’s my responsibility to take a shot in that situation.”

    So about those recent rare bright spots:

    • On Tuesday, it was forward Nikita Nesterenko making his NHL debut.

    • On Thursday, it was defenseman Cam Fowler scoring his 10th goal of the season to make it 1-0 at 11:41 of the first period – a knuckler getting by Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck – and it was Fowler’s 43rd point, a career-best. Fowler had 42 points during the 2021-22 season and is one goal from matching a career-high, set in 2016-17.

    “If you even look at the power-play struggles this year, there’s probably a few more lost points there he could have,” Ducks defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk said. “He’s been tremendous. He’s been the leader on the back end. Takes a lot of pride in his game in the defensive zone and knows what his role is as an offensive defenseman.

    “It’s been great to see. He’s someone I kind of grew up with in the league and someone I watched play and became great friends with along the way.

    “I love when you can’t count old dogs out. They keep breaking their marks.”

    Fowler started the season with one assist in his first 15 games. Contrast that to the run of offense he is on now – points in 14 of the past 15 games.

    “He’s been unbelievable,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. “It’s really interesting when you think about Cam’s year. I’m super proud of him. I hope that he’s proud of himself to have a career year in a year like this.”

    The bright spots of the week happened to be bookends – the newest Duck (Nesterenko) and the longest-tenured player on the team (Fowler).

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    Nesterenko didn’t score in his debut on Tuesday against Calgary – but caught the attention of the coaching staff with his play. He had a team-high four shots on goal, tied with Vatrano. But for a young player, one of the keys to sticking around is reproducing that same effort night after night. His ice time against the Jets was 13-plus minutes and he did not record a shot on goal.

    “I’m just expecting ups and downs,” Eakins said of Nesterenko after the morning skate on Thursday. “We still see ups and downs with Z (Zegras) or MacT (Mason McTavish) or (Max Jones).

    “I’m just looking for that kid to really use his hockey sense. What comes naturally to him.”

    McTavish already has set a good template for Nesterenko (and others) to follow.

    “I said, ‘If you want to get off to a really good start here just follow McTavish around,’” Eakins said. “If you can get on the ice at the same time he does before practice and then leave the ice when he and Zegras leave. Z will stay there all day working on his skills, his shot. That does become contagious through the room.

    “… They will be our future leaders and that’s how things will be better.”

    ​ Orange County Register 

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    Gonzaga outlasts UCLA in another NCAA tournament thriller
    • March 24, 2023

    LAS VEGAS — Julian Strawther hit a deep 3-pointer with 7.2 seconds left to answer a 3-pointer by UCLA’s Amari Bailey, lifting Gonzaga to a wild 79-76 NCAA tournament victory over the Bruins on Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena.

    The Bruins (31-6), the West Region’s No. 2 seed, stormed back from an eight-point deficit in the final 1:05 and took a 76-75 lead on Bailey’s 3-pointer with 12.2 seconds left.

    The Zags (31-5) brought the ball up the floor and Strawther stepped into a 3-pointer, sending Gonzaga fans to their feet.

    Gonzaga’s Malachi Smith stole the ball from UCLA’s Tyger Campbell, but Strawther only hit one of two free throws at the other end, giving the Bruins a chance.

    Campbell’s 3-pointer at the buzzer hit the back of the rim, sending the Zags rushing off the bench and into the Elite Eight against fourth-seeded Connecticut on Saturday.

    It’s the second time Gonzaga has beaten UCLA on a last-second shot in the NCAA tournament. Jalen Suggs crushed the Bruins the last time, banking in a running 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the Zags to the 2021 national championship game.

    The flurry of a finish started off more like a prize fight, each team taking its turn landing blows in a game of wild swings. UCLA led by 13 at the half, but Gonzaga went ahead by 10 with 2:30 left in the game with UCLA in the midst of an 11-minute field goal drought. The Bruins rallied from there to regain the lead.

    When Strawther hit a 3-pointer with 4:07 it gave the Bulldogs a four-point lead that seemed like a 40-point margin as UCLA was enduring a scoring drought of 11 consecutive misses and a span of more than 11 minutes without a field goal.

    It felt like a dagger.

    Starting guard Jaylen Clark in a boot. Starting center Adem Bona in street clothes. The Bruins were down two starters and so were their spirits.

    However, in a whirlwind of magic that makes March Madness must-see TV, UCLA mounted its comeback in the final moments that culminated with Bailey’s go-ahead 3-pointer.

    Unfazed, Strawther responded with the real dagger from the edge of the midcourt logo to send half of the 18,544 fans in attendance into pandemonium.

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    Bona’s absence allowed Gonzaga center Drew Timme to feast inside – he finished with 36 points on 16-of-24 shooting with 13 rebounds and four assists in 38 minutes. Strawther finished with 16 points.

    The Bulldogs outscored UCLA 30-8 from the 15:25 mark until the 2:38 mark of the second half.

    The loss marked UCLA’s third loss in as many seasons to Gonzaga, and the second straight season the Bruins have made a Sweet 16 exit.

    Jaime Jaquez Jr. had 29 points on 12-of-25 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds in his final game as a Bruin. Bailey finished with 19 points, scoring 13 in the first half. Tyger Campbell added 14 points on 5-of-16 shooting in the loss.

    Much more to come on this story …

    The Associated Press contributed to this story.

    ​ Orange County Register 

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    Ex-LA Mayor Eric Garcetti to be sworn in as US ambassador to India on Friday
    • March 24, 2023

    Former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti will be sworn in as the next U.S. ambassador to India on Friday, MArch 24, with second gentleman Doug Emhoff attending the ceremony in Washington, D.C.

    Garcetti was confirmed by the U.S. Senate last week after a nearly two-year process dogged by lingering allegations that he ignored accusations of assault and sexual harassment against a former top aide.

    Seven Republicans crossed the aisle to vote in favor of Garcetti in the 52-42 vote, but three fellow Democrats voted nay.

    In a statement following the vote, Garcetti said he was “thrilled with today’s outcome, which was a decisive and bipartisan decision to fill a critical post that has been vacant for far too long. Now the hard work begins.”

    “I’m ready and eager to begin my service representing our critical interests in India,” he said.

    President Joe Biden originally nominated Garcetti for the post on July 9, 2021. After it stalled, Biden re-nominated him in January.

    Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement she looks forward to working with Garcetti in his new role.

    “I congratulate former Mayor Garcetti on his confirmation to serve as our country’s ambassador to the world’s largest democracy. His ability to strengthen our nation’s position in the world draws from his experience leading a global city, an academic background in international affairs, service as a Navy intelligence officer and the full confidence of the President,” she said Thursday. “Los Angeles is an international hub, and I look forward to working with Eric as he represents our nation in New Delhi.”

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    An investigation requested by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, last year concluded that it was “more probable than not” that former Garcetti senior adviser Rick Jacobs “sexually harassed multiple individuals and made racist comments towards others.” It also found it “extremely unlikely” that Garcetti was unaware of the behavior, saying that “by all accounts, Mayor Garcetti is very involved in the day-to-day operation of his office.”

    The White House blasted the report, saying in a statement, “This partisan report was a hit job from the beginning, and many of the claims have already been conclusively debunked by more serious independent reports. The president has confidence in Mayor Garcetti and believes he will be an excellent representative in India at a critical moment and calls for the Senate to swiftly confirm him.”

    Garcetti has repeatedly denied any knowledge of alleged harassing behavior by Jacobs. Following the report’s release, he said in a statement that he “strongly” disagreed with its conclusions.

    ​ Orange County Register 

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    Procession honoring fallen U.S. Army veteran Michael ‘Ty’ Kettenhofen
    • March 24, 2023

    A member of Riverside County Fire hangs an American Flag off of a ladder truck prior to the procession carrying the body of U.S. Army Master Sergeant Michael Ty Kettenhofen, 37, of Orange, in Jurupa Valley on Thursday, Mar. 23, 2023. Kettenhofen, a member of the U.S. Army Parachute Team, was severely injured during a practice jump last week and died following surgery. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

    The procession carrying the body of U.S. Army Master Sergeant Michael Ty Kettenhofen, 37, of Orange, heads east across the 60 freeway in Jurupa Valley on Thursday, Mar. 23, 2023 after arriving at Ontario International Airport. Kettenhofen, a member of the U.S. Army Parachute Team, was severely injured during a practice jump last week and died following surgery. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

    Member of Riverside County Fire salute as the procession carrying the body of U.S. Army Master Sergeant Michael Ty Kettenhofen, 37, of Orange, heads east across the 60 freeway in Jurupa Valley on Thursday, Mar. 23, 2023 after arriving at Ontario International Airport. Kettenhofen, a member of the U.S. Army Parachute Team, was severely injured during a practice jump last week and died following surgery. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

    The procession carrying the body of U.S. Army Master Sergeant Michael Ty Kettenhofen, 37, of Orange, heads east across the 60 freeway in Jurupa Valley on Thursday, Mar. 23, 2023 after arriving at Ontario International Airport. Kettenhofen, a member of the U.S. Army Parachute Team, was severely injured during a practice jump last week and died following surgery. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

    A member of Riverside County Fire hangs an American Flag off of a ladder truck prior to the procession carrying the body of U.S. Army Master Sergeant Michael Ty Kettenhofen, 37, of Orange, in Jurupa Valley on Thursday, Mar. 23, 2023. Kettenhofen, a member of the U.S. Army Parachute Team, was severely injured during a practice jump last week and died following surgery. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

    The procession carrying the body of U.S. Army Master Sergeant Michael Ty Kettenhofen, 37, of Orange, heads east across the 60 freeway in Jurupa Valley on Thursday, Mar. 23, 2023 after arriving at Ontario International Airport. Kettenhofen, a member of the U.S. Army Parachute Team, was severely injured during a practice jump last week and died following surgery. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

    Riverside County Sheriff deputies salute as the procession carrying the body of U.S. Army Master Sergeant Michael Ty Kettenhofen, 37, of Orange, heads east across the 60 freeway in Jurupa Valley on Thursday, Mar. 23, 2023 after arriving at Ontario International Airport. Kettenhofen, a member of the U.S. Army Parachute Team, was severely injured during a practice jump last week and died following surgery. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

    The procession carrying the body of U.S. Army Master Sergeant Michael Ty Kettenhofen, 37, of Orange, heads east across the 60 freeway in Jurupa Valley on Thursday, Mar. 23, 2023 after arriving at Ontario International Airport. Kettenhofen, a member of the U.S. Army Parachute Team, was severely injured during a practice jump last week and died following surgery. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

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    A decorated U.S. Army veteran, Master Sergeant Michael “Ty” Kettenhofen, lost his life in a parachuting accident during a practice jump with the Golden Knights at Homestead Air Reserve Base in Florida on March 13.

    Kettenhofen, who served in Afghanistan and Iraq and was a recipient of the Purple Heart, had over 1,000 jumps under his belt. He was remembered by Lt. Col. Andy Moffit, the commander of the Golden Knights Parachute Team, for his accomplishments and sense of humor.

    The public paid tribute to the fallen hero as his procession traveled through several cities, including Jurupa Valley, Riverside, Perris and Menifee, where it concluded at Evans-Brown Mortuary.

    ​ Orange County Register 

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    Battered California faces billions in storm damage to crops, homes and roads
    • March 24, 2023

    By David R Baker, Kim Chipman, Mark Chediak and Brian K Sullivan | Bloomberg

    The costs of California’s relentless winter storms keep rising. And outside of the human toll — with at least 28 people killed since January — the price will be measured in billions.

    The “bomb cyclone” that lashed San Francisco on Tuesday was the latest in an epic series of extreme weather events to hit California since New Year’s Eve. It blew out windows from skyscrapers, flung barges into a historic bridge, sent trees tumbling across roads, knocked down power lines, and threatened a major freeway as the waterlogged hillside beneath it started to collapse.

    Just to the south, in the Santa Cruz area, the river that flooded the town of Pajaro a week ago rose again, while nearby strawberry fields that were already submerged received a fresh round of rain.  And on Wednesday, the National Weather Service confirmed that a rare tornado hit an industrial area of Montebello, east of downtown Los Angeles, injuring one person and damaging several buildings.

    The price tag for all this mayhem — road repairs, damaged homes, lost crops — won’t become clear for months. But the early estimates are sobering.

    In the Salinas Valley region known as America’s Salad Bowl — a key growing hub for the US’s supply of lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower and artichokes — crop damages could climb as high as $500 million and the broader economic impact to the region could reach $1.2 billion, said Christopher Valadez, president of the Grower-Shipper Association of Central California, a trade group that represents farmers, processors and exporters in the region.

    The landslide that threatens apartment buildings in San Clemente on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 is being monitored by geologists after resent rain storms. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

    Officials in hard-hit Santa Cruz County, which has seen roads washed out and a popular ocean pier destroyed, estimate $88 million in public infrastructure damage and $49.5 million in crop damage from the storms so far.

    Tuesday’s damage comes in addition to the destruction California sustained in January, when three weeks of intense rainfall triggered floods and mudslides across the state, closing roads and homes. Moody’s RMS, a risk-modeling service, estimated the statewide cost from floods and infrastructure damage in January to be $5 billion to $7 billion. AccuWeather Inc. put its own estimate far higher at $30 billion.

    It’s a dramatic reversal of fortune. After three years of punishing drought, California since late December has endured 12 “atmospheric rivers,” weather systems that channel intense plumes of moisture from hundreds of miles across the ocean and can carry as much water as the Mississippi River at its mouth.

    Tuesday’s storm added to the river a “bomb cyclone,” a rapidly intensifying low-pressure system that fired up winds and produced a hurricane-like eye that rolled directly over San Francisco.

    Across the Bay in Oakland, tropical storm-force wind gusts of 39 to 73 miles per hour (63 to 117 kilometers per hour) were reported for seven consecutive hours, according to AccuWeather.

    “The impacts from the event resembled that of a landfalling strong tropical storm — likely the closest San Francisco residents will ever come to experiencing that weather phenomenon,” said AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter.

    High tides cause flooding on Pacific Coast Highway at Bolsa Chica State Beach in Huntington Beach, CA, on Tuesday, January 24, 2023. The beach in this area has narrowed through the years. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

    Downtown San Francisco has received 30.69 inches of rain since October 1, which is 11.35 inches above normal, according to the National Weather Service. Los Angeles has received 25.74 inches in the same period, 13.27 inches above normal. On Tuesday, the city got 1.43 inches, a record for the date.

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    In San Francisco, the city closed off part of busy Mission Street downtown after window glass fell from a nearby tower. Near the city’s baseball park, a historic bridge was closed to vehicle traffic after barges blown by the wind crashed into and damaged it. Meanwhile, workers blocked off lanes of one of the main freeway arteries connecting the city to the Central Valley — Interstate 580 in the Altamont Pass — after the ground beneath it started sliding.

    “We’ve gone from extremes, this weather whiplash — the most dry and arid years that we’ve experienced in our lifetimes to some of the wettest years we’ve experienced in our lifetimes,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Monday, as the latest system approached.

    The storms have triggered so much destruction across so much terrain that Newsom has declared a state of emergency in 43 of California’s 58 counties. In each, the damage and the repairs needed are unique.

    Brian Ferguson, a spokesman for the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, said costs from the latest round of storms will likely go up for weeks as officials assess damages. That comes on top of the more than $1 billion in damage to homes and public infrastructure from a series of deadly storms in January.

    MONTEBELLO, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 22: People gather near a toppled tree after a possible tornado touched down and ripped up building roofs in a Los Angeles suburb on March 22, 2023 in Montebello, California. Another Pacific storm has been pounding California with heavy rain, high winds, and snow. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

    In the Sierra Nevada foothills, roads have been closed by landslides that can’t be quickly removed. The California Department of Transportation on Monday posted footage of State Route 70 in Plumas County buried under a collapsed hillside and warned there’s no estimate for when it can reopen.

    For some of the state’s industries, the extreme weather has been an inconvenience, but little more. FilmLA, which administers permits to shoot movies and TV shows in the Los Angeles region, said it experienced many cancellations and requests to reschedule projects in the first wave of storms earlier this year. Now applications are being submitted with rain dates included as many producers try to plan their shoots around weather reports.

    Operations at California’s busy ports have occasionally been slowed by the storms.

    Alan McCorkle, CEO of Yusen Terminals LLC in the Port of Los Angeles, said the wind had twice stopped containers from being unloaded. “We also had a situation a few weeks ago where the wind knocked over several empty containers in the yard, which happened to several terminals at the same time, requiring all terminals to shut down for the rest of the shift,” McCorkle said. But such events are rare, even this year, he said.

    The state’s sprawling agriculture industry, however, has taken a direct hit. The back-to-back storms struck farmland along the Central Coast particularly hard, putting strawberries and leafy greens in soggy peril and threatening to pinch national produce supply.

    At the 99-year-old Ocean Mist Farms, the largest North American grower and supplier of artichokes, the deluge and unseasonably cool temperatures mean its growing crops in the region are delayed by several weeks, according to Mark Munger, senior director of marketing at the family-owned farming operation.

    “Shoppers should probably expect very limited supplies in April, and that is directly due to the cold, wet weather we’ve been having,” Munger said. Ocean Mist, headquartered in Monterey County’s Castroville, was not able to plant vegetable crops like lettuce and broccoli on time due to all the rain and standing water. Other vegetables, like Romaine lettuce, also are likely to be hard to find next month. The shortfall is poised to lift retail prices at a time when consumers continue to grapple with high food inflation.

    In the Central Valley county of Tulare floods have already damaged citrus and almond orchards, along with dairy farms. As the spring runoff starts in the nearby Sierra Nevada mountains, even more water will flow onto farmland downstream. ”The creameries are having to temporarily shut down from the floods, that means a loss of jobs temporarily and dumping of milk,” said Tricia Stever Blattler, executive director of the Tulare County Farm Bureau. “There are potentially tens of thousands of acres of cropland under water.”

    –With assistance from Laura Curtis, Christopher Palmeri and Joe Deaux.

    ©2023 Bloomberg L.P.

    ​ Orange County Register 

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    Ducks’ Trevor Zegras in line for significant raise this summer
    • March 24, 2023

    ANAHEIM — The conversation with Trevor Zegras on Thursday morning started by touching briefly on the upcoming World Championships and then wandered elsewhere.

    “It’s such an honor to wear that jersey,” he said of the 16-team event, scheduled for May 12-28.

    However, that doesn’t mean Zegras is a lock to get on the plane to represent Team USA in the tournament being co-hosted by Tampere, Finland and Riga, Latvia. Even though the Ducks’ season wraps up on April 13, there are other matters taking precedence.

    “I think it’s something you’ve got to think about,” he said. “Obviously with stuff up in the air for this summer it might be tough to do that but it’s definitely something I’d be very honored to do at some point. If it’s something I end up doing, I probably won’t know until a little bit later.”

    Front and center is a contract extension. Zegras, the Ducks’ leading scorer, will be coming out of his three-year, entry-level deal ($995,000 AAV), making him a restricted free agent and awaiting a big pay raise.

    “With the contract stuff up in the air, I feel like that’s the first priority,” he said.

    His agent, the Los Angeles-based Pat Brisson, said via text that he should be talking to Ducks GM Pat Verbeek “soon here about an extension.” Verbeek said on the first day of training camp (Sept. 23) that negotiations with Zegras and fellow pending RFAs Troy Terry and Jamie Drysdale would come after the season, trying to minimize distractions.

    Still, it’s hard to completely push financial considerations to the side.

    “I’d be lying to you if I said it didn’t come up every once in a while,” Zegras said. “With where we’re at this year, down the stretch, I feel like it’s been coming up a little bit more. It’s been an emphasis since the beginning of the year that all that stuff will be taken care of after the season.

    “It definitely creeps in once in a while.”

    Heading into Thursday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets, Zegras had 58 points (22 goals, 36 assists) in 71 games. In all, he has 132 points in 170 career NHL games, and the only member of his 2019 draft class with more points is his close friend Jack Hughes of the New Jersey Devils with 189 points in 233 NHL games.

    Zegras turned 22 on Monday and it was notable in that he had the second-most points in franchise history before turning 22, trailing only Hall of Famer Paul Kariya.

    Happy 22nd birthday Trevor Zegras! He finishes with the 2nd-most points before turning 22 in @AnaheimDucks history:

    Paul Kariya – 147
    Trevor Zegras – 132
    Ryan Getzlaf – 97#FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/ty0H6mIoWU

    — Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) March 20, 2023

    Reminded of that, Zegras smiled, saying of Kariya: “Whenever you hear that it’s definitely pretty cool. He’s got pretty big shoes. It’s going to take a couple of guys to fill them.”

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    ​ Orange County Register 

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