‘It gave me chills:’ Hundreds pack local park to cheer El Segundo’s big Little League win

• August 28, 2023

A crowd of El Segundo residents who packed a local park erupted when Louis Lappe hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the final inning on Sunday, Aug. 27. The 12-year-old’s dramatic solo shot into the left field stands lifted the seaside city’s headline-making team over Curacao to snag the Little League World Series’ international championship in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, as the world watched on live TV.

The 6-5 victory sent the hundreds of well-wishers at George Brett Field into a frenzy as they rooted for their team more than 2,600 miles away.

Related: El Segundo wins Little League World Series on dramatic homer

“It gave me chills,” said resident Lisa Dornblaser, following the victory.

“They won the right way, with their heads up,” said another resident, Trevor Koppel. “They represented the town and the country very well.”

There were plenty of nail-biting moments throughout the six-inning game on Sunday, none more tense than when Curacao tied the game 5-5 with a grand slam home run in the top of the fifth inning. But Lappe — the team’s 6-foot-1 post-season star known as “The Natural” —  has risen to the occasion throughout the World Series.

Of course, he wasn’t the only hero on this amazing team, which racked up one stirring win after another, moving from local to regional to national titles..

El Segundo City Councilmember Ryan Baldino said “you could not have scripted a better ending to that game.”

“I knew that (batting) order is strong,” Baldino said. “Our kids have played so well and I’m just happy right now. I don’t think I slept in a week. So happy for these boys.”

Chris Pimentel, also an El Segundo councilmember, said the players and coaches have all worked “really hard to have success.”

“Also, part of baseball is being able to bounce back and be resilient, they have all those things,” Pimentel said. The El Segundo team did precisely that, going on an undefeated streak after losing early in the double-elimination tournament.

El Segundo defeated a team from Needville, Texas, 6-1, on Saturday to win the U.S. crown. The same team of Texans handed El Segundo its only loss in the World Series.

The win advanced the El Segundans to Sunday’s championship against Curacao, the Caribbean champions, who had won the International division on Saturday.

El Segundo won Saturday on the strength of Lappe’s five RBIs — and he also gave up just three hits while pitching. Another El Segundo standout, Brody Brooks, hit a homer in Saturday’s game.

The field where Sunday’s watch party took place was named after George Brett, a Hall of Fame third baseman who played at El Segundo High School. He graduated in 1971 and was drafted by the Kansas City Royals, where he spent his entire record-setting career.

Jon and Jamie Morra were in attendance at Brett Field on Sunday with their children, 9-year-old Anna, 7-year-old Will and 2-year old Andrew.

Jon was playing toss with Will, who played Little League this season. So did Anna.

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“This is so exciting, I’ve never lived in a town where the kids have done this well in any sport,” Jon said.

Chau Berman said her son, Travis, grew up playing ball with most of the boys on the now championship team.

“I can’t even imagine representing the country in the World Series, it’s pretty unbelievable,” Berman said.

Before the game began, Baldino said the “whole town has been alive this entire week.”

“We’re so proud of everything these boys have done,” Baldino said. “This team has been together for a long time. They grew up here. I watched these kids grow up on this baseball field here.”

What’s next? The big homecoming.

“I can’t wait for them to come home and see all the support that they’ve gotten in town and just around the Southern California,” Berman said, “and just to see how much of an impact they made on our little town.”

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​ Orange County Register 

USC football is 1-0, but there’s little defense for an inconsistent defense

• August 28, 2023

In the Coliseum parking lot adjacent to BMO Stadium, planting their rows of cardinal-and-yellow tarps on a sweltering Saturday afternoon tarmac, the Psychos convened.

Grills sizzled in front of USC-branded lawn chairs, a plain sign atop a red-draped plastic serving table reading “9,031 DAYS SINCE UCLA WON THE PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIP.” Shots of Fireball were bestowed freely and happily upon any weary traveler who asked. This is the “Psychogate,” the vision of one Roy Nwaisser – self-and-fan-dubbed “USC Psycho” – who’s been to every single Trojans home and road game for three decades.

It’s the kind of fan lifeblood that’s pumped year-in and year-out no matter success or failure or sanctions, the kind Coach Lincoln Riley was hired to inspire beneath Hollywood glam and donor money. And excitement poured from taps here Saturday, the dawn of the second year of the Riley era that had Nwaisser – who’s seen it all – as optimistic as he’s been “in a long time,” he said.

But a taste far worse than tailgate tri-tip still lingers on these Psychos’ tongues: the pitfalls of 2022, when a deflated defense led to a massive collapse in the Pac-12 championship game and the Cotton Bowl.

“Did we do enough to fix those issues?” Nwaisser said. “We’ll see.”

Saturday’s 56-28 victory over San Jose State, plain and simple, wasn’t enough. A 1-0 start wasn’t enough. Riley knew it. Quarterback Caleb Williams knew it, choosing his words carefully in the postgame presser like he was still cycling through on-field progressions.

“Walking off the field, there’s a bit of frustration that a couple of the coaches, or myself, the players that have been here and seen and know how it should go … in the first half, I just felt like we weren’t hitting on certain calibers that we’re going to hit on here soon,” Williams said postgame.

“We were a bit inconsistent tonight, especially in the first half,” Williams said, to a later question. “That was the key sense of frustration was inconsistency, I would say.”

The factors Williams pointed to – a couple of dropped balls, a fumbled snap, the offensive line missing a couple of defensive read cues – concerned the offense. But the major inconsistencies for USC on Saturday came yet again on defense, the unit that’s supposed to bring glory back to the Coliseum, the unit that the Psychos and every Trojans fan know their season will hinge on this fall.

Too often, key USC penalties extended San Jose State drives. Too often, Spartans quarterback Chevan Cordeiro turned the Trojans into Swiss cheese, scampering for gain after first-half gain as attempts to contain him with a quarterback spy simply fell short.

“A couple of times, just flat-out outran us,” Riley said. “I mean, he’s a good player – that part was disappointing.”

An analysis of defensive stock risers/fallers after Week 1:

Rising

Jamil Muhammad, rush end: The transfer from Georgia Southern didn’t start Saturday, but he made some massive second-quarter hits to stop a San Jose State run and send awry a Cordeiro pass.

Mason Cobb, linebacker: He showed impressive agility and awareness in chasing Cordeiro from the linebacker spot.

Solomon Byrd, defensive end: He was quiet in Saturday’s first half, but generated third-quarter pressure that led to a sack.

Falling

Domani Jackson, cornerback: The former Mater Dei High star surrendered some catches in one-on-one situations and was partly responsible for a major defensive breakdown to end the first half that led to a touchdown grab, which Riley called “inexcusable” postgame.

Tackett Curtis, linebacker: He made a couple of nice tackles, but he didn’t have a significant impact in his first USC game and was tested in pass coverage.

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​ Orange County Register 

Senior living: What to know about knee replacements

• August 28, 2023

By Dr. Andrew Wassef, Guest columnist

Andrew J. Wassef serves as the medical director of the MemorialCare Joint Replacement Center at Long Beach Medical Center. (Photo courtesy of MemorialCare)

Total knee replacements and partial knee replacements are commonly performed surgeries for seniors to address pain associated with arthritis.

Osteoarthritis is the most common type, which often causes debilitating pain, limited range of motion and instability of the knee joint. Persistent knee pain, despite conservative measures, such as medication and weight management, along with factors like knee deformity or limited functionality, may make seniors eligible for knee replacement.

If any of this applies to you, we’ll help you determine which knee replacement surgery is right for you by explaining the difference between the two below.

What is a total knee replacement?

Total knee replacement involves replacing the knee joint with artificial parts made of metal and high-grade polyethylene plastic.

This procedure is performed to alleviate severe pain caused by arthritis. Most patients are able to go home within one day of surgery. Recovery time varies, but most people can resume normal activities within four to six weeks.

Total knee replacement is an option when arthritis has progressed to all three compartments of the knee or when patients are ineligible for partial knee replacement. Total knee replacement is an option for seniors experiencing severe knee pain or stiffness resulting from degenerative joint disease (including osteoarthritis, traumatic arthritis or avascular necrosis), rheumatoid arthritis or post-traumatic arthritis of the entire knee.

Total knee replacement surgery offers several benefits for seniors with severe knee damage:

Pain relief: Total knee replacement surgery replaces damaged bone and cartilage with artificial components, providing significant relief from chronic knee pain both during movement and at rest.
Improved mobility and function: This surgery corrects leg deformities and restores normal joint function, allowing individuals to resume daily activities with improved mobility and range of motion.
Enhanced quality of life: By reducing pain and improving mobility, total knee replacement significantly enhances the overall quality of life, enabling individuals to engage in activities previously limited by knee pain.
Long-term durability: Advances in surgical materials and techniques have improved the durability of total knee replacements, providing long-lasting relief and improved joint function.

What is a partial nnee replacement?

Partial knee replacement is a surgical procedure focused on replacing only one or two affected areas of the knee joint.

During the surgery, the damaged parts of the knee joint are removed and replaced with a prosthetic joint made of metal and plastic.

When arthritis is confined to a single compartment of the knee and there is no significant stiffness or angular deformity, partial knee replacement may be suitable for seniors. Patients older than 80 years of age who don’t have as much damage may prefer this procedure.

Partial knee replacement is a good option for patients experiencing severe knee pain or stiffness resulting from degenerative joint disease (including osteoarthritis, traumatic arthritis, or avascular necrosis), rheumatoid arthritis or post-traumatic arthritis in only part of the knee joint. Partial knee replacement offers several benefits compared to total knee replacement, including:

Preservation of range of motion and knee function: By retaining healthy tissue and bone in the knee, partial knee replacement better preserves the range of motion and knee function, leading to improved mobility and functionality post-surgery.
Reduced blood loss: Partial knee replacement generally involves less blood loss during surgery compared to total knee replacement.
Faster recovery: Partial knee replacement allows for a faster recovery period compared to total knee replacement. Patients often are able to walk without any assistive devices within two weeks of surgery and return to normal function more rapidly.

Factors to consider

To determine if a senior is eligible for knee replacement surgery, several criteria are considered:

Arthritis confined to a single compartment: Partial knee replacement may be an option for seniors with arthritis limited to a specific area of the knee.
Being severely overweight: Seniors with a BMI over 40 may not be considered eligible for partial knee replacement.
No marked stiffness or significant angular deformity: Severe stiffness or significant angular deformities in the knee may disqualify seniors from partial knee replacement.

What is the expected recovery time?

The expected recovery time for a total knee replacement for seniors can vary based on several factors.

Seniors can anticipate a recovery period of approximately one year to fully recover from a total knee replacement, but most activities can be resumed within six weeks after surgery. Factors such as pre-surgery activity level, age and overall health condition can influence the recovery time.

The life span of a knee replacement varies by each person. Please always consult with your physician first to talk through what is best for you.

Dr. Andrew Wassef is a fellowship-trained, board-certified orthopedic surgeon and medical director of MemorialCare Joint Replacement Center at MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center. Wassef received his medical degree from Howard University College of Medicine in Washington D.C. and a residency in orthopedic surgery at the University of Toledo Medical Center in Toledo, Ohio. He then completed his fellowship in total joint replacements at the Joint Replacement Institute at St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles.

​ Orange County Register 

LGBTQ students on new school rules: ‘It’s clear our lives aren’t important’

• August 28, 2023

Willow Scharf wanted her senior year of high school to be “normal.” No fear of judgment or attack.

“We are children,” said Scharf, 17. “We deserve a fun high school experience.”

This year is her last at Great Oak High School in Temecula. But rather than spend the year planning for college, prom and graduation nights, Scharf and other LGBTQ students across Southern California are worrying about their local school boards.

Scharf identifies as non-binary and bisexual. Since the 2022 election of a new Temecula Valley Unified school board, Scharf said she has “never felt more unsafe” as a Temecula Valley student. The board tried to block a social studies curriculum that mentioned LGBTQ icon Harvey Milk. It’s now considering a policy requiring school officials to tell parents if their children identify themselves as transgender.

“We’re angry at the school board for thinking they could take advantage of us,” Scharf said. “This is our education – we’re not going to let them censor it because we deserve the best.”

The moves in Temecula Valley Unified are among a growing number of actions by school boards and others that alarm LGBTQ students and their allies:

• Chino Valley Unified and Murrieta Unified have adopted policies requiring parental notification about students not conforming to the gender they were assigned at birth, and the Orange Unified school board is considering adopting the policy in September.

• Earlier this year, Chino Valley Unified prohibited teachers from displaying pride flags in their classrooms. Police had to break up a brawl between protesters and counterprotesters outside a Glendale Unified school board meeting where board members were scheduled to vote on a resolution expressing support for Pride Month.

• And on Tuesday, Aug. 22, parental notification backers were met by LGBTQ supporters as they rallied in Los Angeles, objecting to bills in the California Legislature they see as taking away parental rights, including the right to be notified about their children’s gender expression.

‘An awful climate’

Scharf remembers being called a “monster” at a Temecula City Council meeting. She was 15 at the time.

“The only hate I’d ever faced was from kids who don’t think for themselves yet. But here, there were adults who spoke so horribly to me,” Scharf said.

“I’m not somebody who has hate in their heart,” she added. “I don’t understand how you can hate someone just because you don’t understand what they’re going through.”

Like Scharf, many LGBTQ students and those who support them are returning to school campus environments that have changed in the past year — and not for the better, they say.

“My educator friends are fearful; they know they had better not discuss any of this,” said Mitch Rosen, a family therapist in Temecula. “Educators are told ‘you will not go there.’ … It’s an awful climate.”

Policies requiring school employees to tell parents if their child identifies themselves by a gender other than what they were assigned at birth echo Assembly Bill 1314. The bill, co-sponsored by Assemblymember Bill Essalyi, R-Riverside, died without making it to the Assembly floor for a vote. But local school boards have been trying to pass their own versions ever since.

“These policies are cruel, requiring young people to choose between the anxiety and distress of not being able to be their authentic selves at school and the fear of being outed at home before they are ready or safe to do so,” Gabriel Vidal, associate director for Youth Organizing of California for the Genders & Sexualities Alliance Network (formerly the Gay-Straight Alliance Network), wrote in an email.

Concerns about safety

Policies like AB 1314 have been framed as giving parents the information they need to raise their children.

“We have no business affirming anything without the parents’ permission or knowledge,” Chino Valley Unified school board president Sonja Shaw said in June. “We’re not denying anybody anything, or any access to any kind of programs, any kind of sports teams. (The) policy doesn’t deny access. It’s not discriminating them to any kind of access.”

But transgender teens say the policies are dangerous.

If parents don’t know that their child is transgender or gender non-conforming, there’s often good reason for that, according to Max Ibarra, a 17-year-old junior in Chino Valley Unified who uses the pronoun they.

“Being a trans kid that’s not out yet, you can get a feeling about whether or not your family will be supportive of that,” they said. “And how do we do that? We pay attention to the comments that our family members make when other trans people in our lives come out. We see them grab the remote to change the channel when trans people come on.

“Sometimes, people can assess the situation as unsafe,” Ibarra added. “To be able to stay safe, we have to stay in the closet at home. If we get outed, that can lead to abuse at home. There are people who would rather have a dead child than a trans child.”

Rosen, the family therapist in Temecula, says that’s true.

“I’ve had parents who tell their kids ‘you’re dead to me,’ which is a terrible thing to hear as a 13-year-old child,” Rosen said.

He hears from parents who want him to recommend conversion therapy for their LGBTQ children. Rosen says such treatment — which is illegal in California — doesn’t work and is unethical.

“So then the parents say ‘Well, I’m going to get a therapist with their head screwed on straight’ and they hang up. And that’s the kiss of death for those young people,” Rosen said.

‘Our lives aren’t important enough’

According a 2023 survey conducted by the Trevor Project, a nonprofit that works to prevent suicide among LGBTQ young people, only 38% of LGBTQ kids responding to the survey said their home was gender-affirming. Of those surveyed, 41% reported they’d considered suicide in the past year. The rates were even higher among transgender, non-binary and people of color responding to the survey.

According to the same survey, about one in three respondents said their mental health was poor because of policies and legislation targeting the LGBTQ community.

Daniel Mora, 18, left, a former student of the Chino Valley Unified School District, and Max Ibarra, 17, currently enrolled in the district, come together to share their experiences as LGBTQ students in local schools amidst a changing political climate that poses challenges for LGBTQ students, in Chino on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

The school boards “know what they’re doing is dangerous,” Ibarra said. “They’ve had students point it out to them. They’ve had human rights groups point it out to them. They’ve had statistics presented to them multiple times. The message is very clear that what they’re doing is dangerous. And by passing policies like this, it’s very clear that our lives aren’t important enough to them to be worth protecting.”

The new political climate also means less tolerance for school clubs that bring together and provide support for LGBTQ students, according to Vidal with the Genders & Sexualities Alliance Network.

“Clubs continue as best as they can to meet and create supportive and affirming meeting spaces for students during these times,” he said.

‘It’s not about sex’

But not every school district in the region is becoming more restrictive in the treatment of LGBTQ issues.

On Aug. 1, the Corona-Norco Unified school board passed a resolution “recognizing the plight of LGBTQ+ staff and students.”

And the brawl that happened outside a Glendale Unified school board meeting earlier this year is not reflective of what’s happening in district schools, according to Deborah Pasachoff, a mother with GUSD Parents for Public Schools.

“Nothing really has changed,” with district policy or what’s being taught in Glendale classrooms, she said. “Here, we’ve managed to keep our kids relatively safe and insulated from the hatred going on in other districts.”

Pasachoff blames the chaos at the June school board meeting on a social media misinformation campaign accusing the district of Marxist indoctrination, sexually explicit education, and protesting against LGBTQ events, including the school board expressing support for Pride Month.

Pride Month “shouldn’t be controversial,” Pasachoff said.

“It’s not about sex. It’s saying we’re going to respect a large number of Americans and people in our community,” she said.

Gris Soriano has two children enrolled in Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified schools — including a transgender son.

According to Soriano, a member of PFLAG, a national organization that provides support for families with people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer, the Yucaipa-Calimesa district has supported her son.

“I’m comforted that the district has guarded my son’s integrity,” Soriano said.

The district has protected her son, she said. They’ve detected and stopped bullying and offered counseling services at school. Although her children’s district is supportive, she said she knows it’s not that way for all LGBTQ children.

“I feel very nervous and worried for these young children,” Soriano said. “We hear a lot of stories where kids don’t have support at home and cutting off that support at school can be isolating.”

‘We all miss out on their gifts’

For many LGBTQ students, the start of the 2023-24 school year means more stresses than just tests and class projects.

Glendale police separate conservative groups and LGBTQ supporters outside Glendale Unified offices on Tuesday, June 6, 2023. (File photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

The current climate “is creating fear, exacerbating anxiety and causing significant worry,” according to Traci Lowenthal, a Redlands-based therapist who specializes in LGTBQ issues.

“To say that our LGBTQIA+ youth are aware of the uptick in hate is an understatement,” she wrote in an email.

The changing climate has LGBTQ students feeling unsafe and isolated, and leads to feelings of self-hatred and shame, according to Lowenthal. Bullies feel emboldened. And all this has consequences for students.

“When kids feel unsafe at school, their capacity to pay attention, retain information and enjoy social engagement is negatively impacted,” Lowenthal wrote. “When young people feel the need to hide the entirety of who they are, we all miss out on their gifts.”

According to Brian Levin, the director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, hate crimes against the LGBTQ community rose 52% last year in 42 major cities. Hate crimes against gender non-conforming people, including those in drag, rose 47% during the same period and anti-transgender hate crimes rose 28% during the same period. The data is part of a report that was presented Friday, Aug. 25, at the August meeting of the California Commission on the State of Hate.

Some teens dream of leaving behind communities they feel no longer welcome them.

“For many young folks who are queer, particularly queer folks of color, if you want to be your true self, you have to leave Orange County,” said Uyen Hoang, executive director of Viet Rainbow of Orange County.

The organization was founded a decade ago, after a 2013 Tet parade excluded LGBTQ marchers. Today, the Viet Rainbow is once again finding itself unwelcome at events in Orange County, Hoang said.

“I thought it was very supportive here,” said Daniel Mora, 18, who graduated from Chino High in May. “But I was wrong. People would come to board meetings and be open about their ignorance and hate. I thought this was a supportive community, but I was wrong. I’m still really shocked about it.”

This fall, he begins studying political science across the country at Yale.

“I always knew that Chino was a bit more conservative than the entirety of California, but I really thought that people would let other people live their lives,” Mora said. “But it’s very different now; they’re very open about calling you out about something that they don’t like.”

But other LGBTQ young people say they’re not going anywhere.

“I’m planning to make SoCal my lifelong home. The (Chino Valley school board) is not going to silence me,” Ibarra said. “I’m going to stay and make sure that, at all times, there is at least one person who is calling them out for what they’re doing.”

Mora believes the pendulum will swing back the other way, in time.

“I don’t think this is the future for Chino. I think this was just the perfect time for them: A lot of people were mad about masks, a lot of people were mad about the pandemic,” he said. “I know a lot of community members in Chino that don’t agree with (the school board). I know even conservatives and Republicans who think they’re too far right and think that school boards shouldn’t be political.”

Staff writers Monserrat Solis and Allyson Vergara contributed to this story.

More on Southern California LGBTQ students

Growing up gay in the 21st century: Adults, not peers, pose biggest problems
Hesperia Unified settles for $850,000 with teacher who said district retaliated against her for siding with LGBT students
How California students from marginalized groups are working to stop bullying
Southern California school board meetings now political battlegrounds
Here’s what’s in the new Temecula curriculum that concerns some board members
Murrieta Valley school board OKs policy to tell parents if children are transgender
Proposed transgender notification policy at Orange Unified draws divided response from parents, community
Parental rights groups and LGBTQ supporters hold dueling protests in LA

​ Orange County Register 

Who’s behind transgender policies in Southern California schools?

• August 28, 2023

Sidelined in Sacramento, California conservatives went back to school.

They won school board seats last fall and are now working to advance what they see as an agenda that respects parents’ rights.

Key examples are seen in the Chino Valley, Murrieta Valley and Temecula Valley school districts, which, following long, crowded and contentious public meetings, recently passed policies requiring parents to be notified if their child identifies as transgender. The Orange Unified School District board is considering a similar policy.

A look at the policies shows they share a lot of the same language. That’s no coincidence. A coalition of school board members and their allies drew up the policies and is sharing them statewide.

“Being that we knew as parents we needed to join together, it’s kind of what’s happening organically now with school board members,” said Sonja Shaw, president of the Chino Valley Unified School District board.

“You’re finding your people who are in it for the same reason as you were,” Shaw said. “And I think that’s the most beautiful part.”

Jonathan Zachreson, a conservative school board member in the Northern California city of Roseville, said he has been in contact with Shaw and other Southern California school board members.

“We all talk and work together to do what we can to share what we’ve learned and share resources to better effect change locally,” said Zachreson, who like Shaw was elected in November.

“(It) allows us to adopt similar policies much faster and not to do it in silos and figure things out on our own.”

On a macro level, conservatives hold little political clout in California, where Republicans are a minority in the state legislature, hold no statewide elected office and occupy 12 of the state’s 52 House of Representatives seats.

Last year, the California GOP focused on winning school board seats in the state’s red areas, labeling the effort “Parent Revolt.” In places like southwest Riverside County, conservatives mobilized and helped elect like-minded candidates, including a school board majority in Temecula.

For many of them, the path to the school board started with frustration over their schools’ COVID-19 policies.

“I think this goes back a few years ago, when parents started to come together when the shutdown happened,” Shaw said. “When we each individually started going to our school board meetings, lots of parents formed their own grassroots organizations and advocacies because we knew we had to have a voice.”

She added: “I was a parent before. I had no desire to run for school board. I didn’t even know what a school board was … And there’s a lot of similar parents who took these seats like myself.”

In March, Inland GOP Assemblymember Bill Essayli, who represents part of western Riverside County, sponsored AB 1314, which would have required all California public schools, once they learn a student is transgender, to notify parents. AB 1314 faltered a month later after a Democratic Assembly committee chair refused to give it a hearing.

From left, Chino Valley Unified School District board President Sonja Shaw, Assemblymember Bill Essayli and Riverside Police Department Sgt. Erik Lindgren attend a school safety town hall near Riverside on Tuesday, May 16, 2023. (File photo by Sarah Hofmann, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

“(Essayli said) ‘You guys don’t even need my bill. You can forget about what they want to do and the games they want to play,” Shaw said. “You can make your own policy.’”

“It only made sense to try to make up a policy” at Chino Valley.

Shawn Lewis, Essayli’s chief of staff, said via email: “If the Democrat supermajority legislature refuses to hear (AB 1314),” then Essayli “naturally supports and encourages local school boards to adopt that policy locally.”

Shaw said a coalition that includes lawyers, parents and school board members developed the policy that the Chino Valley school enacted in July.

“I have tons of school board members all throughout California reaching out to me and asking me for a copy,” Shaw said.

“And that’s kind of how it just started rolling.”

Murrieta’s school board passed its own transgender notification policy Thursday, Aug. 10. Temecula Valley Unified School District board President Joseph Komrosky attended the Murrieta meeting, and on Wednesday, Aug. 23, his board voted 3-2 to approve its own policy.

Shaw, who has spoken at parents’ rallies in Sacramento, said she met Komrosky, Temecula school board member Jen Wiersma and Murrieta school board member Nick Pardue during a Washington, D.C. trip organized by the California School Boards Association.

Komrosky, Wiersma and Pardue received support and endorsements from the Inland Empire Family PAC and Pastor Tim Thompson, a prominent southwest Riverside County conservative activist.

“We had common ground and we just came together during that meeting and that’s how we developed a relationship,” she said. “So it was kind of cool how that happened.”

Shaw also mentioned her work with the Coalition for Parental Rights, which promotes transgender notification policies. The coalition’s website allows users to download the policy and includes a toolkit for policy supporters to win over the public.

Coalition members include organized conservative groups like Moms for Liberty, the Pacific Justice Institute and the California Policy Center.

Academic observers are skeptical about how grassroots these self-described grassroots partnerships are.

“I think a lot of these individual players and, and people (that have) been elected to school boards are working at the grassroots,” said Bruce Fuller, a sociologist at UC Berkeley’s School of Education.

“(But) I think these folks are not recognizing that they are being driven and manipulated from centrally organized cultural conservatives, that this is not really bubbling up from parents.”

John Rogers, a UCLA education professor who studies conservative activism in public schools, said it’s not as simple as saying: “‘Hey, some parents just became frustrated and increasingly, just as they became more involved, an agenda emerged.’”

“The frustration,” he said, “oftentimes was very much connected to a broader political agenda and oftentimes connected to other forms of political mobilization and other political resources that were supported through state or national actors.”

Rogers added: “You can have some grassroots energy. But that grassroots energy goes much further, the connections are going to be much deeper, the networking is going to be more effective when there’s a lot of resources put in play.”

What’s next for school board conservatives beyond transgender policies?

“There’s not anything specific yet,” Shaw said.

That said, “Sacramento keeps pushing all these crazy bills through the pipeline,” she said. “We’re going to work and look at the legal policy to push through to put safeguards in place from all the crazy things that they’re pushing and show them no, that’s not what our communities want.”

The policies face pushback from the LGBTQ community and others, who fear they harm children whose parents aren’t accepting of their transgenderism. The Temecula school board’s three conservatives are the target of a recall campaign.

“These cultural warriors are in a very small minority,” Fuller said. And while “they have a very loud voice” in conservative-friendly areas like Temecula, “statewide, this is really a fringe movement and I suspect that moderate parents and centrist Democrats are going to perhaps punish Republicans politically who align with these groups,” he said.

Zachreson said he and his fellow conservatives have bigger plans, including a 2024 ballot measure to enact a transgender notification policy for all California schools. A Sacramento press conference on the proposed measure and two related ballot measures is scheduled for Monday afternoon, Aug. 28.

“There are organizations that have kind of had the run of the show unchecked for decades on education in California,” he said. “And so we really need to rein that back in and provide balance.”

Related links

Teachers, students reeling over Chino Valley policy to out transgender children to parents
Murrieta Valley school board OKs policy to tell parents if children are transgender
Temecula school board OKs policy to tell parents if students are transgender
Southern California school board meetings now political battlegrounds
Why conservative Christians want to take over southwest Riverside County school boards
Bill to prevent California school textbook bans is in limbo

​ Orange County Register 

Silencing the media won’t change USA Gymnastics’ culture of abuse

• August 28, 2023

SAN JOSE — Potter Stewart served on the U.S. Supreme Court for 23 years, a constant presence through nearly a quarter-century of landmark case in one of this country’s most transformative eras.

But Stewart will be best remembered for a brief statement he made regarding the Court’s decision on a 1964 pornography case. Obscenity, Stewart said, was hard to define but added, “I know it when I see it.”

The phrase, widely repeated at the time and in the years since, would haunt Stewart for the rest of his life.

“In a way, I regret having said what I said about obscenity — that’s going to be on my tombstone. When I remember all of the other solid words I’ve written,” Stewart said in 1981, four years before his death. “I regret a little bit that if I’ll be remembered at all I’ll be remembered for that particular phrase.”

Among those thousands of solid words from Stewart was this: “Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself.”

The latter Stewart quote came to mind Sunday afternoon as I sat in the seat I purchased in Section 107, Row 23, Seat 16 at the SAP Center for the USA Gymnastics Championships.

Normally I would be sitting on press row, just as I have through the last seven Olympic Games gymnastics competitions, World Championships, U.S. championships in parts of three decades and NCAA Championships dating back to the early 1990s. I covered 16-year-old Simone Biles’ first U.S. title in Hartford in 2013.

But earlier this month USA Gymnastics unexpectedly denied my credential request to cover Biles record-setting  eighth U.S. all-around title.

When I reached out to USA Gymnastics, assuming the rejection was some kind of mistake, I was told by Jill Geer, USA Gymnastics’ chief marketing and communications officer, “We are over-run with media requests and having to make some tough decisions on credentialing. We can’t accommodate you this year.”

Geer’s explanation didn’t ring true since a number of major American newspapers with long histories of covering the sport chose not to join the media stampede to San Jose. From Section 107, directly behind the media section, there were plenty of empty seats on press row. This isn’t the first time Geer’s attempt at spin hasn’t held up and I’m certain it won’t be the last either.

In fact, the Southern California News Group and our readers are being punished, censored by USA Gymnastics for nearly 20 years of relentless reporting that has repeatedly exposed an organization that continues to place money, branding, and marketing over the safety and well being of the young athletes it has been entrusted to protect.

This reporting predated the Larry Nassar scandal by a dozen years and has continued since USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee reached a $380 million settlement with the survivors of Nassar and other predatory coaches and officials.

Indeed, since the Nassar settlement, SCNG has revealed a series of U.S. Center for SafeSport investigations of two of the sport’s most famous coaches for years of alleged abuse, and we’ve reported USA Gymnastics’ response to them and other probes, reporting that has embarrassed the national governing body’s CEO Li Li Leung and undercut the organization’s claim that it has changed the culture of abuse within American gymnastics that allowed Nassar, former Olympic coaches Don Peters and John Geddert to sexually abuse young girls.

Leung, Geer and USA Gymnastics know they haven’t taken the steps to create real culture change in the sport and don’t want someone in San Jose pointing out their failures and wrecking NBC’s fairytale.

Leung’s idea of change is changing the organization’s logo, which USA Gymnastics did last year, a move, Leung said was, “symbolizing the organizational and cultural transformation we have pursued since 2019.”

In reality, all Leung and Geer did was create a new seal of approval for American gymnastics continued culture of abuse.

“Since that time,” Leung told reporters in San Jose, referring to the logo change, “almost every bit of good news related to the sport of gymnastics – from legend athletes returning to the sport to new corporate partnerships to a new feeling of fun and celebration – is a direct reflection of the work that the entire gymnastics community has done to define and cultivate a new culture that prioritises athletes and their safety, health and wellness.”

The problem is that Leung and USA Gymnastics don’t want to do that heavy lifting that creates true cultural transformation. They just want potential corporate sponsors to think they have. Leung revealed as much in her state-of-the-sport comments last week.

Corporate sponsors like Kellogg’s and Proctor and Gamble dropped USA Gymnastics like it was radioactive in the wake of the Nassar scandal. USA Gymnastics hired Leung, the NBA’s former vice president for global partnerships, to get Corporate America back on board.

Leung’s hiring “was cooked up by a bunch of people from Madison Avenue,” John Manly, an attorney for more than 100 Nassar survivors, said at the time.

“For the business of USA Gymnastics and our mission of supporting athletes, it has manifested itself in a series of new partners joining us,” Leung gushed to reporters in San Jose. “We were so fortunate in the last few years to have long-time partners renew, and since January, USAG has welcomed five brand new partners, including, most recently, Core Hydration, Comcast, and Nike.”

Leung has had a series of tone-deaf moments during her tenure and this was another one.

Nike?

So you’re so serious about changing the culture of a sport that has abused young women for decades that you partner with a company whose track record for treating women is only slightly better than USA Gymnastics?

Nike, the company that offered Olympic champion sprinter Allyson Felix, long one of the most recognizable female athletes sponsored by the Oregon company, detailed in a New York Times piece, a 70 percent pay cut during December 2017 contract negotiations? Felix, who was pregnant at the time, also said Nike failed to put clear guarantees in the contract for maternity protections she had requested.

Nike, the brand that then asked Felix to participate in a female empowerment ad for the company, during the maternity protections negotiations?

The Nike that withheld a quarter of distance runner Kara Goucher’s $325,000 salary because she was pregnant and unable to compete even as the company built a widely popular marketing campaign around the future mom?

“I had worked my butt off for the entirety of my pregnancy while they marketed me as a mother-athlete to consumers, yet they were effectively telling me that none of that work had any value,” Goucher wrote in her recent memoir “The Longest Race.”

The Nike that reportedly for a time paid the legal fees for Alberto Salazar, Goucher’s former coach, who the U.S. Center for SafeSport later ruled had sexually assaulted her?

That Nike?

“I don’t think it rings true at all,” Reshma Block, the Orange County mother of a young gymnast who was repeatedly abused by her coach, said of Leung’s comments in San Jose. “If there’s been change it’s not because of USA Gymnastics. Simone Biles has raised awareness about mental health, but as far as USA Gymnastics changing anything, no.”

Instead, Leung’s tenure has been marked by a series of missteps. Only weeks after being hired, Leung, who competed for the U.S. at the 1988 Jr. Pan American Games, was widely criticized for comments she made related to the Nassar scandal during an interview with NBC’s “Today” show.

“I was seen by Larry Nassar myself, but I was not abused by him, and the reason why I wasn’t abused by him is because my coach was by my side when he saw me,” Leung said. “I was seen by him in a public setting and so I understand what the setting needs to be like in order to ensure safety for our athletes.”

Leung later apologized for the comments, acknowledging that they were “insensitive.”

Leung also drew criticism from former U.S. national team members and their supporters when Olympic champion Mary Lou Retton said in a television interview that Leung was consulting with her. Retton was on the USA Gymnastics board of directors during the Nassar scandal and, according to published reports, was an early defender of the former U.S. Olympic and U.S. national team doctor.

Leung’s first big move at USA Gymnastics was to hire Edward Nyman Jr. as the organization’s first ever sports medicine and science director in the spring of 2019.

“The director of sports medicine and science position is integral in addressing our top priorities of athlete health, well-being and safety,” Leung said at the time of Nyman’s hiring. “Making this hire early on in my tenure was important because it is critical for our becoming more athlete-centric. Ed’s collective professional experiences make him uniquely suited for this role.”

But Nyman was fired after just one day on the job. USA Gymnastics told SCNG that Nyman was fired for failing to reveal that his wife was under investigation by the U.S. Center for SafeSport for emotional and verbal abuse. USA Gymnastics documents obtained by SCNG, however, revealed that top USA Gymnastics officials had been aware of the investigation of Nyman’s wife and her Ohio gym since at least the summer of 2017 and had in fact referred complaints it had received to the center.

One of Leung’s other big hires was Geer, a move that raised more than a few eyebrows given that she was brought on board while the organization was still in federal bankruptcy proceedings.

As USA Track & Field’s chief marketing and communications officer, Geer spent more than a decade as the organization’s chief spin doctor, defending naming a previously banned doper to Team USA’s coaching staff, the NGB board’s decision to override an overwhelming vote of its membership, and the $1.2 million salary and lavish travel of the group’s CEO while many American Olympic track hopefuls struggled to make ends meet.

Geer was paid $208,862 by USA Track & Field and received an additional $29,092 in compensation from a related organization, according to Interal Revenue Service filings. In other words Geer was making annually nearly ten times the $25,000 bonus USATF at the time gave to Olympic gold medal winners.

Another person Leung has given a leading role in creating culture change is Kim Kranz, USA Gymnastics’ chief of athlete wellness.

USA Gymnastics in November 2020 found dozens of allegations of physical, verbal and emotional abuse against three Orange County gymnastics coaches “disturbing” and “credible and substantiated.” The USA Gymnastics investigation and ruling were prompted by a SCNG report that revealed that Vanessa Gonzalez and other coaches at Azarian U.S. Gymnastics Training Center allegedly routinely physically, emotionally and verbally abused, bullied and belittled, and pressured young female gymnasts to continue training and/or competing while injured.

One of the gymnasts abused was Block’s daughter.

Gonzalez and other Azarian coaches allegedly slapped gymnasts, hit them with objects leaving marks, threw shoes at them during training, and pulled them by their hair, according to formal complaints to USA Gymnastics and interviews.

Another Azarian girls head coach, Perry Davies, on a regular basis tickled young female gymnasts after pinning them down and sitting on them.

Instead of suspending or permanently banning the coaches, Gonzalez and Davies were given provisional suspensions and Gonzalez was back in the gym just two days later after completing an online SafeSport training as part of a settlement agreement signed off on by Kranz.

Leung and USA Gymnastics were on the verge of hiring Valeri Liukin as the women’s national team high-performance director last year, despite Liukin being under investigation by the U.S. Center for SafeSport for multiple allegations of verbal and psychological abuse of young gymnasts, according to three people familiar with the hiring process

Leung and USA Gymnastics officials were aware of the allegations but only chose to go another direction after an SCNG report made the U.S. Center SafeSport investigations public. Since then a U.S. national team member has filed complaints alleging she was verbally abused by Liukin, according to two people familiar with the complaint.

Yet there was Liukin standing there on the SAP Center competition floor Sunday, hands on his hips, shaking his head in exasperation when one of his gymnasts misstepped.

From my seat, I could see Al Fong, one of the most successful and controversial coaches in American gymnastics for parts of five decades. Fong has coached two Olympic silver medalists and six World champions at the Great American Gymnastics Express in Blue Springs, Missouri, 20 miles east of Kansas City.

Two gymnasts coached by Fong have also died.

Julissa Gomez, a gymnast coached by Fong, broke her neck and was instantly paralyzed while attempting a difficult vault skill at an international competition in Tokyo in May 1988. Fong had pressured Gomez to attempt the skill, according to multiple published reports.

Gomez died in August 1991 from an infection related to her paralysis.

Christy Henrich, another gymnast coached by Fong at GAGE, was fourth at the 1989 World Championships on the uneven bars. A year earlier she missed making the U.S. Olympic team by a hundredth of a point.

Fong allegedly pressured Henrich to train and compete while injured and encouraged her to lose weight, according to multiple published reports.

“He was absolutely insane,” Jack Rockwell, an athletic trainer, said of Fong’s coaching of Henrich in the 1995 book “Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters.”

Henrich developed anorexia nervosa and died in July 1994 from multiple organ failure related to starvation. She weighed less than 60 pounds at the time of her death.

Her family blamed Fong in the media and barred him from the funeral.

Fong is currently being investigated by the U.S. Center for SafeSport for physical, verbal and emotional abuse, according to confidential SafeSport documents obtained by SCNG.

The investigation of Fong, which was first reported by SCNG in February, has been ongoing since at least June 2020 and is in response to approximately 40 allegations of abuse, according to four people familiar with the investigation and U.S. Center for SafeSport documents.

Still Fong was credentialed by USA Gymnastics to coach in San Jose this weekend.

A few yards away, directly across the arena floor from where Leung sat, coaches walked by Liukin and patted him on the back and high-fived him. Fong received a similar reception, like Liukin still firmly in the embrace of the sport, the culture.

Whether from press row or Section 107, Row 23, Seat 16 the scene was obscene.

“I’m not sure what has exactly changed,” Block said Sunday.

At the time of USA Gymnastics 2020 ruling in the Azarian case the organization’s “Safe Sport Investigations and Procedures” stated that “USA Gymnastics will give notice to, and consult with each person reportedly harmed by the misconduct if USA Gymnastics enters into the agreed-upon resolution.”

USA Gymnastics’ decision on the extent and nature of the coaches’ suspensions and to allow them to return to coaching was made without the survivors and parents like Block (as many as 30 of whom complained) being formally interviewed by USA Gymnastics officials or the organization holding formal hearings where victims and family members could testify.

Thirty survivors and their parents silenced, censored by USA Gymnastics and a society afraid of the truth.

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Angel City FC finally solves OL Reign to remain in playoff race

• August 28, 2023

LOS ANGELES — Angel City Football Club has recorded a close loss to OL Reign, a blowout loss and even a second-half comeback loss in the short history between the teams.

In all, the first seven meetings in the series ended with Angel City winless with only one draw.

Sunday night, Angel City finally broke through against the Seattle-based Reign, holding on for a 2-1 win at BMO Stadium in front of a sellout crowd of 22,000.

The win moves Angel City (5-6-6) to 21 points and ninth place in the standings. Angel City is now three points behind the sixth and final playoff spot in the 12-team league. However, things remained bunched up with four points separating sixth from 10th place. There are five games remaining in the regular season.

“They’re very organized and a well-coached team and they know how to win and we knew that we had to be the best versions of ourselves,” Angel City interim coach Becki Tweed said. “We focused a lot on us. There were some tough times tonight, but we were able to pull through.

“You can see in these last eight-nine games, that we have a plan. We know that teams will try to take our strengths away, but you have to have a Plan A, B or C. They tried to close space on Savannah (McCaskill), but we had the ability to play over the top.”

Angel City took a 1-0 lead into halftime thanks to Clarisse LeBihan’s 14th-minute goal and doubled its lead on Madison Hammond’s goal in the 57th minute.

Hammond contributed to the sequence that led to LeBihan’s goal, with a ball out of midfield that Scarlett Camberos chased down and eluded OL Reign goalkeeper Claudia Dickey. Camberos, with three defenders trying to defend the goal, passed to Le Bihan, who scored.

“I would say she had a well-rounded night,” Tweed said of Hammond.

Things did become interesting in the 75th minute when Scarlett Camberos brought down Bethany Balcer, giving OL Reign a penalty kick. Megan Rapinoe stepped up and put her shot under a diving DiDi Haračić, cutting the deficit in half at 2-1.

Last season, Angel City had a 2-0 lead against OL Reign but allowed three second-half goals to get the loss.

“The first half, I thought our quality wasn’t good enough, we didn’t move the ball quick enough,” OL Reign coach Laura Harvey said. “In the second half, I thought we were the better side, we played quicker and I thought we were pushing and if we had five more minutes, I thought we would have got the equalizer.”

However, Angel City was able to hold off any late chances and preserve the three points and increase its unbeaten streak to nine games under interim coach Becki Tweed – 5-0-4 across league play and the Challenge Cup.

Megan Reid had a key block on a shot inside the 18-yard line and later Jasmyne Spencer broke up a Reign attack with a sliding tackle to win the ball.

“It not always pretty, but to hold them off was important and we got the result,” Angel City defender and captain Ali Riley said. “We probably could have been more clinical in the attacking third, I thought we could have been up more, but it’s something we’ll look at and go forward.”

Angel City next plays Friday with a road match against the Kansas City Current, which is two points behind in the standings.

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Galaxy eliminated from Leagues Cup after Vancouver rallies with two late goals

• July 31, 2023

CARSON — At the 80th minute mark, the Galaxy could visualize a spot in the Leagues Cup Round of 32.

However, the final 10-plus minutes of Sunday’s final group stage game against Vancouver would go down as just another disappointing ending.

With a one-goal lead, the Galaxy gave up an own goal and just before the end of regulation, a deflected shot led to the winning goal allowing Vancouver to escape with a 2-1 win in front of 14,787 at Dignity Health Sports Park.

“I thought for 70-plus minutes we by in large were in great control of the game,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “Like we’ve had over the course of the season, we had a lot of really good opportunities to take the game to 2-0. Looks on goal, attacks that have the right numbers, opportunities to create separation. We don’t and then we don’t manage the game and I put myself in that too, we don’t manage the final 15 or so minutes.”

Vancouver will face either Tigres or Portland in the Round of 32. The Galaxy, meanwhile, is eliminated and will be off until returning to MLS play Aug. 20.

In the 81st minute, a cross came in from the left that bounced off of Galaxy defender Lucas Calegari and into the goal to allow Vancouver to tie the game at 1-1.

Ten minutes later, the first of a three-minute stoppage time, an initial cross was deflected by Galaxy midfielder Efrain Alvarez, into the path of Ryan Gauld, who attempted a half-volley, but that attempt found its way through to Brian White, who beat Galaxy goalkeeper Novak Mićović for the winning goal.

“At the end, I think we deserve to tie,” Vancouver coach Vanni Sartini said. “The win is a steal. I think the real result should have been a tie and then deciding in penalties who was going to go through, but you know, sometimes happens that you lose when you don’t deserve to lose and today we won probably not deserving to entirely to win.”

Also, sometimes, the Galaxy lack of finishing also happens. Or this season, has been a constant problem.

“When they had the chance, I forgot who shot it, but it went out and I thought, maybe the Gods of football today are in our favor,” Sartini said.

The Galaxy opened the scoring in the 16th minute on Riqui Puig’s goal. The Galaxy managed just three shots on goal and finished with 16 shots total.

“I feel like it was a microcosm of some of the games we’ve had through the course of the season,” Vanney said. “Where again, it’s not necessarily that we had a lot of shots on target, we missed target, we’re around the area, we get things blocked, we’re just not clinical in the final action and when you don’t that with teams you are, I believe dominating through large stretches of the game, they hang around. You can put them away and the game is done and their spirit is broken and you can see it out, but because they kept hanging around at 1-0, there wasn’t a broken spirit, they were always just around.”

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