When the 405 Express Lanes open up, some motorists will avoid the toll

• June 30, 2023

Q. Hi Honk: Can you explain what the new rules will be for the 405 Freeway carpool lanes through Fountain Valley? I have a plug-in hybrid with HOV stickers. I am not sure how things are changing. Thanks!

–  Carol Bobke, Mission Viejo 

A. The new rules are tied to a $2.2 billion project, Carol, that is widening the 405 for 16 miles between the 73 and 605 freeways. It is scheduled for completion late this year.

When it opens, there will no longer be traditional carpool lanes.

Instead, in the middle of the conventional freeway will sit the 405 Express Lanes – a tollway – offering two lanes in each direction. Besides the endpoints, there will be a couple of places in between to enter and leave.

The toll may vary on the hour. A schedule of what the amounts will be is expected to be approved later this summer.

Some drivers will get to take the Express Lanes for free:

Vehicles with two occupants during non-peak hours.
Vehicles with at least three occupants.
Vehicles with license plates only assigned to veterans.
Vehicles properly using disabled-person license plates.
Motorcycles.

Now, Carol, those with the state’s Clean Air Vehicle stickers, like you have, will be able to take the 405 Express Lanes at a discount; the reduced percentage has not been approved yet. The Clean Air Stickers currently eligible are orange, blue, yellow and green.

“Everybody has to have a transponder, just like on the 91 Express Lanes,” said Joel Zlotnik, a spokesman for the Orange County Transportation Authority, which will own and operate the 405 Express Lanes. “This (overall) policy (largely) mirrors the 91 Express Lanes.’”

There’s an exception or two, such as there is no discount for vehicles with only two occupants on the 91 Express Lanes.

To keep motorists updated, the transportation agency has trotted out a website just for the 405 Express Lanes: 405expresslanes.com.

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HONKIN’ REQUEST: Honk gets many great questions, but they tend to be from landlubbers, of which he is one. It is summertime! If you are curious about anything transportation related on the high seas, or in the Back Bay, drop him an email at [email protected]. Same goes with walking, biking, motorcycling, hang gliding, parachuting, etc. Like you, ol’ Honk is quite curious and likes to learn about life’s mysteries.

HONKIN’ FACT: If you want to drive to the epicenter of the Fourth of July, Independence Hall in Philadelphia, it will take you 2,709 miles if you start at the Santa Ana Civic Center. The trip will require 40 hours on the road – if you don’t hit traffic. Or, you can get to Knott’s Berry Farm’s Independence Hall with a 13.6-mile jaunt, perhaps in under 20 minutes. (Source: Google)

To ask Honk questions, reach him at [email protected]. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk. Twitter: @OCRegisterHonk

​ Orange County Register 

Reparations task force gives recommendations on how California can atone for slavery

• June 30, 2023

State legislators can now begin to draw up laws that would give Black Californians restitution for the long-term effects of slavery.

The California Task Force to Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans culminated two years of work on Thursday, June 29, when it presented its final report recommending monetary compensation, a formal public apology from the state, and replacing what it called racist policies with new ones.

These recommendations were among many ways the task force urged a progressive path forward for Black Californians.

“This is going to be the start of another lengthy process,” said task force member Sen. Steven Bradford, D-Gardena, during Thursday’s meeting. “Reparations is not a gift, not a handout, not charity. It is what is promised, what is owed and what is long overdue… It’s past due time to repay African American people.”

Implementing reparations won’t be done with one bill, or in one legislative cycle, Bradford added. The task force’s work will ultimately take root, he said, urging supporters to stay engaged and keep advocating for state policies that will forge a better future for Black people.

The proposals now move to the state legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom, who was not present at the meeting.

At the task force’s last meeting in early May, the nine-member committee gave final approval to the hefty list of proposals. Next, those recommendations will go to state lawmakers to consider for reparations legislation.

Talks of reparations have gone on since slavery’s abolition in 1863, with the federal government’s promise of 40 acres and a mule to each freed Black person never being fulfilled.

“When slavery ended in 1863, there was a promise of land that was never paid,” Bradford said. “If you can inherit generational wealth, you can inherit generational debt, and this is a debt that is owed.”

The task force began its work in 2021, studying the political, economic, environmental and educational harms that slavery had on Black Californians and the descendants of slaves. It issued its first report last year, with recommendations such as paying incarcerated people market wages, and creating a state African American Affairs agency, which it built off of for the final proposals.

The final report details historic atrocities that the state, under the panel’s recommendations, would apologize for — like demolishing thriving African American neighborhoods in the name of urban renewal and park construction — and promise to not repeat them.

The report cited 1960s San Francisco where, operating under a state law for urban redevelopment, officials ordered the destruction of the Fillmore District; then the city’s most prominent African American neighborhood and business district. The move wiped out nearly 900 businesses, displaced nearly 5,000 households and damaged the lives of nearly 20,000 people – then left the land empty for many years.

Similarly, in Manhattan Beach, city leadership nearly 100 years ago used eminent domain to take the land under a thriving Black-owned seaside resort, Bruce’s Beach Lodge, under the guise of needing land to build parks. That land sat vacant and wasn’t turned into a park until decades after the local government took it over.

California Senate Bill 796, which Bradford co-authored in 2021, allowed the return of that land to Bruce descendants — a move that officials called the first tangible action of restorative justice for Black people in America.

But officials said there are still endless stories in which people don’t get their property back or the funds they deserve for it.

Three people who testified at Thursday’s meeting shared how their families’ land was taken through eminent domain. They said they were not properly compensated, and continued to be forced from one redlined neighborhood to the next, restricted from living where and how they wanted to, unlike the White people in communities around them.

In the 1,000-page report, the task force also:

Suggests how to calculate cash reparations to address the community’s health disparities, incarceration, over-policing, housing discrimination, devaluation of Black-owned businesses, unjust property takings by eminent domain and labor discrimination
Discusses how a survey on the California Racial Justice Act could help root out and address bias in the criminal justice system
Suggests a standard curriculum centered on the task force’s findings and recommendations, and funding for it
Compiles cases, state and federal laws that demonstrate that federal and state systems have institutionalized discrimination against African American people

Though the state legislature will have to ultimately determine the amount of monetary reparations to be paid, and how to distribute them, economists who reported to the task force had previously estimated that Black residents could be owed more than $800 billion collectively.

“The cost of reparations will be high,” Bradford said, “but make no mistake, the harms that were done are just as high and the disparities its created continue to this day.”

If California puts half a percent, or $1.5 billion, of its $300 billion annual budget into annuity each year, “we can pay for it,” he added. The state finds money to do other things, “so this is our priority.”

The task force meeting set the blueprint for possible reparations proposals and sweeping policy changes across the nation. Illinois, for its part, has an African Descent-Citizens Reparations Commission that has been working alongside California to figure out such recommendations for African Americans in that state.

Protesters participate in a march on August 29, 2020 from Manhattan Beach City Hall to Bruce’s Beach. The protest was one of the first to bring attention to the local, historical issue of systemic racism and of the City taking over the property via eminent domain. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)

Historian and author Alison Rose Jefferson has studied how governments land-grabbed Black property through the Jim Crow era, the effects of those practices on Black people, and their ability to own property today. She wrote about Bruce’s Beach and other Black Californian leisure sites in her book, “Living the California Dream: African American Leisure Sites during the Jim Crow Era.”

During testimony at a December 2021 task force meeting, Jefferson recommended that the state invest more in knowledge about Black history so that legislators can make informed policy. She also suggested the state give access to land-grabbed areas where Black people once gathered, especially through jobs and affordable housing.

Before Thursday’s final hearing, Jefferson said that the report being turned into any laws that could benefit Black people will be “incremental… it would take lifetimes for the playing field to be leveled to White counterparts.”

“We’ll be able to do something, but it’ll never be as ethnically mixed as it may have been, if (Black) folks who settled at the beach in the early 20th century had been able to stay down there,” she said. “We can make the guess that if they had been allowed to stay there and grow with the city, they may have had more input in the city’s development, and it may have been a different kind of community than it is today.”

Although California entered the Union in 1850 as a free state, its early state government supported slavery, the report stated. In 1852, officials passed a fugitive slave law that put Black people living in California at risk of being deported to slave-holding states in the south. Some scholars estimated up to 1,500 enslaved African Americans lived in the state that year.

And that history of white supremacy in government still rears its head today.

Over 100 of the 536 last sitting U.S. Congress members have family links to enslavers, Reuters reported.

“That shows how they (lawmakers) think about developing our laws,” Jefferson said, “Because they are from this background of White Supremacy.”

FILE – A crowd listens to speakers at a reparations rally outside of City Hall in San Francisco, on March 14, 2023. California’s first-in-the-nation reparations task force wraps up its historic work Thursday, June 29, 2023, with the formal submission to lawmakers of a final report that includes dozens of recommendations on how the state can apologize and compensate Black residents for decades of discriminatory practices and policies. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

Assemblymember Corey Jackson, D-Perris, applauded the task force’s work and report. In a statement Thursday, he emphasized the importance of the real work in making these reparations happen moving forward.

“Words alone are not enough. We must now take concrete steps to implement tangible policies that address the wealth inequality, housing segregation, discriminatory policing and maternal health disparities that have plagued our community for far too long,” Jackson said.

Rosie Brady, secretary for the NAACP’s 1034 branch in Riverside, said before the hearing that she hopes for honesty when it comes to reparations policies. She also wondered about the implications of being a Black California resident who moved to the state from elsewhere.

“I’m originally from Mississippi, a descendant of slaves — but now I live in California, so what does that mean?”

Still, she is “hopeful” that reparations will allow Black people to “get ahead a little in life,” and be able to do things that she said have been “simple” for white people, like helping their children through college.

“When Black people were freed they weren’t given anything,” Brady said. “Still, we’re at the lowest of the totem pole.”

Related links

California puts a price on slavery’s legacy and draws a blueprint for reparations
California reparations task force to recommend ‘down payments’ for slavery, racism 
Black Californians hope state reparations don’t become another broken promise
California weighs $360,000 in reparations to eligible Black residents
Supreme Court rules in favor of Black Alabama voters in unexpected defense of Voting Rights Act
Juneteenth: Not a commercial holiday, but a celebration of Black freedom
Los Angeles group fights eminent domain, racism

​ Orange County Register 

OC Register removing commenting July 1, 2023

• June 30, 2023

Beginning July 1, 2023, we will no longer be hosting comments on our websites.

We understand that comments can be a good way to discuss and debate the news and to interact with other members of the community. However, open comments, because they are difficult to moderate, sometimes become forums for spam, or worse, abusive and hateful speech that is not in line with our desire to host a free exchange of ideas in a manner that is courteous and respectful. In addition, testing has shown that removing the comments will improve site load times, which means less waiting and a better user experience for our valued readers and subscribers.

As always, we love to hear from our readers. If you want to reach us, our reporters’ email addresses are on every story we post. You can also send your feedback to us at [email protected]. We are also active on social media, and we would be delighted if you would follow us on Twitter or visit our Facebook page where we can continue the conversation. And if you have a strong opinion you’d like to see published, you can send us a letter to the editor at [email protected].

​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers’ trio of All-Stars lead the way in rout of Rockies

• June 30, 2023

DENVER — It might snow in June before the Colorado Rockies can put together a decent pitching staff.

It looked like one of those aberrations – only one – had arrived at Coors Field on Thursday afternoon when a strong hail storm hit Denver. The hail stones blanketed the field, looking very much like a dusting of snow.

Players from the Rockies came out to frolic, making angels on the infield after wading through a two-foot high hail bank the predominant wind had created in the home dugout. The game was delayed nearly two hours while the grounds crew used leaf blowers to melt the hail in the outfield.

“It was really bleak as far as potentially playing,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who walked the field with Rockies manager Bud Black, members of the umpiring crew and both front offices about an hour before the delayed first pitch.

All hail broke loose after that. The Dodgers pummeled the Rockies, piling up 18 hits in a 14-3 rout, allowing them to win a road series outside California for the first time since taking two out of three in Atlanta from May 22-24.

“We were all saying, ‘We’re here. Might as well go for it,’” first baseman Freddie Freeman said of waiting out the storm. “Two hours of rain – I don’t know if you call that rain. It was like snow pretty much. They were talking about we might have to make it up on our one (common) off day and play, like, 20 days in a row. So we were all ready to roll.”

The opportunity to face the Rockies’ pitching staff certainly didn’t hurt their willingness to wait it out. Thursday wasn’t even their worst beating of the homestand. They were on the receiving end of a 25-1 humiliation by the Angels on Saturday and have given up double-digit runs in 14 games already this season. There aren’t enough humidors to help a pitching staff that ranks last or next-to-last (thank you, Oakland A’s) in ERA, hits allowed, runs allowed, home runs allowed, WHIP and strikeout rate.

One thing is certain about the Rockies’ pitching staff this season – Black is going to get his steps in daily.

During the hail storm, the starters for the All-Star Game were announced and three Dodgers were voted into the National League lineup. That trio – Mookie Betts, Freeman and J.D. Martinez – went a combined 8 for 11 with six runs scored and eight RBIs against the Rockies.

Martinez had four hits to cap a seven-RBI, three-home run series. He drove in Betts twice with RBI singles after he led off the first and third innings with doubles and then added a two-run home run during the Dodgers’ six-run fourth inning. In 14 career games at Coors Field, Martinez is a .444 hitter (28 for 63) with six home runs and 20 RBIs.

“There’s just not a better hitter at Coors and the numbers speak to that,” Roberts said. “Just using the whole field, doing what he does.”

Freeman drove in three runs with a pair of singles, reaching 50 RBIs for the season. According to ESPN Stats and Info, he is the first Dodger with 100 hits, 50 RBIs and 10 stolen bases before the month of July since RBIs were first tracked in 1920.

“I just try to do the same thing every year,” Freeman said. “That’s all I’m trying to do is be consistent so you never have to worry about me and when I do something good you don’t really have to talk about it because that’s the norm. That’s what I try and do every single year. Yes, I’ve had a good first half. Still got a few games to go. Hopefully, we can keep those numbers going up.”

But stars and non-stars alike got a taste. Everyone in the starting lineup except catcher Austin Barnes had at least one hit and scored a run in the first six innings. Miguel Vargas ended a 1-for-36 stretch with an RBI triple. Jason Heyward had three hits, including two doubles. Max Muncy drove in runs with a double and a single.

“I think it’s contagious,” Roberts said. “With the energy that Mookie is providing, guys want to follow that energy. … You can just see the pep in the step tonight from the guys so I do believe it’s contagious.”

Rookie right-hander Emmet Sheehan was the beneficiary. After giving up just three hits in his first 12 major-league innings, Sheehan got his first taste of Coors and gave up three runs on seven hits in five innings against the Rockies.

“This is not an easy place to pitch and not an easy environment,” Roberts said.

“I think it’s the ‘Ignorance is bliss’ adage where I know he understands Coors, but I don’t think the kind of the gravity of what it does as far as run creation and scoring runs. So he just went out there.”

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Just Deserves to be an All-Star. pic.twitter.com/WJB0vPcLXe

— MLB (@MLB) June 30, 2023

Mookie and Freddie, one-two punch. pic.twitter.com/iuWWIhaOvX

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 30, 2023

“Felt like a regular start to me.” Emmet Sheehan wasn’t phased by the elevation at Coors Field. pic.twitter.com/vOvaHYA38X

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) June 30, 2023

Dave Roberts speaks on the #Dodgers’ toughness and Sheehan’s evolution. pic.twitter.com/b7qa3jc5qe

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) June 30, 2023

​ Orange County Register 

As World Cup approaches, work remains for gender equity in women’s soccer

• June 30, 2023

LOS ANGELES — With less than a month until the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the excitement from fans is real.

The popularity of women’s soccer has exploded in the past decade, but for many within the sport, there is still work that needs to be done in order for women’s players to reach an equitable space with their male counterparts.

On Thursday, BMO hosted a gender equity in soccer panel at BMO Stadium that included Angel City forward Christen Press, former USWNT head coach and current president of the San Diego Wave FC Jill Ellis and BMO head of loyalty and sponsorship marketing Sonya Kunke. Former USWNT defender Danielle Slaton moderated the discussion.

The panel discussed the issues surrounding women’s soccer and the strides that have been made to make the sport more global.

Women’s soccer at the national level has sustained viewership growth in the past decade, but viewership of domestic leagues in the United States has grown dramatically.

According to a report by Samba TV, viewership of the NWSL’s championship game in 2022 saw a 453% spike compared to the championship in 2021.

Ellis believes that the popularity of women’s soccer took off in 2015 when the USWNT defeated Japan 5-2 in the FIFA Women’s World Cup to capture the team’s third FIFA Title.

Press was on that 2015 team and said the popularity of both the players and the sport changed after the win.

“Our lives changed overnight. When you’re playing in a World Cup, you’re in a bubble. You’re fully focused on performance. And so we left for the tournament living one type of lifestyle and we came back and everything was changed,” Press said.

The NWSL has benefited from the success at the global level, but Ellis believes that there is still more to be done from a resources standpoint.

“Players get on domestic flights. They don’t charter, they spend nine to 10 hours traveling,” Ellis said. “We’re suddenly increasing the number of games, but are we increasing the care for these athletes? In terms of resources, are we increasing the oversight of performance?”

Delivering more resources for players also means creating avenues for more funding.

For Kunke, that is where BMO and other companies can step in.

“I never thought I would be working in the position I am today,” Kunke said. “Getting to do what I do, which is using money from our companies to support phenomenal teams and innovating around them too. … It’s a phenomenal community impact.

But for women’s sports to get to an equitable place in a male-dominated industry, it’s going to take people from all backgrounds to invest and contribute to the growth of the sport.

Ellis said one way for investors to be allies is not to look at the sport as “women’s soccer,” but as just soccer.

“I also think it’s so important that we get our sport to a place where it’s not seen as a women’s sport,” Ellis said. “If we can get men to honestly believe that this is a good business financial investment, it’s not charitable. This is gonna be a legitimate business industry.”

Ellis also emphasized that the NWSL needs to be able to create its own identity as well.

“I don’t want us to be the MLS. To have this, we’ve got to be our own league, our own lens and we shouldn’t look at that as our model,” Ellis said. “And this is what I love about the World Cup is we get the chance to say that women’s soccer, women’s football is the global game.”

The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup will take place in Australia and New Zealand starting on July 20. Press is currently recovering from an ACL injury which she sustained in a match last season and it is still unknown when she will be back with Angel City or the USWNT.

“It has been a unique recovery journey,” Press said in an ESPN interview in May. “I’ve had some setbacks and I’ve had some ups and downs. I think that’s normal. I think this took a bit longer than I had hoped up until now. But I’m in the final stretch of my recovery. I’m starting to feel like myself again, getting my body back. Hopefully I’ll be joining the team soon.”

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​ Orange County Register 

Will Clippers create a new Big 3 with a trade for James Harden?

• June 30, 2023

The NBA free agency period starts Friday afternoon, but the Clippers already are rumored to be making moves that could set themselves up for a title run.

But there are so many moving parts to a proposed deal that would bring 10-time All-Star James Harden to the Clippers, it could take a day or two to figure out whether 1.) it would work with the new salary cap rules and 2.) how much would the Clippers be willing to give up in return?

On Thursday, Harden exercised his $35.6 million contract option for the upcoming season, enabling both he and the Philadelphia 76ers to work together to find a trade, ESPN reported. Citing unnamed sources, the Clippers and New York Knicks were mentioned as possible landing spots for Harden, a veteran point guard who would fit the Clippers’ championship plans.

The Clippers and Sixers reportedly have been in contact this week about a potential trade (or separate trades) that would send Harden and Tobias Harris to L.A. for multiple role players, according to YahooSports. The Clippers mentioned in the report were Marcus Morris Sr. and Norman Powell, but it could include Robert Covington or a combination of young players, such as Terance Mann, Amir Coffey and Brandon Boston Jr., along with several draft picks.

But it is believed that Philadelphia will want value for Harden and that could mean the Clippers would have to possibly send additional role players, such as Terance Mann, or be willing to break up the tandem of All-Star wings Paul George and Kawhi Leonard.

George has been the subject of trade rumors this offseason, with NBA Insider Marc Stein the first to report that the Clippers were exploring trade options involving the eight-time All-Star. Another report said the Portland Trailblazers and Clippers “briefly” discussed swapping George for Scoot Henderson, the No. 3 pick in last week’s draft.

However, Lawrence Frank, the Clippers’ president of basketball operations, said after last week’s draft that his intention was to continue to build around George and Leonard.

“What we are trying to do is see how we can put together the best team around these guys and, you know, we look at the different things, what worked, what hasn’t worked,” Frank said. “… We’re trying to maximize these two and figure out ways that we can get better.”

If the Clippers keep George, they will need to look at some of their moveable contracts, including future draft picks, as a way to improve their roster.

Morris, who was part of the failed three-team trade that would have sent him to the Washington Wizards and brought oft-injured Boston Celtics guard Malcolm Brogdon to L.A., is a potential trade piece. Morris, who has one year remaining on a four-year contract that will pay him $17.1 million this season, saw his minutes dwindle at the end of the season.

Powell is an expendable player given the Clippers’ guard-heavy roster. The 30-year-old veteran has continued to be a productive player off the bench (he averaged 17 points despite missing 22 games), but trading Powell would allow the Clippers to get out from under the remaining three years of a five-year deal that pays him roughly $19 million per season. It would give the Clippers additional flexibility after they waived veteran guard Eric Gordon on Wednesday.

Gordon’s contract for the upcoming season would have been fully guaranteed on Wednesday, but the Clippers elected to let him go, making him an unrestricted free agent. The Clippers acquired Gordon in a trade deadline deal in February, bringing him back to the team that drafted him in 2008. He averaged 11.0 points and 2.1 assists in his 27-game second stint.

But Gordon didn’t turn out to be the good fit the team hoped he would be, and by waiving him, the Clippers saved approximately $110 million on their luxury tax bill, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks.

One guard the Clippers could re-sign is Russell Westbrook, an unrestricted free agent. Although past his prime at age 35 (by the time the season begins), Westbrook could demand much more than the $3.8 million the Clippers can offer.

It remains to be seen whether he would want to play with Harden again (they were teammates for one season in Houston and early in their careers in Oklahoma City), should a trade happen.

Last season, Westbrook left a favorable impression on the Clippers’ front office despite turning the ball over 3.4 times per game and finishing with his lowest scoring average since his rookie season. Westbrook not only took over the leadership role when George and Leonard were injured and unavailable during their first-round playoff series against the Phoenix Suns, but he was well-liked in the locker room.

Westbrook, too, was happy with the Clippers, saying after the season, “I love it here. I love the people, just the fans overall embracing not just me but my family and close friends. …  A lot of things have happened, but I’m grateful. I love being here.”

However, he also said that he looked forward to deciding his future as a free agent for the first time in his career. The Clippers signaled that they might be willing to move on from Westbrook, if needed, when they pursued Brogdon before expressing concern about a significant injury to his forearm.

The Clippers’ other free agents – second-year center Moussa Diabate (restricted) and center Mason Plumlee (unrestricted) – could find themselves back next season.

Plumlee gave the Clippers a solid presence in the paint, proving valuable especially when starting center Ivica Zubac found himself in foul trouble.

The Clippers signed Diabate to a two-way contract on Wednesday, making him a restricted free agent. Diabate, who was a G League all-rookie team selection, saw action in 22 games last season for the Clippers and averaged 2.7 points and 2.3 rebounds.

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​ Orange County Register 

Summer’s first heat wave arrives in time for the weekend before July 4th

• June 30, 2023

Finally! Break out the sunscreen and beach towels.

The first heat wave of summer is arriving in time for the weekend leading up to the Fourth of July, forecasters say, with the streak of June-gloom cloud coverage burning off and some of the hottest temperatures of the year for parts of Southern California.

A high-pressure system is expected to start building over the region on Friday, with mountain and valley communities to see some of the highest temperatures, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Lisa Phillips. On Saturday and Sunday, those temps should climb into the triple digits.

Along the coastline in Los Angeles and Orange counties, temperatures will only see a slight increase, rising into the mid-70s on Friday and the high 70s and low 80s on Saturday and Sunday before cooling slightly by Tuesday, July 4th.

In inland Los Angeles, cities including Woodlands Hills and Azusa will see jumps from the mid-70s from Thursday into the mid-80s by Friday and into the 90s by the weekend, Phillips said.

Similarly, inland Orange County cities like Anaheim and Fullerton should feel 10-degree increases by Friday, reaching into the mid to high 80s.

San Bernardino and Riverside counties will sizzle, with highs reaching into the mid-90s by Friday and high 90s and low 100s by the weekend, said NWS meteorologist Stefanie Sullivan. Mountain temperatures in Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead will stay more consistent, hanging in the mid-80s for most of the weekend.

The heat wave will continue across the region for the weekend before a slight cooling trend begins Monday night and continues through next week.

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​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers’ Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, J.D. Martinez voted to All-Star starting lineup

• June 30, 2023

DENVER — The Dodgers went 3 for 4 Thursday.

Three players were voted into the starting lineup for the National League All-Stars – first baseman Freddie Freeman, outfielder Mookie Betts and designated hitter J.D. Martinez. It is the first time the Dodgers will have three position players in the starting lineup since 1980, when four Dodgers started for the NL – Ron Cey, Bill Russell, Davey Lopes and Reggie Smith.

“It’s always special to be in an All-Star Game,” said Betts, who has been selected seven times and started four. “It means you’re doing something pretty good – no matter how I feel or what I say, I’m doing something.

“There’s a lot of guys gonna be there (from the Dodgers). It’s a testament to our team, our organization and the coaches and whatnot. But it’s always just special just to get to go to be amongst those guys.”

Will Smith was also a finalist but Atlanta Braves catcher Sean Murphy beat him out in the second phase of fan voting. Smith is nearly certain to be added to the team when pitchers and reserves are announced on Sunday.

It would be Smith’s first All-Star selection. Freeman, Betts and Martinez have been selected a combined 20 times – but Betts will be a first-timer in one respect in Seattle. He has accepted an invitation to participate in the Home Run Derby, a first for Betts – “even though I don’t know that I really want to do it.”

Betts said his wife, Brianna, told him he needed to do it as a bucket-list item.

“She said, ‘You got to do it.’ (It is) the last thing I haven’t done, so I’m gonna do it. Have fun with it, and we’ll see what happens,” Betts said.

Betts joked about his chances of winning the Derby at 5-foot-9, 170 pounds.

“I don’t think that many guys my size win the Home Run Derby,” Betts said. “When I told my mom she wasn’t too thrilled. She told me I didn’t raise you to come in last. So the goal now is not to come in last.

“I don’t think she’s a huge fan of seeing her son lose.”

Betts leads the Dodgers with 20 home runs, fifth in the National League and tied for seventh in the majors. Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Seattle’s Julio Rodriguez have also confirmed their participation in the Derby, which is scheduled for Monday, July 10.

Betts said he has asked Dodgers coach Clayton McCullough to pitch to him in the Derby and paid the outfield instructor a big compliment in the process.

“I’ve had some really good coaches – some really, really really good coaches – and Clayton’s probably my favorite of all time,” Betts said. “The main reason is not what he teaches me, it’s just because of how much he holds me accountable, how much when I come to work he expects from me, and he holds me to it. He’s my favorite.”

McCullough said Betts’ comments were “flattering” and he looks forward to making the most of the All-Star break with his family in Seattle.

“I appreciate him saying that,” McCullough said. “I can say a couple years ago, first coming up here, new to this, new to coaching the outfield, so having someone of his pedigree and how successful he’s been – he’s been good to me from day one. He’s helped me far more than I’ve helped him with things. I appreciate him saying that. It’s flattering. But he’s a good dude, he works hard and we have a good relationship.

“I’m pumped for him. He’s done so many things in this game – won a World Series, MVP, Silver Slugger, Gold Glove. The accolades go on and on. But for him to want to do something like this and step out from his norm. … I think for him to want to put himself out there and do it is cool and for him to ask me, I’m excited as well.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Betts’ chances of winning the competition are “not great.”

“I applaud him for doing it,” Roberts said. “Mookie hits homers in games. That’s why he’s up there on the leaderboard. But the physicality of hitting rounds and rounds of home runs – I kind of equate it to old-school Larry Bird in the 3-point contest. Larry Bird could shoot a set shot around the 3-point line and other guys used to have to shoot a jump shot. As you keep going and going, you lose your legs. Even if Mookie has a big first round and advances, it takes a lot for a guy that’s not as physical.

“I hope he does well. I’m not betting on him.”

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