Endorsement: Carlos Rodriguez for Yorba Linda City Council

• October 3, 2026

Two council seats are up in Yorba Linda and one of them is an easy call.

Elected to the council in 2018, Carlos Rodriguez has been a reliable conservative leader in the city.

“Yorba Linda is one of the most financially stable cities in Orange County,” he told us, explaining the city is doing well enough that it doesn’t even need to contemplate new taxes. “We do not need new taxes. Future economic growth by focusing on small businesses in our community will help grow our local economy and sales tax revenue.”

Reflective of this is California Policy Center’s Local Fiscal Health Dashboard, which has graded Yorba Linda a “B” in every fiscal year from 2022 to 2025, with “A” grades for its debt burden, liquidity and pension debts. By comparison, nearby cities like Anaheim, Brea and Placentia have received “C” grades, while Fullerton and Orange have received “D” grades in the last year available.

Fortunately, Rodriguez also wasn’t thrilled about Assembly Bill 1383 which sought to allow cities to boost police and firefighter pensions. He said it wasn’t necessary.

As someone who in his professional life works with the Building Industry Association of Southern California, Rodriguez rightly opposes rent control. His views on housing policy are more of a mixed bag, though, given his staunch defense of “local control,” which is often the mantra of local elected officials who want to limit housing production. He said in one ad that he supports “responsible housing that reflects our local values.” Such rhetoric reeks a bit of NIMBYism, but he has to his credit voted to move the city’s housing element into compliance with state law.

Where Rodriguez has perhaps been most helpful is on the board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District. Working with Supervisor Janet Nguyen, he has scored some wins for Orange County, including securing long-delayed landfill permits while tackling an old backlog, and negotiating a regulatory rule change that saved the county $5 million. And, concerned about the high cost of regulatory compliance, he provided a critical vote last year against proposed AQMD rules aimed at phasing out gas-powered heaters and furnaces.

Backed by the Orange County Taxpayers Association and the Orange County Business Council, Carlos Rodriguez has been a practical voice for taxpayers. While we don’t agree with Rodriguez on everything, he merits re-election.

Vote for Carlos Rodriguez in Yorba Linda.

​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers get off to hot start, take NLDS Game 1 behind Tarik Skubal, power bats

• October 3, 2026

LOS ANGELES — They were bound to start off hot – one way or the other.

Teoscar Hernandez, Kyle Tucker and Max Muncy each homered to back Tarik Skubal as the Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-3, in Game 1 of their best-of-five National League Division Series on Saturday afternoon.

With Southern California baking in an October heat wave, the Dodgers announced attendance of 50,194 – their lowest for a postseason game at Dodger Stadium since Game 4 of the 2016 NLDS against the Washington Nationals (49,617). That game was played in much more pleasant weather than Saturday’s 100 degrees at first pitch – but on a Tuesday afternoon.

Skubal certainly made himself at home.

The first six postseason starts of Skubal’s career – all as he tried to drag the Detroit Tigers deeper into October – came on the road. Saturday afternoon was the first time he took the mound for a home team in a postseason game.

It started with a single by Braves leadoff man Drake Baldwin (who went 6 for 12 with two doubles and a home run in the Braves’ three-game sweep of the Dodgers in Atlanta in August). Skubal put his foot down after that, retiring the next 15 Braves in order, including seven on strikeouts.

He didn’t even go to a three-ball count until facing Austin Riley in the fifth inning. He struck him out to end the inning.

But the heat might have finally gotten to Skubal in the sixth. He gave up a leadoff home run to Sean Murphy and walked two in the inning, throwing 28 pitches to drive his pitch count to 94 for the day.

Even with the wobble in the sixth, it was a real-time expression of the biggest advantage the Dodgers have in this series – and the value of the first-round bye that is making it even bigger.

Skubal had a week off since his last regular-season start, long enough to throw two bullpen sessions in preparation for his first postseason start with the Dodgers – and long enough for the Dodgers to line up their formidable starting rotation (another two-time Cy Young Award winner, Blake Snell, will start Game 2).

On the other side, Braves manager Walt Weiss was brutally honest when questioned about his pitching plan before the game. Already limited in his starting pitching options due to injuries, Weiss used his best one (Chris Sale) to close out the third game of their Wild Card Series against the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday.

“Look – I don’t know how this is going to go,” he said, faced with the prospect of opening the NLDS with back-to-back bullpen games.

It was going pretty well for three innings with left-hander Dylan Dodd in the game. He held the Dodgers to two singles while striking out four in the first three innings.

But Weiss’ plan went off the rails in the fourth inning. Right-hander Victor Mederos walked Freddie Freeman and then left a cutter over the heart of the plate to Hernandez. He sent it 431 feet into the left-field pavilion for a two-run home run, his ninth home run in 34 postseason games with the Dodgers.

Two innings later, AJ Smith-Shawver had taken over. He gave up a one-out single to Hernandez then Tucker got his own fat fastball, 97 mph at the top of the zone, and turned on it. Four hundred and eight feet later, the Dodgers had a 4-1 lead.

Two batters later, it was 5-1 after Muncy sent a towering fly ball into the seats down the right field line.

Brock Stewart and Alex Vesia each followed Skubal with a hitless inning of relief. But Tanner Scott gave up a two-run home run to Ozzie Albies – the fifth home run of the day in the overheated atmosphere – before Dodgers manager Dave Roberts turned to Evan Phillips to get the final out.

More to come on this story.

​ Orange County Register 

ALDS: White Sox blank Guardians to win Game 1

• October 3, 2026

CLEVELAND — Munetaka Murakami hit a two-run homer, five Chicago pitchers combined for a three-hitter and the White Sox beat the Cleveland Guardians 3-0 in Game 1 of their AL Division Series on Saturday.

Colson Montgomery added an RBI double for the White Sox, who have won nine of their last 11 games dating back to the regular season. Chicago advanced to the division series after sweeping Houston in the wild-card series.

Cleveland – which won its third straight AL Central title by one game over the White Sox – had the bases loaded with two outs the third and fourth innings, but couldn’t get any runs across.

The White Sox went with a bullpen game for the second time in three postseason contests. It worked again as the pitchers combined for 12 strikeouts.

Bryan Hudson (1-0) got the win and Grant Taylor got the save, going four innings and striking out six while allowing two hits.

Starter Hagen Smith retired the first eight Cleveland hitters before walking Brayan Rocchio, Steven Kwan and José Ramírez to load the bases with two outs in the third. Bryan Hudson came in and got Chase DeLauter to line out to left.

The Guardians didn’t get their first hit until Travis Bazzana’s line-drive double down the right-field line with two outs in the fourth. Austin Hedges drew a walk to load the bases again before Rocchio lined out to right.

After Miguel Vargas lined a base hit to left to lead off the fourth, Murakami drove a first-pitch elevated sinker 440 feet into the right-field stands for his first postseason home run.

Montgomery extended the advantage to 3-0 in the seventh with a double down the left-field line to drive in Kyle Teel.

Cleveland starter Parker Messick (0-1) allowed two runs on four hits in 4⅓ innings. The rookie left-hander struck out six and walked two.

Game 2 is Monday afternoon at Progressive Field. The series shifts to Chicago for Game 3 on Wednesday.

​ Orange County Register 

Celebrate community with Tustin Tiller Days

• October 3, 2026

Tustin Tiller Days celebrates community and heritage this weekend.

The three-day carnival event kicked off Friday at Columbus Tustin Park. Saturday morning, the beloved community parade marched through Old Town Tustin, cheering crowds waving as the marching bands, equestrian groups, civic organizations and others passed by.

The carnival continues Sunday with a Kids Say the Cutest Things Contest at 1 p.m., a Backyard Brewfest from 1 to 5 p.m., Sega Genecide and Finding Emo OC playing on the main stage and more.

If you go

When: Noon to 8 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 4

Where: In and around Columbus Tustin Park, 17522 Beneta Way

Cost: Free admission

Information: tustinca.org/637/Tustin-Tiller-Days

​ Orange County Register 

Rams can reverse adverse start with redemption against Eagles

• October 3, 2026

LOS ANGELES — The 2026 season hasn’t started the way anyone expected it would for the Rams.

Prohibitive Super Bowl favorites in the summer, the team is off to a 1-2 start to the year after an ill-advised travel plan to Australia and a pass interference penalty that the NFL would like back. All-Pros Myles Garrett and Puka Nacua have already missed time due to injury, and Aaron Donald, Jaylen Watson, Terrance Ferguson and possibly Colby Parkinson will soon be added to that list. The team has already moved on from kick returner Xavier Smith after more special teams struggles.

“Do I want to go through that adversity? No, but this is what we are going through,” Rams head coach Sean McVay said Friday, “so have to be able to handle it.”

But the Rams have an opportunity Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles (2-1) to get some redemption and put some of the bad vibes of the first three weeks behind them.

The Eagles have been one of the overarching nemeses for the Rams the past few seasons. Two years ago, a thrashing courtesy of Saquon Barkley sparked a full reevaluation of the Rams’ defense. Just when the team thought it had solved the resulting issues, Barkley and the Eagles sent the Rams home on a snowy day in January.

Last season, the Rams looked set to get their revenge with a 26-7 lead at the start of the third quarter at Lincoln Financial Field. But the Eagles stormed back to take a one-point lead with 1:48 to play. Quarterback Matthew Stafford got the Rams back in position to win, but Josh Karty’s field goal was blocked and returned for a touchdown.

“You hang around in this game long enough, you have some stuff that you deal with, but that was a tough loss,” Rams offensive coordinator Nate Scheelhaase said. “It was tough to go out like that. I think anytime you’re in those moments, you’re always thinking, ‘Hey, what could I have done? What could we have done to not make it come down to that?’”

But if the Rams can break a four-game losing streak against the Eagles, it might take the sting out of that recent history, not to mention the way the first three games of this season have played out.

With wide receiver A.J. Brown now a Patriot and fellow receiver DeVonta Smith (hamstring) and tight end Dallas Goedert (knee) sidelined, the Eagles’ offense doesn’t have the same aerial threats the Rams had to prepare for in past years. But that means everything will come down to whether the Rams can stop Barkley. Again.

The Rams built their defense this year to be better against the run. They added corners in Watson and McDuffie who weren’t afraid of stepping up and lowering a shoulder to stop a running back. They traded for edge rusher Garrett, a better defender against the run than Jared Verse. And Donald came out of retirement to reinforce the middle of the defense.

But with the injuries sustained to Garrett, Watson and now Donald, the unit is 26th in the NFL in expected points added (EPA) per play against the run (-0.029) and 13th in success rate against the run (39%).

It’s been easier in 2026 for opposing defenses to load the box against the Eagles without Brown in Philadelphia. But Barkley is still producing when his number is called, averaging 5.1 yards per carry, albeit on just 11.3 carries per game.

Even if this is a depleted Eagles team, a win would do a lot for the Rams’ confidence, as they try to pull themselves out of their early slump and measure themselves against past playoff exits.

But the former is the more immediate need for this team.

“I always think the people that I respect the most are the ones that handle the tough times the best because tough times don’t last, tough people do,” McVay said. “You have to fight your natural inclination, but I’m excited to swing and compete again with this group. This story is not yet written, even though I think there are some people that can feel otherwise. We’ve got a lot of ball ahead of us, but we have to start doing what we can on a daily basis.”

RAMS (1-2) at PHILADELPHIA EAGLES (2-1)

When: 10 a.m. PT Sunday

Where: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia

TV/Radio: FOX (Ch. 11)/710 AM; 93.1 FM; 1330 AM (Spanish); Sirius 264, 195

​ Orange County Register 

2026 Election: Westminster’s Measure O would increase a local hotel tax

• October 3, 2026

Westminster voters will decide this November whether to raise their city’s transient occupancy tax from 8% to 12%.

The 4% increase to the city’s transient occupancy tax, paid on overnight stays by hotel guests, would take in an estimated $452,000 annually into city coffers, Measure O says.

Measure O, which the City Council decided in July should be placed on the ballot, does not dedicate revenue to a specific city program, but the city says funds could go toward “supporting fire, paramedic, police services, 911 emergency response and disaster preparedness, keeping public areas safe and clean, addressing homelessness, maintaining parks and supporting city programs for youth and seniors.”

And “proceeds of the tax must be audited annually by an independent certified public accountant, and the report of that audit is a public record,” according to an impartial analysis of the proposed measure for the ballot penned by City Attorney Scott Porter.

The city last updated its hotel tax in 1983; its current rate of 8% is “the lowest among the Orange County and Los Angeles County cities surveyed in the City’s staff report,” according to the city.

No arguments for or against Measure O were submitted to appear on the ballot.

A simple majority of voters in favor is needed for the measure to pass.

​ Orange County Register 

Adelanto ICE medical staff repeatedly failed detainee who died, internal report says

• October 3, 2026

Medical staff at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center repeatedly failed 39-year-old Ismael Ayala-Uribe before he died in custody, according to a mortality review by investigators with ICE’s Health Services Corp.

The former DACA recipient died from complications related to a pelvic abscess while in ICE custody on September 22, 2025, a coroner’s report states, after being detained for nearly a month inside the Adelanto detention center, federal authorities said.

At least 27 detained people died after medical care failings while in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention nationwide, according to dozens of ICE death reports briefly published by the agency last week.

This publication reviewed copies of the records obtained by Project Salt Box, an independent publication that focuses on ICE’s detention system, before the ICE website removed them.

Ayala-Uribe’s death was “very preventable,” said Dr. Katherine Peeler, an assistant pediatrics professor at Harvard Medical School and medical advisor with Physicians for Human Rights who reviewed the mortality report. She has researched conditions inside ICE detention centers for about eight years.

The report on Ayala-Uribe’s death comes as the Adelanto ICE Processing Center faces ongoing scrutiny over alleged inhumane conditions, including claims of inadequate medical care.

At least five people have died after being detained at Adelanto in the second Trump administration, four of which were connected to substandard medical care, according to the California Attorney General’s office 2026 report on ICE detention centers in the state.

In a request for comment on the findings about Ayala-Uribe’s death, an unnamed Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said that detained people receive comprehensive medical care from the moment a person enters ICE custody.

“This is the best healthcare that many aliens have received in their entire lives,” the spokesperson said.

ICE’s mortality review committee found that the care the Adelanto ICE facility provided to Ayala-Uribe “deviated beyond safe limits of practice.”

Here’s how the Adelanto ICE facility failed Ayala-Uribe, according to the mortality review:

• Medical staff did not thoroughly evaluate him or complete wellness checks
• Nurses did not adequately tell the on-call provider about his medical status
• Medical staff did not effectively transfer care from one staff member to another
• Medical staff did not consistently respond to Ayala-Uribe’s complaints in a timely manner
• Ayala-Uribe did not receive all of his medications
• Medical staff did not adequately document all of his care in a timely fashion or note all discussions related to his care

Adelanto’s lack of staffing hindered their ability to provide their patients medical care in a timely manner, the report states.

Jesus Arias, the lawyer representing Ayala-Uribe’s family, said the findings aren’t surprising. He’s also representing two other families whose loved ones died after being detained at Adelanto.

“They don’t care about the people that have symptoms or conditions that could be easily resolved until it’s way too late. … If you’re sick in Adelanto, you’re at risk of dying,” he said.

“This was not supposed to happen to Ismael,” he said.

Ismael Ayala-Uribe, 39, grew up in Westminster after being brought over from Mexico when he was four-years-old. He was detained by federal immigration agents on Aug. 17, 2025 during a raid at an Orange County car wash, and taken to the Adelanto ICE Processing Center on August 22, 2025, federal authorities said.

His mother visited him every week at the Adelanto facility and saw her son’s health decline, she said previously.

Ayala-Uribe was healthy when he was initially detained, his family has said, but he developed a cough that turned into fevers.

On September 17, 2025, Ayala-Uribe submitted a request for health services for a painful buttock abscess, the report states. A nurse documented the receipt two days later.

A day after he submitted the request, however, Ayala-Uribe suffered a medical emergency related to the abscess.

No medical care provider examined him, records show.

He had been given a variety of pain medications and laxatives, “but nothing to actually address what was going on,” Dr. Peeler said. “No examination to say, ‘Well, this is an abscess that should be actually addressed surgically or we should add antibiotics.’ None of that occurred.”

Two days later, on the morning of September 20, 2025, facility staff asked medical personnel to provide a wellness check on Ayala-Uribe due to his “ill appearance,” but medical staff did not respond to the request, records show.

Later that night, facility staff again requested that medics evaluate Ayala-Uribe. “A medical staff member informed the officer all medical staff were preoccupied with other emergencies, and medical staff were waiting on a custody officer who could bring Mr. Ayala-Uribe to the medical clinic,” states the report.

On the following day, Ayala-Uribe was transferred to a hospital after a nurse documented his severe pain related to the lump on his buttock. He was shaky and had vomited. He was admitted to the hospital for a list of reasons, including sepsis — a life-threatening response to an infection.

Ayala-Uribe died the following day at the hospital.

Jose, Ayala-Uribe’s younger brother, welcomed the report.

“It’s helping show what’s going on in there, in Adelanto, any detention center,” Jose said in an interview.

The report on Ayala-Uribe was part of a trove of dozens of internal in-custody death reviews dating back to 2019 that ICE published on Friday, September 25. ICE had removed the documents from their site by the following Monday morning, said Michael Wriston, a cofounder of the Project Salt Box.

But not before the publication archived all 33 mortality reports.

“Across the board with these reports, what we noticed was just a complete lack of medical regard for people in ICE’s care. That failure to provide medication on time, failure to get people to a clinic that was capable of caring for their needs in a timely manner directly contributed to people’s deaths,” Wriston said.

ICE and DHS did not respond to emails asking why the dozens of death reports were taken down.

​ Orange County Register 

2026 Election: Irvine’s Measure D would change how the council is elected

• October 3, 2026

Irvine is asking voters to decide whether the city should switch from its traditional, one-candidate election system, to a ranked-choice voting system for councilmember and mayor races starting in 2028.

The new system would have voters rank candidates in order of preference with last-place candidates being eliminated. If a voter picks an eliminated candidate as their first choice, their vote is instead transferred to their second-choice candidate. The process repeats until one candidate receives more than 50% of votes.

If Measure D is approved by voters, the city could shoulder the unique costs related to being the first to adopt ranked-choice voting in Orange County, including the cost of educating voters and modifying county voting machines and election materials to accommodate.

But there’s a caveat included in the measure. If Measure D passes, ranked-choice voting would only be implemented if doing so costs less than 0.23% of Irvine’s general fund, or about $750,000 by 2028.

“In Irvine, candidates are regularly elected with less than one-third of the vote. Which means two-thirds of voters are represented by someone they don’t want. That is not real democracy,” Councilmember Kathleen Treseder said in the argument in favor that appears with the ballot. “Ranked Choice Voting guarantees that Irvine residents elect officeholders who win majority support. And it’s cost-effective. This iswhat real democracy looks like.”

She also said ranked-choice voting acts as an “instant runoff” and voters would not have to feel like they are choosing “the lesser evil” when casting a ballot with one choice.

It was a divided council that put the measure on the ballot, and Councilmember James Mai penned the ballot argument in opposition.

He argued the city is facing a budget deficit and it is unknown what the change to Irvine’s election process would ultimately cost.

“Cities that adopted ranked-choice voting did so to eliminate expensive runoff elections,” he added. “Irvine does not hold runoff elections. We don’t have the problem this is supposed to solve.”

“Our elections work now. Implementing this will be very expensive,” he said. “And it has had some serious problems in some places where it has been tried.”

A simple majority of voters in favor is required for Measure D to pass.

​ Orange County Register