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Orange County Register

Journalist Hodding Carter III dies; during Iran hostage crisis, he was State Department spokesman

May 12, 2023

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Hodding Carter III, a Mississippi journalist and civil rights activist who updated Americans on the Iran hostage crisis as U.S. State Department spokesman and won awards for his televised documentaries, has died. He was 88.

His daughter, Catherine Carter Sullivan, confirmed that he died Thursday in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Before moving to Washington in 1977, Carter was editor and publisher of his family’s newspaper, the Delta Democrat-Times, in Greenville, Mississippi.

Carter had been co-chair of the Loyalist Democrats, a racially diverse group that won a credentials fight at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, unseating the all-white delegation by Mississippi’s governor, John Bell Williams.

Carter’s campaign work in 1976 for Jimmy Carter, no relation, helped secure him a job as assistant secretary of state for public affairs. It was in this role that he was seen on television news during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage.

When Ronald Reagan was elected to the White House in 1980, Carter returned to journalism as president of MainStreet, a television production company specializing in public affairs programs that earned him four national Emmy Awards and the Edward R. Murrow Award for documentaries.

Carter appeared as a panelist, moderator or news anchor at ABC, BBC, NBC, CNN and PBS. He also wrote op-ed columns for the Wall Street Journal and other newspapers. He served twice on the steering committee of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Kenneth Taylor, left, former Canadian ambassador to Iran, talks with Hodding Carter III, U.S. assistant secretary of state for public affairs, at an event in New York in 1980.

Carter later was named the John S. Knight Professor of Public Affairs Journalism at the University of Maryland. In 1998 he became president of the John S. Knight and James L. Knight Foundation, based in Miami.

After leaving the foundation, he began teaching leadership and public policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2006. He wrote two books, “The Reagan Years” and “The South Strikes Back.”

Carter, an ex-Marine who exercised regularly, underwent surgery in 2012 to have a pacemaker installed to help control an irregular heart rhythm.

Progressive politics ran in his family. William Hodding Carter III was born April 7, 1935, in New Orleans, to William Hodding Carter Jr. and Betty Werlein Carter. They moved to Greenville, Mississippi, recruited by a group of community leaders to start a weekly newspaper that evolved into the Delta Democrat-Times.

His father’s editorials about social and economic intolerance earned him a national reputation and undying enmity and threats from white supremacists. He also won the Pulitzer Prize, in 1946, for a series of editorials critical of U.S. treatment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

His mother, from a prominent New Orleans family, was a feature writer and editor who recalled sitting at home with a shotgun across her lap after receiving threats from the Ku Klux Klan.

Carter was the oldest of three sons. His brother Philip Dutarte Carter, reported for Newsweek and served as publisher of the Delta Democrat-Times and Vieux Carré Courier as well as financier of Gambit, a New Orleans weekly. Another brother, Thomas Hennen Carter, killed himself playing Russian roulette.

Hodding Carter III attended Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire before graduating from Greenville High School in 1953. He graduated from Princeton University in 1953 and married Margaret Ainsworth Wolfe. They had four children before divorcing in 1978.

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Carter later married Patricia M. Derian, a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement who sought to transform U.S. foreign policy as President Carter’s assistant secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian affairs.

After she died in 2016, Carter married again, in November 2019, to journalist and author Patricia Ann O’Brien after the two connected during a reunion at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism.

Orange County Register

United pilots picket for higher pay ahead of summer season

May 12, 2023

By David Koenig | Associated Press

DALLAS — Just ahead of what could be a record-breaking summer travel season, pilots from one of the nation’s biggest airlines marched in picket lines at major airports on Friday as they push for higher pay.

The United Airlines pilots have been working without a raise for more than four years while negotiating with airline management over a new contract.

The pilots are unlikely to strike anytime soon, however. Federal law makes it very difficult for unions to conduct strikes in the airline industry, and the last walkout at a U.S. carrier was more than a decade ago.

The coast-to-coast protests by United pilots come on the heels of overwhelming strike-authorization votes by pilots at American Airlines and Southwest Airlines. United pilots could be the next to vote, according to union officials.

Pilots at all three carriers are looking to match or beat the deal that Delta Air Lines reached with its pilots earlier this year, which raised pay rates by 34% over four years.

United has proposed to match the Delta increase, but that might not be enough for a deal.

“We still have a long ways to go to resolve some of the issues at the table,” said Garth Thompson, chair of the United wing of the Air Line Pilots Association.

Thompson said discussion about wages has been held up while the two sides negotiate over scheduling, including the union’s wish to limit United’s ability to make pilots work on their days off.United spokesman Joshua Freed said, “We’re continuing to work with the Air Line Pilots Association on the industry-leading deal we have put on the table for our world-class pilots.”

Even if the unions and companies fail to reach agreements quickly, strikes are unlikely in the next few months — when millions of Americans hope to fly over summer vacation. Under U.S. law, airline and railroad workers can’t legally strike, and companies can’t lock them out, until federal mediators determine that further negotiations are pointless.

The National Mediation Board rarely declares a dead end to bargaining, and even if it does, there is a no-strikes “cooling-off” period during which the White House and Congress can block a walkout. That’s what President Bill Clinton did minutes after pilots began striking against American in 1997. In December, President Joe Biden signed a bill that Congress passed to impose contract terms on freight railroad workers, ending a strike threat.

The last strike at a U.S. carrier occurred at Spirit Airlines in 2010.

Over the years, airline workers have conducted job actions that fell short of a strike but disrupted flights anyway. A federal judge fined the American Airlines pilots’ union $45 million for a 1999 sickout that crippled the airline’s operations, although the amount was later reduced.

Arthur Wheaton, director of labor studies at Cornell University, said Congress would not permit an airline strike because of the economic harm it would cause, but unhappy pilots could still cause disruptions in other ways.

“They always have ‘work to rule.’ They could say, ‘We’re not working any overtime,’” Wheaton said. “I don’t anticipate the pilots trying to screw up travel for everybody intentionally, but bargaining is about leverage and power … having the ability to do that can be a negotiating tactic.”

Airlines are vulnerable to work-to-rule protests because they depend on finding pilots and flight attendants to pick up extra shifts during peak travel periods.

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Regardless of the legal hurdles to a walkout, unions believe that strike votes give them leverage during bargaining, and they have become more common. A shortage of pilots is also putting those unions in particularly strong bargaining position.

United has roughly 14,000 pilots, and the union expects at least 2,000 will picket Friday at 10 airports from Newark, New Jersey, to Los Angeles. The union is also distributing leaflets that highlight the pilots’ desire for better work-life balance in their scheduling but make no mention of pay.

Orange County Register

Larry Magid: Google unveils new devices while focusing on AI

May 12, 2023

As I entered Shoreline Amphitheater on Wednesday, I thought I was attending Google IO – the company’s annual developers conference. But after listening to CEO Sundar Pichai and several other Google executives speak about new products and services, the event felt like it should be renamed Google AI.

Indeed, the first 75 minutes of the two-hour event was focused on how artificial intelligence and specifically generative AI (GAI), is not only the main ingredient of Google Bard, the company’s new conversational, AI chat service, but soon integrated into all its services including search, photos, maps and Google docs. But even the device part of the event focused largely on AI, which is central to the new hardware products they unveiled at the event. Google announced a $499 Pixel 7A phone, a Pixel Tablet starting at $499 and the $1,799 Pixel Fold, the company’s first foldable smart phone.

Good position to compete

While it’s hard to predict how any company or product will do when it comes to a new paradigm shift like GAI, Google is in a good position to compete because it’s already the No. 1 search engine, and as Google executives emphasized during the event, search is a great starting point for AI queries. Google is in the process of retooling search to not only give links but to enhance them with short articles, called AI Snapshots, that it creates on the fly to answer user questions, including questions users pose in conversational language. In a presentation, Google Vice President of Engineering Cathy Edwards demonstrated how a parent could ask Google to recommend a national park for a vacation with kids and a dog and get written answer in addition to search results and planning resources for the vacation.

Google also announced that Bard is now available for anyone to try at bard.google.com, without having to join a waiting list.

Maps and photos

Google Maps is getting AI-generated routing such as generating a video preview of a bike ride before you hop on the bike. Google is also adding AI photo editing to Google photos, making it very easy to move objects or people within a picture or turn a cloudy day into a sunny one. Google is already offering its Magic Eraser tool on Pixel phones that enables you to easily remove objects from a picture without affecting what’s behind them. This AI photo editing is great, but it will make it a lot easier to create “deep fakes” by doctoring pictures. Google also showed off ways that you can use AI to describe what you want to see in a picture and have it generated automatically as a drawing or as what looks like a photograph. I wonder if it could create a picture of me shaking hands with Albert Einstein or George Washington but fear that it could be used to create a fake photo that could defame someone.

Thinking about what could go wrong

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Speaking of fear, lots of people, including Google executives, worry about the negative aspects of AI. In a blog post, Google’s Vice President of Technology and Society James Manyika said that “AI must be both bold and responsible” in ways that “maximizes the positive benefits to society while addressing the challenges.” He acknowledged a “natural tension between the two,” adding “we believe it’s possible — and in fact critical — to embrace that tension productively. At least they’re thinking about what could go wrong. I wonder if Henry Ford put much thought into the possible unintended consequences of mass produced automobiles when he was building the Model T back in 1908.

Phones and tablet

Google introduced three new hardware products including the $499 Pixel 7A, which Google loaned me ahead of the event. It’s hard to get excited over any new phone, but if you’re in the market, this is an affordable way to get a water-resistant Android phone with a very good camera, a sleek design, wireless charging and a fast processor. It’s a tiny bit smaller and slightly less powerful than the Pixel 7 but it’s $100 cheaper, and based on a couple of days testing, it feels and performs like a premium phone.

Google also announced an 11-inch tablet starting at $499 with 128 GB of storage or $599 with 256 GB. It has the same high-speed Google Tensor G2 processor as Pixel phones and runs on Android, so it has a very similar interface to Android phones as well as the same AI technology built into the latest versions of Android. Anyone who preorders the phone now gets a free dock, which is both a high quality speaker and charger, turning the tablet into a very useful home smart display while it’s docked while making it very easy to remove it from the dock to use as a portable tablet.

Members of the media view the new Google Pixel Fold phone during the Google I/O annual developers conference at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California on May 10, 2023. (Photo by Josh Edelson / AFP) (Photo by JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images)

The most interesting, albeit most expensive, new product is its $1,795 Pixel Fold. Folded, it has a 5.8-inch screen, not that different from typical smartphones. But when you unfold it you get a 7.6-inch display, which is just a bit smaller than the 8.3-inch display on the Apple iPad mini. Having a tablet-sized screen is not only better for watching video but makes it easier to multitask with side-by-side display. You can even take a selfie using the higher quality rear camera by folding over the phone and using one screen to frame your shot while taking the picture. One clever application that Google demonstrated is using the phone to translate. The person you’re talking with can read the text in their language on the outer screen while you read it in your language on the other screen.

I’ll have more to report when I have a chance to test the foldable phone, but as far as I can tell, the only major downside is the price. The Fold is $800 more than the combined cost of the Google Tablet and the Google 7A phone, which, for most people, is probably a better investment.

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United pilots picket for higher pay ahead of summer season

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Twitter’s new CEO is an NBCUniversal executive with deep ad industry ties

Disclosure: Larry Magid is CEO of ConnectSafely, a non-profit internet safety organization that has received support from Google, Facebook, Microsoft and other technology companies.

Orange County Register

How to find unclaimed money: 5 free ways to track down your lost or forgotten assets

May 12, 2023

James Royal | (TNS) Bankrate

Are you on the hunt for money that may have been misplaced or left entirely forgotten? You or a relative may have money left in an old bank account, a 401(k) from an old employer or even a hidden cache of money in an IRA, annuity or pension. This scenario can happen if a relative dies and the heirs don’t successfully locate all accounts. Often, the unclaimed money ends up being sent to a state office.

Surprisingly, 1 in 10 Americans has unclaimed property, according to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA). More than $4 billion is returned to owners each year, the organization says.

Here’s how you can find unclaimed money and where to look for it — all for free!

What is unclaimed money?

Unclaimed money is money that oftentimes has simply been forgotten about, in one way or another, and tends to wind up being held at a state agency until it is rightfully claimed. Accounts may be considered unclaimed or abandoned in as short as a year — called the dormancy period — if they’ve been unused or the institution has been unable to contact the account owner.

After the dormancy period and efforts to find the rightful owner have been made, the institution can declare it unclaimed and send the money to state agencies in charge of unclaimed money. As part of this process, the institution has to include any identifying information it has.

Financial accounts can often be forgotten about, especially during the inheritance process. If all a decedent’s accounts are not listed during the process of estate planning, it can be very easy for an heir to overlook an account. The account may then sit dormant for years, if not decades, accumulating interest, dividends or capital gains.

Many types of unclaimed accounts exist, including:

—Retirement accounts, such as 401(k), 403(b) and IRAs

—Insurance accounts or annuities

—Unpaid wages

—Pensions from former employers

—FHA-insurance refunds

—Tax refunds

—Forgotten savings bonds

—Accounts from bank or credit union failures

Unclaimed money can also take other forms, so if you know there’s money out there with your name on it (or you’re working on behalf of a relative), you’ll need to contact the right agency.

Where to find unclaimed money

The kind of unclaimed money may affect the type of database you need to search in or the state agency you need to contact.

“Unfortunately, this is a state-by-state issue,” says Warren Ward, CFP, founder of WWA Planning and Investments in Columbus, Indiana. “I know of no national database.”

So for many types of unclaimed money or property, you’ll need to search your state’s records.

“In Indiana you can visit indianaunclaimed.gov, a site maintained by the attorney general’s office,” says Ward. “It’s actually something we do every year for our clients, but it’s very easy to do for an individual if they care.”

Ward cautions about treasure hunters contacting you out of the blue and offering to find lost money for you.

“The claiming process is now automated, but we still hear of people ‘cruising’ the database for large amounts of money and trying to get people to pay them to ‘locate’ the funds,” he says.

So if someone contacts you about finding unclaimed money, it may be a tip-off that you have funds out there somewhere. That means you should initiate a search yourself. You can conduct a search for free at any of the state websites and needn’t pay anyone to find money for you.

5 free ways to find unclaimed money

If you think you have unclaimed money or that a relative does, one of the best steps is running through old financial statements to see if you can find evidence of it. That could be useful if the relative has passed on and you don’t know where to begin. If you discover an account such as a 401(k) or IRA, you can contact the plan’s administrator and go from there.

But many times, the process is more complicated. Here are the places to go next.

1. Check NAUPA’s website

The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators runs a website that can help you get organized and search for unclaimed property. It links you to your own state’s agency for unclaimed money, tells you things to watch out for and offers a bird’s eye view of the area.

2. Go to your own state agency’s website

If you know you’re not likely to have unclaimed money in another state, just head straight to your own state’s site and start digging. It’s worth reiterating: While some third-party websites may say that you have to pay, your state’s official website is free to use. So use that one.

3. Check out MissingMoney.com

If you’ve lived in multiple states and think you might have unclaimed money in more than one, you may find MissingMoney.com valuable. The site can run multiple searches at the same time, a useful feature if you’ve lived around the U.S. or even if you’ve had accounts in other states.

The site is free to use and is sponsored by NAUPA.

4. Search for money from a former employer

You have at least a couple ways to track down money from a former employer:

—If you think you’re owed back wages, you can turn to the Department of Labor’s database and see if it’s holding your cash. The department holds unpaid wages for up to three years.

—If you’re searching for unclaimed pensions because a company went out of business or ended a defined benefit plan, you can turn to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.’s website. More than 80,000 people have earned a pension but haven’t claimed it, the organization says.

5. Find accounts from failed banks

You have a couple options if your bank failed and you have yet to claim your money:

—You can find unclaimed money from banks that have failed at this Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. website.

—If your unclaimed money was held at a failed credit union, you can track it down at this National Credit Union Administration website.

Bottom line

It’s important to know that there are free resources available for finding unclaimed money, and they’re managed by each state. So turn to these resources before even considering working with a third-party site that’s looking to charge you for their services.

Orange County Register

Garfield Medical Center nurses protest low staffing, lack of training

May 12, 2023

Jennifer Huynh is confident in her role as an ER nurse at Garfield Medical Center.

But that confidence is stretched thin when she’s forced to provide longer-term care for patients because of chronic understaffing.

“My specialty is to treat people coming into the ER,” the 32-year-old Alhambra resident said. “But they will sometimes end up staying for several days because there aren’t enough nurses and nursing assistants. My job is not specialized in taking care of patients for that long.”

SEE MORE: Healthcare workers rally for higher pay, more staffing under Senate Bill 525

Huynh’s frustration is echoed by nurses throughout the Monterey Park facility. Many say they’re being shifted to other areas of the hospital where they may not have the familiarity and training needed to provide adequate patient care.

Nurses are also calling for increased security at the medical center. One nurse said a patient hit her in the face with a cell phone, knocking her to the ground. (Photo courtesy of SEIU Local 121RN)

The situation prompted them to picket the facility early Friday, March 12 to get their message out.

Armed with whistles and picket signs, nurses chanted “What’s this about? Patient care!” as they circled back and forth in front of the building.

Representatives with Garfield Medical Center could not be reached for comment Friday.

The hospital’s 350 nurses are represented by SEIU Local 121RN. Their contract expired March 31 their next bargaining session will be held May 24.

The medical center is owned by AHMC Healthcare Inc., which operates nine California healthcare facilities, including five in the Los Angeles area.

Nurses are also calling for increased security at Garfield, and no one wants that more than Christina Smith.

“I was hit in the face with a patient’s cell phone,” said Smith, who has been a registered nurse at the facility for 35 years. “She hit me as hard as she could and knocked me to the ground. It was very traumatic, both physically and mentally.”

The situation began when the patient wanted to leave the hospital.

“She was upset and wanted to go home, but we told her she couldn’t go until someone arrived to pick her up,” Smith said. “She got all hyped up and ran to the elevator and kicked a male nurse in the leg. Then she wanted to run in front of a moving car. That’s when she turned around and hit me with her phone.”

Huynh said the hospital is having trouble keeping both experienced and new nurses because it’s assigning them to tasks they haven’t been trained to do.

“That’s stressful for nurses, and it’s outright dangerous for patients,” she said.

Smith said employees are also calling for higher wages so enough nurses can be recruited and retained.

“They bring in new nurses and train them, but they’re gone in a year because wages are so low,” she said. “I’ve been at Garfield for 35 years, and the money I’m making here would be the same as someone who worked just eight years at San Gabriel Valley Medical Center.”

Friday’s picket came on the heels of another rally that drew hospital janitors, medical assistants, resident physicians and nursing home caregivers to Pasadena on Thursday to urge passage of SB 525, which would boost staffing for California healthcare workers and raise their minimum wage to $25 an hour.

Healthcare workers at CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center also staged a rally last month to protest short staffing and the impact it has on patients and employees.

That event was part of a series of statewide gatherings highlighting the dangers of not having enough employees on hand to provide adequate medical care and prevent employee burnout.

Orange County Register

BTS K-pop star Suga brings his solo show to the Kia Forum

May 12, 2023

When the K-pop boyband BTS announced in June 2022 it was taking a break for a few years, fans of the most successful South Korean act ever were distraught.

No more stadium tours until 2025 at the earliest? Jin, and then J-Hope, entering the South Korean military to complete mandatory military service, with the other five BTS boys – Suga, Jimin, RM, V, and Jungkook – eventually to follow?

Well, that’s not the world into which the BTS Army, as fans are known, enlisted.

All of which made the arrival on stage of Suga, the first of the BTS boys to tour as a solo artist, a sensation when the 30-year-old rapper-singer appeared in Inglewood on Thursday for the second of three sold-out shows at the Kia Forum this week.

Suga, one of the seven members of BTS, is seen here on stage at the Kia Forum in Inglewood where he is playing three sold-out shows on May 10, May 11, and May 14, 2023. Suga is the first of the group to tour as a solo artist. The group, which announced a pause in its activities together last year, is now focused on solo projects and the mandatory military service required of all South Korean young men. (Photo courtesy of BIGHIT MUSIC)

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Here was at least one of the guys, and until all seven might someday reunite, that was enough for fans, some of whom – judging by the signs and flags they carried – crossed continents to be there.

The Agust D tour takes its name from the pseudonym Suga uses for solo projects – Agust D is the reverse spelling of Suga and the initials DT for Daegu Town, his birthplace.

The concert and solo album “D-Day,” released April 21, explore questions of personal identity and self-awareness. Three moody noir-like videos introduced different sections of the show, each of them representing a different part of the performer: Min Yoon-gi, his birthname and life pre-fame, Suga, the beloved BTS boy band member, and Agust D, his solo persona.

“Haegeum” opened the show, the first of 19 songs over nearly two hours. Unlike the BTS shows that have filled massive stages at SoFi Stadium, the Rose Bowl, and the then-Staples Center in recent years, this was a stripped-down affair.

Instead of seven performers singing and rapping while conducting tightly choreographed dance moves, Suga danced alone, a looser kind of stage prowl familiar from many other rap shows. The colorful suits and costumes of BTS were traded for an all-black look of baggy pants, a short-sleeved tunic over a long-sleeved T.

His floppy haircut was a natural black in place of the teal, lavender, orange, blue and blonde hairstyles of BTS.

And the fans, as we’ve noted, adored him, screaming at ear-piercing volumes the opening notes of new songs – “D-Day” sold over a million copies worldwide on its first day – and old favorites – the new record is his third solo release, and the set included a handful of BTS songs on which Suga was the featured vocalist.

After fast, aggressive solo numbers such as “Daechwita” and “Agust D,” Suga slowed the pace with gentler tunes including “Trivia: Seesaw,” a BTS song he performed seated, accompanying himself on an acoustic guitar that appeared to have been signed by the other BTS-ers.

As with BTS, Suga’s solo material is sung primarily in Korean, with occasional English lyrics in a chorus or verse. The new “SDL” revealed the meaning of its title as fans loudly sang its English chorus: “Yeah, somebody does love / But I’m thinking ’bout you.”

(Possibly a less successful lyrical mashup – at least the combining of those last three letters – came during the chorus of “Agust D,” which goes, “A to the G to the U to the STD.”)

Act I ended with “Burn It,” a fast rap song that drew screams from the crowd when they realized the American singer Max was there to perform live the parts he contributed in the studio.

After another video, the second half opened strongly with the BTS song “Interlude: Shadow,” the opening English lyrics – “I wanna be a rap star / I wanna be the top” – leaving no room for misunderstanding.

A medley of rap numbers, most of them also by BTS originally, was wildly received by fans whose BTS light sticks flashed green and red in sync with the high-energy performance here.

Then a pair of piano-based songs slowed things down. For “Life Goes On,” a solo number that samples the BTS song of the same name, Suga played piano at the front of the floor-level area of the stage.

For “Snooze,” on which composer Ryuichi Sakamoto had contributed piano, a clip of Suga with Sakamoto paid tribute to the Japanese musician who died March 28, the screen going dark but for the words “I wish you are in peace on your long journey” at the end.

The main set ended strongly with “Amygdala,” one of the highlights of the “D-Day” album, which saw Suga alone on a platform, flames rising behind him, singing of confronting such real-life traumatic memories as his mother’s heart surgery, his father’s liver cancer, and finding a way to move past his sadness and fears.

The encore delivered three songs – the title track of “D-Day,” the BTS number “Intro: Nevermind,” and the aptly named show-closer “The Last” – but a line from “Amygdala” felt like a way to view this strange interregnum in which Suga and BTS now find themselves.

As he sang in “Amygdala” of his earlier life, “What didn’t kill me only made me stronger / And I begin to bloom like a lotus flower once again.”

Suga is the second-oldest member of BTS and surely that means his military service will follow the end of this solo tour, likely in months not years. He’s laid down his marker now as a performer, in and out of the band. When he returns, he’ll be just fine.

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Orange County Register

Alyssa Thompson balancing school and soccer as rookie for Angel City FC

May 12, 2023

Alyssa Thompson continues adjusting to life as a professional soccer player who is also in her senior year of high school.

Thompson is heading into her final month as a high school student at Harvard-Westlake High and there’s also work, which for her is as a forward for Angel City Football Club.

She’s still working on the multitasking.

“Sometimes it’s hard to manage and sometimes I feel like I got it down, it’s kind of day-by-day,” she said. “Right now, Angel City is really helpful with my school stuff, while getting me acclimated to the environment, which has been really nice.”

“It’s definitely hard, but nothing too bad. I’m taking it day by day, working hard in training, then going to school and working on my school work, then going home and being able to be with my friends and family.”

Alyssa added that one difference this season is playing without her sister Giselle.

“When I’m home, it’s easy to just go to go to soccer and then back home and have that balance,” she said. “When I’m away, it’s a little harder because I’m just playing soccer and doing school work. That’s when it sometimes feels the most isolating, mainly because I’m not with my family. That’s kind of normal, but I haven’t been away from them for that long in a while.

“Also being away from my sister, because we would do a lot of things together regarding soccer. I’ve always felt like I had family with me everywhere I went, and that has changed this year.”

Gisele Thompson was recently added to the U.S. U-20 National Team for the CONCACAF Championships later this month in Dominican Republic. Gisele spent time in preseason training camp with Angel City as a trialist.

One of Alyssa’s goals this season is to make the World Cup roster. Her name was mentioned as potentially being called into U-20 camp, since she is age-eligible for the tournament. However, she wasn’t selected, with the focus remaining on the World Cup roster.

“There were conversations, but right now, while she’s playing as many minutes as she is for us and we like to think she’s still being considered for the senior team,” said Angel City coach Freya Coombe said. “The decision was made for all of us that she stays in the club environment.”

On the field, Thompson has been causing defenders problems. She was the NWSL’s Rookie of the Month for March/April and she’s had a goal in each of the last two league games. She leads Angel City (2-2-2, eight points) with three goals heading into Saturday’s game against the Washington Spirit at BMO Stadium (7 p.m., Paramount+).

“She’s been playing really well. She has definitely been able to make an impact early in games,” Coombe said.” We’re seeing some variation of her game in terms of the spaces that she’s attacking and where she looks threatening.

“She continues to get faced up, and cause problems for defenses, as well as take her opportunities, as we’re seeing with her goals. We’re seeing her develop in a defensive capacity, improving on both sides of the ball. Her defending is increasing and getting better as the weeks go on.”

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