The fish behind America’s fish sticks is fueling a fight over trawling in Alaska

• October 9, 2026

By ANNIKA HAMMERSCHLAG

THE BERING SEA (AP) — The net rose from the heaving Bering Sea swells, packed so tightly with Alaska pollock that their heads squeezed through the webbing.

As the catch spilled onto the deck, other dead marine life came with it: a skate, crabs, jellyfish and, among the most consequential, salmon — the fish at the center of a growing political and cultural fight over industrial trawling in Alaska.

“This is a wild capture fishery so you do run into your nontarget species, and a lot of people have a problem with that,” said Maverick Blake, the boat’s captain. “But this is what it takes to put seafood on the table.”

Blake redirected the boat toward another fishing ground where he hoped to encounter fewer salmon.

Alaska pollock is the second-largest fishery on Earth. It is the fish inside U.S. McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish sandwiches and is also turned into fish sticks and imitation crab. The fishery uses methods that it — and McDonald’s — say are aimed at minimizing environmental impacts, but the nets that catch pollock catch other marine life, too.

Bycatch — marine life caught unintentionally while fishers target something else — makes up 2% of the pollock fishery’s total catch. At the scale of a fishery that harvests billions of pounds of pollock annually, that can mean hundreds of thousands of salmon. Over the last 10 years, Bering Sea pollock trawlers caught an average of about 18,000 Chinook and 288,000 other salmon a year, nearly all of them chum.

Those catches have become especially contentious as salmon runs have collapsed across western Alaska, where dozens of Native communities have relied on salmon for generations. The backlash has spread to smaller commercial and charter fishers who say they, too, are bearing the costs of declining stocks. And trawling and bycatch have become prominent issues in Alaska’s midterm elections, with candidates for governor and in the state’s closely watched U.S. Senate contest sparring over how aggressively to restrict the industry.

In 2024, Alaska and Canada instated a seven-year ban on Chinook fishing along the Yukon River — one full salmon life cycle — to give depleted populations a chance to rebuild. The Kuskokwim River has faced repeated Chinook and chum closures too, while other Yukon salmon fisheries have also been restricted.

Scientists point to warming waters and changing ocean conditions, not trawl bycatch, as the primary causes of the declines. Warmer oceans can also increase the risk of salmon bycatch by changing where salmon and pollock overlap, according to a 2025 study.

But critics argue bycatch is one of the few sources of fish mortality managers can directly control, and even small losses matter when runs are depleted.

“Each fish is critical to communities along the Yukon River,” said Andrew Seitz, professor of fisheries at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. “The people who feel that they bear the brunt of the conservation measures are people along the river.”

On board, captains try to avoid salmon

During the four days The Associated Press was on the F/V Progress, the vessel caught some 210 chum salmon. Blake, who has spent 13 years in the pollock industry, said avoiding salmon is a central part of his job. He said the search for waters with fewer salmon burned nearly 3,000 gallons of fuel. Had he stayed put, he said, the boat could have filled its holds in half a day with far less.

“The subsistence users see this huge machine industry out here harvesting in the ocean and I can understand their frustration,” he said. “I would be upset if somebody told me that I wasn’t allowed to fish like my ancestors had done for thousands of years before.”

Still, Blake and industry representatives call it one of the best managed fisheries in the world. Captains stay in contact with other vessels throughout each trip to share information about salmon concentrations, while the fleet follows weekly closure areas based on reports from the fishing grounds. Pollock vessels carry salmon excluders, devices which help salmon find a way out of the net.

Every salmon caught by the Bering Sea pollock fleet is counted. Trawlers are monitored by observers or cameras, as are deliveries at shoreside processing plants.

“The amount of science and management effort that goes into improving it is basically unprecedented anywhere,” said Matt Tinning, CEO of the At-Sea Processors Association, which represents five Alaska pollock companies. “The system is designed to really incentivize salmon avoidance every day, all the time.”

Along the Yukon, the picture looks different

At 9 a.m. on a July morning in Rampart, an Alaska Native village, about a dozen boats sat moored along the Yukon River. In years past, families would have been pulling nets and carrying salmon to their smokehouses.

The Yukon flows some 1,250 miles across Alaska before emptying into the Bering Sea. Salmon born in its tributaries migrate to the ocean, spend years feeding at sea, then return to spawn, linking villages like Rampart to the same waters where the pollock fleet fishes.

“We have this big void in our lives right now,” said Brooke Woods, a Koyukon Alaska Native, mother of six and commissioner for the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. “We’ve never had a generation that hasn’t had the opportunity to learn and be taught by elders and parents, and that has such a big impact on our youth.”

Woods’ family once spent long summer days checking nets, cutting fish and tending the smokehouse. This summer, her 3-year-old son, Lewis, watched TV and played in the creek behind the house. He has never set a salmon net with his parents.

Restrictions on their own harvest are difficult to accept when pollock trawlers are fishing offshore.

“You really get angry. Why are we the only ones that have to take the burden?” said Brooke’s mother, Janet Woods.

Rampart has no grocery store, and reaching Fairbanks takes about five hours by boat and road. Families stock up when they travel and have long relied on fishing and hunting to fill their freezers.

Managers briefly opened chum fishing around Rampart this summer, but only with selective gear such as dip nets and beach seines. The Woods family didn’t have that equipment.

“You think back in history how they tried to destroy us,” Janet said. “Taking our language, our ceremonies, and now our culture, and it’s been forever a fight for us just to hang on to what very little we have.”

The salmon caught offshore do not all come from Alaska

Fish from across the North Pacific mix in the Bering Sea, so a salmon caught in a trawl net could have come from western Alaska, the Pacific Northwest or as far away as Russia or Japan.

NOAA has long used genetic testing to trace salmon bycatch. Since 2024, the Bristol Bay Science and Research Institute has also produced weekly chum bycatch estimates from summer to fall to give the fleet faster information about where western Alaska salmon are showing up.

The results support one of the industry’s main arguments: Most chum caught by pollock trawlers are not from western Alaska. In recent years, western Alaska fish made up an average of about 17% of chum and half of Chinook bycatch.

But even a small share can mean tens of thousands of salmon. In 2021, for example, 9% of chum bycatch came from western Alaska, which equated to more than 51,000 salmon, according to NOAA.

In February, after hearing testimony from more than 170 people, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which sets many of the rules for the Bering Sea fleet, recommended a cap of 45,000 western Alaska chum bycatch. Critics said the limit was too high.

Pollock is big business in Alaska. More than 3 billion pounds were landed from the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska in 2024, worth about $432 million, according to NOAA. While the fishery supports thousands of Alaska jobs, critics note most of the economic benefit flows outside the state, with many of the largest vessels owned by Seattle-area companies.

“We’re trying to play this balancing game” between helping conserve western Alaska salmon for subsistence communities and maintaining “a very valuable economic fishery,” said Abby Duffy, who manages the Bristol Bay institute’s genetics lab in Dutch Harbor.

The fight over trawling goes beyond the rivers

Small commercial halibut and crab fishers as well as charter operators have echoed the grievances heard along the Yukon. They too have faced shrinking catch limits and closures as stocks decline, while groundfish trawlers continue to catch both species as bycatch.

In 2025 alone, Alaska trawl fisheries discarded some 96 million pounds of bycatch, according to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. That’s roughly equivalent to 100 fully loaded Boeing 747-8s.

“It’s extremely frustrating,” said Linda Behnken, a commercial fisher and executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association.

But the larger concern, she said, is what trawling does to the seafloor.

“The habitat damage is really insidious and long lasting,” she said.

Pollock vessels use pelagic, or midwater, trawls that are designed to fish in the water column rather than along the seafloor the way bottom trawls do. But pollock often swim close to the seafloor, so the nets make substantial bottom contact. That contact was evident during the AP’s trip aboard the F/V Progress, when Tanner crabs and basket stars — animals that live on the seafloor — came up in the net.

Meanwhile, some of the same areas that are closed to bottom trawling for the protection of coral, sponges, crab and other marine life are open to pelagic trawlers.

“So they’re dragging in the same areas, defeating the whole purpose of these habitat conservation areas,” said Ben Enticknap, fisheries campaign director at Oceana.

The frustration has spread beyond fisheries meetings

Anti-trawl sentiment has attracted Democrats, Republicans, commercial and sport fishers, and Alaska Native communities — constituencies that don’t often line up on the same side of resource debates.

At least half the original candidates in Alaska’s crowded governor’s race took positions critical of trawling or bycatch as contenders across the political spectrum called for tighter restrictions. The governor has significant influence over federal fisheries policy with the power to nominate five of the North Pacific council’s seven appointed voting seats. Several gubernatorial candidates campaigned specifically on using those appointments to shift the council away from trawl interests.

In the U.S. Senate race, Democrat Mary Peltola has called for an end to large factory trawlers, while Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan has introduced legislation aimed at reducing bycatch and keeping trawl gear off the seafloor.

Back in the Bering Sea, Captain Blake kept fishing for pollock. Along the Yukon, the Woods family’s boat remained tied to the bank.

Blake hopes his son will one day fish beside him on the trawler. Brooke Woods hopes her son will one day set a salmon net with her.

“It’s frightening for me to not know if I’ll be able to pass on the same knowledge that my mother, grandmother and parents had,” Woods said. “I’ve heard elders say that if we lose our salmon, that assimilation has worked.”

Follow Annika Hammerschlag on Instagram: @ahammergram.

The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

​ Orange County Register 

Thieves pull off Italy’s biggest-ever wine heist, stealing 30,000 bottles worth $5.8 million

• October 9, 2026

By GIADA ZAMPANO

ROME (AP) — Thieves stole about 30,000 bottles of some of Italy’s most prized wines worth an estimated 5 million euros ($5.8 million) from a winery in Tuscany, in what the producer described Friday as the country’s largest wine theft on record.

The theft targeted Marchesi Antinori’s facility near Cortona, in the province of Arezzo, where a group of at least seven thieves on Saturday night made off with bottles of some of Italy’s most sought-after wines, including Solaia, Tignanello and Guado al Tasso. The theft was discovered Monday, but the company made it public on Friday to avoid interfering with the investigation.

Chief Executive Renzo Cotarella said the thieves disabled the winery’s alarm system and surveillance cameras before entering with two large trucks. Using the company’s forklifts, they loaded the vehicles with wine and fled during the night.

“It is certainly a very well-prepared gang,” Cotarella said, adding that it may be the same group that has targeted other Italian wineries in recent months. “A theft of this size and value has never occurred in Italy.”

The stolen bottles were all from the 2023 vintage and are typically sold at a retail price of between 150 euros and 500 euros each. They included about 10,000 bottles of Solaia, one of Antinori’s flagship wines, from what Cotarella described as an exceptional year.

The company, founded in 1385 and run by the Antinori family for 26 generations, said it was alerting customers worldwide to be wary of offers outside official sales channels.

“We are informing our clients around the world and asking them to pay attention to any offers outside the official channels,” Cotarella said.

Authorities are investigating how the stolen wine may be sold. Police and Carabinieri officers are examining surveillance footage and other evidence. Cotarella said he remained confident investigators could trace the shipment, noting that two truckloads of wine would be difficult to move without attracting attention.

The theft eclipses previous high-profile wine robberies in Italy. In 2017, thieves stole about 2,000 bottles of rare wines valued at 750,000 euros from a warehouse near the Adriatic resort town of Cervia.

​ Orange County Register 

Vance expresses doubts about Pentagon plan to livestream Ford Hood shooter’s execution

• October 9, 2026

HEBRON, Ky. (AP) — Vice President JD Vance cast doubt on Friday whether the Pentagon will livestream the execution of of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan in December but told reporters that if it is livestreamed, “I’m not going to be watching it.”

The Republican vice president said, “I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen,” when asked about the plans that the Pentagon confirmed on Thursday. But Vance then tried to set aside the controversy over the shocking plans for a public execution and said Hasan’s crimes should not be forgotten.

“So whatever the controversy is about the method of the execution, I hope that people don’t forget that this is a guy who brutally murdered a lot of innocent people,” the Republican said.

“Now, that said, I mean, look, if it’s ultimately livestreamed, I’m not going to be watching it,” he said.

Earlier, President Donald Trump told a White House event that Hasan will be getting “the death penalty through firing squad. And he deserves it.”

Trump called Hasan, who was convicted of killing 13 people and injuring 32 others in a shooting at the military base in 2009, “a maniac.”

Trump, who has long been a vocal supporter of capital punishment, didn’t mention the plans that the Pentagon has announced to livestream the execution so that the broader public can see it.

​ Orange County Register 

Republicans once raced to embrace Trump. Their debate answers tell a different story now

• October 9, 2026

By BILL BARROW

ATLANTA (AP) — Not long ago, Georgia gubernatorial nominee Rick Jackson eagerly compared himself to his fellow billionaire in the Oval Office. He promised to be Donald Trump “with a Southern tone.” And sharing a summer rally stage, Jackson pointed at the president and declared, “I’m going to be this man’s favorite governor.”

On the debate stage this week with his Democratic opponent, however, Jackson discussed Trump only when Keisha Lance Bottoms brought him up. And he assured his audience that he’d “stand up to anybody.”

Jackson is not alone in his recalibration: Republican nominees for Senate, the U.S. House and governor’s offices across the country are sidestepping Trump or openly distancing themselves as they debate before Election Day.

Those tactics, not unlike Republicans scrubbing Trump from their campaign websites, are the latest signs of how much Trump’s standing has fallen because of voters’ frustration with inflation, the Iran war and other matters. And the dynamics highlight the perilous options many Republicans face as they try to stitch together winning coalitions that go beyond Trump’s core supporters.

“Republicans right now are facing a voter turnout problem” in their own party, said GOP pollster Paul Shumaker, and must win “unaffiliated voters” who care most about the economy.

“You have to have something significant to change this narrative,” Shumaker said. But, he explained, that means “a significant victory in Iran” and seismic economic improvements — not something any Republican midterm candidate can force from behind a debate podium.

There’s a Trump tightrope on Iran, tariffs and rhetoric

Some Republicans are taking specific positions at odds with the president.

Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers said in his debate Thursday with Democrat Abdul El-Sayed that he’d urged the White House privately to reach a trade deal with Canada and end the president’s tariffs. Canada is Michigan’s largest trading partner, as it is for many Great Lakes and Midwestern states.

Days before, Rogers unveiled a new ad in which he said, “We know that Canada is not our enemy. We need to end the tariff war — now.”

That’s a noticeable departure from Rogers’ earlier, less specific statements praising Trump’s “America First” economic agenda while saying tariffs are not a “one-size-fits-all” solution.

Another Michigan Republican, Rep. Tom Barrett, already had bucked the president by voting for a war powers resolution intended to assert congressional authority over military actions in Iran. But debating Democrat Will Lawrence in their central Michigan district, Barrett added a criticism of Trump’s rhetoric Monday in Nebraska, where he floated the possibility of Iran attacking San Diego and Los Angeles.

The president mentioned those cities as part of his argument that higher gas prices because of his Iran war are a “small price to pay” to keep the country safe. But Democrats seized on the remarks, some insisting that Trump was calling for Iran to attack U.S. cities.

Barrett was asked whether Trump’s words were acceptable. Given the opportunity to echo the White House explanation that Trump was offhandedly mentioning a worst-case scenario he was trying to prevent, Barrett offered no defense.

“Nope,” he said flatly.

Many Republicans prefer a more generalized stiff arm

Reflecting the complex electoral balance, most Republicans have attempted to separate themselves without naming any firm difference with the president.

Running for a promotion to the Senate, Iowa U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson tried in her debate Wednesday against Democrat Josh Turek to reconcile her earlier promises to be a Trump ally in Congress’s upper chamber. She said it would be “really easy” to keep her word and still be bipartisan — a buzz word she’s already been featuring in her campaign.

“I’ll be President Donald Trump’s ally when it is important for Iowa, but I will push back on him — he knows this, because I talk to him regularly — on things that are wrong for our state,” she said. “That’s true no matter who’s in the White House. That’s true no matter who is governing and who has the gavel.”

That’s the same path Jackson took in Georgia, as he pivoted away from Trump by embracing outgoing Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican who has clashed with the president, starting with Trump’s false claims that he won Georgia in the 2020 presidential election.

“I will stand up to anybody, just like Brian Kemp has done,” Jackson said.

Another Republican House member, Mike Lawler of New York, made a point of name-checking a Democratic colleague, New Jersey’s Josh Gottheimer, and discussing bills they’d work on together. It was part of his argument that he’s able to challenge Trump and the party line.

“When I agree with the president I say it. When I disagree with the president, I say it,” he said in his closing remarks.

Hinson, meanwhile, referenced bills she’s worked on in the House that have been signed into law by both President Joe Biden and Trump.

But she also avoided criticizing Trump when asked about the president sending Affordable Care Act rebate checks to some Americans and promising a $5,000 bonus after the midterm elections if Republicans retain control of the House and Senate.

She said she “cares very deeply” about making sure Congress maintains the power of the purse and thinks it’s important to “live better within our means.”

Democrats pounce on either approach

Regardless of the Republican efforts, Democrats have continued peppering them with attacks and retorts about Trump. The most heated moments came when Democrat Cait Conley repeatedly said Lawler always voted with Trump.

“No matter how many times you say 100% of the time,” the congressman answered, “it’s provably false.”

When Rogers conceded in his back-and-forth with El-Sayed that the administration “probably” made errors in its mass deportation strategy, the Democrat answered swiftly.

“He said it was probably not right. I mean, it’s definitely not right,” El-Sayed said. “They killed two people.”

And while Georgia’s Jackson seemed uncomfortable talking about Trump, Bottoms was more than happy to mention him.

“I’m not running to be his favorite governor,” she said. “I’m running to work on behalf of people like you.”

Associated Press reporters Joey Cappelletti in Washington; Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa; and Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

No. 21 UCLA football takes on ‘disruptive and physical’ No. 13 Oregon

• October 9, 2026

LOS ANGELES — The lights dimmed and 60,000 fans fell silent, as the revving of a Harley Davidson echoed throughout Autzen Stadium. Roars simmered in response, growing louder as an illuminated Oregon Duck mascot mounted the back of the motorcycle. As he paraded around Rich Brooks Field, Oregon’s players ran out of the tunnel behind him.

Derrick Barksdale hadn’t seen anything like it.

“It’s definitely a college environment that you want to experience,” the UCLA defensive back said, recalling James Madison’s trip to Eugene for the first round of the 2025 College Football Playoff.

Most Saturdays, that environment is sandwiched among college football’s slate. Felt exclusively by fans attending the game. Now, consider households across the nation tuning in for a standalone CFP matchup, placed in the West Coast primetime slot, and add that pressure to playing on a winter night in the Pacific Northwest.

“There were a lot of eyes on that,” UCLA head coach Bob Chesney said. “It was dark. It was cold. It was loud. … Their fans were extremely involved. They have a chance to impact the game.”

When No. 21 UCLA faces No. 13 Oregon at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, the consequences might pale in comparison to a postseason game, in which the Ducks defeated the Dukes 51-34 on Dec. 20, but the stakes remain high. Oregon’s trying to run the table throughout its Big Ten schedule after an early-season loss to No. 18 Oklahoma State put its CFP hopes in jeopardy. UCLA’s attempting to remain perfect in Chesney’s first season as head coach, and make a postseason push itself.

When asked what significance defeating the Ducks would hold for the Bruins, Chesney said, “it would mean we’re continuing on a path that we felt like we could be on.”

In reflecting on his final game before heading to Westwood – JMU’s loss to Oregon last season – Chesney felt the atmosphere at Autzen Stadium was the greatest obstacle. JMU brought an aggressive approach to the game. The Dukes moved the ball on offense but struggled to get stops on defense. The Ducks found matchups they liked, put the ball on the perimeter and exposed downfield coverages, Chesney explained.

“It was going to have to be a really uncommon effort that was going to have to be on display for us to win that game,” Chesney said. “Obviously we came up short, so it wasn’t enough.”

Chesney said he learned the Ducks have “no weaknesses,” and “if you leave them something to expose, they will expose it.”

But 10 months later, “an uncommon effort” won’t be required for UCLA (4-0, 2-0 Big Ten) to upset Oregon (3-1, 1-0).

Apart from its 11 JMU transfers, many of whom are key contributors, UCLA is a much different and improved team from those Dukes, and much more equipped to deal with these Ducks.

Barksdale believes the Bruins have the speed across the defense to prevent Oregon from simply putting the ball on the perimeter and outpacing them. Wayne Knight, Anthony Woods and Jaivian Thomas pace a three-headed running attack that has produced 281.5 yards per game, fourth in the FBS behind West Virginia (294.0), Air Force (297.2) and top-ranking Army West Point (334.2).

“We have a different caliber of athletes now in the Big Ten,” Barksdale said.

The Bruins have proven that, defeating each of their first two Big Ten opponents as well as San Diego State and Cal, each with a different game script.

Still, an “uncommon effort” would certainly be welcomed against Oregon. UCLA  hasn’t beaten the Ducks since 2017 and hasn’t tasted victory in Eugene since 2004

The Ducks feature a sturdy defensive line of soon-to-be-Sunday-players: Teitum Tuioti and Matayo Uiagalelei, a St. John Bosco alum, are on the edge, and Amari Washington and Bear Alexander, a USC transfer, man the interior.

“They’re disruptive and they’re physical,” said Chesney, who is on the cusp of becoming the first coach in UCLA history to start his tenure with a 5-0 record. “What stands out in their play is that they have a plan.”

On the back end, defensive back Brandon Finney Jr. had a defining pass break-up when USC attempted to convert a fourth-and-7 in the fourth quarter on Sept. 26. Safety Koi Perich had the game-sealing interception. That secondary will be dealing with a banged-up UCLA receiving core as slot receiver Mikey Matthews is out for the season and Landon Ellis has been in and out of the lineup but will be available.

UCLA will also have to prepare for a different quarterback than it expected to face at the start of the season. After leading Oregon past JMU in the CFP, Dante Moore was ruled out Wednesday with a concussion dating to the hit he sustained from USC linebacker Desman Stephens II. Dylan Raiola will receive his first start, but he isn’t any other backup.

Raiola carries two years of starting experience from Nebraska, where he threw for 4,819 yards, 31 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. He proved he was ready when he filled in for Moore and threw for 289 yards and two touchdowns in leading Oregon to a 41-27 victory in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

“It was no drop off,” Chesney said.

To prepare for Raiola, UCLA watched his Nebraska film and performance against USC. Barskdale believes Raiola and Moore are similarly poised, and because Oregon ruled Moore out early in the week, Barksdale said it won’t “change our game plan much.”

After beginning the Chesney era with an exciting, undefeated start, UCLA faces its toughest test. A measuring stick of sorts. A matchup and atmosphere its staff, and a solid portion of players, are familiar with. The Bruins are confident they don’t need the Herculean effort JMU needed to beat Oregon last year, but it will take more than an uptick in talent to erase that fateful 17-point deficit from December.

No. 21 UCLA (4-0, 2-0 Big Ten) at No. 13 Oregon (3-1, 1-0)

When: 12:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Autzen Stadium, Eugene, Oregon

TV/Radio: CBS (Ch. 2)/790 AM KABC

​ Orange County Register 

California lieutenant governor candidates talk college affordability and workforce development

• October 9, 2026

Aside from standing in for the governor when that person is out of state and being next in line to become California’s chief executive should that office become vacant, most voters have only a vague idea of what the lieutenant governor does on a day-to-day basis.

And yet, as the second-in-command in California, the lieutenant governor serves on boards and commissions dealing with higher education, public land use, coastal issues and economic development.

In practical terms, the person elected to this office can help shape California’s higher education and housing landscapes, its economy and climate goals.

And as president of the state Senate, the lieutenant governor gets to cast the tie-breaking vote in that chamber on the rare occasion that the need arises. (That hasn’t happened since 1996, according to California State Library communications manager Alex Vassar, when then-Lt. Gov. Gray Davis was summoned to vote on a controversial bill concerning same-sex marriage.)

All this to say that while most voters may not be all that familiar with the role of the lieutenant governor, the position can significantly impact Californians.

And both candidates running for this position believe they would be the one to make the most meaningful impact if elected.

California Treasurer Fiona Ma, a Democrat, and former state Sen. Gloria Romero, who left the Democratic Party and registered as a Republican in 2024, are vying to succeed termed-out Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis. (Kounalakis, a Democrat, is running for state treasurer against Republican Jennifer Hawks, a retired businesswoman, this year.)

We asked Ma and Romero to answer a set of questions about their plans to keep higher education affordable and bolster California’s workforce. Here’s what they had to say, based on their written responses and follow-ups with their campaigns.

College affordability

The lieutenant governor sits on the governing boards for the University of California, California State University and California Community Colleges systems.

To provide financial relief for students and families, Ma said she’d advocate for UC and CSU tuition freezes, more affordable student housing and an expansion of paid internships.

And she wants to explore potential partnerships with financial institutions or other private-sector organizations to increase grant funding to cover gaps between what students receive in financial aid and what they need to pay for living expenses.

“California should expand Cal Grants to cover the full cost of attendance — not only tuition, but also housing, food, books, transportation and childcare. These expenses often force students to work excessive hours, incur debt or leave school before earning a degree,” Ma said.

She said she would advocate for a “total cost of attendance” grant supplement for low- and middle-income students, prioritizing first-generation students, students who are parents and those experiencing housing or food insecurity.

“As state treasurer, I have helped finance student housing and supported programs that help families save for college,” Ma said. “I understand that affordability involves more than tuition. Students should not have to sleep in their cars, work multiple jobs or travel long distances simply to earn a degree.”

Meanwhile, Romero said that before asking UC families to pay more, she would push “to cut administrative bloat, scrutinize excessive executive compensation, protect classroom instruction, expand affordable student housing, accelerate graduation, and confront academic under-preparation that can increase the time and cost of earning a degree.”

The former Los Angeles Community College District trustee and former state Senate Education Committee chair, who has also taught college-level courses, said she would encourage the use of remote, online, artificial intelligence and round-the-clock course offerings so students have more chances to enroll in classes they need to graduate. Right now, students sometimes get shut out of courses they need because the classes are already fully enrolled. That forces them to wait at least until the following term to enroll, potentially delaying graduation.

Romero also proposed a degree guarantee concept where colleges and universities would be required to offer courses a student needs to complete their degree program within the traditional timeframe or offer an alternative solution, such as allowing them to take the course at another campus, substitute an alternative course or waive the course requirement if academically appropriate.

If a student who otherwise is making satisfactory academic progress is forced to delay graduation and enroll in another term because the course they needed wasn’t available, the college or university would cover the tuition and mandatory fees for that course.

Like Ma, Romero acknowledged that aside from tuition, issues like housing, food and transportation can be factors in whether a student graduates.

“I would prioritize existing financial aid dollars toward students with the greatest demonstrated need and demand greater transparency and accountability for how colleges control the cost of attendance,” Romero said.

Workforce development and the economy

Another key area the lieutenant governor focuses on is economic development.

Romero said she’d bring together housing developers and advocates, small business owners, employers, workers, educators and regional leaders “to identify the regulations, costs and workforce shortages that are holding back hiring — and push the governor and legislature for solutions.”

She also said she would promote trade, port modernization, infrastructure investment and “responsible development” that results in good-paying jobs through her roles on the California State Lands Commission and California Commission for Economic Development.

“As lieutenant governor, I will use the office as a statewide advocate for job creation, economic opportunity and slashing housing regulations, which is key to making California affordable again,” Romero said.

Both Romero and Ma spoke of strengthening partnerships between employers and colleges and universities, including apprenticeship programs, to develop future workforces.

Ma, a certified public accountant, noted her past work helping women- and minority-owned small businesses compete for contracts and said she’d continue advocating for more access to capital, streamlined permitting and fewer barriers for businesses as lieutenant governor.

“I will use my financial expertise to continue to expand affordable housing and homeownership, improve access to capital for small, women- and minority-owned businesses, and connect workforce training with good-paying jobs in healthcare, agriculture, technology, advanced manufacturing, clean energy and the creative economy,” Ma said.

Ma and Romero were the No. 1 and 2 vote-getters, respectively, in the June primary election, out of a field of six leading candidates.

To read more about the candidates’ positions on these and other issues, check out their full responses to our questionnaire in our online voter guide.

Voters have through Nov. 3 to cast their ballot for the general election.

​ Orange County Register 

World’s first Double Heart coaster in South Korea takes thrills to new heights

• October 9, 2026

A new visually-striking Double Heart roller coaster with an extremely compact and vertically oriented footprint packs a lot of thrills into a tight space at an Asian theme park.

The new Giant Revolution coaster debuted on Thursday, Oct. 8 at Lotte World Adventure theme park in South Korea is the first compact vertical coaster of its kind built anywhere in the world.

ALSO SEE: Top 10 new theme park attractions in the world for 2026

The Double Heart coaster by Italy-based Zamperla does away with the traditional lift hill and stacks the track vertically rather than let the course meander horizontally like many roller coasters.

The compact footprint allows Lotte World to squeeze a thrilling coaster into a space usually occupied by a smaller ride like a sedate carousel or leisurely Ferris Wheel.

Lotte World’s Double Heart coaster starts with a forward-backward-forward triple launch that catapults riders 68 mph to the top of the 164-foot-tall dual heart-shaped structure.

A twisting vertical first drop takes riders through an Immelmann inversion and a dive loop along with moments of extreme airtime over 1,800 feet of track.

ALSO SEE: Top 10 new theme park attractions in the U.S. for 2026

Zamperla’s Double Heart joins a growing catalog of vertical coasters that include the Premier Rides Sky Rocket, Intamin ZacSpin, S&S Free Spin and Maurer SkyLoop.

​ Orange County Register 

Time for term limits? Dems in majority could have familiar faces in key roles

• October 9, 2026

By KEVIN FREKING

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats hope to bring a new agenda to the House next year if they take the majority, but they will most likely do so with many of the same faces that have steered their party’s legislative work for a decade or more.

Potential committee chairs in the next Congress include Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who has served as top Democrat on the House Homeland Security panel since 2005. Then, there’s Adam Smith of Washington, who began serving as top Democrat on Armed Services in 2011, and Rep. Maxine Waters of California, who became the lead Democrat on Financial Services in 2013.

Other longtime committee leaders include Reps. Frank Pallone at Energy and Commerce and Bobby Scott at Education and Workforce, who assumed their leadership posts in 2015. Rep. Richie Neal became the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee in 2017.

None would be able to continue in that position under the rules used by House Republicans, which generally limit lawmakers to three terms as chairman or ranking member.

For Democrats, the question is whether to stick with their current system, which emphasizes seniority, or move closer to the one that Republicans have established. It’s a discussion that some Democrats say they are having behind the scenes.

“I think that the idea of term limits could be appealing to the American people, to the Democratic base. It sounds Democratic,” said Rep. Eugene Vindman, D-Va. “I’m open to the idea. I’ve spoken to a number of folks who are open to the idea.”

“I personally think it makes for a more vibrant Congress, but I know I’m in the minority in the minority,” said Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa.

Party leaders are playing down the issue for now. Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said seniority has always been a factor when it comes to committee leadership, but not the only one.

“The caucus is going to work its will as we move forward,” Jeffries told reporters. “At the end of the day, we can’t put the cart before the horse. We’ve got to still go out and win this thing in November.”

Democrats have been here before

Term limits are not a new discussion for Democrats. When they were weighing whether to return Nancy Pelosi as speaker in 2018, those opposing her bid wanted her to commit to limiting how long lawmakers could serve as House party leaders or committee chairs. She eventually agreed to serve in the post for no more than four more years.

No such restrictions were added for committee chairs. In 2022, Democrats voted overwhelmingly against a six-year term limit for committee leaders.

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., who has served as top Democrat on the House Rules Committee since 2018, called term limits an “artificial, random mechanism that doesn’t always serve the best interest of the institution.”

“I want people in chairs who are going to fight to get things over the finish line and make a real difference,” McGovern said. “Some of those people may have been around for a long time and some of them may be relatively new.”

Pallone said he intends to be the next Energy and Commerce chairman or ranking member. He called term limits for chairs “very undemocratic.”

“If people want to vote for somebody they should be allowed to,” Pallone said.

He also said that term limits can lead to short-term thinking from chairs looking at their next opportunity in the private sector.

“People serve for a couple years, then they go work for some lobbying firm,” he said. “What they do when they’re here is very much influenced by what lobbying firm they’re going to work for.”

Thompson also said he would like to serve again as top Democrat on Homeland Security if he wins reelection. He dismissed the way Republicans limit committee leaders to three terms.

“I don’t want to be like Republicans. I’m a Democrat,” Thompson said.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., says term limits have served Republicans well.

“It’s been really good to show younger members that you’re always going to have a path to leadership if you keep working hard, if you do your job really well,” Scalise said. “We definitely lose some good chairmen along the way, but we also get new leaders who otherwise would not have been able to rise up.”

Democrats have broken with seniority on occasion

Democrats don’t always stick with seniority. One recent exception is Rep. Jamie Raskin, the lead Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. He challenged Rep. Jerry Nadler for the job in late 2024, prompting Nadler, then 77, to step aside.

Similarly, Democrats selected Rep. Angie Craig to become the top Democrat on the Agriculture Committee after she challenged the late Rep. David Scott for the post. Scott had been the panel’s top Democrat for the previous two sessions, but was in poor health.

Democrats also elected Rep. Robert Garcia last year to succeed Rep. Gerry Connolly on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Connolly died after a battle with esophageal cancer. Garcia defeated veteran Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts for the job.

“He has done, by everybody’s measure here, an incredible job,” said Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas. “We would not have all of the Epstein files that we’ve gotten so far without his leadership on that committee.”

Casar called next steps for Democrats on committee chairs an “internal conversation.”

“I think at a minimum we should go to a system where it’s about who the right person is, and then have discussions about how we make sure that new blood comes in,” Casar said.

Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., said he hears less talk about term limits than past years, and he credits some of the changes Democrats already made.

“Last cycle, there was a lot of clamor, and you saw some changes,” Schneider said. “I’m not hearing similar angst this time.”

Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington said she favors term limits, but emphasized that her view is no reflection of the current leaders. It’s more about helping Democrats develop a deeper bench.

“I just think it’s really smart policy and it’s really smart strategy to make sure that we keep building people skills, opportunities and leadership,” Jayapal said.

She said she understood when she first served in Congress a decade ago the longstanding concerns voiced by the Congressional Black Caucus about term limits hurting members who had just earned chairmanships, but believes Democrats have done a better job of diversifying the caucus.

“And we need to do more, but we are taking away opportunities from a lot of those newer members,” Jayapal said.

Some Democrats have talked about a hybrid approach that sets some limits, but not at the three-term threshold set by House Republicans.

“I don’t know what the magic number is, but endless is not the magic number,” Houlahan said.

​ Orange County Register