Grand Prix of Long Beach: Scott Dixon has thrilling first day at the track

• April 15, 2023

LONG BEACH — About an hour and a half before the first NTT IndyCar practice run at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Friday, it was announced that six-time IndyCar series champion Scott Dixon will be inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America next March in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Dixon then went out and had the second-fastest practice time of 1:06.9649, just behind Pato O’Ward (1:06.6999).

Colton Herta recorded the third-fastest time at 1:06.9808. Marcus Ericsson was fourth at 1:06.9859 and Romain Grosjean was fifth at 1:07.1049.

Immediately afterward, O’Ward did a trackside interview and said the track was “very, very quick.” He was asked if the unusually cool weather for this time of year affected the session.

Typically, it’s in the 70s for this race – sometimes warmer – but it was only 62 degrees when the practice session began at 3 p.m.

“I thought today was beautiful,” said O’Ward, of Team Arrow McLaren. “The track was definitely quicker than what it was last year. There’s not as much rubber down, but the track is fast. … The tires and the engines like the colder temperatures rather than it being really hot.”

There are 27 cars in the mix this year. O’Ward, of Mexico, talked about how qualifying might go Saturday.

“It’s tight, man,” said O’Ward, 23. “I think qualifying is going to be as tight as it’s probably ever been. It puts a lot of emphasis on just the little mistakes you can make.”

Herta won this race in 2021.

“I’m happy with it,” he said of his practice session Friday.

Herta, 23, is from Santa Clarita. After he and Andretti Autosport teammate Kyle Lockwood finished 20th and 15th, respectively, in the season opener at St. Petersburg, the team switched strategists for the two drivers.

Herta’s strategist was his father, Bryan, who is now with Kirkwood.

Kirkwood’s was Scott Harner, who is now with the younger Herta, who said the transition is going smoothly. Herta declared himself “easy to strategize for.”

“I don’t like to be talked to unless it’s really necessary, so it’s a pretty easy transition to make,” he said. “Just give me any info that’s absolutely necessary and that’s it. He’s been solid so far. I don’t have any complaints.”

Dixon won his first series title in 2003 in his second season with Chip Ganassi Racing. He also won in 2008, 2013, 2015, 2018 and 2020.

Dixon, of New Zealand, won the Indianapolis 500 in 2008 and won in Long Beach in 2015.

Dixon, 42, was thrilled with the news of his induction.

“Extremely honored,” he said. “I’ve been with this team (Ganassi) for over 20 years and we’ve accomplished a lot together and (have) some tremendous memories.”

Dixon recalled his first series title and admitted he had one small regret.

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“Winning the first championship in 2003 was a bit of a shock to my system,” he said. “The only disappointment I think I had with that was not really soaking it in and enjoying it as much as I really should have.”

Displaying a bit of modesty, Dixon said, “I’ve been extremely lucky. Obviously, a lot of it comes from hard work.”

Rounding out the top 10 practice times Friday: Alex Palou, the 2021 series champion, was sixth at 1:07.1515; two-time race winner (2018-19) Alexander Rossi was seventh at 1:07.1572; Callum Ilott was eighth at 1:07.2467; Felix Rosenqvist was ninth at 1:07.3135; and Christian Lundgaard was 10th at 1:07.3237.

Others notables included defending race champion Josef Newgarden (14th, 1:07.4273), Will Power (15th, 1:07.4420), Graham Rahal (16th, 1:07.4785) and Helio Castroneves (24th, 1:07.9204).

​ Orange County Register 

A look back at some of Southern California’s lost race tracks

• April 15, 2023

With race cars speeding through the streets of Long Beach this weekend, we take a look at some of the long-lost raceways of Southern California.

First in Southern California

Horses, autos and motorcycles would all race at the first Ascot Park when it opened in 1903 in L.A. Its first auto race was held in 1907, and its final one in 1919.

The Legion Ascot Speedway, built in 1924, was closed after the grandstand burned down in 1936. The speedway was near what is now Lincoln Park, a little east of the 5 Freeway and a few blocks north of the 10 Freeway.

The Legion Ascot Speedway was a five-eighths mile, banked dirt oval. The track had a deadly reputation and was nicknamed the “killer track” after 24 people died there in a dozen years. This could be the reason the track is also known as the first to use safety helmets.

Women were banned from racing by AAA in 1909, but some found ways to compete.

The most famous of the four Ascot racetracks was Ascot Park, which opened in 1957.

Ascot Park Speedway near Gardena in 1972. The track held numerous United States Auto Club national tour races and three NASCAR Grand National races. The Turkey Night Grand Prix was held at the track for several decades. It had seating for 7,500. It was built near Carell Speedway, which closed in 1954 for construction of the 91 Freeway.

The track hosted all kinds of races for 33 years, from sprint races to figure 8s. Daredevil Evel Knievel did his first public stunt when he jumped six cars on his motorcycle. In 1967, Knievel made his first national television appearance at Ascot, jumping 15 cars on ABC’s “Wide World of Sports.”

First in the world

By 1910, vehicle speeds were over 80 mph.

The Los Angeles Motordrome in Playa del Rey was an elevated, wooden-board track that opened April 8, 1910. It was not the first racetrack in L.A. but it was the first of its kind in the world. The 1-mile oval could host 12,000 spectators and was designed by velodrome (bicycle track) engineer Jack Prince.

The track was approximately 45 feet wide. It’s estimated to have required more than 2 million square feet of lumber.Sportswriters nicknamed the track “the pie pan.”The track was estimated to have banking of at least 18 degrees (by 1912, Prince had a track in St. Louis with 62-degree banks). The Motordrome was successful for three years and hosted both automobile and motorcycle races.

A fire broke out under the Playa del Rey track in August 1913, and the damage was so bad the owners opted not to rebuild.

The Motordrome was not the only L.A. track to be abandoned due to fire.

Supersizing it

When you think of Beverly Hills, does the image of a race car come to mind? If it were 1920, that might be the case. Prince designed a 1.25-mile wooden track that featured 35-degree turns on a large plot of land where the Beverly Wilshire Hotel is today.

The track could host 50,000-70,000 fans, and the winner of the first race in 1920 averaged 103 mph over 250 miles – faster than the Indianapolis 500 winner that year.

The Beverly Hills Speedway was closed by February 1924 when the land became more valuable for real estate development. The track owners built a new venue in Culver City that opened in December 1924 and lasted until 1927, when its real estate value grew.Just as tracks in Los Angeles gave way to development, so did the ones in San Bernardino and Riverside counties. The Riverside International Raceway and the Ontario Motor Speedway sites are occupied by malls, warehouses and homes. The track in Riverside was open from 1957-1989, and the Ontario track opened in 1968 and closed in 1980. Ontario was the first track to host stock cars and open-wheel racing (on oval or road coarse) and have a drag strip. The Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, which opened in 1997, is about 2 miles from the old Ontario Motor Speedway.

Fighting to race

Perris Auto Speedway was built in 1996 and is a half-mile clay oval on the Lake Perris Fairgrounds. There is a campaign called #saveperris since the track and other businesses around it are in a legal battle with the state over a Perris dam construction project.

Stripping it down

Drag racing has its roots in Southern California deserts starting in the 1930s. After World War II it grew in popularity, and the National Hot Rod Association was founded in 1951 by Wally Parks.

Santa Ana Drag Strip, at what is now John Wayne Airport, is recognized by the National Hotrod Racing Association as the nation’s first commercial drag strip.

The drag strip opened June 19, 1950, and operated until June 21, 1959, with races Sundays (except for Mother’s Day) from dawn to dusk.

The strip would charge a fee for entrance, and almost anyone was welcome to compete. Some would come in their personal rides; others would customize cars specifically to race on Sundays.

Sources: Los Angeles Public Library, FirstSuperspeedway.com, The Daily Breeze, El Sereno Historical Society, Dragstriplist.com, NHRA Museum, Speedwayandroadracehistory.com, PerrisAutoSpeedway.com

​ Orange County Register 

Coachella 2023: See photos from Day 1 of the festival

• April 15, 2023

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is underway at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.

Fans lined up early to catch a variety of sets and to take photos with several of the new art installations on site on Friday, April 14. Others hurried to the main Coachella Stage to snag an up-close spot to hopefully see headliner Bad Bunny from the barrier.

These photos capture the early-day scene during the festival, which included sets by acts like Gabriels, Soul Glo, The Comet is Coming, Juliet Mendoza and many more.

The festival continues on Saturday, April 15 with a headlining set by K-pop group Blackpink and on Sunday, April 16, which will be capped with a performance by Long Beach-based singer-songwriter Frank Ocean.

 More Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival news

Coachella 2023: Excited fans strut into Day 1 to catch their favorite acts

Coachella 2023: Set times and schedule announced — plus a surprise guest

Coachella 2023: Where to go for breakfast, lunch or late-night snacks pre-and post-festival

How Day Club Palm Springs’ poolside parties offer a unique concert experience

Desert Gold’s free music event returns to Palm Springs during both Coachella weekends

Coachella 2023: How to livestream performances from all of the festival stages

Coachella 2023: 5 Southern California artists making their festival debut

Coachella 2023: Weekend Two hasn’t sold out yet. Here’s why that’s good for you

​ Orange County Register 

Cubs’ Cody Bellinger, healthier and more confident, embraces return to Los Angeles

• April 15, 2023

LOS ANGELES ― The ending to Cody Bellinger’s Dodgers career was so abrupt, he never got the courtesy of a “hug watch” in the dugout, let alone a proper goodbye from each of his teammates.

The hugs flowed freely for the 2019 National League Most Valuable Player on Friday at Dodger Stadium. Bellinger spent the entire Dodgers’ batting practice embracing former teammates, coaches, executives, broadcasters and cameramen in between rounds on the field before the Dodgers played Bellinger’s Chicago Cubs for the first time in 2023. He was all smiles.

It was a refreshingly new look for Bellinger, 27, who often wore his struggles on his face in 2021 and 2022. Bothered by injuries to his shoulder and foot, Bellinger batted .193 over the two seasons, with 29 home runs in 239 games.

While he still provided superb defense in center field, Bellinger’s struggles at the plate made his departure less than a complete shock. The Dodgers did not tender him a contract after last season, then watched him sign as a free agent with the Cubs for $12.5 million in December. He’s eligible for a $25 million team option after this season, or a $5 million buyout.

Did Bellinger think he would be a Dodger forever?

“At one point for sure, you know?” he said. “Life is not always planned, as we all know as we grow older. God works in mysterious ways. I just try to be in the moment and appreciate what comes next for me.”

It’s early, but there are signs that Bellinger is returning to the form that endeared him to Dodgers fans and made him a fixture in the middle of the lineup. His swings and misses are down. His batting average is up to a modest .238 through Thursday.

That’s still a far cry from the hitter he was in his “prime.” From his age 21-through-23 seasons, Bellinger batted .278 and averaged 37 homers and 96 RBIs per season. In addition to the MVP award, he was the Rookie of the Year in 2017 and NL Championship Series MVP in 2018.

Bellinger also batted .412 in the 2021 NLCS against Atlanta, hitting a critical three-run homer to spur the Dodgers’ come-from-behind win in Game 3. But these moments were the exception to the rule in his later years, befuddling fans and coaches who yearned for more consistency from Bellinger at the plate.

“I think Cody’s got to take some responsibility for it. I think us, as coaches, have to take some responsibility for it,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Sometimes maybe a different voice might re-unlock some things in him, because you can’t debate the skill set or the talent.”

Bellinger acknowledged that, on a practical level, the change of scenery has helped.

“I feel really good, I feel really confident,” he said. “Physically, mentally, I feel as solid as I have in a while. It’s exciting.”

Roberts said he saw Bellinger’s confidence waver “a lot” last season.

“I can’t even begin to appreciate what it’s like to be that caliber of player, and then to try to have to realize those expectations on a night-to-night, year-to-year basis,” Roberts said. “I think getting out from under that allowed him to catch his breath a little bit and start over.”

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Bellinger declined to discuss any details about the offseason negotiations that ultimately ended his Dodger career. He said the finality of his time in Los Angeles didn’t resonate until the Dodgers released a tribute video to him on their official social media accounts.

“I got a little emotional watching that video,” he said, “just all the amazing memories you know, and the cool things that I accomplished and we accomplished as a team.”

ALSO

Austin Barnes was behind the plate Friday, and Max Muncy was the backup catcher, as Will Smith was scratched from the lineup due to an illness. Roberts was hopeful but uncertain that Smith would be able to return Saturday. … Smith is hitting .333 with three home runs and 12 RBIs this season. … Miguel Rojas, who has dealt with groin and hamstring injuries in the last week, has been cleared to play every day. He started at shortstop, batting seventh.

UP NEXT

Dodgers (RHP Michael Grove, 0-1, 14.73 ERA) vs. Chicago Cubs (RHP Jameson Taillon, 0-2, 7.00 ERA), Saturday, 6:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM

​ Orange County Register 

2 men charged in Dodger Stadium attack after Elton John concert

• April 15, 2023

Two men have been charged in connection with the beating of a married couple in their 60s in the Dodger Stadium parking lot after an Elton John concert last November.

Reece Hopkin, 38, and Chad Reeves, 42, were each charged with one felony count of battery with serious bodily injury. Hopkin also faces one felony count of vandalism or destruction of property, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

“What started out as a night of entertainment and revelry ended in violence,” District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement.

The attack, caught on video, occurred at about 11:30 p.m. on Nov. 17 following a fender bender after the first of John’s three sold-out shows at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles police said.

Gascon said the violence grew from a dispute between a woman and the 64-year-old male victim. Hopkin and Reeves became involved and allegedly began assaulting the man who suffered serious injuries.

Hopkin is accused of grabbing the cellphone of a man who was recording and throwing it on the ground.

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Video in the immediate aftermath of the initial attack shows the man motionless on the ground, still being assaulted — possibly by multiple assailants — even as others attempted to curtail the violence. The man’s wife is seen being pulled by the hair as she attempts to check on her husband.

The man suffered a concussion and a broken ankle, among other injuries, it was reported. The female victim said she was knocked unconscious, along with her husband, who she tried to revive for about 45 seconds, believing he had died, before he finally regained consciousness, it was reported at the time.

​ Orange County Register 

The world’s biggest water recycling facility gets bigger in OC

• April 15, 2023

Officials gathered Friday, April 14, to toast the completed expansion of a pioneering recycling facility that takes wastewater and turns it into clean, drinkable water for much of Orange County.

With the $284 million expansion to the 15-year-old Groundwater Replenishment System, the facility can now provide up to 130 million gallons of water per day, enough to serve 1 million people daily in north and central Orange County.

“We really have something special right here in Orange County that we should all be proud of,” Cathy Green, the Orange County Water District’s board president, said. “Through decades of planning and proactive outreach, Orange County Water and Sanitation districts came together to implement a project that solves significant issues faced by each agency.”

There are two sources of water that residents get in Orange County: groundwater and water imported by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Groundwater is about half the cost of imported water, according to Mike Markus, general manager of the Orange County Water District.

Into the 1990s, the OC Water District relied on rain to keep groundwater basins filled, however long droughts meant more of a reliance on the purchase of imported water to meet needs, prompting the department to look for alternative ways to fill the basins.

The two agencies pioneered a recycling system to turn wastewater into clean, drinkable water.

“We built the first phase that went online in January 2008, providing 70 million gallons of water per day,” Markus said. “Since then, we’ve expanded it even further. We built an additional 30 million gallons per day that went online in May 2015.”

The now completed, more than $900 million Groundwater Replenishment System makes Orange County home to the world’s largest wastewater recycling plant.

The county’s wastewater is first treated at an OC Sanitation District plant in either Fountain Valley or Huntington Beach. Then, instead of being discharged into the ocean, it is sent to the Groundwater Replenishment System for several more steps in a purification process, including microfiltration and reverse osmosis, and then sent to replenish the groundwater aquifer. The result is a supply of quality drinking water ready to pump into faucets.

“As Californians, we all understand the importance of a stable source of drought-proof drinking water. GWRS provides that reliable supply of high-quality water, reducing our reliance on imported water,” Congresswoman Young Kim said during Friday’s celebratory event. “We’re so delighted to be representatives of this great county, and we can always tout the success of what we do, and show not only the nation, but the world, how we get things done.”

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​ Orange County Register 

The Book Pages: A real Southern California Underdog story

• April 15, 2023

I always root for the underdog, and I’m not the only one.

Hundreds came out on Saturday to welcome Underdog Bookstore to Monrovia, says Nathan Allen, who owns the store with his husband Thomas Murtland. (Visitors included Octavia’s Bookshelf owner Nikki High, offering another example of the wonderful, supportive people running our local bookstores.)

“We were really happy with the number of people who came. We had a Drag Storytime in the morning, which was really successful, with Pickle the Drag Queen. And we also had Carolyn Huynh, who is the author of ‘The Fortunes of Jaded Women.’ She was here to do a book signing and a reading,” says Allen.

And they got to use the big ribbon-cutting scissors, right? “The Chamber of Commerce came out and did a ribbon cutting for us, which was great,” he says.

Nathan Allen, who owns the Underdog Bookstore with his husband Thomas Murtland, at work in the shop on April 13, 2023. (Photo by Erik Pedersen)

The store, which is on 312 S. Myrtle Ave. across from the library, is a welcome addition to the area. Allen explained why they chose Monrovia.

“I’m actually a Pasadena native, born and raised in the same house that my mom grew up in. So I have lots of ties in this area,” says Allen, who adds that his husband grew up on a small island off the coast of British Columbia. “He’s used to a very small town, so Pasadena ended up being too big a city for him. So we moved a little bit out away from Los Angeles towards Monrovia.”

Allen says Murtland had always wanted to open a bookstore, and they both have another dream they shared together.

“We were talking actually about raising a family. We really wanted to create a space that nurtured the community in a way that made it safer for our future kids,” says Allen.

“One of the ways that we thought about doing that was through a bookstore,” he says.”Our bookstore focuses almost exclusively on authors of color, LGBT and disabled authors, as well as small and medium presses, which is who we categorize as underdogs.”

As well, the store aims to make finding books by these authors easier.

Nathan Allen and Thomas Murtland, owners of Underdog Bookstore, celebrate with Pickle the Drag Queen during the store’s grand opening on April 8, 2023. (Photo courtesy of Nathan Allen / Underdog Bookstore)

“We aren’t organized like a normal bookstore that would have fiction, nonfiction, etc. We’re actually organized by demographic. So we have AAPI, we have Indigenous, we have Black authors, we have LGBT authors,” says Allen. “We really wanted people to be able to come in and find stories that they were interested in or find stories that reflected their own identities.”

Underdog started as a pop-up at the Monrovia Street Fair – which is one of the reasons the store also stocks items from local vendors – and Allen says they soon knew they wanted to find a permanent spot there.

“We felt like a bookstore was missing on Myrtle, so that’s one of the reasons we targeted it,” he says. “We found a place that worked well for us and transitioned to a brick-and-mortar store.”

Considering what is too-often seen in the headlines these days, I asked Allen if there’d been any negativity directed toward the store.

“Everyone that came to our Drag Storyhour was happy about the Drag Storyhour,” says Allen, who was aware of some negative comments made on the Nextdoor app. “But I think that if people are looking for a bookstore that doesn’t have a gay agenda, they probably are not looking for a bookstore that’s run almost entirely by two gay owners.

“In general, the community has been very supportive of us, which has been great to see,” he says. “Our doors are open to everyone.”

My tote from Underdog Bookstore. (Photo by Erik Pedersen)

That includes the store’s other inspiration, who can often be found in the shop.

“We have a cute little two-and-a-half-year-old pug. Her name is Arbutus, which is the name of a tree on the Pacific West Coast. She usually goes by Booty, and so she was kind of the perfect mascot and it all kind of came together.”

Inside the Underdog Bookstore in Monrovia. (Photo by Erik Pedersen)

Novelist Don Winslow shares one of his writing secrets

Don Winslow, who is the author of 23 novels, announced he was retiring following the publication of his final trilogy, which began with “City on Fire” and continues with “City of Dreams.” (Photo by Robert_Gallagher / Courtesy of William Morrow)

Don Winslow is the author of 23 novels, which include “The Winter of Frankie Machine,” “The Force” and the Cartel Trilogy. Last year, Winslow announced that he was retiring from writing novels following the publication of his final trilogy, which began with “City on Fire” and continues with “City of Dreams.” The new novel, which takes protagonist Danny Ryan to Hollywood, arrives in stores on Tuesday and Winslow will be appearing at Warwick’s in San Diego on April 18 and at Book Soup on April 19. Winslow spoke about his books, political activism and more, and in this Q&A, which has been edited for length and clarity, he talks about the books and people that have made an impact on his life. 

Q. Your mother was a librarian. Did she have the biggest impact on your reading life?

My dad was an inveterate reader, a career Navy guy who loved books, and my mom’s a librarian, so you get that combo plate. We always had books around the house. I grew up in a very small New England town, but I could go into that library and go anywhere in the world, at any time period in the world, just by wandering six feet down a bookshelf.

My parents also allowed us – my sister and me – to read anything we wanted at any age; there was no censorship. My sister [Kristine Rolofson] also became a professional novelist, by the way, with 43 published books. I don’t think that’s coincidental. So yeah, they were both huge influences.

Q. Do you and your sister ever compare notes?

No. [laughs] We write in very different genres, and so there really weren’t a lot of notes to compare. We’ve compared notes about the writing life, you know, like how do you go about it and what’s your day like and all that kind of stuff, but not not so much on the technical work because our our genres are so different. She’s very good at it.

Q. Do you remember the first book that really made an impact on you?

I remember a book called “Mila 18” that my dad turned me onto by Leon Uris – and I want to say a book called “Armageddon” by him as well.

Shakespeare, I started reading, or attempting to read, when I was six years old. Later in life, I started a Shakespeare program here at the local elementary school; I think they just did their 27th production of Shakespeare. It’s elementary school kids doing cut-down Shakespeare – you know, 40-minute versions – but all of Shakespeare’s words. So, those were very influential.

Q. What is something about your books that nobody knows?

Not to be too self-serving but I often think about the phrase “the effort it takes to make something look effortless,” you know? I hope that the books look effortless.

Q. The narratives feel pretty effortless to read.

That’s all in the rewriting. The first few drafts, I’m not thinking about the reader at all. I’m just amusing myself. But then, as the drafts go by toward the final two or three drafts, all I’m thinking about is the reader: Does the story makes sense? How does the dialogue sound? How does it look to the reader’s eye? Because we tend to forget that reading is a physical activity as well as an intellectual one.

Q. The way the words look on the page is important. People don’t typically talk about that.

Yeah, exactly. I will step away from the screen to the point where I can’t make out the words, only the shapes. And the question I ask is, Does it look like what it’s supposed to be? You know, if it’s a fast action sequence, it should look really dense because you’re not letting the reader go. But if I want to focus the reader on one or two small images or lines of dialogue, then it needs to have negative space, it needs to have white space on the page. It’s important. I know it’s important to me as a reader.

There are times I’ll add, literally, a syllable if it’s available to change the look of a sentence or a line.

Q. Now, book recommendations: I know one of your favorite books is “The Friends of Eddie Coyle,” so I wanted to ask if you could recommend another crime novel, or, if you prefer, a book completely outside that genre.

Boy, I can answer both questions. In terms of the P.I. novel, I don’t think it’s ever going to get any better than Raymond Chandler’s “The Long Goodbye.” You know, he was the grandfather of us all.

And Lawrence Block’s Matt Scudder series – “When the Sacred Gin Mill Closes” would be one book I’d instantly bring up.

There’s so much good stuff, you know, you almost hesitate to answer these questions for fear of leaving somebody out. I mean, I could go on for an hour.

The latest book I read that I really loved outside of the genre is called “The Last Gift” by Abdulrazak Gurnah, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature. I just loved it. He’s Zanzibari. My education is in African history; I read a lot of African literature. He lives in England now and has for a long time. And it’s just a beautiful, beautiful book.

Don Winslow will be appearing at Warwick’s in San Diego on April 18 and at Book Soup on April 19 to speak and sign books.

More Book Stories

Novels and nonfiction are among the excellent books coming out in the coming months. (Covers courtesy of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Flatiron, Graywolf, Harper, Little Brown, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, Riverhead)

15 books

Don’t miss these upcoming books we’re looking forward to this spring. READ MORE

• • •

Mensun Bound, director of Exploration of Endurance22 expedition and author of “The Ship Beneath the Ice,” on the sea ice of Weddell Sea, in the Antarctic. (Photo by Esther Horvath/Falkland Islands Maritime Heritage Trust / Courtesy of HarperCollins)

Cold as ‘Ice’

How Shackleton’s Endurance inspired a modern expedition to find the sunken ship. READ MORE

• • •

“Romantic Comedy,” a novel by Curtis Sittenfeld, is among the top-selling fiction releases at Southern California’s independent bookstores. (Courtesy of Random House)

The week’s bestsellers

The top-selling books at your local independent bookstores. READ MORE

• • •

Bookish (SCNG)

What’s next on ‘Bookish’

The next free Bookish event is April 21 at 5 p.m. with guests including Sharon Gless, Ari Shapiro and more talking books with host Sandra Tsing Loh.

Sign up for The Book Pages
Miss last week’s newsletter? Find past editions here
Dive into all of our books coverage

That’s it for this week. Please write me at epedersen@scng.com to share news, notes and books you’ve been enjoying, and your comments may appear in the newsletter.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

​ Orange County Register 

Gavin Newsom’s vanity tour is quite audacious for such a failure of a leader

• April 15, 2023

Gov. Gavin Newsom might have just made his most audacious move yet.

Newsom, who has a fondness for making “big, hairy audacious” statements, just completed a tour through the south promoting his PAC and talking about his accomplishments in California.

What made this trip so audacious?

Not that this was just the latest installment of his national vanity tour that he insists is not the foundation for a presidential run, though that’s certainly audacious.

Not that his vanity tour once again draws him away from the state that he was actually elected to govern, though that is too.

And not that his concerns over book banning, First Amendment restrictions and threats to democracy in four southern states hold a mirror to his own authoritarian impulses in California.

No, the most audacious part of his vanity tour is that he has the nerve to criticize other governors despite having never really accomplished anything in California.

That’s big! Hairy! Audacious!

A consistent theme throughout Newsom’s time as governor is that what he says will happen and what actually happens is rarely in alignment.

Here’s a small example: MSNBC host Jen Psaki asked Newsom to respond to criticism that he’s wasting time traveling the south when he should be in California fixing problems. Newsom responded that the trip was actually family time, what with Easter and spring break for the kids.

Sounds like a real hoot for the kids!

Spring break apparently included a Democratic fundraiser in Florida, a trip to an Arkansas classroom, meeting with activists at a civil rights museum and more, plus local media hits and photo opps for dad. Voters could follow along on Instagram.

It reminds me of a story about former DNC Chair and former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, who one time stopped at a fundraiser to pick up checks and make a speech while on his way home from the hospital, leaving his newborn baby and wife – who was crying – in the car.

Anyway, back to Newsom.

And while Newsom was in the south promoting his PAC doing spring break, Californians got three more examples of Newsom’s words not aligning with reality.

First, it turns out that federal law actually prohibits Newsom’s big stand against Walgreens.

A few weeks ago, Newsom tweeted that he was “done” with Walgreens “or any company that cowers to the extremists and puts women’s lives at risk,” after the drug store announced it would comply with the abortion laws in individual states.

A big, hairy audacious stance indeed! But according to Kaiser Health News, the state must continue working with the drug store through Medi-Cal.

If only someone were fact-checking Newsom’s tweets before they were tweeted.

Second, we learned (again) that the Newsom-backed shutdown of schools during COVID had disastrous effects on students, with a third(!) suffering from chronic absenteeism.

Throughout COVID Newsom made little effort to reopen schools until it was “safe,” even though data suggested kids were low-risk, and it is important to remember that Newsom’s kids were in person in private school while much of the rest of the state was still apparently unsafe.

The Public Policy Institute of California, which published the data on absenteeism, noted a trend that in the schools with the biggest jump in 2021-22 there was a corresponding drop in statewide test scores in math and English proficiency.

Overall, the statewide scores were troubling – not even half of California’s students meet standards in English and merely a third in math.

While the absenteeism was COVID-related, the troubling test scores were part of a years-long trend. In fact, the most-recent scores were a decline of four percentage points in English and seven percentage points in math since 2018-19.

Speaking of COVID, this was Newsom’s top talking point about his first term in office, arguing the drastic actions he took saved lives and kept Californians safe (even if it significantly set back the state’s public school student population).

But now it appears that that’s not even true.

California ranked relatively well in its overall COVID mortality rates per 100,000 residents. What Newsom loved to say was it had one of the lowest death-per-100k rates of the big states, meaning better than Texas and Florida.

However, a new study by The Lancet, one of the premier medical journals in the world, found that once adjusted for various health and demographic factors, for which Newsom can’t take credit, California was relatively even with Texas and substantially worse than Florida.

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This study comes on the heels of another respected study that found masking requirements had little effect on controlling COVID, which means that Newsom’s overbearing approach to masking and shutdowns actually did very little to prevent the spread of COVID and COVID-related deaths, even as these actions had tremendous negative effects on civil liberties, education, mental health and the economy.

This means that Newsom’s greatest accomplishment was no accomplishment at all, which is not unprecedented with Newsom.

In an interview with CapRadio following his first 100 days in office, Newsom said his greatest accomplishment was suing then-President Donald Trump almost 50 times – even if the vast majority of those suits were initiated before his first 100 days as governor.

It’s doubtful Newsom mentioned any of this on his vanity tour spring break, but voters in red states should learn what voters in California have had to learn: Don’t take what Newsom says too seriously.

Follow Matt on Twitter @FlemingWords

​ Orange County Register