Anaheim news

• Laguna Niguel’s landmark the Ziggurat could be facing the wrecking ball

  20-08-2020 01:53 via ocregister.com
  
  For the past 50 years it has been a Laguna Niguel landmark that draws raves and head shakes from passersby for its Babylon-meets-Buck-Rogers design.
  The sprawling six-level structure, officially named for former congressman Chet Holifield, is more commonly called the Ziggurat for its resemblance to similar structures of ancient Mesopotamia, although it could also pass for an over-sized Mayan temple.
  For all its futuristic/retro fancy, the massive 1-million-square-foot structure, with its stepped
  
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• Do patrons have to report home purchase gift money to the IRS?

  09-01-2025 19:17 via ocregister.com
  
  Just about every time a benefactor provides gift funds for a home purchase, two questions come up.
  Do I have to report the gift to the Internal Revenue Service?
  Do I have to pay tax on the gift?
  The short answer for Question 1 is yes, in most cases you are supposed to report the gift. For Question 2, contributors likely don’t have to pay tax unless they are very, very wealthy.
  Also see: How and how much homeowners can transfer tax base to their next home
  First, let’s dig into th
  
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• Daxon: Resolving to make 2025 the best year — there will be plenty of new food to help

  09-01-2025 19:09 via ocregister.com
  
  Today is Jan. 9, the date of President Jimmy Carter’s state funeral.
  His passing reminded me when I was fortunate to briefly meet President Carter several years ago.  It was at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena where Carter was having a signing for his book, “Living Faith.” It’s about how his values and experiences and religious beliefs formed what he called his living faith.
  While I waited in the very long line of folks anxious to meet him and have him sign their
  
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• US mortgage rate inches up to 6.93%, fourth straight increase

  09-01-2025 19:04 via ocregister.com
  
  By Matt Ott | The Associated Press
  The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate ticked up again this week, remaining at its highest level since July.
  The benchmark 30-year fixed rate loan rate rose to 6.93% from 6.91% last week, according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac. It was at 6.66% a year ago. It has risen for four straight weeks.
  The uptick in the cost of home loans reflects a rise in the bond yields that lenders use as a guide to price mortgages, specifically the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treas
  
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• Anaheim Hills: Teens needed as volunteers at Canyon Hills library branch

  09-01-2025 18:56 via ocregister.com
  
  Canyon Hills Library is recruiting teen volunteers in grades nine through 12 to help in the library from January through May.
  An orientation meeting for all volunteers is planned for 4 p.m. on Jan. 17 at the Canyon Hills branch.
  Volunteering at the library offers a fun way to earn school volunteer hours. Those interested should go to the library, fill out an application and attend the orientation meeting.
  For additional information, email [email protected].
  Pursennaly Yours to celebrate decade
  
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• Palisades fire damages or destroys ‘thousands’ of buildings

  09-01-2025 18:47 via ocregister.com
  
  The number of structures damage or destroyed by the fire that has ravaged Pacific Palisades and Malibu is “in the thousands,” the Los Angeles fire chief said Thursday, Jan. 9.
  The blaze remained at just more than 17,200 acres as wind conditions turned more favorable for firefighters.
  “It is safe to say that the Palisades fire is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles,” LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley said in a morning press conference.
  The
  
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• More than 1,000 homes damaged in Eaton fire which remains uncontained, but growth slows

  09-01-2025 18:47 via ocregister.com
  
  The Eaton fire that killed five people and destroyed or damaged more than 1,000 homes, businesses and other structures in several foothill communities has slowed, but remained at 10,600 acres and zero containment Thursday morning, Jan. 9.
  The fire’s growth has been significantly stopped, Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Anthony Marrone said.
  Firefighters were able to use aircraft starting Wednesday, Jan. 8.
  Four firefighters are among those injured in the fire. But authorities have not releas
  
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• Eaton fire’s growth slows, but still at zero containment

  09-01-2025 18:47 via ocregister.com
  
  The Eaton fire that killed five people and destroyed or damaged more than 1,000 homes, businesses and other structures in several foothill communities has slowed, but remained at 10,600 acres and zero containment Thursday morning, Jan. 9.
  The fire’s growth has been significantly stopped, Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Anthony Marrone said.
  Firefighters were able to use aircraft starting Wednesday, Jan. 8.
  Four firefighters are among those injured in the fire. But authorities have not releas
  
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• 20 some trees felled on property next to Environmental Nature Center in Newport Beach

  09-01-2025 18:22 via ocregister.com
  
  Staff at the Environmental Nature Center in Newport Beach were holding out hope a 50-foot live oak, the last of a forest of trees they’ve cared for over decades, would remain standing.
  But on Wednesday, Jan. 8, it too was felled. More than 20 trees, varieties of toyons, Catalina cherry trees, redwood and oaks, that once helped create a forest-like setting for the nature center were removed over the last two weeks by a crew hired by a neighboring owner establishing the property boundary lin
  
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• Laguna Beach transitioning to FBI’s crime reporting system, officials warn numbers will look higher

  09-01-2025 17:58 via ocregister.com
  
  Crimes occurring in Laguna Beach will be reported in greater detail offering more transparency following a switch to a national crime database, but that could also mean an increase in the numbers, city officials said.
  As of the new year, the Laguna Beach Police Department has started using the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System, known as NIBRS, which puts the department in compliance with the Department of Justice, which wants all law enforcement agencies to use the system, whi
  
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• Federal land sale could boost prospects for aspiring homeowners

  09-01-2025 17:45 via ocregister.com
  
  A brief exchange between Ohio Senator J. D. Vance and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz during their Oct. 1 vice presidential debate could foreshadow long-sought relief for Americans eager to purchase homes or secure affordable rental properties.
  Asked about the Republican Party’s Platform proposal to sell some federal lands to address housing affordability, Vance responded, “Well, what Donald Trump has said is that when we have a lot of federal lands that are not being used for anything.&
  
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• No, Mr. Trump, we do not need to own Greenland to secure American interests

  09-01-2025 17:40 via ocregister.com
  
  President-elect Donald Trump declared this week that U.S. control of Greenland and the Panama Canal are crucial to American interests and reaffirmed his interest in making Canada the 51st state. In his Mar-a-Lago press conference, Trump declined to rule out using military force to secure Greenland and the canal but assured everyone that he would only use “economic force” on Canada. 
  Threatening to violate the sovereignty of two independent nations by force is certainly an intere
  
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• Biden cancels trip to Italy, meant as final foreign visit of presidency, as fires rage in California

  09-01-2025 17:34 via ocregister.com
  
  By ZEKE MILLER
  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden canceled the final overseas trip of his presidency just hours before he was set to depart for Rome and the Vatican, choosing to remain in Washington to monitor the response to devastating fires raging in California.
  Biden was scheduled to leave Thursday, after eulogizing former President Jimmy Carter at a memorial service in Washington, for the three-day trip to meet with Pope Francis and Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Min
  
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• Poet Billy Collins likes to leave his audiences ‘pleasantly disoriented’

  09-01-2025 17:30 via ocregister.com
  
  Midway through a conversation with poet Billy Collins, talk turns to the topic of inspiration, and how a writer recognizes the small moments around which one might build a poem.
  “It’s a good question because that’s something that isn’t written about much,” says Collins, 83, the best-selling former poet laureate of the United States. “It is a habit one develops, I think, over years. Recognizing, through all the waterfall of daily experience, and taking in
  
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• More than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, officials say

  09-01-2025 17:26 via ocregister.com
  
  By WAFAA SHURAFA and FATMA KHALED
  DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — More than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Thursday, with no end in sight to the 15-month conflict.
  The ministry said a total of 46,006 Palestinians have been killed and 109,378 wounded. It has said women and children make up more than half the fatalities, but does not say how many of the dead were fighters or civilians.
  The Israeli military says it has killed o
  
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• Van moves to California drop to 2nd-lowest share on record

  09-01-2025 17:20 via ocregister.com
  
  “Swift swings” takes a quick peek at one economic trend.
  The number: California’s inability to attract other Americans is reinforced by statistics showing 2024 was the second worst for van relocations to the state since 2004.
  The source: My trusty spreadsheet looked at my curious collection of annual migration data from three moving van lines — Allied, Atlas, and United — over two-plus decades. Let’s remember that these interstate relocations are expensive. So
  
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• Antitrust lawsuits against tech should end

  09-01-2025 17:00 via ocregister.com
  
  The federal government needs to end its antitrust crusades.
  The first case that should end is United States v. Google LLC. The case was brought by the United States Department of Justice on Oct. 20, 2020 in the final months of Trump’s first term and has been carried on aggressively by the outgoing Biden administration.
  On Aug. 5 last year, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta found Google violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its m
  
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• Santa Ana attorney reflects on time in Jimmy Carter’s White House, president’s legacy

  09-01-2025 16:32 via ocregister.com
  
  At just 21 years old, Ruben Smith found himself giving his father a tour of the White House — a surreal moment that turned unforgettable when President Jimmy Carter strolled out of the Oval Office to the Rose Garden and greeted them in Spanish.
  The next night, at the White House Christmas party, Smith said Carter remembered their meeting and shared a drink with Smith’s father, chatting as if they were old friends.
  For Smith, now an attorney living in Santa Ana, that brief encounter c
  
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• Schools cancel classes across the Southern US as another burst of winter storms move in

  09-01-2025 16:04 via ocregister.com
  
  By JAMIE STENGLE and SEAN MURPHY, Associated Press
  DALLAS (AP) — Another blast of winter storms in the U.S. on Thursday closed schools, snarled flights and put millions of residents across the South under warnings of snow and freezing rain that could cause dangerous travel conditions.
  Texas schools canceled classes for more than 1 million students before the arrival of frigid and icy weather that could last into Friday. Closures also kept students home in Kansas City and Arkansas
  
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• Plant potatoes and poinsettia in the garden this week, plus more tips

  09-01-2025 16:00 via ocregister.com
  
  5 things to do in the garden this week:
  Exotic fruit. If you are looking for a fruit that will grab the attention of kids and adults alike, consider adding a finger grapevine to your garden. Finger grapes are two inches long and have the oblong shape of certain chili peppers, growing in dense clusters on the vine. Wherever ordinary grapes will grow, finger grapes will grow as well. Both green and black finger varieties are occasionally seen at farmer’s markets. They are remarkable for thei
  
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• Photos: A nation says a final goodbye to President Jimmy Carter

  09-01-2025 15:46 via ocregister.com
  
  Jimmy Carter, the 39th U.S. President, was honored with a state funeral Thursday at the Washington National Cathedral before a family service in his tiny Georgia hometown of Plains.
  Here are some of the images from the day’s proceedings:
  General view of the State Funeral Service for former US President Jimmy Carter at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
  Grandson Jason Carter, speak
  
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• Watch live: Jimmy Carter honored with state funeral in Washington D.C.

  09-01-2025 14:46 via ocregister.com
  
  Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter will be honored with the pageantry of a funeral in the nation’s capital.
  Thursday’s events conclude six days of national funeral rites for the 39th president who died Dec. 29 at the age of 100.
  All of Carter’s living successors are expected to attend the Washington funeral, including President-elect Donald Trump, who paid his respects before Carter’s casket Wednesday in the Capitol Rotunda. President Joe Biden, who was the first sit
  
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• Universal Studios Hollywood closes for second day due to deadly wildfires

  09-01-2025 09:04 via ocregister.com
  
  Universal Studios Hollywood will close its gates for a second day in a row due to gusting winds that have fueled a series of deadly and destructive wildfires across Southern California.
  Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal CityWalk will be closed Thursday, Jan. 9 due to extreme winds and fire conditions.
  Sign up for our Park Life newsletter and find out what’s new and interesting every week at Southern California’s theme parks. Subscribe here.
  “The safety of our team membe
  
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• Larry Elder: Democrats hold their noses and certify ‘insurrectionist’ Trump

  09-01-2025 08:51 via ocregister.com
  
  After President-elect Donald Trump leaned on dissident Republican U.S House members and strong-armed the reelection of Speaker Mike Johnson, congressional Democrats — and Republicans — marveled at Trump’s power and influence.
  When the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Colorado could not prevent Trump from appearing on that state’s primary, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a member of the House Jan. 6 Committee, remained defiant. On CNN, Raskin said: “I disagree wi
  
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• Will fiscal responsibility now become the cornerstone of economic policy?

  09-01-2025 08:46 via ocregister.com
  
  The arrival of a new presidential administration invokes new beginnings and a break from the past. Still, realities from previous administrations remain, such as a fiscal challenge that demands immediate attention. It may weigh on the newcomers even more than they realize today. We can only hope they take it more seriously than their predecessors have done.
  The longstanding notion that debt accumulation is benign, based largely on interest rates that for a time fell below growth rates, has prove
  
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• Los Alamitos boys basketball grabs control of Sunset League by knocking off Corona del Mar

  09-01-2025 08:24 via ocregister.com
  
  NEWPORT BEACH – On the Los Alamitos boys basketball team, seemingly any player could be the star player any given game.
  Liam Gray was that player Wednesday night.
  Gray scored a game-high 26 points for the Griffins in a 73-69 win over Corona del Mar in a Sunset League game before a large crowd at Corona del Mar High.
  Los Alamitos’ Trent Minter, left, puts up a shot over Corona del Mar’s Jackson Harlan in a Sunset League boys basketball game in Newport Beach on Wednesday, Jan. 8,
  
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• Mater Dei girls water polo seeded first for Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions

  09-01-2025 08:13 via ocregister.com
  
  Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe nowOrange County’s top girls water polo teams — Mater Dei, Orange Lutheran and Newport Harbor — will compete in a major tournament for the second straight weekend but could encounter some roster twists at the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions.
  Three county players and two from San Marcos have been selected to the U.S. national team for a World Cup that starts in Greece on Tuesday.
  Orang
  
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• Katella boys basketball finishes strong to pull out victory over Garden Grove

  09-01-2025 07:56 via ocregister.com
  
  GARDEN GROVE — Tenacity, grit and a clutch 3-pointer from Michael Montejo with 90 seconds remaining in the game were the deciding factors in Katella’s come-from-behind, 63-61 victory over Garden Grove in an Orange Coast League boys basketball game Wednesday at Garden Grove High School.
  After leading briefly, 4-0, in the first quarter, the Knights (11-5, 2-0) fell behind to the Argonauts (11-10, 0-1) and eventually faced a double-digit deficit in the third quarter.
  The Knights had bee
  
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• Tips for handling insurance claims after a disaster

  09-01-2025 07:38 via ocregister.com
  
  The trauma begins with an evacuation order.
  After rounding up your medications, personal documents, laptop, family photos and making your escape, you then spend endless, helpless hours worrying about whether your home will survive.
  Then, comes the unspeakable horror of learning your home has burned down. And that’s just the beginning of what can be a years-long process of recovering from a wildfire.
  Insurance officials say the claims process goes through a succession of stages, from the in
  
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• Mission Viejo boys basketball starts league play with victory over Capistrano Valley

  09-01-2025 07:36 via ocregister.com
  
  MISSION VIEJO — Mission Viejo’s boys basketball team snapped an 11-game Sea View League losing streak by beating Capistrano Valley 41-33 Wednesday at Capistrano Valley High.
  The Diablos (9-11, 1-0) went 0-9 in league play last season in Keith Herbold’s first season as head coach and lost their last two league games in 2023.
  “This is what we talked about,” Herbold said. “We said, ‘let’s prove that we are a good team and start our league with a win o
  
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