The CIF-SS baseball polls released Monday, April 1.

As selected by the CIF-SS Baseball Advisory Committee

DIVISION 1

1 Cypress

2 Orange Lutheran

3 Harvard Westlake

4 La Mirada

5 JSerra

6 Ayala

7 Huntington Beach

8 Aliso Niguel

9 Notre Dame/Sherman Oaks

10 Yucaipa

Others: Beckman, Bishop Amat

DIVISION 2

1 Arcadia

2 San Dimas

3 Quartz Hill

4 Thousand Oaks

5 Agoura

6 Kaiser

7 Redondo Union

8 La Quinta

9 Rio Mesa

10 Damien

Others: Santa Fe, Millikan, Temescal Canyon, Simi Valley, Crescenta Valley, Bonita, Oaks Christian

DIVISION 3

1 Chaparral

2 Jurupa Hills

3 La Canada

4 Great Oak

5 Marina

6 Oxnard

7 Warren

8 Paloma Valley

9 Paraclete

10 Oak Hills

Others: San Gorgonio, Grand Terrace, West Torrance, Long Beach Poly

DIVISION 4

1 Alhambra

2 Sonora

3 La Sierra

4 Culver City

5 Citrus Hill

6 Canyon Springs

7 Muir

8 Malibu

9 Kennedy

10 North Torrance

Others: Carter, Mary Star of the Sea, St. Paul

DIVISION 5

1 Century

2 Indio

3 Pasadena Poly

4 Bishop Diego

5 Rancho Verde

6 Barstow

7 Pomona

8 Dunn

9 Flintridge Prep

10 San Jacinto

Others: Buckley, Savanna, Arrowhead Christian, Rolling Hills Prep

DIVISION 6

1 Gladstone

2 Webb

3 Sultana

4 Faith Baptist

5 St. Anthony

6 St. Monica

7 AB Miller

8 Adelanto

9 Rio Hondo Prep

10 Calvary Murrieta

Others: Costa Mesa, Excelsior Charter, Santa Clara

DIVISION 7

1 Southwestern Academy

2 United Christian Academy

3 Marshall

4 Lennox Academy

5 University Prep

6 Antelope Valley Christian

7 Vasquez

8 Pacifica Christian

9 Ojai Valley

10 Calvary Chapel/Downey

Others: None

Wake up to the smell of croissants, fresh baguettes and more French favorites because Moulin opened its third bistro in San Clemente on Monday, April 1.

The popular restaurant, with locations in Newport and Laguna, has ventured farther down the coast, taking over a space in the historic Casino San Clemente building. Built in 1937, it was once a gathering spot for Hollywood stars. It’s still a landmark on North Beach for tourists and locals alike.

The 1,500 square-foot, 60-seat bistro has an ocean-view patio and opened with a limited menu of pastries, breads and sandwiches. Eventually it will offer Croque Madame, omelets, eggs Benedict, rotisserie chicken and other plates. Moulin will serve coffee drinks and a selection of beers and wines.

“California’s surf culture is what drew me to the U.S. from France nearly 35 years ago,” said owner Laurent Vrignaud. “Today, I’m constantly drawn back to the beach. Moulin’s new location at Casino San Clemente is the ideal destination to recreate my love for Paris with a touch of childhood memories spent at the beach.”

Moulin

Info: 120 W. Avenida Pico, 949-441-7040, moulinbistro.com.

Open: 7 a.m.-3 p.m. daily.

President Franklin Roosevelt’s re-election in 1936 was the largest electoral college victory since George Washington’s uncontested elections. His popular vote triumph was 60.8 percent to 36.5 percent. FDR saw the vote as an endorsement of his New Deal approach to the Great Depression.

Arraigned against him was the U.S. Supreme Court, which the year before had struck down the heart of the New Deal: the National Industrial Recovery Act.

With a tremendous political wind at his back, and the target easily identified, FDR declared war on the Supreme Court. He proposed a law to add new Justices, one for every current Justice over 70, who had served 10 years.  That would give FDR six new appointments.

Today’s U.S. Supreme Court has also issued unpopular decisions. The court’s striking down limitations on corporate campaign spending in Citizens United was so shocking to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, that he promised to extract a promise to reverse it from anyone he would nominate to the Supreme Court.

In two cases pending in the courts of Appeals, the Supreme Court will likely overturn the Affordable Health Act, known as “Obamacare.” Once, that might have seemed a popular decision.  However, Obamacare’s popularity has grown since its adoption nine years ago. The loss of coverage of pre-existing conditions and of health insurance for one’s children up to age 26 would likely prompt a public outcry today.

The greatest of all controversies will come should the court reverse Roe v. Wade.  Four Justices are likely to do so right now, with Chief Justice John Roberts unpredictable. Should Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg leave the court, the chances of reversal would rise even more. All recent Justice nominees have, in their hearings, referred to Roe v. Wade as “settled law,” but “settled law” has been overturned by the Supreme Court more than 300 times. Segregation was settled law for 58 years before the court unanimously struck it down in 1954.

Should 2020 bring a Democratic presidential victory, especially a substantial one, the alignment of politics and Supreme Court controversy would match that of 1936. Four Democratic candidates have already promised to expand the number of Supreme Court Justices. Adding special energy to their announced plans is a sense of having had a Supreme Court Justice “stolen” from the Democrats when President Obama’s appointment of Judge Merrick Garland was not acted upon by the Republican Senate.

Expanding the number of Justices can be done without amending the Constitution. The number of Justices is set by Congress: there have been as few as six and as many as ten. The same electoral factors bringing a Democrat into the White House might switch control of the Senate, just as President Barack Obama’s election did in 2008; the House, of course, is already Democratic.

So, it’s legally possible, and already being seriously discussed in the political environment, to expand the Supreme Court in order to obtain different rulings.

FDR’s plan was rejected by his own party in Congress in 1937. Americans then, and now, recognize how much our country needs a non-political judicial branch of government. Outrage at any specific Supreme Court opinion should not be the motivation for tampering with that institution. Opinions are reversed over time, some by Constitutional amendment, some by the court itself.  Presidential candidates who call for patience over instant gratification should be seen as statesmen; the others, as enablers of the further political degradation of American government.

Tom Campbell is the Doy and Dee Henley Professor of Jurisprudence at Chapman University, where he is also a Professor of Economics. He is the author of “Separation of Powers in Practice,” clerked on the US Supreme Court, and worked in the US Justice Department. He was a Congressman for five terms, as a Republican. He changed his registration to independent in 2016.

Attorney Michael Avenatti on Monday made his first appearance at the Orange County federal courthouse since his arrest a week ago on wire and bank fraud charges in Southern California and extortion charges in New York.

Avenatti, who famously represented porn star Stormy Daniels in her legal battles against President Donald Trump and who at one time held his own presidential ambitions, did not enter a plea.

Appearing at ease as he smiled and laughed with his attorneys prior to the hearing getting underway, Avenatti waived his right to a preliminary hearing at which a judge would decide if there is enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial.

Magistrate Judge John D. Earl ordered Avenatti to return to court April 29 to be arraigned on an expected indictment. Avenatti’s attorneys indicated that they may seek to waive his appearance at that hearing, and to enter a not guilty plea on his behalf.

After the hearing, Avenatti briefly stopped to address the large crowd of media gathered outside the downtown Santa Ana courthouse.

“For nearly 20 years I have represented Davids versus Goliaths as an attorney,” Avenatti said. “Throughout that entire time period I have relied on the justice system and judges sitting in courthouses just like this. I will now spend the time in connection to this case and the case in New York, relying on that same justice system that I have now subjected myself to. And I am highly confident that that when the process plays out, justice will be done.”

Several hecklers attempted to speak over Avenatti, one yelling “lock him up” several times. A supporter exclaimed “love you Michael,” as Avenatti walked away.

In California, federal prosecutors allege that Avenatti obtained $4 million in fraudulent bank loans and pocketed $1.6 million belonging to a client.

In a separate case in New York, Avenatti, is accused by prosecutors of trying to shake Nike down for millions of dollars by not making public allegations that the company paid off high school basketball players.

As he awaits trial, Avenatti will remain free under the terms of his release from New York, which included a $300,000 bond.

Avenatti came to public prominence by representing Daniels, who contended that President Trump paid her to keep quiet about an alleged affair prior to the 2016 election. He has been dogged by allegations from a former partner and a former client that he hid money to avoid paying them what he owed.

It isn’t clear which of the two cases, New York or Orange County, will move forward first, in which jurisdiction.

Pitching depth could help two of Orange County’s top softball teams this week as they attempt to navigate league games Tuesday as well as the prestigious Michelle Carew Classic.

Top-ranked Los Alamitos (11-3) appears much-better equipped for the challenge with the return of pitcher Sarah Ladd from injury but also can count on Tyler Denhart.

No. 3 Orange Lutheran (13-4-1), seeking a fourth consecutive trip to the Carew finals, features Miranda Stoddard, Mia Bagatourian and Taryn Lennon in the circle, arguably the best trio in the county.

“This will be the week that pitching depth is going to help us a lot,” Orange Lutheran coach Steve Miklos said. “We got a tough week. We got six good games we’re going to play.”

Orange Lutheran plays host to defending Trinity League champion and No. 12 Mater Dei (9-6-1) on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. The Lancers open the Carew on Thursday with an afternoon-evening, double-header against Saugus and Buena in pool play at Peralta Park in Anaheim.

Los Alamitos plays at No. 8 Edison in the Surf League on Tuesday and then begins the Carew with an evening double-header Thursday against Mountain View of Arizona and Murrieta Mesa.

Griffins coach Rob Weil believes he has two excellent pitching options in Ladd and Denhart for the Carew, which also features juggernaut Norco (18-0).

“I feel confident in putting Denhart or Ladd out there because Denhart proved in Mojave (Dave Kops Tournament of Champions in Arizona) that she’s a gamer and she can pitch big games,” Weil said. “It’s not going to be an easy road (at the Carew) and we’re going to have to use our pitching staff.”

If the Griffins reach Saturday afternoon’s 11 a.m. semifinal, they could face Norco, which beat Los Alamitos in the finals of the Tournament of Champions.

One of the top county games at the Carew will be on Wednesday’s opening day when No. 6 Pacifica takes on Mater Dei in a pool play game at Peralta Park at 7:30 p.m.

Canyon and Huntington Beach are the other county teams in the Carew. The championship game is Saturday at Peralta Park at 7:30 p.m.

WOODBRIDGE UPDATE

El Modena, Edison, El Dorado, Esperanza and Brea Olinda reached Monday night’s quarterfinals in the Gold Division at the Dugard Classic at Bill Barber Park in Irvine. The semifinals and finals at Saturday.

NOTES

Santa Margarita ace Bella Fiorentino, who beat Orange Lutheran 1-0 last week, is 13-1 with 1.34 ERA. … Aliso Niguel pitcher Carley Brown went 3-0 in the circle last week, including a perfect game against La Salle of Oregon. Aliso Niguel freshman Victoria Griffith batted .700 last week. … Pacifica coach Martin Mojica, who is helping coach the Mariners after the death of coach Mark Campbell, said the players held a walk-through for their well-executed, on-field ceremony for Campbell last week. “Some of these girls (also) played travel ball with him,” Mojica said. “We have shoes we’ll never fill but we got to do the best we can.”

SANTA ANA — A federal judge in Santa Ana on Monday dismissed a lawsuit filed by relatives of three of the victims killed in the 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, saying the tort claim of negligence is outweighed by the government’s sovereign immunity.

Relatives of shooting victims Nicholas Thalasinos of Colton, Sierra Clayborn of Moreno Valley and Tin Nguyen of Santa Ana accused the government of negligence for failing to investigate Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, the husband-and-wife jihadis who lived in Redlands and killed 14 people and wounded two dozen others during a Christmas party at the Inland Regional Center on Dec. 2, 2015.

The plaintiffs alleged that Farook and Malik’s weapons supplier and friend, Enrique Marquez Jr., had ties to Tablighi Jamaat, a global Islamic organization linked to terrorism networks, U.S. District Judge Andrew Guilford said in his ruling.

The plaintiffs argued that the government was negligent in failing to investigate the couple to deny them entry into the country, or to provide adequate security to stop them from perpetrating the massacre.

Guilford ruled that such negligence would fall into an exception in constitutional law that prevents such claims. The judge specifically stated that the government can be shielded in such cases because it is “protected by sovereign immunity.”

Guilford noted that the plaintiffs argued officials “should have, but didn’t act on available intelligence,” but, he added, “this is exactly the type of discretionary government function that sovereign immunity protects” because investigations are discretionary, not mandatory.

“The heightened tragic circumstances in this case do not create an exception to the legal principle that private citizens may not sue the government in tort for making discretionary, policy-oriented decisions,” Guilford wrote. “A contrary result would be both legally and politically unworkable. The court’s strongest sympathies lie with the victims of this shooting and their families. But this case lacks a legal foundation to move forward.”

Farook and Malik pledged allegiance to Islamic State before carrying out the IRC rampage, during which they used semiautomatic rifles purchased by Marquez to gun down Farook’s colleagues from the San Bernardino County Department of Environmental Health Services , according to federal investigators.

The pair intended to continue their killing spree but were stopped a few hours later when they were fatally wounded during a gun battle with sheriff’s deputies.

Marquez pleaded guilty in 2017 to providing material support to terrorists and making false accusations in the acquisition of firearms. However, his attorney is scheduled to argue in U.S. District Court in Riverside next month that the plea agreement with the government should be abrogated because the defendant made the admissions without comprehending what he was doing.

Though a charge of immigration fraud against Marquez was dropped in exchange for his plea, three other defendants, including Farook’s older brother, 33-year-old Syed Farook, were federally charged for the bogus marriage into which Marquez entered with Syed Farook’s sister-in-law, 28-year-old Mariya Chernykh.

She, her sister — and Farook’s wife — 34-year-old Tatiana Farook, along with Farook ultimately pleaded guilty to immigration fraud-related counts. They’re all slated to be sentenced later this year.

The highs and lows of horse racing were on full display this past weekend when Brian Trump, racing manager for Rockingham Ranch, saw one of his horses win a major stakes race, only to be greeted by news the next day that another of his horses had died.

Trump had just stepped off a plane Sunday at LAX after returning home from witnessing X Y Jet’s victory in the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen when he heard the horrifying news about Arms Runner, who became the 23rd fatality of Santa Anita’s winter meet when he was injured during the San Simeon Stakes and had to be euthanized.

“The range of emotions in the past 24 hours has left me at a loss for words,” Trump said in a text message Monday afternoon. “From winning the Golden Shaheen with X Y Jet to losing our sweet Arms Runner … the emotions have been more than I can handle.”

This is the sixth year that Rockingham Ranch, run by Trump and his father-in-law, Gary Hartunian, has been in business. Arms Runner was the first horse they’ve lost since the meet began Dec. 26.

“As I reflect this morning, I can tell you that the accident at Santa Anita (Sunday) was just that, an unfortunate accident,” Trump said. “As you saw, Arms Runner took a misstep when crossing from the turf to the dirt and was coming down the hill with such momentum that the jockey (Martin Pedroza) was unable to slow him down before he collided with another horse (La Sardane).”

Rockingham Ranch has experienced more than its share of highs in the sport. Trump and Hartunian own a pair of two-time Breeders’ Cup winners — Roy H (Sprint) and Stormy Liberal (Turf Sprint). They had hoped to also run Roy H in the Golden Shaheen, but he developed a sore foot and was scratched three days before the race.

X Y Jet, who has undergone multiple knee surgeries, went gate to wire in his victory Saturday after disappointing second-place finishes in the Golden Shaheen last year and in 2016.

Still, the 7-year-old gelding’s victory hardly made the news about Arms Runner any easier to swallow.

It was the devastating part of the sport that all horsemen hope to avoid.

“The Santa Anita track has had to deal with record-breaking rains this fall and have brought in expert after expert to provide the safest possible surface for these horses, and after speaking with other horsemen and jockeys, we are confident that the track is safe,” Trump said.

Of the 23 fatalities, seven have occurred on the main dirt track during racing, six (including Arms Runner) on the turf and 10 during morning training. One of the deaths was the result of a heart attack.

Interviewed by the Southern California News Group two weeks ago, Trump said he was in favor of moving the remainder of the Santa Anita meet to Los Alamitos or Del Mar if that’s what it took to continue racing and ensure the horses would be safe.

“I would be in favor of whatever it takes to keep racing in California,” he said shortly before Belinda Stronach, president and chairman of The Stronach Group, released her open letter that outlined a list of sweeping changes at TSG’s two California tracks, Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields.

“As long as we can race our horses here and keep them safe. Ultimately, the safety being first and then racing second.”

Trump reiterated Monday the importance of safety.

“Our team would never put a horse out there to race if we didn’t feel that the track was safe and our horse was 100 percent healthy,” he said. “Point in case, we just had to scratch two-time Eclipse Sprint champion Roy H from the Dubai Golden Shaheen after shipping him across the world to run in the biggest purse ($2.5 million) available for dirt sprinters. And two months ago we scratched Stormy Liberal from a race in Florida after they endured rain and the race was switched to a dirt surface.

“The safety of our horses always comes first and if they ever show any sign of potential injury, we immediately scratch them from the race and remove them from training until they have recovered. Our horses receive the best available care that you could imagine and each one of them holds a special place in our hearts.”

The latest catastrophic injury came on the heels of what figures to be Santa Anita’s biggest weekend. For the first time in history Saturday, the $1 million Santa Anita Derby and $600,000 Santa Anita Handicap will be run on the same day after the latter race had to be rescheduled because it fell on a day (March 9) when racing was canceled.

In addition to the Derby and Big ‘Cap, Santa Anita will host five other stakes races Saturday, including the $400,000 Santa Anita Oaks.

When the Rams signed C.J. Anderson last December, the veteran running back had been cut three times over the past year. They viewed Anderson as insurance for an injured Todd Gurley. They had no idea Anderson would come to mean much more than that.

In a matter of weeks, Anderson became a vital part of the Rams’ run to the Super Bowl. Now, a few months after their loss to the Patriots in Atlanta, he’s moving on.

Anderson signed a one-year deal with the Lions on Monday, ending a five-month tenure with the Rams, during which he averaged almost six yards per carry.

In Gurley’s absence, Anderson rushed for more than 100 yards in each of his first three games after spending more than a month unsigned. During the playoffs, Anderson was actually more effective than Gurley, who received 16 fewer carries. He also became a crucial voice in the locker room during the team’s postseason run, drawing on his past experience as a Super Bowl winner with the Denver Broncos.

Rams general manager Les Snead suggested last month that the team was considering bringing the former Pro Bowl running back back to pair with Todd Gurley, whose injured knee has been a cause for concern since the end of the season. But instead of re-signing Anderson, who rushed for 488 yards in five games for the Rams, the team ultimately chose to match an offer sheet from the Lions for their other reserve running back, Malcolm Brown, who was a restricted free agent after breaking his collarbone in early December.

Before his injury, Brown was averaging a career-high 4.9 yards per carry as Gurley’s backup. With Anderson’s short run in L.A. now over, he’ll have the first shot to carve out a larger role, as the Rams are likely to lean less on Gurley going forward.

Jessica Hernandez treated her mom to a birthday lunch in Manhattan Beach on a warm, sunny afternoon this past weekend. As they headed home to Lynwood, they chatted about this and that — Hernandez at the wheel of her 2015 Kia Forte, her mom by her side, her boyfriend and 16-year-old son in back seat.

They were transitioning onto the northbound 110 Freeway from the 91 in South Los Angeles on Saturday, March 30, when Hernandez noticed other drivers waving at her. Her car stalled. It was going downhill, so they kept rolling — and then thick, black smoke poured in through the air conditioning vent.

“Get out!” her boyfriend yelled.

Hernandez panicked. Her mother uses a walker and had kicked off her shoes. She steered to the side of the road as best she could. The men jumped out to help her mother escape. “You could feel the heat,” Hernandez said.

As they scrambled away from the car, the Kia was engulfed in flames and completely gutted. With it went her mother’s walker, as well as her medications.

“It was terrifying,” Hernandez said on Tuesday. “I couldn’t believe it was happening. No light went on saying something was wrong. My car has been fine.”

Little did Hernandez know that, at almost the same moment, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had agreed to investigate mysterious noncrash fires in some Kia and Hyundai vehicles — about nine months after a consumer group beseeched the NHTSA to do just that.

The Forte, however, is not on that list.

“It’s very unfortunate because Kia needs to fix this,” Hernandez said.

Kia did not return requests for comment on Hernandez’s situation, but on Monday the automaker issued a statement saying that customer safety and satisfaction are its top concerns.

Forte recall

Hernandez’s Forte was a 2015 model with about 90,000 miles. Kia had recalled some earlier Forte models  for electrical system problems in 2015, problems that could lead to cooling fan resistors overheating and melting, which could then increase the risk of vehicle fires, according to the recall notice.

Kia and Hyundai — which are separate companies with the same corporate parent — have recalled more than 1 million cars in the wake of fire claims and other issues. That includes the Kia Soul (model years 2012-2016), Hyundai Tucson (2011-2013), Kia Sportage (2011-2012) and Kia Sedona (2015-18).

The NHTSA’s probes, announced Monday, will gather information on the 2011-2014 Kia Optima and Sorento, 2010-2015 Kia Soul, and 2011-2014 Hyundai Sonata and Sante Fe.

Might Hernandez’s issue be related?

“Essentially, we have a large fleet spanning four and eight years, if not more, regularly catching on fire in noncrash situations,” said Jason Levine, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, the nonprofit that pushed the NHTSA to open its probe.

“As we saw with the NHTSA announcement yesterday, the manufacturers have a significantly higher number of fire reports than they have been letting on. It’s long past the point for Kia or Hyundai to suggest that these things are unique and unusual or coincidental.”

When the Center for Auto Safety asked the federal government to investigate last year, it had gathered information on 120 noncrash fires. The manufacturers, it turns out, have logged many, many more — for a total of 3,125 reports of noncrash fires, according to the NHTSA.

‘A tremendous problem’

“What’s clearly connected is there’s an ongoing series of reports of noncrash fires involving these vehicles,” Levine said. “The federal probe is a positive first step, but an investigation doesn’t fix the problem. What we want to see is an effective repair. Clearly, the manufacturers are having a tremendous problem.”

It’s Hernandez’s problem now, too.

She works as a patient advocate at a surgery center in Culver City. She missed work Monday for lack of transportation, and must depend on others for rides until Kia and/or her insurance company come through with a rental. She made reports to Kia and the NHTSA, and is unclear what remedy awaits.

“As time goes by, I’m getting more angry about the situation,” she said. “Kia needs to resolve this issue. It was a scary moment and no one should go through this. I could only imagine babies and their car seats and I don’t want anything like that to happen.  We need to be heard and something has to be done.”

Maybe it’s another sign the housing market is cooling down. Maybe it’s because many of the homes, whose former owners are dead, weren’t very desirable to begin with.

Whatever the reason, just 13 bidders showed up for the Orange County Public Administrator’s real estate auction on Saturday, March 30.

When the bidding was over, just three of the homes sold. Four others failed to get a single bid and will have to be reauctioned in a future sale, officials said.

All seven homes – two houses, three condos and two Leisure World co-ops – were part of the public administrator’s first property auction in more than two years.

Probate judges appoint the public administrator to liquidate a dead person’s estate, paying off debts and distributing proceeds to heirs when he or she dies without a will or without anyone to handle his or her affairs.

Past property sales drew big turnouts and heated bidding by bargain hunters. Not so in this case.

The one exception was a three-bedroom house on a large lot in Rossmoor.

The outdated fixer-upper drew seven bidders and sold for $1.3 million, or almost $500,000 above the minimum bid. That’s the second-highest price paid for a three-bedroom house in Rossmoor in the past 12 months, according to online real estate site Redfin.com.

Redfin data show prices for the 38 Rossmoor houses ranged from $450,000 to $1.4 million, with an average price of almost $993,000. And the house in Saturday’s sale was in bad shape.

“It’s a good deal for an 11,000-square-foot lot if you have $1 million to put a new home on it,” said Bryan Geiger, another bidder. “(The buyer’s) probably going to put a 4,000-square-foot house on that lot.”

The second-highest price paid in Saturday’s auction was $412,000 for a historic 841-square-foot house in Old Towne Orange. Two bidders competed, with the winning bid coming $25,000 above the minimum.

Just one bid was tendered for an 838-square-foot, two-story condo at the Harbor Heights Villas in Huntington Beach. The buyer paid the minimum bid of $351,000 – a deal, perhaps, since a similarly-sized unit nearby is listed for $54,000 more.

The co-op units in Laguna Woods and Seal Beach, as well as condos in Fullerton and Laguna Hills, now will be included in a sealed-bid sale to be announced next week. To get on the county’s PA Real Property Email Distribution List, email property manager Matt George at matt.george@da.ocgov.com.

Starting this week, Santa Ana residents and businesses that purchase a vehicle in the city can receive a $500 rebate.

The Vehicle Incentive Program, unanimously approved by the City Council last month, is being implemented to help mitigate the city’s 1.5 cent sales tax that also went into effect April 1. City voters approved in November the local sales tax, which is expected to bring in an additional $60 million in revenue a year for the first 10 years for Santa Ana’s annual operating budget.

Through a $1.7 million annual agreement between the city and the Orange County Auto Dealers Association, the dealers will give Santa Ana-based customers the $500 rebate at the time of purchase and then be reimbursed by the city.

“It provides an  incentive to our residents to make one of their most expensive purchases for their family here in Santa Ana,” Santa Ana Community Development Director Steven Mendoza said. “We’re very supportive and proud of  this program.”

The participating Santa Ana dealers are: Crevier BMW, Crevier Mini, Freeway Honda, Audi South Coast, Guaranty Chevrolet, Subaru Orange Coast, Lincoln South Coast, Tom’s Truck Center, Volkswagen South Coast and Volvo of Orange County.

The rebate applies to new, used and leased vehicles.

The program will be in place for two years, and if successful, be extended an additional two years with the option of a final one-year extension.

With this week’s increase, sales tax in Santa Ana is 9.25 percent, the highest of any Orange County city.

Local dealerships had expressed concern the higher sales tax would spur residents to go outside the city to purchase vehicles, causing a decline in sales for the dealers and therefore less tax revenue for the city.

In 2017, Santa Ana dealers sold residents 2,285 vehicles, with  $739,390 in sales tax going to the city from vehicle sales.

Each dealership has made a commitment to spend $25,000 to promote the rebate program.

“We’re just  trying to protect the residents of Santa Ana,” Al Parajeckas, general manager of Crevier BMW, said.

The city of Westminster adopted a similar $500 rebate program in 2017 after voters there approved a sales tax increase.

“We want to sell cars,” Mayor Miguel Pulido said. “We have some of the best dealers in the country here in Santa Ana. We don’t want to get in their way and end up reducing sales. I think we can be doing campaigns here in town encouraging more of our residents to shop local and we can use this to do that.”

Frustrated by continual delays in refurbishing the Whittier Narrows Dam, U.S. Rep. Grace Napolitano summoned the commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to her office in Washington D.C. last week.

Her tete-a-tete with Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite produced the same refrain the agency has been telling the 1 million people threatened by flooding if the eroding dam were to fail: The $500 million project will be completed in 2025 — at the soonest.

Not satisfied, Napolitano, D-El Monte, who is 82, said she’s been working on getting the Army Corps to hasten the project for the last 12 years and wondered if she’d be alive by the time it gets finished.

So she sweetened the pot.

On Tuesday, Napolitano, D-El Monte and U.S. Rep. Linda Sánchez, D-Norwalk asked a House Appropriations subcommittee to funnel $100.4 million into the Army Corps’ construction and dam safety correction budget for fiscal year 2020, citing the Whittier Narrows Dam in Pico Rivera as a leading contender for at least part of that funding.

The two members of Congress sent a letter to U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, chairwoman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Resources. It was also signed by reps. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena; Gilbert Cisneros Jr. D-Fullerton and Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach.

The letter said the repair of the 62-year-old dam is urgent, “due to recently identified flood risk concerns and the large population of downstream residents. The human and economic impact of possible dam failure due to potential seepage and hydrologic issues is unacceptable.”

However, money may not be the issue. The Army Corps is close but finalization of the environmental documents is two months away. And even though the dam is one of 13 “high risks” dams in the country, it is the only one for which a final design has not yet been approved.

“He was adamant that they will finish,” Napolitano said during a phone interview Tuesday, sounding not completely convinced, because the project has not begun. Even if all the environmental reviews are completed as planned, construction would not start until 2021, she said.

“It isn’t something that we can ignore anymore. We don’t know what Mother Nature can do. We could get a 100-year flood,” she said.

Indeed, the Army Corps’ recently reclassified the dam to “very high urgency” because if something does go drastically wrong during a major storm, the water would spill downstream into homes at a rate of three Olympic-sized swimming pools every second, the project manager told an audience during a meeting in January in Alhambra.

If a storm were to bring the reservoir to capacity, water would overflow the concrete spillway, sending 276,000 cubic feet per second of water downstream, overflowing the banks of the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo rivers and affecting the communities of:

• Artesia
• Bell Gardens
• Bellflower
• Carson
• Cerritos
• Commerce
• Compton
• Cypress
• Downey
• Hawaiian Gardens
• La Palma
• Lakewood
• Long Beach
• Lynwood
• Montebello
• Norwalk
• Paramount
• Pico Rivera
• Rossmoor
• Santa Fe Springs
• Seal Beach
• South Gate
• Whittier

The liability forms said nothing about haunting.

Which was reassuring: I did, after all, have a growing list of people to come for if I died.

On Tuesday, April 2, the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach hosted its annual media day, with dozens of folks — mostly reporters — getting to hobnob with professional drivers and race officials before the three-day event begins in earnest next week and 180,000 people descend on downtown.

Media day’s highlight, however, was not the glad-handing.

It was the chance, for some, to zip around the 1.97-mile track in a race car — at about 180 miles an hour. And I was one of those.

So, yeah, about that list.

The second spot on my haunting itinerary belonged to a colleague, Hayley Munguia. The Grand Prix had two types of race cars offering rides, one from the GT4 America series and the other from the IndyCar series. At first glance, the former seems safer: It has a roof, for one thing. It’s also bigger and, according to Grand Prix spokesman Chris Esslinger, it goes slower. The Indy car, meanwhile, is a full-time convertible and looks far too similar to the X-Wing fighter from “Star Wars,” minus the wings.

“I say go hard or go home,” Munguia said last week.

The Indy Car it was then.

“Don’t die,” she added.

On Tuesday morning, I checked in at the front desk and headed for the black tent where I’d suit up.

For the uninitiated, the area around the Long Beach Convention Center transforms during the Grand Prix.

The familiar mixes with the alien.

The street lights at Linden Avenue and Shoreline Drive, where the racing pit is, still turn from green to yellow to red. But cement partitions, chain-link fences and walls of stacked tires turn the place into a maze.

At the check-in desk, with the Convention Center behind me, I gave my name to Shannon Kennedy, the one responsible for suiting everyone up.

She handed me a form. It was to make sure no one sued.

“First time?” She asked.

“Yep.”

“You’ll love it.”

I handed Kennedy the form — with emergency contact and insurance information filled out — and took a couple of steps toward a wardrobe.

Kennedy took a red jumpsuit off its hanger, and told me to take off my shoes.

I slid into the onesie, zipped it up and put my shoes back on.

“Have you done this before?” I asked.

“I have,” Kennedy said. “It’s quite a ride.”

Then I walked to the pit.

Two Indy cars sat parked on the roadway, one gold, the other red – both looking alarmingly vulnerable if they were to, say, crash into a wall.

There were six of us in the first group, and things would go quick, an organizer said.

Two at a time. The next pair donning a balaclava, helmet and gloves while the previous duo flirted with death.

Zach Veach, a second-year IndyCar pro, would drive me around the track.

Veach is below average height, for a man, with a slight build. He turned 24 in December.

As we waited for the go ahead, Veach put on a ball cap.

“Is it true you can go bald if you wear hats all the time?” he asked Colby Redmond, a spokeswoman from IndyCar.

“It’s hereditary on your mom’s side.” she replied.

“Oh, good,” Veach said. “Or I’d be bald by the time I’m 30.”

I’m 30 years old, and at the moment, baldness wasn’t much of a concern. Redmond introduced us, and I asked Veach if he was the one in whose hands I was putting my life. Yes, he said.

“The liability contract says nothing about not haunting you if I die,” I told him, target no. 1 on my list.

He laughed.

“That’s fair,” he said. “You’d deserve that.”

Then, it was time.

Veach swapped the cap for a helmet and sat in the front of the red car’s two-seat cockpit; the other driver got into the gold car.

The first group of reporters got into the cars, too, and the pit crews strapped them in.

The engines came to life. A low, drumroll-like rumble hit my ears.

Then, the cars pounced. The rumble, in an instant, shot upward, like a symphony of snare drums – amplified, piercing.

Dust from the tires went into the air. Burned rubber filled my nostrils. A rock kicked sideways and pelted me in the hand.

Then the race cars were gone. The din faded. It was the second group’s time to finish suiting up.

About five minutes later, it was my turn.

I slid into the car, let the crew fidget with my straps and place a curved, metal bar behind my neck – to prevent whiplash – and waited.

And waited.

Before getting into his car, Veach said that he’d take his passengers around the track at around 170, 180 miles an hour. During a race, the cars can hit 240.

But sitting in the car, feeling the engine’s smooth drumroll, there didn’t seem to be much of a difference.

At least, I thought, the straps around my chest – which the crews double-checked – were tight. I shouldn’t fly out.

I took a breath and looked around:

The Convention Center to the right. The ocean, somewhere out of view, to the left. A road I’ve driven countless times before ahead and behind me.

Then – the car pounced again.

The acceleration, for a moment, paralyzed my body against the seat. Even without straps, I couldn’t have moved. Then my body relaxed.

We headed up Shorelline Drive. The cacophony – encasing me now – seemed not as loud; my ears filled with pressure – as if aboard an airplane – and muted the world.

Suddenly, Veach braked. My chest leapt forward against the straps. Veach accelerated and back I went. He accelerated, turned, braked, accelerated.

The Grand Prix, after all, is a street race – sharp turns and all.

As Veach drove me on a tour of downtown, I tried to catch my bearings. But I was lost.

Long Beach’s architecture passed by in a blur. Only a quick glimpse at the Pike saved my sense of direction.

Veach zoomed the car onto Seaside Way and punched it again.

Then it finally hit me:

This is fun.

I’ve driven above the speed limit on the freeway before, hoping there were no police around the bend, but I was now traveling twice as fast as I’d ever gone in a car.

I wanted to keep going.

But seconds later, Veach eased off the gas, and pulled back onto Shoreline and into the pits.

It was over.

The crews unstrapped me and told me to climb out. I took off my helmet.

Someone – in the moment, I wasn’t sure who – asked how I liked it.

“Awesome,” I said.

Our staff photographer took my picture in front of Veach and his car. I gave a cheesy thumbs up.

“I survived,” I told her.

We began to leave the track.

“Hey, Chris,” a voice said.

It was Kelsey Duckett, a Grand Prix spokeswoman who works under Esslinger. I turned around.

“I signed you up for the other race car too,” she added, pointing 50 yards ahead. There sat the GT4 America cars.

Sure, I thought.

What’s the worst that could happen?

People who like to compare the burgers and fries at Shake Shack to those at In-N-Out Burger should have an easy time of it in Long Beach.

The city has confirmed that Shake Shack is coming to shopping center 2nd & PCH. The 11-acre complex is slated for an October grand opening.

It is near the Seal Beach city line and across Pacific Coast Highway from an In-N-Out drive-thru.

Shake Shack is an East Coast thing. In-N-Out is a West Coast thing. Perhaps that’s one reason why so many burger aficionados like to argue which brand is better.

The menus are not that similar. Shake Shack serves chicken sandwiches and hot dogs as well as burgers, and is known for its frozen custards served as concrete — a thick blend with toppings — as well as in shakes and cones.

The brand started with a hot dog cart in New York’s Madison Square Park in 2004. It has grown to has more than 200 locations in the United States and 70 more worldwide.

The first Southern California Shake Shack opened on Hollywood Boulevard near the Pantages Theatre in 2016. There are now nine in Los Angeles and Orange counties and three in San Diego County.

LONG BEACH — Standing on the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach street course, waiting to give scary-fast rides to members of the media, NTT IndyCar driver Zach Veach on Tuesday looked more like he belonged in high school.

But the baby-faced 24-year-old showed he’s no kid in 2018 when he took fourth place in his first taste of this prestigious event as an IndyCar competitor. He previously finished ninth and second here in 2013 and 2014, respectively, while driving in IndyLights.

That showing last year accounts for just some of the emotions being experienced these days by the young man from Stockdale, Ohio.

Veach comes off as genuinely thrilled to be in his second season as a full-time IndyCar driver. When he was asked how stoked he is about his career, he made up a word to kind of magnify its meaning.

“I’m an overstoker for sure,” he said, smiling. “I’m just so excited to be here. This has been a dream of mine since I was about 4. So 20 years later, to find myself starting my second year in IndyCar, it’s incredible.”

Veach, who drives for Andretti Autosport, couldn’t stop himself.

“And all these little things keep happening that just blow me away,” he said. “Last night I got to throw out the first pitch at the Dodgers game, so I have to pinch myself all the time that this is my job.”

The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is upon us again and will be contested April 12-14. The race has, and likely always will be, a very popular event among drivers. Count Veach among them.

“The people that come out is incredible, from the fans to the celebrities,” he said on media day. “This is one of those events that just feels like it has that special aura around it.”

The course is ultra-challenging, he intimated, which seems to add to its popularity.

“As a driver, the track is so much fun,” Veach said. “I mean, it’s a fast-flowing street course. Turn 1 all the way through Turn 8, I mean, all these corners, you’re so committed to getting so much speed through that, that if you get it wrong by half an inch, you’re taking the right side or the left side of the race car off.

“It’s just full commitment. And this place allows that and rewards the guy that is able to risk it the most.”

The fourth-place here was Veach’s best result in 2018. He seemed a bit disappointed that the first two races of this season did not go well. He was 14th at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and 22nd in the IndyCar Classic at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

“We had a mechanical issue at St. Pete, which explains speed loss,” Veach said. “And COTA, we qualified ninth and just had a bad start, got hit off the track and basically spent the rest of the day running around at the back.

The Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama is Sunday in Birmingham.

DRIFTING

While drifting is one of the Grand Prix’s support series, Formula Drift is its own series and will open its season this weekend on part of the Grand Prix of Long Beach course.

Practice will begin Friday at 10 a.m. with qualifying set for 1:15 p.m. Practice on Saturday will begin at 9 a.m. with main competition in the Round of 32 scheduled for 11. The Round of 16 that will determine the champion is scheduled for 3 p.m.

Members of the media were also offered drifting rides Tuesday.

As the Final Four approaches, it is again time for a reminder that the people most responsible for the success of March Madness are the same ones who get the least out of it. One of the most popular sporting events of the year is one in which oceans of money are passed around (TV networks to NCAA, NCAA to conferences, conferences to schools, schools to coaches, and did we mention shoe companies to schools, coaches, etc.).

And yet … well, this anecdote probably explains a lot. Remember when Duke’s Zion Williamson blew out a shoe (and hurt his knee) during Duke’s regular-season loss to North Carolina Feb. 20? It seems the shoe in question has disappeared, according to reports. One sports memorabilia broker suggested it would be worth as much as $250,000 if it came up for bid.

Or, as was noted on Twitter: “Some more money Zion will never see.”

Some more money Zion will never see https://t.co/m19a1dsuW4

— Alexis Mansanarez (@almansanarez) March 31, 2019

Do not weep for Duke’s big man, even though his college career ended short of the finish line. He will soon be very, very rich, a one-and-done who will likely be the first pick of the NBA draft. Still, doesn’t it just seem unsavory, to say the least, that all sorts of people profit off the player – his play, his image, his presence – but not the player himself?

Federal judge Claudia Wilken ruled last month on Alston v. NCAA, an antitrust case filed by a group of athletes that took dead aim at the organization’s reluctance to compensate players beyond a scholarship and the cost of attendance. She seems to be inching closer to the idea that the NCAA is dead wrong here, noting several instances of permitted exceptions that seem hypocritical alongside the organization’s devotion to amateurism, and ruling that athletes were entitled to compensation for expenses that are educational in nature.

But she stopped short of removing all restrictions on compensation. The NCAA immediately said it would appeal the ruling allowing “educational expenses” payments, which sort of tells you how dug in the organization has become on this issue.

Oh, and the other highlight of that case? NCAA lawyers insisted that the main reason their events are so popular is precisely because those players are unpaid. And never mind that (a) amateurism, originally a tool of the aristocracy in 19th century England to keep the working classes off the playing fields, is dying just about everywhere else, and (b) most of us engage in willful suspension of belief while watching college sports, putting aside the exploitation angle for a few hours just because the games are so darned entertaining.

Or maybe that suspension of belief is because we have reason to assume just about every Division I program is at least shading the rules, if not outright fracturing them. Then again, even with the bribery scandal that has occupied much of the FBI’s time over the last year, how many of the dollars allegedly involved were earmarked for players? Not nearly enough.

Maybe it’s time for a little revisionist history here.

Sam Gilbert, when he’s mentioned at all, is mentioned negatively as the construction magnate who took care of UCLA athletes for years: cars, clothes, meals, etc. What isn’t usually noted is that Gilbert willfully broke NCAA rules because, as an L.A. Times story in 2010 noted, he considered them “arcane and silly.”

If NCAA rules were ridiculous in the ’60s, ’70s and early ’80s, when Gilbert took care of players and the organization and its schools weren’t raking in nearly as much cash as they are now, what on earth would he say in 2019?

People who have read This Space in the past should know where I’m going with this. In recognition of a man who refused to play along with the hypocrisy, I again propose the Sam Gilbert Rule, a way to make the system more fair for the athletes while not impacting the universities’ ability to fund all of their Olympic sports (and, it is alleged, use walk-on positions to provide admissions spots for the children of the rich, privileged and unscrupulous, AKA Aunt Becky’s Kids).

Recruiting advantage? Please. Every program in every university at every level has a cadre of devoted followers who want to help. Why shouldn’t they provide some of that help to the athletes, directly and legally, and with a nice tax deduction where applicable?

The caveat here: Such gifts would be contingent on academic performance. Too low a GPA, or too many class absences, and the “assistance” is suspended.

That way, you really would be able to refer to “student-athletes,” as a class, with a straight face.

jalexander@scng.com

@Jim_Alexander on Twitter

The season has gotten off to a slow start, with an Opening Day loss and a few more to follow, but there’s still a lot to look forward to, Angels fans: We nailed down Mike Trout’s contract for the next 12 years and Shohei Ohtani is expected to be fully recovered from his surgery in May. So look on the bright side — the Angels lost the opener in 2002 and still won the World Series.

And did we mention? You’ll be settling into your seats with some of the best eats ever. Peanuts and Cracker Jack? Kids stuff. This season Legends Executive Chef Robert Biebrich and his crew have a lot more in store with a host of tempting new treats to try at Angel Stadium.

The Big A Burger debuts this season. Biebrich loves it so much he’s eaten it almost every day for a week — hey, no judging, product sampling is part of his job. “I’ve had it six days in a row. We call it our take on a So Cal burger with two beef patties, custom ground from Newport Meat company, American cheese — we tested cheddar but American melts so well — and a bun that we did a lot of R&D on. It’s Martin’s potato rolls that we bring in from the East Coast. That’s the same one Danny Meyer uses at the Shake Shack.”

The Change Up Kitchen concept of new items that come in once a month to honor specific player’s hometowns, ethnic backgrounds or nationalities returns, and so does  Asian food. Panda Express was popular with fans so Biebrich has brought in Legend’s own Asian concept called Bamboo Bowls.

The Saint Archer Brewing Co. dudes were on hand to talk about what’s in store from them. They have lots of craft beers on tap and for now it’s IPA 99 and Helles Lager, both of which have less alcohol by volume than many brews. “They’re approachable and lower in ABV with the IPA at 4.2 and Helles at 4 percent,” says Yiga Miyashiro, Senior Director of Brewing Operations.

Saint Archer Chef Dennis Radcliffe will switch up his menu two to three times per season and coordinate with the changing taps.

(Saint Archer, on the Club Level in right field next to the Bud Patio, is open to all ticket holders. Take the Gate 5 elevator to club level. Reservations can be made through OpenTable five days prior to the first game of each home stand. The restaurant opens two hours before the first pitch.)

It all sounds so tempting and we haven’t even mentioned Pastry Chef Tracy Felipe’s yummy desserts. We got the sneak preview and we’ll steer you to the good stuff. We’ve marked special favorites with a love-it . Here’s a list of the newbies and where to find them, along with some fan favorites you won’t want to miss.

Saint Archer Brewing Co. Restaurant — Section 348

Prices: $12-$15.

Kung Pao Drumsticks: Plump drumsticks provide more meat than little chicken wings. They’ve got a good hit of spice from arbol chilies and sambal.

Al Pastor Nachos: More of a white queso with pasilla chili and cotija cheese, served with pickled red onions, avocado salsa and cilantro, these are uptown and tasty with sauce that won’t cling to your innards and make you miserable in the 9th inning.

Thai Sticky Ribs: These pork ribs come on strong with salty fish sauce and a sweet component that makes them glisten. They’re served with an onion and cilantro salad.

Seasonal Toast: First up is nduja, charred scallions, ricotta, honey and French bread. It’s odd to have this combination on a crunchy croustade but it all seems to work if we could back off the honey a little. It clashes with that salumi spread.

Ice Cream Sandwich Trio: Not available at the tasting but here’s the lineup: red velvet cookies with horchata ice cream; triple chocolate cookies with Oaxacan chocolate ice cream; chili ginger cookies with mango sorbet.

Bamboo Bowls — Terrace and View Level, Sections 240 and 424

Prices: $11-$13.

Chicken Teriyaki Bowl: Steamed rice, broccoli and teriyaki sauce where the savory, smoky chicken is the star.

Beef Bowl: You’ll like if you’re a beef and broccoli fan. Marinated meat in a sweet soy sauce is served with steamed rice and veggie.

Chinese Chicken Salad: Crispy Asian cabbage mix slaw tossed in a sweet sesame dressing with fried wonton strips and grilled chicken is so light and refreshing we could eat tons of it. Serve this in a helmet too please!

Change Up Kitchen — Section 226, In-Seat Diners on Club level and in Diamond Club Seats

Prices: $6-$13.

Beef Birria Tacos: Shredded meat with such a profound beefy flavor it reminds us of Texas breakfast barbacoa tacos. The macho salsa rojo packs a kick and it’s served on a corn tortilla with onions and cilantro. Pass the Mexican beer!

Fried Tamales: Why take a delicious tamale and fry it? Because you can. It creates a bit of crispness on the outside of the masa as if it’s been finished on the comal or plancha. Inside it oozes cheese. Served with crema, cilantro and pickled onions.

Italian Beef Sandwich: Tender beef and loads of it is stuffed into a bun and topped with spicy, crunchy giardiniera veggies.

Empandas: Chef Hugo Sosa’s recipe of traditional ground beef picadillo is stuffed into a puff pastry and fried then served with a salsa Chilena of garlic, cilantro, sour cream and a kiss of jalapeño. So decadent.

Big A Burger — Section 106

Prices: I$10-$14.

Big A Burger: Watch out In-N-Out! This is a delicious knock-off with melty cheese, soft potato bun and secret sauce creating an eyes-roll-back-in-your-head synergy. And oh yeah, two patties, lettuce and tomato, too.

Light It Up Fries: It’s all about the caramelized onions on this one. They’re sweet and cut in bits not rings, so you get onion contrasting with the secret sauce and nacho cheese in every bite.

Shakes: Not available at the tasting but there will be chocolate and vanilla flavors for $6.50.

Dessert Cart — Club Level

Prices: $8-$15

Red Velvet Whoopie Pie: A fun take on the classic in bright red Angels colors with a magical cream cheese filling. Dreamy.

Tres Leches Parfait: Super fluffy and the cake’s just a vehicle but if you love whipped cream, go along for the ride.

Chocolate Bread Pudding: Earthy flavors but a little dry. It needs the ice cream to complete the dish, which wasn’t available at our tasting. Jury’s still out on this one.

Banana Cream Pie: Not available at the tasting but this is a shareable-size dessert loaded with whipped cream.

Cookie Sandwich Trio: Not available at the tasting.

Jumbo Rice Krispy: Rice cereal treat gets a festive drizzle of white chocolate, then dusted with sparkly red sprinkles.

Jumbo Cookie: A returning favorite but Chef Tracy has tweaked the recipe and it’s a bit more sophisticated with 76 percent cacao Valrhona chocolate chips that help balance the sugars.

Jumbo Cake Brownie:  Ever felt like you were going to break a tooth on a stale concession stand brownie? This one banishes all memory of those with a soft cake-like crumb and a batter filled with chocolate chips to punch up the flavor. No nuts. So it will please everyone, grandma to toddlers. It comes in a shareable size but since it’s for the whole family, better get three so there’s no fighting.

Bourbon Blondies: Super sweet, butterscotchy and caramelly would go great with whiskey but it’s pretty darned good on its own.

Returning fan favorites

Prices: $12-$17.50.

Legends Dog: Surprisingly sweet and smoky, a 1/3 pound all beef dog gets smothered with smoked pulled pork in barbecue sauce and onion strings. (Smoke Ring BBQ, Club Specialty 334, and Farmer John BBQ 242)

Loaded Helmet Nachos: This is the one to share. Piled high with round chips for digging into all the good stuff: chipotle chicken, guacamole, beans, nacho cheese, pico de gallo and tangy pickled jalapeños. (Tostitos Nacho carts throughout the stadium)

Short Rib Grilled Cheese: Big, thick, almost Texas toast-size bread with short rib and three melty cheeses. (Available at The Big Cheese, Section 211)

Hand-pulled Rotisserie Chicken Sandwich: The fresh chicken makes this one but the accompaniments are good too: lemon aioli, arugula, pickled onions and salsa verde stuffed into a baguette. (Available at La Rotisseries Section 114)

Chocolate Cake: Fancy multi layered cake made with Republic de Cacao Ecuadoran chocolate it’s more chocolatey than sweet and can suit grownup as well as kids tastes. It’s available whole (ask for prices) and by the slice. (Dessert Cart)

A watchdog group is urging California Assembly Insurance Committee Chairman Tom Daly, D-Anaheim, to withdraw legislation that would exempt insurance companies from complying with the California Consumer Privacy Act.

The Privacy Act, set to take effect in January, empowers consumers to prevent their personal information from being sold to other companies and also allows them to sue reckless companies for data breaches.

Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog said Daly’s Assembly Bill 981 would do an end run around those protections. And they claim the legislation is fueled by heavy campaign contributions.

Daly, they said, has received campaign contributions of $183,000 from insurance companies such as Anthem, Allstate and Prudential, while members of the Assembly Insurance Committee have received more than $1.1 million from the insurance industry.

“At a time when consumers want more control over their private information, Assembly member Daly is letting insurance companies and big banks off the hook,” Consumer Watchdog spokesman Adam Scow said.

Allowing the bill to go forward, Scow said, would enable a “wholesale invasion of the privacy of California policyholders.” The measure is scheduled to be heard in the Assembly Insurance Committee on Wednesday.

Representatives from Daly’s office would not speak on the record Tuesday. But his office indicated that his bill would not do away with privacy standards, but rather eliminate the overlapping of privacy rules that will occur when the California Consumer Privacy Act kicks in.

Various insurance industry protections have been in place for 40 years and are currently comprised of a combination of state insurance codes and additional regulations that have been adopted by the California insurance commissioner.

AB 981 is intended to eliminate the confusion of overlapping regulations and make the rules simpler and easier to understand.

Under existing law, an insurance institution or agent is required to provide notice of information practices to all applicants or policyholders. That includes:

• Types of personal information collected
• Sources and techniques used to collect information
• Parties to whom information may be disclosed
• The right to request correction, amendment or deletion of information

The California Consumer Privacy Act will give consumers the right to say no to the sale of their information. It will additionally give them the right to sue companies that collected their data where it was stolen or disclosed through a data breach if the company was careless or negligent about protecting the information.

In a March 25 letter sent to Daly’s office, the organization said measure, billed as the Insurance Information and Privacy Protection Act, is simply a get out of jail free card to the entire insurance and financial services industry.

If the bill succeeds, they said, the privacy protections that apply in other areas under the California Consumer Privacy Act won’t apply to insurance, credit cards, lending, investing, securities or any other financial transactions.

The Museum of Illusions in Los Angeles has reopened with all-new interactive exhibits.

The 3D artwork lets you be part of each scene, and of course, you’re welcome to photograph and share your adventures through the two-story space.

The pieces range from cartoony and whimsical to realistic landscapes. You can hang out with peaceful elephants, steal treasure from a dragon’s lair, brave falling off a cliff and more.

The Museum of Illusions is open 10 a.m.-midnight daily at 6751 Hollywood Blvd. Tickets are $25 adults, $12 children 6-12 and free for children 5 and under. Military, senior and student discounts are available.

The interactive installation, “Upside Down House,” will be opening in a section of the museum May 15. You may experience it separately or purchase a combined ticket.

For more information, go to https://laillusions.com.

Dawn McKnight was out walking her two dogs along what’s left of the Capistrano Beach parking lot in Dana Point on Wednesday afternoon, April 3, when she stopped short of the construction work taking place on the sand.

“Interesting,” she said of the massive sand cubes being set out like a makeshift wall.

An estimated 475 sand cubes — 3-by-3-foot white plastic bags filled with sand — were being stacked next to one another along the eroding beach, where strong waves, high tides and a rising sea level have battered the area for years.

Installation of the estimated 1,000 cubic yards, or 2.7 million pounds, began Tuesday and will take about 20 days to complete.

This is the latest attempt by the county to save what’s left of the small stretch of beach, which sits south of Doheny State Beach and north of San Clemente. The parking lot and beach area have been closed for months.

The sandbags will remain in place until OC Parks finalizes a solution and obtains required California Coastal Commission permits to mitigate erosion along the beach, Shannon Widor, strategic communications officer for OC Public Works, said via e-mail.

The sand cubes also will be placed along a section next to the paved path west of the Beach Road entrance, due to the beach erosion that has occurred there as well, he said.

Already, the basketball court hoops have been taken down, and an adjacent restroom demolished. A wooden walkway is gone. Parking kiosks are no more.

A mound of sand sitting in the parking lot will fill in around the cubes.

Heavy boulders, or “rip rap,” were brought in a few months ago to line the front of the parking lot area. The hope is that the cubes will help protect the area until a long-term plan is in place.

The loss of beach is a hot topic at many Southern California beaches as the sea level rises and construction along the coast, and inland, “chokes” sediment from flowing freely down rivers and waterways.

Capistrano Beach, once a sandy haven dotted with volleyball nets and fire rings, has changed much over the years.

“It’s sad to see the whole beach washing away,” McKnight said, looking out to where the workers were setting out the cubes. “I don’t know if it’s global warming or the polar ice caps are melting.”

Her hope for the area?

“That the beach is open again and we can come and enjoy it,” she said. “And it doesn’t keep washing away.”

Kristin Agor, who just moved to the Dana Point area from San Diego, wondered Wednesday about the logic behind putting plastic where waves could cause more damage.

“I feel like over time they might degrade,” she said. “There had to have been some reason, from an environmental standpoint, they decided this would be best.”

Agor said it’s a problem she suspects coastal communities will have to find a solution for — and soon.

“I think in this day and age, they have to figure out what’s going to work,” she said.