Jeremy T. Ringfield's Blog, page 106

SF Giants’ stunning ninth-inning comeback extends winning streak to six

The Giants, truly, are never out of a ballgame.

Hours after Matt Chapman was placed on the 10-day injured list with right hand inflammation, the Giants (39-28) scored four runs in the top of the ninth inning to erase a three-run deficit and stun the Colorado Rockies, 6-5. They not only extended their winning streak to six games — all of which have been one run — but avoided a loss to a team that’s on pace for the most losses in baseball history in the process.

“I feel like as a team, we’ve been doing that all year,” Adames said postgame. “We never give up. It feels like we always have an opportunity to come back. That’s how the guys feel in the dugout. We could be down by three, four — it doesn’t matter. We’re going to go out there until the last out and grind every at-bat. I think today was a very good example of how good this team is.”

With tonight’s one-run win, the Giants become the fourth team since 1901 to win six consecutive one-run games, joining the 1989 California Angels, 1927 Chicago Cubs (seven games) and 1916 St. Louis Browns. This also marked the Giants’ 19th comeback victory of the season, their ability to erase deficits being the trademark of this specific team.

“That part of it has kind of been there all year even though we haven’t scored runs and it’s been frustrating. The at-bats like this late in games have always kind of been there,” manager Bob Melvin told reporters in Denver.

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Entering the ninth, San Francisco’s winning streak was headed to its end. The Giants trailed 5-2, their only runs of the game coming from Willy Adames’ first-inning sacrifice fly and fifth inning home run, his sixth of the season and his first since May 13. Left-hander Kyle Harrison, making potentially his final start before Justin Verlander returns from the injured list, was in line for the loss after allowing three runs over five innings.

Trailing by three, San Francisco’s finally found life against the Rockies’ Zach Agnos.

Casey Schmitt, who will be tasked with replacing Chapman for the time being, led off the top of the inning with a solo home run, his first of the year to trim the deficit to 5-3. Tyler Fitzgerald and Andrew Knizner, who got the start after Patrick Bailey was scratched due to a neck spasm, followed Schmitt by drawing back-to-back walks, and San Francisco had a rally.

Lee’s fielder’s choice gave the Giants runners on first and second with one out, then Willy Adames drew a walk to load the bases for Heliot Ramos. Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer pulled the plug on Agnos’ outing and went to Victor Vodnik for the final two outs.

Ramos brought home Knizner with a sacrifice fly, cutting the deficit to 5-4 with two outs and runners at the corners for Flores. Flores, as he is wont to do, delivered. The 33-year-old beat out an infield single on a swinging bunt to score the tying run. One batter later, they’d push across the go-ahead run.

Mike Yastrzemski, who entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning, lined a sharp single to right field, driving in Adames and giving the Giants a 6-5 lead.

“When you’re getting at-bat after at-bat that’s really good – drawing some walks and putting pressure on guys — a lot of times, good things are going to happen,” Melvin said.

Camilo Doval entered in the bottom of the ninth to close out the comeback win, but the Rockies had a response of their own.

Doval erased a leadoff single with a double play but the Rockies put runners at the corners with two outs as Doval walked Sam Hilliard then allowed a single to Hunter Goodman. With little room for error, Doval got former Giant Thairo Estrada to fly out to end the ballgame.

With reporters shot and roughed up, advocates question whether those covering protests are targets

By DAVID BAUDER

More than two dozen journalists have been injured or roughed up while covering protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles, leading press freedom groups to question whether law enforcement has been deliberately targeting reporters on the story.

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Journalists have been pelted with rubber bullets or pepper spray, including an Australian TV reporter struck while doing a live shot and a New York Post reporter left with a giant welt on his forehead after taking a direct hit. A CNN crew was briefly detained then released on Monday night.

The advocacy group Reporters Without Borders said there have been at least 31 attacks on journalists — 27 from law enforcement — since the demonstrations started.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, the First Amendment Coalition and Freedom of the Press Foundation were among the groups to express concern to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. In a letter, they said “federal officers appear to have deliberately targeted journalists who were doing nothing more than their job covering the news.”

Noem hasn’t replied, David Loy, legal director of the First Amendment Coalition, said Tuesday. A Noem spokesperson didn’t have an immediate comment for The Associated Press.

Experts say the apparent hostility toward journalists, or a disregard for their role and safety, became particularly apparent during demonstrations following the death of George Floyd in 2020. A troubling indication of a decline in press freedom is the rapid escalation of threats journalists face in the United States, said Bruce Shapiro, executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University.

While most journalists covering wars receive training and safety equipment, it is apparent that many — particularly freelancers — don’t have similar protection when assigned to events like the Los Angeles demonstrations, he said.

“It’s not like covering a war zone,” Shapiro said. “But there are some very specific skills and strategies that people need to employ. The First Amendment is only as strong as the safety of the journalists covering these events.”

On Sunday, Australian journalist Lauren Tomasi was shot in the leg by a rubber bullet while reporting live, with a microphone in her hand, from protests in downtown Los Angeles. Widely circulated video shows her crying out in pain and clutching her lower leg as she and her camera operator quickly move away from a police line. She told 9News later that she was safe and unharmed.

New York Post photographer Toby Canham was overlooking the 101 freeway when he was hit. He spent Monday in the hospital with whiplash and neck pain, and left with a red mark on his forehead. Shortly before he was shot, he said he saw someone throwing a water bottle with liquid at authorities.

“I completely understand being in the position where you could get injured,” Canham said. “But at the same time, there was no justification for even aiming the rifle at me and pulling the trigger, so I’m a bit pissed off about that, to be honest.”

Ben Camacho, a reporter at the local news website The Southlander, reported being shot twice. “Unsure of what hit me both times but they hit like a sledgehammer and without immediate warning,” he wrote online. “Elbow is wrapped with gauze and knee is weak.”

Photojournalist Nick Stern was standing near some people waving a Mexican flags when he was shot in the thigh. He later had emergency surgery. “I thought it was a live round because of the sheer intensity of the pain,” he told the AP. “Then I passed out from the pain.”

Lexis Olivier-Ray of L.A. Taco, an alternative independent media platform, thought he was safely positioned with some television crews but instead had pepper balls shot at him. Some reporters may have taken less care: one posted a clip from film he shot about 10 yards from a police officer with a rifle pointed at him.

Not all of the incidents involved law enforcement. AP photographer Jae Hong was kicked and hit with sticks by protesters on Monday, his protective gear enabling him to escape injury. A Los Angeles TV reporter and her crew were forced away by demonstrators, one loudly yelling, “get out of here.”

CNN aired video of its correspondent, Jason Carroll, and his crew with their hands behind their backs being led away from a protest by officers. They were later released.

In many past conflicts, journalists had a measure of protection because opposing sides wanted them to record their side of the stories, Shapiro said. Now many journalists are seen as superfluous by people who have other ways of delivering their messages, or a target by those who want to spread fear, he said.

It illustrates the importance of proper training and protection, he said. For reporters in the middle of the story now, they should plan carefully — being aware of exit routes and safe zones, working in tandem with others and in constant communication with their newsrooms.

“We need everyone from major news outlets to television to citizen journalists,” he said. “We need them on the street. But we need them to be safe.”

AP correspondent Jake Offenhartz in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social

US Rep. LaMonica McIver indicted on federal charges from skirmish at New Jersey immigration center

By MIKE CATALINI

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver was indicted Tuesday on federal charges alleging she impeded and interfered with immigration officers outside a New Jersey detention center while Newark’s mayor was being arrested after he tried to join a congressional oversight visit at the facility.

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Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba announced the grand jury indictment in a post on X.

“While people are free to express their views for or against particular policies, they must not do so in a manner that endangers law enforcement and the communities those officers serve,” Habba said.

McIver, a Democrat, had been charged in a complaint by Habba last month with two assault charges stemming from the May 9 visit to Newark’s Delaney Hall — a 1,000-bed, privately owned facility that Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses as a detention center.

McIver disputed the allegations as baseless and defended her presence at the facility as part of her authorized role as a member of Congress.

Her lawyer, former U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Paul Fishman, said in a statement that they would challenge the allegations “head-on” in court.

“The legal process will expose this prosecution for what it truly is — political retaliation against a dedicated public servant who refuses to shy away from her oversight responsibilities,” Fishman said.

Habba said two of the counts carry a maximum sentence of up to eight years in prison. A third has a maximum sentence of one year. She characterized the charges as “forcibly impeding and interfering with federal law enforcement officers.”

The indictment is the latest development in a legal-political drama that has seen President Donald Trump’s administration take Democratic officials from New Jersey’s largest city to court, tapping into the president’s immigration crackdown and Democrats’ efforts to respond. The prosecution of McIver is a rare federal criminal case against a sitting member of Congress for allegations other than fraud or corruption.

At the same visit that resulted in McIver’s charges, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested on a trespassing charge, which was later dropped. Baraka is suing Habba over what he said was a malicious prosecution.

A nearly two-minute clip released by the Homeland Security Department shows McIver on the facility side of a chain-link fence just before the arrest of the mayor on the street side of the fence, where other people had been protesting. She and uniformed officials go through the gate, and she joins others shouting that they should circle the mayor. The video shows McIver in a tightly packed group of people and officers. At one point, her left elbow and then her right elbow push into an officer wearing a dark face covering and an olive green uniform emblazoned with the word “Police” on it.

It isn’t clear from police bodycam video whether that contact was intentional, incidental or a result of jostling in the chaotic scene.

The complaint says she “slammed” her forearm into an agent then tried to restrain the agent by grabbing him.

New Jersey Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez had joined McIver at the detention center that day. They and Democrats have criticized the arrest and disputed the charges as well.

By law, members of Congress are authorized to go into federal immigration facilities as part of their oversight powers, even without notice. Congress passed a 2019 appropriations bill that spelled out the authority.

McIver, 38, first came to Congress in September in a special election after the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. left a vacancy in the 10th District.

She was then elected to a full term in November. A Newark native, she served as the president of the Newark City Council from 2022 to 2024 and worked in the city’s public schools before that.

Southern Baptists overwhelmingly call for a ban on gay marriage

By PETER SMITH

DALLAS (AP) — Southern Baptists overwhelmingly endorsed a ban on gay marriage — including a call for a reversal of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 10-year-old precedent legalizing it nationwide.

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They also called for legislators to curtail sports betting and to support policies that promote childbearing.

The votes came at the gathering of more than 10,000 church representatives at the annual meeting of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

A proposed resolution says legislators have a duty to “pass laws that reflect the truth of creation and natural law — about marriage, sex, human life, and family” and to oppose laws contradicting “what God has made plain through nature and Scripture.”

A wide-ranging resolution calls for the “overturning of laws and court rulings, including Obergefell v. Hodges, that defy God’s design for marriage and family.” A reversal of Obergefell wouldn’t in and of itself be a ban.

The resolution calls “for laws that affirm marriage between one man and one women.”

There was no debate on the marriage resolution.

The two-day annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention began Tuesday morning with praise sessions and optimistic reports about growing numbers of baptisms.

But casting a pall over the gathering is the recent death of one of the most high-profile whistleblowers in the Southern Baptists’ scandal of sexual abuse.

Jennifer Lyell, a onetime denominational publishing executive who went public in 2019 with allegations that she had been sexually abused by a seminary professor while a student, died Saturday at 47. She “suffered catastrophic strokes,” a friend and fellow advocate, Rachael Denhollander, posted Sunday on X.

Barry Bowen, left, and Johnna Harris hold signs honoring the recently deceased Gareld Duane Rollins and Jennifer Lyell, whistleblowers who faulted the Southern Baptist Convention’s handling of sexual abuse, on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, outside the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, Texas. (AP Photo/Peter Smith)

Friends reported that the backlash Lyell received after going public with her report took a devastating toll on her.

Several abuse survivors and advocates for reform, who previously had a prominent presence in recent SBC meetings, are skipping this year’s gathering, citing lack of progress by the convention.

Two people sought to fill that void, standing vigil outside of the meeting at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas as attendees walked by. The pair held up signs with photos of Lyell and of Gareld Duane Rollins, who died earlier this spring and who was among those who accused longtime SBC power broker Paul Pressler of sexual abuse.

“It’s not a healthy thing for them (survivors) to be here,” said Johnna Harris, host of a podcast on abuse in evangelical ministries. “I felt like it was important for someone to show up. I want people to know there are people who care.”

Past attempts at reforms in the SBC

The SBC Executive Committee, in a 2022 apology, acknowledged “its failure to adequately listen, protect, and care for Jennifer Lyell when she came forward to share her story.” It also acknowledged the denomination’s official news agency had not accurately reported the situation as “sexual abuse by a trusted minister in a position of power at a Southern Baptist seminary.”

SBC officials issued statements this week lamenting Lyell’s death, but her fellow advocates have denounced what they say is a failure to implement reforms.

The SBC’s 2022 meeting voted overwhelmingly to create a way to track pastors and other church workers credibly accused of sex abuse. That came shortly after the release of a blockbuster report by an outside consultant, which said Southern Baptist leaders mishandled abuse cases and stonewalled victims for years.

But the denomination’s Executive Committee president, Jeff Iorg, said earlier this year that creating a database is not a focus and that the committee instead plans to refer churches to existing databases of sex offenders and focus on education about abuse prevention. The committee administers the denomination’s day-to-day business.

Advocates for reform don’t see those approaches as adequate.

A messenger attending the Southern Baptist Convention participates in worship during the 2025 SBC Annual Meeting, Tuesday, June 10, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)Southern Baptist Convention President Clint Pressley gives the President’s Address during the 2025 SBC Annual Meeting, Tuesday, June 10, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)Messengers attending the Southern Baptist Convention lay on hands and pray over missionaries during the 2025 SBC Annual Meeting, Tuesday, June 10, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)Southern Baptist Convention President Clint Pressley gives the President’s Address during the 2025 SBC Annual Meeting, Tuesday, June 10, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)Show Caption1 of 4A messenger attending the Southern Baptist Convention participates in worship during the 2025 SBC Annual Meeting, Tuesday, June 10, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)Expand

It is the latest instance of “officials trailing out hollow words, impotent task forces and phony dog-and-pony shows of reform,” abuse survivor and longtime advocate Christa Brown wrote on Baptist News Global, which is not SBC-affiliated.

In a related action, the Executive Committee will also be seeking $3 million in convention funding for ongoing legal expenses related to abuse cases.

What is on the agenda?

As of Tuesday afternoon, attendance was at 10,456 church representatives (known as messengers). That is less than a quarter of the total that thronged the SBC’s annual meeting 40 years ago this month in a Dallas showdown that marked the height of battles over control of the convention, ultimately won by the more conservative-fundamentalist side led by Pressler and his allies.

That conservative consensus remains in the convention. This year’s convention will be asked to approve resolutions lamenting “willful childlessness” and calling for bans on same-sex marriage and pornography and restrictions on sports betting.

Messengers will also debate whether to institute a constitutional ban on churches with women pastors and to abolish its public-policy arm, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission — which is staunchly conservative, but according to critics, not enough so.

Brent Leatherwood, president of the ERLC, said Tuesday he would address the “turbulence” during his scheduled remarks Wednesday but was confident in the messengers’ support.

“I think the majority of Southern Baptists are going to say once again, like they always have, ‘We need an entity that is dedicated to taking a distinctively Baptist voice and speaking in the public square,’ ” Leatherwood said.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Louisiana lawmakers pass bill targeting out-of-state doctors who prescribe and mail abortion pills

By SARA CLINE

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana lawmakers on Tuesday approved a measure that targets out-of-state doctors and activists who prescribe, sell, or provide pregnancy-ending drugs to residents in the reliably red state where abortions are banned with few exceptions.

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Louisiana law already allows women to sue doctors who perform abortions on them in the state. The bill expands who can be sued. It includes those out of the state, who may be responsible for an illegal abortion whether that be mailing, prescribing or “coordinating the sale of” pregnancy-ending pills to someone in Louisiana.

The legislation, which further restricts access to abortion pills, now heads to the desk of conservative Republican Gov. Jeff Landry.

The bill was crafted in response to a criminal case against a New York doctor who allegedly prescribed online and sent abortion pills to a pregnant Louisiana minor, Attorney General Liz Murrill said last month. Murrill argues the measure is “another tool in the toolbox” to dissuade and hold accountable out-of-state doctors who are “intent on violating our laws.”

The case is at the center of an unfolding battle between liberal and conservative states over abortion medications and prescribing such drugs across state lines. Idaho, Oklahoma and Texas already have adopted similar provisions.

State Sen. Rick Edmonds, who presented the bill, told lawmakers the measure is “a statement” that “these pills are not welcome” in Louisiana.

Under the legislation, the mother of the fetus could sue “any person or entity” who knowingly “performs, causes, or substantially facilitates an abortion.” The bill defines “substantially facilitates” as ”administering, prescribing, dispensing, distributing, selling, or coordinating the sale for an abortion-inducing drug to a person in this state.” The measure specifies that it does not apply if such drugs are obtained for legal uses.

Abortions are legal in Louisiana only when there’s substantial risk of death or impairment to the mother if she continues the pregnancy or when the fetus has a fatal abnormality.

Women would have up to 10 years after an abortion to sue.

Health care providers licensed to practice in Louisiana and pharmacists in compliance with state pharmacy board rules are exempt.

Opponents argue the bill is unnecessary because Louisiana has some of the strictest abortion laws in the U.S. They also argue that the legislation further hinders women’s health care and that heightened legal repercussions could drive doctors from the state.

Democratic state Sen. Royce Duplessis described the bill — which was significantly watered down from its original version — as the latest way conservatives are attempting to “exercise control over women’s decision making as it relates to their health care.”

“It baffles me how year after year, after these (anti-abortion) organizations have gotten everything that they wanted — they got Roe overturned, trigger laws took effect and don’t even think about getting an abortion in the state of Louisiana, but here we go again,” Duplessis said. “We have to send another message.”

Louisiana already has punishments in place for illegal abortions. Physicians convicted of the crime face up to 15 years in prison. Additionally, last year lawmakers added two abortion pills — mifepristone and misoprostol — to the state’s list of dangerous controlled substances. As a result, if someone possesses either drug without a prescription they could be sent to jail for one to five years.

But anti-abortion advocates say “loopholes” remain in Louisiana law.

Murrill pointed to the case of Margaret Carpenter, the New York doctor who was charged in Louisiana with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, a felony. Authorities allege that last year, the mother of a pregnant minor requested abortion medication online for her daughter. Carpenter allegedly sent the pills to Louisiana and the woman directed her pregnant daughter to take them.

“These are not doctors providing health care. They are drug dealers. They are violating our laws,” Murrill told lawmakers last month.

Despite demands from Louisiana officials, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said she will not extradite Carpenter.

The case appears to be the first of its kind since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. It will likely test other states’ shield laws that protect doctors from prosecution in places that ban abortions.

Carpenter faces a $100,000 fine in Texas for allegedly violating state law by prescribing abortion medication to a woman via telemedicine. However, a county clerk refused to file the civil judgment, citing New York’s shield law.

Correspondent Terry Moran out at ABC News, two days after suspension over Stephen Miller post

By DAVID BAUDER

Correspondent Terry Moran is out at ABC News, two days after the organization suspended its correspondent for a social media post that called Trump administration deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller a “world class hater.”

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The network said Tuesday that it was at the end of its contract with Moran “and based on his recent post — which was a clear violation of ABC News policies — we have made the decision not to renew.”

The Trump administration, including Vice President JD Vance, quickly condemned Moran for his late-night X post criticizing Miller, which was swiftly deleted.

Moran had interviewed President Donald Trump only a few weeks ago. He said in his X post that the president was also a hater, but that his hatred was in service of his own glorification.

But for Miller, Moran said, “his hatreds are his spiritual nourishment. He eats his hate.”

Moran, 65, had worked at ABC News since 1997. He was a longtime co-anchor of “Nightline,” and covered the Supreme Court and national politics. During an interview with Trump that was broadcast in prime-time a month ago, the president said “you’re not being very nice” in the midst of a contentious exchange about deportations.

In a particularly bad case of timing for him, Moran’s contract with ABC had been due to expire on Friday, according to people with knowledge of the situation who were not authorized to speak publicly about personnel issues.

His post, a breach of traditional journalism ethics on expressing personal opinions on reporting subjects, came at what was already a sensitive time for ABC News. The network agreed to pay $15 million toward Trump’s presidential library in December, in order to settle a defamation lawsuit over George Stephanopoulos’ inaccurate assertion that Trump had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll.

Trump aide Steven Cheung responded to Moran’s exit on Tuesday with a profane comment on X, saying those who talk down the president and his staff “get hit.”

Saffron brings golden hue to this zucchini and pasta dish

By Christopher Kimball | Milk Street

This pasta dish, a riff on an offering served at Trattoria Bertozzi in Bologna, Italy, is a golden, fresh combination of guanciale (cured pork cheek), fragrant saffron, summery zucchini and short, curly pasta.

In this recipe from our cookbook ” Milk Street Backroads Italy,” we opted for easier-to-find but equally meaty pancetta, and lightened the dish’s richness by swapping in half-and-half for the heavy cream.

The restaurant uses gramigna pasta, a tubular, curled shape from the Emilia-Romagna region, but cavatappi or gemelli works just as well, combining with the zucchini and catching the lightly creamy sauce in its crevices.

Saffron is best when steeped in hot liquid to extract its flavor and aroma. To infuse the dish with a golden hue and earthy-floral flavor, we soak a generous pinch of saffron threads in a portion of water before combining it with the pasta.

Don’t boil the pasta until al dente. Drain it when it has a little more bite than is desirable in the finished dish; the noodles will cook a bit more in the sauce. Also, don’t forget to reserve 2 cups of the cooking water before draining the pasta. Serve with shaved Parmesan and freshly ground black pepper.

Pasta with Zucchini, Pancetta and Saffron

Start to finish: 40 minutesServings: 4

Ingredients:

1 pound zucchini12 ounces short, curly pasta, such as cavatappi or gemelliKosher salt and ground black pepper½ teaspoon saffron threads3 ounces pancetta, finely chopped1 medium garlic clove, smashed and peeled½ cup half-and-half1 ounce Parmesan cheese, shaved with a vegetable peeler

Directions:

Halve the zucchini lengthwise, then use a spoon to scrape out the seeds. Slice each half lengthwise about ¼ inch thick, then cut the strips crosswise into 1-inch sections. In a large pot, boil 4 quarts of water. Add the pasta and 1 tablespoon salt, then cook, stirring occasionally, until just shy of al dente. Reserve 2 cups of the cooking water, then drain. In a small bowl, combine 1½ cups of the reserved water and the saffron; set aside the remaining ½ cup water.

While the pasta cooks, in a 12-inch skillet over medium, cook the pancetta and garlic, stirring occasionally, until the pancetta has rendered some of its fat and begins to crisp, about 3 minutes. Remove and discard the garlic, then stir in the zucchini and ½ teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the pancetta is fully crisped and the zucchini is lightly browned, 4 to 6 minutes.

Add the pasta and the saffron water to the skillet. Bring to a simmer over medium-high and cook, stirring often, until the pasta is al dente, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the half-and-half and cook, stirring, until the sauce is lightly thickened and clings to the pasta, about 1 minute. Off heat, taste and season with salt and pepper. If needed, stir in additional reserved pasta water 1 tablespoon at a time to create a lightly creamy sauce. Transfer to a serving bowl and top with Parmesan.

For more recipes, go to Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street at 177milkstreet.com/ap

Lawyers for Kilmar Abrego Garcia say Trump administration’s actions left ‘stain’ on Constitution

By BEN FINLEY

Lawyers for Kilmar Abrego Garcia are accusing President Donald Trump’s administration of pretending for weeks to be powerless to bring him back to the United States from El Salvador, despite orders from a federal judge and the Supreme Court to facilitate his return.

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Abrego Garcia’s attorneys made the allegation in a court filing shortly after the Maryland construction worker was flown to Tennessee on Friday to face federal human smuggling charges.

“(T)he Government has always had the ability to return Abrego Garcia, but it has simply refused to do so,” the attorneys wrote, arguing that the administration has “engaged in an elaborate, all-of-government effort to defy court orders, deny due process, and disparage Abrego Garcia.”

The attorneys said the lawsuit over his mistaken deportation has not concluded in a Maryland federal court.

“The executive branch’s wanton disregard for the judicial branch has left a stain on the Constitution,” the attorneys wrote. “If there is to be any hope of removing that stain, it must start by shining a light on the improper actions of the Government in this tragic affair and imposing meaningful remedies.”

Abrego Garcia’s attorneys made that argument in response to a filing by the Trump administration to halt the lawsuit’s proceedings because he’s back in the U.S.

U.S. attorneys asked for an immediate stay after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the charges in Tennessee. The attorneys wrote that the government complied with the Maryland federal court’s order to return Abrego Garcia. The U.S. intends to file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

In a court filing on Tuesday, the Trump administration pushed back against the accusations of Abrego Garcia’s lawyers, describing them as baseless, desperate and disappointing.

“But the proof is in the pudding — Defendants have returned Abrego Garcia to the United States just as they were ordered to do,” the U.S. attorneys wrote. “None of Plaintiffs’ hyperbolic arguments change that or justify further proceedings in this matter.”

U.S. officials said Abrego Garcia was deported because of a 2019 accusation from local police in Maryland that he was an MS-13 gang member. Abrego Garcia has denied the allegation and was never charged with a crime, his attorneys said.

Abrego Garcia’s deportation violated a U.S. immigration judge’s order in 2019 that shielded him from expulsion to his native country. The immigration judge had determined that Abrego Garcia faced likely persecution by a local Salvadoran gang that had terrorized his family.

Abrego Garcia’s American wife sued over his deportation. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered his return on April 4. The Supreme Court ruled on April 10 that the administration must work to bring him back.

Arguments ensued over the next several weeks about whether the Trump administration was following those orders or not. Meanwhile, Trump said publicly that he could return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. with a call to El Salvador’s president.

The federal judge in Maryland ordered U.S. attorneys to submit documents and testimony to show what the government had done to follow her orders. The Trump administration claimed that much of that information is protected under the state secrets privilege. The judge has not ruled on that matter.

How new SF Giant Dominic Smith fixed his approach with a blast from his SoCal past

SAN FRANCISCO — Dominic Smith could only laugh at what he was seeing.

It was May 2024, and Smith had just signed with the Boston Red Sox when he met with hitting coach Peter Fatse to review film. Fatse didn’t believe Smith was maximizing his athleticism in the batter’s box, so he combed through Smith’s old footage to find examples of Smith doing so.

Fatse didn’t show Smith videos from 2020, the year that Smith earned MVP votes. They didn’t watch footage from Smith’s early years with the New York Mets or his time in the minor leagues either. Fatse went way back. For the first time in a decade, Smith sat down and watched a video of himself as a senior at Gardena’s Junipero Serra High School.

“When he pulled up that video, it was a skinny, 175-pound kid with a high leg kick with my hands super low,” said Smith, who has a career .716 OPS over nine seasons. “I didn’t think he was serious. He literally looked me in my eye and said, ‘Bro, this is you.’ It just clicked from there.”

“I was looking at Dom and I said, ‘I don’t think you’re using your athleticism to your advantage. Here’s an extreme example of how you hit when you were a kid, walk me through the progression of how you go there now,’” Fatse said.

Smith, who joined the Giants last week on a major-league deal amidst Buster Posey’s roster shakeup, experienced plenty of life between being a high school senior in California and a major-league veteran in Boston.

The New York Mets selected Smith with the 11th overall pick in the 2013 MLB Draft, and he gradually climbed through the Mets’ system, making his debut in 2017.

Smith, now 29, oscillated between the majors and minors over his first two seasons but entered spring training in 2019 with an opportunity to seize the starting job. Pete Alonso snatched that title by hitting 53 home runs, the most ever by a rookie.

The Mets subsequently moved Smith to left field, and while had his stretches of productivity — namely when he finished 13th in NL MVP voting during the COVID-shortened 2020 season — injuries and inconsistency defined the back half of his tenure. Following the 2023 season, Smith became a free agent.

Somewhere along the way, Smith deviated from what he did well. The laundry list of voices in his ear didn’t help. In New York, Smith played under four different managers and had five different hitting coaches. Smith wanted to appease everyone; his development stunted as a result.

“A lot of times, it’s getting you away from what you do well. It took a long time for me to really understand and learn and grow and figure things out,” Smith said. “I talk about never being satisfied, never pointing the finger out — I always point the finger in on myself and look at me and what I can do better,” Smith said.

In Boston, with the help of a couple YouTube videos from 2012, Fatse would help get Smith back to what he was doing well.

Prior to working with Fatse, Smith had never thought to review his mechanics as a teenager. Smith didn’t think there was a correlation between high school-level mechanics versus MLB-level mechanics. As they dove in, Fatse pointed out that Smith generates most of his power with his hands, something Smith considers an “old-school approach.”

Smith said that over time, he moved his hands up high and began worrying about his posture, which restricted what he did well. To Smith, some hitters are more rotational and some are more linear. Smith assessed that he was very linear in high school but he was trying to become rotational.

“He asked me why I stopped doing some of the things I did when I was in high school. To be honest, I didn’t know why,” Smith said. “A lot of it was chasing something that I wasn’t, trying to make it look a certain way — thinking if it didn’t look this way, then it wouldn’t work — instead of just being myself.”

The Giants represent Smith’s fifth organization in three years after a stint this season with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate, and he hasn’t needed much time to endear himself to his new team.

In his second game as a Giant, he drove in the go-ahead run with a two-run double. He’s made several excellent defensive plays as well, including Friday night when he reached over the railing in foul territory and fell into the netting to record an out.

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Along with what he provides as a player, Fatse pointed out what Smith brings as a person.

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“He’s Dom Smooth, man,” Fatse laughed. “The boys called him D-Smooth. He’s always got a smile on. He comes to the cage. He has a very nice, calm, easy presence. He likes to be with the guys. … His teammates loved him. Everybody in the clubhouse enjoyed our time with him.”

Smith believes believes he’s learned a lot over his nine-year major-league career but added that “the job is never finished.” He considers perseverance is one of his defining traits, a glass-half-full mindset due in part to his faith. With top prospect Bryce Eldridge not yet ready for the majors, Smith figures to hold down the Giants’ first base spot for the foreseeable future.

“He’s a guy that has shown over the course of his career that puts together good at-bats,” Posey said. “He’s going to hit for some power. I know that’s not the key component of his game, but hopefully he has quality at-bats. We’re a team that has to keep the line moving. We have to do the small things right. We have to hit behind runners at certain times and able to execute the fundamentals of the game. We believe he’s a guy that can do that.”

Nine dynamic duos to watch as 49ers enter mandatory minicamp

SANTA CLARA — Two practices remain in the 49ers’ offseason program, and they’ll come at mandatory minicamp today and Wednesday.

Only one practice each of the past two weeks was open to the media. This minicamp offers a greater chance to inspect this new-look crew.

While every player took part in at least some of the voluntary program, injuries figure to keep a handful of players shelved until at least training camp in six weeks, including wide receivers Ricky Pearsall (hamstring) and Brandon Aiyuk (knee), defensive tackle Alfred Collins (calf), and safeties Ji’Ayir Brown (ankle) and Malik Mustapha (knee).

Rather than single out those who’ve drawn praise, here are nine combinations to pique our curiosity:

1. Brock Purdy/Mac Jones

Purdy’s presence throughout the offseason program enhanced his command of the offense (and franchise), and it surely helped Jones see how things are supposed to be run as he takes over as Purdy’s understudy. All this went down while Purdy’s $265 million contract extension got hammered out behind the scenes. Jones had a poor practice last week, so minicamp offers a chance to rebound. Otherwise, we’ll be charting Tanner Mordecai’s snap count and stats closer in training camp.

2. Dee Winters/Nick Martin

Winters already had a shot at replacing Dre Greenlaw as All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner’s wingman a year ago, and while it didn’t go smoothly, Winters has looked better this spring. Martin arrives with speed and an upbeat vibe. Both are 5-foot-11, 220-plus pounds and eager to finally hit moving objects in camp and the preseason.

3. Spencer Burford/Austin Pleasants

Trent Williams and Colton McKivitz will be the offensive line’s starting bookends for a third straight season, but with Jaylon Moore gone to Kansas City, the 49ers need a new swing tackle. Burford is impressively transitioning from right guard to left tackle, while Pleasants has drawn praise from position coach Chris Foerster. Both could stick as backups. Andre Dillard signed to compete but didn’t take part in OTAs when the media was able to watch.

4. George Kittle/Luke Farrell

Farrell had 36 catches and none for touchdowns in four seasons in Jacksonville, so no one expects him to steal Kittle’s targets. But if the 49ers are to deploy more two-tight end formations, it’s been positive to have both involved this offseason. Meanwhile, the same backups are jockeying for roster spots, with Ross Dwelley back to contend with Jake Tonges, Brayden Willis, and Mason Pline.

5. Richie Grant/Jason Pinnock

Three months ago, the 49ers didn’t create much buzz with the addition of these veteran safeties, though their need eventually surfaced a month later when it became public that Mustapha is recovering from ACL reconstruction. With Brown (ankle surgery) also on the mend, the 49ers inserted Grant and Pinnock to learn defensive coordinator Robert Saleh’s scheme.

6. Nick Bosa/Mykel Williams

Six years after Bosa broke into the NFL as a first-round defensive end and eventual rookie of the year, he’s now mentoring Williams, this year’s No. 11 overall pick who seems highly receptive to any and all instruction, be it from Bosa or position coach Kris Kocurek. The Niners need that duo to, yes, sack the quarterback, but perhaps more importantly set the edge in a fortified run defense. Williams did not take part in team drills last Thursday.

7. Christian McCaffrey/Isaac Guerendo

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This is essentially a brand-new backfield tandem. After Guerendo rushed for 85 yards and his first touchdown last season against Dallas, McCaffrey made his season debut the next week at Tampa Bay and lasted three more games before exiting with a knee injury at Buffalo. Guerendo, who got one carry those first three games McCaffrey was back, eventually ended his rookie season getting carted off Arizona’s field with an MCL injury. Both look healthy now, and that is BIG for the offense.

8. Jauan Jennings/Demarcus Robinson

These veteran leaders are easily to overlook in the wide receiver corps, when most talk centers on Brandon Aiyuk’s knee recovery (and cryptical social-media posts), on Ricky Pearsall’s durability (hamstring, again), on Jordan Watkins (new kid in town) and on Jacob Cowing (second-year leap). Jennings didn’t practice last week, and Robinson is expected to be suspended because of last season’s arrest for alleged drunken driving, but both are comfortable and trustworthy targets for Purdy.

9. Upton Stout/Tre Brown

The 49ers invested a third-round pick on Stout to step in as a feisty nickel back. He’ll have to beat out Brown, who played the past four seasons with Seattle and intercepted Purdy two weeks ago. Also in the mix is Chase Lucas, who spent last season on the practice squad and has an off-field bond with Lenoir. Several other newcomers have shown promise — Tre Avery, Derrick Canteen, Dallis Flowers — and the 49ers need depth; potential starter Renardo Green exited Wednesday’s session with a knee issue of unknown severity.