Jeremy T. Ringfield's Blog, page 331

High School football: Scott’s sack saves Salinas in win over Monterey

MONTEREY — Jackson Scott had been used in pass coverage all night — until the final 15 seconds, Salinas’ last defensive play of the game.

That’s when the Cowboys linebacker was instructed to come on a blitz on fourth down with the ball three yards from the end zone, and the game in the balance.

“I saw his (quarterbacks) eyes look at me before the snap,” Scott said. “I went after him. I knew this was my chance to end the game with a sack. I’ve had some big plays this year. This ranks at the top.”

Scott’s third sack of the game on Monterey quarterback Preston White ended the drama, as the Cowboys united as one Friday for a come-from-behind 28-21 win over Monterey at Monterey Peninsula College.

“I had more than a few palpations,” Salinas coach Steve Zenk said. “I kept talking to myself about controlling my breathing. A game like this just adds to our confidence. We kept the focus on one play at a time.”

The six-time reigning Gabilan Division champions are now 41-2 during their run of titles, stopping Monterey in the red zone as time wound down for the second straight year.

“This wasn’t our Super Bowl,” Monterey coach Alex Besaw said. “There are more games ahead of us. Win or lose, there isn’t one game that makes our season or defines 2024. We’ll come back Monday with the same approach.”

Owners of four consecutive wins, the Cowboys are 5-1 this fall, with their only loss coming from Clovis, who is ranked No. 1 in the Central Section and No. 26 in the state.

Yet, for the second time in three weeks, Salinas found themselves locked in a seven-point game with an opponent driving down the field, before the defense came up with a stop to foil attempts of an upset.

“If you’re going to be a championship team, you have to find avenues to win close games,” Zenk said. “I don’t even remember the last three plays of the game. What’s important is how much these kids care and play for each other.”

Scott, who picked up a fumble last week and darted 72 yards for a touchdown in Salinas’ win over Alvarez, nearly had a pick in the second quarter that fell threw his hands.

While locked in coverage most of the game, he found himself coming up to make countless tackles against a Toreadores squad that saw tailback Enobong Wirth run for 206 yards on 43 carries.

“I told the kids at halftime one play isn’t going to tie the game,” said Besaw, in reference to being down 20-7. “Lets get back to establishing the run and keeping our offense on the field. We had momentum. I thought we controlled the second half.”

Wirth ran with a purpose in establishing career marks in both carries and yards, while rushing for a pair of touchdowns. Yet, when Salinas’ defense was able to bottle him up near the goal line, the call came for a pass on fourth down.

“We were trying to throw a slant over the middle,” Besaw said.” Kavon (Collins) got run over by a linebacker. That forced Preston to roll out of the pocket. It took him off his progression. Salinas got pressure on him.”

While the Cowboys defense has produced four touchdowns this fall, with the pick six in the final seconds against Palma being a highlight reel, Scott’s sack will rank up there as well.

“I was blitzing,” Scott said. “Honestly, what was going through my mind after the play was, I was just happy the game was over and I did my job for this team. It’s on to the next game.”

The Cowboys, who will visit Aptos — 34-31 winners over Palma — next Friday, were forced to start freshman Michael Andrade at quarterback after it was determined earlier in the week that Rico Maturino’s sprained ankle wasn’t responding to treatment.

“I’ve never had a freshman start for us since I’ve been here,” Zenk said. “We brought him up because he’s calm, has a big football IQ and is a good passer. We didn’t make the decision until Thursday. When I told him, his reaction was ‘okay’.”

Andrade made smart decisions, completing 11-of-20 passes for 138 and no interceptions, while picking up a big first down on a 16 yard run in the second quarter.

“I don’t know if it was adversity,” Scott said. “We had faith in him. We just had to do our job. This is a huge win for our confidence. It has nothing to do with the other team.”

Andrade orchestrated three first half touchdown drives, with Brandon Palma rushing for two touchdowns and Emarrcis Turner taking a reverse and darting 18 yards for another.

Palma and Dayven Marquez each went over 100 yards rushing, as the pair combined for 53 carries in helping Salinas control the first half, taking the pressure off Andrade.

“We’ve struggled from playing from behind and overcoming adversity,” said Besaw, in reference to Monterey’s two previous losses. “We didn’t overcome all of it. But we continued to battle.”

Running behind an offensive line that created small seams, Wirth broke tackles all night in getting into the open field, as Monterey (3-3) ran off 15 straight points in the second half to take a 21-20 lead with 5:58 left in the game.

Shutout in the second half, Salinas refocused on its final drive, marching down field on the strength of its running game, leading to Palma’s third rushing touchdown. Zenk then turned to his defense to make the biggest defensive goal line stand of the season.

“The message to the kids afterwards is the sun will come tomorrow, and we can be proud of how hard we fought,” Besaw said. “Lets get ready for Hollister, where it will be a festive atmosphere.”

How a poll can represent your opinion even if you weren’t contacted for it

By  LINLEY SANDERS and AMELIA THOMSON-DEVEAUX

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chances are, you have never been contacted for an election poll. But the dozens of high-quality election polls that will be released before Election Day, Nov. 5, represent a reasonable estimate of the opinions of all Americans.

The best pollsters do that by ensuring they can randomly select the group of people who respond. That means each household in the United States has an equal chance of being included. Pollsters cannot reach every single household or even come close, so they assemble a group of people with the same range of political affiliations, ages, genders, educational backgrounds and locations as Americans overall.

In other words: You may not have been contacted to participate in the latest poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Chicago, but someone else who shares your background and outlook likely was.

High-quality pollsters select people randomly to take surveys

It is the concept of random selection that allows a relatively small group of survey participants to represent the country as a whole.

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Top-quality pollsters often start with lists of possible home addresses or telephone numbers, and then people are randomly selected from within that group. This is the kind of method that the AP uses in its polls conducted through the AP-NORC Center.

Some pollsters use a different technique, where anyone who wants to participate in their panel can join it. But with that approach, there is less certainty that the group of people responding to any given poll — a “sample,” pollsters call it — is randomly representative of a broader population.

If the initial sample does not look like the country as a whole, some views could be overrepresented or underrepresented, making it harder to accurately capture the attitudes of the entire U.S. population.

An individual’s chance of being selected to participate is low

Polls conducted by the AP through the AP-NORC Center use the AmeriSpeak panel, where households across the U.S. are randomly selected for the sample and then contacted to tell them about the panel. If the household agrees to participate, people complete an introduction survey that collects basic information and participate in polls between two times to three times each month.

For this kind of poll, the odds of being randomly selected to participate are extremely low. There are about 130 million households in the U.S., so to start with, each individual household has only the tiniest chance of being chosen. Even once a household has been selected to participate, there is a relatively small chance of being selected for the surveys that are conducted by media organizations such as the AP-NORC poll.

Pollsters make adjustments to make sure they’re reflecting the population as a whole

It is not a perfect system. Some groups are harder to reach or are less inclined to take surveys, such as nonwhite adults or people without a college education.

To correct for that, pollsters magnify the responses of people who are part of those underrepresented groups to make sure the population percentages in the survey reflect the overall population and they lower the impact of people who are part of groups that are more likely to take surveys.

This process is called “ weighting.” The goal is to make some responses count for more if their demographic characteristics are underrepresented in a survey and some count for less if people like them are overrepresented. To figure out which participants should get more weight and which should get less, pollsters use findings from the most accurate surveys out there, such as ones by the Census Bureau, to get a baseline for what the U.S. population actually looks like.

Even this extra step cannot ensure that the group of people who are being surveyed is fully representative. That is why all high-quality pollsters will tell you about the margin of sampling error, which helps you understand how much the response could vary.

Pollsters do not talk to every single person in the country, so the results have some amount of error. The margin of error is a reminder that each finding is not exactly precise. It also is a guide for understanding how big the range of responses could be.

Will the polls be right in 2024? What polling on the presidential race can and can’t tell you

By  LINLEY SANDERS and AMELIA THOMSON-DEVEAUX

WASHINGTON (AP) — The presidential race is competitive.

That’s about as much as the national polls can tell us right now, even if it looks like Democrat Kamala Harris is down in one poll or Republican Donald Trump is up in another.

And that’s just fine.

Even though polls are sometimes treated as projections, they aren’t designed to tell you who is likely to win.

Polls are better for some things than others. Tracking shifts in voter intention is hard to do with a survey, particularly when the number of truly persuadable voters is relatively small. Voters’ opinions can change before Election Day and they often do. Horse race polls can only capture people’s viewpoints during a single moment in time. Even then, a margin that looks like one that could decide an election — say, one candidate has 48% support and the other has 45% support — might not be a real difference at all.

When reporters at The Associated Press are covering the election, horse race polling numbers don’t take center stage. The reason for this is that the AP believes that focusing on preelection polling can overstate the significance or reliability of those numbers.

Election-year polls are still useful, particularly when they’re trying to assess how the public is feeling about the candidates or the state of the country. They told us quite clearly, for instance, that many Americans wanted Democratic President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 race. But they’re not the same thing as an election result, and even a poll conducted just before Election Day still reflects opinion before all ballots have been cast.

Even in high-quality polls, each finding is just an estimate

Polls are useful tools, but it’s important not to overstate their accuracy. After all, a polling organization can’t talk to every single person in the country. They instead rely on a sample to produce a statistically valid estimate of the views of all adults. Even though polls can give a reasonable approximation of the views of the larger group, the question is how much each finding could vary.

The margin of error, which all high-quality pollsters will share along with their results, helps capture some of that uncertainty. It means that in a poll with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, a finding that 47% of voters say they’ll support a particular candidate actually means that there’s a very good chance that anywhere between 50% and 44% of voters are supporting that candidate. If the other candidate has 45% support, which could really be anywhere from 42% to 48%, the 2 percentage point difference isn’t statistically meaningful.

That’s why the AP will only say a candidate is leading if that candidate is ahead by more than twice the margin of error.

When you’re looking at a subgroup, rather than a national sample, the potential error is even larger. The fewer people interviewed, the larger the margin of error. This means that state-level polls or polls that measure the views of a subgroup such as women, men, Hispanic Americans or Black Americans are subject to even more error than a national finding.

The margin of sampling error is not the only source of survey error. It is simply the only one that can be quantified using established statistical methods. But there are other factors, too. The wording and order of questions can affect how people answer. An interviewer’s skill can have an effect. Even in high-quality polls, some respondents may be less likely to answer, which means their views can be underrepresented.

Don’t forget about the Electoral College

National polls measure how voters all over the country are thinking about the election. But that’s not how we elect presidents.

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The Electoral College system means that presidential elections are functionally decided by a small number of states. So in some ways, looking at polls of those states is a better way to assess the state of the race.

But state-level polls introduce their own challenges. They’re not conducted as frequently as national polls and some states get polled more often than others. Also, the number of people surveyed for state polls is often smaller than for national polls, which means the margin of error is broader.

What about polling averages?

Some media outlets or organizations publish polling averages or aggregates that combine the results of multiple polls into a single estimate. There are some organizations that create polling averages or models during elections that attempt to determine which candidate is leading in overall polls.

But averaging poll results does not eliminate polling error and it can introduce additional problems. Polling averages contain their own methodological decisions, such as which polls are included or receive greater weight. Some of them also include other factors such as the state of the economy to turn those estimates into forecasts.

In election polling, survey averages can provide a general sense of the state of a race. But it’s also important to not overstate the accuracy of an average or expect it to be a crystal ball into the election outcome. Sometimes the individual results of multiple different polls can provide a better sense of the potential array of outcomes than an average boiled down to a single number.

3 takeaways as Warriors stay undefeated in preseason with win over Kings

SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors continued to take aim from behind the 3-point arc, but also turned the dial up on attacking the basket.

Once again, more than half of the Warriors’ field goal attempts came from behind the arc, but they also got to the line for 37 foul shots.

Even Lindy Waters III, a 3-point specialist, drove a close-out for an and-1 finish in the game’s waning minutes.

With just under two minutes left in a tie game, Pat Spencer hit Gui Santos with long advance pass for another and-1, giving Golden State a 105-102 lead. A minute later, after briefly ceding the lead, Spencer converted the go-ahead layup.

The five of Spencer, Waters, Santos, Reece Beekman and Quinten Post saved the day.

“I thought the story of the game was really that last group, the last five, six minutes, that young group came in and it was the first time all night we looked connected and fast,” Steve Kerr said postgame. “I think we were tired tonight, frankly. I think our guys need a day off, which they’ll get tomorrow…Sacramento, I thought, totally outplayed us all game.”

In the Warriors’ first preseason game at the Chase Center, Golden State stayed undefeated. The 109-106 win over the Kings gives them victories in Honolulu, Sacramento and now San Francisco.

Moses Moody led the game in scoring with 23 points in 25 minutes, earning the start with his strong training camp performance. Jonathan Kuminga added 19 and the end of the Warriors’ bench closed the game out.

Steph Curry scored six points and added four assists in 16 minutes, but didn’t come out of the weight room for the second half, instead working out individually after jamming a finger.

Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ third win of the preseason.

Again, a new starting lineup

The Warriors celebrated their third preseason game with their third distinct starting-five. Only this time, they went with a group — Steph Curry, Moses Moody, Gary Payton II, Kyle Anderson and Draymond Green — that likely won’t start any games in the regular season.

Curry and Payton have always played well together, Moody has had a strong preseason and the Warriors want to see Anderson and Green operate together. And as Andrew Wiggins (illness) remains inactive, tinkering with realistic starting combinations can only go so far.

The irony of all that is the group on Friday — the one without any real spacing around Curry — shot it great. Anderson drilled a pair of 3s, including a tough one in the corner in transition, and Green added another. The unit was sound defensively and hit its shots, looking much more cohesive than it did on paper.

Anderson and Green aren’t going to be knockdown shooters. Defenses aren’t even going to close out to them most of the time. But Anderson shot 40% from 3 two years ago and Green shot a career-best 39.5% last season. When the Warriors want to shoot as much as they do, any way they can pitch in will help.

Quick night for Curry

Steph Curry played 16 minutes, which is what he was likely penciled in for, but he didn’t come out for the second half to sit on the bench. Other starters, including Green, opened the third quarter.

Instead, Curry worked out in the weight room because of a minor finger injury. Kerr planned on getting Curry second-half minutes for the first time this preseason, but the Warriors didn’t want to push it after Curry tweaked his right index finger (x-rays came back negative, per the team).

Four minutes into the second quarter, Curry jammed his finger while contesting a shot. Curry tried shaking and flexing his hand after the play, and he remained in the game for much of the rest of the period. Curry eventually left the court and headed into the tunnel, with head trainer Rick Celebrini following him.

The fastest way to hang a cloud over any good preseason vibes is any sort of Curry injury — however insignificant it may be.

“You always get nervous when he gets hurt,” Kerr said.

Podz, jump-starting the break

For the second straight game, Brandin Podziemski threw an over-the-head dime to a teammate who had leaked out for a fast break. This time, with a minute left in the first half, Moody was on the receiving end.

The Warriors want to get up and down. It’s hard to get players to buy into sprinting their lanes in transition if they never get the ball. That makes hit-ahead passes important, and Podziemski is fantastic at them. The guard led the Warriors in rebounding last season, so he’s going to have chances to initiate chances in transition.

Being able, and willing, to make aggressive passes down the court is a valuable skill to have, and Podziemski has a knack for it.

New dual-site affordable apartment complex brings 142 units to Marina

MARINA – Terracina at The Dunes, a new affordable, dual-site, apartment complex in Marina, had its grand opening celebration on Thursday. It is adding 142 much-needed units to the area’s constricted rental market reflected in the high demand – nearly 100% occupancy – and waiting lists for the units available through its mixed-income program.

“We only have four vacant units to rent in the second phase, so there’s tremendous demand for affordable housing,” said Geoff Brown, president and CEO of USA Properties Fund, Inc. which built and developed Terracina at The Dunes.

Terracina is an affordable apartment community totaling 142 units, offering a range of housing options for residents with incomes between 30%-70% of area median income.

“Our experience is that the more we can have a broad range in our communities, the more the tenant demand is, and that’s been true pretty much wherever we’ve developed,” said Brown.

The apartment community is possible thanks to a public-private partnership that includes Marina Community Partners (Shea Homes), USA Properties, California Housing Finance Agency, WNC and JPMorgan Chase Bank.

Blaine Sutliff and his wife Lily Burns Sutliff are “very happy residents” of Terracina at The Dunes.

Sutliff explained that they both enjoy their jobs but they are “not particularly lucrative and that makes paying for pretty much any apartment here in the Monterey Bay extremely difficult.”

Before moving to Terracina, the Sutliffs lived in a small apartment, paying almost double what they pay at Terracina, and located in “a much louder and unsafe neighborhood.”

He said they often had to choose between putting gas in their car or buying groceries. He took on a second job to pay the bills, and depleted the money set aside for a honeymoon, but still often came up short and had to borrow money to pay rent.

Sutliff

As the Sutliffs struggled financially, and with debt mounting, “the call from Terracina was a massive relief to us.” They had applied six months before, and now they were looking at moving into an apartment that was larger, newer, in a safer location, much more affordable and closer to work for them both.

“We have just so much more freedom in our lives in general. I no longer have to work two jobs to make ends meet,” said Sutliff. “We don’t have to choose which necessities that we can go without this week. I’ve even finally been able to return to college for the first time in 10 years.”

Sutliff ended by pointing out that frankly he and his wife would not have made it without the Terracina apartments, adding they are so happy to call the place their home.

“For those relatively few families that make their way into these, it’s fantastic for them,” said Marina Mayor Bruce Delgado before the ribbon cutting ceremony. “They can have economic security, a safe, clean, new place and maybe just as important is the neighborhood.”

Terracina at The Dunes is part of The Dunes On Monterey Bay, a master-planned community with 1,237 homes and a large shopping center that includes big-name stores and neighborhood restaurants. The soon-to-be completed Promenade at The Dunes is within walking distance of the Terracina apartments and includes a movie theater, restaurant and a soon-to-open neighborhood grocery store. The beach is a few blocks away, along with Cal State Monterey Bay and several parks, including the future city of Marina Dunes Community Park.

The Terracina apartments allow more residents to work and live in Marina, which will benefit workers and local employers, while reducing commuter traffic and helping our local economy, Delgado added.

Two locations comprise Terracina at The Dunes apartments – Imjin Parkway at 4th Avenue has 93 units, and 2nd Avenue at 5th Street has 49 units. Each complex includes a community room, fitness room, computer stations, basketball court, picnic area, tot-lot play area and laundry rooms. Apartments feature energy-efficient appliances and light fixtures, and low-flow faucets, showers and toilets.

The Terracina apartments are pet friendly, charge no pet deposit, have a pet bathing station, a dog park and allow for up to two pets with breed restrictions, and the rent includes sewer, water and trash.

“It serves a basic need that many families have, and they can’t meet the need of affordable housing in very many places because the demand outstrips the supply so much that it’s hard to get into places where you can actually spend only 30% of your income toward your rent,” said Delgado.

One of every four renters in Monterey County is considered severely cost-burdened, spending at least 50% of their income on housing, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

Terracina at The Dunes is the first apartment community for USA Properties in Monterey County and along the Central Coast, one of the priciest regions in California that also faces a critical shortage of housing.

USA Properties Fund Inc., a California corporation, is a privately-owned real estate development organization specializing in the creation of outstanding apartment communities, says the Roseville-based company. It provides a full range of capabilities for community development, including financing, development, construction services, rehabilitation and property management.

USA Properties has developed and constructed, or acquired and rehabilitated, more than 13,500 units of family and senior apartments in more than 100 communities throughout California, Nevada, and Oregon.

Two locations comprise Terracina at The Dunes apartments – Imjin Parkway at 4th Avenue has 93 units, and this property at 2nd Avenue at 5th Street has 49 units. (James Herrera/Monterey Herald)

The company acquired two parcels, 6.5 acres in total, for Terracina at The Dunes from Marina Community Partners LLC (Shea Homes). Marina Community Partners also provided almost $8 million to subsidize the development on the former Fort Ord Army base that closed three decades ago.

The subsidy coupled with a public-private partnership that includes the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA), JPMorgan Chase Bank and WNC made the $71 million project possible.

CalHFA issued tax-exempt bonds for the project and provided a long-term permanent loan and subsidy funds through its Mixed-Income Program, according to USA Properties. Under the state program, residents can earn a wider range of income levels and still qualify for Terracina at The Dunes compared to traditional affordable housing requirements.

With the Mixed-Income Program, households earning 30% to 70% of the area’s median income – about $35,760 to $83,440 for a three-person household – could qualify for Terracina at The Dunes.

For households at 30% of the area median income, a two-bedroom apartment at Terracina could be rented for $823 a month, and households at 70% could rent a two-bedroom for $2,015.

Geoff Brown, president and CEO of USA Properties Fund, Inc. cuts the ribbon at the grand opening celebration of the Terracina at The Dunes Apartments in Marina on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (James Herrera/Monterey Herald)

These projects are very difficult to put together with the various entities that need to be involved, said Brown. At times the legislation in the state makes it even more difficult.

“We constantly need to come up with ways to reduce regulation to help reduce costs,” he said.

Occupancy at USA properties in its portfolio is 97-98% which includes more than 12,000 units of affordable housing in California.

“That’s the industry, which tells you we have a huge supply problem, we don’t have a demand problem,” said Brown.

Affordable housing is a conduit to education, healthcare, transportation, energy and it helps alleviate homelessness, he said.

“We’re very impactful and we always have to try to do whatever we can to promote ways where we can help reduce red tape to get these projects built,” said Brown.

There is a critical need, so that’s something USA Properties will continue to do on its end to promote because it is imperative, he said.

“For MCP, which is now really Shea Homes, this marks 250 affordable units that we’ve brought to The Dunes community all before we closed market-rate housing,” said Don Hofer, vice president for Shea Homes in Northern California. “Our first 108 units … our University Villages Apartments which has been here for quite awhile. This adds to the affordable stock or the affordable opportunity that exists in this community and we’re so proud of it.”

Pro Boxing: Long-time Salinas boxing trainer Max Garcia dead at 74

SALINAS – The boxing world is mourning the loss of long-time Salinas trainer Max Garcia, who passed away peacefully from a lengthy illness.

Garcia, 74, has been training professional and amateur boxers in the area for 27 years, having taken two Salinas area boxers to No. 1 world ranking status.

“We were like best friends,” said his son and co-trainer Sam Garcia. “He’s someone I could count on every day, who had so much knowledge in mentoring me as a trainer and a person. He taught me that your word means something.”

The Garcias, along with Max’s wife Kathy, earned world recognition in the boxing fraternity in 2001 when Alisal High graduate Jose Celeya climbed to a No. 1 world ranking in his belt class.

Coach Max Garcia tapes the hands of Manuel Avila during training in 2015. Garcia recently died at age 74. (David Royal — Herald file)

It snowballed from there as Team Garcia became a well-known fixture among promoters for how their boxers performed and carried themselves in and out of the ring.

“In boxing, you find people that have different opinions about others,” Sam Garcia said. “A lot of people had the same opinion about my dad. What he said, he did. I’ve tried to live that way.”

Respect has flooded social media from world-renown promoters and rival trainers, to the World Boxing Council sending out condolence messages.

“One of the top trainers in the world drove seven hours to Salinas to spend the day with the family,” said longtime family friend Jason Heib, who will speak at the funeral. “That’s how respected Max was. You read some of the messages, it’ll make you cry. It broke my heart.”

Among the fighters who have been ranked in the Top 10 in the world under Max Garcia include Chuy Rodriguez, Eloy Perez, Celaya and current world-ranked boxer Ruben Villa.

Celaya and Perez both achieved No. 1 status in the world in their weight classes, with Perez fighting for a world title a decade ago in the Super Welterweight division.

Villa, an Alvarez graduate, who continues to train with Sam Garcia, is currently ranked in the Top 10 in the world in the featherweight class (126 pounds).

“I don’t think the community knows the impact he made on people’s lives,” Garcia’s son said. “But the world does. I’m getting calls from trainers on what my dad meant to the boxing world. Kids remember the life lessons he taught them and the impact he had. It wasn’t just boxing.”

With Max Garcia battled health issues in recent years, he began to turn the training duties over to his son Sam, who worked his first corner in the ring 27 years ago at the age of 19.

“My dad had taken on an overlooking role,” Sam Garcia said. “I became more of a hands-on guy the last three years. I’ve been with my dad since he started.”

So has Max Garcia’s wife, Kathy, who has been the brains behind Team Garcia in its rise to stardom in the boxing community.

“My mom is having a hard time talking to people,” Sam Garcia said. “She a strong lady. We’re all here for her. She’s heartbroken. They were married for 47 years.”

Having started training boxers at the Breadbox in east Salinas in the 1990s, the Garcia’s eventually put together a private gym in Max Garcia’s backyard.

“What I’ll remember is how he treated people, how my dad was a leader,” Sam Garcia said. “How he conducted that presence. But he also had a great sense of humor. He was one of the guys, a man’s man.”

Before he began his career as a boxing trainer, Max Garcia was a preschool teacher for underprivileged kids in the Hebron Heights neighborhood of east Salinas.

“Boxing was his passion,” Sam Garcia said. “But he would work with any athletes in any sport in our gym that wanted to improve themselves.”

Max Garcia’s legacy will live on through his son, who will continue Team Garcia, where he trains boxers at Drac4 Boxing, Fitness and Performance Training on South Main Street in Salinas, where he co-owns the gym with Villa.

The gym is open to all athletes, as shown by former 49ers linebacker and Hall of Famer Patrick Willis having come in and trained there in the past.

“I will continue my dad’s work as a boxing trainer,” Sam Garcia said. “But it’s hard right now. I just didn’t lose my dad, I lost my best friend.”

Are male voters reluctant to vote for a woman? Harris’ backers are confronting the question head on

By WILL WEISSERT and ZEKE MILLER

WASHINGTON (AP) — The concern has been there all along, but now it’s being talked about openly: Are some men reluctant to vote for Democrat Kamala Harris because she’s a woman?

The vice president rarely references her gender on the campaign trail, but her key supporters are starting to make more direct appeals to male voters, hoping to overcome ingrained sexism — or just plain apathy — as Election Day looms.

Former President Barack Obama said he was speaking to Black men in particular when he suggested some “aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president.” Actor Ed O’Neill implores in a new ad, “Be a man: Vote for a woman.” And Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, is helping lead “ Hombres con Harris ” — “Men with Harris” — to help energize Hispanic male voters.

“I think, in many ways, it’s other people who need to be the messenger,” said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers University. She added of appeals to men by the vice president, “I don’t think she can get up and say, ”Shame on you.”‘

“It’s sad, but I think she needs these outside validators,” Walsh said.

The clearest example is Obama who, while campaigning in Pittsburgh on Thursday night, stopped by a Harris campaign field office to “speak some truths,” especially for some Black male voters who aren’t enthusiastic about supporting the vice president.

“Part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that,” he said, adding: “You’re thinking about sitting out, or supporting somebody who has a history of denigrating you, because you think that’s a sign of strength, because that’s what being a man is? Putting women down? That’s not acceptable.”

Keith Edmondson, a 63-year-old retiree from the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert who is Black and attended a Harris rally in Arizona on Thursday night, said he’s worried about whether young Black men will turn out for Harris. He said he’s trying to convince his three grandsons to vote for Harris even though their father, who is Edmondson’s son, is a supporter of the vice president’s opponent, Republican Donald Trump.

“There are more Black folks supporting Donald Trump than I thought,” he said, blaming what he called misinformation surrounding Harris’ background as a former prosecutor.

Trump has a long pattern of disparaging women. At a rally in Reading, Pennsylvania, this week, Trump reacted to Harris’ appearance on ABC’s “The View,” by saying, “People are realizing she’s a dumb person. And we can’t have another dumb president.” He also criticized on his social media site “the dumb women” who host the ABC program.

Next week, Trump is set to participate in a Fox News Channel town hall focusing on issues impacting women. But he has more often prioritized doing interviews with podcasts that are popular with younger men. The former president also entered the Republican convention this summer to the sounds of James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s World” and the proceedings were built around promoting masculine themes, including featuring personalities from the wrestling world.

The Lincoln Project, a Republican group that opposes Trump and often produces ads meant to irk him, produced an online spot voiced by O’Neill, of “Modern Family” fame, that urges men, when it comes to Harris to “let her lead,” before concluding: “Be a man, vote for a woman.”

His message was far more direct than Harris often is. Despite making history as the first woman of color to lead a major party’s presidential ticket, she hasn’t publicly embraced the trailblazing nature of her candidacy like Hillary Clinton did in 2016.

Instead, she used this summer’s Democratic convention to lean heavily into her experience as a prosecutor and promise that the U.S. has “the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world.”

“She is speaking, in those moments, to the people that may well not be comfortable, or trusting, that a woman can lead at this highest level,” Walsh said.

In 2020, women made up a bigger share of the electorate than men. According to AP VoteCast, a sweeping survey of that cycle’s voters, 53% of voters were women and 47% were men. And in that election, men were more likely to support Trump, while women voters were more likely to support Biden.

Polling suggests that electing a woman president isn’t a top priority for men or women, but men in particular don’t see it as important.

A Pew Research Center poll released last year asked Americans how important it is that a woman be elected president in their lifetime, and found that only 18% of U.S. adults said this is extremely or very important to them. Some 64% said it is not too important or not at all so, or that the president’s gender doesn’t matter.

The same poll showed that 73% of men and 57% of women said the issue was not too important, not at all important or that the president’s gender doesn’t matter.

Among some key demographics, Harris’ support from men doesn’t keep up with levels among women. A majority of Hispanic women have a positive opinion of Harris and a negative view of Trump, but Hispanic men are more divided on both candidates, according to a poll released Friday by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The Harris campaign rejects the notion that Harris herself can’t deliver a winning message to male voters. Instead, it argues, she is working to reach them personally and also complementing efforts by top male supporters and campaign advertising pushes aimed at things like top sporting events.

Rather than simply appealing to masculinity, the campaign says, it is presenting arguments that can appeal to men built around key issues, like the economy.

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Harris is on the digital cover of the latest issue of “Vogue” and recently taped an interview with the “Call Her Daddy” podcast, which is most popular with younger women. But she’s also sitting next week for a town hall hosted by popular radio personality Charlamagne tha God.

Senior Harris campaign officials nonetheless admit to being worried about Trump’s support among men — including white, Hispanic and Black Americans. They note Trump’s brash appeals to “bro” culture have resonated with some, especially young voters — and made some would-be voters more likely to support Trump or sit out the election.

In response, aides have also urged the vice president to explicitly mention cryptocurrency in her speeches and interviews, knowing its salience among men. Trump has a crypto venture with his family, though he differs from Harris in believing that it should be more lightly regulated than she does. The Harris campaign is also expected to launch an aggressive effort to have the vice president and Walz appear in male-skewing media in the race’s closing weeks.

Walz has already done some of that, helping launch the “Hombres” group in Arizona and having one of his rallies there livestreamed via Twitch as a streamer on the site played “World of Warcraft” and offered commentary on the event — a forum popular with younger, largely male gamers.

Harris’ running mate is also attending a Friday football game in Mankato, Minnesota, where he once was an assistant coach, and plans a hunting outing this weekend.

During a “White Dudes for Harris” fundraising call this summer, Walz said this about the prospect of defeating Trump: “How often in the world do you make that bastard wake up afterward and know that a Black woman kicked his ass?”

___

Associated Press writers Anna Johnson in Chandler, Arizona, and Josh Boak and Amelia Thomson DeVeaux in Washington contributed to this report.

49ers report card: The ABCs of winning in Seattle weren’t easy to spell

SEATTLE — Here is how the 49ers (3-3) graded in Sunday’s 36-24 win Thursday night over the host Seattle Seahawks (3-3):

PASS OFFENSE: A-

Brock Purdy delivered three touchdown passes, committed no turnovers, eluded defenders without getting sacked, and posted a 129.3 passer rating. But enough about how he outplayed his counterpart Geno Smith. Purdy’s trust in George Kittle produced two of those touchdown passes, the first on a 10-yard grab with fancy footwork at the front pylon for a 23-3 lead, then the latter being a 9-yard third-down catch with 6 ½ minutes remaining. Deebo Samuel came out of relative hibernation and delivered a 76-yard touchdown on a catch-and-run, then shook off a fourth-quarter injury to battle for more yards. Brandon Aiyuk, Jauan Jennings and Kyle Juszczyk also made key catches. Trent Williams said the offensive line is gelling right now, and Spencer Burford filled in during the second half when Aaron Banks battled leg cramps.

RUN OFFENSE: A

Jordan Mason rebounded from last game’s lost fumble and took the NFL rushing lead with 73 yards, but he could only last nine carries before exiting with a shoulder injury, the severity of which is unknown. Mason’s exit opened the door for rookie Isaac Guerendo, Deebo Samuel, and the rarely seen Patrick Taylor Jr. to fill the ground-game void, which they did impressively. The 49ers thoroughly practiced an outside-zone run that resulted in Guerendo’s 76-yard sprint down the right sideline. It was the rookie speedster’s greatest showcase yet, even though he went down at the 5-yard line to Kyle Shanahan’s dismay. That run set the stage for Kyle Juszczyk’s 6-yard touchdown run (his first of the season) with 1:17 remaining. Overall, the 49ers ran for a season-high 228 yards (33 carries).

PASS DEFENSE: B+

Rookies Malik Mustapha and Renardo Green each recorded their first career interception. Mustapha’s came on the opening series (before an ankle injury forced his exit), and Green’s came in the fourth quarter to set up Kittle’s second touchdown. Fellow cornerbacks Deommodore Lenoir and Isaac Yiadom helped deny D.K. Metcalf from impacting the outcome (three catches on 11 targets, 48 yards). Geno Smith (30-of-52, 312 yards) threw only one touchdown pass, and it came on fourth-and-9 to cap a drive that took 4 1/2 heavy minutes off the clock and left only 1:44. Nick Bosa didn’t record a sack and instead had 14 pressures that tied for the most in a game over the last four seasons, a mark set by him two years ago against the Rams. Sam Okuayinonu got the 49ers’ lone sack in the final minute.

RUN DEFENSE: A

Fred Warner had a team-high 11 tackles, he broke up a pass, and he forced his fourth fumble this season (the Seahawks recovered it). The 49ers knew Kenneth Walker III commanded more carries after just five in Seattle’s loss Sunday to the New York Giants, and so they were ready for him. Walker had 14 carries and just 32 yards. Zach Charbonnet had 20 yards on five carries. The Seahawks’ 52 yards and 2.6-yard average per carry were the fewest totals against the 49ers’ run defense this season. Ji’Ayir Brown, Mustapha and Okuayinonu each made a tackle for loss, while five other defenders combined on stops for no gain.

SPECIAL TEAMS: C

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Darrell Luter forced a fumble on a kick return and Tatum Bethune recovered as the 49ers were building a 16-0 lead. More first-half highlights came when kicker Matthew Wright — whose name Kyle Shanahan just learned on Wednesday — made all three of his field-goal attempts. Wright banged up his shoulder making a tackle on his final kickoff, so stay tuned on whether the 49ers might need a third kicker in as many games. As is the case weekly with this unit, a major mistake ruined the mood, this time with a 97-yard kick return from Laviska Shenault in the third quarter to spark Seattle’s comeback bid from a 23-3 deficit.

COACHING: C

Had the 49ers blown a 20-point lead and fallen to 0-3 in the NFC West …  Nevermind. Didn’t happen. Coach Kyle Shanahan insisted he did not let negative thoughts enter his mindset regarding this season’s past collapses to Arizona and Los Angeles. All three phases of the 49ers did rally down the stretch, however. Nick Sorensen need not look over his shoulder for Robert Saleh. Next challenge: beat Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs for the first time in Shanahan’s eight seasons.

The 2024 election and your retirement: How to stay financially prepared regardless of who wins

James Royal, Ph.D. | Bankrate.com (TNS)

The 2024 elections are right around the corner, and it’s been one of the most contentious campaign seasons in recent memory. For retirees, the outcome of the election has some ramifications, especially with a looming Social Security shortfall, which could lead to drastic cuts in benefits. Whoever is elected this year could help shape how the program is funded and whether benefits are cut and by how much. But Social Security is only one of several issues impacting retirement planning.

“The 2024 election is going to be a big one for retirees,” says Brandon Ashton, director of retirement security at Cornerstone Financial Services in Southfield, Michigan. “Tax legislation, pension reforms, raising the retirement age, raising the required minimum distribution age, healthcare costs and many more issues are at stake in 2024.”

That’s why experts say that those planning for retirement must stay up to date on any changes and how those changes could affect their plans.

Here are five key areas to watch as the election unfolds and what to do to set yourself up for success — no matter who wins.

1. Prepare for changes to Social Security

Social Security provides a substantial portion of income for America’s retirees, but with the program’s trust fund running low, analysts expect that benefits could be cut as soon as 2033 if the funding situation isn’t solved. The average check would be automatically cut by some 21%, according to NPR, leaving strapped retirees with even less to get by on.

“Whoever wins the presidency will set the tone for the future of Social Security,” says Ashton. Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris “have made contrasting statements about the program, but neither offers a clear long-term solution,” he says.

But regardless of what a new president wants, it is Congress that would ultimately make any funding changes. Some senators have discussed raising the full retirement age, cutting benefits or eliminating the annual cost of living increase, which helps Social Security’s payments keep up with inflation.

“If one party gains a majority, their priorities for addressing solvency — whether through tax increases, benefit adjustments, or structural reforms — may take center stage,” says Ashton.

But changes to Social Security may not be on the horizon for the upcoming Congress, say some advisers.

“Congress will most likely balk their way through the session, pushing the exhaustion of the trust fund until next year’s list of issues,” says Michael Primavera, retirement planning adviser at Daniel A. White & Associates in Lewes, Delaware.

If Congress fails to act soon, it would make lower-cost solutions even harder to implement, a fact that plays into the hands of those who would prefer to cut benefits on retirees. The longer Congress delays, the less palatable the solutions will become and the more likely that retirees will suffer a reduced benefit of some kind, whether that’s a lower overall lifetime benefit or immediate cuts.

What you can do: Save and invest more toward your own retirement. With potential benefit reductions on the horizon, soon-to-be retirees should consider financial moves that allow them to fund more of their own retirement. This could include saving and investing more and having a higher allocation for growth assets during retirement. With eight or nine years until a potential cut, you can make substantial changes now to help bolster your finances in the future.

2. Adjust for potential changes to income tax rates

Some advisers think the expiration of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act — informally known as the “Trump tax cuts” — will be one of the most contentious issues. The law is set to expire at the end of 2025. Congress must act to renew it or the tax regime will revert to where it was in 2017 and earlier. Both candidates have made a variety of proposals to adjust the tax system.

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Harris has proposed raising the top tax rate from 37% to 39.6%. However, she has said she would not raise taxes on households earning $400,000 or less. Harris has also proposed a minimum 25% tax on households with more than $100 million in assets and higher long-term capital gains taxes on those earning more than $1 million, with the top rate moving from 20% to 28%. Additionally, she has proposed raising the corporate tax rate.

Trump has said he would extend the current tax provisions following the 2025 deadline, lower corporate tax rates and raise the $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions. He has also proposed eliminating taxes on Social Security and implementing an across-the-board tariff of 10% on all imports, a move that tax experts say could shrink the economy and grow the debt.

“Whether the Trump tax cuts remain intact, are modified or ‘sunset’ altogether, it is important to know where you are in terms of expected income and which tax bracket you fall into,” says Primavera. Retirees have some control over their income — and therefore taxes — because they can adjust how much money comes out of their retirement accounts as income.

What you can do: Take tax planning seriously. If tax rates move higher, planning your taxes becomes more important. Smart planning can minimize the taxes you have to pay. “Remember, the big variable in retirement income is the amount you take from your qualified accounts (IRA, 401(k), etc.) and the required minimum distribution (RMD) that comes with it at age 73,” says Primavera.

3. Consider a Roth IRA conversion

A potential rise in tax rates in 2026 may mean that this year and next remain opportune times to take advantage of a Roth IRA conversion. With this strategy, you convert a traditional retirement plan such as an IRA or 401(k) into a Roth IRA, which offers a range of benefits.

“If you believe the Trump tax cuts are going to expire, why not take advantage of them while you still can? A Roth conversion is a great strategy in retirement planning,” says Primavera. “If you have a large IRA balance and have room in your current tax bracket for additional income, pay the taxes on the income now and reinvest into your Roth IRA, which can now grow and will not be taxed again.”

What you can do: Consider a Roth IRA conversion. Of course, it’s no guarantee what happens to the current tax rates, but retirement advisers have long advised clients to consider a Roth IRA conversion. The conversion can be especially beneficial if you have many years left in retirement, but advisers such as Primavera suggest that clients avoid bumping themselves into the next tax bracket when they convert. Even if tax rates don’t rise, this move could still make sense, but plan carefully.

4. Watch out for changes to estate taxes

“Regarding the Trump tax cuts that are expected to expire at the end of 2025, the biggest change would be the estate tax reduction,” says Steve Azoury, ChFC, owner of Azoury Financial in Troy, Michigan.

The current estate tax laws in 2024 allow Americans to give away $13.61 million without paying any estate taxes. Each individual gets the exemption, for a total of $27.22 million per couple gifting together. If the estate tax reverts to the prior system, this amount will drop to about $7 million per person, according to tax experts. Any money given above that threshold will be taxed at rates as high as 40%, and that’s not including other levies at the state level, such as inheritance taxes.

What you can do: Keep an eye out. You’ll have some time to see which way the wind is blowing on this issue, so it’s not a move that you need to make immediately. However, given the huge tax savings that come with gifting a large estate under the current system, it could make sense to speak with your financial adviser about your personal situation. “You may want to do your gifting now in order to preserve these deductions,” says Azoury.

5. Don’t abandon your long-term game plan

You might be tempted to abandon your investment and retirement plan if your preferred candidate doesn’t win. Don’t do it, experts say.

“Elections are always fun. Everyone has an opinion, but this should not change your retirement goals,” says Azoury. “These goals should be set based on your lifestyle, assets, income and what activities you plan to do in retirement.”

“The one thing I would refrain from doing with your nest egg is selling it all and going straight to cash,” says Primavera. If you need to reduce risk, do so methodically. “Instead of a knee-jerk reaction and pulling everything out of the market, reduce your market exposure with a periodic rebalancing of your portfolio to a more risk-averse strategy,” he says.

What you can do: Stick to the investment plan that meets your long-term needs, don’t sweat the short-term noise, and, above all, avoid costly, emotional reactions when investing. The economy and stock market have performed well under Republican and Democratic administrations, and in particular under both Trump and President Joe Biden, as shown in this Bankrate comparison.

Bottom line

It is vital for retirees to stay up to date on changes that affect them, particularly on the key areas that affect their income the most. It’s also key to make sensible, well-considered decisions that work in your long-term financial interest rather than making ill-advised and emotional decisions based on half-truths. Work with an experienced financial adviser to help you stick to a game plan that works for you and your family.

(Editorial Disclaimer: All investors are advised to conduct their own independent research into investment strategies before making an investment decision. In addition, investors are advised that past investment product performance is no guarantee of future price appreciation.)

(Visit Bankrate online at bankrate.com.)

©2024 Bankrate.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Voting systems have been under attack since 2020, but are tested regularly for accuracy and security

By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY

ATLANTA (AP) — Voting machines have been at the center of a web of conspiracy theories after the 2020 election, with false claims that they were manipulated to steal the presidency from Donald Trump.

There was no evidence of widespread fraud or rigged voting machines in the election, and multiple reviews in the battleground states where the Republican president disputed his loss to Democrat Joe Biden confirmed the results as accurate. In 2023, Fox News agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems, one of the largest voting machine companies, $787 million to avoid a trial in a defamation lawsuit.

In the years since his loss, Trump and his allies have continued to sow doubts about voting equipment. State and local election officials have tried to push back by explaining the layers of protection that surround voting systems and the measures they have in place to conduct fair and accurate elections.

In November’s presidential election, nearly every ballot cast will have a paper record that can be used to obtain an accurate count even if there are errors or cyberattacks.

What is a voting machine?FILE – A person votes at a polling site for the presidential primary election on Tuesday, March 12, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

Election officials rely on various pieces of technology. Every office does things a little bit differently.

Officials rely on a voter registration system that is a database of registered voters and have an election management system that workers use to create, issue and track ballots. They also use an election-night reporting system that reports unofficial results. Many jurisdictions use electronic pollbooks to check in voters at polling locations.

All this depends on software and computers, a reliance that carries risks that officials work to identify and address. For example, election officials often will isolate critical systems from the internet and use storage devices, such as secured USB sticks, to transfer data. They limit access to sensitive equipment to only those who need it and have logs that track and monitor the devices.

When an internet connection is needed, election officials will often use private networks to limit the risk of malicious activity and take other steps to scan their systems for potential vulnerabilities and threats.

Voters in much of the country fill out ballots by hand, and then that ballot will be scanned and counted electronically. A few places, mostly small towns in the Northeast, will count their ballots by hand.

In some areas, voters use a computer to mark their ballots electronically and then get a printout of their choices that they insert into a scanner for counting. In other cases, the ballot is cast electronically, and a paper record is printed that summarizes the votes cast. That record is then available if a hand-count is needed.

Are voting machines connected to the internet?FILE – A voting machine is seen at a polling site for the Presidential primary election on Tuesday, March 12, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

With a few exceptions, no. There are some jurisdictions in a few states that allow for ballot scanners in polling locations to transmit unofficial results, using a mobile private network, after voting has ended on Election Day and the memory cards containing the vote tallies have been removed.

Election officials who allow this say it provides for faster reporting of unofficial election results on election night. They say the paper records of the ballots cast are used to authenticate the results during postelection reviews, and that those records would be crucial to a recount if one was needed.

Computer security experts have said this is an unnecessary risk and should be prohibited.

Are voting machines secure?FILE – Election judges demonstrate the accuracy of the city’s voting equipment on Friday, Oct. 28, 2022, in Minneapolis. Before any election, the state’s law requires the city’s voting machines to be publicly tested for accuracy. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr, File)

Election officials say they have worked extensively to shore up security around their voting equipment after an effort by Russia to scan state voter registration systems for vulnerabilities in 2016.

There was no evidence then that any data was changed or deleted, but it led the federal government to declare the nation’s election systems as critical infrastructure. That allows the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to provide free cybersecurity reviews and vulnerability testing to election offices nationwide.

“Today, eight years later, because of all the incredible work by election officials to strengthen the security and resiliency of our election process, election infrastructure has never been more secure, and the election stakeholder community has never been stronger,” the agency’s director, Jen Easterly, told reporters in September.

Computer security experts have called for more to be done and for election officials to limit the use of certain technology, specifically machines that mark ballots for voters. A long-running court battle in Georgia has sought to compel the state to get rid of these machines in favor of hand-marked paper ballots.

Experts have also raised particular concern about a series of security breaches that occurred after the 2020 election as Trump allies sought access to voting systems in Georgia and elsewhere as they tried to prove their unsubstantiated claims. The experts have warned that the public release of critical election software because of the breaches has raised “serious threats” and have called for a federal investigation.

How do election officials ensure accuracy?

Election officials say there are safeguards in place to ensure that voting systems are not manipulated. That begins with physical security, such as locked rooms with limited access and the use of tamper-evident seals. In addition, voting equipment is tested before the election, a process that includes running test ballots through the equipment to ensure votes are being counted correctly.

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Postelection reviews are conducted to identify any mistakes or errors that may have occurred.

Around 98% of all ballots cast in this year’s election will include a paper record, according to a report by the Brennan Center for Justice based on data collected by Verified Voting, a nonpartisan group that tracks voting equipment in the U.S. Officials say that’s important for ensuring that any error or cyberattack will not prevent officials from producing an accurate record of the vote.

Read more about how U.S. elections work at Explaining Election 2024, a series from The Associated Press aimed at helping make sense of the American democracy. The AP receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.