Jeremy T. Ringfield's Blog, page 77

Horoscopes July 15, 2025: Forest Whitaker, take the time to gather your thoughts

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Tristan Wilds, 36; Lana Parrilla, 48; Jason Bonham, 59; Forest Whitaker, 64.

Happy Birthday: Show enthusiasm and use your experience to guide you in a direction that excites you regarding prospects and personal gains. Take the time to gather your thoughts. Protect against taking on too much or running yourself ragged; your pace is just as crucial as your achievements this year. A positive and precise mindset will help you define what contributes to your success this year. Your numbers are 8, 15, 26, 29, 34, 42, 47.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): A change will clear your head and help you envision lifestyle choices. Set a budget; choosing what you can do without will be easier. A kind word or a helping hand will open doors to new beginnings and opportunities. Leave nothing to chance regarding home, family and finances. 3 stars

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Interact, fulfill your promises and let what you do for others lead the way. Less talk and more action will offer hope to those you help, boost your reputation with those watching and be your calling card for new pursuits. Do your best, and be gracious and grateful for what you receive. 4 stars

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Trust your instincts, not your emotions. Home improvements or lifestyle changes will brighten your day. Spending time with someone you love will lead to special plans or projects. Romance is in the stars, and making sure you look and feel your best will enhance your evening. Choose love over discord. 2 stars

CANCER (June 21-July 22): You can dream, but don’t go overboard. Too much of anything will lead to backtracking. Take your time and consider every angle. How you approach people and problems will make a difference to how others perceive you and how much leeway you’ll receive without interference. Charm trumps aggression, and kindness outmaneuvers intimidation. 5 stars

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Put your creativity to work for you, and you’ll devise a plan or suggestion that can catapult you forward if you share your vision openly and follow through. Your charismatic presentation will captivate people who can contribute to your success. Personal improvements are evident, particularly in personal or professional connections. 3 stars

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Confide cautiously to avoid emotional backlash. Share with people who have similar concerns. Don’t let the changes happening around you disrupt your plans. Head in the direction that offers solitude and the opportunity to bring about positive change. Avoid people trying to convince you they know what’s best for you. Follow your gut. 3 stars

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Keep a low profile. The less others know about you and what you’re up to, the better. Working from or on your home will help you focus on your endgame. Change begins with you and what you know; learn and practice until you are ready to show off your skills. 3 stars

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You’ll shine at events if you display your talents. Step into the spotlight; you’ll feel comfortable and in control once you begin. An opportunity will develop if you are gracious with the time, talent and encouragement you offer. Apply what you discover about yourself and your abilities to your everyday routine. 5 stars

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Hold tight; don’t feel you have to share every detail with everyone you encounter. There is safety in silence when you are trying to get something done without interference. Someone’s input will lead to a change of heart and perspective regarding partnerships and lifestyles. Do what’s best for you. Self-improvement is favored. 2 stars

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Engage in events that connect you with people heading in the same direction. What interests you will lead to good conversations, knowledge and encouragement to stop dreaming and start doing. Invest your energy into an outlet that propels you toward your desires. Spend time with someone who makes you shine. 4 stars

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Make your surroundings more conducive to your needs. Whether at work, home or where you frequent for relaxation or entertainment, how you feel in your chosen environment will determine your accomplishments and how happy and content you are with your life. Love and romance are in the stars. 3 stars

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Make a to-do list and get moving. The sooner you rid yourself of the pressure that comes with unfinished business, the more you will enjoy the rewards. Don’t begrudge what others have; be happy for them, and consider how to apply their example to finding your bliss. Your happiness is your responsibility. 3 stars

Birthday Baby: You are helpful, kind and considerate. You are upbeat and playful.

1 star: Avoid conflicts; work behind the scenes.
2 stars: You can accomplish, but don’t rely on others.
3 stars: Focus and you’ll reach your goals.
4 stars: Aim high; start new projects.
5 stars: Nothing can stop you; go for gold.

Visit Eugenialast.com, or join Eugenia on Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn.

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‘He did all the hard stuff’: Alhambra fireballer Cameron Millar highlights Bay Area selections in 2025 MLB draft

Cameron Millar’s dream senior season has culminated in a dream come true for the former Alhambra pitcher. 

Millar was selected on Sunday by the Kansas City Royals in the third round of the MLB draft (No. 97 overall), opening the door to a professional career after Millar posted a 0.11 ERA and went 7-1 on the mound for Alhambra this season in 12 appearances. 

It’s still uncertain whether he will begin his professional tenure immediately or honor his commitment to the University of Arizona. Millar already traveled to Tucson to join his future teammates, finding out about his draft selection while preparing for summer workouts. 

Whatever he decides, it won’t diminish the joy of the occasion. Alhambra coach Gabriel Sahagun was up close for Millar’s growth, and he long-distance celebrated with Millar and his family when the young pitcher’s name was called. 

“He did all the hard stuff. It’s just cool to watch, and someone who deserved it more than most,” Sahagun said. “Sometimes you see these guys, they just have it. And he obviously has it, but he also was one of those guys who really, really worked for it.”

Millar’s ascent came after a spring where he increased his maximum fastball velocity from 92 miles per hour to 97, sparking elevated interest in his pro prospects. It’s fitting, perhaps, that he was taken with the 97th pick. 

It seems to be a magic number for him.

“That’s what everybody zoned in on,” Sahagun said. “And I get it. A kid jumping from 92 to 97, that’s unbelievable in and of itself.”

Sahagun said Millar’s leadership went beyond his play on the field and was unusual even for such a skilled player.

“If I left the cage unlocked, Cameron would say, ‘Oh, yeah, coach, I’ll run over and lock it up,’” he said. “The small little intangibles as a leader, all those things everyone talks about, he had it all.”

Millar will now have to make the biggest decision of his life with help from his family, friends and advisors. He’s hunkered down in Tucson for now, trying to compartmentalize and figure out his next move. 

“He went down there, because you just never know with the draft and what’s going to happen,” Sahagun said. “So they were out there, but we were texting throughout the day in the process, me and him. It was cool. He was excited. At some point, I told him to just put his phone away. Go enjoy the family. I think he’s probably getting blown up quite a bit.”

Millar was the key to Alhambra’s season, which ended with a 13-12 record and a loss to Livermore in the North Coast Section Division II opening round. Alhambra won nine of the 12 games in which Millar pitched. 

They lost the other three 1-0, 1-0 and 2-1. Millar gave up four total runs and one earned run all season.

“We’re probably the smallest school in our division,” Sahagun said. “Technically, we’re supposed to be like a D-III, D-IV school. Everyone in our division is D-II with a splash of D-I. So having someone with Cameron’s skill set, he gave us opportunities to win every game he stepped on the mound, and that’s all we could ask for.”

Other local players selected in the MLB draft include Scotts Valley High’s Kaleb Wing (fourth round, Chicago Cubs), Aiden Taurek of Saint Mary’s College (13th round, Seattle Mariners), Stanford’s Trevor Haskins (15th round, St. Louis Cardinals) and West Valley College’s Nico Wagner (16th round, Atlanta Braves).

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Dublin High’s Elijah McNeal (20th round) will have the chance to stay local – he was selected by the San Francisco Giants. McNeal has also signed to play college baseball at UC Davis.

Notable undrafted high school players with Bay Area connections include De La Salle’s Alec Blair (ranked No. 52 by MLB.com’s 2025 prospect rankings), Irvington’s Brayden Jaksa (No. 88) and Valley Christian’s Brock Ketelsen (No. 165).

All three players are committed to colleges. Blair is playing baseball and basketball at Oklahoma and Jaksa will play baseball at Oregon. 

Ketelsen is staying local, heading to the Sunken Diamond to play for Stanford alongside fellow Valley Christian senior Quinten Marsh.

Senate confirms Trump’s first judicial nominee of his second term

By MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has confirmed President Donald Trump’s first judicial pick of his second term, voting to approve Whitney Hermandorfer as a judge for the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The confirmation of Hermandorfer, who worked for Tennessee’s attorney general, comes after the Democratic-led Senate under former President Joe Biden confirmed 235 federal judges and the Republican-led Senate in Trump’s first term confirmed 234 federal judges.

The two presidents each worked to reshape the judiciary, with Trump taking advantage of a high number of judicial vacancies at the end of President Barack Obama’s term and Democrats working to beat Trump’s number after he had the opportunity to nominate three Supreme Court justices.

So far in his second term, Trump has fewer vacancies to fill. While he inherited more than 100 vacancies from Obama, who was stymied by a Republican Senate in his final two years, Trump now has 49 vacancies to fill out of almost 900 federal judgeships.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said last week that the Senate would work to quickly confirm Trump’s judicial nominees, even though “we’re not facing the number of judicial vacancies this Congress we did during Trump’s first term.”

Sen. Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., center, talks after a policy luncheon on Wednesday, July 9, 2025, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

Hermandorfer, who was confirmed 46-42 along party lines, has defended many of Trump’s policies as director of strategic litigation for Tennessee’s attorney general, including his bid to end birthright citizenship. Democrats and liberal judicial advocacy groups criticized her as extreme on that issue and others, also citing her office’s defense of the state’s strict abortion ban.

Before working for the Tennessee Attorney General, she clerked for three Supreme Court justices. But at her confirmation hearing last month, Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware criticized what he called a “striking brevity” of court experience since Hermandorfer graduated from law school a decade ago.

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Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Monday that Trump is only focused on “a nominee’s perceived loyalty to him and his agenda — and a willingness to rule in favor of him and his administration.”

The Judiciary panel is scheduled to vote on additional judges this week, including top Justice Department official Emil Bove, a former lawyer for Trump who is nominated for the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Bove’s nomination has come under scrutiny after a fired department lawyer claimed in a complaint that Bove used an expletive when he said during a meeting that the Trump administration might need to ignore judicial commands. Bove has pushed back against suggestions from Democrats that the whistleblower’s claims make him unfit for the federal bench.

Bove has also accused FBI officials of “insubordination” for refusing to hand over the names of agents who investigated the U.S. Capitol riot and ordered the firings of a group of prosecutors involved in the Jan. 6 criminal cases.

Clipboard: Hunter looking for a breakout college football season at Nebraska

No sooner had Nyziah Hunter entered the transfer portal last December than more than two dozen college football programs were making a pitch for his services.

Landing at Nebraska has the former Salinas High receiver eying a breakout season in college football.

A redshirt freshman at Cal last season, Hunter caught 40 passes for 578 yards and five touchdowns, starting eight of the team’s 12 games.

The 6-foot-2, 210-pound receiver is expected to be one of the Cornhuskers’ primary receivers for an offense that fueled the program to its first winning season in eight years last year.

A three-sport standout, Hunter caught 93 passes for nearly 1,600 yards and 20 touchdowns in two seasons at Salinas.

Hunter also started on the Cowboys’ basketball team for two years and broke the school record in the 100 meters as a junior in 2022, reaching the state meet in the event.

Freeman returns to Fresno State

Having entered the transfer portal at the end of last season, Josiah Freeman had a change of heart over the spring and withdrew his name to remain at Fresno State.

Injuries cut short the 6-foot-3 Soledad graduate’s junior season last fall, as the receiver played in just four games for the Bulldogs in 2024.

Before being sidelined with a season-ending injury, Freeman was a factor in the offense for the Bulldogs with eight catches for 95 yards and two touchdowns.

Freeman showed flashes of his potential as a redshirt sophomore for Fresno State in 2023 with 19 catches for 249 yards, averaging a career high 13.1 yards a reception.

A multi-sport athlete at Soledad, and the first to earn a Division I football scholarship, Freeman caught his first touchdown pass for Fresno State in the New Mexico Bowl in 2023.

An all-state receiver at Hartnell, Freeman caught 50 passes for 866 yards in 2021, leading the state at 108.3 receiving yards a game.

Saldate battling for playing time

Having redshirted last season, Palma graduate Logan Saldate will push to be a part of the receiving rotation this year for nationally ranked Notre Dame.

The 6-foot Saldate, whose brother wrestled at Michigan State, made his debut in a home game last year in a win over Florida State for the Fighting Irish, who played in the national championship game, falling to Ohio State.

Brought up as a freshman in 2021, Saldate was a part of Palma’s state championship football team in 2023, catching 68 passes for nearly 1,300 yards and a school record 16 touchdowns.

A multi-sport athlete, Saldate broke the Palma school record in the long jump as a junior in 2023, sailing 24 feet, 2 inches. He finished fifth in the long jump at the state track and field championships.

Cortez-Menjivar is emerging

His versatility and athleticism as a redshirt freshman last year made it difficult for the University of Idaho to keep Emmerson Cortez-Menjivar off the football field.

The expectation is the Salinas High graduate will play a huge role on the offense this fall for the Vandals.

Last season, Cortez-Menjivar appeared in 12 games for Idaho, catching 14 passes for 200 yards and four touchdowns (third on the team in touchdown receptions).

In an attempt to get him more touches, the 6-foot-1 receiver also turned nine carries into 83 yards on jet sweeps, completed a pass, and returned a pair of kickoffs.

During his senior season at Salinas, Cortez-Menjivar caught 43 passes for over 900 yards and 12 touchdowns, while intercepting a team-high five passes.

A multi-sport athlete in high school, Cortez-Menjivar reached the state track and field meet as a junior in 2022 in the triple jump.

Bouyea to host basketball camp

Milwaukee Bucks’ point guard Jamaree Bouyea will conduct his second annual skills camp on July 26 at Monterey Peninsula College.

In conjunction with Seaside’s Finest, the camp will run from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. The camp is for boys and girls ages 8-14, and limited to 75 participants. Fee is $100, which includes a T-shirt, lunch, photos and autographs.

Bouyea, who prepped at Palma and honed his skills with Seaside’s Finest as a youth, spent last season with the Bucks, starting the team’s final game.

Coaches needed

Carmel is looking for a JV head flag football coach and a varsity assistant. Go to http://carmelunfied.org

Officials needed

Peninsula Sports Incorporate is looking for high school and middle school officials for all sports this season. Varsity officials are paid $100 a game.

There is an immediate need for officials in the fall for football, flag football, water polo, field hockey and volleyball. Training is provided. Call Tom Emery at (831) 241-1101.

Completion delay possible of FORTAG in Del Rey Oaks due to PG&E pole

DEL REY OAKS – A possible delay to the completion of the Canyon Del Rey segment of the Fort Ord Regional Trail and Greenway project through Del Rey Oaks was announced by the Transportation Agency for Monterey County last week.

The project is in close proximity to an existing Pacific Gas and Electric Company electrical transmission pole, according to the Transportation Agency, and work cannot proceed until the utility company provides direction on how to protect the existing pole in place while the project continues construction. The project is striving to meet an Oct. 15 deadline from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife for work in the Frog Pond Wetlands Preserve.

Construction of retaining walls in the Frog Pond was to begin this week. The Frog Pond Wetland Preserve is closed during stage one construction and was expected to reopen in October.

The conflict could potentially extend the project’s completion date from fall 2026 to spring or summer 2027. The TAMC project team is working to resolve the conflict and to keep the project on schedule.

“PG&E was provided the project plans during the design phase and in December 2022, PG&E provided approval of the project in relation to their facilities,” said TAMC spokesperson Theresa Wright in an email. “We did not receive any comments from PG&E regarding the existing transmission pole in relation to the new retaining wall.”

In April 2025, prior to beginning construction of the retaining wall, TAMC contacted PG&E to confirm the means and methods of construction given the proximity of the new retaining wall to the existing transmission pole, according to Wright. TAMC has been reaching out to PG&E on numerous occasions since that time.

“To date, PG&E has not provided their specific requirements needed for us to be able to safely move forward to construct the wall near their transmission pole,” explained Wright.

But the utility company has a different perspective.

“PG&E has been in regular communication with the Monterey Transportation Agency on the new utility pole being installed on the (Fort Ord Regional Trail and Greenway),” said PG&E spokesperson Jeff Smith in an email. “We are committed to completing the project in a safe manner. We are committed to work with all interested parties to identify solutions that will move the project forward in a timely manner.”

The retaining wall in question is located in the Frog Pond Wetland Preserve. Construction in this area is regulated by permits from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the State Water Resources Control Board.

“These permits have designated time periods of when certain construction activities are allowed to take place,” said Wright. “Work under the CDFW permit is currently permitted between April 15 and Oct. 15 annually. Therefore, if construction of the retaining wall and other related improvements are not completed by Oct. 15, 2025, this work will be pushed to the April 15, 2026 – Oct. 15, 2026 work window and subsequent work will be delayed as well pushing the project completion date to spring or summer of 2027.”

But the delay could not only impact the completion date, but it also has the potential to increase costs.

“The project is funded through Measure X and an Active Transportation Program grant,” said Wright. “We have already expended a majority of the grant funding and anticipate expending the remaining grant funds well ahead of the grant funding expiration date. However, there is the potential for additional costs due to the delay. We are gathering information relating to what those potential costs might be.”

Workers place concrete for new sidewalk looking north along Carlton Drive in Del Rey Oaks as part of construction of the Canyon Del Rey segment of the Fort Ord Regional Trail and Greenway. (TAMC)

The potential delay is not anticipated to have an impact on the reopening of Carlton Drive at Highway 218 (Canyon Del Rey), said TAMC.

Carlton Drive is currently closed between Highway 218 and Work Avenue through mid-October, but emergency vehicles and residents of the south end of Carlton Drive still have access to their residences via Quendale Avenue or Highland Street.

The 1.5-mile Canyon Del Rey segment runs from the intersection of North Fremont and Canyon Del Rey boulevards in Del Rey Oaks through Work Memorial and Del Rey parks, under Highway 218 — via a new roadway bridge constructed to carry vehicles using the highway — and into the corner of the Frog Pond Wetland Preserve, back up to Highway 218 at Carlton Drive and on to Plumas Avenue, where it ends at Del Rey Woods Elementary School in Seaside.

The newly-built bridge on Highway 218 — Canyon Del Rey Boulevard — will enable hikers, cyclists and pedestrians to move freely under the highway through a 10.5-foot-high passageway connecting the parks to the preserve.

Construction of the Canyon Del Rey segment of the FORTAG project is being done in phases and different areas of the project will be affected at different times. As the project moves forward, residents and businesses will be provided additional notifications in advance of work that restricts driveway access. Construction is expected to last through August 2026 but could be delayed due to the PG&E conflict.

For information about the FORTAG project or to sign up for updates, visit https://www.tamcmonterey.org/fort-ord... or email 79829@publicinput.com.

Carmel mother sues police department for allegedly using excessive force in son’s death

CARMEL — Nine months after the officer-involved shooting that resulted in the death of her son, Carmel’s Ellen Barrett filed a civil complaint on July 11 against the City of Carmel and a handful of police officers who were involved in the shooting.

Filed with the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division, Barrett claims officers used excessive force during an altercation with her son, James Marshall, 27.

On Oct. 25, Barrett called the police to assist her son during a mental health crisis episode. Carmel police officers had previously been to Barrett’s home in response to a similar episode and were made aware of Marshall’s bipolar disorder. A crisis intervention team didn’t respond to the Oct. 25 call, although the team had previously been effective in de-escalating a situation with Marshall, according to the lawsuit.

The Carmel Police Department also received calls that morning reporting a man, who was later identified as Marshall, was roaming the streets of Carmel brandishing what appeared to be a rifle and other weapons including a crowbar. The rifle turned out to be a BB rifle.

Carmel Police Chief Paul Tomasi, Sergeant Gerald Maldonado and Officer Rene Guevara arrived at Barrett’s home shortly after 10 a.m. and saw Marshall in front of the residence moving to the driveway. Maldonado fired a beanbag round at Marshall, who then dropped the BB rifle and moved to the backyard.

As more bean bag rounds were fired, Marshall turned his body and lifted his leg to protect himself. After Marshall lunged at one of the officers, several lethal shots were fired. Barrett heard her son scream for help, according to the lawsuit.

Guevara fired five lethal shots from his service pistol. After Marshall was “mortally wounded,” officers continued to use force, firing more beanbag rounds and tasering Marshall. A news release from October stated officers continued to attempt to subdue Marshall because he was advancing toward the officers after being wounded. The lawsuit alleges Marshall “was not running toward any officers, was mentally ill, and was some distance from the Defendants, who had time, space and opportunity for cover.”

“We believe the use of deadly force was in violation of (Marshall’s) Constitutional rights and that the officers’ poor tactics and training played a part in this unjustifiable use of deadly force,” said Barrett’s lawyer, Dale K. Galipo, in a news release. “Police departments must take action to improve officer training. It is our hope that we will be able to provide Ms. Barrett with justice for her son, closure and to help this family heal. Our hearts grieve for this mother’s loss of her son.”

Barrett filed a claim for damages with the City of Carmel on April 1 and her request was denied July 2, according to the lawsuit. She is now seeking compensatory and punitive damages that arose out of  “the violation of both federal and state law including the use of excessive and unreasonable force” against her son, reads the lawsuit. The lawsuit demands a jury trial.

Tomasi, Maldonado and Guevara are named as defendants in the suit, along with 10 yet to be named individuals – six police officers and three supervisory officers for the Carmel Police Department. The complaint will be amended to show the names of the accused once they are made known to Galipo’s legal team.

The lawsuit claims Marshall’s medical care was delayed/denied by having him transported to Natividad Medical Center, which was nearly 40 minutes away, instead of taking him to the closest hospital. Marshall later succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.

The suit also alleges Marshall was not committing a serious or violent crime, the officers escalated the situation, used excessive force and failed to give adequate commands or a verbal warning prior to the use of force.

The city’s officer training is also being called into question by Barrett’s lawsuit. The district attorney’s office cleared Guevara and Maldonado of any criminal wrongdoing, but its investigation was focused on criminal wrongdoing, not the efficiency of their training.

“The training policies … were not adequate to train its officers to handle the usual and recurring situations with which they must deal,” and the actions taken by the named defendants “violated basic police officer training and standard law enforcement training,” alleges the lawsuit.

The Carmel Police Department referred calls for comment to the law firm, Burke, Williams & Sorensen, which represents the city.  A message to the firm was not immediately returned.

A chaotic raid, 360 arrests, and a tragic death: What happened at California’s Glass House Farms

By JULIE WATSON, AMY TAXIN and OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ, Associated Press

Federal authorities now say they arrested more than 360 people at two Southern California marijuana farms last week, characterizing the raids as one of the largest operations since President Donald Trump took office in January.

One farmworker died after falling from a greenhouse roof during the chaotic raids on Thursday after the Department of Homeland Security executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities in Camarillo and Carpinteria, northwest of Los Angeles.

The raids came more than a month into an extended crackdown across Southern California that was originally centered on Los Angeles, where local officials say the federal actions are spreading fear in immigrant communities. A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to halt indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests in seven California counties, including Los Angeles.

What happened?

During the raid on the Camarillo site, crowds gathered seeking information about their relatives and to protest immigration enforcement. Authorities clad in military-style helmets and uniforms faced off with the demonstrators, and people ultimately retreated amid acrid green and white billowing smoke.

Glass House Brands is a major cannabis company in California that started a decade ago with a greenhouse in the Santa Barbara County community of Carpinteria.

Federal immigration agents talk to Rebecca Torres, second left, after she tried to block a military vehicle during a raid in the agriculture area of Camarillo, Calif., Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker)

The company said it later expanded, buying another facility in the Ventura County community of Camarillo that included six tomato and cucumber-growing greenhouses. Glass House converted two of them to grow cannabis, according to the company’s website.

Relatives of workers at the Camarillo site said tomatoes are still grown at the location in addition to cannabis.

Arrest numbers keep rising

The federal government initially reported that some 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally were arrested.

Then on Saturday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said 319 people were arrested and said on X it was “quickly becoming one of the largest operations since President Trump took office.”

Milk is poured on a protester’s face after federal immigration agents tossed tear gas at protesters during a raid in the agriculture area of Camarillo, Calif., Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker)

A day later, the arrest numbers, according to the Department of Homeland Security, were up to 361 from the two locations.

The government said four of the 361 arrested had prior criminal records, including convictions for rape and kidnapping.

One death reported from the raids

A farmworker who fell from a greenhouse roof during the raid at the farm in Camarillo died Saturday of his injuries.

Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first known fatality during one of the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration enforcement operations. Yesenia Duran, Alanis’ niece, confirmed his death to The Associated Press.

She posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe that her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to a wife and daughter in Mexico. Alanis worked at the farm for 10 years, his family said.

He called his wife in Mexico and told her he was hiding from federal agents during the raid Thursday. A doctor told his relatives that the ambulance crew who took him to a hospital said he fell about 30 feet, Duran said.

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The government says it is investigating potential child labor, human trafficking and other abuse. Initially, DHS said 10 immigrant children were on the property. They later increased that number to 14.

Authorities declined to share the warrant for the operation. The administration has released no additional information about the children, including their ages and what they were doing on the property when authorities arrived. DHS has not provided details to back up its claim of possible trafficking or other abuse, and the company has not been charged with anything.

It was unclear if any of the minors were the children of farm workers at the sites or if they came to the U.S. without an adult.

Federal and state laws allow children as young as 12 to work in agriculture under certain conditions, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. In California, children as young as 12 can work on farms outside of school hours, while those as young as 16 can work during school hours if they are not required to attend school, the agency said on its website.

No one under the age of 21 is allowed to work in the cannabis industry.

The California Department of Cannabis Control conducted a site visit in May 2025 and observed no minors on the premises, a spokesperson said. After receiving a subsequent complaint, the state opened an investigation to ensure full compliance with state law.

U.S. citizens were among those arrested

Four U.S. citizens were arrested during the raids for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers,” according to DHS, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.

Among those arrested was California State University Channel Islands professor Jonathan Caravello, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli posted on X.

Essayli said Caravello was arrested for throwing a tear gas canister at law enforcement and was to appear in court Tuesday.

The California Faculty Association said Caravello was taken away by agents who did not identify themselves nor inform him of why he was being arrested. The association said he was then held without being able to contact his family.

Caravello was attempting to dislodge a tear gas canister that was stuck underneath someone’s wheelchair, witnesses told KABC-TV, the ABC affiliate in Los Angeles.

A federal judge on Monday ordered Caravello to be released on $15,000 bond. He’s scheduled to be arraigned August 1.

Separately, the federal Bureau of Prisons said George Retes, 25, was in their custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles from Thursday to Sunday.

Retes’ family told KABC-TV on Sunday that he is a U.S. citizen, works as a security guard at the farm in Camarillo and is a disabled U.S. Army veteran. They said Retes was trying to drive away during the clashes between protesters and agents when an officer stopped him, broke his car window and shot pepper spray before dragging him out of his car and arresting him.

Retes’ sister, Destinee Magaña, told the television station on Sunday that the family had been trying to get in touch with her brother.

Federal agents “thought he was probably part of the protest, but he wasn’t, he was trying to reverse his car,” Magaña said.

Neither Retes nor Magaña responded to emails Monday from The Associated Press seeking comment.

The region prepares for more raids

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is now proposing to provide cash assistance to residents too scared to leave their homes to go to work.

The plan comes as part of a sweeping executive order the mayor signed on Friday that instructs Los Angeles officials “to bolster their protocols and training to prepare for federal immigration activity occurring on city property.”

The order also establishes a police department working group for immigrants and expands access to resources for impacted families. In addition, it seeks records from the federal government on what the city deems unlawful raids from federal agencies.

The monetary relief will not come from city funds but from philanthropic partners, officials said. Immigrant rights groups will distribute cash cards similar to those used to provide financial assistance to Angelenos struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic. It wasn’t immediately clear how people will qualify to receive the cards.

The goal is to help people who have been deterred “from attending school and church, seeking city services, accessing health care, and going to work,” the order states.

Associated Press writer Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

US imposes a 17% duty on fresh Mexican tomatoes in hopes of boosting domestic production

By DEE-ANN DURBIN, Associated Press

The U.S. government said Monday it is placing a 17% duty on most fresh Mexican tomatoes after negotiations ended without an agreement to avert the tariff.

Proponents said the import tax will help rebuild the shrinking U.S. tomato industry and ensure that produce eaten in the U.S. is also grown there. Mexico currently supplies around 70% of the U.S. tomato market, up from 30% two decades ago, according to the Florida Tomato Exchange.

But opponents, including U.S. companies that grow tomatoes in Mexico, said the tariff will make fresh tomatoes more expensive for U.S. buyers.

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Tim Richards, a professor at the Morrison School of Agribusiness at Arizona State University, said U.S. retail prices for tomatoes will likely rise around 8.5% with a 17% duty.

The duty stems from a longstanding U.S. complaint about Mexico’s tomato exports and is separate from the 30% base tariff on products made in Mexico and the European Union that President Donald Trump announced on Saturday.

The Commerce Department said in late April that it was withdrawing from a deal it first reached with Mexico in 2019 to settle allegations the country was exporting tomatoes to the U.S. at artificially low prices, a practice known as dumping.

As part of the deal, Mexico had to sell its tomatoes at a minimum price and abide by other rules. Since then, the agreement has been subject to periodic reviews, but the two sides always reached an agreement that avoided duties.

In announcing its withdrawal from the Tomato Suspension Agreement, the Commerce Department said it had been “flooded with comments” from U.S. tomato growers who wanted better protection from Mexican goods.

But others, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Restaurant Association, had called on the Commerce Department to reach an agreement with Mexico.

In a letter sent last week to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the Chamber of Commerce and 30 other business groups said U.S. companies employ 50,000 workers and generate $8.3 billion in economic benefits moving tomatoes from Mexico into communities across the country.

“We are concerned that withdrawing from the agreement – at a time when the business community is already navigating significant trade uncertainty – could lead to retaliatory actions by our trading partners against other commodities and crops that could create further hardship for U.S. businesses and consumers,” the letter said.

Trump administration says it won’t publish major climate change report on NASA website as promised

By SETH BORENSTEIN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Monday took another step to make it harder to find major, legally mandated scientific assessments of how climate change is endangering the nation and its people.

Earlier this month, the official government websites that hosted the authoritative, peer-reviewed national climate assessments went dark. Such sites tell state and local governments and the public what to expect in their backyards from a warming world and how best to adapt to it. At the time, the White House said NASA would house the reports to comply with a 1990 law that requires the reports, which the space agency said it planned to do.

But on Monday, NASA announced that it aborted those plans.

“The USGCRP (the government agency that oversees and used to host the report) met its statutory requirements by presenting its reports to Congress. NASA has no legal obligations to host globalchange.gov’s data,” NASA Press Secretary Bethany Stevens said in an email. That means no data from the assessment or the government science office that coordinated the work will be on NASA, she said.

On July 3, NASA put out a statement that said: “All preexisting reports will be hosted on the NASA website, ensuring continuity of reporting.”

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“This document was written for the American people, paid for by the taxpayers, and it contains vital information we need to keep ourselves safe in a changing climate, as the disasters that continue to mount demonstrate so tragically and clearly,” said Texas Tech climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe. She is chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy and co-author of several past national climate assessments.

Copies of past reports are still squirreled away in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s library and the latest report and its interactive atlas can be seen here.

Former Obama White House science adviser and climate scientist John Holdren accused the administration of outright lying and long intended to censor or bury the reports.

“The new stance is classic Trump administration misdirection,” Holdren said. “In this instance, the administration offers a modest consolation to quell initial outrage over the closure of the globalchange.gov site and the disappearance of the National Climate Assessments. Then, two weeks later, they snatch away the consolation with no apology.”

“They simply don’t want the public to see the meticulously assembled and scientifically validated information about what climate change is already doing to our farms, forests, and fisheries, as well as to storms, floods, wildfires, and coast property — and about how all those damages will grow in the absence of concerted remedial action,” Holdren said in an email.

That’s why it’s important that state and local governments and every day people see these reports, Holdren said. He said they are written in a way that is “useful to people who need to understand what climate change is doing and will do to THEM, their loved ones, their property and their environment.”

“Trump doesn’t want people to know,” Holdren wrote.

The most recent report, issued in 2023, found that climate change is affecting people’s security, health and livelihoods in every corner of the country in different ways, with minority communities, particularly Native Americans, often disproportionately at risk.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Trump envoy arrives in Kyiv as US pledges more Patriot missiles to Ukraine

By ILLIA NOVIKOV, Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, was in Kyiv on Monday, a senior Ukrainian official said, as anticipation grew over a possible shift in the Trump administration’s policy on the three-year war.

Trump last week said he would make a “major statement” on Russia on Monday. Trump made quickly stopping the war one of his diplomatic priorities, and he has increasingly expressed frustration about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unbudging stance on U.S-led peace efforts.

Trump has long boasted of his friendly relationship with Putin, and after taking office in January repeatedly said that Russia was more willing than Ukraine to reach a peace deal. At the same time, Trump accused Zelenskyy of prolonging the war and called him a “dictator without elections.”

But Russia’s relentless onslaught against civilian areas of Ukraine wore down Trump’s patience. In April, Trump urged Putin to “STOP!” launching deadly barrages on Kyiv, and the following month said in a social media post that the Russian leader “ has gone absolutely CRAZY!” as the bombardments continued.

“I am very disappointed with President Putin, I thought he was somebody that meant what he said,” Trump said late Sunday. “He’ll talk so beautifully and then he’ll bomb people at night. We don’t like that.”

The European Union can’t buy Patriot missiles

Russia has pounded Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv, with hundreds of drones and cruise and ballistic missiles that Ukraine’s air defenses are struggling to counter. June brought the highest monthly civilian casualties of the past three years, with 232 people killed and 1,343 wounded, the U.N. human rights mission in Ukraine said. Russia launched 10 times more drones and missiles in June than in the same month last year, it said.

At the same time, Russia’s bigger army is making a new effort to drive back Ukrainian defenders on parts of the 620-mile front line.

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Trump confirmed the U.S. is sending Ukraine more badly needed Patriot air defense missiles and that the European Union will pay the U.S. for the “various pieces of very sophisticated” weaponry.

While the EU is not allowed under its treaties to buy weapons, EU member countries can and are, just as NATO member countries are buying and sending weapons.

Germany has offered to finance two new Patriot systems and is awaiting official talks on the possibility of more, government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said Monday in Berlin.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius was traveling to Washington on Monday to meet with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Germany has already given three of its own Patriot systems to Ukraine, and Pistorius was quoted as saying in an interview with the Financial Times that it now has only six.

Trump ally says war at inflection point

A top ally of Trump, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said Sunday that the conflict is nearing an inflection point as Trump shows growing interest in helping Ukraine fight back against Russia’s full-scale invasion. It’s a cause that Trump had previously dismissed as being a waste of U.S. taxpayer money.

“In the coming days, you’ll see weapons flowing at a record level to help Ukraine defend themselves,” Graham said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” He added: “One of the biggest miscalculations Putin has made is to play Trump. And you just watch, in the coming days and weeks, there’s going to be a massive effort to get Putin to the table.”

Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s envoy for international investment who took part in talks with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia in February, dismissed what he said were efforts to drive a wedge between Moscow and Washington.

“Constructive dialogue between Russia and the United States is more effective than doomed-to-fail attempts at pressure,” Dmitriev said in a post on Telegram. “This dialogue will continue, despite titanic efforts to disrupt it by all possible means.”

NATO chief visits Washington

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was due in Washington on Monday and Tuesday. He planned to hold talks with Trump, Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as members of Congress.

Talks during Kellogg’s visit to Kyiv will cover “defense, strengthening security, weapons, sanctions, protection of our people and enhancing cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,” said the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andrii Yermak.

“Russia does not want a cease fire. Peace through strength is President Donald Trump’s principle, and we support this approach,” Yermak said.

Russian troops conducted a combined aerial strike at Shostka, in the northern Sumy region of Ukraine, using glide bombs and drones early Monday morning, killing two people, the regional prosecutor’s office said. Four others were injured, including a 7-year-old, it said.

Overnight from Sunday to Monday, Russia fired four S-300/400 missiles and 136 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine, the air force said. It said that 61 drones were intercepted and 47 more were either jammed or lost from radars mid-flight.

The Russian Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its air defenses downed 11 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions on the border with Ukraine, as well as over the annexed Crimea and the Black Sea.

Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.