Sep 19, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Washington Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams (5) smiles after scoring against the Chicago Cubs during the first inning at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
CJ Abrams appears to be hardlining the Washington Nationals.
The Nationals star infielder Abrams will only be signing an extension with the team this offseason if he receives “some degree of assurance” that he will be playing the shortstop position, Jon Morosi of MLB Network reported Friday. Morosi adds that it is more likely, in light of Abrams’ demand, that Washington ultimately trades Abrams instead of extending him.
Abrams, already a two-time MLB All-Star, is just entering his prime at 26 years old. He also had his best big-league season yet in 2026, batting .261 with 33 homers, 106 RBIs, and 34 stolen bases over 152 games for the Nationals.
But Abrams is now facing an uncertain long-term future in Washington. Though he is still technically under club control for two more full seasons, the Nationals would likely want to maximize their return and trade Abrams as soon as possible if they cannot sign him to a longer-term contract extension.
As for Abrams’ defensive situation, he is already a primary shortstop and has played there for 622 of his 641 career starts up to this point. But Washington briefly transitioned Abrams to second base late last season, and they also have elite shortstop prospects Seaver King, 23, and Eli Willits, 18, waiting in the minor leagues.
If Abrams becomes available for trade, he will immediately function as one of the most highly-coveted infield targets in baseball. For one, Abrams has already been linked to at least one powerhouse team in recent months.
Two skydivers died on Friday, Nov. 6, near Skydive Elsinore in the city of Lake Elsinore.
The circumstances of the deaths were not immediately available.
Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department responded to the 20700 block of Cereal Street just before noon, when paramedics treated two people for major injuries before the skydivers were hospitalized.
They died at a hospital, said Lt. Deirdre Vickers, a sheriff’s spokeswoman.
According to the U.S. Parachute Association, which tracks skydiving safety statistics, its members made an estimated 3.47 million jumps in 2025, with 16 fatalities.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
With votes still being tallied — and some races still too close to call — California Republicans say it’s still too early for their 2026 midterm post-mortem.
“We’re in that period where people have died, and we haven’t buried them yet,” said Jon Fleischman, a longtime political strategist and former California Republican Party chair.
In other words: Republicans need some time to reflect on the election — and that won’t really happen until vote counting has finished and the election dust has fully settled.
By the time polls closed in California on Tuesday night, it was already fairly evident that Democrats were poised to dominate the midterms across the country. By the end of the week, Democrats had secured control of the U.S. House and Senate next year, picking up seats in relatively conservative states, such as Texas, Missouri and South Carolina.
Last year’s partisan redistricting plan — the voter-approved effort to make certain House seats more easily winnable for Democrats — worked as Gov. Gavin Newsom and party leaders had planned. And several legislative races across the state that were either held by Republican incumbents or were historically red saw the GOP candidates either struggling to maintain leads or outright losing.
But votes are still being counted.
So it’s those undetermined legislative races, in Southern California in particular, that have Republican leaders and strategists pumping the brakes on any in-depth election assessment quite yet.
“It’s still too soon for an assessment,” said Fleischman, pointing to four legislative races in Orange County that are still close contests. “It remains to be seen if the blue wave lapped at the shores of Orange County, but didn’t land.”
Right now, the former Newport Beach mayor said, the focus is on making sure ballots are counted, and those with issues are fixed so they can be tallied.
“There are a ton of lessons to be learned,” O’Neill said. “You can’t lose like this at the national level, at the state level, and not have some grit and resolve to keep moving forward.”
Even still, O’Neill does see a silver lining for California Republicans: wins at the local level.
Will O’Neill, the former Newport Beach mayor, solidly won election to lead the Orange County Republican Party this year — and he takes the helm with a goal of winning trust with voters across the county. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Knowing that midterm elections, historically, don’t favor the party in control of the White House, O’Neill said the Orange County GOP last year planned to localize its efforts — something he said became more important after voters approved redistricting.
The party, he said, didn’t anticipate oodles of money coming in to help candidates for congressional races in the post-Proposition 50 world, so Republicans took a “bottom-up approach” to the midterms in Orange County.
“We spent a lot of time recruiting candidates at the local level, training first-time candidates on getting out and running, and spending a lot of time getting out and talking to candidates about coordinating and getting out the vote for each other,” O’Neill said.
“That worked,” he said.
The party saw successes in several city council contests, and most mayoral candidates endorsed by the OCGOP were winning their respective races by Friday afternoon, including incumbent Stephanie Klopfenstein in Garden Grove and Victor Cabral in San Clemente.
In Costa Mesa, the GOP-endorsed Mike Buley was leading the mayoral race, considered a flip for the Republican Party.
“I would love to have some other seats, don’t get me wrong, but the bench is getting pretty strong for us,” O’Neill said. “And in a blue wave cycle, retaining and flipping some key races is pretty good.”
Orange County should be an example for Republicans across the state, said former GOP Rep. Mimi Walters, who served four years in the House before being ousted in the 2018 midterms by progressive Katie Porter.
“We have to get back to the basics and get back to the grassroots level, and we have to be patient,” said Walters.
Who’s to blame? Trump, the media or the GOP?
While Fleischman cautioned that it’s still too early for a consensus on the midterms, he said he’s “clear-eyed enough” to consider the Republican rout a referendum on President Donald Trump.
“People are unhappy with affordability, which is the major issue that drove voters,” Fleischman said. “And the president made a lot of commitments and didn’t perform on those commitments.”
“There’s nothing very normal about Donald Trump, and he’s very hyperbolic and aggressive,” he added. “To the extent he wants to talk about a reflecting pool instead of people’s grocery prices, you inflame that and get more of a pushback than would be normal for a president in the midterms of his second term.”
Representatives for the California Republican Party declined to comment for this story.
But Corrin Rankin, the state party’s chair, said in an Instagram post that the GOP will “fight the radical socialist agenda of the Democratic Party every step of the way.”
Corrin Rankin, Chairwoman of the California Republican Party, takes questions during the CAGOP convention, September 6, 2025, at the Hyatt Regency Orange County in Garden Grove.
“Democrats, the media, left-leaning pollsters, and naysayers in our own party have spent years telling our donors, volunteers, and voters that we don’t have a chance in California, depressing our engagement, and making this a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Rankin said in the post.
Walters, meanwhile, said the midterms are a clear sign that the California GOP needs to rebuild.
“We have to get back to the basics,” Walters said. “There was a dissatisfaction with the direction of the party itself.
“My hope is that this election has sent a message to leaders in the Republican Party that we need to have a reset of what we stand for.”
“Every time there is an election, it always comes down to the cost of living and whether people feel like they are better off today than even a couple of years ago,” she added. “It’s those kitchen table issues, if you will, that people care most about.”
“Clearly, people don’t feel as if they’re better off than two years ago,” Walters said.
Reports of federal immigration agents staging outside the city and county jail facilities in Santa Ana’s Civic Center to target undocumented immigrants being released from custody are raising concerns about eroding community confidence in the city’s declared sanctuary status.
Observers say the stakeouts threaten the trust Santa Ana’s sanctuary policy is meant to build in the heavily immigrant community. The reports have prompted OC Second District Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento and U.S. Rep. Lou Correa to question whether the Sheriff’s Department is assisting federal immigration enforcement in a state that prohibits cooperation. Local law enforcement officials say their departments have not played any part in the operations.
According to members of the Orange County Rapid Response Network and other immigrant advocacy groups, federal immigration agents have been seen staging almost daily for multiple hours outside the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Intake Release Center and Santa Ana Police Department headquarters for at least the past two weeks.
Melissa Rios, a 27-year-old Costa Mesa resident and volunteer with the Rapid Response Network, said community observers have reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, agents have been stopping and racially profiling people visiting, being released from custody or, in some cases, simply walking by.
Early in the week, observers witnessed a U.S. citizen being stopped and released after agents scanned his face with a device, she said. Rios and several other observers said agents have been seen conducting such facial scans multiple times in recent weeks.
“The entire reason that sanctuary cities exist is to create safer communities,” said Kanan Durham, a 35-year-old Huntington Beach resident and community observer who was volunteering to monitor ICE activity outside the jail Wednesday afternoon. “If at-risk community members feel they can safely talk to law enforcement about crime and risk in their communities, then law enforcement can do a better job.”
“By allowing ICE to perch up for eight to 10 hours a day in front of the Santa Ana police station and Orange County jail, we are limiting the ability of those community members to be full participants in the safety of our communities,” Durham argued.
The Police Department only became aware of ICE activity near the jails this past week, said Santa Ana Police Chief Robert Rodriguez in an email. “We were not provided advance notice of these operations.”
He reiterated that SAPD does not participate in federal civil immigration enforcement and has neither coordinated with nor communicated with federal immigration authorities regarding the activity.
“The Santa Ana Police Department remains committed to ensuring that our personnel understand and comply with applicable state law and department policies concerning civil immigration enforcement,” Rodriguez said. “Our position remains unchanged; SAPD does not participate in federal civil immigration enforcement.”
Rapid Response Network volunteers and other independent observers said that since they started monitoring enforcement activities in 2025, this is the first time they have become aware of agents targeting the area around the jails.
“For operational security and the safety of our officers, ICE will not disclose or discuss law enforcement operations,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in response to questions.
Video footage recorded Oct. 31 by independent community observers shows ICE agents detaining a father who had reportedly gone to visit his son at the Men’s Central Jail. Supervisor Sarmiento wrote to OC Sheriff Don Barnes about the detention and community concerns that the presence of ICE is “creating fear for visitors, families, and those being released.”
“He’s a single, loving father to my little brother,” Adriana Esparza wrote. “After my mom’s passing, he became both mom and dad to us. He’s the head of household, and my little brother depends on him alone.”
Records show Esparza was transferred to the Folkston D. Ray ICE Processing Center in Georgia, as of Friday.
In his Nov. 2 letter, Sarmiento questioned whether the department is violating the California Values Act. Barnes denied any cooperation violating state law and said ICE agents are legally allowed to be in public areas of the jails. He also accused Sarmiento of promoting a “false narrative for political benefit.”
Sarmiento later said in a social media post that Barnes had clarified the department was not involved in the arrest.
The California Values Act, or SB 54, generally limits how state and local law enforcement can assist federal immigration authorities, with exceptions for certain convictions and other circumstances specified by law. Similarly, Santa Ana, which became Orange County’s first sanctuary city in 2016, restricts the use of city resources for federal immigration enforcement.
Correa alleged in a social media video this week that the Sheriff’s Department is using a loophole to assist ICE by posting inmates’ release dates online.
But OCSD Sgt. Lizbeth Gwisdalla said the department’s booking log has been publicly available for years as a resource for loved ones and bail bond agents. She reiterated that the log is not new and is not intended to circumvent the state’s sanctuary laws.
At least two unmarked vehicles were parked in the area of the jails Wednesday. Neither had visible license plates, and both had dark window tint that made it difficult to see inside from a distance. Community observers said similar-looking vehicles had previously been seen in the vicinity of immigration enforcement activities.
On Wednesday, an Orange County Register reporter walked up to the passenger window of one vehicle, waved and displayed her press pass in an attempt to get the occupants’ attention.
Standing just outside the window, she saw what appeared to be two ICE agents seated in the two front seats in tactical gear marked with “ICE” on the front. The apparent agents did not respond or engage.
Chief Rodriguez said the city and Police Department comply with all applicable state laws and Santa Ana’s municipal sanctuary ordinances governing federal immigration enforcement. He added that the city does not authorize the use of municipal resources or facilities to support civil immigration enforcement in violation of those laws.
Rodriguez emphasized that Santa Ana remains committed to supporting residents and families impacted by immigration enforcement. Through Santa Ana Ayuda Sin Fronteras, a city-led emergency relief program, the city offers eligible residents affected by immigration enforcement up to one month of housing expenses to help cover past-due rent and utility bills.
The city also partners with Immigrant Defenders Law Center and Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California to connect eligible community members with legal screenings, consultations and defense in immigration removal proceedings.
These efforts, he said, reflect the city’s commitment to the “safety, dignity and well-being of all community members during challenging times.”
This could be a special Friday night in the high school football season for the teams, players and fans.
The Southern California News Group has reporters covering more than 30 games tonight, ready to report on everything that happens.
Before the games start, check out what high school football analyst Michael Huntley has put together — his list of the “players to watch” and his predictions for some of the top games.
HUNTLEY’S PREDICTIONS
Tustin vs. San Juan Hills: San Juan Hills is coming off a game where it scored 44 points in a loss to Mission Viejo in the Alpha League title game. Tustin held a good Capistrano Valley offense under 150 yards last week and had three interceptions. The Tillers won’t do that against San Juan Hills quarterback Parker Armstrong, who threw for 381 yards last week.
The pick: San Juan Hills
Serra vs. Palos Verdes: This is a rematch of a Week 0 game where Palos Verdes won 17-14 on a last-minute field goal. Palos Verdes quarterback Ryan Rakowski completes 71 percent of his passes with 19 touchdowns and five rushing touchdowns. Serra’s defense has eight interceptions with Derrick Coleman leading the team with three.
The pick: Palos Verdes
Long Beach Poly vs. Norco: Long Beach Poly hasn’t allowed a point in its last four games. Norco has been playing sophomore Dylan Hansen at quarterback and he threw for 326 yards last week. This is Long Beach Poly’s toughest opponent it has faced since quarterback Trevor Scott debuted four games ago.
The pick: Long Beach Poly
Newbury Park vs. Downey: Newbury Park is on a two-game losing streak but Aiden Tasci threw for 245 yards with two touchdowns last week. Downey has been rolling on defense lately and Matthew Dalhover has had double-digit tackles in four games this season.
The pick: Downey
Baldwin Park vs. Ventura: This game is a bit of a contrast of styles with Baldwin Park’s strong rushing offense and Ventura’s good passing attack. Jacory Coleman has 1,002 yards rushing and quarterback Lequand Jackson has 20 passing touchdowns with five rushing. Gavin Scarlett throws for 222 yards per game with 23 touchdowns for Ventura.
The pick: Baldwin Park
Valley Christian vs. Bellflower: These are two of the best passing offenses in the Long Beach area. Valley Christian quarterback Graham Lunzer throws for 245 yards per game with 35 passing touchdowns and 15 rushing touchdowns. E’lacion Saxton of Bellflower throws for 282 yards per game with 34 touchdowns.
The pick: Bellflower
HUNTLEY’S PLAYERS TO WATCH
Brady Edmunds, QB, Huntington Beach: Edmunds faces an Inglewood team that hasn’t allowed a passing touchdown in its last two games. The Ohio State commit threw 11 touchdown passes with just two interceptions in Delta League play.
Maverick Declark, LB, Villa Park: Declark leads Villa Park with 58 tackles, three sacks and has an interception. He will be crucial in Villa Park’s efforts to stop the run against Apple Valley, which has 26 rushing touchdowns this season.
Kai Mamaril, DB, Chaparral: Mamaril leads Chaparral in interceptions with three and pass deflections with nine. Chaparral faces Orange, which threw for 383 yards per game with 42 touchdowns and just one interception this season.
Boogie Baker, LB, Chino Hills: Baker leads the Southern Section in sacks with 15 and is fifth in the state in sacks. Chino Hills will need Baker to pressure the quarterback against Culver City, which throws for 372 yards per game with 40 touchdowns.
Jalen Flowers, WR, Palos Verdes: Flowers might be the best two-way junior in the Southern Section with eight receiving touchdowns and three interceptions on defense. He has a tough matchup against Serra’s very good secondary that features two Division I commits and a top junior recruit.
Cordae Caston, LB, Lawndale: Caston leads Lawndale in tackles with 64 and has an interception and a forced fumble. Lawndale plays Ocean View, which rushes for 317 yards per game and has 35 rushing touchdowns this season.
Kasim Shepherd, DB, Long Beach Poly: Shepherd leads Long Beach Poly with five interceptions and has two blocked punts. He might be matched up with BYU-committed receiver Blake Wong of Norco frequently otnight.
Jerimiah Boyette, WR, Paramount: Boyette leads Paramount in receiving with 776 yards and nine touchdowns despite playing just five games. Paramount has a tough challenge against San Dimas, which hasn’t allowed more than 15 points in its last four games.
Hudson Manning, DL, Chaminade: Manning is second in the Section in sacks with 14½ and has 23 hurries. Chaminade plays Corona del Mar, which throws for 202 yards per game with 20 touchdowns.
David Dias, DL, Moorpark: Dias leads Moorpark’s defense with 7½ sacks and nine hurries. Moorpark will need a good pass rush against Trabuco Hills, which throws for 198 yards per game with 23 touchdowns.
Jason Brown, DL, Muir: Brown is the top defensive lineman for Muir. He can rush the passer and also plays running back in goal line situations. Muir will need good defensive line play against Hillcrest, which rushes for 248 yards per game with 35 touchdowns.
Gabriel Burgos, RB, Sonora: Burgos has rushed for 1,027 yards with eight touchdowns this season, but he hasn’t had a rushing touchdown in his last two games. He has a challenge this week against Desert Christian Academy, which has allowed double-digit points only once in its last five games.
