Harmeet Dhillon resigns as head of DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. She’s the first senior official to leave the Trump administration after the midterms. https://t.co/R4FOiGH0M0 https://t.co/qPxwR8SQJH
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Harmeet Dhillon resigns as head of DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. She’s the first senior official to leave the Trump administration after the midterms. https://t.co/R4FOiGH0M0 https://t.co/qPxwR8SQJH The top four administrators in the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District – all hired within the past 13 months – have been awarded three-year contracts on 5-0 votes by the trustees. Each contract will run through June 30, 2030, according to action taken at an October school board meeting. Changes in titles and responsibilities are included for two of the posts and all are receiving pay increases. Kym LeBlanc-Esparza began as superintendent on Oct. 6, 2025. She has served more than 30 years in education, including posts in Colorado and Oregon. Candace Perez began as deputy superintendent of the academic leadership team on April 1. Her position combines the two former posts of assistant superintendent of student services and assistant superintendent of educational services. Her 24-year career in education includes positions in Southern California and Oregon. Chad McGough began as assistant superintendent of human services on Feb. 2. His 28-year career in education includes positions in Southern California and Illinois. John Pappalardo began as chief business officer on Dec. 15. His position was formerly titled assistant superintendent of business services. His 38-year career in education started in the Fullerton Joint Union High School District. All four positions have seen significant turnover in the past six years, especially the post of superintendent, which has had six individuals serving since 2021. Jim Elsasser served from 2021 through June 2022. Mike Matthews was acting superintendent from July 2022 through April 2023. Alex Cherniss served from May 2023 until a 5-0 vote placed him on leave in December 2024. Former assistant superintendent for student services Renee Gray was acting superintendent from December 2024 through February 2025. Allan Mucerino was acting superintendent from February 2025 until LeBlanc-Esparza was hired to begin October 2025. Only four individuals served as superintendent in the 33 years prior to 2021: Jim Fleming 1987-2000, Dennis Smith 2000-2012, Doug Domene 2012-2016 and Greg Plutko 2016-2020. * * *First meetings of a new Literature Review Committee are scheduled for Nov. 17 and Dec. 7. The panel “will analyze proposed/requested texts to be placed on the district’s core and extended literature list,” said Elizabeth Leon, elementary education director. The committee includes community members, teachers, administrators and district personnel who will examine “novels and texts through different perspectives,” Leon said. Jim Drummond is a longtime Yorba Linda resident. He regularly gives his take on local issues. Send e-mail to jimdrummond@hotmail.com. By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and ERIC TUCKER WASHINGTON (AP) — Harmeet Dhillon, a conservative attorney who oversaw a radical reshaping of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, celebrated the mass departures of career lawyers and spearheaded sweeping investigations into elite universities, has resigned from her post, Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Thursday. Dhillon has been a powerful and divisive figure inside President Donald Trump’s Justice Department since her confirmation last year as assistant attorney general, where she dramatically changed the direction of a division created during the country’s Civil Rights Movement to protect the rights of minorities. She has drawn fierce criticism from former Justice Department attorneys, who have accused her of abandoning the division’s traditional civil rights enforcement mission in favor of conservative causes. More than three quarters of the unit’s workforce at the beginning of Trump’s second term have left — a move Dhillon has called the “biggest single personnel self-purge in DOJ history.” Dhillon accused the past administration of pursuing a misguided liberal agenda and welcomed the departures of attorneys not aligned with the Trump administration’s priorities, saying in an interview last year with conservative pundit Glenn Beck that “the job here is to enforce the federal civil rights laws — not woke ideology.” Blanche wrote in a social media post that Dhillon led the division with “conviction” and “defended the civil liberties of every American and enforced the law without fear or favor.” “The Department is grateful for her dedicated public service, and we wish her every success in her future endeavors,” Blanche wrote. Dhillon didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment on Thursday. During her tenure, the Civil Rights Division scrapped police reform settlements and investigations, and launched probes into universities the Trump administration saw as improperly prioritizing diversity and inclusion, discriminating against white applicants in the admissions process and failing to crack down on antisemitic conduct on campus. Her pressure campaign against schools led to numerous settlements, and in one case, the resignation of the president of the University of Virginia. She also led an effort to pressure states to turn over detailed voter records despite repeated court losses. Dhillon maintained a constant presence on social media, repeatedly receiving tips on X about alleged civil rights abuses that she would then publicly pledge to investigate. Stacey Young, a former Civil Rights Division attorney who now leads a network of Justice Department alumni, called her “the most destructive, lawless and hateful” head of the division in department history. “Americans’ civil rights don’t enforce themselves. For almost 70 years, the Civil Rights Division brought to fruition the civil rights laws that Americans demanded,” Young said in an emailed statement Thursday. “Dhillon decimated it.” Dhillon, a Sikh who was born in India and immigrated to the United States as a child, was a prominent figure in conservative legal and political circles even before being tapped to her Justice Department position. She launched a bid to become chair of the Republican National Committee but lost in January 2023 to Ronna McDaniel in a race that exposed fierce internal divisions in the party. Dhillon and her law firm also represented Trump himself as a House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol issued a subpoena for his testimony. The panel ultimately abandoned that effort and wrapped up its work without forcing the issue, prompting Dhillon to boast on the social media platform X that the committee had “waved the white flag.” How Latino voters influenced elections with largest midterm turnout ever A record number of Latino voters in a midterm election helped shape the outcome of key races across the country, including the election of Latino governors in the nation’s two largest states, California and Texas. October’s storms announced that El Niño has arrived in Southern California. Now, Southern California is bracing for the impending Super El Niño expected to bring above-average rainfall to the area. The climate pattern is nothing new for residents, but forecasts are pointing to a potentially record-breaking storm season. Here’s what to know about the upcoming season. What is El Niño? El Niño occurs naturally every two to seven years when temperatures in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean rise at least 0.5 degrees Celsius (0.9 degrees Fahrenheit) above average for several months, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. At the same time, trade winds that usually push warm water from east to west weaken. This leads to a buildup of warm water in the tropical Pacific. The eastern Pacific begins to exhibit symptoms of El Niño during the summer, when El Niño tends to cause an uptick in hurricane formation in the Pacific, according to the NOAA. This year, the National Hurricane Center has documented above-normal hurricane conditions in the eastern Pacific, with 20 named storms, 10 hurricanes and eight major hurricanes listed as of Nov. 4. “We are getting these big Pacific hurricanes coming up from tropical areas and impacting our area,” said Dr. Clarissa Anderson, a researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. “That does happen during El Niño events, because we have so much warming in the Pacific, that you’re getting a lot of convection and warm storms that are coming off of that.” On the other side of the U.S., El Niño has the opposite effect on hurricane season. This season, as of Nov. 4, the National Hurricane Center had documented only 10 named storms, one hurricane and one major hurricane in the North Atlantic — all below-average numbers for that region’s hurricane season. El Niño events also trigger Kelvin waves — large, slow-moving pulses under the ocean surface that push warm water across the Pacific Ocean and toward North and South American coasts. It takes a few months for a Kelvin wave to cross the ocean, triggering the heightened sea levels and warm waters that hit Southern California coasts, Anderson said. Anderson said they started seeing a Kelvin wave in early October, with more on the way in the coming months. Peak El Niño ocean conditions are not expected to hit until December or January, with the Scripps Institution predicting the strongest impacts will strike Southern California from January through April. El Niño conditions usually last for about nine to 12 months, according to the NOAA, with rainfall associated with the phenomenon usually intensifying during the winter months in Southern California. What makes this El Niño different? This year’s El Niño season is classified as a “Super” El Niño because temperatures in tropical Pacific waters have risen a few degrees above the normal El Niño range, Anderson said. El Niño is also converging with other climate phenomena, including a large marine heat wave that started in spring 2025. “That has really created a different situation, where you’ve got a large warming event, and then an El Niño moving on top of that, which is bringing additional warming,” Anderson said. “That’s one of the reasons why you’re hearing a lot about what a Super El Niño of this magnitude could mean for our region now.” Though Super El Niño conditions mean warmer-than-average waters in the tropical Pacific, it does not necessarily mean a “super” level of rainfall. The 2015-16 Super El Niño was one of the strongest on record, but it did not bring significant rainfall to California. But forecasting indicates that this season is shaping up to be similar to the strong 1997-98 Super El Niño, which brought record levels of rainfall to California, triggering mudslides and flooding, said Anderson. In 1998, Los Angeles received 27.06 inches of rain, which is the second highest annual rainfall on record in the city since 1950, outranked only by the 29.47 inches documented in 1983, according to NOAA data. The 1982-83 season was also known as a particularly strong El Niño season. Climate change also threw a curveball into predictions for this year. This season’s El Niño event is stacked upon already warmer waters in the Pacific believed to be driven by climate change. This layering effect appeared to contribute to higher — and more prolonged — levels of global rainfall during the 2023-24 El Niño season, said Dr. Chad Thackeray, an assistant researcher at UCLA’s Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. Climate change might intensify the rainfall again this season. “When you factor in projections that 2027 is expected to be the warmest year on record, there’s a pretty high likelihood that we’ll see similar records for this extreme rainfall,” Thackeray said. How does El Niño affect other parts of the world? California is just one piece in a larger series of events during the El Niño cycle. El Niño’s weakened trade winds lead to less monsoon rainfall from June to September, which has already played out this year as India has seen its fourth lowest rainfall season since 2001 with “severe rainfall deficits,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Australia and Indonesia also tend to see drier conditions. Like the southern U.S., South America’s Pacific coast can see heavy rainfall in countries like Peru, Chile and Ecuador. El Niño conditions then typically hit Japan and China, bringing increased rainfall and flooding, according to the Scripps Institution. While El Niño usually brings a wetter winter to California and the southern U.S., the northern regions of the country tend to see drier conditions, according to NOAA. The Pacific Northwest will likely see drought conditions and could see heightened wildfire risks, Anderson said. The warm ocean waters are expected to push overall global temperatures upward and Anderson said arctic storms should be weakened by El Niño, though atmospheric warming has led to “anomalous” conditions, making predictions tricky. Thackeray said that El Niño’s effects, combined with climate change, could contribute to another big year for global rainfall. What are the dangers of Super El Niño? Rainfall is expected to hit regions across Southern California, but some areas face more dangers than others. Low-lying regions along the coast are a key concern, Anderson said, as the warm El Niño waters lead to “much higher water levels than people are expecting.” Homes along coastal cliffs could face cliff erosion triggered by the waves and rainfall, Anderson said. Coastal cliff collapses from intense wave action could put people in danger. Fire-impacted areas, ranging from the still-recovering Pacific Palisades to the recent Norte fire in San Clemente, could see intense erosion, debris flows and flooding. The strength of California’s critical infrastructure has become a central concern heading into the stormy season, especially following an October report from the California State Auditor identifying more than 50 dams across the state that are in poor or unsatisfactory condition. Storms could overwhelm dams and levees, intensifying flooding in high-risk areas. Across inland regions, roadway, riverbed and canyon areas pose flooding concerns, according to Shane Reichardt, a spokesperson for the Riverside County Emergency Management Department. Areas of concern in the Inland Empire include Mead Valley, North Shore and Mira Loma in Jurupa Valley. How can you prepare? To minimize roadway damage and flooding, Caltrans is clearing drainage systems, reinforcing slopes and ensuring that pump stations are ready for heavy rain, said Caltrans spokesperson Lauren Walike. They have also repaired pavement along State Route 60 and State Route 71 to prepare for extreme weather. Crews across Southern California are also clearing drainage channels of vegetation to create more capacity for water flow. Reichardt encouraged people to resist the desire of wanting “to go and see” large storms and to stay in safe locations and avoid flooded roadways during extreme weather conditions. For homeowners, clearing rain gutters, trimming branches, ensuring streams are not blocked on private property, and using sandbags in flood-prone areas can help minimize damage. To stay safe, residents should follow alerts and be aware of where infrastructure might be impacted by storms, Anderson said. Glow up for less: Best skincare deals at Nordstrom’s Early Black Friday sale Unwrap early savings: Snag skincare favorites at Nordstrom’s Early Black Friday sale. |
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