California
Historic Torahs on loan around Southern California reunited in Fullerton for anniversary
Torah scrolls, once belonging to Jewish temples throughout Czechoslovakia, were reunited at Temple Beth Tikvah in Fullerton as the synagogue celebrated its 60th anniversary.
On loan to 19 Southern California temples, the scrolls were displayed after a ceremony that offered congregants from each synagogue messages about hope, history, and heartache.
The one-day event also commemorated the 60th anniversary of the Memorial Scrolls Trust, which serves as the guardian to more than 1,500 Czech Torahs that survived the Nazi occupation of the region and later the shuttering of synagogues under regimes that stifled the Jewish faith.
“What a wonderful celebration to share,” Jeffrey Ohrenstein, a London resident and chairman of the Trust, said at Sunday’s event showcasing the collection.
In 1964, the scrolls, each containing five handwritten books of the Hebrew bible, were donated to the Westminster Synagogue in London where the Trust was formed.
“Since then we have been distributing (them) to communities, organizations and synagogues around the world,” Ohrenstein said. “We’ve allocated some 1,400 scrolls to 1,300 communities and 1,000 of those are in North America.”
The Fullerton temple has three such scrolls, but only one of them is “kosher,” or in perfect condition to be used in an official manner, Temple Beth Tikvah Assistant Rabbi Miriam Van Raalte said.
Most of the Czech Torahs are from the 18th and 19th centuries, she said, “But there are some that are much older.”
“The use of these scrolls, either for reading in public or for using symbolically for show, evokes memories of Jewish history, the struggle for survival, and the continuity of the Jewish people,” said Van Raalte. “We let the congregation know that this is a scroll that faced extinction.”
During the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, the scrolls and other Jewish artifacts were taken to the Jewish Museum in Prague, which had been established in 1906 and became a warehouse of treasures collected by the Germans. The vast inventory “was catalogued by Jews who were deported to concentration camps once the work was finished,” according to the Trust. “Unfortunately very few of them survived.”
Ohrenstein told the story of an art dealer who was looking to buy a gift for his wife nearly two decades after World War II. The dealer was brought to a destroyed synagogue outside of Prague. There he was shown a damp warehouse “full of Torah” scrolls.
Philanthropist Ralph Yablon bought the scrolls after learning of their existence from the art dealer. He then donated them to the Westminster Synagogue in London.
The synagogue’s rabbi addressed dozens of congregants at Temple Beth Tikvah via recorded video on Sunday.
Following the ceremony, the gathered Torahs were displayed on long bridge tables. People looked closely at the Hebrew lettering and gently ran their fingers over the worn wooden dowels holding the scrolls. The wooden pieces are call the atzei chayim, meaning “tree of life.”
Pedro and Laura Alamilla of Downey visited with their three children.
As they observed the Torahs, they were overcome with emotion, Pedro Alamilla saying, “We’re at a loss for words.”
California
Signs of spring blooming at Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve after wet, warm winter
It’s beginning to look a lot like spring!
The warm and wet weather this winter has led to the start of a dazzling super bloom at the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve.
“We had an unseasonably warm winter as well, so there’s actually a lot of growth,” said Callista Turney with California State Parks. “We’re having early wildflowers that are already at the park. So if you look at the poppy live cam, it shows a lot of orange already.”
The rain has helped the early blooms, but it’s actually the heat that accelerated the growth of the flowers.
“It will actually speed up the growth of the plants, so some of them were already blooming and that’s going to cause those blossoms to accelerate faster towards seed production. And the blossoms that are in the process of being formed, those are going to open up soon as well.”
We also sometimes see great super blooms in Death Valley National Park, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Joshua Tree and the Mojave National Preserve.
“It’s definitely a rare occurrence because we don’t always have the right conditions. It’s gotta be the weather, the wind, the rain, all coming together,” said Katie Tilford, Director of Development and Communications with the Theodore Payne Foundation.
If it continues to stay unseasonably warm, we’ll see a shorter bloom. The key to a longer season is milder weather.
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California
Republican governor candidate Chad Bianco says he’s the ‘antithesis to California state government’
We are counting down to the California governor’s race. Chad Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside County, is one of the two biggest names running on the Republican ticket.
In a one-on-one interview with Eyewitness News political reporter Josh Haskell, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said, “I am the antithesis to California state government because I am going to take a nuclear bomb into that building and absolutely destroy everything that they do to us behind closed doors.”
Although he’s been elected by the voters twice, Bianco says he’s not a politician — which is why he believes his campaign for California governor is resonating, as reflected in the polls.
“President Trump, in one year, from 2025 when he took over, until now, did absolutely nothing to harm California. What’s harming California is 30 years of Democrat one-party rule that have created an environment here that no one can live in anymore. They’ve only been successful here in California because we vote D no matter what. You vote D or die. I mean, that’s it. Charles Manson would be elected in California if he was the only Democrat on the ballot,” Bianco said.
Bianco isn’t the only conservative Republican running for governor, and according to polling, he’s neck-and-neck with former Fox News host Steve Hilton.
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“Steve has no chance of winning in November. The Democrats know that I’m going to win in November, and so they have to do everything they can to keep me out of that,” Bianco said.
When asked about the affordability crisis in the state, Bianco said, “Almost the entire issue of affordability in California is because of regulation, excessive regulation imposed by government. Every single regulation can be signed away with the governor’s signature.”
“It is a drug and alcohol addiction problem that, and a mental health problem,” he said about the homelessness crisis. “Every single bit of money that is going to these nonprofits that say ‘homeless,’ zero money. You’re getting absolutely nothing. I can’t tell you that we would end what we see in the homeless situation within a year, but I guarantee you we would never see it again after two years.”
When challenged on that prediction, pointing to how the state doesn’t have the facilities to treat the number of people living on our streets, Bianco responded, “We have been conditioned to believe that buildings take five years to build. It takes 90 days or less to build a house, but in California, it takes three to five years because the government won’t allow it. The regulations that are destroying this state are going to be removed with me as the governor.”
Bianco also said California jails shouldn’t have to play the role of treatment facilities.
Although he says he supports the Trump administration and wants the president’s endorsement, Bianco has been traveling the state — meeting not just with Republicans, but Democrats and independents as well. He says all of our state government officials have failed.
The primary election is June 2.
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Copyright © 2026 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (FOX26) — California’s privacy watchdog has ordered PlayOn Sports to pay a $1.10 million fine and change how it handles consumer data after finding the company’s practices violated state law in ways that affected students and schools in the state.
The California Privacy Protection Agency Board issued the decision following a settlement reached by CalPrivacy’s Enforcement Division.
The decision is the first by the board to address privacy violations involving students and California schools.
Schools across the country use PlayOn Sports’ GoFan platform to sell digital tickets to high school sporting events, theater performances, and homecoming and prom dances, with attendees presenting tickets at the door on their mobile phones.
Schools also use PlayOn Sports’ platforms for other sports-related activities, including attending games, streaming them online, and looking up statistics about teams and players.
In California, about 1,400 schools contract with PlayOn Sports for these services.
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GoFan is also the official ticketing platform for the California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body for high school sports.
According to the board’s decision, PlayOn Sports used tracking technologies to collect personal information and deliver targeted advertisements to ticketholders and others using its services.
The company allegedly required Californians to click “agree” to tracking technologies before they could use their tickets or view PlayOn Sports websites, without providing a sufficient opt-out option.
“Students trying to go to prom or a high school football game shouldn’t have to leave their privacy rights at the door,” said Michael Macko, CalPrivacy’s head of enforcement. “You couldn’t attend these events without showing your ticket, and you couldn’t show your ticket without being tracked for advertising. California’s privacy law does not work that way. Businesses must ensure they offer lawful ways for Californians to opt-out, particularly with captive audiences.”
The decision also describes students as a uniquely vulnerable population and warns that targeted advertising systems can subject students to profiling that can follow them for years, expose them to manipulative or harmful content, and develop sensitive inferences about their lives.
Instead of providing its own opt-out method, PlayOn Sports directed students and other users to opt out through the Network Advertising Initiative and the Digital Advertising Alliance, which the decision said violated the company’s responsibility to provide its own way for consumers to opt out. The company also allegedly failed to recognize opt-out preference signals and did not provide Californians with sufficient notice of its privacy practices.
“We are committed to making it as easy as possible for all Californians — from high school students to older adults, and everyone in between — to make the choice of whether they want to be tracked or not,” said Tom Kemp, CalPrivacy’s executive director. “Californians can opt-out with covered businesses, and they can sign up for the newly launched DROP system to request that data brokers delete their personal information.”
Beyond the $1.10 million fine, the board’s order requires PlayOn Sports to conduct risk assessments, provide disclosures that are easy to read and understand, and implement proper opt-out methods.
The order also requires the company to comply with California’s privacy law prohibiting the selling or sharing of personal information of consumers between 13 and 16 without their affirmative opt-in consent.
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