resigns

Marcus Alvarado, saying he had lost his love for baseball after dealing with constant complaints from parents, has resigned as baseball coach at Chatsworth High, where he guided the Chancellors to a 2022 City Section Open Division championship at Dodger Stadium.

“I’m just tired about hearing parents complain,” he said Friday. “We call it travel ball mentality now. That’s not me.”

He said he intends to spend more time with his wife and daughter while waiting to see if he can regain his enthusiasm for coaching.

“It took the love out of the game,” he said. “I hope to regroup.”

He previously coached at Kennedy, where his father, Manny, was a longtime successful coach.

Chatsworth and El Camino Real have won the most City Section baseball titles with nine each. Eight were won by coach Tom Meusborn, who’s now at Sierra Canyon.

Another longtime coach is out at Sun Valley Poly, where Gabe Cerna was replaced by assistant Freddy Flores, who will serve as an interim coach. Cerna was head coach since 2009 but the school decided to go a different direction for a coach.

Also, Doug Bledsoe announced he has resigned after one season as football coach at Narbonne. The Gauchos went 0-10 and are banned from the playoffs for three years because of rules violations.

Director of Adelaide Writers’ Week steps down amid wave of speaker withdrawals and board resignations.

The director of a top writers’ festival in Australia has stepped down amid controversy over the cancellation of a scheduled appearance by a prominent Australian Palestinian activist and author.

Louise Adler, the director of Adelaide Writers’ Week, said in an op-ed published on Tuesday that Randa Abdel-Fattah had been disinvited by the festival’s board despite her “strongest opposition”.

Writing in The Guardian, Adler called Abdel-Fattah’s removal from the festival lineup a blow to free expression and a “harbinger of a less free nation”.

“Now religious leaders are to be policed, universities monitored, the public broadcaster scrutinised and the arts starved,” Adler wrote.

“Are you or have you ever been a critic of Israel? Joe McCarthy would be cheering on the inheritors of his tactics,” she added, citing a figure in Cold War history commonly associated with censorship.

Adler’s resignation is the latest blow to the beleaguered event, which has experienced a wave of speaker withdrawals and board resignations in protest of Abdel-Fattah’s cancellation.

The festival’s board announced last week that it had decided to disinvite Abdel-Fattah, a well-known Palestinian advocate and vocal critic of Israel, after determining that her appearance would not be “culturally sensitive” in the wake of a mass shooting at Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach.

Fifteen people were killed in the December 14 attack, which targeted a beachside Hanukkah celebration. Authorities have said the two gunmen were inspired by ISIL (ISIS).

Abdel-Fattah has called her removal “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism” and a “despicable attempt to associate me with the Bondi massacre”.

On Monday, New Zealand’s former prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, announced that she would not go ahead with her scheduled appearance at the festival, adding her name to a boycott that has swelled to some 180 writers, including former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and award-winning novelist Zadie Smith.

But Peter Malinauskas, the premier of the state of South Australia, as well as several federal politicians and a number of Jewish groups have backed the revocation of Abdel-Fattah’s invitation.

Abdel-Fattah’s critics have pointed to statements critical of Israel to argue that her views are beyond the pale.

She has, for instance, said that her “goal is decolonisation and the end of this murderous Zionist colony”, and that Zionists “have no claim or right to cultural safety”.

In her op-ed on Tuesday, Adler said pro-Israel lobbyists are using “increasingly extreme and repressive” tactics, resulting in a chilling effect on speech in Australia.

“The new mantra ‘Bondi changed everything’ has offered this lobby, its stenographers in the media and a spineless political class yet another coercive weapon,” she wrote.

“Hence, in 2026, the board, in an atmosphere of intense political pressure, has issued an edict that an author is to be cancelled.”

Separately on Tuesday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the country would hold a national day of mourning on January 22 to honour the victims of the Bondi Beach attack.

Albanese said the day would be a “gathering of unity and remembrance”, with flags to be flown at half-mast on all Commonwealth buildings.

Alan Jackson steps down as lawyer for Nick Reiner, who is accused of killing his mother and father in December.

The high-profile lawyer representing Nick Reiner, who allegedly killed his father, director Rob Reiner, and mother Michele Singer Reiner in December, has resigned.

The announcement that lawyer Alan Jackson would step down from the case means that the younger Reiner will, at least for the time being, be represented by a public defender provided by the state.

During a news conference on Wednesday, Jackson did not provide a reason for his departure, instead citing the legal and ethical reasons he could not provide more details.

“Circumstances beyond our control and, more importantly, circumstances beyond Nick’s control have dictated that, sadly, it’s made it impossible to continue our representation of Nick,” Jackson said.

He added that, after weeks of investigation, “what we’ve learned, and you can take this to the bank, is that pursuant to the laws of this state, pursuant to the law of California, Nick Reiner is not guilty of murder. Print that.”

Jackson did not elaborate.

The lawyer had first appeared in court to represent the 32-year-old suspect just days after Rob Reiner and his wife were found dead on December 14 in their home in the upscale Brentwood neighbourhood of Los Angeles, California.

The cause of death was determined to be “multiple sharp force injuries”, another term for stab wounds.

Jackson, whose past clients include producer Harvey Weinstein and actor Kevin Spacey, did not explain how he was hired or who hired him after Nick Reiner was arrested for the killings.

On Wednesday, Deputy Public Defender Kimberly Greene took over Nick Reiner’s defence in the case.

That came as the defendant, standing behind glass in a custody area of the courtroom and wearing brown jail garb and with his hair shaved, briefly appeared in a Los Angeles court, where he was meant to be arraigned and enter a plea to two charges of first-degree murder.

Instead, the arraignment was postponed to February 23.

“The Public Defender’s Office recognises what an unimaginable tragedy this is for the Reiner family and the Los Angeles community,” Deputy Los Angeles Public Defender Ricardo Garcia said in a statement following the hearing.

“Our hearts go out to the Reiner family as they navigate this difficult time. We ask for your patience and compassion as the case moves through the legal process.”

Rob Reiner’s killing resonated across the world, reflecting the global impact of his films, which included the coming-of-age drama Stand By Me, the courtroom thriller A Few Good Men and the romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally.

Rob and Nick Reiner had previously worked together on a film, Being Charlie, which was partially based on the younger Reiner’s struggles with drug addiction and mental health.

Jan. 3 (UPI) — Former Milwaukee County (Wisc.) Judge Hannah Dugan resigned on Saturday following her federal felony conviction for obstruction of law enforcement in April.

Dugan, 66, submitted her resignation letter to Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers on Saturday and said it is effective immediately.

“Behind the bench, I have presided over thousands and thousands of cases — with a commitment to treat all persons with dignity and respect, to act justly, deliberatively and consistently, and to maintain a courtroom with the decorum and safety the public deserves,” Dugan said in the resignation letter.

She said that she is the “subject of unprecedented federal legal proceedings” that “present immense and complex challenges that threaten the independence of our judiciary.”

A federal jury found her guilty of obstruction last month for her effort to help an “undocumented immigrant” from Mexico elude Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents when they arrived at the county courthouse to arrest him.

Dugan is appealing her conviction, but she is resigning amid a potential impeachment effort by Wisconsin Assembly Republicans.

Dugan served on the bench for nine years, and Evers’ spokesperson, Britt Cudaback said the governor acknowledged receiving the letter of resignation on Saturday and won’t delay in filling the vacant bench seat.

Embattled Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan, who was convicted of obstruction last month for helping an immigrant evade federal officers, has sent her resignation letter to the governor.

The letter was sent Saturday. Republicans had been making plans to impeach her since her Dec. 19 conviction. A spokesperson for Gov. Tony Evers said his office received Dugan’s letter, and he would work to fill the vacancy without delay.

Dugan wrote that over the last decade she handled thousands of cases with “a commitment to treat all persons with dignity and respect, to act justly, deliberately and consistently, and to maintain a courtroom with the decorum and safety the public deserves.”

But she said the case against her is too big of a distraction.

“As you know, I am the subject of unprecedented federal legal proceedings, which are far from concluded but which present immense and complex challenges that threaten the independence of our judiciary. I am pursuing this fight for myself and for our independent judiciary,” Dugan said in her letter.

Last April, federal prosecutors accused Dugan of distracting federal officers trying to arrest a Mexican immigrant outside her courtroom and leading the man out through a private door. A federal jury convicted her of felony obstruction.

The case against Dugan was highlighted by President Trump as he pressed ahead with his sweeping immigration crackdown. Democrats insisted the administration was trying to make an example of Dugan to blunt judicial opposition to the operation.

Republican Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos praised Dugan’s decision.

“I’m glad Dugan did the right thing by resigning and followed the clear direction from the Wisconsin Constitution,” Vos said.

Democrat Ann Jacobs, who is chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission board, said she agreed with Dugan that Milwaukee should have a permanent judge in place while this fight plays out.

“Despite her situation, she is ever the champion of justice, wanting to remove the judiciary from a political battle over her fate. I’m sure this is terribly hard for her but she is true to her faith and her principles,” Jacobs said in a post on X.

On April 18, immigration officers went to the Milwaukee County courthouse after learning 31-year-old Eduardo Flores-Ruiz had reentered the country illegally and was scheduled to appear before Dugan for a hearing in a state battery case.

Dugan confronted agents outside her courtroom and directed them to the office of her boss, Milwaukee County Chief Judge Carl Ashley, because she told them their administrative warrant wasn’t sufficient grounds to arrest Flores-Ruiz.

After the agents left, she led Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out a private jury door. Agents spotted Flores-Ruiz in the corridor, followed him outside and arrested him after a foot chase. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced in November he had been deported.

Funk writes for the Associated Press.