As he slept, Riverside Mayor Rusty Bailey’s feet could have touched the aluminum door and his arm could have touched the opposite wall.

Not that he would have let either out of his sleeping bag, when the nighttime temperature had dropped to 42 degrees outside and it was almost as cold inside the uninsulated structure.

But his shelter — 8 feet long and 8 feet wide, made mostly of aluminum — was much more comfortable than his neighbors’ tents.

Several nights a week since October — 10 to 15 times as of Thursday, Dec. 12 — Bailey has spent the night in the shed-like shelter outside the homeless shelter on Hulen Place in Riverside, he said.

His goal is to draw attention to the urgency of the city’s homeless crisis and to promote what he sees as one part of the solution — shelters like the one he’s used as a temporary second home. If 10 of them were put in the parking lot next to the shelter, that could house up to 40 people — a step toward the 439 people living without shelter in the city as of a January count.

A longtime crusader on the homeless issue, Bailey wants the City Council to approve similar structures at its Tuesday, Dec. 17, meeting. City officials say that would mean they could be in place by March 2020 — about the time the mayor could leave office to lead Path of Life Ministries, which runs the city’s shelter — although Bailey wants faster action.

The City Council will consider several options to add to the city’s 180 shelter beds. Twenty shelters by the company that built Bailey’s structure, Pallet, would cost $495,680 to start up and $1.3 million for operations, which could come from the Measure Z sales tax that Riverside voters approved or from California’s Homeless Emergency Aid Program. Other possible ways to add beds could cost from $324,000 to $5.4 million, according to a report by Hafsa Kaka, the new head of the city’s Office of Homeless Solutions.

Bailey’s Pallet shelter includes two beds — there can be as many as four — and a shelf. It’s designed to include a heater and air conditioner, though Bailey’s isn’t connected to a power source. It has no bathroom or running water.

“It’s a dignified, stable structure,” he said. “Once someone has that, we can address their other needs.”

Those who woke up on the street next to Bailey on Wednesday, Dec. 11, said they would have loved to spend the night inside the shed-like building.

“This lock is great, because otherwise, people will take your stuff,” said Charles Miller, 21, who said he’s been living on the street or in the homeless shelter for about a year, since his ex-boyfriend kicked him out of the apartment they had shared. “You have a little space to yourself. I miss that.”

About every other night, Bailey finishes his official duties, heads home to his family, then about 9 p.m. arrives at his temporary home. Sometimes he’s alone, but sometimes he meets until about midnight with a community member.

One of those was the Rev. Steven B. Borst of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Riverside, who offered his church’s financial support.

“As I was praying for your well-being and safety tonight, it struck me that if I am concerned about my mayor sleeping on skid row, I should also be concerned with every person sleeping there tonight as well,” he wrote in an email to Bailey.

Bailey said that if the council approves, the shelters could be installed on the property of willing property owners within a week or so.

But there are roadblocks that lead city officials to think March is more realistic.

For example, California requires the room that someone lives in to be at least 70 square feet. The Pallet shelter that’s available now is 64 square feet.

Bailey understands the idea of the requirement — making sure people have quality housing — but he says it’s putting lives at risk.

He gestured at the worn tents outside the shelter where people have been sleeping.

“Is this safe? Would we rather someone sleep there than a 64-square-foot shelter that’s safe and dignified?” he asked. “The bureaucracy of it frustrates me … We’ve got to be mindful of the letter of the law and the spirit of the law.”

Pallet, the company that produces the shelters, could make 70-square-foot versions for California, spokesman Brandon Bills said.

“We’re happy to build a 70-square-foot version to comply with California (law),” Bills said. “Really, the difference we’re talking about is the timeline for implementation. We have a lot of 64-square-foot units right now and we could be down there next week getting people off the street. If we need to do 70 square feet … the lead time goes from 48 hours to maybe a few months.”

Bailey wouldn’t be happy with that.

“That’s months of our neighbors without homes living in the cold and maybe dying in the cold,” he said.

The emergency shelters could help, said Casey Jackson, who is serving as interim CEO of Path of Life.

“The more housing we have, temporary or permanent, the more we can do,” Jackson said.

Kaka said she would carry out whatever plan the City Council favors.

Pallet also makes a 100-square-foot version, which Sacramento is preparing to build if the City Council approves the proposal by that city’s mayor, Bills said.

Near the Everett, Washington, headquarters of Pallet, Tacoma bought 40 Pallet shelters in 2017, which cost $260,000. The City Council bought another 18 in July, city spokeswoman Megan Snow said. Tacoma estimates its homeless population to be 436, similar to Riverside’s.

Also in California, Oakland has installed similar structures called Tuff Shed. That’s another option the council will consider.

“They have insulation, Sheetrock, double-pane windows, locking door, roof. It’s not aluminum-sided,” Oakland spokesman Justin Berton said.

Pallet’s shelters now have more insulation than the prototype Bailey is using, Bills said. California law requires the homeless be provided heat, so the heating and air conditioning within the shelters would keep the temperature between 70 and 90 degrees, he said.

Eventually, churches and perhaps businesses or even residents could put the shelters on their property, where people could live in them for a short time. The time limit, as well as limits on where they could be installed, would need to be approved by the City Council.

Some residents who oppose the city’s general approach to homelessness say the move seems more likely to hurt residents.

“Let’s say the business next to you decides to put one of these in,” said Kim Lindsey, co-founder of a group called Riverside Strong that wants a more law enforcement-focused approach to problems caused by vagrant people. “The vagrants can still cause problems for you, especially if they’re not going to have a shower or bathroom.”

The nonprofit’s board chose Bailey to become its CEO when he leaves office, which could be after the March primary or after the November general election if none of the candidates for mayor receives a majority of the vote.

Pallet originally designed the structures with a bathroom and kitchen, then hired formerly homeless employees who advised against that, Bills said.

“They said, ‘If I had all of that when I was homeless, I wouldn’t have felt a need to leave,’” he said. “Our goal is to get people out of homelessness, so we redesigned them.”

Pallet’s website states the 8-by-8 shelters start at $4,500, though a bulk discount is available for cities or nonprofits that buy more. The higher cost for Riverside includes the need to straighten out the parking lot next to the homeless shelter.

Videos show Pallet structures being assembled in 20 minutes, though Bailey — who was working at night — said he took two hours.

“It’s like IKEA furniture,” Bills said. “The first one, you might not know what to do, but after a few you could do it in no time. With Riverside, we’ve offered to help set them up.”

Meanwhile, other efforts — from enforcing the law when people are caught breaking it to building more affordable housing — continue, Bailey said.

The morning he met Miller, the 21-year-old homeless man, he called Rainbow Marler, the director of a Riverside shelter for homeless people aged 18 to 24.

By that night, Bailey said, Miller was staying in the shelter.

IF YOU GO

What: Riverside City Council will discuss emergency homeless shelters
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 17
Where:  Council chambers at Riverside City Hall, 3900 Main St.

I like to keep some kielbasa sausage in the freezer. It’s on reserve for an emergency easy-to-prepare meal. Often, I braise it with cabbage, potatoes, onions and broth. Chef Michael Symon, restaurateur, television personality, and author of “5 in 5 for Every Season” (Clarkson Potter, $19.99), teams the tasty sausage with Granny Smith apples, onions and ground coriander seeds; beer adds the needed liquid to the mix.

The tart apples bring out the best in the meaty sausage. Symon likes to accompany the dish with homemade spaetzle. I settle for rice or orzo and dinner is on the table.

Kielbasa with Apples and Onions

Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 pound kielbasa, sliced on the bias into 1-inch-thick pieces

2 small yellow onions or 1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced (about 2 cups)

Salt

2 Granny Smith apples, unpeeled, quartered and sliced 1/8 inch thick

1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds, toasted and ground

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

3/4 cup beer, preferably an IPA-style

PROCEDURE

1. Put a large skillet over high heat. Add the olive oil followed by the kielbasa and cook until it begins to brown, about 1 minute. Flip the meat and scoot the pieces to one side of the pan. To the open space, add the onions and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions begin to soften and caramelize, about 1 minute.

2. Add the apples, coriander, and butter and cook until everything softens and begins to brown, about 2 to 4 minutes. Add the beer and cook until the sauce reduces and thickens to a glaze-like consistency, about 1 minute.

3. Remove from the heat, stir well to combine, and serve.

Source: “Michael Symon’s 5 in 5 For Every Season” by Michael Symon (Clarkson Potter, $19.99)

The consensus box of picks comes from handicappers Bob Mieszerski, Art Wilson, Terry Turrell and Eddie Wilson. Here are the picks for Saturday, Dec. 14 for racing at Los Alamitos.

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Orange County is exploring selling land once slated for the 3,600-house Harmony development in Highland that was stalled by a judge’s ruling in 2018.

The negotiating parties on the agenda for the Tuesday, Dec. 10, Orange County Board of Supervisors closed session meeting included a new player in the property’s saga, The Redlands Parks Conservancy, which 2017 tax documents show has Esri founder Jack Dangermond as president and board chair.

The other parties include builder Lewis Brothers Development, the city of Highland and “future purchasers.”

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“The purpose of the closed session was for the board to discuss possible dispositions of the property with the county’s real estate negotiator,” said Orange County spokeswoman Molly Nichelson in an email. “Any sale or other disposition of the property will require further board action in open session.”

There were no reportable board actions on the item Tuesday. The county, Nichelson wrote, is still assessing its options.

The housing development has been stalled since June 2018 when a judge ruled against the project’s environmental report in a pair of lawsuits, citing concerns over flooding, wildlife habitat and more. A few months later the Highland City Council rescinded its approvals of the project made in 2016, and removed a referendum on the project from the November 2018 ballot, as “having an election on this point would be moot,” City Attorney Craig Steele said at the time.

Some opponents of the project had wished the city would have let residents decide whether to allow the project or not.

In an August 2018 letter to the city, James Campbell, with the Orange County real estate office, said the county was prepared to move forward with the city to amend documents in compliance with the court opinion.

Representatives from the city and The Redlands Park Conservancy were not immediately available for comment. Randall Lewis, executive vice president of marketing for the developer, Lewis Operating Corp., referred questions to the county.

According to tax documents, the conservancy’s sole activity “is to acquire and develop certain hiking and biking trails, parkland and preserve open space and habitat.”

Plans for the 1,658-acre development had included about 528 acres of natural open space.

The similarly named Redlands Conservancy is not involved in the purchase, said executive director Sherli Leonard. The group’s only connection to Harmony is a comment on the project’s first draft environmental impact report several years ago.

“Our only comment, because we don’t have any involvement in the Harmony area, is that it would change the viewscape of our (nearby) property,” Leonard said. “That’s the only time we’ve been involved.”

She said she wasn’t familiar with the other similarly-named group.

Leonard is on the board of the Crafton Hills Open Space Conservancy, which joined with other groups to bring on one of the lawsuits.

The Crafton Hills group was mainly concerned with damage to wildlife habitat and a wildlife corridor.

“That development would have effectively shut off the corridor that goes from Crafton Hills to the San Bernardino Mountains,” Leonard said.

The Crafton Hills group, she said, has been advocating for Orange County to set the property up as a mitigation bank, which, if approved, could be kept as open space and sold to developers to offset other projects impacting the environment.

She said she’d be just as happy if Dangermond’s conservancy ended up with the property.

Orange County bought the land along Greenspot Road for use as a “borrow site” for construction of the nearby Seven Oaks Dam. About 6 million cubic yards of material was excavated from part of the property to help build the 550-foot high structure.

Highland annexed the property in 2000, the year the dam was completed.

Photos from UFC 445 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV, Saturday, December 14, 2019. (Photos by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

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Sophomore guard Alyssa Kubo stayed hot with 21 points and freshman guard Kaiya Mack added 13 as Esperanza’s No. 8 girls basketball team defeated Santiago of Corona 60-46 in the finals of the Spartan Classic at Orangewood Academy on Saturday night.

Senior point guard Katie Kubo scored nine points with six assists and three steals for the Aztecs (9-2) en route to being selected tournament MVP.

Emily Briggs added 11 points and seven rebounds.

Briggs, Sophia Assad and Alyssa Kubo earned all-tournament honors.

Esperanza reached the finals by edging No. 3 Orangewood Academy 61-59 on Wednesday behind a season-high 28 points by Alyssa Kubo. She made seven of 10 3-pointers.

The Aztecs also defeated Long Beach Wilson (68-43) and Downey (48-40) at the tournament.

At the Santa Ana Elks tournament:

St. Paul 55, Laguna Hills 43: The Hawks lost in the finals at Segerstrom to a St. Paul squad that also won the Fullerton tournament the week before.

Sierra Canyon 69, Rosary 67 (OT): Asia Avinger scored 24 points but the Royals narrowly lost in overtime to one of the top teams in the state.

The skull rolled down an embankment, leaving a trail in the dirt.

How it moved – Was it dropped? Thrown intentionally? Or did the soil shift somehow? – became an unanswered question for cold case detectives.

The skull came to rest on flat ground in the middle of an oil field about 50 feet from a derrick in Tonner Canyon adjacent to the 57 Freeway. A Union Oil worker made the grisly discovery on Dec. 27, 1980, and then, as police launched a wider search, tracking the path of the skull, more bones were discovered.

Within 24 hours, investigators found a tibia, femur and humerus (two leg bones and part of an arm) on top of that embankment.

And a four-decade mystery began. It is a strange and creepy story involving serial killers, missing girls, an angry family and no answers.

Peacock Lane

On June 26, 1980, six months before the skull was found, Kerry Patterson, an outgoing 15-year-old, was last seen near the corner of Parks Road and Peacock Lane in Fullerton. Her family had moved into a house on Peacock Lane less than two weeks before she disappeared.

Patterson had spent the afternoon at the Ice Cream Castle with three friends. She told her friends she had to go home because she wanted to wash her shoes, a pair of white Vans. She said she might go to the local horse stables later in the day.

When Patterson left the ice cream shop, she rode toward home on the handlebars of her friend’s bicycle. Three boys told police they dropped her off at the corner, and that’s where her trail went cold.

“They’re not suspects, but they were the last to see her alive,” said Bob Taft, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department cold-case detective.

When the skull was found, it was matched to Kerry Patterson through dental records. It was found about 12 miles from where Kerry was last seen.

Almost 40 years later, Kerry’s cause of death is still unknown, and Taft has asked for the public’s help. He is the lone investigator in the Sheriff’s Cold Case Task Force, with 153 open cases dating as far back as 1965. He is working on 10 cases, including the disappearance of Kerry Patterson, at the same time.

“Somebody knows something,” Taft said. “I hope someone comes forward and says, ‘I have that piece of the puzzle.’”

Runaway

Taft got involved in the case by chance. For 40 years, Patterson’s family members said the struggle to get the police interested is part of the problem.

In early 2019, Taft needed legal advice, so he met with Anaheim attorney Michelle Patterson Ludwig. When she asked him what he did for a living, he told her about the Cold Case Task Force.

That’s when she told him about her sister, Kerry.

“They (the investigators in 1980) really did absolutely nothing,” Ludwig said with contempt.

In 1980, the Fullerton police and the Sheriff’s Department labeled Kerry as a possible runaway.

“The police response was horrifyingly horrible,” said Chrystal Patterson, Kerry’s mother, who now lives in Michigan. “Those police weren’t doing crap.”

Taft said he understands why the Patterson family is upset.

“I can’t say I blame them,” Taft said. “She didn’t fit the profile (of a runaway).”

Actually, investigators had focused on the case four times before Taft’s most recent involvement – first in 1980 and 1981, then in 1994 and then again in 2011 and 2014.

Those investigations got nowhere.

“It has been a hopes up/hopes dashed situation,” Chrystal said. “You can’t pull something like this off and just get away with it.”

Move for safety

Kerry Patterson attended her freshman year at Cerritos High in 1980. She had been popular and athletic. She had been a Bobby Sox softball player. But in high school, things started to change.

Her family became concerned about Kerry’s safety.

“She was really pretty and had a lot of boyfriends,” Michelle Ludwig said. “She got hassled by a lot of girls. She was getting in fights. Someone ripped a gold necklace off her.”

Girls didn’t like her because she was getting a lot of attention from boys, Ludwig said.

“The only reason we moved is because of her,” Chrystal said. “It was out of pure worry on my part. I wanted to get her into Sunny Hills High.”

The Pattersons moved to Peacock Lane, but Kerry would never make it to Sunny Hills High.

On the day she disappeared, her mom had asked her to stay home because movers were dropping off some furniture. Chrystal was a computer analyst and had to go to work. Kerry had planned to go to the beach.

“I told her, ‘I hate to do this to you, but you’re going to have to wait for the delivery to come,’” Chrystal said.

But Kerry didn’t follow directions. Around midday, she left her younger sister Michelle at home, and went to the ice cream shop.

“I was mad that she did that,” Chrystal said.

When Kerry didn’t come home, “I was freaking out,” Chrystal said.

Just after Christmas in 1980, Chrystal saw a newspaper story about a skull and bones being discovered in Tonner Canyon. She carried the newspaper clipping in her wallet for weeks, then she finally called the police.

The dental records – Kerry had four root canals – matched.

“It was devastating,” Chrystal said. “It was the worst thing you could hear.”

Killer explanation

In 1983, a man named David Richard Campbell was convicted for murdering and dismembering his friend, William “Kim” Raber.

Campbell told investigators that he, Campbell, was a “citizen investigator” who had been looking into the deaths of several girls in Orange County. He said he had killed Raber because he had figured out that Raber had killed Kerry Patterson. Campbell also killed and dismembered another man, John Fischer.

Campbell said Raber had never confessed to killing Patterson, but he still believed he had committed the murder. Campbell is still in prison for the Raber and Fischer homicides.

“I don’t believe that account,” Taft said. “He’s not credible.”

Campbell was correct about one detail.

“During this time frame,” Taft said, “a lot of girls were disappearing. The victim demographics were all about the same.”

Girls named Cheryl Gutierrez and Wendy Klerer were found dead about the same time as Kerry Patterson.

But those other cases were solved and cleared. Those murderers were already in custody when Patterson disappeared.

So Taft is left with very little to go on in his quest to solve the Kerry Patterson mystery.

“At this point, I don’t have anything,” Taft said. “At this point, I’d say we have minimal chances of getting a suspect in custody.”

Meanwhile, the Patterson family waits.

“What surprised me is that nobody saw anything,” Chrystal said.

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — A person was killed late Saturday after an SUV overturned on La Pata Avenue in San Juan Capistrano, the California Highway Patrol said.

The gray Toyota 4Runner had a passenger who possibly grabbed the steering wheel, forcing the vehicle to overturn, according to the CHP.

The crash on northbound La Pata Avenue, just south of Ortega Highway, occurred a little after 11:05 p.m.

No additional information was immediately available on Sunday.

GLENDALE — Rosa Porto, founder of the popular Porto’s Bakery & Cafe, has died, the family announced. She was 89.

In posts to their business Instagram and Facebook accounts, the family said she died Friday surrounded by her husband, Raul, and other members of her family. No cause of death was given.

“It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Porto’s Bakery founder and Porto family matriarch, Rosa Porto,” the posts said. “Rosa was an incredible woman who started Porto’s humbly from her home kitchen selling cakes and pastries to friends and family while simultaneously being an extraordinary wife and mother to her three children.”

Today, Porto’s is a multimillion-dollar business with five locations in Glendale, Burbank, Downey, West Covina and Buena Park and announced plans to open a sixth outlet in Northridge.

The popular eateries are known for Cuban delicacies such as potato balls, meat pies and flakey pastries; long lines and fans who drive for miles to pick up their favorites.

According to family lore, Rosa Porto began selling homemade baked goods from an underground location in her native Manzanillo, Cuba when the country fell to Communism in the late 1950s and continued after the family emigrated to the United States in 1971.

The first Porto’s Bakery opened in 1976 on Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park. She retired in the early 1990s and the business is now run by the three Porto children, Betty, Raul Jr., and Margarita.

As word of Porto’s death spread over the weekend, fans of the bakery filled social media with condolences and memories.

“Rosa Porto’s story is a real American story,” fashion designer Manyak Saakyan posted on Twitter. “It’s a story about women entrepreneurship from the ground up. Porto’s bakery is a fantastic business. Their products are great, their customer service is fantastic too.”‘

No plans for funeral or memorial services were announced, but the family closed their statement by thanking the greater Los Angeles area for its continued support.

“To all of our family, friends and guests across our communities: though there are no words than can convey our sadness at this time, we would like to express our sincere gratitude for all the love and kindness you have shown us throughout the years.”

In addition to her husband and three children, Porto is survived by seven grandchildren.

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Potato latkes are popular during the holiday of Hanukkah, which begins on Sunday, Dec. 22. Yet potatoes have no connection to the origin of the holiday or to the Land of the Bible because they are native to the New World.

The holiday is called Hanukkah, which in Hebrew means dedication, because it commemorates the rededication of the Holy Temple in Ancient Israel after Jerusalem was liberated from invaders. The oil that was required to rekindle the temple’s eternal light was said to have miraculously lasted for eight days instead of just one. That’s why eating foods fried in oil and lighting candles are customary on Hanukkah.

In the 21st century we have a dazzling array of vegetables in our markets, with many more options for making latkes than our grandmothers or our mothers had. Since Hanukkah lasts for eight days, why not make a variety of latkes — from kabocha squash, from zucchini and from corn, for example?

Latkes are easy to prepare. You can either shred a raw vegetable such as zucchini, or mash a cooked vegetable such as kabocha or butternut squash. Next you combine the vegetable with eggs, seasonings and a little flour, and fry the mixture as pancakes. We fry our latkes in a heavy, nonstick skillet, and we turn them over carefully with two pancake turners.

You might like to serve a variety of toppings besides the usual applesauce and sour cream. We serve our corn latkes topped with avocado, tomatoes, olives, yogurt, green onion and cilantro, and our zucchini latkes with a yogurt-garlic sauce.

Faye Levy is the author of 1,000 Jewish Recipes.

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Corn Latkes with Red Pepper and Herbs

These latkes are studded with whole corn kernels, diced sweet red pepper and chopped herbs. Serve them with a variety of toppings and, if you like, with hot sauce.

Yield: About 14 small cakes, about 3 or 4 servings

INGREDIENTS

A 1-pound package frozen corn kernels (3 1/3 cups), thawed

1/2 cup finely diced red bell pepper

2 green onions, white and green parts, chopped (1/4 cup)

3 tablespoons chopped cilantro or Italian parsley

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon salt, or more to taste

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, or to taste

Pinch of cayenne pepper

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 large egg

1 large egg white

1/4 cup olive oil (for frying), more if needed

Toppings of your choice: 

Plain whole milk yogurt or sour cream

Finely diced ripe tomatoes

Chopped green onions

Chopped cilantro or Italian parsley

Diced or sliced avocado

Whole pitted or sliced olives

Hot sauce

PROCEDURE

1.  Puree 3/4 cup thawed corn in a food processor or mini food processor; a few small pieces may remain.Transfer to a large bowl. Add bell pepper, green onions, cilantro, oregano, salt, pepper, cayenne, flour and the remaining corn kernels. Mix well.Taste and adjust seasoning. Add egg and egg white; mix well.

2. If you like, preheat oven to 250 degrees to keep the latkes warm. Line a tray with paper towels. Set out the ingredients for toppings.

3. Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a heavy, nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot; a bit of batter added to the oil should sizzle. For each pancake, spoon 2 heaping tablespoons of corn mixture into pan. Flatten pancakes slightly with the back of a spoon to 2 1/2-inch size, pressing to compact them. Add more latkes to pan, leaving room to turn them over.

4. Fry latkes until golden brown on bottom, about 3 minutes. Turn very carefully with 2 pancake turners. Fry latkes on second side about 2 minutes. Transfer latkes to paper towel-lined tray.

5. Make more latkes from remaining batter. When necessary, add a little more oil to pan before frying a new batch and heat it. Stir mixture before frying each new batch. Reduce heat if latkes brown too fast.

6.  Serve latkes hot, with toppings.

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Mini Kabocha Squash Latkes

These sweet and savory latkes are delicious with spiced cranberry apple chutney. The easiest way to prepare the kabocha squash for making latkes is to cook it whole, so that this hard-shelled squash becomes easy to cut. You can cook the squash either by microwaving, roasting, steaming or boiling in water. Before microwaving or roasting, pierce the squash several times with a sharp knife. Cook the squash until it is very tender when pierced with a fork.

Yield: about 20 to 24 mini latkes, 4 to 6 servings

INGREDIENTS

1 kabocha squash of about 3 pounds, cooked until very tender

1/2 cup semolina

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Pinch of cayenne pepper

1/3 cup vegetable oil, such as sunflower, grapeseed or canola oil (for frying), more if needed

Chunky Spiced Cranberry Apple Chutney (see recipe)

Yogurt or sour cream (optional)

Mint sprigs (optional garnish)

PROCEDURE

1. Halve the cooked squash; remove seeds and fibers. Scoop out meat from squash with a spoon and put it in a large bowl. Using a potato masher, mash squash meat to a puree; a few small chunks might remain.

2. Measure 2 1/2 cups puree and return to the bowl. Add semolina, egg, salt, pepper, paprika, ginger, coriander, cumin and cayenne, and mix well.

3. If you like, preheat oven to 250 degrees to keep latkes warm. Line a tray with paper towels.

4. Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a medium or medium-large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Take 1 heaping tablespoon batter and push it off spoon with a rubber spatula into the hot oil; gently flatten and smooth the pancake with bottom of spoon. Add more pancakes to skillet, leaving room to turn them over. Fry latkes until golden brown on the bottom, about 2 minutes. Turn them carefully using 2 pancake turners. Fry second side until golden, slightly less than 2 minutes. Transfer latkes to paper towel-lined tray.

5. Make more latkes from remaining batter. When necessary, add a little more oil to pan before frying a new batch and heat it. Stir mixture before frying each new batch. Reduce heat if latkes brown too fast.

6. Serve hot on a platter, garnished with mint sprigs; accompany by applesauce and yogurt.

Chunky Spiced Cranberry Apple Chutney

This apple chutney gains flavor and color from dried cranberries. It’s delicious with latkes made from sweet squashes such as kabocha or butternut.

Yield: 3 cups, about 5 or 6 servings

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon vegetable oil, such as sunflower, grape-seed or canola

1 tablespoon minced gingerroot

2 pounds sweet-tart apples such as Jonagold, Braeburn, Fuji or Pink Lady or pink-fleshed apples such as Hidden Rose (about 5 or 6 apples), peeled, halved, cored and diced

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves, or to taste

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon sugar, or to taste

1/2 cup water

2/3 cup dried cranberries

PROCEDURE

1. Heat oil in a sauté pan or a wide medium-large saucepan over low heat. Add gingerroot and sauté, stirring often, for 2 minutes. Add diced apples and cook, stirring often, for 1 minute.

2. Add cloves, cinnamon, sugar, water and cranberries. Stir and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until apples are tender and water is absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes; add more water during cooking if pan becomes dry. Taste, and add more sugar if you like. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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Zucchini Latkes with Dill

These latkes feature Mediterranean flavors and are served with a yogurt garlic sauce.

Yield: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS

Yogurt dill garlic sauce:

3/4 cup plain yogurt

2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill, plus a little extra for garnish

1/2 teaspoon finely minced garlic

Pinch of salt (optional)

Semi-hot pepper flakes such as Aleppo pepper (optional garnish)

Zucchini latkes:

1 1/4 pounds small Mexican zucchini (also called Mexican squash or white squash)  coarsely grated (about 4 1/4 cups) (see Note below)

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (4 ounces) (optional)

1 clove garlic, chopped (1 teaspoon)

3 green onions (green and white parts), finely chopped (about 1/3 cup)

1/3 cup chopped fresh dill

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Pinch of cayenne pepper, or to taste

2 large eggs

1/2 cup all purpose flour

About 1/3 cup olive oil (for frying)

Dill sprigs (optional garnish)

PROCEDURE

1. Sauce: Mix yogurt with dill, garlic and salt. Reserve at room temperature.

2. Latkes: Put grated zucchini in a strainer, sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and toss. Let stand about 10 minutes. Squeeze out excess liquid.

3. If using feta cheese, mash it with a fork in a large bowl and crumble it finely. Add zucchini, garlic, green onions and dill to the bowl. Mix well. Season to taste with black pepper and cayenne; additional salt may not be needed if you’re using a salty cheese. Add eggs and stir in lightly. Stir in flour.

4. If you like, preheat oven to 250 degrees to keep the latkes warm. Line a tray with paper towels.

5. Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add about 1 teaspoon of batter to oil, fry it, and taste it to see if the batter needs more seasoning. For each latke, drop 1 heaping tablespoon of zucchini mixture into pan. Flatten them slightly with back of a spoon. Fry until latkes start to brown on the bottom, about 2 1/2 minutes. Turn carefully using 2 pancake turners. Reduce heat to medium-low and fry until latkes are set and lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Transfer latkes to paper towel-lined tray.

6. Make more latkes from remaining batter. When necessary, add a little more oil to pan before frying a new batch and heat it. Stir mixture before frying each new batch. Reduce heat if latkes brown too fast.

7. Serve hot. Garnish platter with dill sprigs, if desired. Serve with sauce; sprinkle sauce with chopped dill and with pepper flakes, if desired.

Note: When trimming the zucchini, leave stem end on so you can hold it while grating the zucchini.

LAS VEGAS — For all the verbal manure Colby Covington shoveled leading up to Saturday night’s main event at UFC 245, it got dished back at him thousandfold afterward.

In a tight fight that could have gone either way in the fifth and final round, Covington found himself on the receiving end of two crushing rights from welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, the second which led to a TKO via referee stoppage with just 50 seconds left at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Make no mistake: Covington has his fans, and there appeared to be thousands in attendance. Mid-fight chants of “Colby!” and “USA!” – even though the Nigerian-born Usman is an American citizen – echoed through the arena.

Many also delighted in seeing Covington (15-2), the boisterous MAGA hat-and-outlandish-suit-wearing challenger, lose the way he did: battered and bloodied, on his knees protesting the fight’s end, then sprinting from the Octagon and to the locker room after the official results were announced. That is their right, as much as it is Covington’s to profess what he believes and and support whichever political candidate he wishes.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, Covington included. What can’t be questioned, however, are Covington’s skills and resolve in taking Usman to the limit.

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And then there’s his toughness. At the end of the third round, Covington got clocked with a counter-right from Usman (16-1). On his stool after the round, Covington told his corner his jaw was broken.

Which means Covington fought the last two rounds – for 10 minutes – with what the UFC confirmed early Sunday morning was a non-displaced midline mandible fracture.

“Don’t let all the stupid, big-mouthed stuff that this kid says overshadow the fact that he’s tough,” White said UFC President Dana White, who has had his differences with Covington. “He’s a jackass, but he’s a tough guy.”

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After four rounds, one judge had Usman up 39-37, one had Covington up 39-37, and the third had it 38-38. So it was anyone’s fight in the final round.

Usman said he had many people – even Covington’s own teammates – contacting him and imploring him to shut Covington up.

Which explains the first thing “The Nigerian Nightmare” said in his postfight interview in the Octagon: “This one’s not for me. This one’s for the whole entire world right now.”

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For his part, Covington essentially admitted days before the fight that all the swagger and venom was a heel act in order to drum up attention.

And to his credit, Covington stuck to the gimmick late Saturday night, profanely castigating referee Marc Goddard on Twitter for what he felt was an early stoppage and other “fake” calls that were made incorrectly.

Usman, who has won 15 in a row, credited Covington for a tough fight. He said the thought of basking in the victory was what helped keep him sane during fight camp and a tumultuous round of media obligations with Covington.

“When you push hate and you push separation, you know, love and unity does win sometimes,” Usman said. “And tonight it won.”

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Shields law?

Double champion Amanda Nunes thoroughly dominated Germaine de Randamie with a five-round display of superiority and smart fighting, taking the bantamweight title challenger down eight times – a UFC women’s fight record – and negating her world-class kickboxing skills for a one-sided unanimous-decision victory.

Less than two hours after victory, talk of Nunes’ next potential opponent came up. Except it wasn’t anyone in the UFC’s bantamweight or featherweight divisions.

Middleweight boxing champion Claressa Shields was at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday and told the media she had met with White and would be willing to challenge the greatest women’s MMA fighter of all time – once in the Octagon and once in a boxing ring.

Nunes, whose 12 victories are a UFC women’s record, scoffed at the suggestion. For one, Shields fights at 165 pounds and Nunes has never fought at any level higher than featherweight (145 pounds).

On top of that, Nunes said, she’s not about to become a boxer as she’s still working on her striking.

“She can come to my world, I’m an MMA fighter,” said Nunes, who has won 10 in a row dating to 2013. “If she wants to see me, I’ll wrestle the (crap) out of you and finish you with a jiu-jitsu submission. We’ll see how she feels after that.”

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Facts and figures

Usman and Covington were given the Fight of the Night bonus, which earned each of them $50,000.

Performances of the Night – and $50,000 each – went to bantamweight Petr Yan, for his methodical decimation and third-round knockout of UFC Hall of Fame inductee Urijah Faber, and bantamweight Irene Aldana, whose massive left hook led to an upset knockout of Ketlen Vieira.

The gate at T-Mobile Arena was $4,041,119.14, with an attendance of 16,811.

The consensus box of picks comes from handicappers Bob Mieszerski, Art Wilson, Terry Turrell and Eddie Wilson. Here are the picks for Sunday, Dec. 15 for racing at Los Alamitos.

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A motorist was arrested on suspicion of felony drunken driving as well as hit-and-run for allegedly striking and killing a woman early Sunday in La Habra.

The death occurred at approximately 2:10 a.m. in the area of Harbor Boulevard, south of La Habra Boulevard, the La Habra Police Department reported.

Officers arriving at the scene found the pedestrian still in the roadway. She was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.

“La Habra police officers followed evidence from the scene of the collision and located the possible vehicle suspect,” La Habra Police Sgt. Scott Irwin said. “The driver was detained without incident. After an investigation, the driver of the vehicle was arrested,” he said.

La Habra police asked anyone with information about the collision to call them at 562-383-4300.

Remember all that “Fight for L.A.” stuff the Chargers used to try to drum up interest in their move to the Los Angeles market? On Sunday, the Chargers find themselves in the position of being able to help their L.A. neighbors with a victory over the Minnesota Vikings — the team the Rams are chasing for an NFC playoff spot — at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.

Stay with this page for updates, game-related news and analysis throughout the day. SCNG’s Gilbert Manzano and Jim Alexander are reporting from the Chargers’ temporary home in Carson.

 Who has the edge? Chargers vs. Vikings matchups

Chargers vs. Vikings by the numbers | Week 15 NFL scoreboard

A Twitter List by Jim_McCurdie

The San Diego-based breakfast chain The Broken Yolk Café is opening a restaurant next spring in Buena Park.

The eatery will be just a quick walk across the street from Knott’s Berry Farm, joining a busy intersection at La Palma Avenue and Beach Boulevard.

The 6,000-square-foot BYC will include some 300 interior seats, 80 parking spots, and an open-air patio where diners will surely hear the screams of riders aboard Xcelerator and Montezooma’s Revenge.

The franchisee is Mike DiNorscia of Grain & Grit Collective. DiNorscia owns Broken Yolk Cafés in Orange and Costa Mesa.

The restaurant is hiring ahead of its grand opening, seeking candidates for all positions including managers, servers, hosts and kitchen staff. Inquiries can be directed by email to kfitzgerald@grainandgritcollective.com.

Address: 8010 Beach Blvd.

Pop-up dog boutique at SOCO

Jax & Bones, a holiday pop-up store, is open at SOCO + The OC Mix in Costa Mesa.

The boutique retailer specializes in dog beds and toys using sustainable, high-quality materials. The shop will be open through Jan. 5.

The family-owned brand was created by Tina Nguyen, who was inspired by her beloved beagle, Jax. Nguyen says she contributes 15% of all sales to animal shelters across the country.

Row your way to fitness

Row House, a rowing fitness gym, has opened in Ladera Ranch in the Mercantile West shopping center at 25642 Crown Valley Parkway, Suite D6.

The new studio offers low-impact and high-energy 45-minute workouts centered on a rowing machine, or ergometer.

The rowing gym has six class offerings – House, Body, Power, Restore, Full Row, and LAUNCH – to accommodate most fitness levels.

For more information, go to therowhouse.com or call 949-404-4488.

Networking help for seniors

Aaron Mishkin and Valerie Clark have launched an Assisted Living Locators franchise in south Orange County.

ALL provides no-cost, hands-on guidance in locating assisted living options throughout Laguna Hills, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo and San Juan Capistrano. The service also provides seniors and their families advice on short and long-term care options, including in-home care, independent living, assisted living, memory care and retirement apartments.

For more information, call 949-675-5475 or visit assistedlivinglocators.com/orange-county.

On the move

Nolan McCready and Ahllam Berri have joined Goldberg Segalla in the firm’s Employment and Labor practice in Irvine. McCready was previously with Littler Mendelson PC in Irvine, and Berri was previously with Bohm, Wildish, & Matsen LLP in Costa Mesa. McCready represents and defends employers in a wide range of employment and workers’ compensation matters. Berri represents businesses and business owners in employment law matters and commercial disputes. Her experience also includes the defense of personal injury matters.

Glee Harris of Lake Forest has joined Girl Scouts of Orange County as vice president of human resources. Harris’ responsibilities include the development and implementation of human resources strategies and initiatives in performance management, talent acquisition, professional development, compensation, benefits, employee engagement, and compliance. Previously, she worked at MUFG Union Bank N.A. in Irvine.

Pimco packs up holiday boxes

More than 750 Pimco employees, their family members and friends volunteered Saturday, Dec. 7, packing 12,000 food boxes that will provide a holiday meal to those most in need in Orange County.

The program was hosted by the Community Action Partnership of Orange County at the OC Fair & Event Center.

The annual Share the Harvest event has provided 114,000 boxes packed by PIMCO volunteers and distributed locally by the OC Food Bank over a 12-year period.

Bicycles for Christmas

Atlantic Aviation at John Wayne Airport played host to dozens of community volunteers who assembled bicycles that will be donated to local nonprofits that support at-risk children and teens at Christmas.

More than 100 donated bicycles were assembled in one of the hangars at Atlantic Aviation’s John Wayne Airport facility.

The bicycles will be delivered to the Orangewood Foundation and The Wooden Floor as part of Snyder Langston’s Holiday Build-A-Bike event.

Atlantic Aviation has hosted the annual assembly at their Orange County facility since 2011.

Grants

The Zonta Club of Newport Harbor presented five nonprofits with $25,000 in grants to further their community projects in Orange County. The total 2019 funding was $58,000 to nine organizations to assist with projects designed to improve the quality of life for women and girls in Orange County. Organizations include Fristers, Furnishing Hope, Girls Inc., Global Center for Women & Justice (Vanguard University) and STEM Advantage.

Newport Beach-based The Decorative Arts Society of Orange County awarded Santa Ana-based Waymakers a $25,000 grant to support the nonprofit’s shelter services in Southern California. Waymakers provides crisis residential services for teens in Orange County. The nonprofit’s youth shelters in Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, and Tustin are a short-term intervention “safe-haven” for runaway, homeless abused, or those struggling with mental health issues ages 11-17.

Status Update is compiled from press releases by contributing writer Karen Levin and edited by Business Editor Samantha Gowen. Submit items and high-resolution photos to sgowen@scng.com. Allow at least one week for publication. Items are edited for length and clarity.

“We were devoid of a fundamental understanding of Afghanistan. We didn’t know what we were doing.”

So said Gen. Douglas Lute, who oversaw the US war on Afghanistan under Presidents Bush and Obama.

Eighteen years into the longest war in US history, we are finally finding out, thanks to thousands of pages of classified interviews on the war published by the Washington Post last week, that General Lute’s cluelessness was shared by virtually everyone involved in the war.

What we learned in what is rightly being called the “Pentagon Papers” of our time, is that hundreds of U.S. administration officials – including three U.S. presidents – knowingly lied to the American people about the Afghanistan war for years. This wasn’t just a matter of omitting some unflattering facts. This was about bald-faced lying about a war they knew was a disaster from almost day one.

Remember President Bush’s Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld? Remember how supremely confident he was at those press conferences, acting like the master of the universe? Here’s what he told the Pentagon’s special inspector general who compiled these thousands of interviews on Afghanistan: “I have no visibility into who the bad guys are.”

It is not only members of the Bush, Obama, and Trump Administrations who are guilty of this massive fraud.

Falsely selling the Afghanistan war as a great success was a bipartisan activity on Capitol Hill. In the dozens of hearings I attended in the House International Relations Committee, I do not recall a single “expert” witness called who told us the truth. Instead, both Republican and Democrat-controlled Congresses called a steady stream of neocon war cheerleaders to lie to us about how wonderfully the war was going. Victory was just around the corner, they all promised. Just a few more massive appropriations and we’d be celebrating the end of the war.

Congress and especially Congressional leadership of both parties are all as guilty as the three lying Administrations. They were part of the big lie, falsely presenting to the American people as “expert” witnesses only those bought-and-paid-for Beltway neocon think tankers.

What is even more shocking than the release of this “smoking gun” evidence that the US government wasted two trillion dollars and killed more than three thousand Americans and more than 150,000 Afghans while lying through its teeth about the war is that you could hear a pin drop in the mainstream media about it. Aside from the initial publication in the Washington Post, which has itself been a major cheerleader for the war in Afghanistan, the mainstream media has shown literally no interest in what should be the story of the century.

We’ve wasted at least half a year on the Donald Trump impeachment charade – a conviction desperately in search of a crime.

Just days after the “Afghanistan Papers” were published, only 48 members of Congress voted against the massive military spending of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. They continue as if nothing happened. They will continue lying to us and ripping us off if we let them.

Dr. Ron Paul is a former member of the House of Representatives. This article was written for and published by the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

An estimated 4,000 Kaiser Permanente mental health workers launched a five-day, statewide strike Monday, Dec. 16 to protest understaffing, crushing caseloads and patient appointments that often aren’t available for months.

The psychologists, therapists, psychiatric nurses and other healthcare professionals have been working without a contract for more than a year.

Picket lines are in place at 10 Kaiser facilities, including medical centers in Anaheim, Fontana and Panorama City. The National Union of Healthcare Workers, which represents the employees, said the action could potentially shut down mental health services at more than 100 Kaiser clinics and medical facilities from San Diego to Sacramento.

But Kaiser said that won’t happen. In a statement issued Monday, the Oakland-based healthcare provider said all of its hospitals and medical offices will remain open.

“Anyone in need of urgent mental health or other care will receive the services they require,” the company said. “Where necessary, we will call members to reschedule some non-urgent appointments. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by this unnecessary strike.”

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Getting worse

Kaiser psychologist Kenneth Rogers said the challenges workers face each day are getting worse.

“We don’t have enough time to provide proper patient care which includes the preparation and follow-up work that goes into every appointment,” he said. “Patients are being forced to endure even longer wait times for appointments, while Kaiser sits on billions of dollars, refusing to fix the problem.”

Kaiser has been fined millions of dollars and placed under state-ordered monitoring for repeatedly violating California mental health parity laws, NUHW said, yet its clinics remain “severely understaffed.”

Patients are routinely forced to wait six-to-eight weeks and sometimes longer for therapy appointments, the union said, and clinicians are so overbooked they have to work after hours trying to help patients who can’t wait for care.

In a survey conducted earlier this year, 77% of Kaiser clinicians said they must schedule patient return appointments further into the future than is clinically appropriate.

Proposed compromise rejected

Annie Russell, chief operating officer for Kaiser’s Southern California Permanente Medical Group, said the two sides have been working with an external, neutral mediator in an effort to reach a labor agreement.

“The mediator recently delivered a proposed compromise to both sides that we are seriously considering; however, the union has rejected it and announced plans to strike instead of working through the mediated process,” Russell said in a statement.

Kaiser said it hired more than 400 new mental health clinicians throughout California this year in addition to building dozens of new treatment facilities and investing millions of dollars to help more people enter the mental health industry.

For Southern California employees, the mediator’s recommendation includes therapist wage increases of 3% the first year, 2.75% the second and third year, and 2.5% the fourth year with lump-sum payments in years two through four and a retroactive bonus of $2,600.

Russell said this is NUHW’s sixth noticed strike within a single year.

“We believe that NUHW’s repeated call for short strikes is disruptive to patient access, operational care and service and is frankly irresponsible,” she said. “All it does is put our members in the middle of bargaining, which is not fair to them, especially during the holidays when rates of depression can spike and our patients are counting on their caregivers to be there.”

A woman died Sunday night in Westminster after getting hit by a car with the driver failing to stay at the scene, police said.

The woman was found in the street with severe injuries shortly after officers were called at about 6 p.m., Westminster police Sgt. Phuong Pham.

She was pronounced dead at the scene at Westminster Boulevard and Goldenwest Street.

“Our officers were quickly able to identify the suspect vehicle and the driver of the hit-and-run collision later in the evening,” Pham said.

Dung Kha, of Westminster was arrested without incident.

Police asked that anyone who witnessed the crash to call them.

USC wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr.’s award season run kept going on Monday as he was named to the Associated Press’ All-America second team.

The senior receiver finished the regular season with 95 receptions for 1,222 yards and 11 touchdowns. He averaged 12.9 yards per catch.

Pittman, a former Oaks Christian standout, was named a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award, given annually to college football’s top receiver, though LSU’s Ja’Marr Chase was named the winner. Pittman was also named a second-team All American by Walter Camp and first-team All Pac-12.

The senior receiver also won the 2019 Pop Warner National College Football Award, given annually to a senior who has combined performance on the field with work in the community.

Out with the big, in with the bigger.

Bulldozers were seen recently reducing the walls of a standout hilltop mansion in Yorba Linda to rubble as a demolition team makes room for a larger estate.

The nine-bedroom, 19,700-square-foot home was recognizable to 91 Freeway commuters with its brilliant white walls and two-story windows.

The property, which was completed in 2004 and named Satsang for an Indian philosophy, was purchased earlier this year for $9.8 million by consumer product entrepreneur Loksarang D. Hardas.

Hardas plans to demolish 80% of the structure and transform the property into a seven-bedroom, 29,300-square-foot residence with a new two-bedroom, 1,200-square foot guest house, according to documents filed with the city.

Only a few parts of the existing structure, including the garage, will be reused in the new mansion.

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