Latest news with #CalStateFullerton
Hindustan Times
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Yellowstone star Kevin Costner believes THIS particular change can actually help Americans
Kevin Costner wants to see a change in the way America educates its children. While sitting with the Associated Press, the Oscar-winning actor and filmmaker expressed, 'I wish we would have a giant shift in education where history dominated more than math.' 'The people that are really good at math, they're going to search out math anyway — cause that's who they are, they're just built that way.' What matters, he said, is 'Everybody can understand where they come from.' ALSO READ| 'Incredibly fit' Jennifer Lopez 'inspiring' Kevin Costner to hit the gym as rumoured romance grows Costner, who has often explored American themes in his work, from the frontier in Dances With Wolves to Field of Dreams, graduated from Cal State Fullerton in 1978 with a degree in business administration. He later returned to the campus in 2007 to speak with students. 'You'll need to listen to your inner voice,' he told them. 'There's no blueprint for success ... What's really interesting is how you're going to do it.' The Yellowstone star has largely avoided politics. Earlier this year, he attended a Super Bowl party in New Orleans, and in an interview with Fox News around that time, he stressed that filmmaking has 'nothing to do with politics.' Instead, 'I think you make the best movie you can for an audience and understand that… you have a chance. Every so often you have a chance to do something meaningful. And sometimes it's just pure fun. Movies don't have to be important, but they have to have an audience in mind.' Costner also pushed back against the idea that politics should influence the moviegoing experience, saying, 'It's got nothing to do with politics. It's about the people sitting in the dark.' ALSO READ| Kevin Costner felt 'sucker punched' as ex-wife Christine Baumgartner gets engaged with his old pal 'Movies — when at their best — are really about moments we'll never, ever forget,' The Highwaymen star believes.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
‘Bows survive another elimination game, advances in Big West Tournament
For the third time in six days, the University of Hawai'i baseball team faced elimination and once again, the Rainbow Warriors rose to the occasion. UH staved off elimination on Day 3 of the Big West Championship with a convincing 16-4 win over host Cal State Fullerton on Friday, fueled by a steady start from Sebastian Gonzalez and a breakout performance at the plate. After falling behind 1-0 in the first inning, the Rainbow Warriors quickly responded with three runs on four hits in the top of the second and never looked back. Matt Miura and Hunter Faildo powered the offense, combining for 7 hits, Miura with four of his own with 3 RBI as Hawai'i pulled away. Gonzalez delivered a strong start, allowing just one run on four hits across four innings before handing the ball to the bullpen with a 5-1 lead. Reliever Isaiah Magdaleno closed the door with 3.2 innings of relief, three strikeouts, and two runs allowed. The Rainbow Warriors blew the game open in the seventh inning with back-to-back home runs by Jordan Donahue and Kamana Nahaku as part of a five-run frame. Hawai'i improved to 26-1 this season when leading after six innings. With the win, UH advances to face Cal Poly at noon HST on Saturday. The winner of that game will face UC Irvine at 4 p.m. HST later that day. If UC Irvine wins, the Anteaters will clinch the Big West title. A victory by either UH or Cal Poly would force a winner-take-all championship game on Sunday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Fox News
23-05-2025
- Fox News
California State freshman drowns during fraternity trip to Arizona lake
Print Close By Julia Bonavita Published May 23, 2025 A California State freshman died in an accidental drowning while vacationing with fellow fraternity members in Arizona over the weekend, according to the Sigma Pi Fraternity at Cal State Fullerton. Simon Daniel, 18, was visiting Lake Havasu River with his fraternity on Saturday when he decided to go for a swim with friends. The college freshman entered the water with three fraternity brothers and two sorority members when "unbeknownst to them, recent heavy rains in the Havasu Valley region had significantly increased water flow, creating hazardous conditions including strong currents, crosswinds and swells," the fraternity said in a statement on Facebook. COLLEGE SENIOR KILLED AFTER 'ACCIDENTALLY' FALLING FROM TROPICAL ISLAND HOTEL BALCONY DAYS BEFORE GRADUATION Sigma Pi Fraternity's national chapter and Cal State Fullerton did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. Several members of the fraternity jumped in to save the six students, according to Sigma Pi's Cal State Fullerton chapter. "Tragically, Simon was swept away by a sudden wave that separated him from one of the rescuers," the fraternity said. "He disappeared beneath the water." FAMILY OF COLLEGE STUDENT WHO DIED IN NASHVILLE FILES WRONGFUL DEATH LAWSUIT AGAINST FRATERNITY The students called 911, with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, along with additional agencies, deploying divers, remotely operated vehicles and sonar to search for Daniel. Daniel "went under the water on Saturday and did not resurface," sheriff's deputies said, according to FOX 11. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for additional information. FIVE ILLEGALS CHARGED IN ALLEGED MARITIME HUMAN SMUGGLING ATTEMPT THAT LEFT CHILD DEAD Daniel's body was recovered Sunday morning following an extensive search by authorities. Daniel was studying computer science and is survived by his mother, according to the fraternity. Members of Daniel's family did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP "[Simon] was known for his love of music, boundless energy and kind spirit," Sigma Pi's Cal State Fullerton chapter said in a statement. "He was the heart of the fraternity – genuine, joyful and someone who brightened every room with his brilliant smile." Print Close URL
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Yahoo
Cal State Fullerton freshman drowns during fraternity trip to Lake Havasu
A fraternity trip to Lake Havasu ended in tragedy over the weekend after an 18-year-old Cal State Fullerton student drowned in swift-moving waters at the popular recreation destination, authorities said. Simon Daniel disappeared below the surface while swimming in the Copper Canyon area around 3 p.m. Saturday, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. His body was found around 8:54 a.m. the next morning, officials said. The drowning was the first of at least two emergencies involving college students that the Sheriff's Department responded to over the weekend. Tanner Prentis, a 22-year-old UC Santa Barbara student, went missing after spending Saturday night out with with friends in Big Bear Lake. His body was found in the water on Monday. Read more: Missing UC Santa Barbara student found dead in Big Bear Lake The Sigma Pi fraternity said in a statement that Daniel was "the heart of the fraternity" and "brightened every room with his brilliant smile." The freshman computer science major hails from Pinole and was known for his "love of music, boundless energy and kind smile." According to the fraternity, Daniel entered the water at Lake Havasu River alongside three fraternity brothers and two members of a sorority that joined the brothers on the trip. The group was unaware that recent rainfall had led to hazardous swimming conditions including strong currents, crosswind and swells, the fraternity wrote. After suddenly finding themselves in distress, several other fraternity brothers "heroically risked their own lives" in an attempt to rescue the six students, according to the fraternity. But Daniel was swept away by a sudden wave, separated from one of the rescuers and disappeared below the surface. Rescue teams from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department and the Mohave County Sheriff's Department deployed divers to where Daniel was last seen, authorities said. Divers scoured the water and deployed sonar scanners to search for Daniel until nightfall. On Sunday morning divers located and recovered his body with the help of a remotely operated vehicle. More than 200 students attended a candlelit vigil for Daniel on Sunday night. "Simon is survived by his mother and a community of loved ones and brothers who deeply mourn his loss," the fraternity wrote. Both Cal State Fullerton and UC Santa Barbara are offering crisis counseling services to help students cope with the sudden deaths. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tony Lam was an original influencer in Little Saigon — and he's still got it
The textured mat is already on the table as Tony Lam sits down to shuffle the polished tiles. He is here to participate in a ritual that he observes four days a week, a pursuit that keeps his "head in shape.' On this day, sitting in his daughter's house, he is competing against his wife, son-in-law and grandson, all of whom build a wall of game pieces in front of them. It's mah-jongg o'clock, and he's ready. One by one, they roll the dice to begin their match, dealing and betting a collection of quarters. Lam, quietly fierce with a booming laugh, studies the spread, and then ... his cellphone pings. The original influencer of Little Saigon has been invited to another event — one of dozens each year — a commemoration of the Vietnamese immigration experience in America. He snares a suite of tiles and wins a coin within 11 minutes. Nothing seems to faze him. But as he prepares to make his next move ... ping! It's an invitation to an informal coffee shop meet-up, followed by a business groundbreaking. Lam, 88, has been a prominent figure in Orange County's Little Saigon for decades, but his election to the Westminster City Council in 1992 — the first Vietnamese American to win political office in the United States — cemented that status. After 10 years, he announced his retirement from politics, but his continuing activism, even into his 80s, helped set in motion a series of political movements and cultural upheaval in Southern California. On April 30, the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, his community will be in the spotlight, as news reports highlight the growth and influence of the Vietnamese community in Southern California. In Orange County, where 2020 census data show nearly 242,000 residents of Vietnamese heritage, there are Vietnamese Americans on the city councils in Westminster — the original home of Little Saigon —Fountain Valley, Garden Grove and Santa Ana. "He's part of a wave of people that transformed California," said Jeffrey Brody, a retired professor of communications at Cal State Fullerton who's writing a social history of the origins of Little Saigon. "The reason the public pays attention to this group, especially locally, is because the community has invested in the building blocks of democracy.' Lam was there from the start — opening doors, collecting awards, trying to thread the needle in controversies that threatened to destabilize his community — and he's still filling his calendar with events — a reminder that his role as a trailblazer has not been forgotten. Lam grew up in northern Vietnam and made his way south after the country was split into two states. In the south, he held a series of jobs that brought him in contact with U.S. entrepreneurs and diplomats. At 28, he teamed up with an older sibling, Dean, to manage their Lam Brothers Corp. They were independent contractors unloading ammunition, building supplies and auto parts for the military at Cam Ranh Bay, one of the busiest ports in the world. Lam had learned English from his service in the Vietnamese Navy, and later, through job connections, he got his wife and six children on a flight out of their homeland before the fall of Saigon. Lam says he stayed behind to help evacuate others. Then U.S. officials sent him to Guam, where he was 'assisting in the management of the newcomers there." After three months, he flew with his family to Camp Pendleton, where a large portion of refugees were sent. Lam was 37 years old and he, his wife, three sons and three daughters bunked in barracks on the base. He signed on as camp coordinator, trying to bring order to the confusion around him as thousands of adults and children immersed in resettlement. Eventually, he found an American sponsor "and we had the proverbial fresh start," he recalled, moving briefly to Florida before returning to the West Coast and renting an apartment in Huntington Beach. Read more: Vietnamese refugees who got a warm welcome from America puzzle at family separations, harsh rhetoric In Vietnam, Lam had owned three companies. In Orange County, he took a job pumping gas, and then as a supervisor in shipping and receiving for a firm that produced practice bombs for the Navy. "It was such irony," said Lam, who had fled a war just months before. His wife found work sanding guitars. When Lam picked her up after her first day, he said, he didn't recognize her right away because her head was covered with dust. Then he burst into tears. By the end of 1980, about 20,000 refugees were living in Orange County. Like their earlier counterparts, they had fled the communist regime, most of them drawn by news of relatives who had chosen to relocate there. Danh's Pharmacy, the first Vietnamese-owned business in the area, had opened its doors in 1978 in Westminster, a town that would quickly balloon into a bustling immigrant community, dotted with produce markets, noodle houses, jewelry stores and bakeries. Lam established a life insurance agency and an import-export business, and in 1984 opened Vien Dong, a restaurant in Garden Grove that quickly gained a following. The Little Saigon community expanded into neighboring cities, and in the 1980s, its restaurants, cafes, jewelry and fabric shops and grocery stores started to attract attention throughout California. The first 99 Ranch Market opened in Westminster in 1984. In 1985, when an 8.0 magnitude earthquake hit Mexico City, killing almost 10,000 people, Lam organized a fundraiser. He was one of the founders of the Vietnamese American Chamber of Commerce and the Vietnamese American Lions Club in Westminster. A law and order conservative, he joined the Republican Party. Hop Lam, who has been married to him for 64 years, says he moves forward "always with an eye to the past. He learns and he remembers." He was among the first organizers of the local Tet Festival to celebrate the Lunar New Year — which eventually became the largest celebration outside of Vietnam. He nurtured his businesses and was appointed to serve on Westminster's traffic commission in 1989. In addition, "he befriended the white families, the Mexican families and everyone he talked to," Brody said. When he ran for City Council, "to win, he had to have the support of the Caucasians and the Latinos as well as the Asians." Lam's daughter Cathy Lam said: "When there was something to be done, my father never hesitated. Public service for him is a way to include everyone in decisions and solving problems." His community was bound together by family, tradition and staunch anti-communist sentiment — which, in a few years, fueled a controversy that foreshadowed a political shift in Little Saigon. In 1994, the U.S. lifted its trade embargo against Vietnam, and resumed diplomatic ties the following year. Longtime residents of Little Saigon were incensed and organized anti-communist protests. That anger, however, was not universal, evidenced by the interest among a few local merchants in the possibility of expanding their market by doing business in Vietnam. A few years later, in January 1999, Truong Van Tran posted a Communist flag and a photo of Ho Chi Minh, the late Communist leader, in his video store, which was located on Bolsa Avenue, Little Saigon's main thoroughfare. Community protests started immediately. On Jan. 21, an Orange County judge temporarily ordered Tran to remove the items, but she soon reversed herself on Feb. 10, saying the flag and the photo constituted protected speech. The demonstrations continued for 53 days. At one point the crowd grew to about 15,000. Read more: Their families fled Vietnam. Now they're helping Afghan refugees in America Lam did not join them. He said he understood the anger, but City Atty. Richard D. Jones told him and Westminster officials to stay away; they needed to stay neutral to avoid legal action. Because Lam was a no-show, protesters picketed outside his restaurant for 73 days. He was called a communist sympathizer, and political rivals vilified him. He hired a lawyer in an attempt to stop the chaos in front of the restaurant. Speaking at a council meeting in February of that year, he said his "heart had been torn apart." He left office in 2002. It was the greatest trial of his political life, Lam said, remembering his efforts to balance his loyalty to his Vietnamese community with the city's interests. During the tumult, some younger members of the Vietnamese community, already questioning their status on the sidelines of a local political infrastructure that didn't include them, inserted themselves in the conversation. Lan Quoc Nguyen, who'd been an attorney for only three years, got involved by "negotiating with city staff and police to allow the protesters to stay" around the store property for hours on end. "Pretty soon, we realized that in order to gain respect, to be listened to by people who run the greater society, we had to have a seat at the table.... We started digging in," Nguyen said. Nguyen, along with Van Tran, the first Vietnamese American elected to the Garden Grove City Council in 2000, described the movement as "political empowerment." They gathered volunteers for massive voter registration drives, one after another in consecutive elections. Offering Cokes and banh mi and often free entertainment from top refugee musical acts, the inaugural "Rock N Vote" and get-out-the-vote gatherings were staged at UC Irvine and parks with one constant element — handy translators to interpret English-language materials. "This is what cemented political power," Brody said. "Not having anyone to recruit their opinions or participation, the Vietnamese organized themselves into a powerful voting bloc and from then on, you saw all kinds of candidates running for all kinds of seats." In 1975, when the Vietnamese came over, Cathy Lam said, "we all worried about putting food on the table. Over the years, as our kids got older, as all of us understood more about U.S. history — the Civil Rights Act, the Clean Water Act, the Affordable Care Act, what the EPA stands for — we became a little less conservative, a little more moderate. At the end of the day, the community sees it's making money. They have to give back by getting deeply involved in politics." Read more: Vietnam Refugees Finally Find Home Today in Orange County, there are at least 24 Vietnamese Americans in city and county offices, and there are others on school boards, sanitation and water boards and in Orange County Superior Court. Tri Ta, Westminster's first Vietnamese American mayor, is serving in the state Assembly, and last year, Derek Tran became the first Vietnamese American from California elected to federal office, representing the 45th Congressional District. Tran met Lam at his swearing-in ceremony in December. "I've known his name for a long, long time," said Tran, who ousted Republican stalwart Michelle Steel in the competitive congressional race. "His daughter and her son walked the neighborhoods and knocked on doors for me, helping me get elected. Without having someone like him, it would not have been possible for me to have my seat here. He truly blazed the trail." During the event, Lam kept pulling Tran aside to say how proud he was of the younger man, prompting the new congressman to add, "It makes me so happy to hear that from someone of his stature." Terry Rains, an activist who launched the Westminster Buzz Facebook page and has been a steady presence at council meetings since 2019, says she expects to see more Tony Lams in office, 'but you can't ignore the Andrew Do thing." Last October, Do, a former Orange County supervisor, admitted guilt in funneling more than $10 million in federal pandemic funds through a nonprofit linked to his daughter. He received more than $550,000 in bribes from money slated to buy meals for elderly Little Saigon residents — shocking the political establishment of the county. Lam called it a "tragedy," but his phone still pings with political newbies scheduling appointments to visit with him for advice, an endorsement or a donation. He kept his profile "as one of the originals in Little Saigon," said Van Tran, who ascended to state office as the first Vietnamese American elected to California's Assembly. "He inspires because he's outspoken and true to himself." "My intention is to help everyone," said Lam, at a recent playground dedication in Westminster's Tony Lam Park. "That's how I operate." Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
