The median home price in Orange County reached $1 million last month, becoming the first Southern California county to ever hit that pricey mark and underscoring just how expensive the region has become.
The threshold was crossed when the Orange County median sales price for new and existing houses, condos and townhomes rose from $985,000 in February to $1,020,000 in March, according to data released this week by researcher DQNews. It constitutes a 22% jump in median price from a year prior.
Million-dollar homes spread rapidly throughout Southern California during the pandemic, becoming commonplace in communities once thought to be relatively affordable like Highland Park and West Adams in Los Angeles County. The median price in Los Angeles County rose to $840,000 in March, up 12% from a year earlier.
The Orange County milestone marks a momentous rise in wealth, at least on paper, for local homeowners. But it comes as a regionwide lack of affordable housing has pushed people into homelessness and caused others to leave the state in search of shelter they can afford.
According to a recent survey from the Public Policy Institute of California, 64% of California adults view housing affordability as a big problem, with more than half of adults saying they are concerned they won’t have enough money to pay their rent or mortgage.
In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt died at age 63; he was succeeded by Vice President Harry S. Truman.
In 1955, the Salk vaccine against polio was declared safe and effective.
In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to fly in space.
In 1963, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and jailed in Birmingham, Alabama, charged with contempt of court and parading without a permit. (During his time behind bars, King wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”)
In 1992, Euro Disneyland (now called Disneyland Paris) opened in MarneLa-Vallee, France.
In 2015, Hillary Clinton jumped back into presidential politics, announcing in a video her second campaign for the White House.
Seminole fans got their first chance to take a look at the 2022 Florida State Football team on Saturday as the ‘Noles offense racked up 38 points at the annual Garnet and Gold Spring Game.
The format included two traditional scrimmage quarters followed by the “Main Event” which featured guest coaches Danny Kannell and Peter Boulware calling plays against EJ Manuel and Bryant McFadden. FSU’s offense started slow but its first signs of life came in the form of Trey Benson. The Oregon transfer running back led the way for Seminole ball carriers with 77 yards on seven touches including a long of 22.
Jordan Travis led the passing attack for Florida State, going 7-13 for 71 yards but backup Tate Rodemaker fetched the game’s only touchdown pass on 5-11 passing for 64 yards. As the offense found its groove so too did the playmakers with Lawrence Toafili, DJ Williams and Mycah Pittman all finding the endzone.
“Seeing the response from the offense and being able to create some of the explosive plays there in the second quarter, it’s what you want in a spring game,” remarked Head Coach Mike Norvell of his team’s performance. “[There were] good things on both sides of the ball and I like seeing some of our newcomers have that first experience in front of our fans.”
Defensively FSU was led up front by Jared Verse and Malakai Menzer who both registered two solo sacks with LB Stephen Dix Jr. also recording six tackles (three solo).
The ‘Noles will hold one more practice on Tuesday, April 12th before heading into the offseason.
The courage of the people of Ukraine inspired Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason to release their first new song as Pink Floyd since 1994: “We want to spread this message of peace, and we want to raise the morale of the people who are defending their homeland”
A few days after Russia invaded Ukraine, singer-turned-soldier Andriy Khlyvnyuk posted video of himself belting “The Red Viburnum in the Meadow” — a folk song about the country’s strength in the face of adversity — to Instagram. The vocalist, who fronts the Kyiv group Boombox, had hoped to be playing gigs in the U.S. last month. But when he heard Russia had invaded his homeland, he returned to defend it. At the outbreak of the war, he told Rolling Stone he felt it was his duty to stick up for Ukraine for the sake of the world. “[The West] needs us as the shield to protect it all,” he said.
In the video, he’s wearing fatigues and clinging to a submachine gun as he serenades the empty streets: “Our glorious Ukraine shall hey, hey, rise up and rejoice.”
Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour watched the clip with awe. “My daughter-in-law, who actually is Ukrainian, sent it to me and I thought, ‘Wow, that’s fantastic,’” Gilmour tells Rolling Stone. “It just struck me that here we are, with our name [Pink Floyd] and this platform, and we could use it more. That piece of singing immediately got me thinking of turning it into something.” So he sequestered himself in his studio, figured out the chords that would support Khlyvnyuk’s powerful vocals, and wrote what became “Hey, Hey, Rise Up” — the first new Pink Floyd recording in nearly 30 years.
“I thought this could be something that we use our platform for, for enormous good,” Gilmour says. So I called [Pink Floyd drummer] Nick [Mason] up and said, ‘Did you want to be a part of it?’ And he said, ‘Yes, great.’” Last week, the pair, along with bassist Guy Pratt and keyboardist Nitin Sawhney, recorded the song, which sticks to the traditional melodies of the folk song (notwithstanding a few emotive guitar solos) at Gilmour’s home studio with a projection of Khlyvnyuk’s original video. It was the first time Gilmour and Mason had recorded a new Pink Floyd song since the sessions for 1994’s The Division Bell.
Gilmour had closed the book on Pink Floyd after 2014’s The Endless River, which he and Mason had built from recordings made during the Division Bell sessions. But with “Hey, Hey, Rise Up,” he changed his mind. Pink Floyd rushed to release the song quickly to raise awareness for the civilians suffering in Ukraine and to raise money for humanitarian relief in the country.
“I hope the song does some good,” Gilmour tells Rolling Stone, explaining why he decided to resurrect Pink Floyd. “I hope we achieve something with it.”
Exxon Mobil Corp on Monday said its first-quarter results could top a seven-year quarterly record, with operating profits from pumping oil and gas alone of up to $9.3 billion.
A snapshot of the largest U.S. oil company’s quarter ended March 31 showed operating profits from oil and gas, its biggest unit, could jump by as much as $2.7 billion over the prior quarter’s $6.6 billion.
March 24, 1989 Exxon-Valdez Oil Spill, the largest in US history
Exxon does not hedge, or lock in oil sales, and results generally match changes in energy prices. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed up oil by 45% last quarter over the final period of 2021, to an average of $114 per barrel, the highest in seven years.
The estimates suggest total earnings for the quarter of about $9.8 billion at the mid-point of Exxon’s estimates, according to Scotiabank global equity research.
One 15-ounce can whole plum tomatoes One 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes 1/2 cup basil leaves, torn 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1/2 TB Calabrian chile paste 1 tsp flaky sea salt, such as Maldon 1 tsp sugar 4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
