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Radio DJ Melvin Odoom has become the fourth contestant to walk out of the Australian jungle after he was voted off I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!. During his exit interview, hosts Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly attempted to play a message from former Countdown star Carol Vorderman after Odoom expressed a romantic interest in her during his time on the ITV show. After suffering technical difficulties, Donnelly surmised that Vorderman was “blushing” from the attention, but promised to play it to Odoom after the show. The 44-year-old follows N-Dubz star Tulisa Contostavlos , BBC radio star Dean McCullough and Loose Women panellist Jane Moore in being voted off the show. “I was ready to go, but it’s been a really wild experience,” Odoom said. “The best thing about that camp is the people, I loved every single person in there.” Odoom said former Strictly star Oti Mabuse reminded him of his sister, because “she had my back at all times”. The episode saw Reverend Richard Coles reveal he once came on stage to a “barrage of knickers” while he was in pop duo The Communards, as the campmates reflected on the point at which they realised they were famous. Radio presenter and author Coles, 62, said: “The big thing for us came when we had Don’t Leave Me This Way and it was number one for weeks and weeks, and I remember we were playing in Ireland and we were booked into a sports stadium, we came on stage and there was this barrage of knickers. All these girls threw their knickers. “Never in the history of recorded sound did a girl throw her knickers at a band to less effect than to The Communards, I think Jimmy (Somerville) made a scrunchie out of a pair of them and that was it.” Danny Jones, who performs in the band McFly, contributed to the conversation and said: “For me, it was the fans waiting outside CD:UK and then when we left girls were chasing the car and I was like, ‘What has gone on?’. It was scary because they were banging on the windows. “I think to make a difference to people’s lives, I get such satisfaction and that’s what keeps me going to make people smile or forget about their worries or to make them feel less lonely in hard times, and just come and enjoy and a bit of escapism at one of our shows, I feel very privileged to have that.” Former professional boxer Barry McGuigan told the camp he won the Commonwealth Games gold medal when he was 17. He said: “Because Ireland was going through all the troubles and I was a sort of peace ambassador, all the bad boys f****** hated me but yet they watched my fights. It was probably in the hope I got flattened.” Elsewhere, Maura Higgins spoke about what it was like to come home after appearing on ITV reality show Love Island. She said: “Coming back into Heathrow Airport it was mayhem, the security had to drag us onto a bus because there were swamps of people. “I didn’t know what to expect.” Alan Halsall said his fame has been consistent due to his role in the British soap Coronation Street. He said: “That’s constant. I think the only time I’ve found it difficult really recently is when I’ve become a father, it’s hard then.” Coleen Rooney, who is married to former footballer Wayne Rooney, agreed: “That’s the thing with kids I think, it’s hard to go on days out. “Kai told Wayne to stop coming to football games, when he played grassroots tournaments and stuff, because he used to get swarmed and he couldn’t even watch the game. “How do you say to all of these kids, ‘Go away, I’m watching my son’? Adults, it’s different you could speak to them, so he (Kai) just said, ‘Oh, Dad there’s no point you coming because you don’t even watch me play anyway’. “Which is sad but it can’t be helped anyway. At the same time the fans help you along the way and get you where you are.” The camp received news that they would have a chance to visit the Jungle Arms and would need to leave camp immediately. The campmates discussed what they might have to do in order to get there, as Higgins said: “I’m telling you now, I will go to lengths to get my glass of wine, you watch.” I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! continues nightly at 9pm on ITV1, STV and ITVX.Diddy argues that Abercrombie & Fitch's ex-CEO is out on bail on serial sex-trafficking charges — so he should be, too
HOUSTON (AP) — An elaborate parody appears to be behind an effort to resurrect Enron, the Houston-based energy company that exemplified the worst in American corporate fraud and greed after it went bankrupt in 2001. If its return is comedic, some former employees who lost everything in Enron’s collapse aren’t laughing. “It’s a pretty sick joke and it disparages the people that did work there. And why would you want to even bring it back up again?” said former Enron employee Diana Peters, who represented workers in the company’s bankruptcy proceedings. Here’s what to know about the history of Enron and the purported effort to bring it back. Once the nation’s seventh-largest company, Enron filed for bankruptcy protection on Dec. 2, 2001, after years of accounting tricks could no longer hide billions of dollars in debt or make failing ventures appear profitable. The energy company's collapse put more than 5,000 people out of work and wiped out more than $2 billion in employee pensions. Its aftershocks were felt throughout the energy sector. Twenty-four Enron executives , including former CEO Jeffrey Skilling , were convicted for their roles in the fraud. Enron founder Ken Lay’s convictions were vacated after he died of heart disease following his 2006 trial. On Monday — the 23rd anniversary of the bankruptcy filing — a company representing itself as Enron announced in a news release it was relaunching as a “company dedicated to solving the global energy crisis.” It also posted a video on social media, advertised on at least one Houston billboard and a took out a full-page ad in the Houston Chronicle In the minute-long video full of generic corporate jargon, the company talks about “growth” and “rebirth.” It ends with the words, “We’re back. Can we talk?” In an email, company spokesperson Will Chabot said the new Enron was not doing any interviews yet, but "We’ll have more to share soon.” Signs point to the comeback being a joke. In the “terms of use and conditions of sale” on the company's website, it says “the information on the website about Enron is First Amendment protected parody, represents performance art, and is for entertainment purposes only.” Documents filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office show College Company, an Arkansas-based LLC, owns the Enron trademark. The co-founder of College Company is Connor Gaydos, who helped create a joke conspiracy theory claiming all birds are actually government surveillance drones. Peters said she and some other former employees are upset and think the relaunch was “in poor taste.” “If it’s a joke, it’s rude, extremely rude. And I hope that they realize it and apologize to all of the Enron employees,” Peters said. Peters, 74, said she is still working in information technology because “I lost everything in Enron, and so my Social Security doesn’t always take care of things I need done.” “Enron’s downfall taught us critical lessons about corporate ethics, accountability, and the consequences of unchecked ambition. Enron’s legacy was the employees in the trenches. Leave Enron buried,” she said. But Sherron Watkins, Enron’s former vice president of corporate development and the main whistleblower who helped uncover the scandal, said she didn’t have a problem with the joke because comedy “usually helps us focus on an uncomfortable historical event that we’d rather ignore.” “I think we use prior scandals to try to teach new generations what can go wrong with big companies,” said Watkins, who still speaks at colleges and conferences about the Enron scandal. This story was corrected to fix the spelling of Ken Lay’s first name, which had been misspelled “Key.” Follow Juan A. Lozano on X at https://x.com/juanlozano70Montana State kicker Myles Sansted has provided 'really impressive' consistency for BobcatsKobe Sanders, Nevada beat Oklahoma St. for fifth place in Charleston
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Kevin McCarty will be Sacramento next mayor, according to a final tally by Sacramento County election officials. McCarty’s victory is over opponent and epidemiologist Flojaune Cofer. The final election results showed McCarty with 50.51% of the 190,923 ballots counted, as of 3 p.m. Pacific time Monday. Cofer had secured 49.49%, a mere 1,941 votes behind McCarty. McCarty, who declared victory last week, celebrated the final tally Monday on X. “Time to get work,” said McCarty, who included a screenshot of the final results. Cofer has not yet commented on the election results and did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday afternoon. Last week, Cofer said she would not concede in the election until every vote is counted. Cofer, regarded as the underdog in the mayor race, announced her candidacy in April 2023 . Cofer, a political newcomer and south Sacramento resident, had worked in state and local public health policy. She had focused her campaign on policies to help the city’s underserved areas, including the homeless community. McCarty had spent years rising in Sacramento politics, from the city commission to City Council to assemblyman. His campaign focused on homelessness, housing affordability and neighborhood safety. McCarty’s had collected endorsements from current Mayor Darrell Steinberg, former city council members and local business organizations including the Sacramento Asian Chamber of Commerce. After declaring victory last week, McCarty took to a City Hall press conference to map out his mayoral term. He offered plans to audit the city’s homelessness response and bring more business, jobs and housing. McCarty will be sworn in next Tuesday along with two new council members, Roger Dickinson and Phil Pluckebaum. McCarty has selected Pluckebaum to lead a 12-member team of small business owners, home inspectors, engineers, law firms and others to sketch out an business development plan. ©2024 The Sacramento Bee. Visit sacbee.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Beyond the Ban: FSU Expert Available to Comment on the Effects of Social Media on Youth Mental Health
Saquon, Eagles Praised by NFL Fans for Pulling Out Win vs. Bryce Young, PanthersPG&E Corporation Logo (PRNewsfoto/PG&E Corporation) OAKLAND, Calif. , Dec. 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- On November 29, 2024 , PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG) declared its fourth-quarter 2024 regular cash dividend of $0.025 per share on the Corporation's common stock. The dividend is payable on January 15, 2025 , to shareholders of record as of December 31, 2024 . In addition, PG&E Corporation's utility subsidiary, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), declared the regular preferred stock dividend for the three-month period ending January 31, 2025 , to be payable on February 15, 2025 , to shareholders of record as of January 31, 2025 . PG&E will pay dividends on its eight series of preferred stock as follows: About PG&E Corporation PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG) is a holding company headquartered in Oakland, California . It is the parent company of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, an energy company that serves 16 million Californians across a 70,000-square-mile service area in Northern and Central California . For more information, visit http://www.pgecorp.com . View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dates-set-for-pge-quarterly-stock-dividends-302319353.html SOURCE PG&E Corporation
Chuck Woolery, smooth-talking game show host of 'Love Connection' and 'Scrabble,' dies at 83McLean, Duax lead FGCU over Florida International 60-59OTTAWA — A lawyer for terrorism suspect Mohamed Harkat told a Federal Court judge Tuesday the Algerian-born refugee has been linked to extremists through speculation, not hard evidence. Harkat, 56, was arrested in Ottawa in December 2002 on suspicion of being an al-Qaida sleeper agent. Harkat says he fled strife-ridden Algeria and worked with an aid agency in Pakistan before he arrived in Canada in 1995 using a false Saudi passport. He denies any involvement in terrorism. The federal government has long been trying to deport the former gas-station attendant using a security certificate — a legal tool for removing non-citizens suspected of ties to extremism or espionage. A Federal Court judge who reviewed the certificate ruled in 2010 there were grounds to believe Harkat is a security threat who maintained ties to Osama bin Laden's terror network after coming to Canada. The judge found Harkat operated a guesthouse for Ibn Khattab and his organization for at least 15 months in Pakistan, demonstrating active membership in an organization involved in terrorist activities. Harkat is back in Federal Court challenging a 2018 decision by a federal delegate that he should not be allowed to remain in Canada. He argues he faces a risk of torture if returned to Algeria. In a written submission to the court, federal lawyers note the delegate found that Harkat’s role as the operator of Khattab's guesthouse made the recruitment, vetting, preparation and training of jihadists and terrorists possible. This allowed the Khattab organization, and the broader bin Laden network with which it was linked, to commit various terrorist acts, the submission adds. In their own submission, counsel for Harkat question the evidence that Khattab was indeed a terrorist. Lawyer Barbara Jackman, representing Harkat, told the hearing Tuesday the federal conclusions were not only unreasonable, but "also it's taking facts and speculating to fill in the blanks." Jackman said operating a guesthouse is not a crime. "Doesn't it depend on the knowledge and intent of the person who's operating the guesthouse?" asked Justice John Norris. The judge suggested the government would need to establish that Harkat knew the purpose of the place. Jackman said Harkat denies even working at the guesthouse. Even so, she took issue with the evidentiary reasoning. "You have to show a connection to the crime or the criminal organization in some kind of real way," she said. "He's a passive actor running a hotel that people come in and out of." At the end of the hearing, Norris said he would make a ruling on Harkat's challenge at a later date. Civil libertarians have criticized the security certificate process as fundamentally unjust because the detainee sees only a summary of the accusations, making them difficult to challenge. In a 2014 ruling, the Supreme Court of Canada said the security certificate regime does not violate the person's right to know and contest the allegations they face. The Supreme Court also concluded Harkat "benefited from a fair process" when Noel reviewed his case. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 3, 2024. Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press
Worries over infrastructure bonds 'unnecessary'Chuck Woolery, smooth-talking game show host of 'Love Connection' and 'Scrabble,' dies at 83
NoneKobe Sanders, Nevada beat Oklahoma St. for fifth place in CharlestonNone
CONWAY, Ark. (AP) — Elias Cato scored 23 points as Central Arkansas beat UNC Asheville 92-83 in double overtime on Sunday. Jordan Morris made two free throws with one second left for UNC Asheville (2-3) to force overtime tied at 71. Fletcher Abee's 3-pointer with 33 seconds left in the first overtime tied the game at 79 and led to the second extra period. Michael Evbagharu's layup gave Central Arkansas (2-4) the lead in the second OT and Cato followed with a 3-pointer as the Bears outscored the Bulldogs 21-12 to pull out the victory. Cato added nine rebounds for the Bears. Layne Taylor totaled 19 points, seven assists, six rebounds and five steals. Brayden Fagbemi pitched in with 19 points, seven assists and five steals. The Bulldogs (2-3) were led by Fletcher Abee, who recorded 27 points. UNC Asheville also got 17 points from Josh Banks. Toyaz Solomon finished with 15 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .
Plenty of players from that heralded 2022 class could indeed be participating in the first 12-team College Football Playoff this month. They just won’t be doing it for the Aggies, who no longer have nearly half their 2022 signees. The list of 2022 recruits now with playoff contenders elsewhere includes Mississippi defensive lineman Walter Nolen, Oregon wide receiver Evan Stewart, Alabama defensive lineman LT Overton, SMU offensive tackle PJ Williams and injured Boise State receiver Chris Marshall. Texas A&M has done all right without them, going 8-4 as transfers filled about half the starting roles. Texas A&M represents perhaps the clearest example of how recruiting and roster construction have changed in the era of loosened transfer restrictions. Coaches must assemble high school classes without always knowing which of their own players are transferring and what players from other schools could be available through the portal. “It used to be you lost 20 seniors, you signed 20 incoming freshmen,” Duke coach Manny Diaz said. “You just had your numbers right. Now you might lose 20 seniors, but you might lose 20 underclassmen. You just don’t know.” Is high school recruiting losing value? Coaches emphasize that high school recruiting remains critical, but recent results suggest it isn’t as vital as before. The last two College Football Playoff runners-up – TCU in 2022 and Washington in 2023 – didn’t sign a single top-15 class in any of the four years leading up their postseason runs, according to composite rankings of recruiting sites compiled by 247Sports. This year’s contenders have shown there’s more than one way to build a championship-caliber roster. About half of No. 1 Oregon’s usual starters began their college careers elsewhere. No. 5 Georgia, which annually signs one of the nation’s top high school classes, has only a few transfers making major contributions. Colorado’s rise under Deion Sanders exemplifies how a team can win without elite high school recruiting. None of Colorado’s last four classes have ranked higher than 30th in the 247Sports Composite. Three ranked 47th or lower. “If anybody ever did the homework and the statistics of these young men – people have a class that they say is the No. 1 class in the nation – then five of those guys play, or four of those guys play, then the rest go through the spring and then they jump in the portal,” Sanders said. “Don’t give me the number of where you rank (in recruiting standings), because it’s like an NFL team," he added. "You always say who won the draft, then the team gets killed all year (and) you don’t say nothing else about it. Who won the draft last year in the NFL? Nobody cares right now, right?” The busy transfer portal Star quarterback Shedeur Sanders followed his father from Jackson State to Colorado in 2023, and Heisman Trophy front-runner Travis Hunter accompanied them. According to Colorado, this year’s Buffaloes team has 50 transfer newcomers, trailing only North Texas’ 54 among Bowl Subdivision programs. Relying on transfers comes with caveats. Consider Florida State's rise and fall. Florida State posted an unbeaten regular-season record last year with transfers playing leading roles. When those transfers departed and Florida State's portal additions this year didn't work out, the Seminoles went 2-10. “There has to be some type of balance between the transfer portal and high school recruiting,” said Andrew Ivins, the director of scouting for 247Sports. “I compare it to the NFL. The players from the transfer portal are your free agents and high school recruiting is your NFL draft picks.” A look at the composite rankings of recruiting sites compiled by 247Sports for the 2020-22 classes shows at least 40 of the top 100 prospects each of those years ended up leaving their original school. Coaches must decide which positions they’re better off building with high school prospects and which spots might be easier to fill through the portal. “The ones that have a ton of learning to do - tight end, quarterback, interior offensive line, inside linebacker, safety, where they are the communicators - they are the guys that are processing a lot of information,” Florida’s Billy Napier said. “Those are the ones in a perfect world you have around for a while. “It’s easier to play defensive line, edge, corner, receiver, running back, tackle, specialists. Those are a little bit more plug-and-play I’d say, in my opinion," Napier said. "Either way, it’s not necessarily about that. It’s just about we need a certain number at each spot, and we do the best we can to fill those roles.” Transfer portal ripple effects Power Four programs aren’t the only ones facing a balancing act between recruiting high schools and mining the transfer portal. Group of Five schools encounter similar challenges. “We’re recruiting every position and bringing in a high school class,” Eastern Michigan coach Chris Creighton said. “That’s not going to be maybe 24 scholarship guys like it used to be. It might be more like 16. It’s not four d-linemen necessarily, right? It might be three. It might not be three receivers. It might be two. And it might not be five offensive linemen. It’s two to three.” The extra hurdle Group of Five schools face is the possibility their top performers might leave for a power-conference program with more lucrative name, image and likeness financial opportunities. They sometimes don’t know which players they’ll lose. “We know who they’re trying to steal,” Miami (Ohio) coach Chuck Martin quipped. “We just don’t know who they’re going to steal.” The obstacles facing coaches are only getting steeper as FBS teams prepare for a 105-man roster limit as part of the fallout from a pending $2.8 billion NCAA antitrust settlement. While having 105 players on scholarship seems like an upgrade from the current 85-man scholarship limit, many rosters have about 125 players once walk-ons are included. Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said last week his program would probably end up with about 30-50 players in the portal due to the new roster restrictions. Is there college free agency? All the added dimensions to roster construction in the college game have drawn parallels to the NFL, but Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck believes those comparisons are misleading. “When people talk about college football right now, they’re saying, ‘Oh, we have an NFL model,’ or it’s kind of moving toward the NFL,” Fleck said. “First of all, it’s nothing like the NFL. There’s a collective bargaining agreement (in the NFL). There’s a true salary cap for everybody. It’s designed for all 32 fan bases to win the Super Bowl maybe once every 32 years – and I know other people are winning that a lot more than others – but that’s how it’s designed. In college football, it’s not that way.” There does seem to be a bit more competitive balance than before. The emergence of TCU and Washington the last couple of postseasons indicates this new era of college football has produced more unpredictability. Yet it’s also created many more challenges as coaches try to figure out how to put together their rosters. “It’s difficult because we’re just kind of inventing it on the fly, right?” Diaz said.
Justice secretary ‘wrong to impose Muslim beliefs on assisted dying’
NoneLAKEPORT, Calif. — Maria Valadez would like everyone to chill out. Every election, the prickly Lake County registrar follows California’s litany of voting laws and certifies thousands of ballots by the time she is required to. And every year, people still complain. “The state gave us a deadline, we meet the deadline,” an exasperated Valadez said from her small office in Lakeport as a handful of staffers sat at computers verifying signatures more than two weeks after election day, when they had tallied fewer than half of the votes. “I just don’t understand, why do we need to rush?” In a state known for its slow processing of election results , Lake County, with only about 38,000 voters, is often the slowest of them all. For years, the rural Northern California county — known for local disputes over marijuana cultivation and several brutal wildfires — has been among the state’s last to announce votes after elections, often frustrating candidates and befuddling political pundits. The reason appears to be a combination of factors, including an under-resourced elections budget in one of California’s smaller, lower-income counties and a desire to keep a meticulous, steady process that was instilled by trusted staff decades ago, even as technology advances. “Elections are a lot of security, transparency and accountability. That’s what we do here. And it has been like this for all of the years I’ve worked here,” said Valadez, who was hired in 1995 and trained by the prior registrar, who was hired in 1977. “We have a lot of checks and balances. We do them as we go.” She repeated: “We have a deadline, we meet the deadline.” State law requires counties to finalize their official results 30 days after the election, this year by Dec. 5. Though Valadez is adamant that she’ll make it, the pace of progress is startling compared to most of the country. Shortly before midnight on election night, Lake County reported just 5,784 ballots. A few thousand more have been counted since. Yet by Thursday — 16 days after the election — Lake County still had more than 10,000 ballots left to count, according to the secretary of state. “I’m not unsympathetic to the challenges that come with unfunded top-down mandates from Sacramento, but there is a pattern of sheer awfulness with Lake County in particular going back at least a decade and they’ve earned all the scorn coming their way,” Rob Pyers, who operates the election guide California Target Book, said on social media last week. He said Lake County is “in the running for slowest election department worldwide.” This year, that may not matter much. Unlike some other counties in California, where daily ballot counts are still changing results in tight races for the House of Representatives that will determine the size of Republicans’ majority in Washington, Lake County did not have many hot contests on the ballot. Still, the slow count means residents are waiting to find out who will serve on local schools boards, the Clear Lake City Council and the county board of supervisors. Lake County’s lag has delayed statewide outcomes before. In the 2014 primary election , the race for state controller was razor thin. California voters had to wait a month to know who would compete in the general election as Lake County officials took their time with the final ballots even as they were barraged with phone calls from politicos feverishly refreshing their browsers for updates. It was Lake County that declared Betty Yee had edged out fellow Democrat John Perez by fewer than 500 votes and would advance. The county met its deadline. Democracy lived on. Now, it’s a different world than when Valadez first started working in elections 30 years ago, and her department’s speed — or lack thereof — has spurred conspiracy theories like those inflamed by Donald Trump when he lost the election in 2020. As Valadez and her staff calmly processed ballots Wednesday, an angry man from North Dakota called to inquire about what’s taking so long. Conservatives have singled out Lake County on social media as proof that deep blue California is aiming to rig elections. The man who lives 1,600 miles east and can’t vote in Lake County suggested something nefarious was going on. Valadez invited him to visit her office off the shore of Clear Lake, to her tightknit community where the security guard at the courthouse next door calls entrants “kiddo.” She has nothing to hide, she said. “We take our job very seriously,” Valadez said of her small staff. “The integrity of my work is very important to me.” California is among the slowest states to call elections not only because of its huge population, but also because of voting laws designed to increase voter participation, including sending all registered voters a ballot by mail, which can prolong when some races are called. “California deserves all the scorn it gets for holding up House election results,” screamed a headline last week in the New York Post. The article went on: “Hey, bud, what’s the rush? seems to be Golden State officials’ work ethic.” Derek Tisler, who focuses on elections as counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice, confirmed that Lake County is among the slowest to process ballots in the U.S. this year. But that’s OK, he said. “We get impatient, but I think everyone would agree that at the end of the day, we want things to be accurate,” Tisler said. “That is what election officials are going to prioritize. It makes sense they’re doing things in a way that they feel confident in.” As a wall of rain beat down this week on most of Lake County, a place that struggles with meth and opioid abuse, where 73% of public school students qualify for free and reduced-price meals, Valadez said she’s doing her best “within staffing and resource limitations.” The Lake County registrar’s office has five full time-employees, and one is currently on leave. A few retirees have been added as temporary help. The county — population: 67,000 — does not have a high-speed vote counting machine, instead verifying everything by hand. Kim Alexander, president of the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation, said places like Lake County don’t get the same resources as bigger tourism destinations with urban centers and higher property taxes. The state does not help counties pay for elections staff or voting equipment even as it issues more mandates, she said, making local officials’ jobs harder and uneven, depending on where they live. “I get really frustrated when I hear lawmakers complaining about how long it takes to count, because they could actually do something about it,” Alexander said. “If elections were not a chronically underfunded government service, we could have faster results.” Valadez also pointed to voting preferences as a potential reason for the timing of the county’s results. Unlike a growing number of counties, Lake County does not offer voting centers, a hybrid model that allows voters to drop off ballots several days before the election. Voters here prefer to vote in person at their neighborhood polling precincts and some are still getting used to receiving a ballot in the mail, Valadez said. But even if Lake County got a boost in funding, and more voters sent their ballots in by mail early, it’s unclear if elections officials would change much of their decades-old strategy. Wearing a bright red pixie cut and a Carhartt flanel, Diane Fridley, 71, worked to verify votes this week at a computer in the registrar’s office in Lakeport, scrolling her mouse across the screen to identify any issues with ballots. For more than 40 years, Fridley was the Lake County registrar. When she retired in 2019, she passed the torch to Valadez. But in between babysitting her grandchildren, Fridley comes in to help around election season. A Lake County native, Fridley remembers when voters had to bring their birth certificates to their polling stations. She has lived through the days of hanging chads. As someone who likes to have the same breakfast every morning — a slice of apple pie — and is hypervigilant about counting ballots, all the changes have been hard, but exciting. “Yeah, it takes us a little longer, but we dot our I’s and we cross our Ts,” she said. “We’re positive whatever totals we have are correct. I’m not saying other counties don’t do that, but we try to be perfect.” Fridley and Valadez exchanged a knowing look. “There’s a deadline for a reason,” Fridley said, echoing Valadez. “We always meet the deadline.”