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California Attorney General Rob Bonta is accusing Providence St. Joseph of trying to “shirk its duty to patients” under California’s Emergency Services Law, and on Thursday he filed a motion asking a judge to enforce an order requiring it to do so.

This is the latest motion in the state’s lawsuit against Providence St. Joseph, filed in September, accusing the Catholic-owned organization of violating multiple California laws through to its refusal to provide emergency abortion care to people experiencing obstetric emergencies.

The case focuses largely on the experiences of Eureka chiropractor Anna Nusslock, who is represented in a second suit filed by the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC). In response to the Attorney General’s latest motion, K.M. Bell, senior litigation counsel at NWLC and attorney for Dr. Nusslock, issued the following statement:

We applaud the Attorney General for continuing to hold Providence accountable for violating the law and endangering patients’ lives. The hospital cannot agree to follow state law in a court order and then walk away when it becomes inconvenient. Dr. Nusslock is still grappling with the trauma of being denied emergency abortion care, a violation that should never have happened in the first place. This motion is a crucial step in ensuring that hospitals in California are not permitted to disregard their legal obligations and prioritize ideology over patient safety. The law in California is clear: pregnant patients have the right to emergency care, including abortion. Providence Hospital must be held to its word and the law.

Below is a press release from Bonta’s office.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta today filed a motion to enforce the stipulation and order requiring Providence St. Joseph Hospital (Providence) to comply with state law. The motion to enforce comes after Providence signaled its intent to modify its stipulation and assert exceptions to their clear obligations under California’s Emergency Services Law (ESL). In September 2024, Attorney General Bonta filed a lawsuit against Providence alleging it violated multiple California laws due to its refusal to provide emergency abortion care to people experiencing obstetric emergencies. One particular patient, Anna Nusslock, had her water break when she was 15 weeks pregnant with twins on February 23, 2024. Despite the immediate threat to her life and health, and despite the fact her pregnancy was no longer viable, Providence refused to treat her. She had to travel to a small critical access hospital called Mad River, 12 miles away, where she was actively hemorrhaging by the time she was on the operating table.

“The terms of the stipulation and court order against Providence St. Joseph are clear. Providence must fully comply with California’s Emergency Services Law and ensure that patients can access life-saving health services including emergency abortion care – no exceptions,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Now, months after their stipulation and agreement to abide by the law, Providence St. Joseph is attempting to find wiggle room to shirk its duty to patients under the law. We refuse to let that happen. Even a single violation would be devastating, as no one should have to endure what Anna Nusslock and others experienced at Providence. We’re asking the court to enforce its order against Providence St. Joseph.”

To ensure that patients like Anna could receive timely emergency healthcare services, including abortion care, at Providence, Attorney General Bonta initially moved for a preliminary injunction in conjunction with the filing of the lawsuit. However, in October 2024, he secured a stipulation from Providence, enforceable by court order, to ensure the hospital followed California law while the case proceeds, with no exceptions or limitations. The stipulation resolved the Attorney General’s preliminary injunction motion, as Providence voluntarily agreed to comply with all the terms the Attorney General requested in its proposed injunction.

Now, seven months after entering the stipulation, Providence has asserted its intent to file a motion to modify the stipulation asserting that it does not require Providence to provide procedures to terminate a pregnancy that are prohibited by Ethical and Religious Directives. With this move, Providence is attempting to circumvent the unambiguous — and lawful — obligations it agreed to last year. Providence’s anticipated motion escalates a deeply concerning position: that the stipulation and order do not mean what they plainly state and that Providence only has to comply with them to an extent. Providence’s position raises grave concerns about the renewed risk of Providence violating the ESL and denying emergency abortion care. Therefore, Attorney General Bonta is asking the court to enforce its order and the unambiguous terms of the stipulation. Providence must follow the law and abide by ESL, without exception.

Under the stipulation and court order Providence must:

• Fully comply with California’s ESL, Health & Safety Code section 1317, et. seq. with respect to pregnant patients experiencing emergency medical conditions.
• Allow its physicians to terminate a patient’s pregnancy whenever the treating physicians determine in their professional judgment that failing to immediately terminate the pregnancy would be reasonably expected to place the patient’s health in serious jeopardy; result in serious impairment to the patient’s bodily functions; or result in serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part of the patient.
• Comply with ESL’s pre-transfer treatment requirements. In particular, Providence Hospital may not transfer a pregnant patient without first providing emergency services and care (including where applicable terminating a pregnancy) such that there is a reasonable medical probability that the transfer or the delay caused by the transfer will not result in a material deterioration in the medical condition in, or jeopardy to, the patient’s medical condition or expected chances for recovery.
• Follow the policy and protocol requirements of the ESL under Health & Safety Code section 1317.2. In particular, Providence Hospital may not “discharge” patients with instructions to self-transport to another facility and Providence Hospital must comply will all applicable protocols and regulations for transfers prescribed by the California Department of Public Health. 

A copy of the motion to enforce is available here.

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And here’s a statement from a Providence spokesperson:

Serving the residents of Humboldt County is a privilege we, at Providence St. Joseph Hospital Eureka, don’t take for granted. That’s why we are wholeheartedly committed to providing high-quality, compassionate care, just as we have been for more than 100 years. 

As a Catholic health care organization, we are transparent that we do not perform elective abortions. However, in emergencies, our care teams provide medically necessary interventions to protect pregnant patients who are miscarrying or facing serious life-threatening conditions. 

This is consistent with the California Emergency Services Law and the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act. It is also consistent with the Catholic Ethical and Religious Directives, which include discussion of the importance of the physician-patient relationship as well as the circumstances in which certain medical procedures that could result in fetal death may be allowed in a Catholic hospital. 

The California Attorney General is interpreting the stipulation in a way that would require Providence to provide care that goes beyond the California Emergency Services Law and possibly in conflict with the Catholic Ethical and Religious Directives.  Providence will address the California AG’s position in its forthcoming response through the litigation process.

We take our responsibility as a vital safety net incredibly seriously and are committed to continuing to meet the needs of our community, just as we have for more than a century.

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The Sequoia Park Zoo took to Facebook this afternoon to announce some exciting news: Another baby black bear is en route!

The orphaned bear — known as “Cub 24-3926” — currently resides at the Gold Country Wildlife Rescue (GCWR) in Auburn. When he arrived at the facility six months ago, he was “severely compromised,” weighing just 20 pounds and nearly hairless with “multiple serious health issues, including bacterial and fungal skin infections (yeast and ringworm), and deep ear infections in both ears.”

“Now nearly 80 pounds, fully furred, and thriving, this resilient cub has made an inspiring recovery,” the wildlife rescue wrote in a press release. “However, after thorough monitoring and evaluation, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has determined that while his progress has been remarkable, there remain concerns about his long-term survivability in the wild. In particular, it’s unclear whether he can reliably grow and maintain the thick undercoat essential for surviving harsh winter conditions — a critical trait for wild bears.”

CDFW decided the cub would require permanent human care for the duration of his life, and thought he’d fit right in with Tule and Ishŭng among the towering redwoods at Sequoia Park Zoo. The wildlife rescue is still working with the zoo to determine the exact timing of his transfer. 

“We are honored to be part of this resilient black bear’s journey,” the zoo wrote in a Facebook post. “His arrival date is flexible, and we will update our supporters with more details once he is in our care – including his name! The Sequoia Park Zoo’s Black Bear habitat was generously funded by the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria, whose Council members choose the name for each new bear, and we look forward to announcing his name once it is has been decided.”

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In other heart-warming zoo news, Boris and Ivana Screamlot, a pair of Crested Screamers, hatched a healthy chick at the end of April. Zoo staff say the one-month-old screamer “appears to be thriving” and represents a “celebration for conservation.” Gaze upon the Screamlot’s family portrait below.

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If you’re still in need of some cute animal-related news, you should know that our beloved Ishŭng has been hard at work playing with sticks and spinning wheels in her new play structure. Look at her go!

Humboldt County Drug Task Force release:

On May 30, 2025, the Humboldt County Probation Department (HCPD) received information regarding the whereabouts of Decker Contreras (Age 21), who had a warrant out for his arrest. Officers from the HCPD along with the Humboldt Area California Highway Patrol (CHP-Humboldt) responded to the 2500 block of Glendale Ave in Blue Lake where they contacted and arrested Contreras.

A probation search of the residence and a related vehicle was conducted. The search revealed an unregistered revolver, 5 rounds of live .357 caliber ammunition, and what appeared to be large quantities of narcotics. Due to the presence of narcotics, the HCPD contacted the Humboldt County Drug Task Force (HCDTF) to assist. Upon arrival, agents located 5 grams of Methamphetamine, 37 grams of MDMA, 184.9 grams of Cocaine, 557 grams of Marijuana, and evidence related to the sales of controlled substances. Contreras was transported to the Humboldt County Correctional Facility and booked without incident.

Anyone with information related to this investigation or other narcotics-related crimes is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Drug Task Force at 707-267-9976.

As tensions remain high in the other half of our state amid massive protests in Los Angeles over federal immigration crackdowns, California Governor Gavin Newsom demanded President Trump stand down and indicated California was preparing to sue the federal government. 

Speaking from inside L.A.’s Emergency Operations Center, Newsom said he blames President Trump for inflaming unrest, while accusing him of illegally deploying the National Guard without coordination with California officials.

“This is a serious moment,” Newsom said in the interview, addressing Trump directly.  “It requires serious leadership, and it’s time for you to be a commander in chief of the United States of America, and I will have your back if you want to work in a relationship of trust and truth in the spirit of our founding fathers. But you come after poor kids — you come after families — we will do everything in our power to stand up and stand in your way.”

Watch the entire exchange below:

For his part, President Trump has called the protesters “insurrectionists” when explaining the rationale behind deploying troops to California. Trump took to social media Monday morning to justify his actions, while also attacking California officials. 

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When he took office, President Donald Trump made every indication that California’s politics and policies were directly in his sights. He started with a list of so-called sanctuary jurisdictions, a designation that includes the entire state, and promised to defund them.

Since then, he has challenged California’s approach to the environment, health care, education and LGBTQ rights, mostly in federal court – there are four pending lawsuits titled “State of California v. Trump,” and another 16 that the state has joined against the president.

Last week, the conflict escalated when White House officials told CNN Trump was planning to cut federal funding to California. On Sunday, he sent in the troops.

Trump deployed hundreds of California National Guard soldiers in downtown Los Angeles as part of a rolling immigration enforcement action throughout Southern California that entered its third day.

The mobilization, made over the objections of Gov. Gavin Newsom and the mayor of Los Angeles, was the first time a president has called in the National Guard since 1965, when Lyndon Johnson ordered the Alabama National Guard to protect civil rights protesters marching from Selma to Montgomery.

“This is intentional chaos,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said at a news conference. “There was no need to federalize troops. And so to have this here is really just a provocation and something that was not needed in our city.”

Tensions in the city ratcheted up again in downtown Los Angeles, where protesters on Sunday faced off with police officers who fired dozens of less-lethal rounds attempting to disperse people in the streets surrounding the 300 North Los Angeles Federal Building.

At least two self-driving vehicles were set on fire near the protest, and police continued to pepper the rally with rubber bullets well into the late afternoon.

At one point, a protester threw an object at the police skirmish line. In response, an officer fired a foam projectile from a 40 mm grenade launcher. The projectile missed the person who threw the object and struck a nearby woman in the head. She was sitting down when she was hit.

Bill Essayli, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California – which includes Los Angeles – told KNBC-TV that immigration enforcement agents were under duress while conducting raids in Paramount and Compton.

“You have thousands of people forming and gathering in crowds, rioting, attacking our agents, throwing rocks, throwing eggs, throwing Molotov cocktails,” Essayli told the news station.

Protesters follow ICE agents

In Pasadena on Sunday, a group of local activists homed in on the AC Hotel in the city’s downtown, where they said they had located immigration enforcement agents along with their vehicles parked in the garage next door.

About 350 people gathered on the largest intersection bounding the hotel, holding signs that said “Not Here” and “F — ICE.”

“We got reports that the people staying here, the (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents that were staying here, were asking the workers and chefs and people that clean the rooms about their immigration status,” said Jose Madera of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.

A restaurant employee in downtown Pasadena said the hotel workers left in the morning or never arrived, evinced by all the open parking on the street that would have been crowded on any other Sunday.

“A lot of people just didn’t show up to their job,” Airam Gurrola, 22, said.

Mercedes Woolsey of Pasadena said the departure of migrant workers from the hotel was a portent of what the U.S. would look like with fewer immigrant workers, and pledged to return to the protest at the hotel until immigration enforcement agents left.

“Be a menace, that’s all we can do,” Woolsey said. “We want to make sure that the AC Hotel knows that they decided to do this and we are not OK with that.”

At the Urth Caffé across the street, indoor and outdoor brunch service continued without interruption.

California Democrats condemn raids

The escalation by the Trump administration could be a turning point for a state with the third-most Trump voters in the country behind Texas and Florida.

Democratic politicians started the year quieter than usual resisting Trump’s immigration crackdowns, and with the state facing a multibillion-dollar budget deficit, lawmakers and Newsom were antsy about losing federal funding. That was especially true of Newsom, who was depending on a relatively harmonious relationship with the federal government to secure aid for Los Angeles wildfire recovery.

But California Democrats have since struck a more defiant tone. Last week they advanced numerous bills to discourage warrantless ICE visits to hospitals, schools and shelters. Over the weekend, they condemned the raids and sided with protesters, especially after federal agents arrested prominent union president David Huerta on Friday during a clash with protesters outside an immigration raid of a garment company’s warehouse.

Newsom sent a letter on Sunday afternoon to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth requesting that the administration withdraw the troops and questioning the legality of their deployment.

“There is currently no need for the National Guard to be deployed in Los Angeles, and to do so in this unlawful manner and for such a lengthy period is a serious breach of state sovereignty that seems intentionally designed to inflame the situation,” Newsom’s legal affairs secretary, David Sapp, wrote in the letter.

The governor had previously spoken to Trump on the phone for about 40 minutes on Friday night, a spokesperson said.

Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, a Salinas Democrat, called the raids “an authoritarian assault on our immigrant communities.”

His counterpart in the state Senate, Healdsburg Democrat Mike McGuire, said the National Guard deployment “reeks of fascism.”

Workers brace for more sweeps

Marissa Nuncio, director of the Los Angeles-based Garment Worker Center, said garment workers were reeling after immigration enforcement agents detained 20 of them in a raid at Ambiance Apparel in the city’s Fashion District on Friday. The amassing of troops downtown made her members worry about a second raid.

The Garment Worker Center held a know-your-rights seminar on Saturday, one day after the raid.

Attendees “wanted to know, how can we stop this,” Nuncio said. “How can we resist these attacks on our community? They wanted to know if it’s safe to go to work, to go to church, to go to the clinic.”

Garment workers are particularly vulnerable because they are often employed in illegal production facilities that pop up and then disappear overnight. They’re paid by the piece, usually 5 cents to 12 cents per piece of clothing, a controversial practice that has drawn scrutiny from the Legislature.

Their weekly take-home pay is about $300, or $5.50 per hour, paid in cash.

“We feel the best we can do is inform workers of what’s going on,” Nuncio said, “and remind them that they have power in their rights.”

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CalMatters reporters Sergio Olmos and Mikhail Zinshteyn contributed to this story.

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State utility regulators next week are slated to wrap up a three-year effort to keep open California’s only remaining nuclear plant, Diablo Canyon.

The final step: Hammering out how plant-owner Pacific Gas & Electric must spend and report how it uses a controversial statewide fee to keep the facility open.

One member of the California Public Utilities Commission, critical of the level of scrutiny being given to funds in the case, has twice held the matter back from a vote. Consumer and nuclear safety advocates argue that commissioners will be greenlighting an annual slush fund of hundreds of millions of dollars for the utility that could end up enriching shareholders if they approve it as proposed.

“The commission is ready to throw in the towel and say they’re not interested in spending the time and resources on fighting this,” Matthew Freedman, lawyer for The Utility Reform Network, said. “They’re going to let PG&E do what it wants.”

“They’re going to let PG&E do what it wants.”
— Matthew Freedman, lawyer for The Utility Reform Network, a consumer advocacy group.

PG&E argues that state regulators don’t have the authority to conduct the level of oversight advocated by critics such as The Utility Reform NetworkGroup, and it shouldn’t be hemmed in on how it can use the fee that the Legislature enabled. It has made the case that spending the fee on other approved areas besides Diablo Canyon can also help control costs for customers.

Originally expected to close this year for economic reasons, Diablo Canyon saw its operations extended until 2030 to give California more energy security while transitioning to renewable sources. controversial bipartisan legislation that enabled the plant to keep running was approved in the wake of heat-related blackouts in 2021, as well as a subsequent state report determining renewable energy didn’t cover California’s needs yet. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill into law in 2022.

Today, Diablo Canyon provides about 8% of the state’s total energy and about 17% of its carbon-free energy.

The legislation was unusual in that it allowed PG&E to charge both its customers and those of other utilities a fee for energy the plant produces. The logic behind the move was that Diablo Canyon is a resource benefitting the entire state. But instead of handing the specifics of the fee off to the California Public Utilities Commission, which typically oversees the complicated and deliberative process of ratemaking, it set the fee amount directly in statute – $13 per megawatt hour.

Called a “volumetric performance fee,” the charge is meant to replace the return on investment PG&E would typically get for the plant and provide compensation for any potential liability from the increased risk of running an older plant. It is forecasted by the utility to cost, in 2026, $190.8 million for PG&E customers, $59.7 million for Southern California Edison customers, $12.9 million for San Diego Gas & Electric customers.

PG&E shareholders are explicitly prohibited from benefiting from the fees under the law.

But state utility regulators have thus far declined to require PG&E to provide enough detail into how it spends the fees to confirm that shareholders truly aren’t benefitting.

“California law requires that PG&E spend the volumetric performance fees to advance critical public-purpose priorities, including accelerating customer connections to the grid and reducing operational and system risk. State law also expressly prohibits profit by PG&E shareholders,” Jennifer Robison, spokesperson for PG&E, said in a statement. “Our proposal outlines detailed accounting mechanisms and controls that PG&E uses to demonstrate compliance with state law each year.”

Under the law, PG&E is expected to use the fees toward approved expenses at Diablo Canyon. If the fees aren’t needed there, it can spend on six other categories meant to benefit the public. These include:

• Bringing new customers’ power online.
• Safety for customers and employees.
• Bringing more renewable or zero-carbon energy onto the grid.
• Reducing the carbon footprint of buildings.
• Grid resilience.
• Education and communication.

The proposed decision adds a few more constraints. PG&E would be required to spell out how many customers benefit from each project it spends the fees on. It would also need to say how these projects help keep customer bills down, although a revision released Tuesday reduced this requirement, allowing PG&E to not comply with that aspect as long as it explains why.

PG&E is also expected to report how the fees were spent in “major work categories,” predetermined buckets the utilities already use to categorize their spending for the commission. These buckets have a spending cap on them – if PG&E goes over the allotted amount, shareholders pay for the overspend, and goes under, shareholders keep the difference.

But PG&E is only required to report such categories in which the fee is used, preventing regulators from seeing the net effect on shareholders. The net effect is important, the Utility Reform Network said, because PG&E could strategically use it to give shareholders more money overall. And while PG&E would report all of those categories during its general rate case, that case only happens every four years, as opposed to the annual filing for the Diablo Canyon fee.

The Utility Reform Group proposed broader reporting on this to better see the flow of money, which would allow the commission to better see if costs shareholders normally cover were being funded with the Diablo Canyon fees. The commission agreed in its decision that the spending plans as set out don’t have enough detail to determine this currently, but that such a requirement would be “overly complex if not infeasible or speculative analysis.”

A state analysis noted that the legislation had no “guardrails” preventing PG&E from using the fees for expenses that would have been paid by shareholders.

Concern about the fees being used to benefit shareholders was brought up as early as the 2022 law’s inception. A state Assembly analysis noted at the time that the legislation had no “guardrails” preventing PG&E from using the fees for expenses that would have previously been paid for by shareholders, “thereby freeing up ratepayer dollars elsewhere for capital expenditures [PG&E] may earn a return on.”

Advocates also asked the commission to require that PG&E use the fees to cover a predicted annual budget hole. PG&E is currently predicting an operating loss at the plant of about $583 million on average each year.

The Utility Reform Network, the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility, and the Green Power Institute asked the commission to require PG&E to use the fees to reduce this hole first before allocating money on other allowed public projects. Reducing this deficit, they argued, would lower bills for not just PG&E customers, but those of the other two major utilities that are charged the fee. Money spent on the allowed public benefit projects, on the other hand, only benefits PG&E’s territory.

The commission declined, instead saying it “strongly encourages PG&E to take their underlying reasoning into account as a guiding principle.”

PG&E has pushed back strongly against limitations on how it spends the fees and reports that spending, as well as prior approval of its fee spending plans. It has also challenged limitations on its fee spending or mandates to prove that its costs were reasonable. In a March comment filed with the commission, PG&E argued that having to report how the fees were spent in major work categories went beyond the scope of the 2022 law. It also took the issue before an appellate court and the Supreme Court of California, saying that by requiring it to spend in certain ways, the commission undermined the 2022 law and “called into question the economic viability of extended operations at Diablo Canyon.”

Both courts declined to take up PG&E’s case, and the commission denied the utility’s request to reconsider its proposed decision.

Just one game to report this week, game #14 in St. Louis. Our ballpark tour was interrupted by a quick flight home from Kansas City for our daughter’s high school graduation.

Game #14: Royals versus Cardinals at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, June 3

The Cardinals are one of the most successful franchises in MLB history with 11 World Series titles, second only to the Yankees. The Cards have had multiple great eras and some of the greatest players in baseball history, such as Rogers Hornsby, Stan Musial and Albert Pujols. Busch Stadium, the third ballpark iteration by that name, was completed in 2006 and holds its past in high esteem throughout the stadium. Concession areas include “Gashouse Grill” and “Dizzy’s Diner.” The Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum has seven galleries.

Sportsman’s Park became the first Busch Stadium in 1953 after Anheuser-Busch bought the Cardinals and renamed the stadium. The next Busch Stadium was completed in 1966. Even though Anheuser-Busch sold controlling interest in the Cardinals in 1996, the new stadium kept the Busch moniker.

They call it a “retro-style” downtown ballpark which really means “no more shared space with football teams – just baseball”! Most of the ballparks built in the last 25 years have similar traits. They are asymmetrical and built in the downtown area, sometimes with an adjacent dedicated shopping plaza. Parking can be a bit tricky at most of them, although plenty of entrepreneurs in the surrounding areas give parking options.

Busch Stadium has its dedicated shopping plaza outside with several of the businesses sporting their own unofficial stadium seating area towering over the left and centerfield walls. For instance, the Cardinals Nation store has 338 rooftop seats. To be clear, this is outside the stadium itself in the dedicated shopping plaza. Can’t get one of those limited rooftop seats near Wrigley Field in Chicago? Come here where there are hundreds of them!

Game atmosphere: Positive

When Bobby Witt Jr. hit a two-run homer for the Royals in the top of the first, I was surprised at how loud the cheering was. Then I noticed all the royal blue jerseys around the very red stadium. There were about 5,000 Royals fans at the game which made up about half the fans at that time. By the bottom of the third, when the Cardinals scored five times for a short-lived 7-2 lead, the number of St. Louis fans had grown to outnumber the Kansas City fans by about a 4-to-1 margin, and they made their presence known with long and loud ovations during the rally.

The reason many Royals fans made the four-hour drive from Kansas City was to watch the debut of highly touted Jac Caglianone. The left-handed slugger was drafted less than a year ago by the Royals but has been tearing up Double-A and Triple-A. He got five at-bats in this game. In his first at-bat he hit a shot into the gap where Cardinals centerfielder Victor Scott II ran it down, needing to take a short leap at the fence to catch it. In his second at-bat, Caglianone hit a sharp , 112.1 mph grounder to the left side that was back-handed on the run by third baseman Nolan Arenado who threw a dart to first. At triple-A Caglianone would be two-for-two at this point with a double. Tonight he was oh-for-two. He wound up oh-for-five. Welcome to the Big Leagues, kid.

By the ninth inning the crowd ratio is back to 50-50. Cardinal fans left after the eighth with the team trailing 10-7. Royals fans all stuck around because they are spending the night in town anyway after having already driven four hours to get here.

Like Kansas City, the Cardinals take more of a no-frills approach than many teams – relying mostly on the roving cameras in-between innings for entertainment. What, no mascot race? … There is a Family Pavilion in the right center concourse with pregame piped-in music that helps create a festival atmosphere. Activities include a build-a-bear workshop, a batting cage and a baseball virtual reality game. … This is the second game on the trip that lasts more than three hours. … A 200-piece youth orchestra with two conductors performed the national anthem. Keeping with the youth theme, “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” was sung by the Gardner Elementary Choir, the first time on the trip that the seventh-inning tradition was a performance.

Ballpark cuisine: Neutral

Nacho cheese ruined what promised to be a good ballpark dish. “Broadway BBQ Nachos” consists of house-smoked pulled pork tossed in barbecue sauce on top of corn tortilla chips with banana peppers and barbecue spice added. Sounds good, except for the addition of nacho cheese. I don’t think this is proven scientifically, but I believe there is only one molecule of difference between nacho cheese and plastic. I understand why they use it – it never goes bad!

The bacon-wrapped hot dog has been getting good reviews. After his purchase, one fan said he had to see what all the hype was about. It can be purchased already doused in sauteed onions, peppers, sauerkraut and mustard, or you can build your own. Cardinal fan Mike Fernandez explained why he was a repeat customer for this concoction. “The crispy bacon tastes really good with the hot dog,” he said. Does crispy bacon taste bad with anything? Maybe they should cut to the chase and offer bacon wrapped in bacon.

The Busch connection is very much alive in concessions. They feature 30 different beers available in cans, bottles and by draft. Beer is suggested as a pairing with almost every menu item. Hot dogs and beer. Sausages and beer. Barbecue and beer. Even pretzels and beer. You can only get away from the beer-pairing suggestion by ordering something frozen such as Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, Dip N Dots or Freddy’s Frozen Custard. One vendor’s sales pitch: “Ice cold beer. Ice cold. Not too cold. Turn regrets into forgets.” Same vendor, after the Royals scored six runs in the top of the fifth: “Drink all my beers and forget that last inning ever happened.” It reminded me of the Mad Magazine parody from the 1960s titled “Sadder, but wiser.”

Club hospitality: Positive

Two tickets were provided in the 200 Club Level with access to the Redbird Club. While they were 200-level tickets, they were higher than the 300-level tickets we had in Kansas City. The club doesn’t own any of the parking around the stadium, so it couldn’t provide parking. The one thing that pushed club hospitality into a positive ranking is that the communications contact responded to my query for LoCo in 21 minutes. While many clubs respond within a day, others take a week or longer. I think 21 minutes is going to stand as the record. There will be bonus points awarded when we tally the final points at the end of the trip!

Access to the Redbird Club was a bit of a yawner. “Elevated” food was promised but the only difference between the rest of the park was one vendor who offered shrimp sandwiches. I can understand how this air-conditioned area would be a big bonus when it’s a blistering hot summer day. There are many elevated countertops overlooking the stadium where you can finish your bacon-wrapped hot dog while watching the game.

Game details: Royals win 10-7. Attendance 26,656. Time of game: 3:04.

Helpful tips: Prepare yourself for slow, snarling traffic before and after the game. Breathe deep – you can do it! Since it’s downtown, you get downtown traffic for weekday games. Buy parking in advance to save five bucks. Otherwise, it’s $30 to $40. There are parking lots at $10 and $15 with a bit of a walk as part of the deal. The Cardinals allow purses, bags (even non-see through) and small, soft-sided coolers. Factory sealed non-alcoholic drinks are okay. This is the first park so far that has allowed sealed drinks other than water.

You don’t see that every day: Centerfielder Kyle Isbel leapt over the fence and got a glove on Nolan Gorman’s deep fly in the bottom of the second, but when his glove came down, it jarred the ball loose so that it fell for a 2-run home run to tie the game. What makes this non-catch home run worthy of “you don’t see that every day” is it was the inning picked out for the Big Mac Land promotion. Every game an inning is picked and one fan is chosen from the Big Mac Land section in left field to participate in the promotion. If the Cardinals hit a home run that inning, the fan wins a year’s supply of Big Macs. This begs the question – how many Big Macs is a one-year supply? Personally, even at no cost I don’t think I would want to eat more than two a week. Others who have not watched the movie “Super Size Me” might want one a day. 104? 365? What would your one-year supply look like? The actual prize given out in St. Louis on Tuesday? I asked, but apparently it’s a closely guarded secret. McDonald’s used to give out a Big Mac to every fan in Big Mac Land if a home run was hit into that section. Two thousand Big Macs, stat!

Past Noteworthy Items

Since there was only one game to review this week, we are supplementing the story with a few noteworthy things that didn’t make the previous stories. (They were long enough already, right?)

A Taste of Home in SoCal

Early in the trip we were in Southern California and some friends took us to a park in Brea in Orange County. On the other side of the park, we took a short hike that took us to a 3-acre redwood grove. Are you kidding me? More than 200 redwood trees, some reaching 100-feet tall, gave us a miniature taste of Humboldt County. Fifty years ago a local bank gave away redwood seedlings as a promotion. The leftover seeds were planted in 1975. A drip watering system was installed, and the result is a smashing success. The redwoods survived, grew and, while quite a bit smaller than their northern cousins, emanate the peace and majesty that we are used to on the North Coast. It is the only known surviving redwood grove in SoCal.

Watch out in Anaheim!

I had asked an usher before the game if there was a particular season ticket holder she would recommend I talk to regarding being an Angels fan. She recommended Peggy, and the usher said she would come get me when Peggy had arrived and was ready to talk to me. Before the game started, I found another season ticket holder who gave me some good insight. I had almost forgotten about Peggy when the usher came to get me in the top of the eighth inning. I walked up about a dozen steps to get to Peggy’s seat. While speaking with her a foul ball was hit into our section. I glanced behind me as it fell among the crowd. After my talk with Peggy was over, I returned to my seat only to find a woman two seats from mine being attended to by medical personnel. She was hit in the head by that foul ball – the same foul ball that I would have leaned over to catch for a souvenir if I had still been in my seat. A disappointing result for both of us – but more for her since the paramedic on site determined she had a concussion and escorted her out of the section.

Problem in Zion?

It’s important to me, and likely more interesting to you as a reader, to get insight from people who are at the baseball games or national parks. At Zion National Park I approached a young couple who were with a group of people near the bus shuttle to Zion Canyon Scenic Drive. I asked the young man, “Did you already take the shuttle?” He answered: “Ooh Menna Choch Nya Mxyptlyk.” (At least that’s how I remember it.) Then we both looked at each other in a linguistic stalemate. An awkward silence followed that seemed to last minutes. We were both entirely satisfied with our part of the conversation to date. Finally, I broke the silence with “English?” Both the man and woman pointed to a man near the front of the group’s van. When the man saw the couple pointing to him, he walked aggressively toward me, saying “What is problem?” Fortunately for me, the only thing Russell Petushanskyl liked more than protecting his flock was to talk about Zion National Park. (You can see Russell’s comments in Week 2 of “Sprinting Across America.”)

All Access in Arlington

The Texas Rangers issued all-access credentials to us. First, we scouted out the press box, then went on the field for batting practice. Next, we took the media elevator to the lower concourse level so we could start to look at different food offerings for review. Except the elevator let us out in a large industrial kitchen area. Fortunately, a worker took pity on us and directed us out of the kitchen into the concourse area. Definitely all-access.

Autism Seating in Atlanta

Braves player Matt Olson and his wife Nicole worked with the Atlanta Braves Foundation to set up a special seating area for families who have individuals living with autism. There are six seats near section 213 that are semi-secluded with the sounds of the game reduced. We stood in the area and the PA system was at about 50 percent volume in this area. It is part of a mission, as listed in a Braves press release, “to provide opportunities for more typical life experiences for individuals living with autism and those who care for them. Each Braves home game, a family impacted by autism is invited to enjoy a complimentary, sensory-friendly game experience.” It is branded the Matt Pack.

Tom Trepiak is the former sports information director at Humboldt State and a member of the Cal Poly Humboldt Athletics Hall of Fame.