WASHINGTON — 

Fiona Hill, a former White House adviser on Russia, told House impeachment investigators behind closed doors Monday that she had strongly and repeatedly objected to the ouster earlier this year of former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, according to a person familiar with the testimony.

Yovanovitch testified Friday that President Trump pressured the State Department to fire her.

Hill made the remarks as she testified for more than 10 hours in the Democratic inquiry, which is probing Trump’s pleas to Ukrainian officials for investigations into political rival Joe Biden’s family and into the country’s involvement in the 2016 presidential election. The person requested anonymity to discuss the confidential interview.

The interview is one of what could eventually become dozens of closed-door depositions in the impeachment probe. There are five more scheduled this week, mostly with State Department officials, though it is unclear if they will all appear after Trump declared he wouldn’t cooperate with the probe.

While interviews have focused on the interactions with Ukraine, the probe could broaden as soon as next week to include interviews with White House budget officials who may be able to shed light on whether military aid was withheld from Ukraine as Trump and his lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, pushed for the investigations.

The three committees leading the probe are seeking interviews next week with Russell Vought, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Michael Duffey, another OMB official who leads national security programs, according to a person familiar with those requests. That person wasn’t authorized to discuss the invitations and requested anonymity.

The packed schedule of interviews comes as Democrats are methodically working to pin down the details of Trump’s pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Once Democrats have completed the probe, and followed any other threads it produces, they will use their findings to help determine whether to vote on articles of impeachment. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she wants the committees to move “expeditiously.”

Democrats have already obtained documents and testimony that verify parts of an original whistleblower’s complaint that launched the probe. A cache of text messages between three diplomats provided by one of the inquiry’s first witnesses, former Ukrainian envoy Kurt Volker, detailed attempts by the diplomats to serve as intermediaries around the time Trump urged Zelensky to start the investigations into a company linked to Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. Yovanovitch told lawmakers there was a “concerted campaign” against her based on “unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives.”

One of the diplomats in the text exchanges, U.S. Ambassador Gordon Sondland, is expected to appear for a deposition under subpoena Thursday. He’s expected to tell Congress that his text message reassuring another envoy that there was no quid pro quo in their interactions with Ukraine was based solely on what Trump told him, according to a person familiar with his coming testimony.

Also up this week: Michael McKinley, a former top aide to Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo who resigned last week. McKinley, a career foreign service officer and Pompeo’s de facto chief of staff, resigned Friday, ending a 37-year career. He is scheduled to testify behind closed doors Wednesday.

The committees are also scheduled to talk to Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent on Tuesday and Ulrich Brechbuhl, a State Department counselor, on Thursday. On Friday, the lawmakers have scheduled an interview with Laura Cooper, who is the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia. It is unclear if any of those officials will show up after Trump’s vow of non-cooperation.

Because of the Trump administration’s edict, the Democrats have been subpoenaing witnesses as they arrived for their interviews — a move sometimes known as a “friendly” subpoena that could give the witnesses additional legal protection as they testify. Both Yovanovitch and Hill received subpoenas the mornings of their testimony.

One witness who may not be called before Congress is the still-anonymous government whistleblower who touched off the impeachment inquiry.

Top Democrats say testimony and evidence coming in from other witnesses, and even the Republican president himself, are backing up the whistleblower’s account of what transpired during Trump’s July 25 phone call with Zelensky. Lawmakers have grown deeply concerned about protecting the person from Trump’s threats and may not wish to risk exposing the whistleblower’s identity.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) said Sunday it “may not be necessary” to reveal the whistleblower’s identity as the House gathers evidence. He said Democrats “don’t need the whistleblower, who wasn’t on the call, to tell us what took place on the call.”

Schiff said the “primary interest right now is making sure that that person is protected.”

Trump showed no signs of backing down.

“Adam Schiff now doesn’t seem to want the Whistleblower to testify. NO!” the Republican president tweeted Monday. “We must determine the Whistleblower’s identity to determine WHY this was done to the USA.”

Republican lawmakers have aimed their ire at Democrats and the process, saying Pelosi should hold a vote to begin the inquiry and hold the meetings out in the open, not behind closed doors.

“The tragedy here and the crime here is that the American people don’t get to see what’s going on in these sessions,” said Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the House Oversight and Reform panel.

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This marks the first time incumbent Rep. Duncan Hunter has failed to get the Republican Party’s full support.

San Diego Republicans failed Monday to back a candidate for the 50th Congressional District, including the candidate who currently holds the seat.

None of the four candidates received the two-thirds majority necessary to get an endorsement from the Republican Party of San Diego County. Forty-nine members cast ballots after a forum and the results were confidential.

A photo obtained by the Union-Tribune shows one of the votes resulted in 21 delegates siding with former San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio.

Incumbent Rep. Duncan Hunter and State Sen. Brian Jones received 14 votes each. Former Congressman Darrell Issa did not receive any votes.

DeMaio said the two-thirds vote is a “pretty hard hill to climb,” and he wasn’t depending on party endorsement.

“It was always an extra,” he said. “It was never factored into our campaign strategy to win.”

This marks the first time Hunter has failed to get the Republican Party’s full support. Hunter, a six-term congressman, and his spokesman declined to comment afterward.

Hunter faces three, high-profile Republican opponents and is preparing for a federal trial on charges of campaign finance violations.

The bi-monthly Republican meeting featured a town hall forum, providing a rare occasion where all four candidates appeared at the same event.

Republican Party Chairman Tony Krvaric moderated the debate, which included opening and closing statements, and he posed five questions to each of the four candidates.

Much of the night centered around Republican unity, with Krvaric reminding candidates several times to “stay positive” and focus on the issues.

“I will not tolerate any beating up of a Republican candidate,” Krvaric said. “To the candidates, we want to hear what makes you different …. Do not throw mud at your fellow Republicans in the room.”

The 50th District covers a swath of the county east and north of San Diego, a region previously considered one of California’s most reliably red seats that has shown a strong loyalty to the Hunter name for decades. Hunter is in his sixth two-year term and his father, Duncan L. Hunter Sr., served from 1981 to 2009.

“I’ve been fighting for you for 11 years,” Hunter said to the crowd. “You know where I stand on the issues.”

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But Hunter now is considered a vulnerable incumbent. He was victorious against his Democratic opponent, Ammar Campa-Najjar, by fewer than 9,000 votes last year — about 10 weeks after a federal indictment accused him and his wife of illegally spending more than $250,000 in campaign funds on personal expenses. He has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting a trial scheduled for January, weeks before the March primary.

Hunter said he’s ready for the battle.

Even when federal prosecutors “indicted me months before my election and tried to steal my seat, I still won,” he said. “I’m not going to move somewhere and fight for the easy seat …. As a United State Marine, what we do is we stand and we fight.”

According to a recent poll, Hunter trails his Republican opponents, with 11 percent of the vote. All four candidates face an uphill climb against Campa-Najjar, who leads the poll with 31 percent.

DeMaio used questions from the forum to highlight many of his five-step plans for the country. He received applause and cheers for his ideas on immigration and supporting President Donald Trump’s agenda.

“We had 39 Republicans cut and run last year,” DeMaio said. “The president needs an entire team who will stand with him and fight, and that is exactly what I plan to do.”

As the host of a daily news and politics radio show, DeMaio already has a platform to advertise his candidacy and a built-in fan base, though it’s unclear how much of that fan base is based in the 50th District. The poll, conducted by SurveyUSA for the Union-Tribune and 10News, shows him leading the GOP candidates with 20 percent.

A crowd of DeMaio supporters lined the parking lot entrance of the hotel, donning “Make America Great Again” hats and waving DeMaio signs at passing cars.

“The energy and enthusiasm of the grass roots movement behind my campaign is undeniable,” DeMaio said.

Issa, a nine-term congressman who represented northern San Diego County for nearly two decades, announced in September his bid for the seat, just after his confirmation to a Trump Administration trade position was stalled by Senate Democrats.

The former congressman does not live in the district, which his opponents were quick to point out, but experts say he has the experience and network to target Hunter’s district.

“I’m not running because this is an easy seat. I’m running because I’m concerned about it,” Issa said. “If Duncan Hunter is able to, quite frankly, survive what he’s facing, then we can have a whole different discussion. But if not, you need a conservative on day one that will do the job.”

Issa was the wealthiest member of Congress during his tenure, with an estimated net worth of $283 million, according to financial disclosure forms he filed while in office. The poll shows him holding 16 percent of the vote.

He appealed directly to the delegates in his closing statement, cautioning them to weigh their endorsement choice carefully.

“You have a seated U.S. congressman who has a stellar voting record. You have a state senator who hasn’t done anything wrong …. If the delegates tonight endorse any one of us, they endorse against three of us,” Issa said. “Do you want to really say that Duncan Hunter needs to go?”

It’s unclear if Issa’s plea had an effect on the final vote. The former congressman left before giving his final 10-minute statement to committee members.

Descanso Republican Larry Wilske, a retired Navy SEAL and former candidate for the 50th District, endorsed Issa when Wilske withdrew from the race.

He said Issa’s credentials, among other things, make him the most qualified candidate.

“He will immediately go in and be a ranking member of whatever committee he’s on,” he said. “A freshmen … will be told to shut up and vote and won’t have as much impact.”

Wilske added Issa is more likely to help Republicans gain momentum in the San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino County area.

“We’ve lost so much ground in Southern California. Here’s a guy who’s a strategic thinker, a good veteran … and that gives us a strategic foothold to gain back some of that territory.”

Ed Welch, 78, said he thinks Hunter is going through a “mid-life crisis” and Issa is probably the candidate who mirrors his values as a Republican voter.

He said he’s seeking a candidate who will defend voters’ rights.

“I see Democrats, Socialist Democrats, attacking the Constitution,” Welch said. “What I’m doing now is promoting those who’ll defend the Constitution.”

Besides Hunter, Jones is the only GOP candidate who lives within the 50th District, a point he stressed several times during the debate. He served on Santee City Council before moving on to the Assembly and then State Senate this year.

He received the most support from the crowd when speaking about gun rights and abortion.

Ending the Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade is “one of the most important issues to save America and make it great again,” Jones said.

Krvaric said the party’s official endorsement is not essential but can help a candidate’s campaign in a variety of ways.

“A lot of voters are looking for that as their clue on who to vote for,” Krvaric said. “The party can be a good supplemental vehicle to any campaign to get the vote out.”

The Federal Election Commission limits individual donations to candidates to $2,800, but the party can take unlimited contributions, which Krvaric said, can go toward a candidate’s campaign efforts.

Following the vote in the 50th District, the committee late Monday night continued voting on who to endorse in the San Diego County Board of Supervisors races and the 76th Assembly District election, among others.

Linebacker Syaire Riley, 6 feet 1, 225 pounds, was running around the Palisades High football field on Monday afternoon with the singular focus of hitting Venice players no matter how many times they tried to avoid him. Twice in the first quarter, he tackled ballcarriers for losses. Then there was the pass he tipped that led to an interception by Immanuel Newell. He was a true disruptor.

“Outside of Narbonne [player], I think he’s the best defensive player in the City Section,” Palisades coach Tim Hyde said.

Palisades (6-1, 2-0) won its sixth consecutive game and took control of the Western League with a 38-14 victory over Venice. Running back Kenny Cline rushed for 131 yards and scored one touchdown. Running back Max Palees scored three touchdowns. Quarterback Forrest Brock passed 25 yards to Teddy Suisman for another touchdown. Near the game’s conclusion, Palisades players drenched Hyde with Gatorade.

“Venice is a rivalry game we take so much pride in,” Hyde said. “They’re the standard bearers we’re trying to become.”

The game was originally scheduled for Friday but had to be postponed because of air quality issues associated with the brush fire in the San Fernando Valley. Last year’s game was halted by lightning and forced to be continued the next day.

“Last year was lightning, this year smoke. Next year it could be an earthquake or snow,” Hyde said.

Venice (3-4, 1-1) could not provide protection for Duke-bound quarterback Luca Diamont, who passed for 171 yards but was intercepted twice and sacked three times.

“We’re ecstatic,” Riley said. “We wanted to make it very difficult for him to be comfortable.”

An MRI exam on Anthony Davis’ sprained right thumb Monday revealed no serious damage and the Lakers star is considered day to day.

Davis did not play in the Lakers’ 104-98 preseason victory over the Golden State Warriors on Monday at Staples Center.

Davis was injured during the first half of the Lakers’ exhibition game against the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday in Shenzhen, China, while trying to block a shot. He had it wrapped in black tape and returned to the court.

He finished the game with six points on two-for-seven shooting, two rebounds and a steal in 12 minutes.

LeBron James and Golden State’s Draymond Green and D’Angelo Russell did not play Monday.

Lakers forward Jared Dudley, who missed the first three games because of a knee injury, played Monday night.

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The Lakers and Warriors play again Wednesday night at Staples Center and once more Friday night at the Chase Center in San Francisco.

Their first 24 hours in China were nothing like the Lakers or Brooklyn Nets expected.

Suddenly, the global politics NBA teams rarely think about had been thrust to the forefront of their daily lives. Sponsors canceled some scheduled events. The Chinese government canceled others.

When a charity event on Wednesday was nixed, the Lakers started to realize the seriousness of the situation.

Players didn’t know whether their conversations were truly private. They were on the ground in a country where the government does not tolerate dissent, the media is censored by the state and whose human rights record has drawn the ire of the United Nations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

Twitter and Google are blocked from the internet, dozens of surveillance cameras sit perched above every public street.

It was under these circumstances that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and several league officials held a meeting with the Lakers, the Nets, executives from both teams and a representative from the NBA players’ union. Silver wanted to know how they felt.

During a tense week, only three media interviews occurred and all of them involved the Brooklyn Nets.

Starting Tuesday, no players, coaches, team or league executives conducted any on-the-record interviews. Several people with knowledge of the situation agreed to speak with The Times if their identities remained anonymous.

Here’s why the league was mostly silent in China and how the week unfolded.

::

The NBA is typically celebrated there. At the start of the week, posters adorned buildings all over Shanghai announcing the Lakers’ and Nets’ big visit. Nike made sure that in Shanghai, one is never too far from an image of LeBron James soaring through the air, or a sweatshirt about his journey from Akron, Ohio. Adidas covers its stores with Houston Rockets star James Harden.

Last week was no different.

The trouble began when Rockets general manager Daryl Morey posted, “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong,” on Twitter, supporting pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is a semi-autonomous region in China that was a British colony until 1997. Protesters are demanding greater police and government accountability as well as electoral reform so voters can choose their own representatives, in part because of China’s record on human rights. The government says the real issue is about national sovereignty.

Chinese companies quickly began distancing themselves from the NBA. Telecom corporation Tencent, which counts among its many arms a partnership with ESPN and the broadcasting rights to NBA games, canceled Rockets coverage and all NBA preseason broadcasts.

“It was different from the fact that from a basketball standpoint it felt like that wasn’t the No.1 thing,” said James on Monday, speaking for the first time since the trip to China began.

“Which it wasn’t. Obviously we all felt that and sensed that.”

Chinese officials informed NBA officials that they could not proceed with an NBA Cares event featuring the Nets that was scheduled for last Tuesday at a local elementary school. A news conference Tuesday in Tokyo heightened tensions.

Silver said the league would not apologize for Morey using his freedom of expression. That drew the ire of Chinese government officials and broadcasters.

“We must accuse the ‘Moreys’ who scheme to rake in money from China on one hand and hurt the Chinese people’s feelings on the other,” a broadcaster for CCTV, the state-run television channel, said later that day.

“This kind of two-faced behavior cannot succeed and must come with a price!”

But what didn’t sound like an apology to Chinese officials sounded a lot like one to a bipartisan group of United States senators and representatives. They sent a letter to Silver on Wednesday rebuking him for “apologizing for Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey’s tweet.”

“Worse, your statements come at a time when we would hope to see Americans standing up and speaking out in defense of the rights of the people in Hong Kong,” the letter stated.

Behind the scenes, the league received calls from several American government officials, according to a person familiar with those discussions. Some offered support, some offered ideas for how to deal with their predicament. Others reached out to discuss relations between the United States and China.

The next day, Silver boarded a flight for Shanghai. He was joined by deputy commissioner Mark Tatum, president of social responsibility and player programs Kathy Behrens, chief communications officer Mike Bass and president of global content and media distribution Bill Koenig.

They settled into the plane, not knowing if they’d be allowed into the country.

The group landed in Shanghai a little after 1 p.m., as posters around the city were being torn down. Their entry into China was perfectly smooth.

The Nets and the Lakers had practiced earlier in the day at Mercedes-Benz Arena, where logos had been scrubbed to remove sponsor Vivo, a Chinese smartphone maker that had already announced it had suspended ties with the NBA.

That afternoon, Silver met with the teams as hundreds of media members waited downstairs. Players and executives from the Nets and Lakers were in the room, as were Silver, Tatum, Behrens, Bass and Chrysa Chin, the National Basketball Players Assn.’s executive vice president of strategy and development.

Players expressed their concerns to league officials about the situation, according to people familiar with the meeting. They wondered whether Morey would be disciplined, believing a player would if he had done the same thing.

James spoke up and said Silver should be on the front lines of any league communication with the media.

“I think it would have been very unfair for a kid like Talen Horton-Tucker, who is a 19-year-old rookie, to have to comment about such issues that he has absolutely nothing [to do with], that he has no knowledge about,” James said.

“And are we sure that he would have said, ‘Sorry guys, I have no idea what’s going on.’ Are we sure he would have said that? Or could have had said something that could have been detrimental to not only himself but for everyone that was there.”

There were moments of frustration when some players asked whether they could go home. If they said the wrong thing about Hong Kong or any other topic, would the Chinese government delay their flights home?

They asked questions about security and were given assurances they would be fine. They were asked to stay together, though. That meant dinners and lunches with just each other — bonding aided by geopolitical forces.

That afternoon, the league canceled that day’s media session. General manager Rob Pelinka became the Lakers’ point of contact with the league. James and Anthony Davis became his liaisons to the players.

They met in conference rooms at the Ritz Carlton Shanghai making sure to keep each other informed.

League officials, meanwhile, continued conversations with the Shanghai Sports Bureau, a government agency, attempting to soothe tensions and allow the game in Shanghai to be played.

Silver never met with Yao Ming, the former Houston Rockets star who is now the president of the Chinese Basketball Assn., but one person familiar with their communications said they spoke at least 10 times a day.

The conflict personally affected Yao. At a wildly popular NBA exhibit in Beijing, all signs of the Houston Rockets were removed — including Yao’s jersey.

The Shanghai Sports Bureau canceled a fan event that was scheduled for Wednesday evening. They explained their logic to the NBA: Another controversy might have derailed the game, and they very much wanted it to happen.

The global scope of American-Chinese relations was part of the league’s calculus. Trade talks between China and the United States began on Thursday.

On Friday, President Trump agreed not to impose another tariff hike in exchange for China agreeing to buy $50 billion worth of American farm goods, according to the Associated Press.

While NBA officials worked with the government to secure the players’ safety, the mandate was given by China that there would be no media availability before the game. Silver had planned to speak but that was canceled too.

That, coupled with an incident in Japan led to questions about censorship of players. When a CNN reporter attempted to ask whether players still felt comfortable voicing their opinions, the Rockets’ communications director jumped in to say they were taking basketball questions only.

::

The game in Shanghai went smoothly and that helped when the Lakers and Nets traveled to Shenzhen. While league officials stayed in contact with Shenzhen government officials, their conversations didn’t need to be as thorough.

Around 4 p.m. Friday, the league announced there would not be media availability for the remainder of the trip. A league official also told reporters from The Times, ESPN and The Athletic that no restrictions had been placed on teams. If they wanted to, they could hold their own news conferences.

A Lakers representative said Saturday morning that was not true and directed questions back to the league. Later, questions about the discrepancy revealed that the Lakers didn’t consider whether to have their own sessions.

What Lakers executives thought would be an enjoyable cultural experience, instead became consumed by handling the crisis. Chief operating officer Tim Harris brought his young son for some bonding time. Team co-owner Joey Buss, who is also the chief executive officer of the South Bay Lakers, brought his wife on the trip, as did Pelinka.

It wasn’t until Saturday morning, that Pelinka got to explore outside the team hotel. He and his wife spent some time at a market, ate some noodles and got foot massages.

By then, there was a concerted effort from the NBA and the Chinese government to dial down the anger.

According to the New York Times, journalists at Chinese state-run newspapers were told not to write too much about the situation between China and the NBA, worrying that would draw too much attention to Hong Kong protests and possibly have a negative impact on the trade talks.

Tencent began broadcasting NBA preseason games again on Monday, without explanation. On the government-censored social media site Weibo, a person posted that someone attempted to bring a sign that said “HK belongs to China forever” to Shenzhen Universiade Center, but was “manhandled” by security and taken to a police station.

There were also reports on Weibo of Chinese flags being confiscated.

Saturday night’s game sold out. The Lakers lost by a wide margin, but James’ popularity ruled the night.

“I’ve always been welcomed with open arms,” James said.

“I’ve been to China maybe 15, 20 times. And the reason I’ve always wanted to go back to China is because of the game of basketball.”

The Lakers’ flight home did get delayed — but only because of a thunderstorm. Shortly after 3:30 a.m. local time, they began to taxi for takeoff. They landed in L.A. after 2 a.m. on Sunday, a crisis behind them.

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Lakers star LeBron James believes Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey was misinformed on what the reaction would be to the since-deleted tweet he sent in support of protesters in Hong Kong.

“I’m just talking about the tweet itself,” James said to the media Monday. “You never know the ramifications that can happen. And we all seen what that did. Not only did for our league, but for all of us in America, for people in China as well. And sometimes you have to think through things that you say that may cause harm not only for yourself but for the majority of the people. I think that’s just a fine example.”

James spoke at Staples Center before the first of the Lakers’ two home exhibitions this season, both against the Golden State Warriors. It was the first time he had spoken to reporters since before leaving the United States to play two exhibitions in China.

Shortly after making his statement, James took to Twitter to offer a clarification.

The week did not go as planned for the NBA. Chinese media, which is controlled by the government, expressed anger about Morey’s tweet, and plans for the Lakers and Brooklyn Nets were altered. Team functions were canceled. Players’ individual sponsor-related events were canceled. There was some doubt the teams’ games would even be played.

“I don’t want to get into a [verbal] feud with Daryl Morey, but I believe he wasn’t educated on the situation at hand and he spoke,” James said. “And so many people could have been harmed not only financially, physically, emotionally, spiritually. So just be careful what we tweet and say and we do, even though, yes, we do have freedom of speech, but there can be a lot of negative that comes with that too.

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“That’s my belief. That’s all I can say. I believe he was either misinformed or not really educated on the situation, and if he was, then so be it.”

Morey’s tweet Oct. 4 said, “Fight for freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.”

James said he and his teammates did not believe they were well versed enough on the protests in Hong Kong to comment on the situation. He added that they still feel that way.

Pro-democracy protesters have been demonstrating against the Chinese government in semi-autonomous Hong Kong since June.

James’ initial comments drew the ire of many on social media.

Among them was U.S. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who posted on Twitter: “Clearly @KingJames is the one who isn’t educated on the situation at hand. It’s sad to see him join the chorus kowtowing to Communist China & putting profits over human rights for #HongKong. I was there 2 weeks ago. They’re fighting for freedom & the autonomy they were promised.”

WASHINGTON — 

Stephen Strasburg took his turn silencing the Cardinals’ struggling bats, Nationals postseason star Howie Kendrick doubled three times and drove in three more runs, and Washington moved one win from the city’s first World Series appearance in 86 years by beating St. Louis 8-1 Monday night to take a 3-0 lead in the NL Championship Series.

After Nationals starters Anibal Sanchez and Max Scherzer flirted with no-hitters in the first two games of the best-of-seven series, Strasburg wasn’t quite that untouchable: He allowed a double in the second inning, six later singles and one unearned run. Still, he was rather dominant for seven innings, striking out 12 batters and finishing off each one with an off-speed pitch.

The Cardinals, quite simply, can’t hit in this NLCS: They have a grand total of two runs and 11 hits through three games. Washington’s three starters have a combined ERA — no calculator necessary for this one — of 0.00.

Yes, that’s zero-point-zero-zero.

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Now it’s Patrick Corbin’s chance to see if he can match his rotation-mates. The $140 million lefty will start for the Nationals in Game 4 on Tuesday night, when they can close out a sweep at home. Rookie right-hander Dakota Hudson will be on the mound for the Cardinals.

Washington hasn’t put a baseball team in the World Series since 1933, when the Senators lost to the New York Giants in five games. The nation’s capital owns only one MLB championship; the Senators won all the way back in 1924. There wasn’t even a baseball team at all in Washington for more than three decades until the Montreal Expos franchise moved to town before the 2005 season and was renamed the Nationals.

Until this season, the Nationals hadn’t won a playoff series, going 0-4 since 2012, but they sure look as if they’re making up for lost time.

It all starts with the pitching.

Against Sanchez in Game 1, the first hit for the Cardinals arrived with their 27th batter. Against Scherzer in Game 2, it was their 21st batter. But even when the Cardinals did something right against Strasburg, they erased it by doing something wrong.

Their fourth batter, Marcell Ozuna, doubled to the left field corner in the second, then quickly erased himself with some poor baserunning, going too far toward third on a comebacker and getting tagged out by Strasburg, who is enjoying a postseason to remember.

He was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 amateur draft, then was infamously shut down before the playoffs three years later to protect his surgically repaired right elbow. Strasburg is now hale and hearty, throwing 117 pitches Monday, his most since totaling 118 in a May 2017 game.

And this sort of October excellence is what the Nationals were hoping for: Strasburg now has a 3-0 record and 1.64 ERA, with 33 strikeouts and one walk — he didn’t issue a free pass Monday — in 22 innings this postseason.

Much to the delight of a red towel-twirling crowd of 43,675, Washington’s batters kept delivering, led by Kendrick, who has eight RBIs in the past four games, including a 10th-inning grand slam in Game 5 of the NL Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Nationals roughed up Jack Flaherty for four runs, all in the third inning; the Cardinals’ 23-year-old starter hadn’t allowed that many in a game since July 2, a span of 18 appearances.

Seven of Washington’s eight runs came with two outs, and there were contributions from up and down the lineup: Ryan Zimmerman delivered two run-scoring hits, Victor Robles homered in his return after a five-game absence with a leg injury, and Anthony Rendon heard “MVP!” chants after a slick defensive play at third base and an RBI double.

Monday, October 14th

CITY

EAST VALLEY LEAGUE

Grant 39, Chavez 14

Sun Valley Poly 28, North Hollywood 0

NORTHERN LEAGUE

Los Angeles Wilson 21, Torres 8

VALLEY MISSION LEAGUE

Panorama 37, Van Nuys 0

WESTERN LEAGUE

Palisades 38, Venice 14

SOUTHERN SECTION

OLYMPIC LEAGUE

Village Christian 64, Whittier Christian 14

PACIFIC LEAGUE

Crescenta Valley 28, Glendale 0

Muir 20, Burbank 15

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SAN DIEGO — 

The Trump administration’s recent announcement that it would lower the ceiling of refugees permitted into the U.S. to a historic low reflects the reduction of refugee arrivals both in San Diego County and nationwide. Now, refugee resettlement agencies and refugees are predicting fewer arrivals to the U.S. again this year.

This cap will affect not only refugees hoping to come to the U.S., but also those who are already here. Nadine Toppozada, who directs Catholic Charities’ Refugee and Immigrant Services in San Diego, said the new cap may prolong family separation because refugees have the right to request that their family overseas come stay with them in the U.S.

“With the cuts in number of arrivals, we have people here in San Diego waiting much longer in order to be reunited with their families who are in refugee camps across seas,” Toppozada said.

The cap has dropped down from 30,000 to 18,000 this fiscal year. It dropped from 45,000 to 30,000 last fiscal year.

The number of refugees who came to San Diego County rose by 27% between fiscal year 2018 and fiscal year 2019, even though President Trump lowered the ceiling by a third. This is largely because the U.S. did not bring in nearly as many refugees as it said it would in 2018.

This fiscal year, the U.S. welcomed 29,999 refugees, exactly one short of the 30,000 cap. Last year, despite the 45,000 ceiling, only 22,491 refugees resettled.

The low number of refugees in fiscal year 2018 is likely due to the travel ban that the Supreme Court upheld in December 2017, restricting most travelers from Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and Chad from coming to the U.S. and temporarily pausing the refugee resettlement program. In San Diego County, refugee arrival counts dropped immediately to single digits in the months after the ban went into effect.

Refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo remained the largest group to come to San Diego County this year, followed by Afghans, keeping the same trend from last year.

The number of Syrians arriving in the country increased to 29 this year in comparison to only two arrivals in fiscal year 2018.

Samar is one of those refugees who came from Syria this year. She does not want her last name used for fear that her family in Lebanon and Syria could be targeted.

Seven months ago, she came to San Diego from Jordan, where she had been waiting to move to the U.S. She brought her husband and her two daughters, 14 and 6, with her.

Samar and her family fled Syria’s civil war, which has raged on for nearly a decade. Before she left, she had pulled her daughter out of school and stopped going to work. She was a teacher and was so afraid her daughter’s schools would be bombed that they both stayed home.

“I prefer to stay at home, to die with all my family,” Samar said. “I prefer to stay with them. To stay together, to live together, or to die together.”

She still remembers the sounds of the war in Syria, even though she hasn’t lived there for years — the sounds of bombs, screams and violence.

Many of Samar’s siblings are still in Syria and Lebanon. When she speaks with one of her sisters in Lebanon, they talk about life in the U.S.

“She dreams, and I hope to help her,” Samar said.

The new cap for 2020 will make it even more difficult for Samar to bring the rest of her family to the U.S.

Samar and her family were refugees in Jordan when she received her first phone call from the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration, asking if they wanted to come to the U.S. That was seven years before she stepped foot in the country.

According to Donna Duvin, executive director of the International Rescue Committee in San Diego, the average length of time that a family spends in a refugee camp before it is offered an opportunity for resettlement is 17 years.

For Samar, the period between that first call and her arrival to the country was a time of worry, frustration and anxiety. Some days, she thought she would never make it to the U.S. At the same time, she felt stuck in Jordan. If she left, she couldn’t return. But she didn’t want to stay, either.

Today, Samar is volunteering at the IRC in San Diego, conducting driving classes for refugees. Her husband is working and her children are in school, and she dreams of owning her own business one day.

In defending the lower refugee cap to Congress, the State Department said that “the current burdens on the U.S. immigration system must be alleviated before it is again possible to resettle large number of refugees.”

Its report to Congress says diplomatic tools such as foreign assistance, economic and political engagement, and alliance-building would help more people, and more quickly, than resettling refugees or granting asylum in the U.S.

The increasingly lower ceiling is worrying to Duvin and refugee resettlement agencies like the IRC.

“It’s very disruptive,” Duvin said. “It’s a system, when you think about it, that has really been formulated to succeed over a great period of time. Now that the pace has been disrupted, the chance of seeing that system also dismantled is great, and a significant concern for all of us.”

Resettlement agencies work with partners to secure housing and employment for incoming refugees, and by drastically adjusting the number of refugees allowed in the country, relationships with their partners and the flow of the system suffer.

Jewish Family Service of San Diego is another resettlement agency heavily affected by the new cap.

“We are astounded and dismayed that the federal administration has lowered — yet again — the refugee admissions ceiling from 30,000 last year to now only 18,000 for Fiscal Year 2020,” Chief Executive Michael Hopkins said in a statement. “To repeatedly gouge this number betrays our nation’s founding principles and turns away our brothers and sisters seeking safety, freedom and hope.”

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The slash in the refugee ceiling also affects funding for refugee resettlement agencies. Agencies are paid for each refugee they help resettle. With fewer refugees comes less revenue.

“At some point, you can barely sustain staff, let alone a vehicle to pick up clients from the airport,” Toppozada said.

The White House has also set priorities for certain nationalities for fiscal year 2020. The U.S. will allow 5,000 refugees under the Lautenberg Amendment, which is a program from the 1990s that includes refugee Jews from the former Soviet Union, as well as persecuted religious minorities in other countries, such as Bahais from Iran and evangelical Christians from Ukraine.

The number of Ukrainians coming to the U.S. in recent months has been increasing, specifically to Sacramento County — last year, it overtook San Diego as the top refugee resettling county.

The U.S. is also planning on bringing 4,000 Iraqis and 1,500 people from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. It is unclear how the U.S. will track refugees from the Central American countries, as there’s not much infrastructure in place to identify refugees in the region, unlike the Middle East and Africa.

About 7,500 will be left for all other nationalities.

These priorities are a departure from previous years, as people from Africa and the Middle East have historically made up the largest groups of refugees.

Tebor writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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It brings great sadness today to mourn the loss of our own, the beloved Captain Albert Torres of the Los Angeles Park Rangers Captain Torres dedicated over 40 years of service to the parks of Los Angeles. He has left an everlasting impact on many. He has provided safety to the public, sharing his vast knowledge on plants and wildlife and his constant willingness to offer mentorship and counseling. Over the course of his career, he has worked in every one of the parks in the City of LA. Captain Torres has worked every position and assignment in the Park Ranger Division, including acting Chief. Captain Torres created the “CityWide” Unit which focuses on the homeless outreach and cleanups throughout all of the City of Los Angeles. He is survived by his wife Cheryl Torres, daughter Elizabeth Torres and son Brian Torres. Captain Albert Torres, A true Park Ranger E.O.W. 10/12/19 0713hrs #cityoflosangeles #losangelesparkrangers #recreationandparks #captainalberttorres #citywide #thingblueline #thinredline #thinghgreenline #mountedunit #parkranger #toprotectandpreserve

A post shared by L.A. Park Rangers L.E. Div. (@laparkrangers_) on Oct 12, 2019 at 5:01pm PDT

Cpt. Albert Torres, a veteran L.A. Park Ranger of 40 years, had a heart attack Friday after he had been patrolling the parks affected by the fire. He died the next morning in a hospital.

According to officials, Torres worked in every Los Angeles park in every position and assignment, including acting chief. He created the CityWide unit that focuses on homeless outreach and cleanups throughout Los Angeles.

L.A. City Atty. Mike Feuer remembered Torres as a dedicated and upbeat park ranger.

“What an incredible public service legacy for Los Angeles. We will miss him,” Feuer wrote on social media over the weekend.

Torres is survived by his wife, Cheryl Torres, a daughter, Elizabeth Torres, and a son, Brian Torres.

Lois Arvickson

Lois Arvickson, 89, died in a mobile home park in the 1100 block of Villa Calimesa Lane that was destroyed by the Sandalwood fire. Family members said neighbors reported seeing her get into her car, but it’s unclear what happened next. Her son saw TV news coverage that showed her home being destroyed by the fire and her car still in the driveway.

According to Riverside County coroner’s officials, Arvickson died in her home.

Unknown victim

Late Friday, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department reported that it had found the remains of a second person in the Calimesa mobile home park. Deputy Robyn Flores, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Department, said she did not have more information about the person’s gender or age.

Riverside County coroner’s officials have yet to identify the remains.

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