Costa Mesa, California

California voters decisively rejected the effort to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom, allowing him to remain in office through a special election that drew national attention as a proxy fight over COVID-19 policy and partisan politics. Newsom and allied Democrats, including visits from President Biden and Vice President Harris, framed the recall as a battle against "Trumpism" and anti-vaccine sentiment, a message that appeared to resonate once conservative talk radio host Larry Elder emerged as the leading Republican replacement candidate.

Elder, who had pledged to repeal the state's mask and vaccine mandates, conceded but vowed to keep fighting and teased a possible run in 2022. Other candidates, including Caitlyn Jenner, John Cox, Kevin Faulconer and Kevin Paffrath, failed to gain significant traction. Newsom's campaign had been damaged earlier by criticism over his attendance at a French Laundry dinner during pandemic restrictions, but shifting public concern over the Delta variant and Elder's anti-mandate stance ultimately helped him retain support from the state's heavily Democratic electorate.

Coastal Orange County communities are holding free public events Friday to mark the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people and reshaped American security and daily life.

In Costa Mesa, the nonprofit 9/11 Day — founded by relatives of a volunteer firefighter lost that day — will host its annual "Honor Through Action" meal-packing event, with hundreds of volunteers aiming to pack more than 200,000 meals for families facing food insecurity, part of a nationwide effort seeking to top 50 million meals across all 50 states.

Huntington Beach will hold its annual Patriot Day celebration at Pier Plaza, led by Mayor Casey McKeon in partnership with American Legion Post 133, honoring fallen first responders and civilians. In Newport Beach, the Newport Harbor Elks Lodge and Sons of the American Legion Squadron 291 will host a remembrance ceremony at Veterans Memorial Park, open to the public with refreshments and a no-host bar for lodge members.