JOE BIDEN accepted the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday night (YouTube).

Former vice president Joe Biden formally accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for president on Thursday night, closing out the four-day convention with messages of optimism and depicting the Nov. 3 election as a choice between the forces of light and darkness.

“This is a life-changing election that will determine America’s future for a very long time,” he said in a nearly empty room because of the corona pandemic. “Character is on the ballot. Compassion is on the ballot. Decency, science, democracy. They’re all on the ballot.”

He further pledged to serve as an “ally of light” against President Donald Trump, whom he said has “cloaked America in darkness.” He promised to fight climate change, racism and economic decline and defend Social Security and Medicare.

The Republican convention is scheduled to start Monday, Aug. 24 and continue through Thursday, Aug. 27.

RealClearPolitics.com’s average of recent presidential preference polls has Biden with 49.9 percent support vs. 42.3 percent for Trump, a difference of 7.6 percent. FiveThirtyEight.com’s poll summary has Biden with 51.1 percent to Trump’s 42.6 percent, a margin of 8.4 percent.

Steve Bannon arrested on fraud charges

A former – and controversial – political strategist for President Donald Trump was arrested Thursday on charges that he and three others defrauded donors investing in a wall along the Mexican border.

STEVE BANNON (Flickr/Elekes Arda).

Steve Bannon, 66, pleaded not guilty, according to the Associated Press. The money raised – estimated at $25 million – was supposed to go to build that wall, but authorities claim that “much” of what money went instead to Bannon and others involved in organizing the “We Build the Wall” group.

He was arrested on board a luxury yacht off the Connecticut coast by officers of the U.S Postal Inspection Service. He was released on bail of $5 million. According to the AP, as he left the court building, Bannon shouted, “This entire fiasco is to stop people who want to build the wall.”

Three other people were arrested and charged. The four face charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Each offense could lead to a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison.

Weather:  Sunny skies toward the weekend

The West Orange County area will see partly cloudy skies on Thursday night with a high of 71 degrees. The National Weather Service’s forecast for Friday is patchy fog yielding to sunny skies, with a high of 87. Overnight lows will be close to 72 with more patchy fog. Saturday is expected to be mostly sunny with a high of 86. Sunday will be mostly sunny with a high of 85. At the beaches, highs should be 78 on Friday and Saturday, dipping slightly to 77 on Sunday.

Dodgers, Lakers breeze to victories

Here is the lineup of games for area pro teams. Results to be posted when available.

• San Francisco 10, Angels 4 (seventh inning)
• Dodgers 6, Seattle 1 (final). Clayton Kershaw (3-1) pitched seven strong innings, yielding just four hits and one run. He struck out 11 batters. Cody Bellinger homered and drove in two runs. The Dodgers are now 19-8 and lead the NL West race by 4.5 games.
• Lakers 111, Portland 88 (final). Anthony Davis scored 31 points to lead LA to the win, tying the Western Conference playoff series at one game each. He made 13 of 21 field goal attempts and three of four 3-point tries.