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Marine Protected Areas along California’s coast see success in first decade

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:21 GMT

California’s coastline is among the most diverse ecosystems on the planet and its protection the last 10 years through 124 separately designated areas has made the state a model and envy nationally and internationally.The California Department of Fish and Wildlife recently released its first study following the first decade since the creation of an ecologically connected network of Marine Protected Areas, or MPAs, and the results are promising, especially in Southern California’s Los Angeles and Orange counties, said Stephen Wertz, a senior scientist and manager of the wildlife agency’s Marine Protected Areas Management Project.Two paddlers pass each other in Upper Newport Bay in Newport Beach in 2021. The Upper Newport Bay State Marine Conservation Area is a marine protected area in Orange County(Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)Ochre sea stars, purple sea urchins, sea anemones, and California mussels hang out in a tide pool near Crescent Bay in Laguna Beach, C...

Man shot in East Oakland on Sunday night

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:21 GMT

OAKLAND — A 29-year-old man was shot Sunday night in East Oakland, authorities said.He was in stable condition at a hospital, officials said Monday.The shooting happened about 7:30 p.m. in the 1400 block of Seminary Avenue outside an apartment complex. Authorities said the man was not a resident of the complex.The man got another person to take him to a hospital.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Emeryville: One shot during attempted armed robbery in Bank of America parking lot Crime and Public Safety | Three Antioch shootings leave one dead, at least three wounded Crime and Public Safety | 17-year-old boy killed in East Bay shootout Crime and Public Safety | One man killed, another injured in Pittsburg shooting Crime and Public Safety | 8-year-old boy gravely injured in I-580 shooting A motive for the shooting was under investigation. No arrests were announced.The shooting is being investig...

Veteran police official Edward Caban becomes first Latino to head the NYPD

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:21 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Edward Caban, who joined the New York Police Department as a young patrol officer in 1991 and rose through the ranks, was sworn in Monday as police commissioner, becoming the first Latino to lead the 178-year-old department.Mayor Eric Adams administered the oath of office in front of the Bronx stationhouse where Caban started his career, and praised his new police commissioner as “representative of this blue-collar city.”Caban, the son of a transit police officer who served with Adams when the now-mayor was on the transit force, said he joined the NYPD as “a young Puerto Rican kid” at a time when when “the top bosses of the police department didn’t really look like me.”His beaming father, retired Detective Juan Caban, and other family members joined Caban as he was sworn in as the city’s top police official.Caban thanked Adams for choosing him to head the 33,000-member police department.“To be the first Hispanic police commissioner is an honor of the highest me...

New drug to protect babies and toddlers from RSV gets FDA approval ahead of cold season

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:21 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials on Monday approved the first long-acting drug to protect babies and toddlers against a respiratory virus that sends tens of thousands of American children to the hospital each year.RSV is a cold-like nuisance for most healthy people, but it can be life-threatening in the very young and the elderly.The Food and Drug Administration approved the injection for infants and children up to 2 years old who face increased risk of severe RSV.“Today’s approval addresses the great need for products to help reduce the impact of RSV disease on children, families and the health care system” said FDA’s Dr. John Farley in a statement. Last year, a surge in RSV cases flooded U.S. hospitals with wheezing children. There are no vaccines for babies yet, though Pfizer and other companies are working on them.AstraZeneca’s drug, to be sold under the brand name Beyfortus, is a laboratory-made version of an antibody that helps the immune system fight off RSV. Under the ...

Vanishing whale’s decline worse than previously thought, feds say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:21 GMT

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A review of the status of a vanishing species of whale found that the animal’s population is in worse shape than previously thought, federal ocean regulators said Monday.The North Atlantic right whale numbers less than 350, and it has been declining in population for several years. The federal government declared the whale’s decline an “unusual mortality event,” which means an unexpected and significant die-off, in 2017.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released new data that 114 of the whales have been documented as dead, seriously injured or sub-lethally injured or sick since the start of the mortality event. That is an increase of 16 whales since the previous estimate released earlier this year.The agency recently completed a review of the whales using photographs from researchers and surveys to create the new estimate, said Andrea Gomez, a spokesperson for NOAA.“Additional cases will continue to be reviewed, and animals will b...

GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy lists Senators Cruz, Lee as possible Supreme Court picks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:21 GMT

Biotech entrepreneur and Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy on Monday released a list of 16 people he’d nominate to the U.S. Supreme Court or federal appellate courts if he becomes president, making him the first in the party’s field to itemize his possible top judicial appointments.Ramaswamy’s list includes Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah as possible nominees for the nation’s top court, as well as elevating federal judges who struck down President Joe Biden’s airplane mask mandate and the FDA’s two-decade-long approval of the abortion pill.The direction of the Supreme Court was a powerful issue for Donald Trump in his 2016 bid. Conservative voters’ hunger to have a Republican president be the one to appoint a replacement for Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in early 2016, helped land the former reality TV star in the White House. Trump in the 2016 primary released his own list of possible appointments to the high court t...

Two-vehicle wreck kills 5 in fiery crash on northeast Georgia highway

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:21 GMT

ALTO, Ga. (AP) — Five people are dead after a wreck on a busy northeast Georgia highway.State troopers say Avonlea Holtzclaw of Dahlonega was trying to cross U.S. 23 in a Ford Explorer Sunday afternoon when a driver going northbound hit her. The wreck happened near Alto in Habersham County.Holtzclaw, 29, died in the wreck as did two children in her SUV, ages 5 and 6. Mitchell Boggs, a 58-year-old Marietta man who was driving a Chevrolet Corvette southbound, also died, as did an unnamed passenger.Both vehicles caught fire, and all the occupants of the vehicles died before they could be taken to a hospital.The fiery crash shut down the highway, a major artery between the north Georgia mountains and Gainesville, for nearly five hours.Source

Judge strikes down law allowing Tennessee Attorney General to argue certain death penalty cases

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:21 GMT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The appointed Tennessee Attorney General cannot argue certain capital cases on behalf of the state as in the case of a death row inmate who is seeking a second trial, a judge ruled Monday, saying that a new law violates the state Constitution.Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan said the law granting Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti authority to step into post-conviction death penalty cases is unconstitutional because it removes the power of the locally elected district attorney to argue such cases.Skahan said the state Constitution designates the district attorney as a state representative in criminal trial court proceedings, which includes death row inmate Larry McKay’s motion for another trial based on new evidence. Lawyers for the state Attorney General plan to appeal. If it stands, the ruling would affect other cases in Tennessee where death row inmates are challenging their convictions outside of the appeals process. McKay’s lawye...

Dallas visits New York after Ionescu’s 34-point outing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:21 GMT

Dallas Wings (11-9, 7-5 Western Conference) at New York Liberty (14-4, 8-3 Eastern Conference)New York; Wednesday, 1 p.m. EDTBOTTOM LINE: New York plays the Dallas Wings after Sabrina Ionescu scored 34 points in the New York Liberty’s 95-87 overtime win against the Indiana Fever.The Liberty have gone 7-2 in home games. New York is 5-3 against opponents over .500.The Wings are 4-7 on the road. Dallas ranks second in the Western Conference scoring 39.6 points per game in the paint led by Natasha Howard averaging 10.3.The two teams square off for the second time this season. The Liberty defeated the Wings 102-93 in their last meeting on June 11. Breanna Stewart led the Liberty with 32 points, and Arike Ogunbowale led the Wings with 25 points.TOP PERFORMERS: Stewart is averaging 23.1 points, 9.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.7 steals for the Liberty. Ionescu is averaging 13.0 points over the last 10 games for New York.Satou Sabally is averaging 17.6 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists...

Store that sold Alex Murdaugh’s son beer must pay $15 million to family of teen killed in boat crash

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:21 GMT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The family of a teen killed in a boat crash, which prosecutors said begin the financial downfall of double murderer Alex Murdaugh, has reached a $15 million deal to settle a lawsuit against a convenience store chain that sold Murdaugh’s son alcohol while under age.Sunday’s deal came after a judge refused to allow the Parker’s Kitchen chain to be separated from Murdaugh in a wrongful death trial next month in Hampton County, South Carolina, where Murdaugh was once a powerful and well-known attorney.Now Murdaugh is serving a life sentence without parole for killing his wife and the son involved in the 2019 drunken boat crash at their home two years later.Attorney Mark Tinsley told media outlets the $15 million settlement that will be paid by the convenience store chain’s insurance was amount that Mallory Beach’s family felt would show the store has to take alcohol laws seriously.The Parker’s Kitchen clerk did not stop Paul Murd...