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MIAA Board of Directors meeting: Slight rise of officials hailed as good news

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:19 GMT

MIAA associative executive director Richard Pearson has been at the forefront of extolling the virtues of game officials.At Wednesday’s MIAA Board of Directors meeting, Pearson spoke about the importance of officials and went on to add there has been a slight rise in officials, which is a promising development. Pearson added that his recent tournament experiences have been very promising with crowds acting in a generally positive manner, which should be considered a plus.He went on to mention that there are two initiatives he has been looking into, one of them being RefReps, a program which consists of comprehensive officiating education courses and interactive training video packs.These can be distributed to schools to teach them the pillars of officiating with the standardized online course curriculum complete with instructor guides, support materials, assessments, example videos, and more. Paired with video training packs, people can see the game through the eyes of the off...

Pursuit suspect disappears into parking structure in Long Beach

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:19 GMT

Authorities were in pursuit of a driver suspected of burglary at a Dick's Sporting Goods Store Wednesday afternoon. Officers with West Covina Police Department initiated the pursuit just after 5 p.m. when the suspect was in the southbound lanes of the 605 Freeway. Sky5 was overhead as the suspect, driving a blue Mercedes, was clocked at speeds of 100 miles per hour and faster. After exiting the freeway onto surface streets, the suspect was seen driving dangerously fast, weaving in and out of traffic and driving on the wrong side of the road in the area of Long Beach. As authorities tracked the driver from the air, the suspect entered a parking structure. Officers with the Long Beach Police Department arrived to the scene and began searching for the suspect and Sky5 was redirected to a swift-water rescue in the Los Angeles River. It is so far unclear if the driver got away.

Flooding blocks road to North County homes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:19 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Despite floodwaters across Calle Ricardo at North Broadway in unincorporated Escondido and post signs, drivers plowed right through.“It gets worse sometimes when you can't even pass at all.  Small cars definitely you'll have a hard time,” resident Moe Kahooz said.Escondido saw nearly three inches of rain overnight, according to the National Weather Service San Diego. Rocky Rudolph, whose organic farm is up this hill on Calle Ricardo, heeded the warning and turned around.He owns Sage Hill Garden Organic Farm along with his son. There’s an alternate route about a mile-and-half away through a gated private country club, but often the gates are locked. He says all the recent storms are making it difficult to operate his farm. New atmospheric river heading for California next week, likely impact zone of Bay Area to San Diego “The rain this season we actually postponed our opening from March 1 to April 1 because of the rain, and now we are worried about April 1 being the op...

Ex-Wells Fargo exec to plead guilty for role in bank scandal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:19 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former Wells Fargo Bank executive accused of overseeing a ruse that created millions of bogus customer accounts has agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges likely to send her prison for her role in the scandal.The agreement filed Wednesday in a Los Angeles federal court calls for the former Wells Fargo executive, Carrie Tolstedt, to serve a 16-month prison sentence for obstructing regulators’ investigation into abusive sales practices that culminated in the bank paying billions of dollars in fines. Tolstedt, 63, also agreed to pay a $17 million fine in a separate civil settlement with the government that also bans her from working again in the banking industry.Prosecutors are requesting an April 7 court hearing to review the plea agreement.Tolstedt was the longtime head of the Wells Fargo’s division responsible for its sprawling network of retail branches, before leaving in 2016 just before evidence of the bank’s abusive sales tactics surfac...

North Korea launches ICBM before South Korea-Japan summit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:19 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile in a display of military might Thursday just hours before the leaders of South Korea and Japan were to meet at a Tokyo summit expected to be overshadowed by North Korean nuclear threats. The launch, the North’s first ICBM test in a month and third weapons testing this week, also comes as South Korean and U.S. troops continue joint military exercises that Pyongyang considers a rehearsal to invade.South Korea’s military said the North Korean ICBM flew toward the Korean Peninsula’s eastern waters after being launched from North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang, around 7:10 a.m. The statement said South Korea’s military is maintaining readiness in close coordination with the United States. The Sunan neighborhood is the site of Pyongyang’s international airport and has emerged as a major testing site where the North launched most of its ICBMs in recent years, all flown ...

Arizona governor blasted for plans to defy execution order

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:19 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs is facing heavy pushback from a victim’s sister and a powerful county prosecutor for her plans to defy a court order to execute a prisoner next month for his conviction in a 2002 killing. The newly elected Democratic governor vowed nearly two weeks ago that she wouldn’t carry out the Arizona Supreme Court’s order to execute Aaron Gunches on April 6, citing a review that she has ordered of death penalty protocols due to Arizona’s history of mismanaging executions.Hobbs has said executions will not be carried out until Arizonans can be confident the state isn’t violating the law. She maintains that while the court authorized Gunches’ execution, its order doesn’t require the state to carry it out.Over the last several days, lawyers for Karen Price, whose brother Ted Price was the victim in Gunches’ case, and Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell have told the state’s highest court that Hobbs doesn’t have the legal authority to disregard ...

FACT FOCUS: Claims link ‘woke’ policies to bank’s demise

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:19 GMT

As Wall Street reels from the swift demise of Silicon Valley Bank — the biggest American bank failure since the 2008 financial meltdown — some social media users are honing in on a single culprit: its socially aware, or “woke,” agenda. But the Santa Clara-based institution’s professed commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, wasn’t a driver of the bank’s collapse, say banking and financial experts. Its poor investment strategies and a customer base prone to make devastating bank runs were.Here’s a closer look at the facts.CLAIM: Silicon Valley Bank failed because it focused on “woke” policies such as diversity, equity and inclusion.THE FACTS: The nation’s 16th largest bank collapsed because of poor investment and risk strategies that left the bank with insufficient cash to weather a mass withdrawal of assets from its largely tech sector customers, who have been particularly hard hit in the current economy, financial and banking experts explain. There’s also no ev...

Man wanted in connection with hate-motivated attack against woman

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:19 GMT

Toronto police are looking to identify a suspect wanted in connection with a hate-motivated attack aboard the TTC a week ago.Police say a woman was riding the subway southbound from Vaughan Metropolitan station on March 9 when she was approached by a man around 5 p.m.The man became agitated during a conversation with the woman and produced a knife. The woman fled the train as it arrived at Wilson station. The man is described as being between 50 and 60 years old with a thin build and a long white beard. He was last seen wearing layered clothing including a black hoodie, dark baseball cap, black leather jacket, green military-style pants and carrying a green backpack. He is believed to be armed and dangerous, according to police. “Investigators believe the victim was targeted because of her Muslim faith,” police said in a statement. The National Council of Canadian Muslims said the man was asking the woman “hypothetical questions” about Muslims and Islam befor...

Researcher calls for more wild horse protections after 17 shot dead in rural B.C.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:19 GMT

KAMLOOPS, B.C. — A biologist and wild horse researcher is calling for stronger federal and provincial protections for the animals after 17 carcasses were found in rural British Columbia.Wayne McCrory, who has been studying horses in the province for about two decades, said he was shocked to learn the animals had been shot to death. Wild horses are an important part of Canadian heritage, First Nation culture and the ecosystem, and need legislation to protect them, he said in an interview on Wednesday.“It’s time to ramp up protection, both federal and provincial, in my opinion, to stop this senseless slaughter when some trigger-happy person just decides to take the law into his own hands,” McCrory said. “In Canada, whether it’s a species at risk, wild horses or old-growth (trees), it just takes a lot of political will on the Canadian public to see that happen.”RCMP Cpl. Cory Lepine, who is the sole such livestock investigator in the province, said i...

Ecuador, Argentina order out envoys amid diplomatic clash

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:19 GMT

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Argentina and Ecuador are in a diplomatic clash after a former Ecuadorian Cabinet minister who had been convicted of corruption and taken refuge with the Argentine ambassador escaped from Ecuador’s capital of Quito to VenezuelaBoth countries have expelled the other’s ambassador as a result of their disagreement over the handling of María Angeles Duarte, who served in the Cabinet of then Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa.Duarte had been living in the residence of the Argentine ambassador in Quito with her Argentine son since August 2020 to avoid serving an eight-year corruption sentence. Argentina had offered Duarte political asylum, but Ecuador refused to grant her safe passage. Argentina told Ecuador on Monday that Duarte was no longer in the Quito residence, saying she had left of her own accord. It was later revealed that she left Friday. Ecuador did not hide its anger, summoning Argentina’s ambassador, Gabriel Fuks, and telling him to leave the count...