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LOS ANGELES — The Lakers have had a reversal of excellence over the last couple of weeks.They entered the season with the expectations of being a prolific offensive team. And for a month, they were that.Through their first 15 games, the Lakers had a 118.3 offensive rating (points scored per 100 possessions) for the league’s fourth-best mark.But their defense lagged, ranking 26th in the NBA in defensive rating (117.4) after the season’s first month.The script has flipped.In their previous 11 games entering Monday night’s home game against the Detroit Pistons, the Lakers ranked No. 8 in defensive rating (108.2), including…

It has been a holiday tradition in This Space, but for some reason, it’s been overlooked for two of the last three years. It is the annual column devoted to readers’ responses to various columns, the readers’ Christmas gift to the columnist – or, as I refer to it internally, the Easiest Column of the Year.(But no, this doesn’t mean I’m choosing from three years worth of emails. I’m a little more selective than that.)As always, I thank you for reading, and for responding – even when you disagree – but the ground rules remain the same as always: The…

Angel City Football Club signed Mississippi State defensive midfielder Macey Hodge to a two-year contract through 2026 with an option for 2027.Hodge, who was a semifinalist for the MAC Hermann award, was also the SEC Midfielder of the Year in her senior season. She made 97 appearances in her career at Mississippi State.“We are thrilled to welcome Macey Hodge to Angel City FC,” ACFC technical director Mark Wilson said in a statement. “A dominant force in her conference, Macey’s intensity and drive in the midfield for Mississippi State were both eye-catching and impactful.“At Angel City, we are committed to emerging…

By HALELUYA HADEROThe emergence of generative artificial intelligence tools that allow people to efficiently produce novel and detailed online reviews with almost no work has put merchants, service providers and consumers in uncharted territory, watchdog groups and researchers say.Phony reviews have long plagued many popular consumer websites, such as Amazon and Yelp. They are typically traded on private social media groups between fake review brokers and businesses willing to pay. Sometimes, such reviews are initiated by businesses that offer customers incentives such as gift cards for positive feedback.But AI-infused text generation tools, popularized by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, enable fraudsters to produce…

Two people were injured in the early hours of Monday, Dec. 23 as they fled an apartment fire on the 200 block of East 13th Street in San Bernardino. One person was injured after jumping out from the second story of the building, according to a news release from the San Bernardino County Fire Department. The fire, described by authorities as heavy, was burning on the first floor of the building and threatening the second story and blocking the main escape route for the second-story units. The person was transported to a local trauma center. The fire damaged three units…

EL SEGUNDO — Ray Wersching was relaxing at home Thursday night in San Francisco. He was watching the Chargers-Denver Broncos game on TV when something heightened his attention as the game neared halftime at SoFi Stadium. Something on the field took him back nearly 50 years.A punt. A fair catch. A penalty.“At the time he caught the ball, no, I think I’m still safe,” Wersching recalled saying to himself. “He’s not going to try it from 70-some-odd yards. Then there was a penalty and I went, ‘Uh-oh,’ and that brought it 15 yards closer. This is it. He’s going to…

By ALI SWENSON and BARARA ORTUTAYBluesky has seen its user base soar since the U.S. presidential election, boosted by people seeking refuge from Elon Musk’s X, which they view as increasingly leaning too far to the right given its owner’s support of President-elect Donald Trump, or wanting an alternative to Meta’s Threads and its algorithms.The platform grew out of the company then known as Twitter, championed by its former CEO Jack Dorsey. Its decentralized approach to social networking was eventually intended to replace Twitter’s core mechanic. That’s unlikely now that the two companies have parted ways. But Bluesky’s growth trajectory…

These days, the “F” in LAFC ought to stand for “France.” Free agent Jeremy Ebobisse became the Los Angeles Football Club’s fifth Frenchman on Monday, as the roster takes shape early in the offseason. The deal runs through 2027, with a club option for 2028. “Jeremy is a proven forward in our league who has scored goals and been a meaningful contributor to his teams throughout his career,” LAFC co-president and general manager John Thorrington said in a statement announcing the signing. “We are incredibly excited to welcome Jeremy to strengthen our attack as we continue in our ambitions to compete…

By SUSAN HAIGH, Associated PressApproximately 1 million taxpayers will automatically receive special payments of up to $1,400 from the IRS in the coming weeks. The money will be directly deposited into eligible people’s bank accounts or sent in the mail by a paper check.The IRS said it’s distributing about $2.4 billion to taxpayers who failed to claim a Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2021 tax returns. People who missed one of the COVID stimulus payments or had received less than the full amount were able to claim the credit. But the IRS on Friday said it discovered many eligible taxpayers…

Back in September, after a 41-10 loss to an Arizona Cardinals team they had historically dominated, the Rams packed up the visitors’ locker room at State Farm Stadium in a thick silence.For a team eight months removed from a playoff appearance, a week removed from taking the preseason NFC favorite to overtime, the manner in which this loss had played out needed processing. All while trying to wrap their heads around the injured bodies that continued to pile up across the team’s training rooms.“It seems like that was an eternity ago,” head coach Sean McVay said Monday.That Week 2 loss…