Author: admin
Where do you go when you’ve reached the top?The Chargers are about to find out in the next few months how they can improve a defense that was the NFL’s stingiest in the 2024 season, giving up a meager 17.7 points per game. Coach Jim Harbaugh and general manager Joe Hortiz said they’re determined to improve for 2025, though.Standing on success won’t cut it, they said earlier this month.What that meant was still to be determined as of Tuesday. After all, the league’s free agency window doesn’t open until March and the draft won’t be held until April, so there…
By WILL WEISSERT and HALELUYA HADERO, Associated PressPresident Donald Trump said Monday evening that Microsoft is among the U.S. companies looking to take control of TikTok to help the popular app avert an effective ban that could kick-in in April.“I would say yes,” Trump told reporters when asked if Microsoft was one of the companies interested in helping to bring about a new ownership of TikTok, a requirement set by Congress to keep the app functioning in the U.S.President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One en route from Miami to Joint Base Andrews, Md., Monday, Jan. 27,…
By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY, Associated PressATLANTA (AP) — The Justice Department appears poised to take a very different approach to investigating voting and elections.Conservative calls to overhaul the department by removing career employees, increasing federal voter fraud cases and investigating the 2020 election are raising concerns among voting rights groups about the future of the agency under Pam Bondi, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump who will face a confirmation vote later this week.Bondi supported Trump’s legal efforts to overturn the 2020 Pennsylvania election results, has reiterated his false claims about his loss that year and during her Senate…
By MATT OTT, AP Business WriterWASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence dipped for the second consecutive month in January, a business research group said Tuesday.The Conference Board reported that its consumer confidence index retreated this month to 104.1, from 109.5 in December. That is worse than the economist projections for a reading of 105.8.December’s reading was revised up by 4.8 points but still represented a decline from November.The consumer confidence index measures both Americans’ assessment of current economic conditions and their outlook for the next six months.Consumers appeared increasingly confident heading into the end of 2024 and spending during the…
By ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated PressSAN DIEGO (AP) — During his first week in office, President Donald Trump signed 10 executive orders on immigration and issued a slew of edicts to carry out promises of mass deportations and border security.Some actions were felt immediately. Others face legal challenges. Some may take years to happen, if ever, but have generated fear in immigrant communities.Much of what Trump can do will boil down to money. Congress is expected to consider additional support soon. Trump may use emergency powers to tap the Defense Department, as he did for a border wall in his first…
Google says it will take its cue from the U.S. government if it has to change the names of the Gulf of Mexico and Denali on its maps.The company said Monday that it will only make changes when the government updates its official listings for the body of water and the mountain.After taking office, President Donald Trump ordered that the water bordered by the Southern United States, Mexico and Cuba be renamed to the Gulf of America. He also ordered America’s highest mountain peak be changed back to Mt. McKinley.“We have a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they…
LOS ANGELES — Yes, UCLA’s first men’s basketball season in the Big Ten has been a grind of major proportions. But Mick Cronin’s teams do develop a survival instinct – you either learn to adapt or go home – and maybe that’s blossoming before our eyes.The Bruins started January with four straight conference losses, on the road at Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers and at home against a Michigan team that had been lying in wait, in town for three days after playing USC while the Bruins were flying back from Nebraska.The Bruins’ struggles with their crazy-quilt schedule have been well…
Today marks School Choice Week, a time when advocates of educational freedom highlight and promote the value of school choice. As the last few years have taught a lot of parents, it’s better to have options than to be stuck, subject to the whims of any single institution.The premise of school choice is relatively straightforward. If your local, traditional public K-12 school is serving the needs for your child, great.But if it’s not, it best serves the interests of parents, students, teachers and communities as a whole for educational institutions to exist that can help students thrive.For some, that may…
Southern California’s unaffordable homebuying market is helping to push up the cost of renting one. My trusty spreadsheet reviewed a year-end rent report from property-manager consultants Rentometer, which tracks three-bedroom houses in 857 cities nationwide, including 84 in Southern California. These stats don’t reflect the region’s post-wildfire realities, but they do offer clues about what local house renters were paying as 2025 started. The 2024 average rent in 84 local communities was $4,152 monthly after a $122 increase – 3% – from 2023. While that may seem pricey, remember that this renter may hope to own one day. You know there’s…
LOS ANGELES — Public image be damned, UCLA men’s basketball coach Mick Cronin has never been shy about blatantly challenging his teams. He’s done it on two occasions with this year’s group, hoping to incite a response from his players.When he called them soft and delusional after a 94-75 loss to Michigan on Jan. 7, he received flack from national media, notably ESPN’s Jay Bilas. His players met that message with a string of desperate play as a four-game losing streak ensued.Then, following that fourth loss, a 75-68 defeat to Rutgers on Jan. 13, he called out their personalities.“They’re good…