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Jim Alexander: I’m not sure if today’s NBA trade deadline was the most consequential ever. We’re dealing with recency bias here – along with a number of head-spinning moves (and at least one non-move) – and to determine this definitively would require far more research than I’m willing to pursue right now.But it has certainly been consequential, and I think ESPN analyst Bobby Marks summed it up adequately on the network’s NBA coverage this morning when he said, “The trade deadline is the new free agency.” July 1 used to be the league’s big day for player movement and speculation…
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday, Feb. 6, called on the state Board of Forestry to speed up ember-free regulations ordered four years ago to help fire-proof homes.A state law adopted in August of 2020 requires a “zone zero,” a 5-foot area surrounding homes in high fire hazard areas.The new zone was added to the “defensible space” property owners are supposed to maintain around their homes. It’s designed to reduce wildfire ignitions by putting rock, brick or paving around structure perimeters and removing wood fences and vegetation that can wick wildfires into a house.Also see: LA County wildfire losses seen as high…
Nearly two weeks after the Eaton fire broke out near Altadena, Southern California Edison technicians monitored as the utility’s four active lines in the Eaton Canyon and Eagle Rock-Gould line were re-energized. Watching from a distance, they saw a “small flash of white light upon each re-energization,” the utility said in a report to the California Public Utility Commission Thursday, Feb. 6.Those flashes on Jan. 19 were the only ones technicians saw that day, citing no other safety concerns, the report says. But the utility logged them down among other irregularities SCE has been reviewing as it probes the electrical…
By FATIMA HUSSEIN and ERIC TUCKERWASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration’s Justice Department has disbanded a Biden-era program aimed at seizing the assets of Russian oligarchs as a means to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.The move to disband Task Force KleptoCapture is one of several moves undertaken by the Justice Department under the new leadership of Attorney General Pam Bondi that presage a different approach toward Russia and national security issues.The department also ended the Foreign Influence Task Force, which was established in the first Trump administration to police influence campaigns staged by Russia and other nations aimed…
LOS ANGELES — If there were any concerns about the Lakers’ urgency to contend for an NBA title this season, they abated any doubts with an aggressive approach to the league’s trade deadline, which passed Thursday at noon PT.First, they made a blockbuster deal last weekend that shocked the entire league, acquiring Luka Doncic in a three-team trade that sent Anthony Davis and Max Christie to the Dallas Mavericks, pairing the 25-year-old Doncic with the 40-year-old LeBron James as the Lakers’ new 1-2 punch.And the Lakers’ front office, led by General Manager Rob Pelinka, wasn’t done yet.After Pelinka publicly acknowledged…
Talk about timing.President Donald Trump denounced California’s bullet train for the project’s delays and rising costs on Tuesday, and said his administration would investigate how billions of federal and state dollars have been spent.“The train that’s being built between Los Angeles and San Francisco is the worst-managed project I think I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen some of the worst,” Trump told reporters, asserting that the project is “billions and billions” of dollars over budget.“We’re going to start a big investigation of that, because I’ve never seen anything like it,” he added. “Nobody’s ever seen anything like it. The worst overruns that there have ever…
By SALLY HOSEATTLE (AP) — It’s one thing to fix your home after something basic has gone wrong, but it’s a different beast to rebuild and recover after a major natural disaster has destroyed multiple properties on your street, in your neighborhood or across the region.Don’t wait until you’re in crisis mode to figure out what to expect. It’s important to understand your benefits and rights when it comes to home insurance in the event of a widespread emergency.What kind of coverage mattersInsurance is meant to cover what you lost, but that can mean two very different things.If you do…
Raymond Lee Oyler, who was given the death penalty for setting the 2006 Esperanza fire near Cabazon that killed five U.S. Forest Service firefighters, was not the “actual killer,” as defined by current law, his attorney asserted this week as he asked the state Supreme Court to overturn five murder convictions and set aside the death sentence. Although no one else was charged with setting the blaze, attorney Michael W. Clough suggested in a highly nuanced argument on Wednesday, Feb. 5, that a 2019 state law requires a more hands-on slaying and physical presence for a murder conviction. The Engine 57…
By DAVE COLLINSDemocratic attorneys general in several states vowed Thursday to file a lawsuit to stop Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency’s from accessing federal payment systems containing Americans’ sensitive personal information.A dozen attorneys general, including New York’s Letitia James, said in a statement that they were taking action “in defense of our Constitution, our right to privacy, and the essential funding that individuals and communities nationwide are counting on.”“As the richest man in the world, Elon Musk is not used to being told ‘no,’ but in our country, no one is above the law,” the statement said. “The President…
With 10 combined goals in consecutive victories, the Kings’ offensive doldrums have begun to dissipate.That awakening could prove timely as they get set for Friday’s steel-cage match with the NHL’s third-best defensive team, the Dallas Stars, and Saturday’s Freeway Faceoff against the Ducks’ formidable goaltending.During Saturday’s statement game in Carolina and Wednesday’s domineering performance at home against Montreal, the Kings appeared to have found the spark that had been missing for almost all of January.“A lot of our success near the beginning of the year, in that November stretch, was playing north and playing a little bit more aggressive,” said…