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Column: In 1984, the NCAA dropped the ball, and college sports is still paying the price

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:11:51 GMT

Ken Sugiura | The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (TNS)You may find this hard to believe.The opportunistic disassembly of the Pac-12 and the cannibalization of college athletics — it all can be traced to the NCAA’s failure to act with reason and foresight.Undoubtedly, university presidents and college athletics administrators get their share of the blame, too. They’ve chased a bigger slice of the pie and made a mockery of the notion of acting in the best interests of college athletes, let alone displaying the ideals of sacrifice and putting the group’s interests ahead of their own that college athletics is supposed to promote.But it started with — again, be prepared to be shocked — the NCAA’s unwillingness to share money and power. Chuck Neinas, a retired college athletics administrator, dared to butt heads with the NCAA as the leader of an entity known as the College Football Association.“You know what NCAA stands for?” Neinas asked. “No Compromise, Anytime, Anyplace.”Here’s the thrus...

University Taqueria brings pollo verde tacos, churros to Berkeley

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:11:51 GMT

Berkeley folks near the university have a new place to grab casual Mexican food: the appropriately named University Taqueria. It’s in its soft opening this month with a menu of tacos, burritos, quesadillas and churros.For the most part, the menu is pretty standard. (See below.) You have your super or Cali burritos with cheese, sour cream, beans and guacamole, which can be customized into bowls. Quesadillas come with melted cheese, pico de gallo, lettuce and guac. The tacos include carne asada, pollo asado, al pastor, shrimp and carnitas. On the less-usual side, there’s also pollo verde and the intriguing option to add “fajitas” to anything you order for $1.For dessert there are churros and slices of flan, and drinks include agua frescas, horchata and – presumably for students supercharging for tests – whole liters of Coke.University Taqueria takes over the space formerly occupied by chicken-sandwich spot El Pollo Picante. It’s so new it only has one review on Yelp,...

Accused Facebook killer enters plea in San Mateo County court

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:11:51 GMT

(KRON) -- A man who investigators say recorded video of a homicide victim's last moments alive, and uploaded the gruesome video onto his Facebook page, appeared in a San Mateo County courtroom Monday for an arraignment.Mark Stephen Mechikoff, 39, of Pacifica, pleaded not guilty to murdering Claribel Estrella inside her San Mateo apartment on July 26. Mechikoff waived his right to a speedy preliminary hearing before he was escorted out of the Hall of Justice courtroom. He remains locked up in a Redwood City jail with no bail. According to prosecutors, when Mechikoff stabbed Estrella to death, he felt proud of his crime, and wanted his Facebook friends to see what he had done. "He then filmed it and posted it on his Facebook account. She was on the ground, and still alive, still moving a little bit," District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe told KRON4.Mark Merchikoff’s mugshot was released by the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office. Prosecutors added enhancements to the first-degree murder cha...

Forward progress stopped in vegetation fire burning near Post Costa

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:11:51 GMT

(BCN) -- A vegetation fire near Port Costa in Contra Costa County was at 10 to 15 acres as of about 1:50 p.m. While initially, it was feared the fire could grow to 50 acres, forward progress on the blaze was halted as of 2:16 p.m. Fire officials said they have it boxed in with "retardant and roads," saying there are "abundant" resources on the scene. Person robbed, dragged by 2 armed suspects in Oakland: video Fire department officials said the fire is burning in steep terrain with difficult access. According to the fire monitoring site Watch Duty, the fire is a mile east of Port Costa Clay Products. Ground resources were accessing the fire via George Miller Trail and tankers are making drops. Copyright © 2023 Bay City News, Inc.

Andy Ogletree played the inaugural LIV event and now is finding his path on the Asian Tour

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:11:51 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Andy Ogletree was the U.S. Amateur champion without a place to play when he took part in the first LIV Golf event last year and was shut off from the PGA Tour. He didn’t have a contract with LIV and still doesn’t.But he found his place on the Asian Tour, particularly the “International Series,” a series of $2 million events with funding from LIV.Ogletree shot 64 at Close House in England on Sunday for his third International Series victory, and second this year.He has earned $887,370 in five International Series events this year. By comparison, Ben Kohles leads the Korn Ferry Tour with $504,828. Ogletree has practically locked up a spot in LIV Golf for 2024 by leading the International Series Order of Merit by a large margin.“I think the incentive to play well is pretty good. Getting a chance to play LIV Golf is what everyone’s here to do,” Ogletree said. “I want to be out there and feel like that’s where I want to be right now in the next phase of my life. So I’m doi...

Rangers twice let lead slip in 2-2 draw with PSV Eindhoven in Champions League playoff 1st leg

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:11:51 GMT

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Rangers twice let a lead slip away in a 2-2 draw with PSV Eindhoven in the first leg of a Champions League qualifying playoff on Tuesday.PSV captain Luuk de Jong’s header in the 80th minute — though he appeared to know little about the decisive contact he made — was a second leveler for the 1988 European Cup winner which hosts the return game next week.In other playoff first legs, Royal Antwerp held on with 10 men from the 50th minute for a 1-0 win over visiting AEK Athens, and Copenhagen won 1-0 in Poland against competition debutant Raków Częstochowa.Second-leg games are on Aug. 30 and winners advance to the lucrative 32-team group stage which is drawn the next day in Monaco.Rangers and PSV played to another 2-2 draw in Glasgow as they did at the same stage in Champions League qualifying exactly one year ago. Then, Rangers went on to win 1-0 in Eindhoven.The Scottish club first led in the 45th when Senegal forward Abdallah Sima sent a rising shot past goal...

Mike Trout returns to the Angels’ lineup after a 7-week absence with a broken hand

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:11:51 GMT

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Three-time AL MVP Mike Trout has returned to the Los Angeles Angels’ lineup after missing 38 games with a broken bone in his left hand.The Angels activated Trout before they hosted the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night.Trout hasn’t played since July 3, when he broke the hamate bone by fouling off a pitch in the eighth inning. The 32-year-old superstar had surgery to repair the break, and he returned to the lineup seven weeks after the injury.Trout is batting .263 with 18 homers, 44 RBIs and a .862 OPS this season, his third consecutive campaign in which he has missed several weeks of playing time due to injury. He was still named the AL All-Star team for the 11th consecutive season, not counting 2020, despite currently having his lowest OPS since his rookie season in 2011.The Angels went 16-22 in Trout’s absence, including 11 losses in their last 18 games to fall to the fringe of the AL playoff race despite another stellar season from AL MVP f...

Ex-New York police chief who once led Gilgo Beach probe charged with soliciting sex in park

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:11:51 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A former suburban New York police chief who once led the Gilgo Beach killings investigation and later went to prison for beating a suspect was arrested again Tuesday after authorities say he attempted to engage in sex with an undercover ranger at a Long Island park.James Burke, Suffolk County’s police chief from 2012 to 2015, was arrested around 10:15 a.m. at Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park in Farmingville after exposing himself to the ranger and saying he was interested in oral sex, according to an arrest report obtained by the Associated Press.Burke, 58, then attempted to leverage his status as a former law enforcement official to get out of the arrest, which was part of a targeted operation spurred by complaints about people soliciting sex in the park, officials said at a news conference Tuesday.As he was being taken into custody, Burke asked the rangers if they knew who he was and told them that getting arrested would be a “public humiliation for him,” Sgt. ...

Transformer explosion cuts power to thousands in Arlington

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:11:51 GMT

A Dominion Energy employee suffered burns after a transformer exploded in Arlington, Virginia, leading to thousands of outages.Approximately 10,000 customers lost electricity around Crystal City and Pentagon City. Dominion Energy spokeswoman Peggy Fox said the incident began around noon, and that the injured employee was expected to recover.Fox attributed the transformer explosion to a fault in an underground cable. Dominion said power should be restored by Tuesday night.Arlington Now reported that county fire personnel responded to a large number of stuck elevator calls in the area, owing to the sudden outage.Reagan National Airport also briefly lost power around noon. A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said the issue there was resolved quickly, and it was unclear if the two outages were related.Outage mapSource

Denver weather: Pinpoint Weather Alert Day for heat advisory

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:11:51 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — There are still a few more days of summer heat in Denver weather with forecast highs in the 90s. But the best chance for rain in August arrives along the Front Range by the weekend to cool it down, according to Pinpoint Weather, Colorado’s Most Accurate Forecast.Tuesday is a Pinpoint Weather Alert Day with a heat advisory in effect for the Denver metro area and northeastern Colorado.Rain chances for the next week from Pinpoint WeatherWeather tonight: Another mild and breezy nightThere will be a few clouds drifting across the area during the overnight hours. It will be breezy at times with southerly winds up to 15 mph. Temperatures will be warm again across the Eastern Plains and in metro Denver. More refreshing overnight lows will be in the Colorado mountains.Overnight lows by Wednesday morning across ColoradoWeather tomorrow: Still hot with passing cloudsTemperatures look to return to the 90s in metro Denver on Wednesday. That would make the 27th day this summer the...