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Barabak: Don’t count on California being a presidential kingmaker in 2024

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:26:32 GMT

It’s summer in California, a time when thoughts turn to sandy beaches, sultry nights and, among a certain set, the significance of the state’s March 2024 presidential primary.More than half a century has passed since California played a decisive role choosing either a Democratic or Republican nominee.The last time was in 1972, when George McGovern’s defeat of Hubert Humphrey after a prolonged fight sent the South Dakota Democrat forth to a landslide defeat at the hands of President Nixon.Ron DeSantis hadn’t even been born.That’s a long, frustrating time for California to cede the spotlight to the likes of Iowa and New Hampshire — states that, respectively, have about as many residents as Los Angeles and San Diego.Clearly, size doesn’t matter. The Iowa-New Hampshire axis has been rooted at the front of the nominating calendar for the last several decades, giving voters there enormous sway over which candidates fall by the wayside and which advance to the many contests elsewhere aroun...

Cat’s disappearance near Disneyland sparks a 2-year tale of heartache and hope

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:26:32 GMT

Michelle Chang thought the wind sound echoing through the car was just her imagination as she drove south on the 5 freeway toward Irvine. Her weekend duffel bag was in the trunk, alternative music filled the air and Coco, a Snowshoe Siamese, was resting atop her kennel as she approached Disneyland.Chang was 21 and almost home, excited to surprise her mother with Coco’s visit on Mother’s Day weekend in 2021. The UC Santa Barbara graduate had taken the family’s beloved 8-year-old feline up north so she could have company during the pandemic.After missing for two years, Coco relaxes in Michelle Chang’s Irvine living room on Saturday, July 8, 2023. She was reunited with her family after a Disneyland guest found the gentle cat wandering outside her hotel near the resort, became concerned for her safety, and called a cat rescue group who discovered she was microchipped. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)Sisters Michelle Chang, 23, left, and Sarah, 21, give Coco a kiss a...

Does homeowners insurance cover landslides? That’s a key question after Southern California landslide

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:26:32 GMT

Will homeowners insurance pay if your house falls off a cliff?Not unless you have what’s called an added DIC — or Difference in Conditions — policy, as it turns out.That could be an issue for residents of the 12 Peartree Lane homes, in Rolling Hills Estates, that were destroyed by a massive and rapidly moving landslide on Saturday afternoon, July 8.Warnings allowed folks to evacuate quickly — and safely. But residents of the homes that will fall into the canyon below — 10 of the 12 are likely to do so — were left grappling with what’s next. And even those whose homes remain have concerns about the future.A landslide is considered an “earth movement” event and, like an earthquake, is excluded from standard homeowners and business insurance policies.Homeowners insurance policies include an “excisions clause” that exclude earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, mine subsidences, mudslides, mud flow, earth sinking, and geological rising or shifting — and landslides.RELATED: After Southern Cali...

Opinion: Do we have it all wrong about giant sequoias and wildfires?

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:26:32 GMT

As my colleagues and I hiked through the Nelder giant sequoia grove south of Yosemite National Park recently, we could barely believe our eyes. In 2017, the Railroad fire swept through nearly all of the Nelder Grove, burning lightly in most areas but very intensely in the portion where we walked, about six years after the fire. The naturally regenerating giant sequoia forest was so vigorous and lush that, in many places, we had to pull the stems of young sequoias apart just so we could walk between them. There were hundreds of them on almost every acre — many of them already 8 or 9 feet tall.It was a remarkable sight because, in that particular location, the Railroad fire burned hot, killing trees, including about three dozen mature sequoias.The U.S. Forest Service, which manages the Nelder Grove and many other sequoia groves, has repeatedly told the public, the media and Congress that giant sequoias are adapted to mild and moderate surface fires. The agency has insisted that emerge...

Photos: Superstar NFL QB Josh Allen pays $7.2 million for California house

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:26:32 GMT

The family room. (Photo by PreviewFirst.com)The dining room. (Photo by PreviewFirst.com)The kitchen. (Photo by PreviewFirst.com)The backyard. (Photo by PreviewFirst.com)The Monarch Bay community surrounds the members-only Monarch Bay Beach Club. (Photo by PreviewFirst.com)Show Caption of ExpandBuffalo Bills’ star quarterback Josh Allen is the owner of a 2,808-square-foot house in Dana Point’s guard-gated Monarch Bay.According to a person familiar with the July 5 deal who asked not to be identified, the 6-foot-5-inch NFL player bought the house for $7.2 million, paying 4% less than the initial $7.5 million asking price.The single-story beach house completed in 1962 and updated, sits on a flat, quarter-acre lot. It has four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and floor-to-ceiling glass walls.Even as they extend the open, airy floor plan to the outside, the house is secure from prying eyes.Related ArticlesReal Estate | HGTV star Christina Hall’s former California house lists at $8 mi...

Northwestern fires football coach Pat Fitzgerald amid hazing claims

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:26:32 GMT

EVANSTON, Ill. — Northwestern fired football coach Pat Fitzgerald on Monday amid a hazing scandal that called into question his leadership of the program and damaged the university’s reputation after it mishandled its response to the allegations.Fitzgerald’s dismissal completed a rapid fall from grace for the former All-American linebacker, the star of the 1995 Northwestern team that won the Big Ten and played in the Rose Bowl after years of losing. The 48-year-old Fitzgerald had been firmly entrenched at his alma mater, an annual fixture on any list of college coaches with the most job security.“The head coach is ultimately responsible for the culture of his team,” Northwestern president Michael Schill wrote in an open letter to the university community. “The hazing we investigated was widespread and clearly not a secret within the program, providing Coach Fitzgerald with the opportunity to learn what was happening. Either way, the culture in Northwestern football, while incredible...

After Southern California landslide, at least 10 homes will slip into canyon, officials say

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:26:32 GMT

The fallout from a massive landslide on the Palos Verdes Peninsula continued unfolding as a slow-motion tragedy on Monday, July 10, with at least 10 homes in a gated Rolling Hills Estates neighborhood on the brink of crumbling into the canyon below.Two out of the 12 destroyed homes, meanwhile, were on a “wait and see” list, according to officials at a late-Monday walk-through of the impacted area. And officials are monitoring another 16, though no evacuations from those homes have yet been ordered, said Los Angeles County fire Chief Anthony Marrone.It’s unclear how long the waiting will last, Marrone said.“We don’t know how long that these homes are going to continue to move,” he said. “At this time, it’s just a holding pattern we’re in, waiting to see what the final determination is going to be.”RELATED: Does homeowners insurance cover landslides? That’s a key question after Southern California landslide And for the residents who had to hurry from their red-tagged homes, the past t...

Opinion: Angry about the Supreme Court? Blame Congress’ failure to act

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:26:32 GMT

The Supreme Court is seizing more and more policymaking power, prompting a barrage of criticism for the court’s imperial tendencies. The current ultra-conservative super-majority is voraciously advancing a deregulatory and anti-democratic policy agenda, including by rolling back environmental protections, degrading bodily autonomy, invalidating common sense gun control, undermining labor rights, nullifying student loan forgiveness, gutting public health measures, eroding the administrative state, insulating public corruption and dismantling laws and policies aimed at promoting a multi-racial, pluralistic democracy. No doubt, the critics are right: The court is overreaching.Yet prevailing criticisms miss half the problem. The court’s overreach is a direct result of Congress’ underreach. The Constitution relies on a system of checks and balances to preclude tyranny and ward off imperial overreach. As its framers recognized, power abhors a vacuum. The American model of government is no...

Stock market today: Wall Street points slightly higher ahead of US inflation update

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:26:32 GMT

Wall Street ticked modestly higher early Tuesday ahead of new U.S. inflation data that will play a role in a decision by the Federal Reserve on interest rates when it meets later this month.Futures for the Dow Jones industrials rose 0.1% and the S&P 500 edged 0.2% higher before the opening bell.For the first time in more than a year, the Fed did not raise its benchmark lending rate when it met in early June. Fed officials have suggested that as many as two more increases are possible this year.Forecasters expect inflation in June to fall to 3.1% from the previous month’s 4%. That would be higher than the Fed’s 2% target but down sharply from last year’s peak above 9%.“They will have a hard time justifying further rate increases if headline inflation — which is their mandate — is moving convincingly towards target,” said Rubeela Farooqi of High Frequency Economics in a report.It is still hoped that the U.S. can avoid a recession after a run-up in the Fed’s...

Live Updates | Zelenskyy slams ‘absurd’ lack of timetable for Ukraine’s invitation to join NATO

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:26:32 GMT

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Follow along for updates on the summit of the NATO military alliance in Lithuania’s capital:What to know: — Turkey’s decision to end opposition to Sweden’s NATO membership boosts summit— Sweden’s rocky road from neutrality toward NATO membership— What is NATO doing to help Ukraine in the war with Russia?— Ukraine, defense plans and Sweden’s membership top summit agenda——Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says it’s “absurd” that no timetable has been laid out for his country to be invited to join NATO or become a member one day.Zelenskyy said on Twitter that he plans to discuss NATO’s “uncertainty” over Ukraine’s possible membership during the alliance’s summit in Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital.He says the Ukrainian delegation to the summit starting Tuesday had “received signals that certain wording” under discussion deals with the prospect of NATO inviting Ukraine to become a member, “not about Ukraine’s membership.”Ze...