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Northern California skate park named for Black motorist fatally beaten in police traffic stop

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 07:00:01 GMT

SACRAMENTO — Officials dedicated a California skate park Sunday in honor of Tyre Nichols, a Black man who spent much of his youth in the state and was killed last January in what prosecutors said was a fatal beating by police in Tennessee during a traffic stop.An avid skateboarder, Nichols spent much time as a youth at the park on the outskirts of Sacramento. City officials and others held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newly renovated skate park now named for Nichols.Nichols moved to Memphis, Tennessee, shortly before the coronavirus pandemic and lived there with his mother and stepfather. He enjoyed photography — especially taking photos of landscapes and sunsets.Sacramento City Councilwoman Lisa Kaplan, right, consoles Tyre Nichols’ mother RowVaughn Wells, left, at the ribbon cutting celebration for the Tyre Nichols Skate Park, named in honor of the former Sacramento resident who was fatally beaten by Memphis police officers following a traffic stop in January, on Sunday...

Big Sur Marathon voted No. 1 in California

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 07:00:01 GMT

One of the more challenging and scenic marathons in the world gathered a prestigious honor as the Big Sur Marathon was named the top marathon in California.RaceRaves announced the top marathon in each state based on votes from across the nation, with Big Sur running away as the 2023 runners’ choice for the Golden State.Related ArticlesOther Sports | Bay to Breakers brings bananas, astronauts, and faux crossing guards to San Francisco’s streets Other Sports | Bay to Breakers: Early BART trains, road closures planned for Sunday race Other Sports | BART to offer special, early morning service for Bay to Breakers race Big Sur was rewarded by voters for its production, race-day support, community involvement and the beauty and character of the race for its region.Big Sur is considered one of the premier bucket-list events in the country, with the world renown Bixby Bridge a part of the course, along with redwoods, Hurricane Point and ...

How our increasingly changing weather can impact your trees

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 07:00:01 GMT

Trees are all around us, standing tall and silent, doing their important work. As the biggest plants on Earth, they give us oxygen, store carbon, stabilize the soil and provide a home to wildlife. They also provide food, shade and can help reduce energy use. They do all this year in and year out, withstanding whatever Mother Nature throws at them. And this year, they were doozies!Sunburn injury to bark increases susceptibility to wood-boring pests. Courtesy of Regents, University of CaliforniaConsider – a year ago we were in the third year of drought after one of the driest winters in history. By September, high temperatures in central Marin reached 110 degrees, with triple digits lasting five days, blistering the environment. December ushered in the first of a dozen atmospheric rivers, causing flooding and standing water in many gardens. Late February brought snow to our hilly peaks and freezing temperatures to low-lying areas. An extraordinary March included more rain and cyc...

Three Twins Ice Cream founder finds new calling in helping first responders look after their mental health

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 07:00:01 GMT

Neal Gottlieb’s life took an unexpected turn in 2020.In the mist of the pandemic, he shut down his 15-year-old organic ice cream brand Three Twins Ice Cream — where he famously worked at 166 days in a row when he opened his first shop in Terra Linda. A month later his fiancée left him, prompting him to sell his share of their houseboat and move to a fixer-upper in the Muir Woods Park neighborhood.“I think we have a chance to really change lives,” says Neal Gottlieb of Crain. Alan Dep/Marin Independent JournalExperiencing a great sense of loss, Gottlieb did something he’d never done before — therapy. His positive, life-changing experience, along with his desire to help destigmatize it for others, lead him to start Crain, a platform to support first responders with results-oriented mental health tools to combat stress and reduce burnout. He and co-founder Caren Baginski are building an app.Q How did this come about?A I had a difficult period and was very fortunate that I had acce...

Chocolate and supplement research makes strange partnerships, but hints at a little brain boosting

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 07:00:01 GMT

Emily Willingham Courtesy of Emily WillinghamScientific researchers find funding in strange places, but support for clinical trials from Mars, a company best known for candy bars, has to be among the strangest. Pair it with support from the maker of a well-known brand of multivitamin, and you’ve got the COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study, or COSMOS, intended to test the health effects of the seemingly disparate combination of cocoa extract and a multivitamin for seniors.Touted as an “important partnership across academic, industry and government collaborators,” COSMOS is sited at two major academic research centers, the Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Between them, groups at these institutions have assessed the value of cocoa extract (the Mars association) and Centrum Silver (the multivitamin association) separately and together in offering benefits against cancer and cardiovascular disease...

Maryland counties running dry, showing signs of drought

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 07:00:01 GMT

If you’ve noticed that your lawn or garden is looking a little brown or dry this year, it’s no coincidence. In Maryland, and much of the D.C. region, the symptoms of drought are on full display.According to the Maryland Department of the Environment, the state is now about seven inches below where it should be for rainfall this year. The U.S. Drought Monitor map shows the driest counties in the state are Montgomery, Howard, Anne Arundel, Prince George’s and Charles.A map shows all of the D.C. region is in a drought, with D0 (yellow) denoting abnormally dry conditions and D1 (beige) denoting moderate drought conditions. (National Integrated Drought Information System)A spokesperson told WTOP that the department is closely monitoring the groundwater-stream and reservoir levels for the state.“[The department] does not see any shortfall in the availability of enough water to meet the needs of the state’s residents and businesses,” the spokesperson said.In additio...

Turkish ‘pizzas’ are a family-friendly dinner to satisfy Dad

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 07:00:01 GMT

In Turkey, Armenia and the Levant, a meat-topped flatbread known as lahmajoun comes topped with spiced ground lamb, tomatoes and bell pepper. With the dough stretched paper-thin, diners typically drizzle the popular dish with lemon juice and roll it up to eat.It’s a tasty, social dish that fills a similar place in the culture as pizza, with equally exacting standards for what makes a good lahmajoun. The toppings are chopped coarsely for a rustic texture, the dough is expertly stretched by hand, and the flatbread cooks in minutes in a roaring-hot oven.Though delicious, authentic lahmajoun is out of reach for kids trying to do something nice for Father’s Day. That’s why we created this recipe for our book “Cook What You Have,” which draws on pantry staples to assemble easy, weeknight meals. Kids can help out, though the recipe does involve a food processor and a very hot oven.We swap the usual homemade flatbread dough for store-bought pita breads. Simply combine the meat mixture in a ...

Dutch club PSV Eindhoven hires Peter Bosz as coach to replace Van Nistelrooy

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 07:00:01 GMT

EINDHOVEN, Netherlands (AP) — Former Ajax coach Peter Bosz was hired to lead fellow Dutch team PSV Eindhoven on a three-year deal on Monday.Since leaving Ajax in 2017 after guiding the team to the Europa League final, the 59-year-old Bosz has coached German clubs Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen and most recently Lyon in France.He hasn’t worked since being fired by Lyon in October.Bosz replaces Ruud van Nistelrooy, who left PSV last month ahead of the final match of the season because he did not feel enough support within the team.PSV finished in second place in the Dutch league behind Feyenoord and won the Dutch Cup. It was last Dutch champion in 2018.“PSV has had periods in the past in which they dominated Dutch football,” Bosz said. “I want to revive those times.”___More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_SportsSource

Reactions to the death of Silvio Berlusconi, former AC Milan owner

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 07:00:01 GMT

Reactions from the soccer world to the death of former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, who led AC Milan to many major titles and later owned Monza:___“I feel more alone. He was like a father to me, a unique and affectionate president for everyone. He helped make my dreams possible.” — former AC Milan captain Franco Baresi.___“Today’s sadness doesn’t erase the happy moments spent together. There remains an infinite gratitude to the president, but above all to an ironic, loyal, intelligent, sincere man, who was fundamental in my adventure first as a player, and then as a coach.” — former Milan player and coach Carlo Ancelotti on Twitter.___“Silvio Berlusconi was a genius. He had a vision that was years ahead of his time. He did incredible things in so many fields, like soccer and in the business world.” — former Milan coach Fabio Capello.___“A genius, visionary and dreamer, but above all a friend who changed the story of our Italy has left us.” — former Milan captain and dire...

Semi-truck overturns on Tamiami Trail

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 07:00:01 GMT

A semi-truck that overturned in West Miami-Dade has led to quick actions from rescue crews on the scene. On Monday morning, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue had to stop a fuel leak from the tractor-trailer that rolled over in the median of the Tamiami Trail, about one mile before Krome Avenue. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the semi-truck was headed east on Southwest Eighth Street when the driver lost control and drove off the road. Live video footage showed the team attempting to wedge a yellow deflated kiddie pool underneath the wreckage to soak up all the fuel extracted from the vehicle.No injuries have been reported. Officials said this incident has not caused any road closures.