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UC Berkeley investigating AD Jim Knowlton, associate AD Jennifer Simon-O’Neill

Published Mon, 24 Feb 2025 12:44:12 GMT

The University of California-Berkeley has launched a formal investigation into Cal athletic director Jim Knowlton and executive associate athletic director Jennifer Simon-O’Neill’s handling of dozens of allegations over the course of years that former Golden Bears women’s swimming head coach Teri McKeever bullied swimmers on an almost daily basis, the Southern California News Group has learned.Attorneys hired by the university have begun contacting current and former Cal swimmers and their parents as part of a follow-up investigation to an eight-month, $2-million probe that led to McKeever’s firing on January 31, according to three people familiar with the investigation.The current investigation comes against the backdrop of months of mounting criticism of Cal from former and current swimmers, including Olympic gold medalists, and prominent financial boosters of the Golden Bears athletic program that Knowlton and Simon-O’Neill and other university employees prioritized athletic succ...

‘You can’t think an apology will make this all better’: Judge throws out controversial plea deal for man accused of three Oakland killings

Published Mon, 24 Feb 2025 12:44:12 GMT

OAKLAND — Less than two months after lamenting “he had never seen a case pled down like this before,” an Alameda County Superior Court judge rejected a plea deal that would have imposed 15 years for a reputed West Oakland gang member accused of gunning down three people when he was 18 years old.Judge Mark McCannon ruled Thursday that 31-year-old Delonzo Logwood should go to trial, saying he had decided against accepting a plea deal proposed by prosecutors. Logwood had previously been eligible for a sentence of death or life without parole before being offered the unusual plea deal by District Attorney Pamela Price.Before he rejected the deal, McCannon said he has had “many sleepless nights” about this case. He then picked apart comments by Logwood’s attorney, who had attempted to rebuff the evidence against his client.“You can’t think an apology will make this all better,” McCannon said in court Thursday. “What are you sorr...

Pac-12 expansion: Would SMU create media value? “I think it probably helps,” sports media analyst says

Published Mon, 24 Feb 2025 12:44:12 GMT

The Pac-12 began evaluating candidates for expansion long before USC and UCLA announced their intentions to leave the conference.The process commenced in the summer of 2021, after Texas and Oklahoma agreed to join the SEC and the Big 12 lurched toward the brink of extinction.Pac-12 presidents ultimately passed on extending membership invitations and concluded none of the available schools (in the Big 12 or elsewhere) met the competitive, financial and institutional criteria.Now here we are, 21 months later, and the Pac-12’s geographic footprint features a crater in Southern California as the conference negotiates a new media rights contract and considers expansion.The candidate list includes SMU. It is not known whether the conference sized up the Mustangs in the summer of ’21, but the calculation deployed back then is essentially the same one being applied now.Does SMU fit academically? Could its football program eventually clear the competitive bar? And does the school...

What is Lyme Disease?

Published Mon, 24 Feb 2025 12:44:12 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- Beloved San Francisco radio host Jefferey "JV" Vandergrift was found dead Wednesday in the water at Pier 39, San Francisco Police Department officials confirmed to KRON4. While hosting WiLD 94.9's “The JV Show,” he not only entertained listeners through their mornings, but also talked openly about his battle with Lyme disease.In a heartfelt blog post, JV wrote that he was unsure of when he was bit by a tick and contracted the disease. He experienced symptoms for many months before he was finally diagnosed in 2021. The physical pain was so bad that he tried to kill himself and was held for days against his will at a psychiatric hospital.   JV talked about health struggles before disappearance What is Lyme disease?Lyme disease is an infection that, if left untreated, can affect the joints, heart and nervous system transmitted to humans through blacklegged ticks carrying the bacteria. Symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue, and a characteristic sk...

Raiders sign cornerback Duke Shelley

Published Mon, 24 Feb 2025 12:44:12 GMT

HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Free-agent cornerback Duke Shelley, who has played in Chicago and Minnesota, signed with the Las Vegas Raiders on Thursday.Shelley played for the Bears in 2019-21 and then joined the Vikings last season. He has 11 starts over 41 career games with 84 tackles and 12 pass breakups. Shelley started five games last season with career highs of 31 tackles and eight pass breakups. He also had an interception.The Bears selected Shelley in the sixth round of the 2019 draft out of Kansas State.___AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFLSource

Will Levis set for pro day, another chance to impress scouts

Published Mon, 24 Feb 2025 12:44:12 GMT

Will Levis had no hesitation about throwing at the NFL scouting combine because he wanted to “show off” his “canon” of an arm.He’ll get another opportunity to impress scouts at Kentucky’s pro day Friday.“It’s been a lot of fun, a lot of new experiences, a lot of new people in my life, and it’s just been very challenging, very difficult,” Levis said about the pre-draft process on the AP Pro Football Podcast. “Just in taking the challenges head on and remembering to have fun with it. This is going to be a time of my life that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. And I’ll remember that I did it the right way and I did what I needed to do to help live out my dream.”The 23-year-old, strong-armed quarterback is expected to be one of the top players selected in next month’s NFL draft. Levis, Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, Alabama’s Bryce Young and Florida’s Anthony Richardson are the top four prospects at the most important position in football.They’ve already been scrutinized and analyzed by...

Biden’s Canada agenda stacked: NORAD, migration deals likely

Published Mon, 24 Feb 2025 12:44:12 GMT

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — President Joe Biden arrives in Canada on Thursday with a focus on several of the world’s largest challenges: the war in Ukraine, climate change, trade, mass migration and an increasingly assertive China. Two important areas of agreement appear in hand: Canada will escalate its timeline for military upgrades to the North American Aerospace Defense Command, and the two nations will reach an agreement on migration, a senior Canadian official told The Associated Press. The Biden administration has made strengthening its friendship with Canada a priority over the past two years and Biden’s meetings with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the capital of Ottawa are an opportunity to set plans for the future.National security and air defenses are a priority, with a recent Chinese spy balloon floating over North America putting newfound urgency on Canada’s plans to update its radar systems and recent purchase of F-35 jets. Canada has agreed to an acc...

Review: Rehabilitating Richard III in ‘The Lost King’

Published Mon, 24 Feb 2025 12:44:12 GMT

Richard III didn’t need a horse for his kingdom. He just needed Philippa Langley. Langley, a single mother and amateur historian living in Edinburgh, Scotland, became increasingly obsessed with the late English monarch, long portrayed as one of the great villains of history. In the supposedly hunchbacked king who was said to have killed his nephews, Langley and others suspected a centurieslong smear campaign. The long-held consensus on Richard III had been shaped by the Tudors, who killed Richard and assumed the throne. It’s a narrative, of course, forever since solidified by Shakespeare’s great play. For Richard and his sympathizers, it’s been not just a winter of discontent but some 500 years. “Every tale condemns me for a villain,” the king says in “Richard III.”Except for “The Lost King.”Stephen Frears’ new film, which opens in theaters Friday, dramatizes the true tale of Langley’s dogged pursuit to unearth the true story of Richard as well as...

Track bans transgender athletes, tightens rules for Semenya

Published Mon, 24 Feb 2025 12:44:12 GMT

Track and field banned transgender athletes from international competition Thursday, while adopting new regulations that could keep Caster Semenya and other athletes with differences in sex development from competing.In a pair of decisions expected to stoke outrage, the World Athletics Council adopted the same rules as swimming did last year in deciding to bar athletes who have transitioned from male to female and have gone through male puberty. No such athletes currently compete at the highest elite levels of track.Another set of updates, for athletes with differences in sex development (DSD), will impact 13 athletes, WA President Sebastian Coe said. They include Semenya, a two-time Olympic champion at 800 meters who has been barred from that event since 2019.Semenya and others had been able to compete in events outside the restricted range of 400 meters through one mile, but will now have to undergo hormone-suppressing treatment for six months before competing to be eligible.Semen...

Police chief fires officer, releases video of shooting death

Published Mon, 24 Feb 2025 12:44:12 GMT

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A northern Virginia police officer has been fired after fatally shooting a shoplifting suspect last month following a foot chase at a busy shopping mall.Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis announced the dismissal Thursday at a press conference in which he also released body camera footage showing the shooting of Timothy McCree Johnson outside Tysons Corner Center on Feb. 22.Two officers who chased Johnson that night fired their weapons, Davis said. The one who fired the fatal round has been dismissed from the department, and the other officer remains on restricted duty as the investigation continues.The officer who was fired, Sgt. Wesley Shifflett, exhibited “a failure to live up to the expectations of our agency, in particular use of force policies,” Davis said.The video itself shows a nighttime chase that lasted less than two minutes, concluding with what sounds like three gunshots. An officer can be heard saying “stop reaching” but the video it...