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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/03/31/sf-giants-notebook-tommy-la-stellas-bat-is-making-it-hard-to-keep-him-off-opening-day-roster/
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Tommy La Stella still says being ready to play on Opening Day is up in the air for him.
“I wouldn’t say there’s a change in that yet,” La Stella said.
But through two games of spring action so far, he’s making quite the case for himself.
As he comes back from Achilles surgery, La Stella had another action-packed outing even though he only played three innings, going 2-for-2 with a homer and playing second base for the first time in the spring.
“He swung the bat really well, obviously — Tommy-style at-bats,” Kapler said.
After going 1-for-2 with a well-hit flyout, a three-run double and a walk on Tuesday, La Stella started off Thursday by pulling a homer to right, just coming a few feet short of hitting the Charro Lodge. He added a single in the first and advanced station-to-station to score a run in the second, the fifth run in the Giants’ 13-2 win over the Rockies at Scottsdale Stadium on Thursday.
Playing at second base for the first time in a spring game, La Stella got tested in every which way in the third inning alone: running in to track a pop up, going to his left for a ground ball (that just went under his glove) and going to his right to snag a grounder on the run (though his throw back across his body to first was not in time for an out).
“Didn’t get cheated on defensively,” La Stella quipped before adding, “It was good to be out there and go side-to-side. And be able to rebound and come back on the next play. Whenever I am ready, that’s the stuff I’ve got to be able to do.”
Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford added, “I think he’d probably be the first one to say he probably wasn’t at his quickest out there, but just to get him moving around, that’s great.”
But Kapler said he was actually impressed in how La Stella — and other Giants veterans, too — has been able to not push himself and try to do too much, saying La Stella “was measured on both defense and on the bases, by design.”
“One of the things that I find really impressive is when a player is able to put a governor on [themselves],” Kapler said. “It makes us trust that, in that sort of situation in the regular season, we can understand that he’s not going to be beating out a ground ball, he’s not going to make a diving play up the middle or to his right and get up and throw a runner out. But then we’re going to get the high-quality at-bats.
If we need to do something like replace them on the bases or on defense, we’re willing to do that to have his bat around in shorter periods of time. He’s plenty capable of playing good defense, running the bases well, all of those things. But I think it’s worth noting that there are ways that we can protect him and we have protected him in the past.”
Even with those breaks in place, the swings are still looking sharp, which doesn’t come as a surprise to Crawford.
“He’s always had a pretty simple swing, so it’s probably not going to take him a whole lot of time in spring to get going,” Crawford said. “He has great eye-hand coordination and can handle the bat and is a great contact guy. To have him in the lineup is definitely a good thing for us.”
And as for the roster spot on Opening Day? “Nothing’s off the table,” Kapler said. “We keep everything on the table.”
Crawford’s tweaks at plate give instant pay-off
Right after La Stella’s first inning homer, Crawford stepped up next and added one of his own with a shot to right-center — even though he joked he wouldn’t have cared if it went out or not, given the time of year.
“I don’t really want to waste them in spring,” Crawford said.
But this particular one was a welcomed sight for Crawford, who entered Thursday 0-for-the-spring in 10 at-bats with six strikeouts. He finished the day with a .214 batting average after going 3-for-4 with the first inning homer, an RBI single in the second and an RBI double in the seventh.
Crawford said he worked on his swing on Wednesday and started feeling better during a live batting practice session right after. Seeing the tweaks carry over into the game was welcomed.
“Even if I hit a few balls hard and got out, honestly, I would have felt a lot better about where my swing is at, as far as timing and approach and swinging at the right pitches,” Crawford said. “Obviously, anything I’ll take a hit, but I prefer to hit the ball hard and feel good about my swing, confident about my swing.”
Wood welcomes the traffic in third spring outing
It’s only Logan Webb and Alex Wood who have made three starts in games this spring, and Wood’s Thursday outing came with the rapid pace he’s become known for.
But while the Giants offense was working the Rockies for five runs, six hits and four walks in the first two innings, Wood was anxiously waiting to get back out on the mound, reaching the rubber seemingly seconds after the final out of the bottom-half of the innings were recorded.
He finished the day throwing around 65 pitches in 4.1 innings, allowing two runs on five hits and a walk and striking out four. He gave up both runs and all but one of his hits in the third, but he actually was just fine with having to deal with the traffic on the bases, a good check on his mechanics — and his rhythm — out of the stretch.
“I’ve made a conscious effort the last two seasons to make sure I’m looking at runners, whether they’re there or not,” Wood said. “I felt pretty comfortable with guys on, but it was definitely nice to have a little traffic out there and have to work a little bit harder than you would in a clean inning.”
But yet Wood was still able to get through the trouble and into the fifth and helped push the spring game’s time to under three hours, something that aligns with the Giants’ pitching philosophy of working fast and throwing strikes.
“Funny how that tends to correlate,” Kapler quipped postgame.
And why is Wood so quick to the plate?
“It’s probably my personality,” Wood said with a smile. “To be honest, I don’t like to wait around. I’m not a very patient person. That’s one of my faults as a human being.”
But what can be considered a fault in some aspects of life is a strength in others, and defenders absolutely love playing behind Wood, with La Stella saying Wood’s quickness is “on another level” compared to any other pitchers he’s played behind.
Wood is set to make one more start in Arizona before the season begins, aiming to get to around 80 pitches. But Wood wasn’t sure if he’d face the A’s on Tuesday, as the schedule currently lines him up to do.
Meanwhile, with Alex Cobb set to start on Friday, the rotation would typically indicate that Logan Webb would start Saturday, when the Giants have their lone spring game against the Dodgers.
But even with the abbreviated spring making the in-game repetitions more valued, there will be no rematch on Saturday. Kervin Castro was officially listed as the starter, with Webb instead pitching a simulated game. It’s a bit of gamesmanship that Kapler hinted was possible.
“I think there’s still time to play around with that a little bit, I just don’t think it can be the number one priority at this point,” Kapler said on Wednesday. “Number one priority is getting our pitchers the innings they need to be ready to go as deep into games as possible and to handle as many pitches as possible.
“Doesn’t mean that the competition element or the gamesmanship element goes out the window, but I think we just stay focused on the other side of that right now.”
The Giants didn’t shy away from starting Wood against the Rockies or Carlós Rodon against the Padres on Tuesday. But after their season-long battle last year, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the Giants are treating the Dodgers differently.
Giants keep focus on mental health ahead of season opener
The Giants organization has continued its focus on mental health, designating Thursday as Mental Health Day in camp. It’s something that the manager strongly believes in.
“This is important because we believe that everybody in our player population is suffering with something,” Kapler said. “It could be something that’s going on at home, a family rift, it could be anxiety issues, it could be depressing issues. And those are elevated at different times for different players. And frankly, it’s not just our players – it’s also our staff, it’s also our front office.
“It’s every member of our organization.”
The team wore shirts with “Strength isn’t always mental” on the front and #EndTheStigma as part of their efforts to increase mental health awareness, and Drew Robinson and Dr. Shana Alexander both addressed the team earlier in the morning, reiterating that “everyone is suffering” message.
“It takes the edge off for the people that are listening,” Kapler said. “Because whatever it is that you’re dealing with from a mental health perspective, oftentimes you feel like you’re the only person — and especially in a historically competition-driven environment, showing any sort of weakness has always been seen as a lack of strength. In reality, we believe it is the direct opposite of that. It’s an indication of strength.”
Robinson, the former minor leaguer who lost an eye from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 2020, is now in his capacity as a mental health advocate and Alexander — a clinical psychologist — as the Giants’ employee assistance program director. The Giants also have had Kellen Lee on staff since January 2020 as a minor league mental skills coach.
Kapler feels that the focus on mental health gives the Giants a leg up on the competition, but it’s one he’s happy to share with others.
“I think it’s definitely a competitive advantage, but also something we have to share because it’s the right thing to do,” Kapler said. “People are suffering, we can help them suffer less. There are some things that we want to keep quite proprietary. This is not one of them.”
Alexander was the one in charge of the t-shirts, which were initially just made for the team. But Kapler would be happy if the Giants decided to sell them: “No reason we wouldn’t want a lot of people wearing these shirts.”
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/03/31/warriors-great-tim-hardaway-will-be-inducted-into-hall-of-fame/
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The third member of the Warriors’ Run TMC trio will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame this summer.
Tim Hardaway has received the call from the Hall, joining Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin to complete the Golden State trifecta.
NBC Sports Bay Area’s Monte Poole first reported the news. A source confirmed Hardaway’s induction to sports editor Bud Geracie. The official announcement is expected Saturday.
Hardaway played the first six-and-a-half years of his career with the Warriors, earning three All-Star nods and orchestrating Don Nelson’s entertaining, up-and-down style of basketball that energized Bay Area fans. He averaged 9.3 assists per game over five-plus seasons with the Warriors, along with 19.8 points.
The Warriors’ Run TMC era lasted just two seasons as it ended when Richmond was traded to Sacramento following Golden State’s exciting 1991 playoff run, which included a first-round upset over David Robinson’s Spurs.
Proving the phenomenon of the Warriors’ fast-paced play didn’t die down even after Richmond left, McDonald’s even began marketing a “Tim and Chris Burger” in the Bay Area in 1992. The fast food chain’s televised ad featured Hardaway and Mullin arguing over it was called a “Tim and Chris Burger” or a “Chris and Tim Burger.”
Their televised dilemma was nothing compared to what Warriors opponents faced each night back then.
“We called it controlled chaos,” Hardaway said when he was inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame four years ago. “We knew how to move without the basketball, set back screens, and we knew how to create and take advantage of mismatches.”
Hardaway may be the last of the Run TMC stars to make it to the Hall of Fame, but there was no doubt which of the three made them go.
“He was the catalyst. He was the one who was driving the ship,” Richmond once told this news organization. “Right before training camp, I remember Nellie brought the whole team together and said, `Tim is the quarterback. Just run the floor and he’ll find you.’ ”
In just his second year in the league, Hardaway was already electrifying while averaging 22.9 points, 9.7 assists and 2.6 steals. Combined with Mullin’s 25.9 points per game and Richmond’s 23.9, the threesome averaged a whopping 72.5 points per game.
The Warriors were among the top three scoring teams in the NBA for the first five years of Hardaway’s career, including the 1993-94 season he missed with a knee injury while rookie Chris Webber emerged as another star.
The 1996 trade that sent Hardaway to Miami was one of several moves that plummeted the Warriors from the playoffs into the NBA’s basement.
Hardaway played parts of six seasons with the Heat, getting two more All-Star accolades, before finishing his career with two seasons split between Dallas, Denver and Indiana. His No. 10 jersey was retired by Miami.
Reports indicate Spurs star Manu Ginoblili and WNBA great Swin Cash will also be inducted, along with former Warriors coach George Karl and collegiate coach Bob Huggins.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/03/31/ex-as-minor-leaguer-allegedly-led-illegal-sports-gambling-ring/
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LOS ANGELES — Five men have agreed to plead guilty to federal crimes for their roles in an illegal Southern California sports betting operation that took wagers from professional athletes, authorities said Thursday.
The ring was led by Wayne Nix, 45, a former pitcher for the Oakland Athletics minor league baseball team who lives in Newport Beach.
Around 2001, Nix started using his professional sports contacts to build a gambling business, developing a client list that included unnamed professional athletes, the former ballplayer admitted in court papers.
It eventually expanded into a major enterprise that employed three former Major League Baseball players as agents who recruited bettors. Password-protected accounts were set up for clients to place bets on a website run by Sand Island Sports, a company based in Costa Rica. Betting on the outcome of sporting events is legal in some states, but not California.
Nix, the father of ESPN broadcaster Wendi Nix, acknowledged receiving $245,000 from a professional football player and $4,000 from a Major League Baseball coach, in both cases to cover gambling losses in 2016. Both were unnamed in the court records.
Another client placed a $5 million bet on the 2019 Super Bowl in Atlanta, where the New England Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams. A few weeks later, Nix agreed in a text exchange to reactivate the account of a sports broadcaster who told him he was refinancing his home mortgage so he could repay his gambling debts.
Nix said he also let the business manager of a professional basketball player bet up to $25,000 per NBA game.
The investigation was triggered in 2017 by two informants who provided information to the Homeland Security Investigations agency, according to an HSI application for a search warrant. One informant acknowledged that the goal of cooperating with law enforcement was to avoid paying off a $6 million gambling debt.
A federal judge gave investigators permission to tap the phones of Nix and several other suspects, the warrant application says. The surveillance yielded multiple recordings of bets being placed. “Put $3,000 on Djokovic to win Wimbledon,” Nix told someone on a phone call in June 2019.
Nix and one of his partners, Edon Kagasoff, 44, of Lake Forest, agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business. Nix also admitted that he failed to report $1.5 million in personal income on his 2017 and 2018 federal tax returns.
Court records did not specify whether any professional athletes used Nix’s business to bet on their own teams’ games. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles declined to comment on the matter and said the investigation was continuing.
Nix, a former right-handed pitcher, was Oakland’s fourth-round pick in the 1995 draft out of Monroe High in Sepulveda. He won nine games with the High-A Modesto A’s in 1999 and followed that up by winning nine games in each of the next two seasons when Oakland moved its High-A team to Visalia. Nix advanced to Double-A with the A’s at the end of the 1991 season, which would be his last as a pro.
The charges come at a delicate time for America’s pro sports leagues, which have raced to embrace sports betting — and the billions that could flow from it — while trying to reassure fans that players and other insiders are not betting on games.
The four major North American leagues could generate $4.23 billion per year from legalized sports betting, according to the American Gaming Association. Fans already can place bets at gambling operations inside stadiums and arenas from Phoenix to Chicago and Washington, D.C.
Teams and leagues say betting can keep fans involved with games. Betting online and or over the phone has become easier and, as one technology operator told The Los Angeles Times last month, “There’s a million pitches over the course of a season. You can bet on every one of them.”
The NFL this month suspended Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley for at least one year after uncovering evidence that he had bet on NFL games.
Major League Baseball was made aware of the federal charges Thursday and is looking into the matter, a league official said.
The other three men who admitted to participation in the illegal betting ring were Howard Miller, 63, of Gardena; Kenneth Arsenian, 52, of Newport Beach; and Joseph Castelao, 56, of Rancho Palos Verdes.
Miller agreed to plead guilty to operation of an illegal gambling business.
Arsenian pleaded guilty in January to the same charge, as well as filing a false tax return, money laundering and accepting money for illegal online gambling. Castelao, who owned the Sand Island Sports website, has pleaded guilty to operating an illegal gambling business.
Celebrity Financial, which ran the Sherman Oaks Check Cashing store in the San Fernando Valley, agreed to plead guilty to failure to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program, admitting that it cashed more than $18 million in checks from three clients of the betting ring.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/03/31/when-she-was-8-she-told-steph-curry-believe-in-yourself-now-shes-starring-for-stanford-in-the-final-four/
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Cameron Brink was 8 years old when she whispered in the ear of Stephen Curry, a star college basketball player at the time and a close family friend she considered a “god-brother.”
A decade away from becoming a college basketball star herself at Stanford — which will compete Friday in the NCAA women’s Final Four — Brink was mainly interested back then in drawing pictures and wearing dresses.
Their mothers were best friends since college, and her family was in Detroit to cheer on Curry in his burst-onto-the-national-stage NCAA tournament run as a player for Davidson College.
Before the team left the hotel for its Sweet 16 game, Cameron’s mother witnessed the earnest, intimate moment. She gets choked up remembering it.
“What did she say to you?” Shelly Bain-Brink asked Curry.
“She said, ‘If you believe in yourself, you can be somebody,’ ” he responded.
They laugh about it now. Curry is one of the NBA’s all-time greats who has led the Golden State Warriors to three NBA championships.
But he never won an NCAA title, his family reminds him.
Cameron Brink could win her second this weekend.
“That’s an accolade that Stephen and (his NBA brother) Seth can’t brag about,” their mother, Sonya Curry, said in an interview Thursday.
Cameron didn’t even want to play sports until fifth or sixth grade. And when the Currys would bring it up, “she would say, ‘I’m an artist,’ ” Sonya Curry said. “So to see what she’s doing now is totally incredible.”
Stephen, who is nursing a foot injury, plans to watch the game with his family from home. But Sonya Curry will be in the stands with the Brinks in Minneapolis on Friday when the Cardinal take on the legendary Connecticut women’s basketball team for a chance to move on to Sunday’s national title game. Sonya is godmother to the Brinks’ two children, and Shelly is godmother to the Curry boys.
“We laugh because we put these monikers like godsister, godbrother, which are not real, but to us, it’s our way of explaining how connected we are to them,” Bain-Brink said. The three Curry children — Steph, Seth and sister, Sydel — have “always been like big brothers and sisters.”
The families are so close that for every Stanford home game, the Brinks travel from their home in the Portland area to stay as houseguests of Steph and Ayesha Curry on the Peninsula. (“We call it ‘Spa Curry,’” Brink says.) Cameron and her boyfriend, Stanford rower Ben Felter, are frequent dinner guests there as well.
The bond between the families started at Virginia Tech, where Shelly played basketball and Sonya played volleyball and they became roommates. Their future husbands, Dell Curry and Greg Brink, both basketball players, lived in the men’s wing of their dorm.
Steph’s and Cameron’s close relationship is captured in scores of photos that Bain-Brink keeps on her phone and taped to her refrigerator. There’s 13-year-old Steph holding baby Cameron in her white baptismal gown. There he is again five years later, giving Cameron and her pink purse a piggyback ride across the Davidson campus.
Image after image follows the two families at graduations and bridal showers and basketball games.
Cameron wasn’t available for an interview Thursday. But her mother said there’s the photo she hates, when she was 10 with glasses and braces as Steph taught her how to hold a basketball and the mechanics of a jump shot. And there are the ones she loves, of Steph and her back to back, when she was 12 and just shy of his 6-foot-3 height, and the one two years later, when she eclipsed him at 6-foot-4 — and Steph stood on a chair next to her for laughs.
The Currys started their family a decade before the Brinks, and all three Curry children were in the Brinks’ wedding. They’ve lived in different states and countries over the past 20 years — especially as Dell Curry’s own NBA career took him to five teams and the Brinks pursued their careers with Nike — but they always visited each other. When the photo of the bespectacled Cameron was taken, she was on summer vacation from Amsterdam, where the Brinks were living at the time, and was cajoled into joining Dell Curry’s annual basketball camp in Charlotte, N.C.
“We didn’t really think this was going to be about changing her mind or making her like basketball anymore. It was just something to do,” Sonya Curry said. “So she went the first day and she came back bruised up, hair all over the place and was like, ‘I don’t want to do this.’ ”
But the Currys encouraged her. “Just go back. One more day. Half a day. And then if you don’t like it, we’ll come pick you up and no big deal. And she was like, ‘OK.’ And she never looked back after that.”
The summer after seventh grade, when the Brink family had settled in Beaverton, Ore., and Cameron was nearing Stephen’s height, she was offered a scholarship to Stanford after a summer basketball camp, a shock to the Brinks.
“We thought perhaps she had potential,” said Shelly, who is 6-foot-3 to her husband’s 6-foot-7 and whose son, Cy, is 6-foot-9, “but never at this level, especially that early on.”
When Cameron was in high school, Stephen invited her to his elite summer basketball camp, one of only two girls to play. And last summer, between Cameron’s freshman and sophomore years, Stephen asked her to train with him at the Woodside Priory gym — a privilege that her mother says was both exciting and nerve racking.
“He’s a mega basketball star and he’s incredibly authentic. What you see is what you get off the court with Stephen,” Shelly said. But with her daughter, “there’s still that level of, ‘I’m not worthy.’ She feels that she is in the presence of greatness and she doesn’t want to disappoint him.”
But for the Cardinal, Cameron is more than proving herself. This season, she was named the media’s Pac-12 player of the year and a finalist for the Naismith trophy as the nation’s top defensive player. After a particularly rough game earlier this season, where she struggled with fouls, she sought advice from Stephen.
Shelly was in the kitchen of the Curry’s house “with one ear open,” she said, while Stephen and Cameron sat at the kitchen table.
“He talked to her about how he’s even struggled with that and how to keep your head in the game and stay positive and stay consistent with your work ethic,” Shelly said. “It’s really authentic and subtle, and she soaks it all in.”
But something else special is happening at the Curry house when Cameron visits. She’s bonding with the Currys’ three children the way Steph and his siblings bonded with her and her brother. And like Cameron in her early years, Riley, 9, Ryan, 7 and Canon, 3, seem less interested in the basketball court than the trampoline.
On Friday night in Minneapolis, Sonya and Shelly — the enduring friends who have raised their children together from miles apart — will be there rooting on Cameron and the Cardinal women. They will look for the right moment to flash an “I love you” hand signal down to the court — the same one Cameron has tattooed on her ribcage.
Then they will hope, like they always do, that Cameron will look up and flash one back.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/03/31/chico-state-finishes-sixth-in-second-to-last-event-before-playoffs-local-roundup/
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The Chico State men’s golf team finished in sixth place in Stanislaus after the two day event Monday and Tuesday. The Wildcats finished 8-over on Tuesday and 11-over for the two day tournament.
Chico State, ranked No. 7 in the West Region, finished nine shots behind the champion Western Washington.
Chris Colla tied for 13th on the individual leaderboard at 1-over par, Dakota Ochoa finished tied for 21st at 4-over par, Tyler Ashman finished tied for 26th at 5-over par and Brayden Russo finished 7-over par for a tie of 29th place.
Chico State will next be in action at the RJGA Palm Valley Classic on Monday and Tuesday in Goodyear, Arizona in the Wildcats’ final event before the CCAA Championships. The CCAA Championships begin April 11 through April 13 at Yocha Dehe Golf Cub in Brooks.
Prep boys tennis
Pleasant Valley 9, Shasta 0: Pleasant Valley improved to 8-1 and 5-0 in Eastern Athletic League play with a sweep of Shasta on Tuesday.
Singles winners for the Vikings included Eugene Lee, Konti Armbruster, Robbie Foster, Bradley Vereschagin, Matt Kuperman and Elijah Huston.
In doubles the teams of Lee and Armbruster, Foster and Kuperman, and Lyle Aiken and Moses Mesfin won their matches.
PV will compete next at 4 p.m. Thursday at home against Enterprise.
North Section Soccer Senior Showcase
After a two-year hiatus the Brett Silva Memorial North Section Senior
Showcase returned with two games Sunday that came down to the final seven minutes for the boys and a shootout or the girls.
In the boys game, the North side went ahead in the second half on a goal by Corning’s Carlos Cervantes. The South later tied the game and took the lead on a goal by Pleasant Valley’s Estefano Garcia, who was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.
The girl’s match ended up a 1-1 tie at the end of regulation, with goals by the North’s Isabel Lendman of University Prep and the South’s Emma Gyllenhammer of Chico High School.
Report scores or results by emailing sports@chicoer.com. Results must be reported by noon the next day following the date that the game was played.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/03/31/death-notices-received-march-30-6/
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PLANCHARD: George Planchard, 75, of Chico, died March 28, 2022, in Chico. Arrangements are under the direction of Brusie Funeral Home, 342-5642.
STEPHENSON: Wayland Alan Stephenson, 74, of Chico, died March 25, 2022, in Chico. Arrangements are under the direction of Neptune Society of Northern California, 345-7200.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/03/31/letter-not-the-park-annie-bidwell-had-in-mind/
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About a week ago we had a letter asking for Upper Park fees to get the road open. Nope. The park has stayed free for maybe 90 years because the road is a fire road and the City of Chico is responsible for keeping it up. After forgetting that for eight years the city found itself a $1 million state grant to do it, to a standard that should hold with minor fixes for several decades.
The “parking fee” came about from city council discovering that a city park we have to drive to, and that has only one road in, could be a cash cow if it played its cards right. Right meaning not face up. What the city gave us is a kind of special tax for upper park: special because it isn’t to fix the road, that money’s already in, and it’s not our high cost park, and we don’t need it gussied up, so pretty much the whole haul will go straight into the general fund. That’s on top of the 1% sales tax increase city council also wants. Count on our debt to keep going up even with both. It’s how city council works these days.
Look, Annie Bidwell intended the park to be free and it has been for generations. You might feel happy that you’re thanking her by putting 2 bucks into the general fund on your way in, but me I just feel slickered. So would she.
— David P. Smith, Chico
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/03/31/letter-putins-pupil-leads-cheers-for-assets/
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Putin’s murderous invasion of Ukraine has displaced some 4.3 million children in the past month — more than half of the country’s estimated 7.5 million child population, according to UNICEF.
That said, there’s a fine line between genius and insanity. Jabba the Orange praised Putin’s justification to invade Ukraine as “genius” and “savvy” – someone who target bombs homes, schools, shelters, and hospitals, including a maternity hospital, is not a genius, but rather a madman whose very essence is void of humanity.
Fox’s Carlson and congressman Cawthorn (R-NC) have starred on Russian television parroting Putin’s anti-American rants, while Representative Greene (R-GA) has accused Ukrainian President Zelensky of torturing his own people and developing “dangerous pathogens in biolabs” funded by millions of U.S. dollars. Popular “news” outlets Fox, OAN and Newsmax push this drivel and other anti-Ukraine rhetoric.
Dubbed the “Red Square Republicans”, senators Shelby (Ala.), Daines (Mont.), Hoeven (N.D.), Kennedy (La.), Moran (Kan.), Thune (S.D.) Johnson (Wi.), plus Rep. Granger (Tex.) traveled to Moscow on our nation’s birthday last year to pay homage to Putin.
These are not useful idiots being used by Putin, they’re useful assets.
They are cheered on by Putin’s pupil, the former one, who calls his Republican adversaries “Rinos” (Republicans in name only), while he called for the jailing of journalists, fired diplomats for telling the truth, rails against a fair election; a demagogue unduly fond of himself, who can whip up a crowd but struggles to complete a sentence.
His proper title, dear readers, should be the Rino-in-Chief.
— Roger S. Beadle, Chico
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Two things every Liberal, Conservative, Progressive, Libertarian, Anarchist, Et al. have in common is our humanity and overlapping needs and beliefs …
A Libertarian believes in equality for all. I’m all in for this!
An Anarchist believes that governmental hierarchy is flawed. I’m all in for this!
A Liberal believes in equality before the law. I’m all in for this!
A Conservative believes in individual freedom. I’m all in for this!
A Progressive believes in evidence-based governing. I’m all in for this!
Et al. believes in the personal pursuit of happiness. I’m super all in for this!
We are not defined by our political affiliation, nor are we defined by our thoughts and beliefs. We are defined by our actions.
A wise Oroville houseless grandad I met in 2012 reinforced a core belief of mine thusly, “Just act like a human being and you can safely go anywhere.”
I believe this to be true, and we need to hold this truth as self evident; for we are all human. Flawed, factious and fantastic.
— Bill Mash, Chico
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/03/31/letter-what-in-the-world-happened-to-oscars/
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How did the Oscars go from being dignified to sleazy and where did the “Me Too” movement disappear to?
What if a man called women up to the stage and proceeded to run his hands all over them with comments about their bodies? I think there would be quite an uproar.
— Michael Zeno, Chico
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/03/31/penalties-mistakes-doom-san-jose-sharks-in-loss-to-nhls-best-team/
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The Sharks made one too many mistakes against the NHL’s best team on Thursday night.
With the game tied and defenseman Nicolas Meloche serving a slashing penalty, Mikko Rantanen took a pass from Nazem Kadri and beat an outstretched Kaapo Kahkonen at the 12:17 mark of the third period to help give Colorado a 4-2 win over the Sharks at Ball Arena.
Andre Burakovsky added an insurance goal at the 15:16 mark of the third period, as the Sharks were swept on their two-game, two-day trip against Central Division teams. San Jose lost 5-2 to Arizona on Wednesday night.
The Sharks had earlier erased two one-goal Avalanche leads on goals by Brent Burns and Timo Meier. But Colorado was relentless, as they had had 77 shot attempts over three periods.
Colorado now has an NHL-leading record of 48-14-6. The Sharks are 29-30-8.
Meier scored his 31st goal of the season – a new single-season career-high – in the second period off a workmanlike assist from Tomas Hertl at the 12:09 mark. Meier had 30 goals in 78 games in 2018-2019, his third season as a professional.
Meier now had six goals and three assists in his last six games, as he and linemates Hertl and Alexander Barabanov have driven the bus offensively for the Sharks since they were put back together the March 20 game with Arizona in San Jose.
Kahkonen was making his second start for the Sharks after he stopped 36 of 40 shots in San Jose’s 5-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on March 24. He finished with 42 saves.
Kahkonen entered Thursday’s game with a 1-2-1 record and a .890 save percentage in four career games against the Avalanche, all with the Minnesota Wild. Kahkonen was also looking for his first win since Feb. 20 when the Wild beat the Edmonton Oilers 7-3.
Since then, Kahkonen was 0-6-1 with an .879 save percentage.
Kahkonen sparkled in the first period, though, making 15 saves as the Avalanche played at its usual blistering pace. Three of those saves came on the penalty kill after Ryan Merkley was called for hooking Nathan MacKinnon at the 8:28 mark of the first period.
Colorado took a 1-0 lead at the 1:54 mark of the second period as Alex Newhook’s shot from just inside the blue line got past Kahkonen with traffic in front. The Sharks challenged for goalie interference, but the NHL situation room determined there was none.
Darren Helm also scored for Colorado. He took a pass from Valeri Nichushkin, who stole a breakout pass from Erik Karlsson, and beat Kahkonen for his sixth goal of the season.
The Sharks have Friday off and host Joe Pavelski and the Dallas Stars on Saturday.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/letter-ice-rink-blamed-for-ormes-departure/
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I see one good reason the city manager resigned. City Plaza. He, without a vote by the city council, created the monetary disaster of the ice rink in City Plaza. We still don’t know the total cost as months later after the closing of the rink City Plaza it is closed off by an ugly metal fence.
Which leaves us with two questions “can it even be restored to its original beautiful condition?” and “when will City Plaza be open again?”
— Norm Dillinger, Chico
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/a-drought-one-of-many-sow-there/
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For generations, children have been rolling their eyes at old-folk stories. “When I was a kid …” we walked to school every day, raked leaves for spending money and knocked on neighbors’ doors to sell Girl Scout cookies.
Young folks of today may be just as uninterested in our once “Great” events, including Hurricane Katrina, Loma Prieta earthquake or the day when Oroville Dam almost collapsed.
Young people of the moment will have stories of their own. They can tell their children that they remember when gasoline was only $5, when cars stopped at stop signs and how the tallest buildings in Chico were nine stories high.
They’ll also recall the COVID-19 pandemic, wildfire after wildfire and drought.
My generation thought we had lived through “THE drought of ‘76-’77,” the way that other generations lived through THE great war, THE Great Depression, THE flu pandemic.
The drought. Let’s be frank. THE drought of our childhood is only one of many. Even if we get rain from now until the Silver Dollar Fair, it’s only a matter of time until several seasons go by with little more than a few spits of precipitation on our car windshields.
My favorite water writer, Paul Rogers, reports that “the past two decades ranks as the driest 22-year period in at least 1,200 years” for the American West.
We’d be paying more attention to drought if we weren’t worried about the war in Ukraine, the pandemic, inflation or Will Smith’s outburst at the Oscars.
When I was a water reporter for this paper, I wrote endless stories about a drought from 2012-2016, which followed other droughts from 2007-2009 and 2000-2003. Less than a decade ago, the state was offering funding to folks who chose to convert their water-grubbing lawns into mulch gardens with native, drought-tolerant plants. My friends Jim and Bitz were smart enough to cash in.
My yard was converted over time, reluctantly on my part because plants were slowly lost during harsh conditions. The list of dead things includes the pink jasmine, which is now brown, the potted buddleia, geranium, hydrangea and so many others gone so long I can’t recall what exactly was lost.
At some point, I decided not to try to be a superhero, and planned to replant after this drought business was done. I’m still waiting.
One good thing about the status quo is that I am intimately aware of what will survive if I drag the hose around the yard twice a week.
Volunteer periwinkle has no problem hogging the fence line separating my yard from my Totally Cool Neighbor. Poppies are about to bloom in a giant swath near the raised bed. Zinnia may grow again where I tossed dried flowers from blooms last year.
The big surprise, despite meager rainfall this winter, has been calendula. A year or more ago I threw seeds in the oversized faux wine barrel. They grew and shed dried seed pods nearly everywhere. I’ve kept a bear’s breeches plant alive in the faux wine barrel, and the water must have leaked from the bottom. This is where the calendula now thrives in the gravel. Flowers have already arrived.
Recently, I visited with my friend Betty Ann in north Chico and I spotted the sunny calendula in her yard.
“Be careful,” she warned. “Those can be considered weeds.”
At this point, I don’t care. If it blooms and can grow during recurring drought, I’m all in.
Betty Ann is another person to envy for forward-thinking. She learned years ago that the best drought defense is piles and piles of mulch. Covering soil preserves soil moisture and also makes yanking weeds an easy task.
The https://www.gardeningknowhow.com website has a fairly long-list of plants that can endure yet another drought. Calendula happens to be at the top of the list. (They listed the plant alphabetically). Other dry-tolerant annuals include cockscomb, cosmos, dusty miller, geranium, globe amaranth, marigold, portulaca, snapdragon, statice, verbena and zinnia. A few of the perennials mentioned include things you might spot growing in an alley: coreopsis, shasta daisy, bee balm, black-eyed Susan, carpet bugle and lavender. Others worth an investment for a long-dry year or two include salvia, daylily, asters, goldenrod, sedum and milkweed. It makes sense to spend money on plants that at least have a chance of survival. We could wait until the 2030s before we have another “normal year.” However, I’m not ready to live without flowers.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/death-notices-received-march-31-5/
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DENT: Clifton J. Dent, 73, of Biggs, died March 25, 2022, in Biggs. Arrangements are under the direction of Gridley-Block Funeral Chapel, 846-2138.
JOHNSON: James “Jim” Johnson, 87, of Chico, died March 26, 2022, in Chico. Arrangements are under the direction of Brusie Funeral Home, 342-5642.
OSTRANDER: Lance C. Ostrander, 44, of Oroville, died March 20, 2022, in Chico. Arrangements are under the direction of Oroville Funeral Home, 533-0323. No services are planned.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/dont-hesitate-to-thin-that-fruit-the-real-dirt/
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It is time to start thinking about thinning the fruit on peach, nectarine, plum, pluot, apricot, apple and pear trees.
To produce fruit that is large and healthy, fruit trees need plenty of leaves to feed the developing fruit. Since trees often set far more fruit than their leaves can adequately support, it is generally a good idea to remove a percentage of the developing fruit. Thinning fruit improves the leaf-to-fruit ratio, which results in improved fruit size and quality. Thinning also reduces the overall weight of fruit, thus decreasing the possibility of overburdened limbs splitting or breaking.
In addition, over cropping can trigger alternate bearing, with significantly less fruit production the following year. Thinning can also limit the spread of diseases (such as brown rot) of fruits that are touching one another.
Fruit should be thinned when it is about three-quarters of an inch in diameter. Thinning is usually done from early April to mid-May, depending on whether the fruit is an early-ripening or late-ripening variety. Fruit should be thinned when it is about three-quarters of an inch in diameter. If fruit is smaller than this, it may be too hard to see, but if thinned when the fruit is larger than this part of the advantage of thinning will be lost. The larger the fruit is when it is thinned, the smaller the ripe fruit will be at harvest. In other words, it is best to thin fruit early — but not too early. Thinning also provides an opportunity to remove small, misshapen or damaged fruit, and these should be the first ones eliminated by thinning. Retain the largest fruit whenever possible.
Rather than pulling it from the branch, fruit should be hand thinned either by twisting it off the stem or pinching off the stem between the fingernails of the thumb and index finger or using clippers. Peaches and nectarines should be thinned to about five to eight inches apart on the branch. Plums and pluots are smaller, so they can be slightly closer together, about four to six inches apart. Apricots are smaller still and can be thinned to about three to five inches apart.
Apples and pears produce clusters of flowers and fruit from each bud and should be thinned to one fruit per cluster. However, if the crop is light, two fruit per cluster is acceptable. If the apple or pear crop is heavy, the fruit should be spaced no less than six to eight inches apart. Since the stems of apples and pears are relatively thick and tough, it is best to use clippers to thin them.
Most home fruit growers do not thin enough fruit from their trees. While it may be hard to thin off that potential fruit, if thinning is done properly both the harvester and the trees will reap the benefits.
For more information on fruit thinning, see http://homeorchard.ucanr.edu/The_Big_Picture/Fruit_Thinning and http://ucanr.edu/sites/sacmg/Fruit_and_nuts/Fruit_Thinning.
Vegetable Plant Sale! Stock up on popular varieties of vegetable plants at our Plant Sale on Saturday, April 2 from 9 to 11 a.m. The sale will take place at the Master Gardener Demonstration Garden at Patrick Ranch at 10381 Midway in Durham rain or shine. For more details, including a plant list, go to https://ucanr.edu/sites/bcmg/sale.
Upcoming Master Gardener workshops: There is plenty to choose from workshop-wise this month: topics covered are Companion Planting (April 5), Biochar (April 6), Soil Science (April 8), Converting Yards to Invite Monarchs with Native Plants (April 19) and Gardening with Chickens (April 26). The Soil Science workshop will be presented via Zoom, all the others are in-person. Check the workshop page on our website for times, locations and current COVID-19 safety guidelines: Workshops for Spring 2022 at https://ucanr.edu/sites/bcmg.
The UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are part of the University of California Cooperative Extension system, serving our community in a variety of ways, including 4-H, farm advisers, and nutrition and physical activity programs. To learn more about UCCE Butte County Master Gardeners, and for help with gardening in our area, visit https://ucanr.edu/sites/bcmg/. If you have a gardening question or problem, call the hotline at 538-7201 or email mgbutte@ucanr.edu.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/horoscopes-april-1-2022-david-oyelowo-speak-your-mind/
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CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Asa Butterfield, 25; Klarc Jerome Wilson, 29; Taran Killam, 40; David Oyelowo, 46.
Happy Birthday: Speak your mind. Take the initiative to make your dreams come true. Be responsible for your happiness, and construct a life that satisfies your needs and warms your soul. Invest in yourself, your ideas and being the best you can be. Surround yourself with people who share your dreams and beliefs. Set a standard, and you’ll reach your expectations. Your numbers are 4, 7, 19, 28, 35, 41, 47.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Head down a path you find inviting. Be receptive to what others have to offer and open to trying something new. Personal improvement is favored, and activities and events conducive to love and romance are encouraged. Put your dreams in motion. 3 stars
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Be aware of your surroundings and what everyone else is doing. Caution will prevent someone from taking advantage of your vulnerabilities. Offer your strengths, not your weaknesses, and you will outmaneuver anyone who tries to lead you astray. 3 stars
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): You have knowledge, experience and good timing in abundance, so don’t let anyone interfere with your plans. Challenge anyone who gets in your way, and gravitate toward those who contribute to your cause. Personal gain, partnerships and romance are favored. 4 stars
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Reflect on what’s gone wrong, and adjust to ensure it won’t happen again. Preparation is the key to getting things right the first time. Don’t get into a disagreement with someone who fights dirty or uses blackmail to outmaneuver you. 2 stars
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Don’t worry about the changes others make. Go about your business, and people who share your concerns will offer help. A special relationship will enhance your life and give you a new perspective on the possibilities that exist. Romance is encouraged. 5 stars
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Set high standards, and stand by your word. Don’t let what others do influence you to do something questionable or invest more in them than you. Your future is dependent on how you handle others and your ability to please yourself. 3 stars
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Plan to socialize with people who challenge you mentally and physically and those who bring out the best in you. Unique plans for two will bring you closer together and encourage personal stability and security that puts your mind at ease. 3 stars
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Try something different. A personal change may not please everyone, but if it sits well with you, that’s all that matters. Take responsibility for your happiness, and your life will fall into place. Rid yourself of dead weight. 3 stars
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Get involved in activities that require strength and agility. Work alongside people who share your goals and beliefs. A healthy, happy routine will help you do and be your best. Discuss your plans with someone you love, then proceed with confidence. 5 stars
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Don’t let anyone railroad you into something you don’t relish. Do your own thing, and make changes at home that add to your comfort and convenience. It’s up to you to pick and choose how you spend your time and money. 2 stars
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Take the direction that feels right, and don’t let others interfere. Your decisions regarding money and business must come from the heart if you want them to work for you. It’s essential to love what you do and who you are. 4 stars
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Bend a little, and things will swing in your favor. Incentives and compliments will help you persuade others to pitch in and help you achieve your goals. Demonstrate how passionate you are about your beliefs, and you will make a difference. 3 stars
Birthday Baby: You are expressive, innovative and upbeat. You are responsive and indulgent.
1 star: Avoid conflicts; work behind the scenes. 2 stars: You can accomplish, but don’t rely on others. 3 stars: Focus and you’ll reach your goals. 4 stars: Aim high; start new projects. 5 stars: Nothing can stop you; go for gold.
Visit Eugenialast.com, or join Eugenia on Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn.
Want to get a link to your daily horoscope delivered directly to your inbox each weekday morning? Sign up for our free Coffee Break newsletter at mercurynews.com/newsletters or eastbaytimes.com/newsletters.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/letter-lucero-a-tireless-excellent-supervisor/
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Debra Lucero has been an excellent District 2 supervisor. She is accessible and responsive to her constituents. When our Bidwell neighborhood had trouble with PG&E cutting our historic oak and walnut trees without notice or consultation, we called her and she immediately intervened. She arranged a meeting with PG&E, and we were able to work out a solution where they notify and consult with us before any work is done.
Debra has educated herself and us about Butte County’s water. Since SGMA , the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act passed in 2014, groundwater sustainability has been a challenge in California. Water districts have to plan for how groundwater will be managed so that all stakeholders – farmers, domestic well owners, city dwellers, the natural environment – will be protected. As we are a groundwater dependent community with 6500 domestic well owners (including me), sustainability is of utmost importance. However, to date, most plans submitted to the state still favor those with the most money and political power. Debra wants our plan to be more equitable.
To that end, she has attended many meetings of the Butte County Water Commission and District 2’s GSA (the Vina Groundwater Sustainability Agency) so as to monitor the development of local water proposals. She relays this information to her constituents using social media or meetings. I appreciate how she listens to all concerns, responds quickly, and works tirelessly representing all citizens in her district regardless of party affiliation.
— Susan Schrader, Chico
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/letter-luceros-support-for-wastewater-surveillance/
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In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the CDC launched the National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) in September 2020. This system tracks the presence of SARS-
CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in wastewater samples collected across the country. The NWSS works with public health departments to track virus levels so that communities can act quickly to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Infected people, even those without symptoms, can shed the virus in their feces in RNA strands.
These strands are not infectious, but can be detected in wastewater. A change shows up several days before it shows up in individual test results. By tracking the trends, health departments can be better prepared in case of upcoming surges and/or increases in variants.
Currently, COVID testing data is becoming less available because people don’t report their at-home test results to public health, and some people avoid testing because a positive test would result in negative consequences. According to the California Water Environment Association, fifty-nine California utilities are currently participants in the NWSS.
As of March 24 , 2022, the rate of fully vaccinated people in Butte County Public Health is only 52.76%, and the BA.2 variant continues to spread. We are at risk for another surge with little preparation. I think it’s high time to start testing wastewater in the city and county as soon as possible.
Supervisor Debra Lucero, District 2, first proposed wastewater surveillance two years ago, and she continues to support this initiative now.
— Annie Kavanagh, Chico
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/letter-no-fooling-time-for-a-cease-fire/
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I ventured to the Kite Flying Day at the large Chico park. It was good to see so many folks having a great kite flying time.
I am motivated to deliver a message to both leaders in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. I believe that they should cease fire by April 1 and stop the loss of life and destruction of property. It seems like there is a tremendous failure to communicate on the part of both leaders. Rational human beings are better than that. General Douglas McArthur, in front of the 82nd Congress I believe, stated that “war is no longer a rational means of solving international disputes,” or words to that effect.
General Eisenhower said “Beware of the Military Industrial Complex.” Perhaps there is more money to be made in wartime?
If those in power in the two countries continue the present war activity, then they should be declared “War Mongers” and be branded as such in the pages of history, and let it be so. I hope for peace and soon.
— John Harvey Babcock, Chico
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/letter-opposed-to-hotel-in-california-park/
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As a longtime resident of California Park I oppose the hotel proposed at the corner of Bruce Road and Highway 32. For those who see this as a localized NIMBY issue be assured that is not the case for most of us. I view the growth of Chico in and around this area as a positive. Less than a mile away you can view an example of careful urban planning and well thought out development at Meriam Park.
Putting a four-story hotel literally inside the entrance to a senior residential community is not only incompatible but poor urban planning. The commercial development of this lot was anticipated to benefit the surrounding community with retail or office space and not a corporate monolith in an otherwise quiet residential neighborhood.
I will let others point out the countless other reasons this is just a bad idea.
— Tim Donohue, Chico
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/letter-votes-for-trump-didnt-matter-here/
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Lori Eckhart wrote that there’s no way she’ll apologize for her votes for Trump. Where she has offered partisan reasons for her Trump votes, a better reason Eckhart needn’t apologize is that her votes didn’t matter. California cast all its electoral college votes in 2016 and 2020 for Democrats.
In her letter Eckhart claims Trump achieved US energy independence, which Biden forfeited by canceling project approval for the Keystone extension, the XL. This is a partisan myth. The Keystone pipeline began operations during the Obama administration. The XL was never built. No informed person would suggest Biden reduced US energy production by shutting down the XL.
So, Eckhart has a right to vote however she likes and owes no one an apology for how she votes. Purveying false information as a way of making an argument, however, is a different matter.
— Dave Weiner, Chico
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/solar-can-free-states-broken-energy-markets-guest-commentary/
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Solar energy may have gotten its start in the back-to-nature movement of the 1960s, but today it is as mainstream as American football and cheese pizza. It holds the key to future economic growth by ensuring a more reliable and affordable energy supply in the face of a grid that has become too expensive, unsafe, and unreliable. As California’s second-largest clean energy industry, rooftop solar is also a cornerstone to the state’s climate goals. This future, however, is threatened by monopoly utilities who won’t get out of the way.
Right now, utilities like Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric are running scared because solar is accessible and embraced by average, everyday Californians from Redding to Riverside. Comfortable with their monopoly status and determined never to change their business model, utilities all around the state are taking aim at the most powerful technology capable of revolutionizing the way we generate and use energy: consumer-sited solar panels paired with batteries.
The bullseye for these utilities is the very policy that has made local solar and batteries widely available for all demographics and geographies: Net Energy Metering (NEM). NEM is a simple tool that lets consumers generate their own energy on-site and send excess solar electricity back to the grid on hot, sunny days in exchange for fair compensation. The aggregate value of all this localized clean energy is, among other things, utilities don’t need to transport as many electrons across high-voltage transmission lines from out of state locations. These savings add up to a lot of money that benefit all ratepayers. In March of 2018, for example, CAISO canceled 18 transmission projects and revised 23 other projects saving ratepayers $2.6 billion all thanks to the outgrowth of rooftop solar along with energy efficiency measures.
Thanks to NEM, rooftop solar is more affordable than ever before. In fact, the policy has been so successful in California that it helped establish the state as a global clean energy leader supporting more than 2,000 local businesses and more than 60,000 local jobs. Today, 1.4 million solar systems are located at schools, farms, businesses, homes, and apartment buildings throughout the state, and 42% of the market is in working class and low-income communities. California consumers build the equivalent of a natural gas power plant every month.
What’s more, with policy support for energy storage, California is building a coal-fired power plant of batteries every year. These batteries charged up by California’s abundant sunshine are powering homes and neighborhoods even after the sun goes down or when disaster strikes as it has in so many communities across California.
New polling shows 85% of California voters want the state to do more or at the very least the same to encourage the use of solar power. Solar support crosses party lines. But this overwhelming public opinion in favor of solar energy goes against everything monopoly utilities are pushing, and they remain powerful in Sacramento and San Francisco. In addition to pushing to all but eliminate the state’s Net Metering program, PG&E is also pushing a tax on the solar panels themselves. The situation would be comical if it wasn’t so dire.
Thankfully, 26 members of Congress, 22 state legislators, over 100 local elected officials and city councils have joined the fight to save rooftop solar, along with 150,000 voters who have signed a petition to the governor.
What the utilities, and those who side with them, are missing is that consumers are demanding a different way of doing energy in the 21st century. Like the internet, consumers want clean, safe, reliable energy 24-7 and they embrace the idea of choice and consumer-to-consumer sharing. Ma Bell, the old landline phone company, fought the cell phone industry at first too. Today, Ma Bell is Verizon. Things can change but government must block anti-competitive behavior, or at the very least, get out of the way.
Local solar and batteries offer individuals and communities a ride to the future that puts the consumer in the driver’s seat. It’s a future free of undue utility interference in achieving a high quality of life. California’s political leaders and policy makers need to get on the right side of history by supporting and defending Net Energy Metering, not gutting it. The leadership needs to begin with Governor Gavin Newsom and continue all the way to our local city councils. Rooftop solar might have started off as a radical idea in the 1960s, but it’s a big slice of apple pie today.
Bernadette Del Chiaro is the Executive Director of the California Solar and Storage Association, which represents more than 700 solar and storage manufacturing and installation companies in the state of California.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/alexander-barabanov-keeps-adding-to-his-value-can-the-sharks-afford-to-keep-him/
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Alexander Barabanov is turning himself into one of the Sharks’ most valuable forwards, as his chemistry with Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier this season has been undeniable.
Now one wonders if the Sharks can afford to keep Barabanov around past July.
Barabanov assisted on Timo Meier’s second-period goal, his seventh point in the last seven games, and had three shots on net in 17:46 of ice time Thursday in the Sharks’ 4-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche.
Barabanov also nearly scored on a nifty individual effort in the second period and he, Meier and Hertl all had a plus-minus rating of +2. Even with a Corsi-for percentage of 44.0, they were easily the Sharks’ top possession line against the league-leading Avalanche.
It hasn’t been perfect, but that trio has also had at least one point on 11 of the last 19 goals the Sharks have scored at even strength in the last seven games. Meier and Hertl each have nine points in that time.
“All guys bring something to the ice and I think that’s what helps us be successful,” Meier said. “But I think we’ve got to do a better job. I thought (Wednesday) night and tonight we could have done some things better.
“We also have to be reliable defensively and shut lines down. Once we get in the o-zone, the skill Barbie has, Tomas has, we’re a very dangerous line.”
Barabanov, listed at 5-foot-10 and 195 pounds, finished March with 10 points in 14 games – a career-best for him in any calendar month since he came to San Jose from Toronto at the 2021 trade deadline last April.
“He’s steadily improved his game,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner said of Barabanov. “He’s one of our best offensive players and I think for a guy that’s not that big in stature, he plays a hard game. He puts his nose in the hard areas and he’s not afraid to battle for pucks and do the little things that need to happen out there.”
Barabanov, who turns 28 in June, is a pending unrestricted free agent able to sign with any team on July 13.
Barabanov has a salary cap hit of $1 million this season, and will most certainly be due a raise and perhaps a multi-year contract with 37 points in 59 games so far.
The Sharks, though, might need to pinch some pennies somewhere to make that happen.
The NHL’s salary cap will increase $1 million to $82.5 million next season, and will likely only increase by an additional $1 million for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons as well. That’s how long the NHL projects it will take for the players to repay owners the $1 billion in hockey-related revenue that was lost since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
Per CapFriendly, the Sharks already have $70.1 million tied up in 16 players for next season, when pending restricted free agents Mario Ferraro and Kaapo Kahkonen will also need new contracts. The Sharks also have $52.5 million committed to six players the following year, when Meier will need a new deal.
So the Sharks might need to get a little creative here.
The Sharks could save a little more than $2 million under the cap by trading either James Reimer or Adin Hill in the offseason, as they will not carry three goalies into next season.
Radim Simek, who has a cap hit of $2.25 million each of the next two seasons, could also be on the way out after he’s fallen on the defense depth chart in recent games. Would there be any takers for Kevin Labanc and his $4.725 million cap hit for the next two seasons if it is decided that a change in scenery would be beneficial to all parties?
Sharks assistant general manager Joe Will said on March 21 after the trade deadline that Barabanov has been “an important part of our team. He’s scored well this year, so we’re just kind of playing out the process.
“He hasn’t played a lot of games in his NHL career and we’ll gather even more information over the next quarter of the season. So we’re just continuing the process with him. We’ve been taking tires with his agent for a little bit here, but there’s no hurry on our part.”
Barabanov seems to like it in San Jose, but if he keeps putting up good numbers, who knows what his price tag might be at the end of the regular season later this month. Maybe it gets to a point where the Sharks can’t afford to keep him.
“His puck handling, his poise, he’s got no fear,” Brent Burns said when asked what he likes about Barabanov. “He’s one of the best guys in tight with the puck, making little plays, protecting it. For a guy that’s not very big, I mean he’s incredibly tough on the park and very skilled.”
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/butte-college-softball-off-to-stelar-start-to-2022-season/
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BUTTE VALLEY — Butte College softball coach Stayce York has been with the Roadrunners since the start of the 2014 season, and in her eight seasons at the helm this year’s team stands out as a special one.
Through 28 games the Roadrunners have amassed a 27-1 record and an 8-0 record in Golden Valley Conference play with just 12 games left on their regular season schedule.
Coming off a year where Butte went 19-5, York was named GVC Coach of the Year and pitcher Savannah Wahl was named GVC Pitcher of the Year, Wahl has led her team to a stellar start to her third and final season with the Roadrunners.
Butte’s record this seasons puts the team atop the GVC standings, No. 2 in the California Community College Fastpitch Coaches Association softball state poll released March 29 and No. 1 on the California Community College Fastpitch Coaches Association softball NorCal poll released March 29. In addition, several of Butte’s players sit atop the individual leaderboards as well.
Third-year catcher Laney Berkowitz, who has been with the program since 2019, said in past years Butte has had a good team but not everyone has bought into the gritty motto the Roadrunners have. In the weight room, in the classroom, on the field, socially, all of the teammates have bought in.
“We all buy into each other which is what I think makes our team so effective,” Berkowitz said. “Even if we don’t like each other off the field once we get onto the field it doesn’t matter. We compete. This team just loves to compete.”
The Roadrunners are led by starting pitcher and first baseman Wahl, whose .69 ERA is third amongst all California Community College softball pitchers. Wahl’s 98 in 15 games strikeouts rank eighth in the CCCAA and she has thrown a complete game in all 12 of her starts which ranks tied for fifth in the CCCAA. She has allowed just 10 earned runs in 102 innings and has a 12-1 record on the year.
In Wahl’s 2021 season when when was named GVC Pitcher of the Year she had a 12-2 record, a 1.24 ERA and threw 12 complete games.
York, a former collegiate pitcher at Chico State in the early ’90s and a member of the Chico State Athletic Hall of Fame, believes the most important thing that stands out about Wahl this season is her intelligence as a pitcher.
“Her knowledge of what pitch to throw, when to miss and when not to miss, why I’m throwing this, the smarts of a pitcher,” York said.
In her third and final year as a Roadrunner she has increased her speed, developed new pitches and her poise on the mound is what stands out to Berkowitz as her strongest part of her game.
“You never know if she’s fazed or not. She has the best poker face I’ve ever seen and she knows how to compete now,” Berkowitz said about how she’s seen Wahl develop in the last three years. “She works hard, and she knows how to get through the game and how to finish it and that’s what makes her a very strong pitcher.”
Wahl graduated from Chico High and was the Panthers No. 3 pitcher in high school, but under the help of York she has become an All-Conference Pitcher of the Year and now will look to transfer in the fall potentially to a Division I school.
“It’s very hard to pass up a 6-foot-1 pitcher who throws hard and has pitches. Those are specimens,” York said.
It hasn’t just been Wahl who has helped Butte’s pitching. Maggie Smith is tied for second in the GVC in wins with nine. Wahl leads all GVC pitchers in lowest ERA, but Smith is second in the GVC with a 1.58 ERA. Butte’s only other pitcher, Kiya Hamar, ranks fourth in the GVC at 3.10.
“What differentiates this team is we have 12 girls and we’re not scared to bring any of them off the bench,” said outfielder Lexi Detwiler. “Everybody brings something really special. All three of our pitchers, our two catchers, everyone brings something really important to this team so if we’re missing any one person it is really detrimental so that’s really special.”
While Butte’s pitching has been steady the last three seasons with Wahl at the top, the Roadrunners’ hitting is something that has made a huge impact on this team’s success.
Detweiler leads the GVC in batting average (.469), RBIs (39) and home runs (6). In a recent game against Shasta College, Detweiler went 4-for-5 with four home runs and six RBIs in a 21-1 Butte victory.
Detweiler’s story is unique. She went to Chico State on a scholarship, left and decided to take take a year off of softball completely. She then went to Butte and decided to get back into the game and worked closely with Butte’s hitting coach Kevin York to analyze and fix some holes in her swing.
It isn’t just Detweiler excelling at the plate. In the 2021 season, when Berkowitz and Carbah were named first-team all-GVC selections, Berkowitz hit .348 with 16 RBIs and Ashley Carbah hit a team-high .438 with 20 RBIs.
This season Carbah ranks third in the GVC in batting average at .446 and has 23 RBIs, and the catcher Berkowitz is fifth in average at .422 and has 17 RBIs. Carbah and Detweiler are tied for the GVC lead in hits with 45 and Berkowitz is fourth in 38. Carbah has just one strikeout in 101 at bats and has stolen a GVC leading 17 bases, while Detweiler has stuck out just four times in 96 at bats.
York pointed to Berkowitz in the effort she has put in to improve her swing as well as her fitness level.
“Laney’s worked really hard on her bat. She analyzes everything about her swing, we’ve analyzed everything about her swing and we do with all of them,” York said. But she’s really worked hard to use her bottom half and not roll her hands over. All of them are conscious about what they’re doing right and wrong and fixing those things, and that’s what’s making them successful.”
This year’s record is nearing the team which York won the most games with in 2015, when the Roadrunners went 32-11 in York’s second year at Butte.
For Berkowitz, what she sees different on this year’s team compared to her previous two years is the competitiveness, desire to win and its want to get better each day.
“For us our coaches instill a mentality of we need to get better every day. We always have something we can get better at so I feel like for us, or at least for me, I want to make sure I’m working on something everyday,” Berkowitz said.
The Roadrunners will have 12 games left in the regular season before CCCAA playoffs begin, including eight games at home. Butte will host College of the Redwoods at noon and 2 p.m. Saturday, play two games at College of the Siskiyous on April 8 and two games at home against Lassen College on April 9 before departing for the Roadrunners’ final road trip April 15 at College of the Redwoods. Butte will finish its regular season April 22 and 23 with games against Feather River and Shasta colleges.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/butte-county-opens-door-for-land-use-options-at-landfill/
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DURHAM — Now that the county owns considerably more land surrounding the Neal Road Recycling and Waste Facility, options for expansion, or even sharing with a private entity, have increased.
At its last meeting, the Butte County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a broadened Request for Proposal to gather some ideas as well as hear from private companies that may be interested in land partnerships, which would mean an opportunity to lease some of the land to companies interested in providing biomass or biochar services.
Deputy Administrative Officer Katie Simmons said biomass can come with additional red tape. A feasibility study is underway with funding from the Cal Fire Forest Health Grant to determine whether or not a hydrogen biomass feedstock facility would suit Butte County.
“The study is due to be complete in early 2023 and it will help us understand the impact of similar hydrogen biomass facilities in rural, forested and agricultural communities,” Simmons said. “It will help us synthesize available data on our ability to procure feedstock over the long term to support these biomass facilities and to assess any major policy and funding that might be related to operating biomass facilities and generating these feedstock agreements over time.”
Feedstock refers to raw materials such as crude oil used in manufacturing and other processes.
Deciding what to do with the land will be a process on its own, separate from the facility’s master plan which is still in the works, said Public Works Director Joshua Pack.
“Earlier this year, the board did approve a contract to create a comprehensive master planning process out at the landfill,” Pack said. “That kick-off meeting recently occurred and over the next month or two, various studies are set to begin so we can use that information to populate and create the draft master plan.”
Pack said the master plan has a much larger scope than just looking at biomass options.
When looking at processing biomass, Pack listed some of the benefits of property development such as additional reductions in fire fuels as well as potential economic benefits for the Neal Road facility. On top of that, it could help the landfill in both extending its life and helping it comply with Senate Bill 1383 which brought more guidelines to local waste facilities.
Pack had provided the option of a request for information to the board at a previous meeting which would allow for the county to ask for advice from the private sector on ways it could go forward.
In regards to working with private companies, Pack said a precedent has already been set to a degree as the facility previously entered into a contract with Ameresco in 2008 to aid in renewable energy and remove some landfill gases.
Pack said this came from a similar process to what the board decided on in putting out a broad request for proposal. In 2007, the board looked over nine proposals and began scheduling interviews before eventually narrowing it down to Ameresco.
One company has already reached out to the county regarding the waste facility, but a request for proposal was needed in order to set up an informational presentation with the board.
Supervisor Debra Lucero said one thing she would like to see potentially discussed is biochar, which refers to material rich in carbon that is typically created through biomass and food waste.
“From my perspective, my office has been working with the whole food system chain, so composting would be a great part of that as well,” Lucero said. “I’m glad we’re thinking outside the box, or in this instance the waste bin.”
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/chico-flax-crafter-selected-in-smithsonian-craft-show/
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CHICO — This flax is the good stuff.
Local weaver and Chico Flax co-founder Sandy Fisher has been accepted into the Smithsonian Craft Show taking place April 20 at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. for her woven crafts using flax linen, a material that she has been experimenting with since 2012.
Fisher has been weaving for more than 35 years and began working with flax 10 years ago with co-founder Durl Van Alstyne by experimenting with growing and processing flax as a sustainable material for all uses.
Fisher is one of the 120 artists selected to be featured for this year’s theme of “Future Focus” celebrating recognized mastery and new directions in craft and design.
“I’m kind of blown away that I actually got in,” Fisher said. “I’ve been so busy at the farm that the weaving got on the back burner for a while. And now it’s like the weaving has to get on the front burner, you know, so my energy is revved up for it.”
Fisher has experimented with growing flax in community gardens and in 2017, Chico Flax harvested its first crop planted on its permanent location. Since then, Fisher and Van Alstyne have invited Chico State students to conduct experiments on their farm and engineer an automated flax processor as part of the 2020 engineering capstone project.
For the craft show, Fisher will be bringing table runners, scarves and shawls made with flax-wool blends produced at her farm as well as scarves and shawls made with 100% flax yarn which Fisher said had to be hand spun.
Fisher also uses all-natural dyes that she makes from plants collected locally.
“So my color palette is: I’ll run over to the park and get oak galls, acorns and pomegranates when they’re in season. I’ve used rosemary bush for greens; It’s been kind of fun. You collect it, and cook it.”
Each part of Chico Flax’s process has been a culmination of research and experience by Fisher in the quest to make flax more common. Van Alstryne said Chico Flax is the only commercial supplier of flax material in the United States, and had to develop its own processes because none existed, aside from processes developed by flax-hobbyists.
While flax is planted in the United States, Fisher said the variety is short and is usually harvested for its seeds; not for its fiber material. The variety that Chico Flax uses is imported from the Netherlands and can grow 30 to 40 inches tall.
Flax also needs to be processed heavily before it can be spun into a yarn. Upon harvest, flax is very tough. At the Chico Flax farm, nearly all tools used to process the flax are hand-tools.
During harvest season, Fisher said they have more than 30 people paid and volunteer to uproot the flax, break it down, refine and store it.
Fisher said flax and its byproducts are used as an alternative material in fiberglass, helmets, skis and snowboards; even musical instruments.
“I think that’s really the wave of the future if more people are growing it and processing; what do we do with it,” Fisher said.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/housing-site-progress-continues-through-city-manager-transition/
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CHICO — In the role of interim city manager, Matt Madden will take over former city manager Mark Orme’s responsibilities for the Emergency Non-Congregate Housing site located at the former BMX Park.
The housing site, which began construction just after the Warren v. Chico settlement in January, is set to house the local homeless population with 177 shelters manufactured by Pallet.
While the City Manager’s Office said the team is still transitioning responsibilities to Madden and were not available Thursday for comments, Amber Abney-Bass, director of the Jesus Center, offered an update on the progress of Chico’s housing site.
“This site itself, for the majority, is ready to accept folks. We’ve had a couple of hiring events and, as much as we can in honoring the confidentiality requirement that the judge has us all under, been able to describe to potential employees what would go on at the site, offered them a site tour.” Abney-Bass said. “Some of the real specifics (details) we’re not at real liberty to share (with candidates) because we don’t even have them yet.”
With Madden stepping in as interim city manager, Abney-Bass said that she expects no delays in the housing site as Madden transitions from police chief to interim city manager.
“In terms of continuity on this project, I would just share that Madden represented the city from the (Chico) Police Department’s perspective. As chief of police, Matt was involved in those conversations,” Abney-Bass said. “He’s 100 percent up to speed.”
Abney-Bass praised Orme’s former team at city hall for being responsive to the project.
“The group that I have had the opportunity to work with, as we have been designing and responding to this project, is a very strong team. They’re very present; they’re very accessible, and just this week that we’ve experienced so far with Mark’s resignation, I continue to be in meetings; there continues to be progress,” Abney-Bass said.
The housing site project is hiring personnel and getting them trained, Abney-Bass said, but did not provide a timeline.
Abney-Bass said conversations between the Jesus Center and all parties of the settlement work on making sure the housing site operates safely for shelter guests, surrounding neighborhoods and the community at large.
“The city, us as a site operator, the plaintiffs’ counsel — I do think we all have our eyes on the same goal, which is opening a space that can be successful for folks.”
Abney-Bass said she recognizes the community’s frustration with what looks like a lack of communication, but is approaching the project with respect to confidentiality agreements within the settlement.
“I think the success of this project is really important to everyone on this team, and I think that we don’t want to rush to compromise that,” Abney-Bass said. “I am sympathetic; I am sensitive to the community wanting answers, to the population here wanting answers. But, I’d rather they be the right answers than fast answers.”
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/oakland-as-roster-projection-which-new-faces-are-in-line-for-opening-day-jobs/
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Even before spring training started, there were strong indications the Oakland A’s would look quite different this season.
With Opening Day now a week away, All-Stars Chris Bassitt, Matt Chapman and Matt Olson have been traded and it’s clear the A’s are in the beginning stages of another rebuild.
Where does that leave the roster heading into the regular season? Here’s how we project the A’s initial 28-man roster to shape up when they open the season in Philadelphia against the Phillies next Friday.
Starting pitchers (5)
Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas, Cole Irvin, Daulton Jefferies, Paul Blackburn
After the A’s dealt Bassitt to the Mets, there was plenty of speculation that Manaea and Montas would be on their way out before Opening Day. Despite all of the rumors and interest from around the league, it appears both starters will open the season with the A’s, which gives Oakland a formidable one-two punch. Brent Honeywell was a candidate for a rotation spot before being shut down with an elbow injury, so his absence creates competition behind Jefferies. Our guess is Blackburn, a familiar face with 27 career starts for Oakland, gets the nod ahead of Adam Oller, who has yet to make his major league debut.
Relief pitchers (9)
Lou Trivino, A.J. Puk, Domingo Acevedo, Kirby Snead, Dany Jiménez, Sam Selman, Sam Moll, Zach Jackson, Adam Oller
Trivino is the leading candidate to open the year as the A’s closer, but beyond the durable right-hander, Oakland lacks veteran options in a young group of pitchers who are long on potential and short on experience. Puk has been discussed as a rotation candidate, but the oft-injured lefty may be better suited long-term to pitching in high-leverage situations out of the bullpen. Deolis Guerra has 136 games of major league experience and was initially a lock for the Opening Day roster, but forearm tightness leaves his status in question.
Catchers (3)
Sean Murphy, Austin Allen, Stephen Vogt
Does it make sense for the A’s to carry three catchers when Murphy is so clearly superior to the other two in camp? With a 28-man roster, it won’t hurt to have a pair of left-handed-hitting options around in Allen and Vogt, who can provide valuable depth. Murphy is an outstanding defender who won a Gold Glove last year and has enjoyed an impressive spring at the plate, but Allen can help spell him when needed. Vogt, an excellent clubhouse presence and solid left-handed bat, might see most of his playing time as a DH or first baseman.
Infielders (6)
Elvis Andrus, Tony Kemp, Kevin Smith, Sheldon Neuse, Eric Thames, Jed Lowrie
Andrus is the A’s starting shortstop and Kemp should play regularly at second base (and potentially in left field), but much of the infield is still in flux. Thames, a Bellarmine (San Jose) product who signed as a non-roster invitee, is an excellent candidate to play first base or fill the DH role against right-handed pitchers, but the A’s must first add him to their 40-man roster.
If the A’s want to preserve depth, they can send Thames to Triple-A and have Lowrie, who is auditioning at first base, try to help fill Olson’s shoes. Expect Smith to get the first crack at replacing the Platinum Glover at third base, but the former Blue Jays prospect acquired in the Chapman trade only recorded three hits in 32 at-bats after a call-up last season. Neuse can play all over the infield and with a 7-for-19 performance in Cactus League exhibitions entering play on Thursday, he’s improved his chances of securing regular playing time.
Outfielders (5)
Chad Pinder, Seth Brown, Stephen Piscotty, Skye Bolt, Cristian Pache
The A’s would love to have players making a strong case to secure starting jobs, but the opposite is happening down in Mesa. Brown was 3-for-23 with 11 strikeouts entering play Thursday while switch-hitter Skye Bolt, a solid defender in center field, was 3-for-19. The leading candidate to start the season in center field was Pache, who went 7-for-63 with the Braves last year and has just four hits in 25 at-bats in Cactus League games. Considering his extensive struggles at the plate, the A’s can preserve some organizational depth by sending Pache to Triple-A to open the season and having Bolt, who is out of options, break camp with the team. If that happens, perhaps minor league free agent Billy McKinney, who is 3-for-20, is added to the 40-man roster so he can help at the corner outfield positions. Ramón Laureano still has 27 games left on his PED suspension, so we’re still projecting Pache to be on the roster. Pinder can and will play all over, including in the infield, as a super utility man, but it’s clear that outfield depth is a concern for Oakland and Laureano’s presence will be missed.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/steph-curry-injury-how-will-warriors-star-play-upon-return-lets-take-a-look-at-his-past/
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Steph Curry’s return to the court appears to be on the horizon. Though he’s not participating in on-court activities yet, he’s hitting the treadmill and working in the weight room with Rick Celebrini, the Warriors’ director of sports medicine and performance.
It’s possible Curry — recovering from a foot sprain sustained on March 16 against the Celtics — could return for a handful of the Warriors’ remaining five regular-season games before the first round of the playoffs on April 16. At the very least, he’s “trending in a good direction,” coach Steve Kerr said.
The Warriors could use Curry to cinch the offense back into place as they’ve lost four straight games to drop to fourth place in the Western Conference. But will Curry be up to the task post-injury?
History says after a major injury, it may take a little time for Curry to find his stride again — and he’s made a habit of spraining ligaments right in the thick of the playoff hunt. But few players in the NBA can make an immediate impact post-injury quite like him.
The 2016 MCL sprain
Curry’s early career was defined by persistent ankle injuries, but the dynasty years were plagued by some untimely knee sprains.
The glow of a historic 73-9 regular season faded quickly when Curry sprained the MCL in his right knee slipping on a wet spot during Game 4 of the first round of the 2016 playoffs against the Houston Rockets.
The Warriors finished off that Game 4 with a victory and won Game 5 handily without him, but Curry would miss the first three games of Golden State’s second-round matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers. That amounted to a near-two-week rehab — not nearly enough time to fully heal.
Cleared to play for Game 4 with the Warriors up 2-1, Curry came off the bench and shot a sluggish 5-for-13 and 0-for-5 from 3 in the first half. He went nuclear in overtime, scoring 17 points on 3-for-3 from 3 in five electrifying minutes, His 3-pointer that put the Warriors up five with less than two minutes to spare prompted Curry to shout, “I’m here! I’m back!” to the Portland crowd.
Curry’s play was inconsistent, though, as he looked to be playing at less than 100 percent health. His shooting percentage dropped from an astounding 50 percent in the regular season to 44 in the playoffs. His 3-point shooting dropped from 45 percent to 40.
Those numbers wouldn’t be alarming for any other player, but they were a clear drop-off from his regular-season play that earned him his unanimous MVP award.
Curry’s agility became an issue as he struggled to shake opposing bigs on defensive switches. Although he found his moments — including a spectacular Game 7 in the Western Conference Finals — limitations caught up to against in their Finals loss against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Coach Steve Kerr admitted they adjusted their play-calling to accommodate Curry’s limitations following their blown 3-1 lead to LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and the Cavaliers in the Finals.
The 2018 MCL sprain
Curry glided through a dreamy, injury-free 2017 championship year with newly acquired superstar Kevin Durant. But the Warriors; bid to repeat in 2018 was met with yet another costly injury for Curry. A familiar one, too.
Curry sprained his knee on March 23 against the Atlanta Hawks and sat out six weeks, including the Warriors’ first-round matchup against the San Antonio Spurs — which the Warriors won in five games. Curry returned for Game 2 of the second round against the New Orleans Pelicans to a team better equipped to pick up the slack where Curry lacked.
With Durant and Klay Thompson running the Warriors’ offense like a machine during his absence, Curry wasn’t burdened with the scoring responsibility he shouldered during the 2016 run.
They hit a snag in the Western Conference Finals, though, against the switch-heavy Houston Rockets defense that pushed the Warriors to the brink of elimination. That’s where Curry found his spots at the biggest moments, including a 29-point performance in Game 6 and 27-point Game 7 that clinched another NBA Finals trip, where they clinched back-to-back titles with a sweep of Cleveland.
The 2020 hand fracture
The pandemic cut short the 2020 NBA season in mid-March, but Curry’s season came to an abrupt halt five months earlier.
Playing the Phoenix Suns in the fourth game of the season, center Aaron Baynes collided and landed square on Curry’s left hand, resulting in a fracture that required surgery and sidelined Curry for several months. Save for one game on March 5, the pandemic — the Warriors did not qualify to play in the playoff bubble — held off Curry’s anticipated comeback for the following season.
Fully recovered and rested, Curry put together an MVP-caliber season and secured his second career scoring title in the 2020-21 season. With Klay Thompson out rehabbing a torn Achilles and Kevin Durant departed for Brooklyn in free agency, Golden State lacked the depth and talent to make a playoff run, falling short in the play-in round. But Curry shot 42 percent from 3 and averaged 32 points per game, finishing third in MVP voting that year.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/letter-in-defense-of-former-oroville-police-chief/
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I’ve been dismayed reading toxic comments on social media about former Oroville Police Chief, Joe Deal. The first red flag that Mr. Raiter’s suit is unfounded: It comes from a disgruntled former employee the chief terminated. Anyone who knows Joe Deal, his wife or his children, knows the allegations against him are false.
I’ve had many opportunities to see Joe in action during the time I served on the Oroville City Council. He was above board, humble and honest to a fault. His only problem was having too much integrity.
I appreciate this second E-R article that includes comments from the District Attorney and the City Administrator, stating that Raiter’s claims were investigated and found to be unsubstantiated. I served on the council when the sexual harassment claims were being investigated; I can say that Joe Deal has always behaved in a professional manner. He’s a good man who has dedicated 25 years to his career, and I look forward to seeing him absolved of any wrongdoing in court.
As for Joe “improperly selling or giving ammunition to a city council member” – that was at the request of Councilor Scott Thomson. He can be reached at City Hall if anyone wants to know more. I was told it’s common for councilors to place an order when OPD orders ammunition, and then pay for their portion. Raiter knows this, yet he cited that in his lawsuit hoping people would believe the worst.
My mother said it best: Consider the source.
— Linda Draper, Oroville
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/sf-giants-free-agent-acquisition-takes-major-step-toward-recovery-from-offseason-surgery/
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — As soon as he walked into the Giants’ clubhouse Friday morning, Matthew Boyd’s positive energy radiated through the room. Pitching coach Andrew Bailey gave him a pat on the back and Boyd beamed a smile.
That is nothing new for Boyd, who has carried that zeal with him since the first time he picked up a baseball. But there was cause for celebration Friday: it was his second time throwing off a mound since last September, a major milestone in his recovery from flexor tendon surgery that prematurely ended his season last year.
The Giants signed the 31-year-old left-hander fully aware that the procedure would prevent him from starting the season in their rotation. The idea was for Boyd, who had a 3.89 ERA last season before being shut down, to act as midseason reinforcement for their rotation. And, with a bullpen consisting of 25 to 30 fastballs Friday morning, Boyd is on track to make his Giants debut in June.
“It’s just getting your feet under you. It’s my second time off the slope. There’s multiple steps on the mound ahead of this,” Boyd said in front of his locker just before making his way to the mound behind the right field wall of Scottsdale Stadium. “Every day is just pushing the needle a little bit more. That’s the goal.”
Boyd’s first bullpen came Monday, approximately six months since going under the knife.
“There’s always slight nerves,” Boyd said. “But after you throw the first one, you’re like, ‘Oh, I can do this. I’m prepared. I’m healed. I’m ready.’ So that’s exciting. It kind of frees you up.”
Manager Gabe Kapler said Boyd’s first bullpen went well. But Kapler has had a few weeks of camp to get to know Boyd before seeing him on the mound for the first time. He had an idea of the type of person he was adding to the clubhouse when, shortly after the Giants signed him, Kapler got a text message from Tigers pitching coach Chris Fetter, who crossed paths with Kapler in the Dodgers organization.
“You’re going to absolutely love this guy. He’s the best, awesome teammate, awesome individual,” Fetter wrote Kapler.
“Man,” Kapler said Friday. “What an optimistic, positive, upbeat individual. … He always comes into the clubhouse with a smile on his face. He’s obviously not competing in games for us but feels like he’s very invested.”
Boyd, who grew up in the affluent suburbs east of Seattle and pitched in college at Oregon State, attributes his positive attitude to his faith, instilled in him by his parents, Lisa and Kurt. That, he said, helped him process the crushing news that came last June.
After posting league-worst marks in losses (7), home runs (15) and ERA (6.71) during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Boyd was experiencing a startling turnaround — the best season of his career — when he was shut down last year. Boyd had opened the year with a streak of seven starts in which he posted a 1.94 ERA and had thrown 2⅓ scoreless innings in a June 14 start against the Royals when he began to feel discomfort in his elbow.
Conflicting opinions from doctors delayed his eventual surgery until the end of September. Boyd attempted to make two starts in the meantime, with poor results. But he looks at last season as a positive sign for his future. He found that early success by relying on his fastball and changeup, with the lowest usage of his slider since 2017.
“It was kind of a coming together of different facets of my game that I’ve been working on over my career,” Boyd said. “Even with my slider not being there yet, I was trending in the right direction. I think if I would’ve stayed healthy, the real fruit would’ve been at the end of that, so (I) just continue to build off that.”
The late-September operation wasn’t a detractor in free agency. After hearing from multiple clubs, Boyd signed a one-year deal with San Francisco with incentives that can push his salary to $7.5 million. When Kapler called and pitched him on his vision and philosophy, Boyd was “fired up,” he said.
“I knew I wanted to be a part of it,” Boyd said. “You never know if you’re going to get to choose where you get to go. But (the Giants) are a team that you watch from afar and think I want to be a part of that. That looks special.”
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/warriors-currys-foot-injury-will-be-re-evaluated-after-regular-season/
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SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors won’t have Steph Curry for the remaining five games of the regular season.
Curry, who sprained his foot in a collision with Boston’s Marcus Smart on March 16, is expected to be re-evaluated after the regular season concludes on April 10, the team said in a statement.
Curry could still be cleared to start Game 1 of the playoff’s first round, which begin on April 16. The 34-year-old is “progressing” in his rehab and could start individual on-court workouts next week.
“We’ve known that was going to be the case,” coach Steve Kerr said. “We were hoping maybe he could play one, two games at the end of the regular season but that was a long shot. “This is how it’s turned out. His rehab is going fine.”
Curry has had his fair share of injuries coinciding with the playoffs, including MCL sprains during the 2016 playoffs and 2018 playoffs. But Curry has returned in rhythm each time.
“I’m not too worried about him,” Kerr said. “All it takes is one shot and he’s back in rhythm.”
Without Curry, the Warriors will face the Utah Jazz on Saturday, a game that could impact the Warriors’ seeding. They currently sit in the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference, just behind the surging Dallas Mavericks.
Including Saturday’s game against Utah, the Warriors have two more home games. A matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers — clinging to play-in hope — will be their final regular season game at Chase Center.
They play the Sacramento Kings on the road on Sunday in their first back-to-back. Their second will be against the New Orleans Pelicans and San Antonio Spurs in a back-to-back on the road to conclude the season.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/chico-police-stay-busy-on-cesar-chavez-day/
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CHICO — Chico has a bit of a reputation for partying, particularly on Cesar Chavez Day.
The Chico Police Department issued a press release Friday with a list of arrest numbers for Thursday’s holiday, which typically comes with higher police staffing.
While the numbers may not be the highest in the city’s history, there were still a considerable amount of alcohol-related citations.
“The Chico Police Department increased staffing for the holiday with two special teams of officers tasked with dealing with alcohol-related issues that typically arise out of the holiday. In addition to these special teams, the Chico Police Department also conducted a DUI checkpoint and a sex-offender compliance operation,” the release said.
The breakdown in the release consists of the following:
- Alcohol citations: 47
- Public intoxication arrests: 4
- Driving under the influence arrests: 4
- Assault on an officer: 1
- Resisting arrest: 1
- Attempting to free an arrestee from custody: 1
- Other misdemeanor arrests: 7
- Sex offender violations: 1
- Other traffic citations: 11
These arrests occurred between 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday.
“With the exception of a few incidents, officers of the Chico Police Department found those celebrating the holiday to be in good spirits and were polite and appreciative of the increased officer presence,” the release said. “The goal of the increased staffing is to provide a level of protection to allow those wishing to celebrate to do so safely.”
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/sf-giants-alex-cobb-flashes-faster-velocity-in-promising-sign-this-spring/
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The good word made its way to Alex Cobb, player by player. The last person to recommend the training regimen at Driveline Baseball to Cobb happened to be Alex Wood, before either pitcher was a member of the Giants rotation.
On Friday, Cobb flashed a 96 mph fastball, up a few ticks from any other point of his career, only two years after being introduced to the data-driven, weighted-ball work that is credited by pitchers all over baseball for increasing their velocity. In his second and final spring outing — a 7-7 tie with the Rangers — Cobb completed four innings, allowed only one run and struck out six batters, including one whiff that came on some of his newly discovered high cheese.
“It’s new to me,” Cobb said. “Guys see 94-96 all the time, so I’m not going to be giving them anything they haven’t seen, but more velocity is always better, for sure.”
For his entire career, Cobb has featured a fastball that sits in the low 90s and relied on his sinker and splitfinger to get outs. That repertoire provided him enough success — his 3.24 ERA from 2011-14 ranked 25th in baseball among qualified starters — but his career was derailed by injuries. By the end of the 2020 season, it “just felt like there wasn’t much life in my fastball,” Cobb said.
He had been training during the pandemic at a site that Wood had also been using. When the two pitchers crossed paths there, Wood sang the praises of Driveline and told Cobb that it helped change his career. (The following year, Wood signed with the Giants and had his best season in three years.)
His training partner at the barebones Phoenix warehouse gave it another strong endorsement: Shohei Ohtani.
“I made a phone call right after that season,” Cobb said. “There were a lot of stories that I heard of pitchers sort of revamping their career. You hear they went to Driveline, and you hear that over and over again.”
He began working with Driveline pitching coordinator Bill Hezel, who he would check in with weekly over the offseason. The two have maintained a line of communication since. The original plan was to just work on his delivery, but the added velocity has been a pleasant side effect.
The Giants, as plugged in with Driveline’s coaching staff as any other organization, are Cobb’s third team in as many years. Hezel, by contrast, has provided Cobb a source of consistency over three years of cycling through teams and pitching coaches.
“I’ve worn a lot of different jerseys the last few years,” Cobb said. “To have something constant to chat with and get confirmation on the analytical stuff and all that has been very nice for my career. … They all seem to have a very good connection with the front office here and the pitching coaches here, so everybody’s on the same page. … We work really well together.”
The reports of Cobb’s increased velocity started coming after his first outing of the spring, against the Angels, his former team, when he touched 97 mph with a couple of fastballs. But manager Gabe Kapler questioned how much velocity Cobb had added before Cobb went out and sat 94-96 mph Friday against the Rangers.
“I don’t think there’s anything in particular from a pure stuff or pure velocity standpoint that is standing out to me right now that is like, oh wow,” Kapler said. “Things are in a good spot right now, and I’m going to stay measured on that one.”
On Friday against the Rangers, Cobb got Kole Calhoun swinging on a 95 mph heater up in the zone, then in his next plate appearance froze him for strike three with an 88 mph splitter on the outside corner. He got another batter to look at a 95 mph fastball and used his sinker to record another punchout. At least two fastballs recorded 96 mph readings on the Scottsdale Stadium radar gun.
The difference of adding a couple miles per hour, though, showed itself on a couple pitches that Cobb didn’t execute perfectly.
“I had a couple fastballs today where they leaked middle and I got weak-hit ground balls,” Cobb said. “Maybe if there wasn’t a tick or two, they’d be on the barrel. … Each year it’s just been creeping up a bit. I used to be a 90-93 guy, then got with Driveline and feel like I become a 92-94 guy last year and popped a 95. And looks like it’s sitting 94-95 with some (ninety-)sixes and a couple (ninety-)sevens last game.”
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/sierra-snowpack-worsens-falls-to-lowest-level-in-7-years/
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In summary
The April snowpack, key to how much water flows into reservoirs, is 38% of average statewide, proving that drought hasn’t relaxed its grip on California.
By Rachel Becker
Seven years ago Friday, during the height of the last drought, California Gov. Jerry Brown stood on the barren slopes of the Sierra Nevada, watching as engineers measured the worst snowpack in state history.
Friday’s snow measurements aren’t quite so bleak, but they remain devastatingly low. The snowpack — which provides a third of California’s water supply — is 38% of average statewide. And at the same bone-dry spot where Brown stood in 2015, at Phillips Station south of Lake Tahoe, state engineers found a shrinking patch of snow that contained only 4% of the location’s average water content.
After the Sierra Nevada’s driest January, February and March for more than a century, the scene painted a picture of a deepening drought.
“Today is actually very evocative of 2015,” Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources said Friday against a backdrop of brown grass at Phillips Station.
“You need no more evidence than standing here on this very dry landscape to understand some of the challenges we’re facing here in California,” Nemeth said.
Worse than last year, worse even than last month, this year’s snowpack is the worst it’s been in seven years and the sixth lowest April measurement in state history. It’s not as bad as the last drought, however: The snowpack contains about eight times more water than in 2015.
The amount of snow in April is considered critical because it indicates how much water will be available through the summer. The snow, historically at its deepest in April, melts and flows into rivers, streams and reservoirs that serve much of the state.
Sean de Guzman, manager of the state’s snow surveys and water supply forecasting section, held his hand at roughly shoulder height on a survey instrument. “On an average year, our feet should be right here where my hand is,” he said.
As California’s water officials discovered last year, climate change is upending their forecasts for how much melting snow the thirsty state can truly expect to refill its dwindling stores.
It’s a dismal end to a water year that began with great promise, with early storms in October and December. By Jan. 1, the plush snowpack was 160% of average for that date statewide, and already a little over half the seasonal total.
“Our great snowpack — the water tower of the West and the world — was looking good. We had real high hopes,” Benjamin Hatchett, an assistant research professor with the Western Regional Climate Center and Desert Research Institute, said in a recent drought presentation.
Typically, the snowpack would continue to build until April. But a record-dry January, February and March followed by unseasonably warm and dry conditions in March sapped the frozen stores, which by the end of the month were already melting at levels that would be expected in April or May.
Now, “we would consider this to be deep into snow drought,” Hatchett said.
Reservoir storage statewide is about 70% of average — around half of total capacity, de Guzman said Friday.
Though state officials reported that early snowmelt has started to refill foothill reservoirs, the water level in massive Lake Shasta, critical to federal supplies for farms, people and endangered salmon, sits at less than half the average for this date. Lake Oroville is only slightly better, at 67% of its historic average.
From Andrew Schwartz’s vantage point north of Lake Tahoe at the University of California, Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab, it still looks wintry, with about three feet of snow, “plus or minus six inches,” he said.
It’s a far cry from the grassy field further south in the Sierra Nevada, where Brown stood for the survey seven years ago and where state officials found just traces of snow Friday.
“It’s been a false sense of security when you come up here” to the snow lab, Schwartz said “Statewide as a whole, it’s not looking great.”
There could be a number of consequences to the early snowmelt, Schwartz said. It could result in more water loss as early snowmelt evaporates in reservoirs, disrupting the balance of mountain ecosystems and speeding the start of fire season.
“Without the snow, once things dry out, it’s just going to be catastrophic again,” Schwartz said.
Early snowmelt can also complicate reservoir operations if managers need to release water to preserve flood control space, said Nathan Patrick, a hydrologist with the federal California Nevada River Forecast Center.
California’s water supply will be determined by how much snowmelt continues to flow into major reservoirs versus how much will seep into the soil or disappear into the air. Climate change is already transforming this pattern as the weather swings between extremes, and warmer temperatures suck moisture from the soil and melt snow earlier in the year.
“The next few weeks are really that critical period to actually watch how much of that runoff will actually make it down into those lakes,” de Guzman said.
California’s Department of Water Resources is working to overhaul its runoff forecast calculations, an effort that has grown increasingly urgent. Last year, the state’s projections for runoff from the Sierra Nevada overshot reality by so much that water regulators were left scrambling to protect drinking water supplies and preserve enough water in storage.
Assemblyman Adam Gray (D-Merced) has called for a state audit of the calculations. “Has the state learned anything from this disaster?” he asked in a CalMatters op-ed.
This year, de Guzman and Patrick expect more of the snow to reach reservoirs.
The soils, for one thing, are wetter — the result of powerful October storms that soaked the state. That means more of the snowmelt may flow into rivers and streams. Generally, Patrick said, “We expect it to be better this year.”
Still, increased runoff can’t make up for a paltry snowpack — particularly in the northern Sierra. The snowpack there is the lowest in the state, just 28% the seasonal average, compared to 42% and 43% in the central and southern Sierra.
Patrick sees a trend emerging in the runoff and streamflow measurements over the past three years. “One after another have been below normal,” he said.
“You can deal with one or two bad years, but when you start to get these compounding, three bad years … it’s hard to recover.”
LESSONS LEARNED: DROUGHT THEN AND NOW
A CalMatters series investigates what’s improved and what’s worsened since the last drought — and vividly portrays the impacts on California’s places and people.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/ulisses-rodriguez-sentenced-to-2-life-sentences-in-double-ettersburg-murder/
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EUREKA — Ulisses Rodriguez, of Chico, was sentenced to two life terms without the possibility of parole Friday after a jury found him guilty of double-murder in February.
In a court full of the family members Tiffany Ellebrecht and Jeremy Kuemmel — the people Rodriguez was found guilty of murdering on Aug. 4, 2018, over a marijuana dispute — Judge Gregory Elvine-Kreis also sentenced Rodriguez to a consecutive 52 years and eight months to life due to the additional counts of making criminal threats, arson and special allegations involving the use of a gun.
The sentencing came after several family members tearfully recounted to the court the pain Rodriguez caused them, and their desire to see Rodriguez pay for his crimes.
“I hope those words resonate with you, because you will have a long time to think about them,” Elvine-Kreis told Rodriguez.
In February, a jury found Rodriguez guilty of two counts of first degree murder, making criminal threats, arson, and included special allegations that Rodriguez fired a gun when he killed Ellebrecht and Kuemmel. They also found him guilty of using a gun to threaten a John Doe witness, in addition to the special allegation of there being multiple victims.
Elvine-Kreis also noted Rodriguez not only harmed the lives of the victims’ families but also his own family, as his parents and young son were present for the proceedings.
“None of us should be here today. Not my family, not Tiffany’s family, not even Rodriguez’s family,” said Suzanne Palmiere, Kuemmel’s second mother who raised him for several years at a time.
“We’re all coping because what choice is there?” she added.
Other family members urged Elvine-Kreis to impose the most punitive sentence he could, and detailed how Rodriguez irreparably damaged their lives by taking a loved one from them.
The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorneys Luke Bernthal and Trent Timm. Andrea Sullivan represented Rodriguez.
The sentencing was supposed to begin at 8:30 a.m. but Sullivan, who is based in Lake County, tuned in over Zoom when she needed to be physically present in court to go over the probation report with Rodriguez, causing Elvine-Kreis to reset the sentencing for 1:30 p.m. and apologize to the crowd of family members who had gathered to hear the sentencing that morning.
“I have people in the audience today with expectation there would be closure,” Elvine-Kreis said
However, Sullivan was late, and she arrived at approximately 3:20 p.m., beginning proceedings briefly before needing a 10-minute recess to discuss the probation report with Rodriguez. Elvine-Kreis chided her for her tardiness, noting that the court must respect the time of the family members who came to witness the proceedings, and that she cannot attend sentences over Zoom when the client is physically present in the courtroom.
Rodriguez was present in a jail-issued orange jumpsuit. Early in the hearing attempted to reschedule the hearing without speaking to Sullivan, which Elvine-Kreis denied.
Jackson Guilfoil can be reached at 707-441-0504.
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CHICO — The Pleasant Valley baseball team came from behind to defeat Chico High and complete a three-game series sweep of the Panthers on Friday at Pleasant Valley High School.
Chico High scored the first run of the game in the top of the first inning and held onto the lead until the bottom of the fourth inning. The Vikings battled back and scored two runs in the fourth inning and two runs in the fifth inning to take a 4-1 lead. Chico High scored twice in the top of the seventh inning and got the game-tying run to second base, but the Vikings escaped with a 4-3 victory.
After two wins on Tuesday, Friday’s win increases PV’s winning streak to 12 against Chico High dating back to 2016.
“Oh man that’s the best, you can’t beat that. That’s the kind of stuff that you play for,” said Pleasant Valley senior Brady White. “It feels great to come out and beat them three games in a row.”
In the top of the first inning Kinser Day singled to open the game and advanced to second on a throwing error by PV pitcher Jordan Riley on a pickoff to first base. Kinser then advanced to third base on a wild pitch and scored on a groundout to shortstop.
Chico High senior third baseman Kevin Ostrowski said the early run was a big momentum boost for the Panthers as the Vikings’ bats struggled to get started.
In the top of the third inning both teams stranded a runner in scoring position. After a single to open the third, Ostrowski advanced to second on another throwing error to first by Riley and later to third base, but the Panthers were unable to get him across the plate. In the bottom half of the third inning Sean Stevens led off the inning with a double to center field, got to third base but the Vikings could not get on the board.
In the bottom of the fourth inning Pleasant Valley took its first lead.
White led the inning off with a single up the middle. White took off for second base with Jackson Blakley up to bat, and Blakley hit it to the hole at shortstop as the hit and run was executed to perfection. Blakley then stole second base with Tanner Symmes up to bat.
With two outs, Symmes hit a soft line drive to center field to score both White and Blakley and give PV a 2-1 lead. Stevens singled, but a strikeout by Chico pitcher Colby Fritter got the Panthers out of the inning trailing by just one run.
Bottom 4 | PV takes a 2-1 lead. Catcher Tanner Symmes singles up the middle with two outs on a jam shot to score the runners on second and third. Sean Stevens singles, but Fritter gets a strikeout to get out of it. pic.twitter.com/JBNCYF3AlQ
— Justin Couchot (@JCouchot_Sports) April 1, 2022
“I mean good hitters get jammed. He’s certainly had harder hits that got caught so I thought that was a tremendous AB,” said Pleasant Valley coach Jon Macalutas. “In a tough situation that really turned things around for us offensively so he got us going.”
In the bottom of the fifth inning, PV added two more runs. Trent Van Nuys led off the inning with a single to right field and White came to bat. Van Nuys took off for second and the left-handed hitting White went opposite field and found the gap at shortstop once more and PV got runners at first and third base.
RJ Priddy then hit a line drive to center field for a single, but the ball went under Chico High center fielder Logan Whitfield’s glove and both Van Nuys and White scored to give PV a 4-1 lead. A fly out to Whitfield ended the inning.
Bottom 5 | PV doubles its lead to 4-0. Tuesday’s game 1 starter RJ Priddy (at 1B today) singles up the middle on a line drive with runners at first and third. The ball goes under center fielder Logan Whitfield’s glove and both runners score, Priddy to second. #norcalscores pic.twitter.com/PVYJPdMRET
— Justin Couchot (@JCouchot_Sports) April 2, 2022
The 4-1 PV held until the top of the seventh inning, when Chico High was not ready to let up.
Top 7 | PV still up 4-0. Chico High needs a rally right now to get back in it.
Jaden Neugebaur walks to lead off the inning against new Pleasant Valley pitcher Spencer Lee. pic.twitter.com/90XPHSvcgJ
— Justin Couchot (@JCouchot_Sports) April 2, 2022
The Panthers dugout was loud and on its feet. PV pitcher Spencer Lee came into pitch for Riley and gave up a walk and a hard line drive single to Chico High first baseman Gavin Barker to open the seventh. Macalutas pulled the junior Lee in place of veteran pitcher Spencer Heath, a senior.
Macalutas told Lee it kind of snowballed, and explained how he can build off of an outing like Friday’s having been in the situation.
“I’ve got every confidence in him and he’s going to get the baseball again,” Macalutas said.
Heath walked Ostrowski to load the bases and the Panthers plated a run on a wild pitch to trim the PV lead to 4-2. Chico High scored once more as Barker crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly by Day. Heath then got out of the inning with a strikeout and pop out to second base, as the tying run for the Panthers was stranded at second base.
“Spencer Heath who is more of a veteran and has been in that situation, he’s been injured and we’ve been easing him back, that was his ballgame and I had every confidence he was going to find it and he did,” Macalutas added.
Chico High assistant coach Ben Stavely said he was much more impressed with the Panthers’ energy Friday compared to the second game of the doubleheader Tuesday and he’s confident if the two teams meet again in playoffs.
“It’s about the little things and we missed on a couple opportunities today and they capitalized on them and that’s what it is all about in playoffs is playing clean baseball and capitalizing on the other team’s mistakes,” Stavely said. “Our guys were fired up and took that energy into the batters box and you could see that. It makes the game a lot more fun when we’re going back and forth like that and if we can keep that energy throughout the rest of the season we’re going to surprise some people.”
Chico High (9-3, 3-3 EAL) will now prepare for the first two games of a three-game series against Foothill at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Tuesday in Palo Cedro.
Pleasant Valley (13-1, 5-1 EAL) now readies for a three-game series against Shasta beginning at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Tuesday in Chico.
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SATURDAY
Congregation Beth Israel: Saturday April 2 “Coffee, Tea and Torah.” 10 a.m. on zoom and in person. Havdalah 7 p.m. zoom only. Both in-person and on Zoom. Email admin@cbichico.org for RSVP and details.
SUNDAY
Aldersgate United Methodist Church: Pastor Scott Allred. Worship 10 a.m. in the sanctuary. www.chicoaumc.org sermons tab. Also on YouTube, Aldersgate UMC Chico CA. 893-8640.
Asian Bible Church: cifchico.org and in-person at Chico Grange Hall, 2775 Nord Ave. Mandarin translation available. A ministry of Christ International Fellowship.
Bidwell Presbyterian Church: Traditional worship 8:15 a.m., in person, livestreamed. Contemporary worship 9:30 a.m., in-person on patio. Modern worship 10:45 a.m. in person, livestreamed. 131 W. First St. Livestream at bidwellpress.org/worship or YouTube. Family Service 3 p.m., Patio Service 4:15 p.m.
Butte Bible Fellowship: 10 a.m. morning worship service in-person, Zoom. Dr. Lou Diaz, Pastor. Biblical Egypt series “From Wilderness Wanderings to Future Prophecy.” Isaiah 19:23-25. Not on Zoom. 2255 Pillsbury Road. Adult Sunday school 9 a.m. with the Pastor.
Calvary Chapel: 1888 Springfield Drive. 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., children’s ministry 11 a.m. “Justified” from Pastor Sam Allen. Scripture Galatians 2. Live at ccchico.com, YouTube, Facebook, KQIP 107.1 FM, CCChico app on Apple, Android, Amazon, Roku devices. 894-1441. Check website or app for updates. 894-1441.
Center for Spiritual Living: “The First to Know” by Rev. Eileen Brownell. Monthly theme is Becoming Supernatural. Meditation guide is John Boyle. In-person with masks. Meditation service begins at 9:30 a.m., Inspiration lesson at 10 a.m. Online at Center for Spiritual Living Chico YouTube. 895-8395.
Chico Church of Christ: Journey to the Cross, part 2. John 12:1-8 from Chet Rutledge. Bible study at 9:30 a.m., worship at 10:30 a.m. Children, adults classes. 995 E. Lassen Ave.
Chico First Baptist Church: 10:30 a.m. service in-person. “Return of the Prodigal Son Trilogy; Focus on the Elder Brother” from Rev. Gail Hill based on the scripture Luke 15:1-2, 25-32. 850 Palmetto Ave. or on Zoom. Email office@chicofirstbaptist.org to receive a Zoom invitation. 850 Palmetto Ave.
Church on The Esplanade: Sunday, 11 a.m. worship service, Title 40 Days of Prayer. Scripture Romans 1:20. Pastor Bill Eslick. Worship Service and Livestream at 11 a.m. Services in person, livestreamed on Facebook. 11 a.m., 953-6653. 1119 The Esplanade.
Community Church of God: 11 a.m. Sunday service. Pastor Chris Kinson. 1095 East Ave. Wednesday bible study 7 p.m., ladies bible study 10 a.m. Thursday.
Covenant Reformed Church: Worship hour 10:30 a.m. in the Seventh-Day Adventist building. 3612 Hicks Lane. Heidelberg Confession Question 31 Why is He called “Christ,” that is, Anointed? Scripture Heb. 1:9; Deut. 18:15; Jn. 1:18.
Evangelical Free Church of Chico: Sunday at 9 a.m. “One Important Encounter” John 11. Livestream via YouTube. www.efcChico.org or church office at 343-6022. Livestream at 9 a.m., posted on YouTube later.
Faith Lutheran Church: Pastor Ben Colahan preaching for the Fourth Sunday of Lent at 9:30 a.m. Scriptures include 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32. chicofaithlutheran.org/live, or in-person at 667 E. First Ave. 895-3754 or office@chicofaithlutheran.org. 895-3754.
Firm Family Church: Meeting at 2201 Pillsbury Road, suite 150. 9 a.m. service “Doctrine of Creation Part 2” from Genesis 1-2; 11 a.m. service Sovereign Origins series from Genesis 20 intentional connection at 10:15 a.m. firmfamilychurch.org. Intentional time of community in-between at 10:15am.
First Christian Church: “Dealing with the F word” with Rev. Jesse Kearns. Luke 15:1-3, 11-32. 10 a.m. in the sanctuary, Livestream at www.fcchico.com. 343-3727.
First Church of Christ, Scientist: “Is the Universe, Including Man, Evolved by Atomic Force?” Scripture is Acts 15:18. The Holy Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy. 10 a.m. at 770 Palmetto Ave. Sunday school up to age 20. Wednesday meetings 7:30 p.m. www.christiansciencechico.org
Grace Community Church: “The Purpose of Election,” from Romans 9:19-29. 9 a.m., 10:45 a.m. in-person service at 2346 Floral Ave. Live broadcast at 10:45 a.m. at www.gracechico.org. Services in the Worship Center at 9 and 10:45 a.m.
Living Hope Fellowship: Worship Service at 10:15 a.m. “Christ Bore Our Curse” with Pastor Heath Jarrett. Matthew 8:14-16; Is. 53:4 Meet in-person. Livestream livinghopechico.com. 342-8642. 355 Panama Ave. 10:15 a.m. Livestream at www.livinghopechico.com.
Neighborhood Church: 10 a.m. in person in Dome, livestream 10 a.m. Sunday. Streamed on Facebook, YouTube http://bit.ly/ncchico. Children’s ministry infancy through junior high. Register kids 0-5th grade. Nursery through 3 years open all morning. Junior high students dismissed after worship.
Our Divine Savior Catholic Church: Public celebration of Mass through Zoom and Facebook, drive-in, in person. Mass Tuesday-Friday 8:30 a.m., Saturday 5 p.m., Sunday 8 and 10 a.m. Call 521-6202 for a space. Services through Zoom, Facebook, YouTube. ourdivinesavior.org.
Redeemer Evangelical LCMS: “Jesus Reconciles Us to the Father” Luke 15, is the sermon of Rev. Donald A. Jordan. Divine Service 10 a.m. with Sunday School/Adult Bible Class at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday, March 23, Divine Service at noon. redeemerchico.org. Wednesday, March 30, Fourth Week in Lent.
Rock of Life Fellowship: 2555 Dominic Drive. Meets Sunday morning, 10 a.m. Bible studies 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays. Youth programs 6 p.m. Wednesday 6 p.m. 588-4700.
St. Augustine of Canterbury Anglican Church: Holy Eucharist “Jerusalem, my happy home” with Bishop Peter Hansen. Celebrating the fourth Sunday of Lent with Holy Eucharist at 8 a.m., 10:30 a.m. at Third and Salem streets downtown.
St. John’s the Evangelist Episcopal Church: Sunday worship service 8 a.m., 10:15 a.m. with Holy Eucharist. “Rhythms of Grace,” 3 p.m. second Sunday of the month for special needs individuals. stjohnschico.org, Facebook. 2341 Floral Ave.
Trinity United Methodist Church: “Such a Fuss” from Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32. In-person 8:30 a.m. in chapel, 10:30 a.m. in sanctuary with Rev. David S. Vallelunga. Nursery care both services. 10:30 a.m. service on Zoom, Facebook Live. chicotrinity@yahoo.com or 343-1497 for virtual service. Nursery care available at both services.
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship: “Envisioning our Future” Rev. Bryan will speak about a vision for the future of UUFC. 1289 Filbert Ave.
First Lutheran Church, Orland: Sunday service, 9 a.m. Livestreamed at orlandlutheran.com, YouTube or Facebook.
Orland
Federated Church of Orland: “Stay Awake” by Pastor Scott Gessford. Worship 10:30 a.m. at 709 First St. Sunday begins an Advent Study on the book “Because of Bethlehem; Love is Born, Hope is here” by Max Lucado at 9 a.m. every Sunday in Advent and every Wednesday at 6 p.m. this study will be repeated.
Magalia
Magalia Community Church: 13700 Old Skyway. Worship 10 a.m. in the historic 1896 chapel. Service topics and times, church Facebook page at Magalia Community Church. Livestreamed at UUChico.org. mccchurch@yahoo.com.
Paradise
Craig Memorial Congregational Church: 10 a.m. Sunday worship and fellowship. Formerly at Scottwood and Pearson roads in Paradise before Camp Fire. Temporarily in the little red church behind St. Nicholas Episcopal Church, 5872 Oliver Road in Paradise.
Paradise Lutheran Church: Holy Communion. 780 Luther Drive, Paradise. Sunday in-person worship 10:15 a.m. Masks, social distancing observed. Livestreaming coming soon. www.paradiselutheran.org, 877-3549.
Our Savior Lutheran Church: 6404 Pentz Road in Paradise. Sunday worship at 10 a.m. with Pastor Brandon Merrick. 877-7321.
Paradise Ridge Southern Baptist Church: 11 a.m. Sunday and 11 a.m. Wednesday with Pastor Robert Sorensen at 6975 Pentz Road, Paradise. 514-7993.
St. Nicholas Episcopal Church: 10:30 a.m. for in-person worship service. Masks required. 5872 Oliver Road. gardenpriest@comcast.net.
The deadline for church briefs and services is noon Wednesday prior to publication. Email items to religion@chicoer.com.
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HUSTON: Alfred D. Huston, 60, of Oroville, died April 1, 2022, in Oroville. Arrangements are under the direction of Oroville Funeral Home, 533-0323.
STITES: Atticus Amick Stites, 22, of Chico, died March 25, 2022, in Chico. Arrangements are under the direction of Brusie Funeral Home, 342-5642.
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Chico’s Homeless crisis is progressing forward with the building of the 177- unit Pallet Shelter Project. Our Butte County Supervisor Debra Lucero was an important component in getting a 4/5 supervisor vote to fund the $1.7 million project and help Chico resolve the federal lawsuit over our unhoused population. Providing shelter will relocate our houseless from our parks, plazas, creeks and sidewalks to a safer secure facility.
The homeless crisis is a complex issue which needs resolution from not only the government, but from all of us. To help assist shelters and services we all need to step up and help with this daunting crisis. Groups like the Sierra Club are stepping up and renting garbage bins at Windchime and Lost Park with twice weekly service for the houseless. The Hope Commons Church has a monthly cleanup day at Teichert Pond with 40 volunteers, four dump trailers and a bobcat for hauling away the mounting trash. The North State Shelter Team has been meeting at Comanche Creek Greenway every Sunday and hauling out the homeless trash for over a year now.
County supervisors like Debra Lucero with vision and solutions brings out the best in our community and fills my heart with hope that Chico will be a town we can be proud of once more.
— Dave Garcia, Chico
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SUNDAY
Calvary Lutheran Church: In-person worship 9 a.m. Bible study 10:30 a.m. 10 Concordia Lane, Oroville. Recording at www.celcoroville.org. 533-5017. In-person worship 9 a.m. www.calvarylutheranoroville.org. Wednesday Lenten service April 6 at 6 p.m. Free Easter Egg Hunt April 9 at 10 a.m.
Christian Science: Sunday 10 a.m. up to age 20. Wednesday testimony meeting at noon, Christian Science Reading Room, 1940 Bird St. Reading Room open Monday, Wednesday 1-3 p.m. 533-1274.
Evangelical Free Church: 9 a.m. Service by Pastor Gregg Hensel, “Fulfillment and Righteousness” from Matthew 5:17-20. In-person, on YouTube (EFC Oroville). 533-6866, email office@evfreeoroville.com. 3785 Olive Highway. www.evfreeoroville.com. In person services. Located at 3785 Olive Hwy.
First Congregational Church: In-person worship Sunday 10 a.m. Pastor Andrew McHenry in the church sanctuary. Facebook Live, Zoom fccoroville.org or facebook.com/fccoroville. 1715 Bird St. 533-2483.
Olive Hill Missionary Baptist Church: 11 a.m. service with Pastor Johnnie Dollins. Sunday school 9:45 a.m. and BTC at 5 p.m. Wednesday night prayer service 7 p.m. 200 Executive Parkway, Oroville. olivehillmbc@yahoo.com. 740-3353.
Oroville Church of the Nazarene: Worship 10 a.m. in-person or online at OroNaz.org. Adult Sunday School classes 9 a.m. 2238 Monte Vista Ave. in Oroville. 533-7464, info@oronaz.org.
Oroville United Methodist Church: 8:30 a.m. Hmong Service. 9 a.m. children’s church. 10:15 a.m. Hmong Adult and Youth Sunday school. English service 10:30 a.m. Coffee, refreshments following service. facebook.com/orofumc or YouTube. 45 Acacia Ave.
Pursuit Christian Church: In-person service at 10 a.m. 2295 Foothill Blvd. Facebook at Pursuit Christian Church Oroville. Sunday school 9 a.m. Ladies bible study 9:30 a.m. Tuesdays. Coffee, donuts available. pursuitchristianchurch.org, 533-4786.
St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Parish: Fourth week of Advent. 5:30 p.m. Saturday Mass in English, 7 p.m. in Spanish. Sunday 8:15 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Challenge and Daily Mass Tuesday-Friday at 8:30 a.m. Stations of the Cross each Friday in Lent at 6:45 p.m.1330 Bird St. 533-0262, orovillecatholic.org.
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church: In-person Sundays a.m. Facebook Live for those unable to attend in-person. Facebook at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church of Oroville. 1430 Pine St. 533-5035.
Trinity Presbyterian Church: Reverend Daniel B. Antanston will discuss “You are the Light of the World.” Sunday service 10 a.m. followed by coffee, snacks. 2350 Foothill Blvd. Oroville. www.trinityoroville.com, 534-0354.
The deadline for church briefs and services is noon Wednesday prior to publication. Email items to religion@orovillemr.com.
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OROVILLE – The Oroville Spring Carnival opened Friday with classic carnival fun including amusement rides, games and carnival bites.
The carnival, hosted by Midway of Fun, features rides for all ages including a Ferris wheel, giant slide and will be vending candy apples, snow cones, popcorn and corn dogs.
The Oroville Spring Carnival will be open noon to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at 1245 Oro Dam Blvd. in Oroville.
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ORLAND — Chico Electric selected Capay Farms, which operates about 12,000 acres of walnut and almond orchards, to receive the 2021-2022 NC “Cec” Nielsen Memorial Founder’s Sustainability Award for embodying the business values of Chico Electric’s founder Niels Cecil Nielsen.
Norm Nielsen, CEO of Chico Electric, along with Congressman Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale), Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-Yuba City), the office of state Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-Tehema) presented awards of recognition to Capay Farms during a ceremony Friday afternoon at Violich Farms in Orland.
“Cec’s business principals 62 years ago were simple and hold true today: one — do what we say; two — take care of our customers; and three — create a sustainable business to serve our community,” Norm Nielsen said. “Of our deserving customers, we look for their longevity and sustainability. Without question, Capay Farms deserves this reward.”
Capay Farms has operated nut orchards in Glenn, Tehama and Butte counties since 2011 after expanding its ranch at Violich Farms founded in 1985. It is a customer of Chico Electric which worked on the farm’s processing facilities, irrigation systems and solar energy systems.
“Since its founding, Capay Farms has been a true innovator in the almond and walnut industry,” Nielsen said, citing the company as one of the first farms to implement an aggressive water monitoring program and progressive energy utilization program.
Close to 88 percent of Capay Farms irrigation operates using either solar or natural gas and has a total of 25 solar array systems totaling 3.1 megawatts, Nielsen said, which so far has offset 3,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year.
“Fifteen to 20 years ago when this virgining industry was taking shape, it took risk takers and visionaries, like the Violich’s, to make solar into a mainstream energy source, and they recognize that it’s also smart business for the future of their company. We are proud to be part of their history,” Nielsen said.
Capay Farms will be joining Carrire Family Farms, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Empire Nut Company, and the late James Paiva as a recipient of Chico Electric’s NC “Cec” Nielsen Memorial Founder’s Sustainability Award.
Chico Electric, as part of the award, also donated $5,000 to the Boys and Girls Club of the North Valley, which Nielsen said was matched four times by Capay Farms.
At the ceremony, LaMalfa and Gallagher presented awards of recognition to Paul Violich, president of Capay Farms, and daughters Julia Violich and Mackey Violich.
“I want to thank Chico Electric for this award … I’m so enamored with Chico Electric; I’ve been working with them for two decades, I work with top notch people,” Julia Violich said. “I’m so glad you guys live up to your mission and you inspire others to do as well.”
Julia Violich said Capay Farms will be partnering with Chico Electric to investigate and realize a zero-waste facility by utilizing their own waste to produce alternative energy.
“My dad, my sister, myself; we can’t do this without our team,” Julia said. “And our team is forward thinking, they’re creative, they get their hands dirty, they are looking for new ways, alternatives; they truly believe in sustainability for our own economics, for our community and the environment. Without our team, none of this would be here.”
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I really detest April Fool’s Day. I’m not a practical joker and for the most part find practical jokes un-funny and as often as not a bit mean-spirited. At the same time, I do like celebrating things and April, even April 1, offers all sorts of fun things to celebrate other than pranking people.
Instead of acknowledging April Fool’s Day, I celebrated National One Cent Day. This is the day to pay homage to the lowly but still somehow charming penny. The first one-cent coin was designed by Benjamin Franklin and produced by a private mint in 1787. (The first U.S. mint wasn’t established until 1792.) The original penny read “We Are One” on one side and “Mind Your Business” on the other and was 100 percent copper. Today’s one-cent coin is made of copper and zinc and has borne the image of President Abraham Lincoln since 1909. And, since 2010, the Union Shield on the other side. Personally, I like old’s Ben’s “We Are One” and “Mind Your Business” better but, hey, that’s just me. Anyway, I prefer a holiday of celebration that includes reminiscing about what a penny used to get you — a piece of candy or bubble gum and six-minutes on a parking meter — than I do disconcerting practical jokes.
April offers more to celebrate than one-cent or fool’s days. Today, for instance is National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day. So, grab some bread and return to the bliss of your childhood by biting into this, dare I say, quintessential American gastronomic delicacy.
Sunday is National Chocolate Mousse Day and Monday is one of my personal favorites — National Hug A Newsperson Day. So, if you see me running errands on Monday, please feel free to hug me. Though, you may wish to, for your own safety, warn me before just swooping in for an embrace. Just sayin’ I’m not, and most news people are not, used to getting hugged by strangers. Hollered at and beaten up on social media yes, hugged, not so much.
April 5 is both National Caramel and Deep Dish Pizza Day. I wouldn’t recommend combining the two but see no reason not to have one for dessert after the other. No reason except for the calories. This is truly a straight from your lips to your hips day of celebration.
April 6 gives us the opportunity to look back on the times we’ve been rejected and reflect on what we learned from that rejection because it’s National Sorry Charlie Day. If that one bums you out, you only have to wait 24 hours to drown your sorrows (or celebrate how far you’ve come since the rejection) because April 7 is National Beer Day. Cheers!
April also brings us National Zoo Lovers Day (April 8) and National Unicorn Day (April 9) and if you want to combine the two you can by celebrating rhinoceros because they are, after all, just chubby unicorns.
The week of April 10 holds a whole host of days to celebrate including National Cinnamon Crescent Day (I’ll have mine with coffee please), National Barber Shop Quartet Day (Let’s hum a few bars of Sweet Adeline together, shall we?), National Big Wind Day (which I always thought should be on the same day as National Eat Your Beans Day), National Scrabble Day (for those of you who can spell without spell check), National Gardening Day (which this time of year could be almost any day), National Rubber Eraser Day (perfect for getting rid of all those erroneous errors you’ve made) and National Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day (working from home as I do, I celebrate this day frequently).
The week of April 17 brings us National Cheeseball Day and National Bat Appreciation Day as well as National Animal Crackers Day and National Columnists’ Day so feel free to celebrate this columnist by gifting me a box or two of those tasty cookies. The week is also host to National Garlic Day and National Hanging Out Day so you can hang out while enjoying garlic fries. April 20 calls for appreciating lima beans with National Respect Lima Beans Day but if that doesn’t float your boat the same day is also National Pineapple Upside Down Cake Day. The week rounds out with National High Five Day, National Jelly Bean Day and National Talk Like Shakespeare Day (to be or not to be one who celebrates, that is the question).
The final week in April brings us no less to celebrate what with National Pigs in a Blanket Day, National Zucchini Bread Day, National Pretzel Day, National Babe Ruth Day, National Superhero Day (send in Captain America!), National Zipper Day (make sure yours is up!) and National Bugs Bunny Day (what’s up doc?).
All in all, there’s a lot of opportunity for celebration in April even if we likely won’t get enough showers to bring us May flowers so cheer up and party on.
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HIT — Question: When are “only” 47 alcohol-related citations considered to be a good thing?
Answer: When it’s Cesar Chavez Day in Chico.
Since many students are out of town every St. Patrick’s Day (which always comes during spring break in Chico), Cesar Chavez Day has sort of replaced March 17 as the “day off to party” day for some residents of college town. This has led to some long days for local police through the years, with alcohol-related incidents (in fairness, not all involving college students) often soaring into triple-digit territory.
Not this year. There were four arrests for public intoxication and four DUIs — not a good thing, but also not nearly as bad as some years in the past. And for that, Chico police were thankful, as we should all be.
“With the exception of a few incidents, officers of the Chico Police Department found those celebrating the holiday to be in good spirits and were polite and appreciative of the increased officer presence,” the CPD said in a press release. “The goal of the increased staffing is to provide a level of protection to allow those wishing to celebrate to do so safely. We would like to thank the public for doing so in a way that honors Cesar Chavez and his life of service.”
MISS — We shared our thoughts on Mark Orme’s resignation as Chico’s city manager in Sunday’s newspaper, but we’d be remiss in not saying how much we’re going to “Miss” him going forward.
Orme did an incredible number of great things for Chico during his time here, and to say he did so under the most challenging of circumstances would be an understatement. Serving a council whose political majority flip-flopped almost every single election — and, with four different mayors leading the charge in the past three and a half years alone — it’s amazing the town made progress on any issue. Instead, Orme somehow managed to leave our town in much better shape than he found it — and yes, that includes on the homeless front, where some actual progress is being made as the city continues to fight headwinds of misinformation on a daily basis.
Speaking on KPAY earlier this week, councilor Sean Morgan — who worked with Orme longer than any other current councilor — said “You’ve got to look at what Mark Orme has been through in this community. Nine years is a lifetime for city managers in normal circumstances and these were not normal circumstances at all.”
Fortunately, Mark Orme was not an ordinary city manager. Extraordinary was more like it.
HIT — From Pleasant Valley’s boys basketball team winning the state championship to Chico State’s run to the Elite Eight, it’s been quite a 2022 already on the local sports front.
Would you believe, then, that the winningest team in our area can be found on the softball fields of Butte Valley?
The Butte College women’s softball team is off to an incredible 27-1 start, including a perfect 8-0 mark in Golden Valley Conference play.
All this after a season in which the Roadrunners went 19-5 and their coach, Stayce York, was named GVC Coach of the Year and pitcher Savannah Wahl was named GVC Pitcher of the Year.
As good as Wahl was a year ago, she’s been even better this year, allowing just 10 earned runs in 102 innings (0.69 ERA) while chalking up a 12-1 record.
Butte has 12 games left in the regular season before CCCAA playoffs begin, and will host College of the Redwoods at noon and 2 p.m. today. It’s going to be a beautiful day — go check out some championship-level softball.
MISS — We can’t help but chuckle at some commenters on social media who profess to have all of the answers, but apparently haven’t been paying very close attention to the problems.
A prime example was found on our Facebook page Friday. In the comments on our story updating the status of the Pallet shelter site, somebody actually wrote the following: “I may run for mayor. No homeless, parks back … ”
We’re not sure how else to say this (and we don’t all-cap often), so here goes: “Uh … isn’t that exactly WHY THE CITY GOT SUED IN THE FIRST PLACE and the very reason we ended up in this mess?”
We’d chalk it up to April Fool’s Day, but there are many people out there who continue to beat the “let’s grow a spine and kick all the homeless people out of town!” drum, the law-based ruling of a United States Federal Judge notwithstanding.
We maintain that as much of a problem as homelessness is for California and the West Coast, “cluelessness” just might be a very close second.
We’re all frustrated by the delays. Doubling down on a losing strategy isn’t the answer.
Hits and Misses is compiled by the editorial board.
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CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Michael Fassbender, 45; Christopher Meloni, 61; Emmylou Harris, 75; Linda Hunt, 77.
Happy Birthday: You can accomplish plenty if you are methodical and maintain realistic expectations. Too much of anything will bring you down, but an even temperament and a pinpointed plan will help you inch your way to your objective. Don’t forget to nurture meaningful relationships and relax and enjoy what you work so hard to achieve. Romance and self-improvement are encouraged. Your numbers are 9, 12, 21, 25, 36, 38, 41.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Go after your dream; put a plan in place that ensures success. Intelligence, coupled with persuasive charm, will help you drum up the help and support required to make things happen. Love is on the rise, and fitness is favored. 3 stars
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Find an outlet that challenges you to try something different. Participating in events that incorporate work and pleasure will test your strength and ability to be a team player. A poker face, along with an acute intuition, will pay off. 3 stars
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Share information with someone trying to reach the same objective, and you’ll cut your time in half. A partnership looks promising if you can put your differences aside and concentrate on what’s important to you. Truth and reliability matter. 4 stars
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Do your own thing. Inviting others to participate will result in emotional ups and downs and disagreements that can cost you. A change of heart is likely if you try to force your will on someone who doesn’t share your beliefs. 2 stars
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Relax, spend time with people who make you smile and distance yourself from stressful situations. Make self-improvement and quality of life your priorities, and bring about positive change that encourages you to thrive and excel, regardless of what others do or say. 2 stars
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Embrace change, and you will discover something that makes you happy. Find something you feel passionate about, and dig in and make a difference. Participation will lead to knowledge and connections that can help you define what you want to pursue. 5 stars
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Take control and share your thoughts. Get involved in activities that require you to use your physical and mental skills to get things done, and you’ll make an impression on someone who sparks your interest. Romance is in the stars. 3 stars
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Don’t give up on someone or something that means a lot to you. Patience will help, and your intuition won’t let you down. Follow the dots, and what’s happening will become apparent, along with how best to resolve issues causing uncertainty. 3 stars
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Participate in events that bring you closer to friends or family. Your input and ability to bring everyone together will position you to lead the way. Trust your instincts and follow your heart. Love will make your life more meaningful. 5 stars
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Don’t argue. If you are fun to be with, everyone will want to be with you. Lighten up and enjoy what life has to offer. A change of pace and scenery will help you see things differently. Choose love over discord. 2 stars
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Consider what you enjoy doing most and head in that direction. Use your knowledge and experience to help you navigate your way through any interference you encounter. Distance yourself from bullies and meddlers. Be the master of your destiny. 4 stars
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Put some energy behind your ideas, and you’ll be surprised by what you accomplish. Tuck yourself away in a spot that is quiet and conducive to doing something that brings you joy. A creative outlet will calm your nerves. 3 stars
Birthday Baby: You are talkative, aggressive and hardworking. You are passionate and protective.
1 star: Avoid conflicts; work behind the scenes. 2 stars: You can accomplish, but don’t rely on others. 3 stars: Focus and you’ll reach your goals. 4 stars: Aim high; start new projects. 5 stars: Nothing can stop you; go for gold.
Visit Eugenialast.com, or join Eugenia on Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn.
Want to get a link to your daily horoscope delivered directly to your inbox each weekday morning? Sign up for our free Coffee Break newsletter at mercurynews.com/newsletters or eastbaytimes.com/newsletters.
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Citizens of Chico must live for the next decade with the election districts this city council adopts. We deserve to live and vote in fairly-drawn, sensible, and understandable districts.
Fair maps have compact districts with natural and logical borders. Good maps make it easy for voters to know what district they live in. The best maps also preserve communities of interest and historical neighborhoods as much as possible.
This week the city council advanced three maps for final public comment by April 5.
Two of the final three maps are public submissions, and one map is the product of the city-hired demographer. Both Public Submission 2C (Goldstein 1000 Revised) and Demographer Proposal 5B are very good. In fact, they closely resemble each other, and both meet all the criteria of fair district maps.
Public Submission 6C (Help People Vote Map) does not meet the standard for a logical, well-drawn map. Its absurdly disruptive and nonsensical boundaries carve up neighborhoods in irrational ways, suggesting the map may conceal a hidden motive, or even a partisan agenda.
If the latter is true, it is yet another example of Republican gerrymandering (see the Butte County Board of Supervisors’ redistricting results). Adopted maps should not contain even a hint of gerrymandering.
Public Submission #2 and Demographer Proposal 5B are sensible, logical, fair, and clearly non-partisan maps. I am asking the city council to adopt either of the two, but not 6C. Readers can and should do the same with this email address: RedistrictingEmails@chicoca.gov.
— James Aram, Chico
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Recent letters from Pam Stoesser, Karen Laslo and John Scott tell us of the successes of county supervisor incumbents Debra Lucero and Tami Ritter and the dangers of Pete Durfee.
You more liberal folks feel like your agendas that emphasize human rights, equality and compassion will be best represented by the incumbents. Great. Vote for them. Good luck.
But those of us in favor of candidates like Pete Durfee, are not some kind of ultra-conservative, conspiracy theory endorsing whackos. We’re regular folks with our own agendas.
Our agendas are that we want to take our children and grandchildren to our parks without having them encounter human feces, yes, the needles, and endless litter.
We expect to have our laws enforced equally, with all equally subject to the outcomes of unlawful behavior, be it littering, assault or destroying property. We oppose special concessions being given to some criminals because they’re “victims of social injustice.” Shouldn’t we all be treated equally?
We expect our representatives to do something to fight the inequities within our systems, such as Camp Fire survivors still living in trailers 3 1/2 years later or PG&E circumventing financial responsibilities that make a citizen wonder about corruption and payoffs (are you listening CPUC?).
I don’t criticize your vote for those who endorse your lofty ideals, and I hope you don’t criticize me for voting in line with the ideals that many of my likeminded taxpaying, hardworking counterparts share.
We’ll stick with Pete Durfee.
— Jeff Saine, Chico
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The Pleasant Valley boys golf team took first place in the first Eastern Athletic League match of the season at Gold Hills Golf Club in Redding.
Landon Williams and Nate Borello led the Vikings as both players finished at 74-over par 72. Jordan Boles shot a 78, and Andrew Ma and Kiefer Zelenski tied at 79.
As a team the Vikings shot 467-over par 432 as a team. Chico High finished second in the team standings, finishing 494-over par 432 as a team. The Panthers were led by an 84 by Cooper Wilkins and an 87 by Matt Sayer.
Foothill finished in third place at 577, Red Bluff finished fourth at 653 and Shasta fifth at 914. Enterprise competed with four of a needed six golfers to tally a complete scorecard.
Prep baseball
Orland 9, Hamilton 2: Orland defeated Hamilton in seven inning on Thursday Hamilton City, thanks in large part to a six-run third inning by the Trojans.
Zach Story led Orland with two hits, and Connor Ovard had one hit and three RBIs. Cody Baylor had one hit, a double, and two RBIs. Braden Ovitz led Orland with three runs scored.
On the mound for Orland, Baylor, Story and Ovard pitched two innings each. The three allowed a combined four hits, one earned run and struck out 11. Baylor struck out five and allowed one hit in his two scoreless innings.
For Hamilton, Riley Powell pitched six innings and struck out four. Powell had two of the Braves’ four hits, finishing the day 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a double.
Orland (5-6, 1-3 Butte View League) plays next at 4 p.m. Tuesday at home against Las Plumas. Hamilton (4-7) begins its Mid-Valley League schedule at 2 p.m. April 8 at home against Quincy.
Report scores or results by emailing sports@chicoer.com. Results must be reported by noon the next day following the date that the game was played.
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CHICO — In recent years Chico has become a well-known hub for successful and competitive distance runners — whether it be at the high school or collegiate level. This year has been no exception.
The rivalry between Chico High and Pleasant Valley has been fierce. Chico High is paced by the stellar Mario Giannini, while Pleasant Valley has two runners who often lead the pack in Renton McGregor and Tryon Jardin.
During this spring’s track and field season McGregor has stood out, and at PV’s recent Eastern Athletic League Meet against Enterprise, Pleasant Valley Athletic Director and track and field coach Pam Jackson said McGregor was clearly the one to beat.
McGregor won the 400-meter race in 51.72 seconds ahead of second place teammate Jackson Hein who finished with a time of 52.48. McGregor then ran the 800 and defeated the second place Hein by nearly four seconds, clocking a time of 2:07.68 while Hein clocked a 2:11.63. He then ran the 1600 meter relay with Austin Hein, Cristofer Velazquez-Patino and Jackson Hein and the four finished in 3:45.91.
Due to McGregor’s success he is this week’s Chico Enterprise-Record Prep Athlete of the Week.
Jackson said McGregor was working on speed work Wednesday and saving the longer distances for Saturday, as his main two events are the 1600 and 3200 races. McGregor will be competing in the prestigious Stanford Invitational on Saturday alongside Jardin, who will race Friday.
Pleasant Valley distance coach Ryan Teesdale called McGregor the ultimate teammate and one who is very easily coachable.
“He follows directions, puts in the time and effort needed to be successful. Renton is a hard-working, high achieving student and athlete,” Teesdale said. “Renton is the ultimate teammate; Willing to lead multiple reps, if not all reps, of an interval workout. He motivates and cheers for all athletes on the team because he wants them to become better. He champions and thrives in the process of getting better and his desire for getting better rubs off on his teammates.”
McGregor wasn’t always a runner, at least in competitions. Growing up he played basketball and baseball through eighth grade. A friend asked him to come out for cross country in the summer between eighth grade and his freshman year of high school and he said yes, figuring it would be a good way to keep in shape for basketball.
McGregor played basketball on the PV freshman team in his first year at PV, before transitioning full time to cross country and track and field. He was excelling at distance running his sophomore year, and after a disappointing section meet at the end of his sophomore year he and Jardin decided to work hard their junior year to stand out on the distance running scene at PV.
“Renton, along with Tryon Jardin, came together during the pandemic year and put in the work to become better athletes,” Teesdale said. “The rest of the team saw the effort and desire of these athletes and it made the team want to achieve greatness. They get to see Renton run school records now, but they also saw the amount of work he put into the sport … now we are all witnessing the fruits of his labor.”
McGregor’s favorite part of cross country is his teammates. Despite each runner wanting to win each race, McGregor praised the cross-country culture explaining how each runner wants their teammates to do well and it is encouraging — particularly on the long runs.
McGregor praised the help of Teesdale to his development as a runner, as well as Jardin who he has known since the two played baseball together in elementary school.
“I came out for cross country the summer before my freshman year and I saw him and I was like, ‘I know you,'” McGregor said. “It was sort of like I didn’t know too many other people, but I knew Tryon, so we’ve been getting closer throughout our four years here and it’s really awesome.”
McGregor currently holds the two-mile record at PV, as well as several other distance records. He and Jardin have been going back and forth, and Teesdale is excited for the two to go back-and-forth for through the record books for the rest of their senior year.
For McGregor, the records are a benchmark that says, “ya you probably made the right choice.”
McGregor, a senior, hopes to continue his running career and is currently weighing his options at both the Division I and Division II levels. Jardin will be signing to continue his collegiate career in the next two weeks.
“Renton is an amazing young individual who has a bright future ahead of him,” Teesdale said. “His steadfast determination as a student and as an athlete will allow him to achieve whatever he puts his mind to, but first, I am excited to see how this season finishes!”
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CHICO — A professor, actress, Federal Bureau of Investigations agent, professional football player, photographer, dentist and emergency nurse were among the 24 professionals who spoke to children Thursday and Friday during the Parkview Elementary School career fair.
Each professional helmed a table in the school courtyard and groups of students rotated between each booth as each professional shared stories and information about their careers and then answered questions. Each student carried a career passport in which they took notes and asked for autographs from the career professionals.
Photographer Betsy Welsh, who takes school photos, sports and senior portraits, for example, was among the career professionals. Welsh displayed photos at her booth, including a photo of Yosemite National Park set up on an easel.
“The kids were fantastic,” Welsh said after the fair. “They asked so many questions. They made the opportunity a piece of cake. There were no two questions alike.”
The students enjoyed listening to stories and information about the different careers. One of them, Luke Sheridan, is a fourth grade student at Parkview.
“I liked it, I didn’t know you could have two careers,” Sheridan said. “I thought you could only have one. I liked listening to the firefighters.”
Fourth grade student Madeline Henderson also enjoyed the fair.
“I thought it was really cool,” Henderson said afterwards. “We got to see so many different careers. I liked the photographer and the nurse. All of the people serve a purpose.”
Henderson wants to be a dancer when she grows up. She has taken jazz and ballet classes.
“Jazz and ballet classes are sharp and technical and show your passion,” Henderson said.
Parkview Principal Heather Sufuentes was very impressed with the career fair turnout.
“It was super inspiring for the students,” Sufuentes said. “The jobs were all so varied from vocational careers to people with Ph.Ds. The school is connected to big dreams. I’m so grateful to the community members who spoke. It was a big achievement to have them all here.”
Butte County Sheriff Kory L. Honea was one of the professionals who spoke to kids.
“It was a great event,” Honea said. “It was good to talk to young people. They asked great questions. The standard question I receive is usually about carrying a gun but one of the students asked me about how I maintain a balance between work and family.”
The other professionals present at the fair were a military member, pilot, Action News sports director, an atomic physicist, artist, newspaper editor, police officer, computer software engineer, attorney, superior court judge, Chico Unified School District superintendent, land surveyor, construction manager, doctor, reporter and firefighters.
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Jordan Poole had Miami’s Kyle Lowry on an island in transition. In Poole’s mind, he was going to cook Lowry on the Heat’s FTX Arena floor. Poole hit Lowry with a nasty in-and-out dribble that sent him spiraling to the baseline. The third-year Warriors guard snatched the ball back, then drained a stepback three.
In high-energy minutes off the bench, Juan Toscano-Anderson dived to retrieve a loose ball, slashed through the paint and launched himself off the Chase Center floor, defying gravity and daring Suns center JaVale McGee to meet him at the rim.
Toscano-Anderson powered through the air and McGee’s outstretched hands and threw down a brutal one-handed posterizing jam.
Both moments were signature highlight plays by the Warriors’ supporting players (though Poole has made a star turn this month), and both showed growth cultivated in Santa Cruz with Warriors’ G League affiliate.
Twenty-nine of the NBA’s 30 teams have G League affiliates. Raptors 905 and the Oklahoma City Blue are two teams known to have a close bond with their NBA counterparts, but the bond between Santa Cruz and Golden State is like the ultimate big brother-little brother relationship: Intimate and symbiotic. Same name and same game.
“We try to keep everything as much similar to the Warriors as we can from what plays and sets we’re running and also what our terminology is,” Santa Cruz head coach Seth Cooper said. “For the most part, we try to do the same things and just adding a little more structure or teaching some of the reads in a little more detail.”
It’s no coincidence that the Warriors often seem to find players who can effectively impact the game in their specific roles on the team and a lot of that has to do with what some of these players learn during stints with the Santa Cruz Warriors.
If Golden State is the main stage where the lights are shining the brightest and the harshest, Santa Cruz is backstage. It is where the players hustle and grind behind the curtains. Where they are developed, groomed and prepared for their role in the ensemble cast of the main roster and in some cases, other teams in the league.
This angle of Poole leaving Lowry in the dust 😲 pic.twitter.com/bshGv7Sra0
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) March 24, 2022
When it clicks
Jordan Poole joined the Santa Cruz Warriors last season as a player who had the potential to be great and the work ethic to match. What he didn’t have was a sound understanding of the Warriors’ system. The month-long stint with the Sea Dubs provided the young guard extra reps and a deeper understanding that he needed to thrive.
Poole’s ascension came when then-Santa Cruz head coach Kris Weems pressed the young guard to speed up his decision making. In Weems’ “.5 seconds or less” system, Poole had a half-second after receiving the ball to either shoot, dribble or pass.
The principle was influential in Poole’s performances in the G League’s Orlando bubble last season, including scoring 37 points in a Santa Cruz comeback win over Fort Wayne last season. It also helped him return to Golden State as a more sure and decisive player.
Right now, Poole is on a tear. With his 38 points against Phoenix Wednesday night, Poole has scored 20 or more points in 15 consecutive games. For the month of March, he averaged 25.4 points per game on 50 percent from the field and 44 percent from deep — a far cry from his 28 percent 3-point shooting in his rookie season.
“The big thing was just how Jordan was able to go and get confidence from playing and carrying that right over into having a really good stretch with the Warriors, and also get some of the coaching that he needed early on, where they were able to have him with the (NBA) team for a long period of time,” Cooper said.
For Toscano-Anderson, his “ah-ha” moment wasn’t that extensive. It was as simple as knowing who he is and what he can bring to the Warriors – being a high-energy guy off the bench who can play solidly in fluctuating minutes.
“I think it started to click during the season for me,” Toscano-Anderson said of his G League experience. “I realized that I could play in the NBA as well, and we had an amazing coaching staff, starting with (Aaron) Miles, who was our head coach. He really helped me improve on the court.”
JUAN TOSCANO-ANDERSON ON JAVALE MCGEE 😱 pic.twitter.com/IrQr2qLJKx
— ESPN (@espn) December 4, 2021
Toscano-Anderson and Poole are just two former Santa Cruz Warriors who have found a role in the NBA. Damion Lee has carved out a role with the Warriors. Quinn Cook was a contributor to the 2017-18 champion Warriors as a two-way player. Before catching on with Dallas, Philadelphia and now Brooklyn, Seth Curry spent his early career in Santa Cruz. The Lakers’ Kendrick Nunn and Toronto’s Chris Boucher also spent time as Sea Dubs as well.
That path was what the Warriors envisioned when they bought the Dakota Wizards in 2011 and moved the team to Santa Cruz. Warriors Executive Vice President Kirk Lacob told his group he wanted to see every G League player called up to Golden State – even if the roster rules wouldn’t allow it.
“It’s kind of a home run across the board,” Lacob said. “We set out to do what we aimed to do and we’ve gotten to see players gain invaluable experience and the hope is that the wheel keeps turning.”
Locked in and linked
The success of the Santa Cruz-Golden State relationship is based on the idea of being intertwined on all levels. It doesn’t stop at sharing the same on-court identity and principles. Their true partnership is what makes the connection between affiliate and parent club pop. It’s the secret in their sauce.
Golden State executives are in constant contact with their Santa Cruz counterparts. Warriors Director of Team Development Kent Lacob is known to have periodic check-ins with the players, which has helped him in his executive role for Golden State.
“It gives you a different type of perspective and insight into the decisions that you want to make when you’re at the bigger stage of Golden State,” Lacob said. “So it’s been incredibly impactful.”
For Santa Cruz general manager David Fatoki, it is the Warriors’ willingness – from the executives to coach Steve Kerr – to invest in their affiliate that stands out.
“I think the buy-in is what makes it work so well and we’ve been successful in finding players over the past few years. But it comes from the top down,” he said. “You’ve seen it over the last few years that (Kerr) has no hesitancy in having young Warriors, whether it’s Jonathan Kuminga to Moses Moody, playing games in Santa Cruz and he trusts the coaching staff and the front office. I think it’s just the buy-in, knowing that we are all on the same page and that everything we do in Santa Cruz has a purpose.”
Lee came to the Warriors from the Celtics’ G League affiliate in Maine. While Lee says that both organizations are well run, the bond between Santa Cruz and Golden State makes a difference. The cohesiveness on the court is one thing but it’s the off-the-court ties that bind. Lee and other Golden State Warriors have been known to attend Sea Dubs games from time to time.
“I think what really makes this organization so great and so special is the fact that Santa Cruz and San Francisco are an hour and 15, maybe an hour and a half away but still taking time out to go down and watch games or even for them to come up and practice is really special.”
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — By the midpoint of last season, the three pitchers — and lockermates — who made up the back end of the Giants’ bullpen had developed an inside joke. Seemingly every game, Dominic Leone would work the seventh. Tyler Rogers would work the eighth. And the ninth belonged to Jake McGee.
“We were like the ‘Big 3’ toward the end of the season,” McGee said recently, with Rogers seated to his right and Leone to his left inside the home clubhouse of Scottsdale Stadium, an arrangement that mirrors the one inside Oracle Park.
But then, in August, McGee strained his oblique, sidelining him for a month and opening the door for Camilo Doval and his 100-mph fastball to establish himself as the preferred ninth inning option. McGee saved 31 games, but when time came for manager Gabe Kapler to turn to a reliever late in all three National League Division Series games that the Giants led, it was Doval who got the call.
So, is there room for a Big Four?
“It’s definitely interchangeable,” McGee said. “(Doval) is still young. But if he builds off what he did the last month of last season, he’s going to be completely fine to be in the mix and is just going to give Kap and (pitching coach Andrew) Bailey more matchup opportunities.”
At least to start the season, the Giants plan to employ a matchup-based strategy at the back of their bullpen. But Kapler has maintained that the ninth inning is there for anyone to claim, even though he continued Friday morning to decline to name a closer to start the season.
“I don’t see why we would,” Kapler said. “Players identify themselves. … We’ve got a lot of options for the ninth inning. These things have a way of shaking themselves out. We’ve always said that when players take control of roles … we’re not standing in anybody’s way.”
On the surface, Kapler’s message applies to anyone in the Giants’ bullpen. But in practice, it sure sounds like a message to Doval.
The 24-year-old fireballer ended last season with a streak of 16 straight scoreless appearances. He went all of September and October without allowing a run, until his final outing in Game 5 of the NLDS, when he surrendered the decisive run to the Dodgers, eventually ending the Giants’ season.
Before he could become a dominant late-inning reliever, Doval had to endure some bumps along the road. Simply having a fastball that can touch 104 miles per hour and a wipeout slider wasn’t enough, unless he could control them. During his first call-up, Doval frequently appeared in the seventh inning and allowed multiple leads to slip away, posting a 7.59 ERA over 13 appearances. So the Giants sent him to Triple-A Sacramento with a mission to get command of his pitches.
“I know that when they first called me up, it didn’t go well for me,” Doval said through Spanish-language translator Erwin Higueros. “When I came back up I noticed the change … I was like, ‘Whoa, is this me?’ I can only imagine what else I can do moving forward.”
This spring, the Giants are emphasizing to Doval the importance of paying attention to runners on base.
“One of the responsibilities with pitching big innings late in games is you want to be able to control the running game, especially given how critical that one-run situation can be,” Kapler said. “Camilo’s committed to that. It’s something that’s we’re confident we cleaned up pretty well last year. We’ll continue to work on and clean it up prior to Opening Day.”
Those concerns, Kapler said recently, aren’t enough to keep Doval from claiming the ninth inning for himself.
There is a truism in baseball that the 27th out is the hardest to get. That it takes a special mindset to close games.
“It’s an adrenaline rush,” said Rogers, who saved 13 games last season and figures to fit into the mix again this season. “You try to approach it the same, but it’s different. There’s a different feel to it.
That’s why the guys who are really good at it get paid more than the guys who aren’t as good at it.”
And while the Giants aren’t lacking pitchers with the stuff or the mindset to get it done — their 2.99 bullpen ERA last year was the best in the majors — Doval has a certain confidence about him, a trait shared by any number of great closers.
“Who doesn’t want to be the guy?” Doval said. “I’ve never lacked confidence. … But I’m OK with sharing the role with Tyler (and) with McGee. Nobody’s going to gift you the position. You have to earn it.”
Rogers, though, raises an important point: the money.
Whether through arbitration or free agency, pitchers who save games earn more of it.
The back end of the Giants’ bullpen is well-suited to play the matchups, depending on the situation and the hitters set to come to the plate that inning. Doval fires bullets. McGee’s arsenal is similar but slightly slower and from the opposite side. Rogers’ arm almost scraping the dirt gives him one of the most unique release points in baseball.
But in order to play the matchups as they would like, Giants relievers also have to be copacetic with sharing the potentially fruitful ninth-inning duties.
“I’m totally fine with it by committee,” said McGee, echoing his two counterparts. “We kind of know what pocket of the lineup we’re going to face. … Saves always pay more. But now the last few years it’s leveled out more. Everyone’s recognizing the middle relievers more.”
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SAN JOSE — Roughly five weeks after having surgery to repair a broken leg, defenseman Mario Ferraro is coming back ahead of schedule and will dress Saturday night when the Sharks play the Dallas Stars at SAP Center.
Ferraro on Feb. 27 underwent surgery to repair a fracture in his lower left fibula, a day after he was injured in a game with the Boston Bruins.
It was initially believed that Ferraro would be out for six-to-eight weeks, but he began skating again Monday and traveled with the Sharks on their two-game road trip this week through Arizona and Colorado.
The Sharks medical team gave Ferraro the green light to return on Friday, coach Bob Boughner said.
“The test was for him was to be able to come back and get into contact and get into some battle drills, which he’s done, and make sure that everything’s good structurally, and the doctors feel real confident,” Boughner said.
“It’s tough to keep a guy like that out when he’s begging to get back in the lineup and the doctors give him the green light. So it’s good. I think he’s going to create energy in our room and on the ice.”
Ferraro was chasing a puck deep in the Sharks’ zone on Feb. 26 when he was hit by Bruins winger Taylor Hall, causing him to fall feet first into the end boards. Ferraro’s left skate first hit the end wall, and he was unable to put any weight on that leg as he was helped off the ice by Sharks head athletic trainer Ray Tufts.
“It was weird, but I’m thankful. It could have been a lot worse, it can always be worse,” Ferraro said. “The fact that I’m playing again this season is something to be pretty thankful for. So it is what it is. It happens.”
Ferraro will be paired with Erik Karlsson for at least the start of Saturday’s game and will also be on the Sharks’ second power-play unit.
Ferraro at the time of his injury had 11 points in 48 games and was second on the team with an average of 23:19 of ice time per game. He still leads the Sharks with 127 blocked shots and is third on the team with 101 hits.
“You never really know how the recovery is going to go. It’s different for everybody,” Ferraro said. “There are things that can get in the way of the recovery sometimes, but the trainers here helped me out really well, docs took care of me really well, so a lot of credit goes to them. I think I’m ahead of schedule a little bit, so it’s nice.”
With Ferraro coming back, Ryan Merkley will be a healthy scratch, and the Sharks are now carrying eight defensemen.
Merkley had played in each of the last five games, collecting two assists averaging just over 16 minutes of ice time as he’s mostly been paired with Marc-Edouard Vlasic.
Boughner has liked how Merkley has played and added the lineup could change, “on a nightly basis according to the opponents we’re playing.
“Merk’s game is going in the right direction. We’ve got eight healthy (defensemen).”
Forward Jonathan Dahlen will also return to the Sharks’ lineup Saturday.
Dahlen was struck in the face by a puck on March 20 in a game with the Arizona Coyotes and has missed the last five games. Dahlen will start Saturday’s game on a line with Logan Couture and Rudolfs Balcers.
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SAN JOSE — Kevin Labanc’s return to the lineup appeared imminent earlier this week but now the Sharks are considering shutting the winger down for the rest of the season.
Labanc on Thursday visited the Los Angeles surgeon who performed his shoulder surgery and coach Bob Boughner said the Sharks’ medical team has been happy with how the forward has healed.
But with less than a month before the end of the regular season and the Sharks out of playoff contention, Boughner said Labanc might remain out of the lineup for the final 14 games after Saturday to let the shoulder continue to heal.
“I think (out of an abundance of caution), I think there’s a chance they want to look at the risk/reward, see how many games are left in the season and is it worth it or not,” Boughner said of a Labanc return.
“The more time he has, obviously, the better the rehab process going to be, so it might come to a point in time where we might shut him down for the season. But he feels good. Every day he comes, he’s stronger and (the shoulder is in) a really good spot, but it’s just a matter of risk/reward at this point.”
Labanc, in the second year of a four-year, $18.9 million contract, hasn’t played since Dec. 11 against Dallas when he was injured by a hit into the boards by Stars defenseman Jani Hakanpaa. Labanc has joined the Sharks for on-ice drills in recent days, including on Monday and Tuesday when he went through practices with contact.
Labanc on Tuesday sounded excited about a return and added it was important to him to start playing again.
“I just want to get back to competing, winning games, and getting back on the right track, as an organization, a team, and myself,” Labanc said. “So we’ve got a lot of business to take care of on the ice and I want to help the team as much as I can, and I know I can.”
The Sharks (29-30-8) entered Saturday’s game with the Dallas Stars in seventh place in the Pacific Division and 14 points back of the Vegas Golden Knights for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Both defenseman Mario Ferraro and winger Jonathan Dahlen are returning to the Sharks’ lineup. Ferraro has missed the last five weeks after he had surgery on Feb. 27 to repair a fracture in his lower left fibula, an injury he suffered the day before in a game with the Boston Bruins.
Dahlen has missed the last five games after he was struck in the face by a puck during the Sharks’ March 20 game with Arizona.
Labanc had six points in 21 games at the time of his injury. He did not take part in the Sharks’ morning skate Saturday at SAP Center.
“I think he wants to play, obviously,” Boughner said. “But the medical team, obviously we have to defer to them. The doctors have all said that it looks good and they’re happy. It’s time. It’s major surgery and it’s time, it just needs time.”
GADJOVICH UPDATE: Forward Jonah Gadjovich, out with an undisclosed injury, took part in Saturday’s morning skate but remains day-to-day. Boughner said there is a chance Gadjovich could return to play either Tuesday against Edmonton or Thursday against Calgary, but otherwise will likely be available sometime during the Sharks’ five-game road trip from April 9-17.
DAHLEN ON EKLUND: Dahlen has been keeping a close eye on the Swedish Hockey League series between Timra, his former team, and Djurgarden, the team that William Eklund, the Sharks’ 2021 first-round draft pick, played for this season.
Timra swept Djurgarden four-games-to-none in the best-of-seven series, so it will remain in the top-tier SHL, while Djurgarden will be relegated to the Allsvenskan, Sweden’s second-best league next season.
After he had four assists in nine NHL games, Eklund, 19, was sent back to Sweden by the Sharks in November so they didn’t burn the first year of his entry-level contract.
It was hoped this would be a development year for Eklund, as he played in 30 games and had 14 points for Djurgarden. He also played in two games for Sweden at the World Junior Championships in December before that was halted over COVID-19 issues.
“He’s a young kid. Obviously, it’s not easy,” said Dahlen, who talks to Eklund frequently. “So you’ve got to understand that and I think he’s still done a good job this year and gained a lot of experience, so I’m happy for him anyway. I think it’s been a good year.”
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GLENDALE, Ariz. — Brandon Belt has been such a rare presence during the time the Giants clubhouse is open to reporters that when he walked in Saturday morning, it elicited the following reaction from teammate Curt Casali.
“Oh, (expletive), you’re playing today!”
The anticipation had been building for Belt’s spring debut since the Giants began Cactus League play two weeks ago. As Evan Longoria’s absence drew on, eventually demanding surgery, concern began to grow around his teammate on the other corner of the Giants infield. But, making his spring training debut Saturday against the Dodgers, Belt said he is ready to go — if not in midseason form — with Opening Day looming six days away.
Belt, who had been kept out of game action until Saturday with inflammation in his right knee, played four innings at first base and struck out swinging in both of his trips to the plate.
“The most important thing is just getting out there and getting my body used to playing again,” Belt said. “Today didn’t go the way I wanted to and I didn’t feel perfect today, but it was a good first step in getting to where I want to go. … I did the same thing last year. I’ll end up being fine. It’s just a matter of getting back into the routine of playing again.”
He couldn’t have been greeted with a tougher matchup for his first competitive action this spring: starting for the Dodgers was Clayton Kershaw, the dominant left-hander who’s owned Belt more than any other pitcher throughout his career (67 plate appearances, four hits, four walks, 30 strikeouts, .065/.134/.081).
“Only if results in this game mattered, then I’d say that’s kind of cruel to throw him into that situation,” manager Gabe Kapler said beforehand. “There’s really nobody better equipped to have the important takeaways from today, independent of results, than Brandon. The goal is to get him on the dirt, get him in the batter’s box, let him see live pitching.”
Kershaw delivered Belt three fastballs in his first at-bat, then got Belt swinging on a 72 mph hook in his second trip to the plate.
Here's Brandon Belt's second strikeout on a 72 mph hook from Kershawpic.twitter.com/Dvzgm7p9YS
— Evan Webeck (@EvanWebeck) April 2, 2022
“I’m not sure that it would’ve mattered who you threw out there to be honest with you,” Belt said. “It’s no easier when you’ve got to face a guy like that. It didn’t feel great today, but that’s part of it. … I’m not concerned about it. It might take me a few weeks to get back to where I want to be, but good thing about our team is there’s guys who will pick you up if you’re not at your best, so I’m not too worried about it.”
After arriving at camp with inflammation in his right knee, Belt had been limited until Saturday to drills on the backfield, which Kapler described as a “long, slow ramp” to getting on the field for the first time at Camelback Ranch.
Belt said he “worked out my legs hard this offseason to avoid anything” but began to notice the discomfort in his knee during a weightlifting session soon before reporting for camp. Multiple MRIs have shown no reason for lingering concern, Belt said.
“We, collectively,” Kapler said, referring to the gathered reporters, “aren’t seeing all the work happening on the backfields. Very consistent defensive work. Very consistent at bats in sim games. Running and base running progression that has gotten us to this point.”
Belt, however, is the first to admit reps on the backfield can only mimic live game action so much.
“It doesn’t get you the same reps, but it’s better than nothing,” Belt said. “It felt like I was playing under water today. Still stiff. I just think there’s not a whole lot you can do about it until you get out and start playing.”
When the Giants open the regular season Friday against the Marlins, Belt will have played, at most, three exhibition contests. But Kapler has maintained confidence that his veteran first baseman can produce like he did last season, when he only played four spring training games and slugged the most home runs of his career (29), despite playing only 97 games.
Still, it was hard to ignore the stream of hitters walking across the field early Saturday morning at Scottsdale Stadium, forced to hold their team meeting in the visitor’s clubhouse because of preparations for an unrelated gala that night.
As they made their way into the third base dugout, Belt had a hefty heat pack attached to his lower right leg (after using it on his knee, it slipped and “I was too lazy to pick it back up,” Belt explained). Longoria was dressed in street clothes, with his right hand bandaged from surgery on his index finger. La Stella, a day removed from his first day playing the field, had a noticeable limp stemming from offseason surgery on the sheath of his right Achilles.
At the very least, Kapler copped, the optics weren’t great, with three of his projected starting infielders either hobbled or ruled out entirely, with less than a week until Opening Day. Add on to that LaMonte Wade Jr., who tweaked his knee in a Cactus League game last week and was set to be re-evaluated Saturday but, according to Kapler, was “still a little stiff.”
In a bit of positive news, Mike Yastrzemski returned to the lineup and played right field after his right quad tightened up in a game earlier this week. The next game for Belt and La Stella is still to be determined, but Belt said he hopes to play in both of the final exhibitions. The Giants are off Sunday before wrapping up spring training with back-to-back games against the A’s Monday and Tuesday.
“My goal,” Belt said, “is to play in as many games as possible from now on.”
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PHOENIX — In his final outing before he takes the ball on Opening Day, Logan Webb feels he’s got everything right where he wants to be with his pitches.
“I thought, honestly, that was the best my stuff has felt, so that was good to have,” Webb said after pitching into the fifth inning at the Giants’ minor league complex. “All of the things we were working on were really good today.”
Webb could have been facing against the Dodgers with the big league team over in Glendale. But in a bit of spring gamesmanship, the Giants sent him over to Papago Park instead, where the audience was more dozens than thousands. Webb said he understood the logic.
“I’m gonna face those guys enough this year,” Webb said. “It was more like, ‘Let’s save it, just save it for the year,’ and I get that.”
In the outing against the Angels’ High-A team, Webb went 4.1 innings and gave up one run (a solo homer to lead off the fifth) on three hits. He walked three and struck out seven.
The right-hander threw 50-of-77 pitches for strikes and got 12 swings and misses while pitching to Patrick Bailey, the Giants’ 2020 first round pick. Getting into the fifth inning was a key, and he felt he was able to fine-tune the final piece of his repertoire.
“I think the slider was kind of that last thing that we needed to get going, and we got it today, so I was excited about that,” Webb said.
But now, his attention can turn to Friday, where he’ll take the Oracle Park mound. It’s the first time the Giants have opened the season at home since 2009 — and the right-hander cannot wait for it to get here.
“I’m super excited to get it going,” Webb said. “Obviously, it’ll be a little different, Opening Day. But I just thought it was really good.”
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/02/chico-police-arrest-man-for-allegedly-stealing-catalytic-converter/
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A man was arrested for grand theft Thursday in Chico, according to a Chico Police Department press release.
The owner of a business in the 2300 block of Park Avenue reported to police that a man trespassing into a fenced yard was seen from a live security camera.
Officers were dispatched to the location and said they immediately identified the suspect as Antonio Sandoval from a previous burglary arrest less than one month prior.
Upon investigation, officers allege they found Sandoval’s backpack with a stolen catalytic converter as well as the required tools to cut a converter from a vehicle.
Sandoval was arrested on allegations of grand theft, possession of stolen property, possession of burglary tools, possession of drug paraphernalia, tampering/vandalism to a vehicle and prowling.
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A woman was arrested for allegedly committing a commercial burglary Friday, according to a Chico Police Department press release.
Chico Best Buy employees reported a woman, later identified as Meagan Wade from Maine, had walked out of the front doors with a shopping cart filled with merchandise without paying Friday afternoon.
Later in the evening, Paradise Police Department said that it stopped a vehicle matching the license plate numbers initially reported and contacted the Chico Police Department that the vehicle, suspect and stolen property from Best Buy had been detained.
Wade was taken into custody by the Chico Police Department and arrested for commercial burglary. A man identified as Aaron Cover, who owned and drove the vehicle, and was arrested by the Paradise Police Department on unrelated charges.
Additional stolen items were recovered and a follow up by the department will be conducted to determine the victims of the other stolen property.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/02/chico-state-baseball-wins-late-against-cal-state-la-local-roundup/
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The Chico State baseball team scored one run in the top of the ninth inning to defeat Cal State LA 4-3 on Friday in Los Angeles.
The Wildcats took an early lead with two runs in the first inning, before taking a 3-1 lead with a run in the sixth inning. LA tied the game with two runs in the seventh, before Jack Murphy reached on an error by the Golden Eagles’ first baseman to secure the win.
Willie Lajoie singled to right field to score Chico State’s first run, and Jarret Lindsay walked with bases loaded to give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead. Andrew Crane singled to center field to give Chico its third run before Cole Arnold scored in the ninth.
Lajoie, Grady Morgan and Jacob Jablonski had two hits each for Chico State. Jablonski had the lone extra-base hit for the Wildcats with a double.
Rylan Tinsley pitched six innings for Chico, allowing five hits, one earned run, one walk and three strikeouts. Kevin Lyons allowed two unearned runs in the seventh inning. Eric Hill pitched 1 2/3 innings and did not allow a hit or a run to earn his first win of the season. Tyler Chivens pitched the final inning and did not allow a hit to earn his first save of the season.
Chico State (23-6, 16-4 California Collegiate Athletic Association) played the Golden Eagles in a doubleheader Saturday and will close out the four-game series at 11 a.m. Sunday in Los Angeles.
College baseball
Butte 5, Shasta 1: Butte took a 5-0 lead after five innings and secured a road victory at Shasta College on Friday.
Right fielder Landon Gomes led Butte with a 3-for-4 day with two RBIs. Sergio Gonzalez had a double and a pair of RBIs, Peter Andrews had a double and Brody Boyle had two hits, one RBI and a stolen base.
Logan Meyers pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing eight hits, no walks while striking out eight. Dwyer Lewis pitched the final two innings, allowing two hits, one unearned run while striking out two.
Butte (20-10, 12-3 Golden Valley Conference) closed out a two-game series against Shasta on Saturday and will begin a two-game series at College of the Redwoods at 2 p.m. Friday.
Prep track and field
Chico High, Pleasant Valley at Stanford Invitational: Chico High cross country runner Mario Giannini won the 3200 race Friday at the Stanford Invitational with a time of 9 minutes and 7.96 seconds.
Giannini finished .77 seconds faster than the second-place finisher Emmanuel Leblond from Mountain View High School. Pleasant Valley’s Tryon Jardin finished 12th in the race, clocking a time of 9:33.75.
Pleasant Valley’s Renton McGregor competed in the 1600 race Saturday afternoon.
Pleasant Valley at Granite Bay Field Festival: Pleasant Valley competed in a series of field events on Friday at Granite Bay High School.
PV’s Thatcher Damon was the top finisher for the Vikings in boys’ shot put with a mark of 39-feet-11 inches. PV’s Tristan McPherren finished third in the discus with a mark of 133-2 and Conner Warren finished third in the high jump with a mark of 5-8.
In the girls’ shot-put, Nyeemah Cook was the top finisher for PV, finishing in eighth place with a mark of 27-4.75. Elizabeth Williams finished seventh in the discus with a mark of 73-2.5, Kate Winter was eighth in the high jump at 4-4 and Winter was seventh in the long jump at 14-3.
Pleasant Valley took place in the Bronco Speed Festival Saturday in Bella Vista, and will host an Eastern Athletic League meet against Red Bluff on Wednesday.
Prep softball
Pleasant Valley 12, Enterprise 1: Pleasant Valley defeated Enterprise in five innings Friday in the Vikings’ first league game of the season. PV scored two runs in the first inning, five runs in the second inning, four runs in the third inning and one run in the fourth inning.
Serina Vue led PV with three hits and four RBIs, including a pair of doubles. Grace Ferro had three hits, two RBIs and a double, and Merrin Barker had two hits, three RBIs and a double.
Ella Thurman pitched all five innings for PV, allowing one hit, one unearned run, one walk while striking out 11.
PV (5-4, 1-0 Eastern Athletic League) plays next at 5 p.m. Tuesday at home against Chico High.
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A two-vehicle noninjury accident on Saturday afternoon on southbound Highway 99 near the E 1st Ave off-ramp resulted in one minor injury. The accident occurred at about 12:57 p.m.
According to a witness on the scene, it appeared that a minivan pulled in front of the dump truck, and the truck swerved to miss the van but ended up spinning off the highway.
Southbound Highway 99 was closed for at least three hours as emergency crews removed the minivan and the dump truck.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/02/warriors-clinch-playoff-spot-with-thrilling-win-over-jazz/
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SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors are going to the playoffs for the first time in two seasons.
Golden State clinched its spot in the postseason Saturday after Klay Thompson hit four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter en route to a 111-107 thrilling comeback win over the Utah Jazz at Chase Center.
In what was the team’s most important game of the final stretch, with seeding implications on the line, Thompson led the Warriors on a 18-0 run, with Jordan Poole nailing a 3-pointer to give the Warriors a two-point lead, their first of the game, with about 3:30 left in the game.
With the Warriors up by one, Rudy Gobert made a critical turnover, throwing the ball out of bounds with about 21 seconds remaining.
Poole hit a pair of critical free throws to give the Warriors a three-point lead. And Draymond Green sealed the deal with a pair of free throws of his own.
The Warriors were able to win the game thanks to their perimeter shooting in the second half. They went 12-of-24 from three-point range in the final two quarters.
Thompson went 8-for-17 from three-point range, making six of those threes in the second half. He finished with a team-high 36 points and became the seventh all-time leading scorer for the Warriors, surpassing Jeff Mullins (12,547 career points) in the game’s first half.
Poole, who made six threes, continued his hot scoring streak, finishing with 31 points in what was his 16th consecutive game of scoring at least 20 points.
Meanwhile, Green finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
The Warriors had looked discombobulated in the second quarter, during which the Jazz went on a 16-0 run.
Poole helped reinvigorate the Warriors in the second quarter, scoring Golden State’s last 11 points of the quarter. However, untimely turnovers and fouls helped the Jazz secure a 58-45 lead heading into the locker rooms.
Saturday’s game was a possible preview to a first-round matchup. But with just over a week remaining in the regular season, the Western Conference seeding, outside of the Phoenix Suns and Memphis Grizzlies holding the top two spots, respectively, remains murky.
The Warriors are currently in third place — one game ahead of the Dallas Mavericks.
The Warriors, who are playing without Stephen Curry for the remainder of the regular season (sprained left foot ligament), will hit the road Sunday to play the Sacramento Kings. Tip-off is at 6 p.m.
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SAN JOSE – Goalie Kaapo Kahkonen got an opportunity to start his first career game at home on Saturday as a member of the Sharks, a chance to pick up his victory in teal after a mostly solid outing two days earlier.
Kahkonen’s night lasted 20 minutes, as he was the victim of some shoddy defensive play in front of him and perhaps his own momentary lapse in concentration in a four-goal first period for the Dallas Stars.
James Reimer came on in relief of Kahkonen to start the second period but the damage had been done, as the Sharks were unable to overcome a three-goal deficit in what became a 5-4 loss to the Stars at SAP Center.
Nick Bonino, Brent Burns, John Leonard and Sasha Chmelevski all scored and Reimer finished with 14 saves as the Sharks lost their third straight game. Leonard and Chmelevski scored 3:14 apart late in the third period to draw the Sharks to within one goal, but they could not get any closer.
“I liked our start,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner said. “We went out and we scored the first goal. I can tell when we have legs and when we don’t have legs, and I thought we had good legs tonight.
“Even when we’re down 4-1, I thought we had good legs. Just unfortunate that we were clawing back all game.”
Kahkonen allowed four goals on 14 shots in the opening period, including a shocker to Jason Robertson with just 0.3 seconds left.
The Sharks were called for icing with 2.7 seconds left in the first period, as Jonathan Dahlen failed to get his stick on a puck at center ice that had rimmed around the boards by defenseman Mario Ferraro.
“Mario’s just trying to rim it to (Couture), who let it go just to get it out of the zone with two seconds left,” Boughner said. “There are guys coming to the bench, they should have touched it. But I still think it went right by the Dallas player as well.
“That easily could have been a no-icing call and the period would be over.”
With the faceoff deep in the Sharks’ zone, Tyler Seguin won a faceoff with Couture back to Denis Gurianov, whose shot on goal went off Ferraro and off the end boards behind Kahkonen’s right shoulder.
Robertson won the race to the loose puck and shot it toward the Sharks’ net, where it went off Kahkonen’s skate and over the goal line with a fraction of a second to spare.
“It’s not a good goal,” Boughner said. “We lost the first period, we won the second, came out, we won the third. But you can’t start allowing four goals and (Robertson’s) goal was the backbreaker right there. The difference is two seconds. Just a bad goal.”
Vladislav Namestnikov, Jani Hakanpaa, and Roope Hintz also scored in a span of 8:03 for the Stars in the first period.
Hanakpaa’s goal at the 8:11 mark of the first period actually came after Seguin fanned on a shot attempt. But the puck came back to Hakanpaa, whose shot from above the circles got past Kahkonen.
“So that’s got to be a save as well,” Boughner said. “It is what it is.”
“I’ve got to do a better job on the draw, but we’ve got to know that there are 5-10 seconds left,” Couture said. “Guys were going to change and you’ve just go to know the situation in the game. Stay on the ice, touch the puck.”
Former Sharks captain Joe Pavelski scored at the 7:44 mark of the third period — the game-winner — for Dallas, which was victorious for the sixth time in seven games and moved past the Vegas Golden Knights for the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot.
Ferraro was expected to miss six-to-eight weeks after he had surgery on Feb. 27 to repair a fractured left fibula. But he began skating on Monday and had ramped up his on-ice activities in recent days before he was given medical clearance on Sunday.
“He’s such a hard worker and that speaks for itself,” Leonard said of Ferraro. “Whatever the doctors tell him, he’s going to do and he’ll do everything he can to be back on the ice right away.”
The Sharks’ homestand continues next week with games against Edmonton and Calgary on Tuesday and Thursday respectively.
Kahkonen was making his third start for the Sharks on Saturday and his second straight after he stopped 42 of 46 shots in San Jose’s 4-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.
Boughner said he wanted to give Kahkonen, who made his first two appearances for the team on the road, the chance to start a game at SAP Center. Kahkonen came into Saturday with a 0-2-0 record and a .907 save percentage and a 4.01 goals-against average.
Pavelski was playing his third game in San Jose in three years since he signed a three-year contract with the Stars in 2019. Dallas gave Pavelski, 37, a one-year, $5.5 million deal extension.
Burns and Pavelski now share an interesting stat in common, as both have now scored more goals after they turned 30 than before. Burns has now scored as many goals at age 30 or older (113 in 538 games) as he did before age 30 (113 in 699 games).
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SAN FRANCISCO — Moments after the Warriors’ most important win yet, Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole met at center court and hugged it out.
“They should be happy for each other,” coach Steve Kerr said.
Perhaps they felt a weight lifted; with a 111-107 comeback win over the Utah Jazz, the Warriors finally clinched a playoff spot. It’ll be 22-year-old Poole’s first trip and Thompson’s eighth.
Or maybe they felt a different kind of relief; Amid their worst stretch of basketball yet, the Warriors not only look to have their feet under them without Steph Curry for the remainder of the regular season, but are proving they have plenty of magic on tap to shock the world in the playoffs.
Thompson has been the source for many magical nights for Golden State in their dynastic history. He was magic again on Saturday night, finishing with a team-high 36 points.
The Warriors down 16 points with eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Thompson hit a pull-up 3-pointer on a feed from Poole. A minute later, Thompson eased into a step-back 3 to put the Warriors within seven. Chase Center erupted.
Thirty seconds later, Thompson chucked one from the top of the key off a Draymond Green screen hand-off. Swish. Golden State was down four. Thompson went back-to-back with a falling 3-pointer seconds later to put them within one.
The Jazz played center Rudy Gobert in drop coverage, allowing the Warriors the space to get hot from beyond the arc.
“Not surprised, but I’m grateful,” Thompson said of Utah’s defensive decision. “Not very smart. I’m not explosive to the rim, I just need to chop my feet, rise up when I have the space and I did not let missed shots discourage me tonight.”
Poole’s 3-pointer with just over three minutes left gave Golden State their first and final lead. He treated a raucous crowd to his signature celebration — tongue out, shaking his head with a strut.
With Curry cheering in street clothes on the bench, Thompson and Poole’s late-game execution inspired. Particularly for Thompson, who has been seeing more extreme lows than highs since his return nearly three months ago.
He was just hours removed from a pretty low low, where he shot 1-for-10 from 3 and committed a costly late foul in their loss to Phoenix. He folded paper airplanes at the media podium and waxed poetic about how far he’s come and what’s ahead.
“I told myself it’s one game and I’ll move on,” Thompson said.
Thompson is a different player now than he was during the Warriors’ golden years. Though he still functions with the kind of reckless confidence that has inspired some performances etched in NBA history, his legs and rhythm haven’t matched up.
He’s been hard on himself, pressing his shot at times in desperate search for breakthrough moments that used to come with relative ease.
But his unwavering confidence to shoot the open (or contested) shot even during his coldest streaks gives the Warriors a special kind of edge.
“If it were the other way around, you’d have no chance,” Kerr said before the Warriors’ win. “You know, if you have to motivate people at this level, you’re in big trouble. So I’d way rather have this set of circumstances where a guy is just so competitive and has set such a high bar for himself that our job is to get him to relax a little bit. But you know, he’s just really hard on himself and, and wants to be spectacular every night.”
Saturday night, Thompson was spectacular.
“When I have nights like this, for me it’s incredibly inspiring that I will get to the level I want to get to,” Thompson said. “I know I’m not there yet, but it’s in sight. I take these nights and I appreciate them much more than I did in the 2010s, I’ll tell you that much.”
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/03/chico-man-boss-bring-aid-to-employees-in-ukraine/
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It is not often that people are presented with opportunities to help others in need halfway across the world. Still, Chico’s Mark Barish had with the opportunity to help his fellow employees in Ukraine and took it.
Barish and his boss, Access Softek’s founder and CEO Chris Doner, flew to Hungary in early March to help aid employees stuck in Ukraine after the invasion by Russia.
Access is a Berkeley-based company.
After the pair flew to Hungary, they entered western Ukraine to bring supplies to their employees, including clothes and medicine.
Those employees included one recovering from breast cancer, and two others who were pregnant.
Barish works in sales for Access, which develops mobile and online banking software for credit unions and banks and has done so since 1986.
The journey, which included two forays into western Ukraine, started in Washington DC at a governmental affairs conference after the CFO of a credit union approached him about Ukraine.
Barish said that the CFO, whose oldest daughter was adopted out of Ukraine, knew that Access had some developers in Ukraine.
He offered to help them, which spurred a phone call from Barish to Doner, who told Barish that he was thinking about bringing supplies to his employees in Ukraine but his wife didn’t want him to go alone.
That is when Barish offered to go along.
But before he could go, he needed to talk to his wife Roxanne, who at first was not only supportive of the venture but wanted to go herself. But he said after a few days and as it got closer to leaving for the trip she started getting a little more anxious and decided not to go.
Doner’s wife, Christine, made all the arrangements for the pair, who flew into Budapest just a couple of days later from the Bay Area after the conference.
They also didn’t tell anybody where they were going in case it didn’t work out. They didn’t want to raise expectations and let down the Ukrainian employees.
“We brought some supplies with us, stuff that we thought we might have trouble finding there, and then when we got there, we rented a van,” he said. “And we basically went to the store and just filled the van with everything we could.”
But once they got there, he said they began to let employees know that they were there.
“We started saying tell us specifically the things that you guys need and are having trouble getting,” he said.
He said they loaded their van and drove three hours to the Hungarian-Ukrainian border. But they drove to a city, Mukachëvo, that was not the original meeting site.
“We were originally going to drive about four hours into a spot where there were a group of our employees,” he said. ”But they talked our CEO out of it the night before and said just too dangerous so don’t come that far in, so then we ended up driving to a town called Mukachëvo.”
That city is about 30 minutes into Ukraine from the border, where they met employee Yuriy Deschenko in the parking lot of a large depot store, one he called a Lowe’s or Home Depot on steroids.
Deschenko, who is from Kyiv and was staying with his father, who recently suffered a stroke, became the delivery person for the rest of the Ukrainian employees.
They transferred the supplies from their van into Deschenko’s. In addition to the supplies, each of them withdrew $10,000 to disperse to the employees in Ukraine.
“The biggest thing other than the money and supplies was just the mental uplift from seeing that they work for a guy that is willing to fly to the other side of the world to say,” Barish said. “You’re not alone we are in this together. You’re really in it but you know whatever we can do to help help you get through it.”
After that, they returned to Hungary where they were stopped at the border for more than 8 hours, in stark contrast to their one-hour wait to get into Ukraine on their way over.
“They’re doing much thorough more thorough checks of people apparently one of the concerns was that since that (Volodymyr Zelenskyy) since he gave out a bunch of weapons top all of his people,” he said. “A lot of them are unregistered and so people were coming across in Hungary and other places with those unregistered weapons and so they were taking extra care to like check everyone.”
But he also saw lines of Ukrainians trying to get out of the country and into Hungary.
“There was a pretty constant flow of families walking up to the border and then that was probably the saddest part of it all was seeing these families go to the border and the men saying goodbye to the kids being distraught, upset and they go across and the man has to go back and fight.”
He pointed to one story that kind of encapsulated the entire scene at the border.
“There was one kid who just would not let go of his dad – would just not let go — so he began distracting the boy with a toy and kind of interacting with him. When the kid finally let go the mom picked him up and dad started walking away,” he said. “Then they crossed and he stopped and went back to the border just to kind of see him, trying to peek to see one last little look at them, then turned around and walked away.”
Getting back to Hungary ended what was a 22-hour day, but he said then they learned that two pregnant employees, one that had given birth and the second that was about to give birth.
He said that there is a diaper shortage in Ukraine similar to the COVID-inspired toilet paper shortage in America at the beginning of the pandemic.
That led the pair to make a second trip back to Ukraine.
“This time we brought a bunch of diapers and formula. We had one employee with breast cancer so we brought them medication for that,” he said. “So the second one was a little bit less bulky but more specific and we also went to the local ATM and pulled out about 10 grand apiece again and brought more money.”
He also said that they’re unlikely to return, however they saw a lot of aid trucks and Doner is looking into contracting one of those trucks to deliver more aid to his employees behind the Hungarian border.
He said the company is also looking into adding an online banking option that allows people to donate money to charities to help Ukrainians through their products.
The opportunity to help the Ukrainians is also one that Boris says he can pay forward following the Camp Fire where he said that his wife Roxanne’s father survived even though he refused to leave his home in Paradise. The homes survived and he said he refused to leave even after the fire had passed through, but he said firemen in the area helped his father-in-law the entire time.
“His neighbor across the street had these big water catchers and his house burned but the water catches didn’t so the fire department literally brought one of them over to on his property filled it up with their hoses so he’d have water to like flush his toilet and stuff like that and then they will bring him by a hot meal to him every night that the entire time,” he said.
He also said there were a few times when sheriff’s deputies would drive his wife Roxanne to the property to deliver supplies to her father.
So knowing that, he said you have to be ready to pay such goodwill forward.
“The thing I’ve learned over my years — and you know and I don’t pretend to know anything about anything– but you know you gotta pay attention to those moments once when you get help from somebody and appreciate it and then pay to forward,” he said. “You know you gotta pay that forward when you’re able to, you know, maybe not that same day but even if it’s years later you gotta do it.”
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/03/horoscopes-april-3-2022-eddie-murphy-take-control/
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CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY:
, 40; Adam Scott, 49; Eddie Murphy, 61; Alec Baldwin, 64.
Happy Birthday: Take control. Be mindful of others and what they do, but don’t follow without good reason. Ponder over what works for you, and follow a path that offers insight, experience and fine-tuning your skills and attributes. Strive for perfection, and put everything in its place. Look inward and change whatever needs an overhaul. Positive thoughts and actions will push you in the right direction. Your numbers are 3, 14, 19, 22, 34, 39, 44.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Take a breather, and share memories with someone you love. A change of pace will help you decide your next move. Peace of mind is the goal, and making happy memories will bring you closer to someone you love. 3 stars
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Act in haste, and you’ll miss an opportunity. Spend more time discovering what life offers and what you can do with your attributes to gain ground or achieve the happiness you desire. You have more choices than you realize. 3 stars
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Know your worth, and stick to your plan. You owe it to yourself to do what makes you look, feel and be your best. Don’t let a change someone makes steal your thunder or ruin your plans. Nurture a meaningful relationship. 3 stars
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Take advantage of whatever comes your way. Rearrange your day to accommodate someone or something that can grant you a chance to explore something new and exciting. A financial gain or gift will come from an unexpected source. 4 stars
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Curb your habits and emotional responses. An intelligent approach to what others say or do will give you the edge you need to persuade others to see things your way. Personal growth, physical improvement and romance are featured. 2 stars
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Pitch in and make things happen. A change will help you revamp your lifestyle, giving you more time to spend with loved ones. It’s time to look at life and what you want through a different lens. Venture out and participate. 5 stars
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Broaden your outlook, friendships and pastimes, not your budget. Living within your means will ease stress and encourage you to enjoy life’s little pleasures, such as nature and other inexpensive marvels. Put more thought into personal gain, love and fitness. 3 stars
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Check your emotions at the door, and avoid getting into a debate with someone close to you. Be a good listener and offer unique suggestions. Be willing to compromise and share what you have to offer, and progress will follow. 3 stars
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Listen to sob stories, but don’t feel you have to cover for someone else’s mistake. Set standards and expectations that are doable, and be responsible for the outcome. A get-together with friends or relatives will be enlightening. 3 stars
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Reminiscing will shed light on a situation you face. Don’t argue a moot point when it’s best to look at the big picture and focus on how best to reach your destination. A change at home will ease stress. 5 stars
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Revise what you have to offer, and update your resume, website or presentation to represent the direction you want to pursue. Make a concerted effort to do the work yourself to avoid putting yourself in a vulnerable position. Self-improvement is favored. 2 stars
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): You’ll crave change, but before you start the process, find out what’s required and follow proper protocol. How you handle bureaucracy will determine your success. You can be unique and stay within budget. Follow the rules and regulations. 4 stars
Birthday Baby: You are quick-witted, pioneering and persistent. You are genuine and cautious.
1 star: Avoid conflicts; work behind the scenes. 2 stars: You can accomplish, but don’t rely on others. 3 stars: Focus and you’ll reach your goals. 4 stars: Aim high; start new projects. 5 stars: Nothing can stop you; go for gold.
Visit Eugenialast.com, or join Eugenia on Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn.
Want to get a link to your daily horoscope delivered directly to your inbox each weekday morning? Sign up for our free Coffee Break newsletter at mercurynews.com/newsletters or eastbaytimes.com/newsletters.
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A more in-depth look at AB-2020:
Here’s existing Lanterman Act language, describing parameters for forcing treatment and institutionalization on the mentally ill: “A condition in which a person, as a result of a mental health disorder, is incapable of making informed decisions about, or providing for, their own basic personal needs for food, clothing, shelter, or medical care without significant supervision and assistance from another person and, as a result of being incapable of making these informed decisions, the person is at risk of substantial bodily harm, dangerous worsening of a concomitant serious physical illness, significant psychiatric deterioration, or mismanagement of the person’s essential needs that could result in bodily harm.”
AB-2020 strikes the above language, substituting: “A condition in which a person, as a result of a mental health disorder, is unable to provide for their basic personal needs for food, clothing, or shelter.”
AB-2020 dumbs-down the law, eliminating those critically important, but inconvenient words referring to capacity to make “informed decisions.” The state ceases to carry that burden, being empowered to take a person’s freedom, for up to a year, whether they have the capacity to choose to address their “personal needs” or not. Any question of agency is sacrificed to expediency, allowing the state to observe that a mentally compromised person is poorly fed or poorly clothed or poorly sheltered and to institutionalize said person.
AB-2020 is homeless-targeting police state drift in a nation that fails to effectively address its poverty problem. Shame on us.
— Patrick Newman, Chico
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James Jenkins’ letter of March 24 was refreshingly civil and equanimous, but I urge him to do some more research before declaring that Russian election interference in 2016 was a “big lie.”
To reiterate, every US intelligence agency concluded that Putin personally ordered actions to interfere with the 2016 election, including propaganda against certain candidates and efforts to undermine faith in our democratic processes. Politifact even named the denial of Russian interference as the “2017 Lie of the Year.”
Trump publicly implored Russia to hack Hillary’s emails, his team met in Trump Tower with a Russian agent promising “dirt,” and his campaign chairman shared polling data with the Russians so they’d know where to concentrate their efforts.
Executives at Facebook, Google, and Twitter all concede that Russia used their platforms to influence the election. Russian Facebook groups, with names such as “Secure Borders” and “Being Patriotic,” garnered hundreds of thousands of followers and tens of millions of “Likes.”
The election hinged on 80,000 votes in 3 states, out of 138,000,000 votes cast, about one twentieth of one percent.
A forensic analysis concluded that Russia’s interference “likely” affected the outcome, and a former Director of National Intelligence says it “stretches credulity to think the Russians didn’t turn the election.”
Claiming that Democrats stole the 2020 election remains the one and only true “Big Lie.”
— Scott Paulo, Chico
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Letters to the editor occasionally include statements so wrong that they require a reply. For example from the 3/30/22, Opinion page we found this falsehood: “Treat them [the homeless] well and the city will soon be inundated with homeless.”
This must have been written by a person who has not talked to the Director of 14 Forward in Marysville who informed me that after they opened their shelter cabins program, there was not a problematic influx of homeless people to that facility. Must have been written by a person who has not talked to the Director of Opportunity Village in Eugene who said that they did not not see a lot of homeless coming to Opportunity Village from out of town. There are more programs for the homeless in many of the towns near Chico, (e.g. Sacramento, Marysville, Medford, etc.). If the above mentioned falsehood were true Chico’s homeless would have departed to other towns offering more services than Chico.
In Eugene Ore., where communitysupportedshelters.org and the City of Eugene have teamed up to work on a robust program of micro shelters and safe spot communities, they have had great success in reducing their homeless population.
Often, forgotten is we are not talking about a static group of people, once sheltered, in managed programs, in 6 months to two years 60% of homeless move on to “positive placement” (moved back in with family, permanent supportive housing, their own apartment, etc.). These managed programs are stepping stones not end games. Managed campgrounds would help.
— Charles Withuhn, Chico
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Chico Vendor Events hosted its first ever pop up event, “Art on the Esplanade,” featuring 10 local artists with musical performances by Michael Bone and Kyle Williams.
Organizer Julia Flynn said she started Chico Vendor Events page to have a place for customers to see all vendors in one place. Each artist had their own mission statement and profile that can be seen on facebook under Chico Vendor Events.
Flynn partnered with Ellis Art & Engineering Supply to host the event with art to bring people to the location.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/03/as-poppies-bloom-locals-celebrate-the-wildflower-nature-festival/
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OROVILLE — A fresh, warm 80-degree breeze nearby some fragrant wildflowers: Springtime is in the air.
Locals and families gathered Saturday for the 2022 Wildflower & Nature festival at Riverbend Park in Oroville, participating in family-friendly activities, listening to music and shopping with local artists.
The free community event, hosted by Feather River Recreation & Park District, featured several activities, including a native plant sale, geode breaking, live music, a beer garden; and goods and information vendors from local businesses and nonprofits.
As families set up chairs and browsed around, bright orange poppies were scattered across the greenery at full bloom.
Oroville local Khris-Tina Kella helped set up the festival more than 10 years ago and said the festival Saturday was the largest they’ve seen.
“I am in love; I love this. I am just so excited to see everybody smiling. Look at all these families that are out here. It’s been so long since we’ve seen families together,” Kella said.
This year, the festival, for the first time, had live music played by bands Strung Nugget Gang and Stringtown Road and a beer garden hosted by Feather Falls Brewing Company.
“We have not had these vendors in so long; so it’s a great treat to say, ‘Hey, we’re out here as a community to have fun,'” Kella said.
The Feather River Lapidary & Mineral society brought a crusher and geodes for kids to bust open and dirt and a sifter to find hidden gems, rocks, and crystals.
Amelia Roberts, 8, took one of the buckets of dirt with her grandparents to see if she could sift it to reveal treasure.
“One of my rocks got stuck in the sifter and we had to dig it out. “My favorite is this one,” Roberts said, pulling out a quarter-sized bright pink amethyst crystal.
Bob Trank, a volunteer for Feather River Lapidary & Mineral Club, handed out buckets and showed children the different minerals they sifted.
“My favorite part is this here, the kids, when they get their treasure and love finding rocks,” Trank said. “Each bag has an assortment of very cool stuff.”
Besides geode breaking, locals enjoyed aspects of nature through the Feather River Nature Center’s native plant display and the Forebay Aquatic Center’s guided tours along the Feather River.
Friends Sophie Stocks and Millie Kinnamont spent time doing a photoshoot with poppies in the background.
Visitor Alyssa Fesler took photos of the nearby blooming poppies and said she found the festival by accident trying to find wildflowers.
“I thought the festival was at Table Mountain, but it’s OK — this is really cool. I still get to see some beautiful wildflowers, so I’m taking a pitstop to do what I actually came for,” Fessler said. “Spring has sprung, and with that we have sprung as well. It just feels like there’s lots of people; you can see smiling faces; you get to be in the presence of nature and vitality.”
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I remember the first thing I heard about “The Godfather,” and it involved a horse’s head.
You know the horse. And you know the head.
I was 12 when the movie came out in 1972. At baseball practice one day, I heard a kid say “There’s a scene where a guy wakes up and there’s a horse’s head in his bed.” Then, after a question from another kid, the first kid said “No. Just the head. And lots of blood.”
That didn’t sound like anything 12-year-old me wanted to watch. I was far too busy reading “The Sporting News” and throwing baseballs into the pitchback net while waiting for Saturday’s “Game of the Week” to roll around.
It was several years before I finally watched the entire film on TV — sometime in my late 20s, I believe. Afterward, I went out and rented it so I could watch it again. Then I rented “The Godfather Part 2.” Then, before returning that, I rented “The Godfather Part 3.” The next day, I watched all three, and some might claim I’ve barely stopped watching them ever since.
My biggest surprise during that first viewing was this: I already knew much of the dialogue, because I’d heard so many of those lines spoken elsewhere through the years. That’s how engrained in American culture those films had become, especially the first two. From “Leave the gun, take the cannoli” to the first-known use of the phrase “bada-bing!” (a James Caan ad-lib) to “It’s not personal. It’s strictly business,” barely 5 minutes went by without me saying “Oh. THAT’s where that line originated.”
I bring all of this up because March 24 — just over a week ago — marked the 50-year anniversary of the release of the original Godfather film.
It was early 1972, and nobody had ever heard of Al Pacino or Diane Keaton. Caan was best known for playing a dying football player in a made-for-TV movie called “Brian’s Song,” Robert Duvall was some guy who had a bit part in “True Grit” and Marlon Brando was just another washed-up actor, riding a decade-long string of box-office bombs.
The fact that it’s been 50 years left me with no choice but to write about it this week. You might say it was an offer I couldn’t refuse.
(Yes, I could easily pepper every sentence in this column with lines from the movie, but no, I won’t. I swear on the souls of my grandchildren.)
Occasionally I’ll run into someone who claims they’ve never seen the film. I always find myself envying them. It means they’re going to experience something I’ll never enjoy again: The thrill of seeing that movie for the first time, knowing you’re going to need to watch it three or four more times just to get it straight. And get to know all the characters.
Ah, the characters. That, to me, is what really sets this film apart. Whereas most good films might introduce you to four or five key characters — and the great ones might get you on familiar terms with seven or eight — “The Godfather” literally introduces you to everyone in “the family” and beyond, with director Francis Ford Coppola taking the concept of character development to previously unimaginable levels. I just scrolled through the cast list and counted nearly 40 characters I know on a first-name basis — and could recite their lines at the drop of a hat. (Don’t worry. I won’t. That would be an infamnia.) From Luca Brasi to Virgil Sollozo and Jack Woltz to Bonasera the undertaker, we know these guys. Each were perfectly cast pieces in one Cosa Nostra-sized puzzle, right down to the people Fredo kicks out of Moe Greene’s suite when Michael Corleone decides it’s time to discuss the family business.
And the performances — they weren’t just ground-breaking, they were genre-defining. Fifty years later, Vito Corleone and his oldest son, Santino, are remembered as prototypical Mafia kingpins. Yet appearance-wise, both were as far from that as it could possibly get. Brando became Vito by rubbing shoe polish into his hair and stuffing cotton into his cheeks. Caan had reddish-brown hair. How many other red-headed Sicilian movie gangsters can you think of? Doesn’t matter. They made these characters so believable, and so comfortable in their other-worldly power, it actually came as a shock when that hail of bullets cut down Sonny at the toll plaza. You kept expecting him to jump up and kill a dozen armed men by beating them senseless with his bare hands, like brother-in-law Carlo near the gushing fire hydrant.
(OK, just one line from Vito: “I never thought you were a bad consigliere. I thought Santino was a bad Don — rest in peace.”)
Some people liked Part 2 even better than the original. I didn’t. As brilliant as it is, it doesn’t have Brando or Caan (save a brief cameo at the end). I hated seeing Fredo get whacked by Al Neri on the lake. And who wanted to see Frankie Five Angles die by his own hand in prison? Not me. But those scenes of the shooting at the family compound, and in Havana at the time of the Cuban Revolution, and especially the courtroom showdowns — classic. From the first time you see them until, well, the last, those scenes grab you by the throat with such a grip, you practically forget to stop and take a breath.
Not as many people liked Part 3. Personally, I think its biggest flaw is the same as every other film that’s been made the past 50 years: It just wasn’t as good as the first two Godfather movies.
It had its moments. I thought Andy Garcia was fantastic as Santino’s son (and reason enough to make a Part 4 that never happened) and on a personal note, one of my old friends from Corning, Anthony Guidera, had a small role as a bodyguard. It was his first film, and he refined his craft by hanging around people like Pacino and Eli Wallach. How’s that for on-the-job training?
I could talk about “The Godfather” all day. I won’t go so far as to say it really does contain the answers to all of life’s problems, but I’ve yet to watch it without coming away with something new, even after hundreds of viewings. And of all the times I’ve watched it, my favorite memories are of watching it with loved ones who hadn’t seen it before, yet get hooked and quickly end up asking all of the right questions.
Yeah. That’s the part I like best. After all, a man who doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man.
(Whoops. Couldn’t resist.)
What are your favorite memories of “The Godfather?” Editor Mike Wolcott is on the newspaper payroll, and he might like a story like that. Email him at mwolcott@chicoer.com.
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HAMILTON CITY — Rigoberto Sanchez has become a household name to many kids in Glenn and Butte County as one of the few who have made it to the professional level in the NFL.
Sanchez will enter his sixth season with the Indianapolis Colts when the 2022 season begins in the fall, and he currently holds the record for the longest punt in Colts history — a 79-yard punt in a Week 7 win against the 49ers in 2021.
Still, despite being just one of a select few active in the NFL from the North State, Sanchez has not forgotten his roots.
Sanchez, a 2012 Hamilton High School graduate, returned to the Braves’ stadium Saturday where he, the Braves and the Butte College football coaching staff held the second annual Rigo Sanchez Youth Football Camp. The free event featured kids ranging in age from 8-14 years old.
“I do this camp so one of you has the opportunity to one day to be in my shoes and inspire the youth, and that’s why I’m here today,” Sanchez told the kids prior to the camp. “I’m not doing it for me, I’m doing it for you all. You guys can be doctors, teachers, you can be a professional athlete, but the only thing I’ll tell you guys is never let anybody tell you can’t do something because I’m living proof of that.”
The inaugural camp was held in 2019, but the second annual was delayed two years due to the pandemic.
As kids arrived and signed in, Sanchez and two-time Super Bowl champion Jeff Stover signed autographs and took photos with the kids for nearly an hour.
Butte College head strength and conditioning coach Tim Garcia led the group in a stretch and warmup session before the kids divided up into 10 groups and rotated to different stations. Drills ranged from passing drills, rushing drills, agility drills, kicking drills, and hitting drills, to offensive and defensive line drills. Former Paradise coach Tom Flesher, who appeared in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers and coached at Butte when Sanchez played with the Roadrunners, worked on defensive line drills with the kids.
Flesher said he remembered Sanchez in his time at Butte as someone who was always a positive player and had a great work ethic. When Sanchez invited him out to help out, Flesher said “no question.”
“I hadn’t coached in five years, my body’s doing fine, but my voice is the only thing that’s going right now but that’s totally ok,” Flesher said. “I’m happier than heck. It’s fun getting back into some coaching. This is great. Rigo’s doing a great job with this.”
After the drills, the 13-14-year-olds were separated and played scrimmages on the field, while the 8-12-year-olds went through a short obstacle course stepping over bags, running through cones and catching a ball several times.
Three signed footballs were raffled off and Sanchez gave his final thoughts to the kids.
“It was all that really crossed my mind was doing it for the kids. The kids is what the future holds and that’s why I came back and did this because I was them at one point,” Sanchez said. “Trying to hope for somebody to look up to. For me it was just the honor of having them come and check this out, be around me, be around the other coaches, learn all that good stuff.”
The day was finished with a barbecue with hamburgers and chips provided by Sanchez and all kids left with smiles on their faces and many were thankful.
Butte College coach Robby Snelling, who helped lead the camp alongside six members of his staff, said he was excited to see how many youth were in attendance Saturday.
“I always looked at camp as a way to go get better so that’s really for us what we want and to go out and have fun and be around the game,” Snelling said. “Over time there’s been a drop off of youth playing the game of football and I love to see more playing. The more we can get out here playing the better. Best sport in the world.”
For Sanchez’s wife Cynthia, who played a large part in helping plan the event, her favorite part is the smiles on the kids’ faces.
“The whole camp they look at you and say thank you thank you so appreciative and you hear it from the parents too, so it’s just so nice to have a community with so much support,” Cynthia Sanchez said. “When me and Rigo first started off with this journey, we knew if we made it we wanted to give back. It was just something we had in the back of our minds. One day we will, we’ll get a blessing, so it definitely feels surreal.”
The Sanchez family hopes to continue the event for 10-15 years if allotted the opportunity.
“I think what we can do is motivate and keep inspiring and letting them know, hey you are somebody, you are here to do something and you don’t have to be in this big school, big city and here you can shine. You can shine anywhere,” Cynthia Sanchez said. “Opportunity is out there and all we can do is let them know it’s out there.”
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And so, we wait. And wait and wait and wait some more.
Community frustration continues to grow over the fact that the Pallet shelter site on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. has yet to open.
Until that site opens, people who have been living in parks (such as the Comanche Creek Greenway) are probably going to stay there, because the city of Chico is legally unable to ask them to leave, thanks to the settlement in the Warren vs. Chico lawsuit and the Martin vs. Boise litigation.
But that settlement was reached three months ago, and the Pallet shelter site still hasn’t been able to welcome its first resident. The impatience of our community — housed and unhoused alike — is understandable. This has been a very tough, and damaging, time in our city’s history, splitting the usual warring factions to even more-toxic degrees.
We’re here today to say we don’t blame you — any of you — for wondering what the holdup is. No one involved with the project — from city staff members to city councilors to the people tasked with running the place or local homeless advocates — can give us an exact reason why, much less an exact opening date.
Well, there’s a reason for that, and by this point, we’re not any happier about it than most of you. Or them.
We don’t know what’s going on because — unlike the lawsuit settlement itself — many of the final details of the shelter site are still being worked out. That means the plaintiffs are involved and it especially means that the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California is involved.
And where there is negotiation involving a federal lawsuit, there is silence. Whether we like it or not.
Before you join the chorus of angry Chicoans demanding “transparency” in a situation where much isn’t allowed, let us say this: We agree with you and we share your frustration. And the longer this stretches out, the more unhappy people are realistically going to be.
While we don’t buy the nonsensical narrative about “out-of-town judges holding us hostage while not understanding how bad homelessness is here” — have any of you people been to Sacramento lately and seen that mess for yourselves? — we are growing increasingly uncomfortable with the notion that residents of our city are simply expected to wait. And wait. And wait some more, without anyone being able to tell us why in the world we’re actually waiting.
We’ve heard the line “Progress is being made” for months. That’s because, legally, it’s pretty much the only thing anyone is allowed to say. And that progress is obvious, thanks to some tremendously efficient work by city staff and others at the shelter site: The shelters are up, the electricity and climate control units are in and the only thing the site seems to be missing is, well, people.
So what’s the holdup? Who really knows?
We think it would be a magnificent thing if, say, the court itself — in conjunction with the plaintiffs and city — would lead an effort to provide some kind of occasional update. Maybe even say “Look. People in your town have a right to know what’s going on and we’ve pretty much worn that ‘progress is being made’ line into the dirt. How about we agree on a statement to let people know exactly what challenges remain, what is left to be negotiated or, at the very least, what kind of timeline we’re looking at? Because, otherwise, people are just going to keep making uneducated guesses, and other people will take those uneducated guesses as facts, and soon we’ll have an even bigger pile of you-know-what masquerading as facts in this issue, and Lord knows this town has enough piles of that as it is.”
Seriously. Is that asking too much?
We don’t blame anyone in Chico for being gun-shy about saying anything. Let’s not forget councilor Sean Morgan was threatened with fines and jail time for giving some honest answers about the situation on KPAY a few months ago. The judge wasn’t joking. Who in their right mind would want to approach that line now?
That’s why we think it’s time the court itself recognized that, for all of the problems these delays are causing the city and the homeless population, this ongoing lack-of-transparency into the holdup has developed into yet another problem all its own.
We keep hearing we’re close, and we agree with the notion that “better to wait and get it right than open it before it is.” And we still see the Pallet shelter site as fantastic news that’ll provide a huge step forward for the people who want to improve their lives, as well as allowing the city to begin enforcing its ordinances again.
That’s progress. But until it happens, this city and all of its residents are owed a better explanation of when we can reasonably expect it to happen. That gag order is getting way past the point of being a little too tough to swallow.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/03/why-warriors-win-over-jazz-was-biggest-game-of-the-year/
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SAN FRANCISCO — Coach Steve Kerr didn’t have to pin a sign on the Warriors’ bulletin board in their locker room or repeatedly circle Saturday’s game in red ink on a calendar.
Even if it wasn’t openly discussed between the coaches and players, Golden State knew just how important a win over the Utah Jazz this weekend would be.
“Oh yeah,” said Kerr, beaming with a smile. “Well aware.
“We didn’t talk about it a whole lot as a team but the guys know,” the coach continued Saturday night after the Warriors’ 111-107 comeback victory. “I know they were talking amongst themselves.”
Kerr told his coaching staff that the game against the Jazz was the “biggest game of the year.” And the injured Stephen Curry echoed that sentiment to some of his teammates.
A loss would have jeopardized the Warriors’ chances of having home-court advantage. Luckily, Golden State doesn’t need to worry about that just yet after Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole led the team to overcome a 16-point deficit in the game’s final eight minutes for the win in a performance that was nothing short of amazing.
The Warriors (49-29) have now secured a playoff spot for the first time since 2019 and own the tie-breaker against the Jazz. They can finish no lower than sixth place in the Western Conference standings and are currently in sole possession of the No. 3 seed, sitting one game ahead of the Dallas Mavericks and a cushy three games in front of the Jazz and Denver Nuggets with just four games remaining in the regular season.
After the game, Poole said the team didn’t directly discuss the game’s implications, though it had to have been in the back of their minds.
“We just know we need to go out there and win games,” Poole said. “Last game [against the Phoenix Suns], we had a lot of energy, a lot of positive things and we just tried to take that momentum and bring it over.”
The Warriors trailed by as many as 21 points in the second quarter, but Poole kept them in the game, scoring 14 of the Dubs’ 22 points in that frame.
Golden State defended the perimeter better in the second half, limiting Utah to shooting 27.3% from beyond the arc, and made the Jazz pay for playing center Rudy Gobert in drop coverage.
Thompson, who finished with a game-high 36 points, was especially lethal from 3, converting on four of his seven attempts from behind the 3-point line in the fourth quarter.
The high-intensity ending to Saturday’s game should set the tone for the Warriors entering the final week of the season.
“It really just showed a lot about our team and the guys on our team to be able to come back from the deficit. We were against a really good team, all games are important at this point,” Poole said.
The Warriors will travel to Sacramento for Sunday’s game against the Kings before hosting the Los Angeles Lakers at Chase Center Thursday. They’ll close out the season with a set of back-to-backs on the road, stopping in San Antonio Saturday before their regular-season finale in New Orleans April 10.
“We should win these next [four] games if we play with the energy we did tonight,” Thompson said.
Poole hasn’t played in a playoff game yet, but he got a taste of what that might be like in front of Saturday’s raucous crowd at Chase Center.
“You love to play in an environment like that, Chase is amazing when everybody’s on their feet,” he said. “I know it’s really hard to play [there] if you’re the opposing team, and I just hope we can keep the energy up because when we feel that, it’s almost really hard to not want to go out there and play as hard as we can.”
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/oakland-as-howard-terminal-plan-faces-lawsuit-over-environmental-review/
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OAKLAND — A coalition of Port of Oakland shipping companies, truckers and other workers have filed a lawsuit in an effort to block the city and Oakland’s A’s plan to build a waterfront ballpark and surrounding village at Howard Terminal.
The lawsuit accuses the city of approving a flawed environmental impact report. that failed to address how the proposed ballpark and mixed-use development would disrupt workers and the transportation of cargo in and out of the port.
It was filed in Alameda County Superior Court by the East Oakland Stadium Alliance, Schnitzer Steel, Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, the Harbor Trucking Association, California Trucking Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.
The City Council certified the environmental impact report in February by declaring it met California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requirements. The report didn’t properly disclose all the impacts the proposed project would have on the environment or how to offset them, the suit alleges.
“The A’s proposal to build a stadium and luxury condominiums, office and retail development will cause major disruptions and impacts to both the surrounding community and the operations of the Port, yet the EIR did not fully address these concerns or mitigate these well-known issues,” Mike Jacob, vice president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association said in an emailed statement. The association has been leading the coalition against redevelopment of the Howard Terminal site.
The environmental assessment “also failed to accurately compare the Oakland Coliseum site as an alternative which would have far less adverse effects,” Jacob continued. “It is simply not proper to ignore or defer analysis or mitigation of so many of the significant impacts identified in the more than 400 comments submitted by community and supply chain stakeholders, and as a result, our only alternative is to pursue legal recourse.”
Monday is the last day the environmental impact report can be legally challenged.
“The litigation was expected as the parties made it clear they intended to file suit long before the EIR process was ever completed,” said Justin Berton, spokesman for Mayor Libby Schaaf, in a statement issued Saturday. “The City stands by the integrity of its process and analysis culminating in the certification of the EIR by the City Council. As the Oakland Planning Commissioners said in their unanimous recommendation in January, this particular EIR is exceedingly rigorous, thorough, transparent, and ensures a waterfront ballpark district will be built with only the highest environmental standards.”
A’s President Dave Kaval said Friday the lawsuit presents yet another “hurdle” for the team, which wants to build a 35,000-seat ballpark at the port along with about 3,000 homes, offices, restaurants, hotel rooms, an entertainment center and public parks.
The A’s have insisted they won’t continue playing in the Coliseum after the lease expires in a couple of years and will remain on “parallel paths” to get a ballpark built in the Las Vegas area in case its waterfront plan is thwarted. It’s “Howard Terminal or bust,” Kaval has often declared.
Although the lawsuit will complicate matters for the city and A’s it’s not expected to stall the ballpark plan for years. The state Legislature passed a law several years ago that says any environmental or other kind of legal challenge of the plan must be resolved within 270 days of the project’s approval.
The A’s and some city leaders are hoping to reach a development agreement for the ballpark and mixed-use development by this summer.
But the project faces other roadblocks as well.
An advisory committee recommended that the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission declare the 55-acre Howard Terminal property can be used only for Port of Oakland activities. The commission is expected to vote on the recommendation in June.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/01/photo-steph-currys-mom-sonya-cheers-on-stanford-at-ncaa-womens-final-four/
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No, you weren’t imagining it. That was Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry’s mom, Sonya, sitting in the stands at the NCAA women’s Final Four in Minneapolis.
Curry was seated next to her college best friend, Michelle Bain-Brink, and her husband Greg Brink, who are the proud parents of Stanford star Cameron Brink. Brink’s defending NCAA women’s championship team fell to Connecticut 63-58.
The Currys and the Brinks have longtime ties. Michelle and Sonya met at Virginia Tech, and their future husbands Dell Curry and Greg Brink also attended the school. Sonya is godmother to the Brinks’ two children, and Michelle is godmother to Steph and his brother Seth.
Sonya, who has witnessed tough game losses before, will no doubt help console her goddaughter on the night’s outcome.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/03/oakland-as-trade-another-fan-favorite-sean-manaea-leaving-huge-hole-in-rotation/
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The decimation of a once-promising Oakland A’s roster continues.
After the A’s traded All-Stars Chris Bassitt, Matt Chapman and Matt Olson at the beginning of the spring, Sean Manaea is the next fan favorite on his way out of town.
According to MLB.com, the A’s traded Manaea and 21-year-old prospect Aaron Holiday to the San Diego Padres Sunday morning in exchange for infielder Euribiel Angeles and pitcher Adrian Martinez.
The trade leaves Oakland with a massive hole in its rotation less than a week before Opening Day, but accomplishes owner John Fisher’s grim objective of slashing payroll.
Angeles is ranked as the Padres’ No. 12 prospect by MLB.com while Martinez, a right-handed starter, is ranked as the Padres’ No. 26 prospect and could be a candidate to make starts for Oakland this year.
In San Diego, Manaea will reunite with his old manager, Bob Melvin, another prominent figure in the A’s organization who departed this offseason. Melvin replaced former Padres manager Jayce Tingler and is trying to help San Diego overcome the Giants and Dodgers in the National League West.
The A’s acquired Manaea, 30, in a deadline deal during the 2015 season from the Royals for Ben Zobrist. By the next season, he joined the A’s rotation, and when healthy has been a staple ever since.
In April 2018, Manaea no-hit the Boston Red Sox at the Coliseum.
Manaea, like Chris Bassitt, Matt Olson, Matt Chapman and Frankie Montas, was the subject of trade rumors the entire offseason. Manaea, 30, is eligible to become a free agent after this season. He’ll earn $9.75 million this season.
The left-hander started at least 24 games in four of his six seasons with the A’s, missing most of the 2019 season recovering from shoulder surgery and making only 11 starts during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
Manaea is one of 18 pitchers to win at least 50 games in Oakland A’s franchise history. He went 50-41 with a 3.86 ERA.
The former No. 34 overall draft pick, last season set career highs in innings pitched and strikeouts, finishing in the Top 10 in the AL in ERA, strikeouts and WHIP.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/03/breaking-down-sf-giants-final-roster-battles-of-spring-training/
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The final week of spring training is often defined by the battles between players on the edge of the Opening Day roster. Some are fighting for playing time with the big club, others for the potential difference of thousands of dollars per paycheck, chartered flights instead of raggedy bus rides and the glitz and glamour of the major leagues rather than roughing it in the minors.
But, even in the opening days of camp, Giants manager Gabe Kapler was pondering ways to create competition in a camp where many of the roster spots were set from day one. Even with Evan Longoria and LaMonte Wade Jr. set to miss the start of the season, that same theme has endured into its final days.
“There’s not a lot of traditionally open roster spots for us,” Kapler said this week. “I think, normally, in a spring training like this, there are, like, two or three spots where you’re getting down to the wire and dudes are competing to take down that one roster spot. We just don’t really have that sort of camp.”
The starting rotation is set. The bullpen is almost identical to the one that ended last season. The Giants’ platoon-oriented lineups are coming into focus.
However, Kapler said, “Given the LaMonte Wade Jr. injury and given the Longoria injury, we do have some spots at the edge of the roster that are going to be filled by, perhaps, players that we wouldn’t have suspected to be on our Opening Day roster. … I think we’re getting there. Not to say there’s not anything that’s open, but we’re pretty close.”
The Giants must trim their roster from the 43 players currently in camp to 28 by Friday for Opening Day against Miami. So, let’s take a look at the final battles, playing out in the bullpen and at the end of the bench.
Starting rotation
Locks (5): Logan Webb, Carlos Rodón, Anthony DeSclafani, Alex Wood, Alex Cobb
Battles: None
Webb, who made his final spring tuneup Saturday, will start on Opening Day and the other four should slot in behind him in that order. Asked Saturday about that particular rotation set-up, Kapler said, “I think that’s the most likely scenario, but nothing’s in stone.”
Bullpen
Locks (6): Jake McGee, Camilo Doval, Tyler Rogers, Dominic Leone, Jarlín García, José Álvarez
Battles (3): Kervin Castro vs. Sam Long AND Jakob Junis vs. Tyler Beede AND John Brebbia vs. Taylor Williams vs. Carlos Martínez
In a dearth of true spring battles, Kapler recently commended his group of relievers for their internal competition this camp. Still, even with three maybe, possibly, ever-so-slightly open spots, it’s not hard to pick a favorite for each of them. Lacking a true long man among the six aforementioned locks and facing the likelihood of starters not being fully stretched out from the short spring, at least two of those spots will go to relievers who can be counted on for 2+ innings and even make a spot start here and there. (Kapler, after all, will have to find one way or another to cover 19 starts in the first 20 days of the season.)
Castro, 23, and Long, 26, are two promising young arms. Both are stretched out. Both have options available. Castro has struck out eight in 4⅓ innings this spring but has issued five walks. Long’s peripherals are stronger, with a 7:2 K:BB ratio in 3⅔ innings but has been hurt by two home runs, engorging his ERA to 12.27. The Giants view Long as a potential starter and will likely send him to Triple-A Sacramento to start the year in its rotation. Advantage: Castro.
Junis and Beede both give the Giants right arms with starting and long-relief experience. Under Farhan Zaidi, the Giants have traditionally prioritized organizational depth, which would give Beede an upper hand at the Opening Day roster. Out of options, it could be easier to sneak him through waivers a few weeks into the season. And while the Giants brought in Junis on a major-league deal this offseason, the 29-year-old right-hander does have an option remaining. However, the view inside the organization on Beede is that there are steps he still needs to take to prove he belongs on a major-league roster. Advantage: Junis.
Williams and Martínez are the last two remaining pitchers among the non-roster invitees. Martínez, however, has yet to appear in a game and will likely remain at the Giants facilities in Arizona to start the season. Williams, 30, signed a minor-league deal once the lockout ended and has made three appearances, allowing three runs but also striking out three and issuing no walks. Brebbia, 31, has also struck out three in three innings this spring but hasn’t allowed a run. Brebbia owns a spot on the 40-man roster, while space would need to be created for Williams, but Brebbia also has an option remaining while Williams does not (and wouldn’t need one until he is added to the 40-man). Advantage: Brebbia.
Position players
Locks (12): Joey Bart, Curt Casali, Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, Wilmer Flores, Darin Ruf, Thairo Estrada, Joc Pederson, Mike Yastrzemski, Austin Slater, Steven Duggar, Mauricio Dubón
Question marks (1): Tommy La Stella
Battles (1 or 2): Luke Williams vs. Jason Vosler vs. Luis González vs. Alex Blandino vs. Jason Krizan
Signs point to La Stella making the Opening Day roster after undergoing surgery on his right Achilles sheath in October, but his status is still up in the air, potentially opening up another roster spot, after injuries to Evan Longoria and LaMonte Wade Jr. already opened two others.
The losses of Longoria and Wade moved Duggar and Dubón from the losing end of position battles to likely locks to make the Opening Day roster. Without Wade, fellow left-handed hitting outfielder Luis González, whom the Giants snagged on waivers from the White Sox late last season, looks more attractive, especially after his strong spring with a .476/.520/.714 batting line in 21 at-bats.
González and veteran utilityman Jason Krizan have been the recipients of heavy praise from Kapler — “There’s no denying that there’s really nobody who has had better at-bats than Luis González this camp,” he said in one recent example — but they suffer from the same disadvantage as Blandino, a local product who has also had an excellent camp: none is currently on the 40-man roster.
That would mean the final spot could come down to Williams and Vosler, though both players also have options available. Williams, whom the Giants recently acquired from the Phillies, is essentially a right-handed version of Vosler. Both can play all over the diamond — Williams earned the nickname, “Siete Guantes,” or seven gloves — but have struggled to hit major-league pitching, though Vosler has a better track record of success against upper-level minor-league arms. Advantage: Vosler.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/03/frank-gore-plans-to-re-sign-with-49ers-just-in-time-to-retire/
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The 49ers are apparently adding a veteran running back this offseason, but he’s not expected to contribute on the field in the fall.
Frank Gore plans to sign a one-day contract with the 49ers and retire with the team, he said in an Instagram Live Friday with Bovada’s Heidi Watney.
The 49ers’ all-time leading rusher said he expects the deal to happen within the next several months and hopes to join San Francisco’s front office after his retirement is official.
“I love looking at talent. I love evaluating talent and I love ball,” Gore said. “And they know that I know football players, what it’s supposed to take to be a football player.”
Gore, 38, is the third-leading rusher in NFL history, as he amassed exactly 16,000 yards and 100 touchdowns over a 16-year career. The first 10 years came with the 49ers and included Pro Bowl honors five times. He totaled 11,073 yards in a Niners jersey.
The 49ers drafted Gore in the third round out of Miami in 2005, and became the team’s starter in 2006 and rushed for a career-high 1,695 yards, the first of eight 1,000-yard seasons with the Niners. Gore was a key part of the 49ers teams that played in three consecutive NFC Championship Games from 2011-2013.
Following the 2014 season, the 49ers turned to Carlos Hyde to take over the backfield and Gore signed a three-year deal in Indianapolis. Gore started all 48 games for the Colts over those three seasons, outrushing Hyde, who started 36 games in San Francisco.
Gore then had one-year stops with the Dolphins, Bills and Jets, starting at least eight games each season until 2021, when he went unsigned.
He searched for teams leading into the 2021 season, but when no deal came, he turned his attention to boxing. He made his debut in the ring in December, being knocked out by former NBA All-Star Deron Williams.
Gore’s signature postseason with the 49ers came after the 2012 season, when he rushed for 90+ yards in all three games, scoring four touchdowns as the 49ers made a run to the Super Bowl.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/03/sacramento-mass-shooting-6-dead-10-injured-and-police-seek-at-least-one-suspect/
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By ADAM BEAM
SACRAMENTO, Calif — Six people were killed and 10 injured in a mass shooting early Sunday as bars and nightclubs were closing in downtown Sacramento and police in California’s state capital were searching for at least one suspect.
Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester said at a news conference that police were patrolling the area two blocks from the Capitol at about 2 a.m. when they heard gunfire and rushed to the scene. They found a large crowd gathered and six people dead in the street. Another 10 either took themselves or were transported to hospitals. No information was provided about their conditions.
Authorities urged witnesses or anyone with recordings of the shooting to contact police.
“We’re asking for the public’s help in helping us to identify the suspects in this,” Lester said. Asked if authorities were searching for one or more than one suspects, Lester told reporters that she did not know.
Shortly after the shooting, video was posted on Twitter that showed people running through the street amid the sound of rapid gunfire.
Kelsey Schar, 18, was staying on the fourth floor of Citizen Hotel when she said she heard gunshots and saw flashes in the dark. She walked to the window and “saw a guy running and just shooting,” Schar told The Associated Press in an interview.
Her friend, Madalyn Woodard, 17, said she saw a crowd in the street scatter amid the gunfire. She said she saw a girl who appeared to have been shot in the arm lying on the ground. Security guards from a nearby nightclub rushed to help the girl with what looked like napkins to try to stanch the bleeding.
Sunday’s violence was the third time in the U.S. this year that at least six people were killed in a mass shooting, according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University. And it was the second mass shooting in Sacramento in the last five weeks.
On Feb. 28, a father killed his three daughters, a chaperone and himself in a church during a weekly supervised visitation. David Mora, 39, was armed with a homemade semiautomatic rifle-style weapon, even though he was under a restraining order that prohibited him from possessing a firearm.
In a tweet, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg decried rising gun violence, calling it “the scourge of our city, state and nation, and I support all actions to reduce it.”
“Words can’t express my shock & sadness this morning. The numbers of dead and wounded are difficult to comprehend,” he said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement that his administration was working closely with law enforcement.
“What we do know at this point is that another mass casualty shooting has occurred, leaving families with lost loved ones, multiple individuals injured and a community in grief,” he said.
The area where Sunday’s shooting occurred is packed with restaurants and bars. Nightclubs close at 2 a.m. and it’s normal for streets to be full of people at that hour.
Kay Harris, 32, told AP she was asleep when one of her family members called to say they thought her brother Sergio Harris had been killed. She said she thought he had been at the London nightclub, which is near the shooting.
Harris said she has been to the club a few times and described it as a place for “the younger crowd.” She spent the morning circling the block waiting for news.
“Very much so a senseless, violent act,” she said.
Pamela Harris, Sergio Harris’ mother, told The Sacramento Bee the family has not heard from him yet.
“We just want to know what happened to him,” Pamela Harris told the newspaper. “Not knowing anything is just hard to face.”
Berry Accius, a community activist, said he came to the scene shortly after the shooting happened.
“The first thing I saw was like victims. I saw a young girl with a whole bunch of blood in her body, a girl taking off glass from her, a young girl screaming saying, ‘They killed my sister.’ A mother running up, ‘Where’s my son, has my son been shot?’“ he said.
UC Davis Medical Center received four patients from the downtown shooting, spokesperson Stephanie Winn said. She declined to provide their genders or conditions, referring media to police.
Ten ambulances and fifty first responders from the Sacramento Fire Department responded to the shooting, according to Capt. Keith Wade.
—
This version corrects that four patients from the shooting, not five, were transported to UC Davis Medical Center.
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Six people were killed and 12 injured in a mass shooting early Sunday as bars and nightclubs were closing in downtown Sacramento and police in the state capital were searching for at least one suspect.
Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester said at a news conference that police were patrolling the area two blocks from the Capitol at about 2 a.m. when they heard gunfire and rushed to the scene. They found a large crowd gathered and six people dead in the street. Another 12 either took themselves or were transported to hospitals. No information was provided about their conditions. At least one firearm has been recovered from the scene, according to police.
Authorities urged witnesses or anyone with recordings of the shooting to contact police.
“We’re asking for the public’s help in helping us to identify the suspects in this,” Lester said.
Asked if authorities were searching for one or more than one suspects, Lester told reporters that she did not know.
The events in Sacramento mark the worst mass shooting in Northern California since May 2021, when a Valley Transportation Authority employee shot and killed 10 individuals in San Jose before taking his own life.
Shortly after the shooting, a video was posted on Twitter that showed people running through the street amid the sound of rapid gunfire.
Steve Hicks, a Dublin resident, was awakened by the sound of gunshots from his hotel at the Citizen Hotel in downtown Sacramento.
“Geez, this city’s going a little crazy,” Hicks told the Sacramento Bee.
Kelsey Schar, 18, was staying on the fourth floor of the Citizen Hotel when she said she heard gunshots and saw flashes in the dark. She walked to the window and “saw a guy running and just shooting,” Schar told The Associated Press in an interview.
Her friend, Madalyn Woodard, 17, said she saw a crowd in the street scatter amid the gunfire. She said she saw a girl who appeared to have been shot in the arm lying on the ground. Security guards from a nearby nightclub rushed to help the girl with what looked like napkins to try to stanch the bleeding.
Sunday’s violence was the third time in the U.S. this year that at least six people were killed in a mass shooting, according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University. And it was the second mass shooting in Sacramento in the last five weeks.
On Feb. 28, a father killed his three daughters, a chaperone and himself in a church during a weekly supervised visitation. David Mora, 39, was armed with a homemade semiautomatic rifle-style weapon, even though he was under a restraining order that prohibited him from possessing a firearm.
At a press conference late Sunday morning, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg called the shooting a “senseless” and “unacceptable tragedy.”
“How many unending tragedies does it take before we begin to cure the sickness in this country?” Steinberg asked. “Let us be honest. This is a sickness. The fact that we accept the idea that people can have ready access to assault weapons, to weapons of destruction and can indiscriminately use them wherever and however they want…that is not an exception. It happens far too often.”
Sacramento’s District 4 Councilmember Katie Valenzuela, who represents the downtown area that the shooting occurred at, made comments through tears as the mayor stood next to her.
“At 2:30 this morning, I got a call that no elected official wants to get,” said Valenzuela. “A call that I’ve gotten too many times during the 15 months that I’ve been in office. So I’m heartbroken. And I’m outraged. I’m outraged. Our community deserves better than this.”
Sacramento police has set up a information center at city hall for families affected by the shooting.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement that his administration was working closely with law enforcement.
“What we do know at this point is that another mass casualty shooting has occurred, leaving families with lost loved ones, multiple individuals injured and a community in grief,” he said.
Rep. Marc Berman, who represents parts of the Peninsula and Silicon Valley, called the shooting “tragic” and “senseless” in a tweet.
“We must do more to get these killing machines off our streets,” he wrote.
The area where Sunday’s shooting occurred is packed with restaurants and bars. Nightclubs close at 2 a.m. and it’s normal for streets to be full of people at that hour.
Kay Harris, 32, told AP she was asleep when one of her family members called to say they thought her brother Sergio Harris had been killed. She said she thought he had been at the London nightclub, which is near the shooting.
Harris said she has been to the club a few times and described it as a place for “the younger crowd.” She spent the morning circling the block waiting for news.
“Very much so a senseless, violent act,” she said.
Pamela Harris, Sergio Harris’ mother, told The Sacramento Bee the family has not heard from him yet.
“We just want to know what happened to him,” Pamela Harris told the newspaper. “Not knowing anything is just hard to face.”
Berry Accius, a community activist, said he came to the scene shortly after the shooting happened.
“The first thing I saw was like victims. I saw a young girl with a whole bunch of blood in her body, a girl taking off glass from her, a young girl screaming saying, ‘They killed my sister.’ A mother running up, ‘Where’s my son, has my son been shot?’“ he said.
UC Davis Medical Center received four patients from the downtown shooting, spokesperson Stephanie Winn said. She declined to provide their genders or conditions, referring media to police.
Ten ambulances and fifty first responders from the Sacramento Fire Department responded to the shooting, according to Capt. Keith Wade.
—
This version corrects that four patients from the shooting, not five, were transported to UC Davis Medical Center.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/03/how-the-warriors-can-pick-up-momentum-without-curry-heading-into-playoffs/
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With their 111-107 victory over the Utah Jazz on Saturday night, the Golden State Warriors clinched a playoff berth for the first time in three years and have an opportunity to gain some much-needed momentum as the regular season winds down.
Stephen Curry was ruled out for the remainder of the regular season on Friday with a sprained ligament in his left foot and will be re-evaluated after the season finale. The Warriors are 2-6 since Curry’s injury and 4-10 without him on the year.
While head coach Steve Kerr said after Friday’s practice that he and the team are shooting for the highest seed possible, it’s just as vital for them to prepare themselves for playoff intensity regardless of where they wind up in the final standings.
Here are some ways for the Warriors to finish the season strong and gain momentum as they roll into the playoffs.
Poole’s Curry impression
In Curry’s absence, Jordan Poole has been the best offensive player on the floor, scoring 20 or more points in 16 consecutive games. He followed up his career high tying 38 points against Phoenix with 31 points on 40 percent from the field and 40 percent from deep. While Poole’s on-ball game has been front and center, he’s been developing his off-ball game as well. Poole in some ways has been mimicking Curry. Recently, he’s been handing the ball off and coming off of screens to relocate and score.
The NBA's 3PM leader in March knocks down his first in April 👏 pic.twitter.com/hdocEuftzi
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) April 3, 2022
In this set after a first-quarter timeout, the Warriors are running a variation of split action. Poole breaks free of Jordan Clarkson as soon as Draymond Green gets the ball in the post. Poole comes off of a Kevon Looney screen for his first three of the game.
Draymond making space for Wiggins pic.twitter.com/DGSWczvWPv
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) April 3, 2022
Granted, this focus on this play was Green’s screen on Royce O’Neal to free up Andrew Wiggins. However, notice the fake dribble handoff to Poole. He drags Clarkson as Green slips that screen and passes to Wiggins.
Poole mimicking Curry in his absence makes much sense because the Warriors’ offense will be that much harder to stop with Curry, Poole and Thompson out there. Opposing defenders would have to think twice about selling out to stop Curry. If they do, they are daring two capable scorers to beat them.
Thompson’s shot selection and volume
Since Klay Thompson returned to the lineup, he’s been shooting at a high volume in an attempt to find some rhythm and get back to where he was before injuries cost him two consecutive seasons.
“Overall, he’s played really well. I think he’s been up and down though and he hasn’t been consistent during that time because I think emotionally he wants this so badly and he tends to press a little bit. So that’s the biggest thing we are trying to help him with,” Kerr said before the matchup with the Jazz.
Thompson got what he wanted in the fourth quarter, nailing three 3-pointers in less than 90 seconds to help cut a 16-point deficit to just four points in the blink of an eye.
After being away from the game for two seasons, Thompson was going to make up for lost time by shooting at a high volume. He shot 28 times against the Jazz, but by hitting four of his final six 3-point attempts, he turned a so-so night into a great one.
The issue with the high-volume approach is that on inefficient nights, Thompson tends to stifle the flow of the offense. He’s been forcing bad shots to force himself to get into rhythm and stay there. As much as Thompson wants to get back to the level he’s accustomed to, he must be patient and not force the issue.
More nights like Saturday will come with time and patience.
Defending the 3
The Warriors’ defense has been looking better recently than it had in a while. In their Wednesday loss against the Suns, Green and Looney frustrated Deandre Ayton into 16 points and there were only a few lapses in the rotations.
However, the Warriors must clean up how they defend the 3. The Jazz lead by as many as 21 points mostly because they were hitting 3-pointers, and blown rotations helped the Jazz get great looks. Utah splashed 12 3-pointers through three quarters. The Warriors took control when they began to close out on open shots from dee and stopped their tendency to over-help on defense. If the Warriors can continue to clean up their defense from deep, they will be able to win a few more games to end the season and set the tone for the playoffs.
Wiggins’ aggression
Andrew Wiggins is the Warriors’ wild card going into the playoffs. While Poole has shown that he’s ready for the moment, Wiggins is in question. In a majority of games after being named an All-Star, Wiggins has been passive offensively. He gets into the habit of settling for difficult and contested midrange jumpers. If not that, he’s settling from three. Wiggins is more effective when he’s aggressive and actively driving the lane or even seeking out matchups to exploit inside.
WIGGINS WITH AUTHORITY 😤 pic.twitter.com/kam3FoQqpm
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) April 3, 2022
Here’s that split action again, this time it’s Poole initiating. With 11:41 remaining in the third, look at where Wiggins is. He has the space for an open three. He could have shot it. A split second later, Wiggins turns his defender, slashes through the lane and dunks over Rudy Gobert.
Wiggins was efficient on low volume Saturday night, scoring 17 points on just 10 shots.
Wiggins doesn’t have to settle and should capitalize on the opportunities since there will be space to do so with Curry, Thompson, and Poole on the floor.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/03/warriors-injury-report-thompson-iguodala-and-porter-out-vs-kings-but-one-star-will-play/
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — One night after an exciting comeback win against the Utah Jazz, the Warriors are resting the bulk of their stars for Sunday’s road game against the Kings.
As expected, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala and Otto Porter Jr. were listed as out on the team’s injury report Saturday afternoon for injury management. Draymond Green will play his first back-to-back set since returning from a disc injury in his back.
Green has looked more like himself in the Warriors’ last two games after criticizing his own play last week.
Golden State has been extra cautious with its veterans returning from injury this season.
Thompson has yet to play in both games of a back-to-back this season since coming back in January from his ACL and Achilles tears. And Porter, who has battled various injuries throughout his nine-year NBA career, has played in only one complete back-to-back this season, dating back to Jan. 13 and 14.
Iguodala returned last week from a back injury that sidelined him for 21 games, and coach Steve Kerr on Saturday said the plan was to sit the 38-year-old for the backend of the Warriors’ second-to-last back-to-back.
“He came out fine from the other night,” Kerr said before the Warriors’ 111-107 win over the Jazz. “We’re just going to continue to be very cautious with the idea that we’d like to have him throughout the playoff run. And so we’ve got to we’ve got to really think big picture and not overdoing it with him.”
In three games since his return, Iguodala, the second oldest player in the NBA, has averaged three points, three rebounds and 2.3 assists in 15.5 minutes.
The Warriors enter Sunday as the No. 3 seed of the Western Conference with a one-game advantage on the fourth-place Dallas Mavericks and a comfortable three-game lead on the Jazz and Denver Nuggets, who are tied for fifth.
Golden State has four games remaining, including Sunday’s tilt — all of which the team will play without Stephen Curry, who was ruled out last week for the remainder of the regular season as he nurses a sprained ligament in his left foot. He’ll be re-evaluated before the playoffs, which begin April 16.
The Warriors will also be without James Wiseman, who hasn’t played in an NBA game since last April. The second overall pick of the 2020 draft was recently shut down for the season after swelling persisted in his surgically repaired knee.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/03/sf-giants-opening-day-roster-taking-shape-after-latest-cuts/
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The Giants’ Opening Day roster is taking shape after the club’s latest round of cuts Sunday.
San Francisco trimmed its spring training roster to 34 players with nine roster moves, including some small surprises.
Among the names who are strong candidates to make appearances at Oracle Park at some point this season and appeared to be contenders for the Opening Day roster: right-handers Kervin Castro and Jakob Junis, who were both optioned to the minors, as well as outfielder Luis Gonzalez and utility men Alex Blandino and Jason Krizan, who signed minor-league contracts this offseason and were in camp as non-roster invitees.
Four other NRIs — outfielder Austin Dean, infielder Aquimedes Gamboa, catcher Johnny Pereda and right-hander Taylor Williams — were also reassigned to the minors, where they are expected to help round out Triple-A Sacramento’s roster with the Rivercats’ season set to begin Tuesday.
After Sunday’s moves, the Giants must trim their roster by another six players by Opening Day Friday against Miami.
Remaining in camp are 16 pitchers and 18 position players, with the expectation that the Giants will carry 14 of each on their roster to start the season. One pitcher, Carlos Martinez, hasn’t appeared in a game this spring, while left-hander Sam Long and right-hander Tyler Beede battle it out for the final spot as the bullpen’s long man.
Third baseman Evan Longoria (right index finger surgery) and first baseman/left fielder LaMonte Wade Jr. (right knee inflammation/bone bruise) will not be ready for Opening Day, but the Giants have yet to place them on the injured list. Another position player, catcher/second baseman Brett Auerbach, hasn’t played above High-A Eugene and isn’t a candidate to break camp with the club. That leaves utility men Jason Vosler and Luke Williams to duke it out for the final spot on the bench.
Gonzalez and Blandino had been enjoying two of the best camps at the plate. Gonzalez, acquired from the White Sox on waivers late last season, was batting .476/.520/.714 in 21 plate appearances. Blandino, a product of St. Francis High (Mountain View) and Stanford, matched him with a slashline of .429/.455/.810, including two home runs.
“There’s no denying that there’s really nobody who has had better at-bats than Luis Gonzalez this camp,” manager Gabe Kapler said this week. “Both the results and just the quality of the at-bats and the confidence in the batter’s box. … Lot of people impressed by Luis’ at-bats. A lot of people impressed by the quality of contact.”
Blandino, Kapler said, was “having an excellent camp … moved around the diamond … played nice defense … (did) a nice job at the plate for us … (and got) some big hits for us.”
Both, however, would have required moves to be added to the 40-man roster.
Junis and Castro were both enjoying strong camps, as well, and were already on the 40-man roster. But both pitchers also had options available. So, too, does Long, who the Giants like but has been hurt by two home runs in 3⅔ innings this spring.
Beede, however, does not have any options left, meaning the Giants would be at risk of losing the former first-round pick on waivers if they send him to the minors.
The Giants’ bullpen battle could come down to their final two days of camp, as Long is scheduled to throw Monday, while Beede is scheduled to go Tuesday, as San Francisco closes its Cactus League slate with back-to-back games against the A’s.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/03/warriors-coach-steve-kerr-on-sacramento-mass-shooting-were-all-crushed/
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Coach Steve Kerr, one of the NBA’s leading voices on social issues, renewed his call for common sense gun laws after a mass shooting left six people dead and another 12 wounded in the worst acts of violence to hit Northern California in almost a year.
Kerr said the Warriors felt “crushed” as they tried to focus on a basketball game Sunday night against the Kings — less than 17 hours after the gunfire erupted less than a half mile from Golden 1 Center.
“First and foremost, just thinking about the city of Sacramento and all the families who are affected, the victims, the survivors, the people who were injured — just so many lives devastated,” Kerr said before the game. “Everybody with the Warriors, we all share in your city’s grief, and there’s not a whole lot you can do or say, but we’re all crushed today as we try to prepare for this game. It’s just devastating news.”
Sacramento police are searching for multiple suspects in connection with the shooting that took place around 2 a.m. after a fight broke out in the vicinity of 10th and K streets.
Kerr said he learned of the shooting when he awoke Sunday.
The Kings and Warriors will hold a moment of silence before Sunday’s game. Kerr estimated this will be his ninth or 10th time participating in a pre-game event to mourn the losses of victims to gun violence.
“I don’t think moments of silence are going to do anything,” Kerr said. “At some point, our government has to decide: Are we going to have some common sense gun laws? It’s not going to solve everything but it will save lives.”
Kerr noted the recent efforts to pass HR8, a bipartisan law that would make background checks mandatory for every gun sale, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson. The bill has been passed by the House, but remains in the Senate.
“You think about all of the common sense laws we could and should put into place if we had any guts, if our government had any guts, if people put others in front of their own career paths, in front of their own re-election campaigns, in front of their own propaganda to manipulate people,” Kerr said. “It’s right there in front of us.
“This happens in churches, it happens in schools, it happens right downtown here in Sacramento.
“At some point, I would hope that we would actually think about our fellow citizens and actually do something about it instead of playing politics because that’s all we do.”
The early Sunday morning hit home for Kerr, who lost his own father to gun violence. Malcolm Kerr, a university professor and president of the American University of Beirut, was fatally shot outside his office in Lebanon Jan. 18, 1984, when Steve was 18.
“I’m so, so sorry for the victims and their families. My family has gone through the same thing and we know how devastating [this can be] and life-changing — everything changes from here for all the victims’ families,” Kerr said.
“And it’s just time, it’s time for us to do something about it instead of have another moment of silence and send thoughts and prayers.”
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/03/wildcats-men-women-excel-at-mike-fanelli-track-classic-local-roundup/
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On Saturday, the Chico State women’s track & field team won the meet’s distance medley in action at the Mike Fanelli Track Classic.
Jaclyn Denham, Natalie Dinin, Katie Hawley, and Marissa D’Atri won the distance medley (with legs of 1,200-, 400-, 800-, and 1,600-meters) with a time of 12:07.58, breaking the Mike Fanelli Track Classic’s six-year-old record in the event by 1.3 seconds. Stanislaus State had held the previous best mark since 2016.
Chico State also won the 4×100-meter relay, as Mckenzie Blair, Chloe Taylor, Savannah Bailey, and Nadia Torkman posted a season’s best time of 48.46.
The Wildcats will be competing in two meets next week. The heptathlon will be featured Thursday and Friday in Turlock at the Stanislaus State Multis. The entire Chico State women’s track & field team will be in the state capital Saturday to take part in the Sacramento State Invitational.
Men’s track and field
The Chico State men’s track and field team set a new team and meet record Saturday at the Mike Fanelli Track Classic.
Conor Wells, Walker Doucette, Brian Hastings, and Rory Abberton team won the 1,200-400-800-1,600-meter distance medley relay in 9:58.69, setting a new Chico State record and meet record in the process. The Wildcats’ winning sprint medley team earned some bragging rights as well. The supposed “B” team of Demetre Coffey, Rory Hatcher, Bryan Payne, and Kevin Telford ran 200, 200, 400, and 800 meters, respectively, with Telford crossing the line with the winning time of 3:32.54.
College baseball
Wildcats split pair at Los Angeles: the Chico State baseball team settled for a doubleheader split at cal state L A on Saturday.
The Wildcats won the first game 8-7, sparked by Jack Murphy’s three-run homer, Grady Morgan’s four-hit game, and Eric Hill’s clutch relief pitching.
Then dropped the nightcap 2-1 in eight innings despite starting pitcher Austin McFarlane’s best outing yet as a Wildcat.
McFarlane surrendered just one unearned run in seven innings, and Morgan doubled home the tying run in the seventh with the aid of an error. Chico tied the game when pinch-runner Ernie Arambula fell rounding third base, but an errant throw allowed him to score from first, knotting the score. The Golden Eagles slapped three seeing-eye singles in the bottom of the eighth to walk it off.
No. 14 Chico State’s lead atop the CCAA standings is back to a half-game, where it began the weekend after Cal State Monterey Swept a doubleheader at Cal State San Marcos Saturday.
Cody Gentry earned the win, allowing four earned runs in five innings of work. He struck out four, walked two, and allowed seven hits in improving to 6-1. Morgan went 4-for-5, Lindsay 3-for-5. Crane and Murphy had two hits apiece. McFarlane (2-1) was magnificent in the nightcap, allowing only an unearned run on four singles in the first seven innings. He did not walk or hit a batter.
College softball
Wildcats split weekend action :
The Chico State softball team split the weekend’s action against Azusa Pacific, losing 3-2 and 13-0. with the Saturday split, Chico State is now 25-11.
The Wildcats collected 21 hits on the day, 15 of which came in game two against Dominican. Reilani Peleti led the way with four hits and five runs batted in; Grace Stover collected three hits and scored four runs, while Nina Revoir also had three hits, including her eighth home run of the year. Drew Rodriguez, Anastacia Alba, and Kyra Gooler contributed a pair of hits to the’ Cats’ offensive attack.
Katelyn Oldwin scattered four hits and struck out six to earn the victory, improving to 9-4. The Wildcats wrap up the Tournament of Champions Sunday with a single game against Chaminade at 12:30 p.m.
Boys Tennis
the Pleasant Valley boys tennis team split its action this weekend, losing to Piedmont 6-1, but defeating Bishop O’Dowd 4-3.
Eugene Lee was the only Viking to win against Piedmont, while Kont Armbruster, Robbie Foster, and Matt Kuperman and Lee all won their singles matches against Bishop O’Dowd.
The Vikings are now 9-2 with the next match Tuesday at Red Bluff
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/03/andrew-wiggins-scores-25-points-in-warriors-win-over-kings/
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Andrew Wiggins scored 25 points and Nemanja Bjelica recorded his third double-double of the season in the Warriors’ dominant 109-90 victory over the Kings Sunday.
The Warriors earned the win over a subpar Kings team without the help of Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala and Otto Porter Jr., who sat out Sunday’s game for injury management. Golden State was also without Stephen Curry who’s been ruled out for the remainder of the season as he nurses a sprained ligament in his left foot.
With most of the Warriors stars resting on the backend of the back-to-back, coach Steve Kerr got looks at a few different lineups as he works to fine-tune his playoff rotation.
Bejlica had his best outing of the season against his former team. He finished with season highs in both points (19) and rebounds (12).
Bejlica, who’s earned more minutes over the last four games after two DNPs on the Warriors’ disappointing road trip, could be playing himself into the Warriors’ playoff rotation. Coach Steve Kerr previously said he liked the spacing and passing Bejlica gives the secondary unit.
“Bejli gives us what we don’t have, which is big who can space the floor,” Kerr said. “And even though he’s not a guy who’s going to shoot a million threes, you have to respect him out there. And when you go challenge him out there, he can put it on the floor and pass it and move it. So I think given the makeup of our team, Bejli is an important piece for us.”
Rookie Jonathan Kuminga was another who benefitted from the stars’ absences. He had several highlight reel-worthy dunks including a high-flying slam at the end of the second quarter. He recorded 17 points and five rebounds in 31 minutes.
Jordan Poole got the Warriors’ going offensively in the second half, opening the third quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers which forced the Kings to take a timeout. He’s now one of only 10 Warriors to score 20 or more points in 17 straight games.
And Wiggins had another solid night, shooting 50% overall and went 4-of-7 (or 57.1%) from 3-point range.
Kerr has liked what he’s seen from Wiggins as of late.
“When our team makes sense, Andrew gets comfortable,” Kerr said. “He’s been maybe a focal point in terms of his struggles, our struggles, but our team has been scattered over the last six weeks with the injuries, the absences, the shifting lineups, playing different guys in different roles, Andrew is best suited to play in a specific role… on-ball defense and support offensive player.”
The Warriors earned their 50th win of the season. The team has reached that mark in seven of its last nine seasons and a total of 10 times in franchise history.
Golden State, who clinched its first playoff in two years with a thrilling comeback win over the Utah Jazz Friday, remains in sole possession of the No. 3 seed of the Western Conference, sitting one game ahead of the Dallas Mavericks, who are in fourth.
The Warriors (50-29) are off Monday and could practice Tuesday and Wednesday before hosting the Los Angeles Lakers Thursday for their final game at Chase Center of the regular season. They’ll close out the season with a back-to-back set on the road, stopping in San Antonio Saturday before their regular-season finale in New Orleans April 10.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/03/man-arrested-for-alleged-illegal-possession-of-a-firearm-at-park/
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A man was arrested Saturday evening for charges of unlawful possession of a firearm, according to a Chico Police Department press release.
At approximately 7:15 p.m., the report said, detectives with Chico Police Department’s Violence Suppression Unit say they located a subject believed to be unlawfully armed with a handgun at the Dorothy Johnson Center in Chico.
Police say they identified as Jorge Hernandez, previously convicted for a felony, who fled from officers upon contact and was detained after a pursuit. Hernandez was allegedly in possession of a loaded pistol and was arrested on three charges relating to unlawful possession of a firearm and one charge of resisting law officers.
Another man identified as Mario Urzua-Avalos was also contacted during the incident and was arrested for reportedly violating probation.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/04/3733885/
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Recently in a letter to the E-R I wrote that the US wanted Putin to invade Ukraine.
To understand this, I recommend the Consortium News article, “Biden Confirms Why the US Needed This War”. https://consortiumnews.com/2022/03/27/can-russia-escape-the-us-trap/
Consortium News is an award winning independent news site.
The article contains links to sources. One link to the Washington Post’s David Ignatius’ September 1991 “Innocence Abroad: The New World of Spyless Coups” was unsettling, but eye-opening. Ignatius, still with the Washington Post as associate editor and columnist, is often a TV pundit. He wrote that “what used to be called “propaganda” can now simply be called information.”
Establishment media’s world reporting is often government propaganda/information, not objective facts.
It is understandable that most people do not have the inclination, or the time to seek out independent media.
Most citizens do not realize that the US has been working to corner Putin/Russia into an action that would give the US a chance to punish Putin/Russia with killing sanctions, weakening Russia, and possibly giving the US a chance to do regime change in Russia, as it did in Ukraine in 2014, and many other countries.
Putin had been thwarting the US in its desire to oust the elected governments in Syria and Venezuela, and was a serious impediment to the US controlling the world.
Ukrainians are simply the convenient cannon fodder, and Ukraine the battlefield for the US to prove that the US is King, and gets to make the rules.
The world needs wiser leadership.
— Lucy Cooke, Butte Valley
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/04/elks-lodge-name-2022-23-officers/
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Chico Elks Lodge #423 held their Installation of Officers on March 26. The evening included an installation dinner and dancing. The Elks give back to the Chico community thousands of dollars each year that benefit the needs of Veterans and kids. Congratulations to the 2022-23 officers.
How to submit a snapshot
Snapshots, reader-submitted photos of community events, are published Monday. They may include service projects, guest speakers at club meetings, awards being presented or kids doing school projects. Just make sure there are people in the photo — no more than 12 — and keep it current.
Send a high-resolution JPG with a paragraph explaining the content of the photo: who (in left-to-right order with last names), what, where, when and why to snapshots@chicoer.com. Non-digital submissions will not be accepted at this time.
We can’t accept photos about businesses, private events or those adorable pet photos.
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/04/letter-a-history-lesson-in-inflation-vs-deflation/
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Does the level of inflation mean Joe Biden isn’t doing a good job?
Without prompt action by Congress and the Fed, we could have deflation and a depression when prices drop but so do wages and employment. Think about the repercussions of the dramatic decrease in demand for restaurants, bars, theaters, and almost anything requiring face to face contact. What would the unemployed do? What about the owners? And associated businesses? Top that with huge disruptions at the ports as we increased demand for imports and the reduction in supplies of semiconductors that interrupted auto production and just about any manufacturing that required computers.
Have you experienced deflation? Suppose the annual CPI (Consumer Price Index) decreased by 2.7 in 2020, the year the pandemic hit? How about a decrease of 8.9 percent for 2021, and 10.3% this year? That was the change in the CPI for 1930, 1931, and 1932 when the unemployment rate was 8.7%, 15.9%, and 23.6%. Check your history books if you think those were happy days!
It’s been too long since the Great Depression for most of us to realize how lucky we are. I remember sitting around the kitchen table hearing my parents, my grandmother, and my uncle talk about days when men called hobos rode the rails in search of work. Rabbits were Hoover hogs. Women used coffee grounds twice before discarding them on the ground to attract worms for hooking fish. Children got “had-me-downs” because parents couldn’t afford new clothes.
March’s inflation rate was 7.9% and unemployment was 3.8%.
I’ll take inflation over deflation any day!
— Frederica Shockley, Chico
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/04/letter-ab-2020-is-just-another-misguided-effort/
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The dispute over involuntary treatment of people with psychiatric disabilities has been going on at least since Ronald Reagan was governor of California.
Reagan closed the state hospitals and promised that money saved with that action would be applied to well-funded services at the community level to meet the need. That never happened and, to this day, our mental health system is grossly underfunded and unable to meet the growing need for humane, community-based services.
AB 2020 is just another misguided effort to force people into “treatment” in a system that is not capable of meeting their needs. Incarceration is not the solution. In my opinion — in addition to safe and affordable permanent housing for all — what is needed are fully funded services for trained mental health practitioners to engage with people in need — wherever they are — and over time, establish trust and willingness to seek medical and social services that can truly empower them to build better physical and mental health and productive lives.
Numerous individuals and organizations are already doing that on a small scale, but the need far exceeds the resources available.
— Robert C. Van Fleet, Chico
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/04/letter-lucero-stands-up-for-butte-county-citizens/
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Our picker is broke. All a candidate has to do is pretend to have our religion, sing a song about family values, vow to protect us from evil, and chant about the Second Amendment and we will froth at the mouth to vote for them. But that’s more a description of national elections. Locally elections are non-partisan.
The idea of non-partisan local elections is as farfetched as Tod Kimmelshue gaining elected office to represent his constituency. I know, he’s not running this cycle, I’m making a point. It appears ole Tod was supported and bankrolled by corporations that knew he would vote on their behalf. Most specifically by corporate entities (wealthy people) who want to fleece the citizens of Butte County anyway they can. We can’t seem to grasp that a candidate’s campaign contributors tell us who they will be representing.
Debra Lucero is the most un-bought member of the board of supervisors. She’s smart, can smell foul play at our expense and stands up for what’s best for us. Her voting record proves that. Nobody kept us better informed when our underground water aquifer was in play and up for grabs. We lost that battle, but she voted against giving control to an elite few. Nobody kept us better informed during COVID. Debra is hands down the most virtuous candidate running for her seat on the board.
She will be outspent by candidates whose contributors have expectations. We’ve been fooled; let’s not be fooled again.
— Don Fultz, Oroville
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/04/letter-luceros-productivity-earns-another-term/
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I have known Debra Lucero for many years. We served together on the Chico Arts Commission, the Turner Museum Board and Friends of the Arts. I have never known a more committed and hard-working individual.
Lucero has done so much for District 2 in her first four years of service. The list of accomplishments is very impressive. Not only does she answer to her constituents, she jumps in as needed in other districts. Case in point is what she did for District 5 just 11 days after the Camp Fire. First a Sheltering/Brainstorming meeting was set up in the council chambers by Debra and Supervisor Ritter. Both raised nearly $40,000 to purchase an app for first responders dealing with mental health and stress issues. She assisted Camp Fire victims who were being kicked out of Rolling Hills RV Park and worked with FEMA to see how “open slots” were defined for housing for victims. She worked with volunteers to train at Disaster Relief Center, and helped get thousands of pounds of salmon from the Oroville Hatchery to the World Kitchen there. She also arranged to send much-needed new clothing to the Hope Center in Oroville. In addition she worked to bring about awareness on the quality of Paradise water post-Camp Fire.
The other thing that I really appreciate is her of use social media to educate people about issues in the county. I find her posts to be informative as well as enlightening. We need to keep Debra on the county board of supervisors!
— Paula Busch, Chico
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/04/letter-working-for-competency-regardless-of-the-district/
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I was moved, along with 2,500 other Democrats , out of Debra Lucero’s district in the gerrymander of the supervisor districts, and I can only appeal to those still in her district to please re-elect Debra Lucero. The blatant gerrymander which has me now “packed” into Tami Ritter’s district along with many other Democrats, came because of the conservative board of supervisors adopting a map drawn by a Republican consultant.
The conservative city council is now preparing to do the same for our city. When looking at the maps … note those that seem oddly shaped and do not follow logical lines. These are the ones preferred by conservatives on the council. We are not allowed to know who drew the map. It is a secret. A secretly authored map we may well be forced to live with for the next 10 years.
I pray that the better angels in the conservatives on the council will come to guide the selection of a map that makes sense. I fear though, that what guides them is the current Republican playbook: when your policies are so out of touch and unpopular, manipulate who gets to vote to get elected.
We shall see.
In November I will work to elect competent city councilors no matter how districted. Incompetence is expensive.
In June I will be voting for Tami Ritter and encourage everyone in the 2nd District to vote for Debra Lucero, a 6th generation Butte Countian who works hard and competently for all of us.
— Bill Monroe, Chico
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/04/letter-would-florida-allow-this-make-of-car/
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OpinionLetters to the Editor Letter: Would Florida allow this make of car? Share this:Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window)By Letters to the Editor | April 4, 2022 at 2:21 a.m.Was curious if, in Ron DeSantis’ Florida, you can still drive a Trans Am? — Linda Butorac, Chico
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20220404
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/04/soroptimist-international-of-chico-snapshots/
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Janice Walker, Director of Chico Project S.A.V.E. spoke to Soroptimist International of Chico on what their organization does
Project S.A.V.E. is an all-volunteer non-profit organization that collects and recycles medical and dental equipment and supplies which are donated to people in our community as well as to people all over the world. If you are in need of medical or dental equipment, contact them first, chances are they have it.
Pictured: Soroptimist International of Chico President Sara Beacham & Director of Project S.A.V.E. Janice Walker (Contributed/Joyce Brown)
How to submit a snapshot
Snapshots, reader-submitted photos of community events, are published Monday. They may include service projects, guest speakers at club meetings, awards being presented or kids doing school projects. Just make sure there are people in the photo — no more than 12 — and keep it current.
Send a high-resolution JPG with a paragraph explaining the content of the photo: who (in left-to-right order with last names), what, where, when and why to snapshots@chicoer.com. Non-digital submissions will not be accepted at this time.
We can’t accept photos about businesses, private events or those adorable pet photos.
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20220404
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/04/volunteer-company-25-snapshots/
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Rick Farley, a Northern Recon Group (NRG) member, left, presents a donation check for $1,000 to Brian Churchill, member of Butte County Volunteer Company 25 (Butte College), on behalf of Feather Falls Casino. The NRG donates volunteer time to the Casino in exchange for donations to veterans or public service organizations. Company 25 is very grateful for this welcome donation that will support the needs of the local group. To learn more about the NRG, visit northernrecongroup.org. (contributed).
How to submit a snapshot
Snapshots, reader-submitted photos of community events, are published Monday. They may include service projects, guest speakers at club meetings, awards being presented or kids doing school projects. Just make sure there are people in the photo — no more than 12 — and keep it current.
Send a high-resolution JPG with a paragraph explaining the content of the photo: who (in left-to-right order with last names), what, where, when and why to snapshots@chicoer.com. Non-digital submissions will not be accepted at this time.
We can’t accept photos about businesses, private events or those adorable pet photos.
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20220404
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https://www.chicoer.com/2022/04/04/chico-city-council-to-continue-map-selection-process/
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CHICO — With the April 17 final deadline in sight, the city of Chico is holding its fifth and possibly final public hearing for selecting a new district map for the next decade.
The Chico City Council is set to discuss its final three maps, which were narrowed down from five at a previous special meeting last week, and receive additional input from residents on how to move forward.
Choices consist of one map made by hired demographer Claudio Gallegos and two from members of the public, Bryce Goldstein and Nichole Nava.
Gallegos had encouraged the council during the special meeting to choose one final map at its upcoming Tuesday meeting in order to more easily meet the April 15 deadline to submit the map to the county.
The city council will be asked by staff to select a final map and adopt a resolution surrounding said map.
If a final map is not chosen Tuesday, another special meeting will likely need to be scheduled in order to make the final selection going forward.
The council picked the three maps based on having the lowest deviations.
Other business
Three appeal hearings are scheduled for proposed cannabis storefronts that were denied by the city to go forward in the application process.
The businesses in question are Chico’s Best, TMG Chico LLC and Chico 580.
Each appeal comes with a recommendation by City Manager Mark Orme to deny the appeals based on disqualifications.
For each appeal, the city council will have two resolution options, one going with the city manager’s recommendation and the other overturning the denial and allowing the business to go forward.
An ordinance to comply with Assembly Bill 481, allowing a military equipment use policy for the Chico Police Department will be discussed and considered.
The Chico City Council mostly meets at 6 p.m. on the first and third Tuesday of the month at 421 Main St. Meetings are free and open to the public.
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