California Dolphin

JJ Harel can’t stop growing, so the 15-year-old keeps having pains. As a 6-foot-2 freshman last year at Chaminade, he couldn’t compete in the high jump because he was injured. He transferred to Sherman Oaks Notre Dame this season, has grown to 6-4 and is still dealing with discomfort with a hip. On Thursday at the Mission League track and field finals, he gave a sneak peak about what he’s capable of doing when somewhat healthy. He set a school record clearing 6 feet 10.25 inches to win the high jump and put him on a path to compete in next week’s Southern Section prelims. He wanted to keep going higher but was told to stop and save his best for next month when the Southern Section and state championships take place. Harel set an AAU Junior Olympics record at 6-5 in middle school. He played junior varsity basketball for the Knights and is known for his dunks because he has a 40-inch vertical leap. Notre Dame’s 4×100 relay team ran a season-best time of 41.23 and includes its super quick quarterback, Steele Pizzella. Another

Notre Dame offensive lineman Joe Alt (76) could move into the Chargers’ starting lineup at right tackle. (Jacob Kupferman / Associated Press) April 25, 2024 6:02 PM PT The Chargers opened the 2024 NFL draft by addressing their offensive line, taking Notre Dame tackle Joe Alt with the fifth pick of the first round. Joe Alt — offensive tackle 6 feet 9, 321 pounds, Notre Dame, Round 1, Pick 5 Notable: His father, John, was an offensive lineman at Iowa and a first-round pick of Kansas City in 1984 before earning two Pro Bowl selections. Alt’s brother, Mark, played hockey at Minnesota and in the NHL, including a brief stint with the Kings in 2020-21. Last season: Alt was a finalist for the Outland Trophy and Lombardi Award while starting 12 games at left tackle. He also was a first-team All-American. Why the Chargers drafted him: Since the day was he hired, coach Jim Harbaugh has preached his desire to turn the Chargers into a more physical, line-of-scrimmage team, which means beefing up the offensive front. Alt gives the Chargers an enormous presence up front

Twenty-five years ago, UCLA quarterback Cade McNown was selected 12th overall by the Chicago Bears and spent the 1999 and 2000 seasons with them. He later was a backup with the Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers. He spoke to Times NFL writer Sam Farmer about what he learned in Chicago. On Thursday, the Bears made USC quarterback Caleb Williams the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft. There are lots of opportunities and lots of challenges ahead for Caleb Williams. And even though it has been 25 years, I still have vivid memories of those times. The good and bad of it for Caleb and Bears fans is there’s been a long trail of tears when it comes to quarterbacks and Chicago, and this is another chance to alter that trajectory. If I were talking to Caleb, and I hope I will at some point, I’d say, “Listen, you’re getting drafted based on what you did and what people think you can do in the NFL, but not based on what you have done in the NFL. That’s really what’s going to matter.” Cade

An unlicensed 18-year-old driver from Santa Ana has been charged with vehicular manslaughter after leading police in Orange County on a high-speed chase that ended in a crash and claimed the life of a 15-year-old girl who was in the car with him, authorities announced Thursday.   The fatal incident occurred on March 8 when officers with the Orange Police Department responded to reports of a stolen vehicle.   When police initially stopped the vehicle, they found three people inside the car, including the 18-year-old driver, identified as Izaiah Joseph Miranda, and two teens from Orangewood Children’s Home, according to a news release from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. Two of the teens initially complied with police orders to exit the vehicle. The teen who had been in the front passenger seat was arrested, but the 15-year-old girl, later identified as Denisse Pilego Roman, suddenly jumped into the front passenger seat of the vehicle as Miranda sped off. During the pursuit, prosecutors say Miranda hit speeds of 120 miles per hour on the 22 Freeway while leading police in a pursuit from Orange to

The Chicago Bears have a new quarterback: University of Southern California star and former Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams. Williams was unsurprisingly selected by the Bear with the No. 1 pick in Thursday’s NFL Draft. The pick was acquired by Chicago in a trade last season with the Carolina Panthers, who vaulted up the draft order to acquire the 2023 No. 1 pick that Chicago originally held so the team could draft Bryce Young. The Panthers would end the 2023-24 season with the league’s worst record, providing the Chicago Bears the No. 1 overall pick for the second-straight season. USC quarterback Caleb Williams looks to pass during the first half of the Cotton Bowl NCAA college football game against Tulane on Jan. 2, 2023, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Sam Hodde) The now-former Trojan was a two-year starter with USC after transferring from Oklahoma. Widely regarded as one of the best quarterback prospects in recent history, Williams finished his college career throwing 93 touchdowns against 14 interceptions and completing 67% of his passes. He also picked up 27 touchdowns and more than 900 yards on the

Work has officially begun on a bullet train to connect Southern California with Las Vegas, bringing the number of active high-speed rail projects in California to two. The groundbreaking of Brightline West took place April 22, just months after the endeavor was awarded billions from the federal government to get the project off the ground. In December, the Biden Administration began releasing billions in federal grant funding to passenger rail projects across the country, including earmarking more than $6 billion for the two ambitious projects currently underway in California. The California High-Speed Rail Authority was awarded a historic $3.07 billion in grant funding from the Biden Administration for its state-spanning rail system, while Brightline West was chosen to receive around $3 billion for its SoCal-to-Las Vegas bullet train. Both projects aim to transport passengers to their destination at high speeds from the comfort of electric-powered trains while providing thousands of union jobs during construction. But their similarities mostly end there. So what’s the difference between the California High-Speed Rail and Brightline West? First and foremost: scale. The California High-Speed Rail project, aka CAHSR, is the

By Ash-har Quraishi, Cassandra Gauthier Updated on: April 25, 2024 / 10:25 PM EDT / CBS News Flint residents on 10 years of water crisis Flint residents still seeking justice after 10 years of water crisis 04:38 The Environmental Protection Agency says lead in the water in Flint, Michigan, is lower than federal safety limits specify. It’s been a decade since the city, attempting to save millions of dollars, inadvertently exposed more than 100,000 people, including vulnerable children, to lead seeping from aging pipes — and many residents still don’t trust what’s coming out of their faucets and showers. Melissa Mays, who has become an advocate in the city and was a lead plaintiff in a class action suit over the exposure, says little has changed in the city since 2014. That’s when the economically troubled city disconnected its water supply from Detroit’s system and began drawing from the Flint River.  The corrosive chemicals used to decontaminate the river water sent lead from the city’s pipes into residents’ faucets. The number of children with dangerous levels of lead in their blood doubled. The water system

4/25: The Daily Report with John Dickerson – CBS News Watch CBS News John Dickerson reports on former President Trump’s immunity claim in the Supreme Court, a new strategy to tackle carbon emissions, and the story of an aid worker in Gaza risking everything to help those in need. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On

Is the U.S. in the middle of two Cold Wars? – CBS News Watch CBS News It’s been nearly 35 years since the Cold War ended, but the author of a new book argues not only is the U.S. facing a new Cold War — it’s facing more than one. David Sanger, author of “New Cold Wars,” joins CBS News to explain. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On

Flint residents still seeking justice after 10 years of water crisis – CBS News Watch CBS News Ten years ago, a water crisis began when Flint, Michigan, switched to the Flint River for its municipal water supply. The more corrosive water was not treated properly, allowing lead from pipes to leach into many homes. CBS News correspondent Ash-har Quraishi spoke with residents about what the past decade has been like. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On

A 56-year-old man who sexually assaulted a Moreno Valley girl was sentenced Thursday to three years in state prison. David Anthony Padilla of Moreno Valley pleaded guilty in January to two counts of lewd acts on a child under 14 years old. No charges were dismissed under the plea agreement, which Riverside County Superior Court Judge Thomas Kelly certified during the sentencing hearing Thursday at the Riverside Hall of Justice. According to sheriff’s Investigator James Merrill, detectives received information in January 2023 that Padilla had committed unspecified lascivious acts on a child, identified in court documents only as “C.B.,” in the 11000 block of Hummingbird Place, near Swan Street, in Moreno Valley. Merrill said sufficient evidence was gathered to obtain an arrest warrant for Padilla, who was taken into custody without incident at the intersection of Swan and Pigeon Pass Road on Feb. 3, 2023. Court documents said the defendant molested C.B. in June and December 2022. The circumstances behind the acts, including the defendant’s relationship, if any, to the victim were not disclosed. At the time of his arrest, Padilla was also under investigation

A man who owned a marijuana dispensary and the business’ manager were sentenced Thursday to 25 years to life in prison for murdering a community college student whose remains were found in a remote area of the Mojave Desert nearly two months after he went missing in South Los Angeles. Superior Court Judge Mark Hanasono tacked on an additional one-year sentence for dispensary owner Weijia Peng in connection with an allegation stemming from his use of a syringe filled with a deadly dose of ketamine during the Sept. 22, 2020, attack on 21-year-old Juan Carlos Hernandez. Peng, 34, of Alhambra, and co-defendant Ethan Kedar Astaphan, 30, of San Gabriel, were convicted Feb. 26 of first-degree murder for the slaying of Hernandez, who was a student at El Camino College in Torrance. Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian said the two men suspected that Hernandez was stealing from the dispensary where he worked, although law enforcement found no proof to back up the allegation made in messages that Peng and Astaphan had written each other in the days before the young man’s killing. A forensic expert was