California Dolphin

In a couple of months, we will be saturated with Olympic feel-good stories. That’s a big part of why television networks pay enormous sums for the rights to telecast the Games. They call these vignettes “up close and personal.” In many cases, “overdone and gooey” might be a better description. Most likely, the Paris Olympics won’t create a yarn as good as the one about Olga Fikotova and Harold Connolly. There was nothing overdone and gooey about their story during the 1956 Games in Melbourne. It was the stuff of international headlines and worldwide emotion, and it is revisited here because Olga died April 12. She was 91 and was preceded in death 14 years ago by Harold. Both spent much of their lives in and around Los Angeles. She was 23 when she made the five-day, multi-airplane trip to Australia. She was 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds, not the usual girth for an Olympian, male or female, in a throwing event. She was not among the favorites in the discus and had been a better athlete in basketball than track and field. A track coach

Now that it’s confirmed that Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan is going to run in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, the talk of a possible Triple Crown can start. Actually, it’s more of a whisper than talk. Mystik Dan barely held on by a nose while winning the Kentucky Derby. And, he had the perfect trip. Now he’ll be facing the horse that beat him in the Arkansas Derby. And, he’s running on only two weeks rest. Even with all those negatives, there is still a case to be made that a Triple Crown is within reach of Mystik Dan. First, the Preakness Stakes race is a sixteenth-of-a-mile shorter than the Kentucky Derby. As for the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes, it’s neither 1 ½ miles or at Belmont. Because of the construction at Belmont, the signature race is being moved to Saratoga, Fla., and will be run at 1 ¼ miles. Race officials didn’t want to start the race on a turn so they shortened it. We know Mystik Dan can handle 1 ¼ miles, even if barely. There is already

There are plenty of storylines for the 2024 WNBA season, from the arrival of Caitlin Clark to the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces’ bid for a three-peat. Here are five things to follow when regular-season play opens Tuesday. Fever pitch Clark, college basketball’s all-time leading scorer, decided to forgo her final season of eligibility to enter the WNBA draft and was selected by Indiana with the top pick, setting off a frenzy of ticket sales for Fever games, home and road. Plus, the Fever will have 36 of their 40 games broadcast on national television. Indiana finished last in the Eastern Conference last season and at 13-27 had the league’s third-worst record. Can Clark help the Fever become winners? They haven’t been to the playoffs since 2016 and won the franchise’s only title in 2012. Clark started her WNBA career with 21 points in a 79-76 preseason loss in Dallas. She scored 11 of the Fever’s first 19 points. Clark, who was slowed in the second half after picking up her third and fourth fouls in the third quarter, made five of 13 three-point

Updated on: May 13, 2024 / 7:06 AM EDT / CBS/AP Kristi Noem on criticisms over new book Gov. Kristi Noem on criticisms of new book: “I wanted people to know the truth” 09:15 South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is now banned from entering nearly 20% of her state after two more tribes banished her this week over comments she made earlier this year about tribal leaders benefitting from drug cartels. The latest developments in the ongoing tribal dispute come on the heels of the backlash Noem faced for writing about killing a hunting dog that misbehaved in her latest book. It is not clear how these controversies will affect her chances to become Donald Trump’s running mate because it is hard to predict what the former president will do. The Yankton Sioux Tribe voted Friday to ban Noem from their land in southeastern South Dakota just a few days after the Sisseton-Wahpeton Ovate tribe took the same action. The Oglala, Rosebud, Cheyenne River and Standing Rock Sioux tribes had already taken action to keep her off their reservations. Three other tribes haven’t yet banned

Updated on: May 13, 2024 / 6:42 AM EDT / CBS/AFP Inside Mexican/American gunrunning networks Inside Mexican/American gunrunning networks 03:12 Eight people died in a weekend shooting in Mexico’s Morelos state, adjacent to Mexico City, authorities reported Sunday. The attack occurred Saturday in the municipality of Huitzilac, off a highway connecting the capital with the tourist town of Cuernavaca. Four people died on the scene while four others died after being taken to the hospital, the Morelos prosecutor’s office said. Seven of the victims ranged in age from 29 to 50 years old while the eighth victim was not immediately identified. All eight bodies were transferred to the forensic medical service facilities as the investigation into the shooting continues, officials said. The forested mountain township of Huitzilac has been plagued by illegal loggers, kidnappers and drug gangs, in part because it provides the closest rural hideout near Mexico’s capital. The town’s mayor, Rafael Vargas, called the attack “a terrible violent act.” “Right in the center of town, several people were attacked and killed,” Vargas said. Apparently aware of the town’s rough reputation, he added: “The

SACRAMENTO —  Here’s a novel idea: Don’t spend money until you’ve got it. What a concept! Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed that as a way to head off future crippling state budget deficits. They’ve become all too common as Sacramento politicians muddle through cycles of economic booms and busts. State budgeting in California is a constant roller coaster ride because of our volatile, outdated tax system. Politicians don’t have the guts to fix it because there’d be losers as well as winners. They balk at alienating any friendly interest group or voter. California, unlike the federal government, is too dependent on rich people’s capital gains to finance its generous programs. When the stock market soars, the state reaps a hefty chunk. When the market tumbles, so does state tax revenue. This again was made clear when Newsom on Friday sent the Legislature a revised and reduced $288-billion state budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins July 1. In 2022, capital gains comprised 13% of total personal income taxes owed, according to the state Department of Finance. Those taxes were primarily paid in 2023 and they’re currently

The country artist known simply as Ernest is a couple of cocktails deep on a recent afternoon in the rooftop garden of West Hollywood’s Soho House, a diamond pendant the size of a AA battery nestled within the open neck of his blue western shirt. The pendant, which reads DANGEROUS, is one of three matching pieces he commissioned from a jeweler in Orange County — one for Ernest, one for Hardy, one for Morgan Wallen — as a memento of the trio’s time writing songs together for Wallen’s six-times-platinum “Dangerous: The Double Album.” The western shirt, meanwhile, reflects Ernest’s love of Ralph Lauren. The designer’s career in fashion, as depicted in the 2019 documentary “Very Ralph,” “changed my life,” Ernest says. “Seriously. I watched it three or four years ago and shortly after cleaned out my closet and started shopping Double RL.” Ernest’s mood board for the cover of his new album, “Nashville, Tennessee,” contained a picture of Lauren leaning against a barn with an American flag in the background. “We shot the cover in my barn,” he says of he and his wife, Delaney

When Dos Rios Ranch opens to visitors next month in the San Joaquin Valley, California will have 280 state parks — making it one of the nation’s largest systems, as well as one of its most popular, with about 70 million visitors a year. Who knew? The short answer is: hardly anyone. Over the past 20 years I’ve asked several thousand Californians to name five state parks. Fewer than 5% can do so. And most of these baffled respondents are outdoorsy folks — the kind of people I meet on the trail or at my talks about hiking. This lack of awareness is more than surprising right now. It’s dangerous. If Californians can’t name a handful of state parks, they won’t recognize the threat when Sacramento defers investment in the system or — as is inevitably happening again — attempts to cut funding. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed $291.5 billion budget for the upcoming year would eliminate a $3 million line item for a well-used program that lets (primarily low-income) library card holders check out free passes to state parks. But how many lawmakers or voters

In a move widely hailed as a failure for the drug decriminalization movement, Oregon restored criminal penalties for low-level drug possession in April. Headlines chalked up this policy reversal to mounting overdoses , evoking a crisis in the state. In reality, Oregon’s overdose rate remains in the middle of the pack nationally, with more than half of U.S. states having a greater number of deaths per capita. But increasing homelessness and visible drug use have spurred panic over drugs, which overruled statistics and scientific recommendations — and offers a cautionary tale about the fight for sensible drug laws. In 2020, a majority of Oregon voters approved decriminalization via Measure 110 — a landmark ballot measure that made simple possession of a small quantity of drugs for personal use subject to citation instead of jail. It diverted tax revenue from cannabis, which the state legalized for recreational use in 2014; in its first round of grants alone, the measure infused $300 million into the state’s threadbare drug treatment system and funded harm reduction services. These were solid steps, backed by decades of science about addiction and

The first time I visited the J&G Fried Chicken restaurant in Hacienda Heights, I left without any chicken. It was around 2 p.m. on a Saturday and the line of customers spilled out the door and onto the walkway outside. I estimated about 50 people waiting, not counting the people inside. The restaurant is the first U.S. location of the popular Taiwanese fried chicken chain, opened in partnership with 85 Degrees Bakery Cafe. It started on Jiguang Street in Taichung in 1973 and has grown to include more than 400 stores worldwide. The April opening sparked a frenzy with nearly constant lines for the restaurant’s signature popcorn chicken, chicken sandwiches and chicken fillets. But when I saw the crowd from my car, I aborted the mission. Yet the lure of a flattened fried chicken thigh the size of a pancake is persistent and strong. I returned around 1 p.m. on a Tuesday determined to get my chicken. My hopes surged when I found only six people in line. How those six people managed to take about 5 minutes each to order from a menu that