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Healthy, motivated Xavien Howard out to prove he’s not ‘washed’ in new Dolphins defense

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:36 GMT

There’s plenty of reason to believe Xavien Howard can have a bounce-back 2023 season.The Miami Dolphins cornerback has an offseason to allow last year’s groin injuries to settle down. He has a top defensive mind in the game now leading the unit with the hiring of defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, whose array of zone coverages could benefit Howard. And he has another elite cornerback joining him in the secondary in Jalen Ramsey.But what might fuel Howard the most is the perception that his career is on the decline as the four-time Pro Bowler turns 30 July 4.“Just seeing people saying I’m washed, I’m getting older and stuff like that,” Howard said Wednesday in a news conference at team facilities after the Dolphins opened their offseason workout program Monday. “Just a little bit of motivation. People are going to say this and say that. I’ve been proving the critics wrong my whole life, so it’s nothing new.”Sure, Howard was n...

Prep basketball star Mikey Williams faces judge

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:36 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Local high school basketball star Mikey Williams pleaded not guilty Thursday to several counts following his arrest last week.The 18-year-old San Ysidro High School senior, who appeared for his arraignment via video conference, was formally charged with five counts of assault with a firearm and one count of shooting at an occupied vehicle. Attorney Troy Owens entered the not guilty pleas for Williams.Williams faces a maximum of up to 28 years behind bars if convicted of all charges, San Diego County Deputy District Attorney George Modlin told reporters outside the El Cajon courtroom. According to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, Williams was arrested in connection with an altercation that occurred just before midnight on March 27. Jail records show Williams was arrested near the 2600 block of Bratton Valley Road in the Jamul area around 3:30 p.m. on April 13. Prep basketball star Mikey Williams arrested on suspicion of assault with deadly weapon The March in...

Fernando Tatis Jr. mural pops up in Chula Vista ahead of return

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:36 GMT

CHULA VISTA, Calif. — A mural depicting San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. was painted in Chula Vista ahead of his return to the lineup Thursday.The Padres superstar slugger will return from an 80-game PED suspension Thursday night in Arizona. Fernando Tatis Jr. set to return from suspension Thursday The mural was done by Ground Floor Murals, which has done several Padres-themed projects around San Diego County, depicting team legends like Tony Gwynn and Trevor Hoffman, current stars like Manny Machado, Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish and even the renowned "San Diegoose."The new Tatis Jr. mural is located in the alley of Third Avenue and Davidson Street in Chula Vista.The mural depicts Tatis Jr. with the caption "The wait is over" in anticipation of his return to the Padres lineup after missing the entire 2022 season due to injury and suspension. Fernando Tatis Jr. set to return from suspension Thursday “For me personally, I’ve been waiting for this Tatis thing for a while,” s...

Trying to decide where to eat? Here are the most popular cuisines in San Diego

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:36 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- It's no surprise that foodies may become enamored in San Diego's bustling restaurant scene. From gastropubs and cafes to chic and modern eateries, America's Finest City is serving up vibrant dishes inspired by a variety of cultures. The Picky Eater, a food influenced blog by nutritionist and health coach Anjali Shah, conducted a study to get more insight into the most popular cuisines in San Diego. The most highly rated international cuisine in San Diego may surprise you Data from the study shows 26 different countries have cooked their way into local menus with the countryside flavors of some nations being more present than others across San Diego.Mexican food takes the crown as the most popular cuisine in the city, according to the study, with a whopping 292 restaurants scattered throughout the San Deigo. With the country being California's southern neighbor, an abundance of taco shops and authentic tortilla makers can easily be found in the metropolitan area....

U.S. cities may offer model to ease Canada transit violence, experts say

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:36 GMT

As Canadian cities look for ways to combat violence on public transit, experts say strategies south of the border that combine law enforcement, social support and community engagement could offer new solutions.Violence on transit has captured national attention in recent weeks – a 17-year-old boy was fatally stabbed on a Vancouver-area bus last week, a man had life-threatening injuries after his throat was slashed on a Surrey, B.C., bus earlier this month, and a 16-year-old boy was stabbed to death in an unprovoked attack at a Toronto subway station in March.Those high-profile cases were among many other instances of aggression on transit in several cities. Transit agencies and police have been working to understand what’s driving the violence, with some pointing to the pandemic as a factor.Experts say some American cities have taken a multi-pronged approach to violence on transit, addressing issues like housing, mental health and substance abuse in parallel with security issu...

California researchers attempt ocean climate solution

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:36 GMT

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Atop a 100-foot barge tied up at the Port of Los Angeles, engineers have built a kind of floating laboratory to answer a simple question: Is there a way to cleanse seawater of carbon dioxide and then return it to the ocean so it can suck more of the greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere to slow global warming?Called the lungs of the planet, the ocean, whose plants and currents take in carbon dioxide, has already helped the Earth tremendously by absorbing 30 percent of carbon dioxide emissions since the Industrial Revolution and capturing 90 percent of the excess heat from those emissions. Acting as a giant carbon sink, it has been a crucial buffer in protecting people from even worse effects of early climate change. Seawater can store 150 times more carbon dioxide per unit volume than air, roughly. But absorbing the greenhouse gas has come at a cost, causing oceans to become more acidic, destroying coral reefs and harming marine species, including impeding s...

North Carolina GOP closes in on transgender athlete ban

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:36 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A prohibition on transgender girls playing on female sports teams in North Carolina schools cleared a second legislative chamber this week when the state Senate approved a bill Thursday. The passage means the Republican-dominated General Assembly appears poised to work out in the coming weeks a final compromise that would limit athlete participation and send it to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who is a strong supporter of LGBTQ+ rights. The House approved a similar bill Wednesday. Legislators who back the competing measures expressed optimism that differences can be hammered out. “I believe that the Senate sponsors and the House sponsors will be able to work through that,” House Speaker Tim Moore told reporters.Cooper’s office didn’t respond to an email request for comment on the legislation. The GOP now holds veto-proof majorities in both the Senate and House after a former House Democrat switched parties earlier this month. The margins on this week&#...

Top Google exec says ‘everybody loses’ with online news bill at House committee

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:36 GMT

OTTAWA — A top Google executive told a House of Commons committee today that the Liberal government’s online news bill would create a situation where everybody loses. Google’s vice president for news, Richard Gringas, says the bill’s passage would incentivize clickbait content over high-quality local journalism, and likely require the company to pay publishers for non-factual or misleading content.Gringas says the company would prefer to contribute to a media fund that would align with the government’s policy goals while funding local journalism.He appeared alongside Google’s president of global affairs Kent Walker at the heritage committee, which is studying the actions of the Silicon Valley giant after it ran a five-week test that blocked news links to some of its Canadian users as a potential response to the bill.Walker says if Google had to pay news publishers for linking to their content, the company would lose money with every click — and it would...

Officer told not to make handwritten notes after death of Myles Gray, inquest hears

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:36 GMT

BURNABY, B.C. — A Vancouver police officer says a senior member of the force who was acting as a union representative told him not to make any handwritten notes about the confrontation that resulted in the death of 33-year-old Myles Gray in 2015.Const. Joshua Wong told the British Columbia coroner’s inquest into Gray’s death that he was sitting at the department with his notebook out when the union representative told him not to make notes.Wong said he typed up a statement when he got home, and he was instructed months later to upload it to a police database.Gray died following a beating by several officers that left him with injuries including a fractured eye socket, a crushed voice box and a ruptured testicle.Wong testified that he doesn’t know why the union representative told him not to make notes, and he doesn’t recall who it was, but it did seem like an odd request.He told the inquest Gray was “actively fighting” one of three officers alread...

Muslims end Ramadan, begin holiday amid war, reconciliation

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:31:36 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Large parts of the Muslim world marked the end of the fasting month of Ramadan at sundown Thursday and ushered in the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, but the festivities were overshadowed by raging battles for control of Sudan and a deadly stampede in Yemen.In other parts of the region, the holiday came against the backdrop of reconciliation and rapprochement between former rivals.The Islamic calendar is lunar and depends on the sighting of the moon — something Muslim religious authorities tend to disagree on. Ramadan sees worshippers fasting daily from dawn to sunset, ending with Eid al-Fitr celebrations. This year again, the holiday comes amid fighting and devastation, particularly in the Middle East. In Sudan, the holiday was eclipsed by raging battles between the army and its rival paramilitary force, despite two attempted cease-fires. The fighting since Saturday has killed hundreds of people and wounded thousands. In Yemen, the Arab world’s most impoverished nation,...