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Traffickers plead guilty to smuggling endangered sea cucumbers into California

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:19 GMT

By AMANCAI BIRABEN | Associated PressLOS ANGELES  — Wildlife traffickers pleaded guilty this week in federal court in California to illegally importing endangered sea cucumbers — which are prized in China for food and medicine and as a reputed aphrodisiac — from Mexico.Zunyu Zhao and Xionwei Xiao were charged with conspiracy and illegal importation of brown sea cucumbers worth over $10,000 from 2017 to 2019 and are scheduled to be sentenced in September and November, respectively.Prosecutors haven’t said where in the ocean the sea cucumbers were obtained. But the defendants were allegedly found with the smuggled bottom-feeders as they crossed from Mexico into the U.S. at Calexico. Zhao and Xiao agreed to pay restitution to the Mexican government’s environmental protection agency. They could get up to 25 years in prison.Attorneys for Zhao and Xiao did not respond to requests for comment.After seizing the sea cucumbers at the border, investigators found text messages and images sent b...

His lifelong obsession with the holidays turns into a Disneyland dream job

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:19 GMT

Tristen Tierney turned his love of Halloween, Christmas and all holidays from an obsessive hobby as a kid into a full-time career as a Disneyland resort enhancement team leader that allows him to pursue his passion 24/7/365.“I still can’t believe it’s real,” said Tierney, a Disneyland Resort Enhancement Holiday Services Lead. “This is what I’ve been dreaming about.”The Disneyland Resort Enhancement team has spent the past month adding pumpkins, bunting and fall colors to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure in preparation for the kick off of Halloween Time on Friday, Sept. 1.SEE ALSO: Halloween and Christmas are the new summer at theme parksOvernight worker decorate Main Street, U.S.A., at Disneyland during Halloweentime in Anaheim, CA, on Thursday, August 31, 2023. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)An overnight worker places hand-carved pumpkins along the buildings on Main Street, U.S.A., at Disneyland during Halloweentime in Anaheim, CA, on Thursday, Augus...

Cal joins the ACC at discounted revenue shares: Will the deal pinch a budget that has always been tight?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:19 GMT

Cal chancellor Carol Christ heard a loud knock on her hotel door before dawn Friday morning in San Diego, where she was scheduled to meet with donors.“There’s someone from the hotel saying there was an urgent call, and I was thinking, ‘What catastrophe has happened?’ But it turned out to be this very good news.”Cal was headed to the ACC.University presidents of the Charlotte-based conference approved membership offers to Cal and Stanford, ending a lengthy reverse courtship in which the Bay Area schools sought salvation following the demise of the Pac-12. (SMU is joining the Bears and Cardinal to give the ACC 18 members.)“It’s been a month of frenzied activity,” Christ said Friday morning during a Zoom interview. “I’ve been joking that Kumbaya has turned into ‘Lord of the Flies’ rather quickly as everybody tried to find a landing place with the increasing instability of the Pac-12.“It’s been probably as intense a perio...

Russian students return to new lessons boosting patriotism

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:19 GMT

By Dasha Litvinova | Associated PressTALLINN, Estonia — Clad in white shirts and carrying bouquets, children across Russia flocked back to school Friday, where the Kremlin’s narratives about the war in Ukraine and its confrontation with the West were taking an even more prominent spot than before.Students are expected each week to listen to Russia’s national anthem and watch the country’s tricolor flag being raised. There’s a weekly subject loosely translated as “Conversations about Important Things,” which was introduced last year with the goal of boosting patriotism.A new high school history textbook has a chapter on the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and the “special military operation” — the Kremlin’s euphemism for the war, and some basic military training is included in a course on self-defense and first aid.President Vladimir Putin even got involved, personally meeting Friday with 30 school students from different regi...

Shooting victim in critical but stable condition following gunfire in downtown Oakland

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:19 GMT

OAKLAND — A man was in critical but stable condition at a hospital early Friday after being shot in downtown Oakland, police said.The shooting happened about 5:25 a.m. in the 1400 block of Webster Street. Police did not say how old the man is.Authorities said they were working to determine the motive and identify any suspects. Officers found more than one shell casing at the scene of the shooting, police said.Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering up to $5,000 in reward money for information leading to an arrest. To contact police, call 510-238-3426 or 510-238-7950. To contact Crime Stoppers, call 510-777-8572.Staff writer Harry Harris contributed to this developing report. Check back for updatesRelated ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Oakland police have a year to speed up 911 response times — and a lot to lose if they don’t Crime and Public Safety | One dead following shooting in Union City Crime and Public Safety | ...

Hundreds of drug users arrested in San Francisco

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:19 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- The San Francisco Mayor's Office said law enforcement agencies made "significant" progress during the first three months of the city’s crackdown aimed at shutting down open-air drug markets.San Francisco Police Department officers arrested 450 alleged drug users under public intoxication laws for openly consuming drugs and being under the influence in public. In an operation aimed at dismantling drug trafficking networks, police officers, sheriff's deputies, California Highway Patrol officers, and California National Guard members arrested 300 suspected narcotics dealers and 123 wanted fugitives. Officers also seized 103 kilos of narcotics, including 56 kilos of fentanyl.Most of the arrests and seizures happened in the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods.Citywide in 2023, police seized over 135 kilos of narcotics, including over 89 kilos of fentanyl – more than all of 2022's drug seizures combined, according to city data. As a result of the crackdown...

Deadline day: Chelsea and Man City make moves as EPL spending hurtles toward $3 billion in window

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:19 GMT

English Premier League spending was hurtling toward a staggering $3 billion in a record outlay during European soccer’s summer transfer window on Friday.Manchester City and — of course — Chelsea were among those making moves on a typically frantic deadline day.Chelsea was leading the unprecedented splurge, with the arrival of 21-year-old winger Cole Palmer from City for 40 million pounds ($50.7 million) taking the west London club’s spending in this window to around $500 million.In the three transfer windows under its new American ownership fronted by Todd Boehly, Chelsea has spent about $1.15 billion on players mostly signed up on long contracts in an innovative way to spread “amortization” costs of transfer fees.By comparison, the $260 million outlay by City, the English and European champion, looks modest. The fourth and final arrival in the window came on deadline day and was Portugal international Matheus Nunes from Wolverhampton, a ball-carrier costing $67 million ...

Review: ‘The Hill’ is the definition of a feel-good baseball flick of faith

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:19 GMT

toggle audio on and off change volume download audio WTOP's Jason Fraley reviews 'The Hill' (Part 1) $(function () { $('.wtop-audio-container .fa-play').on('click', function(){ var audio_filename = $('div.wtop-audio-file').data("mp3-url"); ga('send', 'event', 'Audio', 'play', audio_filename); }); }); He wrote two of the greatest sports movies of all time in “Hoosiers” (1986) and “Rudy” (1993) before receiving mixed reviews for less successful efforts like “The Game of Their Lives” (2005) and “My All American” (2015).Now, screenwriter Angelo Pizzo once again returns to his fav...

NASA revela fotos del lugar donde se estrelló una nave rusa en la Luna

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:19 GMT

WASHINGTON DC – La fallida misión de la sonda rusa Luna-25, que se estrelló contra la superficie lunar hace dos semanas, ha dejado un nuevo cráter en este satélite, según fotos publicadas por la NASA. “La nave espacial LRO de la NASA, el Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, tomó imágenes de un nuevo cráter en la superficie de la Luna, que probablemente sea el lugar de impacto de la misión rusa Luna-25”, afirmó la NASA en un comunicado.El 19 de agosto Rusia confirmó que la sonda Luna-25, cuya misión era ser la primera nave espacial en alunizar en el Polo Sur del satélite terrestre, se había estrellado contra la superficie lunar. Llegó a la Luna: nave de la India explorará el lado más oscura del satélite “El Gordo”: telescopio de la NASA captura nueva imagen del cúmulo de galaxias Según los resultados del análisis preliminar, el motivo del accidente fue “la desviación de los parámetros reales de impulso” calcu...

Chiefs’ Travis Kelce to All-Pro DT Chris Jones amid holdout: ‘Can you please come back?’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:19 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Chiefs’ Travis Kelce is imploring fellow All-Pro Chris Jones to end his holdout, which the defensive tackle has carried through training camp and right into the preparations for Kansas City’s opener next week against the Detroit Lions.On his “New Heights” podcast with his brother, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, the Chiefs tight end said “I don’t get it” in reference to Jones’ holdout. Jones is entering the final year of his $80 million, four-year contract and has been looking for a long-term deal that would make him the second-highest paid defensive tackle in the league.“Chris, you’re really scaring me, man. Can you please come back?” Kelce said on the podcast. “You must know something I don’t know because I just don’t get it. I really want to win another Super Bowl ring with you, brother. “This is me bargaining with you to just come back and play football for the Chiefs.”After a long period of litt...