A  return-to-sports campaign spearheaded by high school football coaches and players’ parents has led to an offshoot group in water polo, a quintessential Californian sport where Olympic stars have joined forces with the kids. “In a sport like water polo, no one is thinking about us,” five-time Olympian Tony Azevedo said Wednesday. “We’re far from what the governor or anyone is worried about.” Azevedo, a four-time college player of the year at Stanford, joined Letthemplaywaterpolo as the senior advisor. The grassroots campaign began two weeks ago with two-time Olympian Peter Hudnut, also a Stanford alumnus, and former U.S. women’s Olympic coach Guy Baker joining the advisory team. The campaign began with five teammates at Sacred Heart Prep in Atherton, said the school’s Griffen Price, one

Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Courtesy of Cinq A SeptCinq à Sept Cinq à Sept presented a lively boho collection for fall 2021, bringing on the paisley for New York Fashion Week in a playful music video filled with the atmosphere of the late sixties and early seventies. Designer Jane Siskin’s collection captured the easy-going casual essence that the brand is both known for and named after (Cinq à Sept is a French term for “happy hour” period of the day). The brand said that the collection was “inspired by muses” English model and photographer Pattie Boyd and equally English actress and singer Marianne Faithfull, both of whom embodied the mix of British poshness and the bohemian aesthetic of that very unique period that bridged the 1960s and 1970s. at The Daily Beast. ...read m...

A teenage boy was charged with carjacking a woman Jan. 20, 2021, in Humboldt Park. | Sun-Times file photoThe boy took a 36-year-old woman’s vehicle by force Jan. 20 in the 2500 block of West Chicago Avenue, according to Chicago police. A 15-year-old boy was charged Wednesday with a carjacking last month in Humboldt Park on the West Side. The boy, 15, took a 36-year-old woman’s vehicle by force Jan. 20 in the 2500 block of West Chicago Avenue, according to Chicago police. The boy was arrested about 11:45 a.m. Wednesday in Washington Park and charged with felony vehicular hijacking, police said. He will appear in juvenile court Thursday. ...read more Source:: Chicago Sun Times...

Local and national rates of new cases and hospitalizations linked to COVID-19 have fallen sharply. In Los Angeles County, daily numbers of new infections have dropped as much as 80 percent in some places from their highest points just weeks ago. A number of factors may be contributing to the drop in coronavirus cases in L.A., from the benefits of early rounds of vaccine to people finally accepting the dangers of gatherings and other high-risk behaviors. Here is some of what might be afoot. We’re being more responsible      Some of the worst moments of the pandemic followed periods when people flouted all the recommendations and insisted on gathering with groups, often indoors or without masks. After seeing the horror of the surge, with overloaded hospitals and astronomical numbers of deat

This is a preview of a research report from Insider Intelligence, Insider's premium research service. To learn more about Insider Intelligence, click here. Summary List PlacementIn the US, the in-store mobile wallet space is becoming increasingly crowded. Most customers have an option provided by their smartphone vendor, like Apple, Android, or Samsung Pay. But those are often supplemented by a myriad of options from other players, ranging from tech firms like PayPal, to banks and card issuers, to major retailers and restaurants. With that proliferation of options, one would expect to see a surge in adoption. But that's not the case — though Insider Intelligence projects that US in-store mobile payments volume will quintuple in the next five years, usage is consistently lagging below expe

ReutersFormer President Donald Trump kicked off a right-wing media tour on Wednesday, hitting up One America News, Newsmax, and Fox News for phone interviews after being largely absent from the public eye since leaving the White House. And while the disgraced ex-president continued to spread debunked election conspiracies during a pair of pre-taped interviews with Newsmax and OAN on Wednesday night, Trump steered clear of directly mentioning the voting software companies that had been at the heart of his most deranged voter fraud lies. According to a source familiar with the matter, Trump has recently been reminded that he shouldn’t mention, and definitely not call out by name, Dominion Voting Systems or Smartmatic during new media interviews or public appearances. at The Daily Beast. ...

Azusa Mayor Robert Gonzales sounded a little hoarse and he grappled with shortness of breath. But he’s glad to be alive after a vicious battle with COVID-19 that included 33 days in two hospital stays, where he was twice intubated. “I’m feeling better,” he said Tuesday evening, Feb. 16, ahead of joining his first City Council meeting (virtually) since his ordeal began in early December. “I’m slowly recovering. It’s just a long process.” Making his journey even more arduous: Along the way, he contracted COVID-19-related Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), a severe infection of the lungs. “Oh, it was extremely scary,” he said. Rochelle Betancourt-Gonzales, wife of Azusa Mayor Robert Gonzales, said she cried privately daily as her husband fought tooth and nail to survive COVID-19.

White Sox manager Tony La Russa (right) talks with minor league field coordinator Doug Sisson at Camelback Ranch Wednesday, the first official day of spring training. (Chicago White Sox)On first official day of spring training, 76-year-old Tony La Russa feels excitement of pressure-packed job Decked out in a No. 22 jersey, manager Tony La Russa oversaw his first spring training day in an official managing capacity in 10 years Wednesday. His juices were flowing, Roger Bossard’s nicely manicured Camelback Ranch backfield lawn felt right under his feet, and it smelled like baseball in the crisp, 65-degree Arizona air. “The hairs on my neck were alive and kicking several times,” La Russa said at the conclusion of the day’s workouts with pitchers and catchers officially and many position player

OAKLAND — On what would have been former Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton’s 79th birthday, a section of a West Oakland street now bears his name. Fredrika Newton, widow of Newton, attended a large dedication ceremony Wednesday morning at the corner of Mandela Parkway and 9th Street, just a block from where he was gunned down in 1989. “When it comes to Huey, this place is both darkness and light for me,” she said. “There is sorrow, for this is the block that he died, and that is darkness. And today, there is light.” Other former party members in attendance included Ericka Huggins, former director of the Oakland Community School, Elaine Brown, Saturu Ned and Katherine Campbell. OAKLAND, CA – FEBRUARY 17: Fredrika Newton, widow of former Black Panther Party member Dr. Huey P. New

William Thomas CainConventional etiquette dictates that we do not speak ill of the dead. But Rush Limbaugh isn’t just any dead guy. He’s a dead guy who made himself a multimillionaire many times over by targeting immigrants, women who use birth control, the preteen daughters of politicians, the Obamas, rape survivors, environmentalists, gay people, Asians, Latinos, Black people, and feminists. He popularized the term “feminazi,” a word that stupid assholes fling at women who won’t fuck them to this very day. He said that white people can’t be blamed for slavery, as they have done more than anybody else to end slavery. He mocked the intelligence of Black athletes and villainized the ones who protested against police brutality. Twenty-five years ago, the great Molly Ivins noticed Limbaugh’s...

OCEAN ISLE BEACH, N.C. — A winter storm that left millions without power in record-breaking cold weather claimed more lives Tuesday, including three people found dead after a tornado hit a seaside town in North Carolina and four family members who perished in a Houston-area house fire while using a fireplace to stay warm. The storm that overwhelmed power grids and immobilized the Southern Plains carried heavy snow and freezing rain into New England and the Deep South and left behind painfully low temperatures. Wind-chill warnings extended from Canada into Mexico. In all, at least 20 deaths were reported. Other causes included car crashes and carbon monoxide poisoning. The weather also threatened to affect the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination effort. President Joe Biden’s administration said d

By Alan Fram, Steve Peoples and Brian Slodysko | Associated Press WASHINGTON — A top Democrat said the House will vote Thursday on removing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committees, intensifying the stakes over the Georgia Republican’s online embrace of conspiracy theories and violent racist views. The announcement by No. 2 House Democrat Steny Hoyer of Maryland came Wednesday as showdowns approached over Greene and Rep. Liz Cheney, who’ve antagonized opposing wings of a Republican Party struggling to define itself without Donald Trump in the White House. House Republicans, under bipartisan pressure to punish Greene, have been hoping to take action on their own — such as removing her from one committee — and avoid a difficult political vote for many in the GOP. But Hoyer released