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Samuel Girard returns to the Avalanche after time in players’ assistance program

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:27 GMT

Samuel Girard has rejoined the Colorado Avalanche after spending nearly a month away from the team.Girard participated in the team’s morning skate Thursday ahead of a game against the Ottawa Senators. He entered the NHL/NHLPA Players Assistance Program last month, which the league announced Nov. 24.In a statement released the same day, Girard said he was seeking help for severe anxiety and depression.“I have made a proactive decision to take care of my mental health, and will be entering treatment for severe anxiety and depression that has gone untreated for too long and led to alcohol abuse,” Girard said in a statement released by his agency, CAA. “Taking care of your mental health is of the utmost importance, and I encourage everyone to speak up and seek help should you feel like you need it. I want to express my gratitude to my wife, family, friends, the club, my teammates and the fans for their patience, understanding and continued support.”Cale Makar, who has missed the p...

Storm brings flooding, early-morning tornado warning to Southern California

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:27 GMT

A slow-moving storm system dropped several inches of rain on parts of Ventura County, causing widespread flooding and even a tornado warning Thursday morning. Real-time Radar Images So much rain accumulated in areas of Oxnard, Port Hueneme and Ventura that first responders had trouble responding to reports of flooding at some homes and businesses. Video showed several feet of water left vehicles stuck at the intersection of West Channel Islands Boulevard and South J. Street Thursday morning.A flooded intersection in Oxnard is seen following heavy rain on Dec. 20, 2023. (@VVDREAA)Emergency crews respond to flooding in Port Hueneme on Dec. 21, 2023. (TNLA)Vehicles are seen in flood waters near the 101 Freeway in Santa Barbara on Dec. 21, 2023. (Caltrans District 5)The Oxnard Fire Department issued a message for drivers to stay off the streets if possible. "Please stay off the city streets for the next several hours until the water recedes. Standing water can cause vehicles to stall ...

Lightning closes Malibu beaches

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:27 GMT

If anyone was planning to go to the Malibu beaches amid the back-to-back storms that are dousing the Southland, those plans are fully foiled now.The city of Malibu announced that its beaches were closed as of mid-morning Thursday due to lightning strikes. Storm brings flooding, early-morning tornado warning to Oxnard "LA County Lifeguards are clearing the water & closing beaches in Malibu due to lightning strikes & thunderstorms based on National Weather Service advice," the city said in an alert. California Weather Radar Map The beaches are expected to reopen early Thursday afternoon, but in the meantime, "people outdoors near beaches should seek shelter," officials said.

Police seek driver in fatal South L.A. hit-and-run

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:27 GMT

The Los Angeles Police Department is looking for a driver who struck and killed a woman Tuesday evening in the Vermont Square area of South Los Angeles. A vehicle believed to be a small white sedan was headed south on Western Avenue near Vernon Avenue when it hit a woman walking across Western, police said in a news release. The vehicle fled the scene.The pedestrian, a 42-year-old Angeleno, was taken to a local hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries.Anyone with information about this collision is asked to contact Detective Gerald Chavarria at 213-924-362 or [email protected]. During non-business hours or on weekends, calls should be directed to 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (1-877-527-3247). Anyone wishing to remain anonymous should call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or go directly to lacrimestoppers.org.

Dan Aykroyd: Cracking The Creativity Code

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:27 GMT

It was in the gonzo era of the ‘70s that we first came to know a skinny young comedian from Canada by the name of Dan Aykroyd. It was the golden age of standup comedy when nothing was taboo. Everybody and everything was fair game. If we weren’t at an underground comedy club watching Robin Williams go off the rails, we were getting high around the record player, listening to Steve Martin Get Small on vinyl.The Second City improvisation comedy troupe brought its talents from both its original Chicago and its Toronto companies together with L.A.’s The Groundlings in 1975 and provided many of the performers who made up the Saturday Night Live ensemble. It included Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Laraine Newman, Garrett Morris and other Not Ready for Primetime Players that have since passed on to the great Friar’s Club in the sky, like Gilda Radner and John Belushi. The show, whose first host was standup royalty George Carlin, forever changed the landscape of comedy and late-night tele...

Scott Tenzer, Natalie Stafford, and Cristian Aranda Jr. Killed in 2-Car Accident on Pacific Coast Highway [Oxnard, CA]

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:27 GMT

Three Pronounced Dead after Two-Vehicle Collision near Naumann RoadOXNARD, CA (December 21, 2023) – Natalie Stafford, Scott Tenzer, and Cristian Aranda Jr. died Tuesday night in a two-car crash on southbound Pacific Coast Highway.At approximately 11:10 p.m., law enforcement arrived at the location along the southbound lanes of the freeway near Naumann Road.According to reports, the operator of a northbound Volkswagen Golf deviated into the southbound lanes, colliding with a Nissan Sentra. A southbound Scion Fr-S then collided with the disabled Volkswagen Golf.During the incident, the Scion also struck 21-year-old Aranda Jr. from Port Hueneme, who was attempting to aid those in distress. The pedestrian succumbed to their injuries at the scene. The Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office later identified the deceased driver as 44-year-old Scott Tenzer of Malibu.Furthermore, Tenzer’s passenger, 48-year-old Natalie Stafford, also succumbed to her injuries at the hospital. Upon th...

The Iron Claw: An American Tragedy on the Lighted Stage

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:27 GMT

A24’s The Iron Claw is not your typical sports movie. You won’t be rooting for the hero to score a championship belt, pin a villain to the mat, or sprint through his hometown while the town cheers him on. Thank God. Instead, writer/director Sean Durkin unspools the true story of the Von Erich brothers and their rise to wrestling fame with a mounting anxiety that’s downright Kubrickian. At first glance, this movie might look like a straightforward biography, but it’s so much more. Thanks to Durkin’s uncanny filmmaking, the story takes on several gradations, working as both an intimate portrait of a family in crisis and a searing indictment on good ol’ American ambition.Named after the Von Erich brothers’ signature move, The Iron Claw opens on the sweaty, bulging  visage of Fritz Von Erich (Holt McCallany), the family patriarch, as he struggles to break free from an opponent. It’s a haunting glimpse into the boiling rage that’ll eventually ravage his family like a virus. It’s the earl...

The link between a California military base and Chuck Berry’s ‘Run Rudolph Run’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:27 GMT

In 1958, Chuck Berry came out with a Christmas song called “Run Rudolph Run,” which has become a perennial favorite and has been played all over the radio every December since.But the song’s connection to March Air Force Base near Riverside has not been realized before now.In the fourth verse of the song, it says, as many of you will remember:“Said Santa to a girl child, ‘What would please you most to get?’‘A little baby doll that can cry, sleep, drink and wet.’And then away went Rudolph, whizzin’ like a Saber jet.”It just so happens, on March 11, 1949, the Riverside Daily Press reported that the newest jet in the United States air fleet was officially named the “Sabre” by the 94th Fighter Squadron, 1st Fighter group, at March Air Force Base. The North American Aviation F-86 jet fighter received the name after a vote by the men in this fighter group. (Note, the spelling of the actual jet name was slightly different from the one in the song lyrics.)The Sabre name was one of 79 ideas ...

UN: More than 25% of people in Gaza starving because of war

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:27 GMT

By Najib Jobain, Jack Jeffery and Colleen Barry | Associated PressRAFAH, Gaza Strip — More than half a million people in Gaza — a quarter of the population — are starving, according to a report Thursday by the U.N. and other agencies that highlights the humanitarian crisis caused by Israel’s bombardment and siege on the territory in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.The extent of the population’s hunger eclipsed even the near-famines in Afghanistan and Yemen of recent years, according to figures in the report. The report warned that the risk of famine is “increasing each day,” blaming the hunger on insufficient aid entering Gaza.“It doesn’t get any worse,” said Arif Husain, chief economist for the U.N.’s World Food Program. “I have never seen something at the scale that is happening in Gaza. And at this speed.”Israel says it is in the final stages of clearing out Hamas militants from northern Gaza, but that months of f...

Can police avoid hurting individuals with autism? Florida cops learn how

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:27 GMT

Donna Lorman wanted her son’s green pop tube, so she tried to take it from him. Drew Lorman, a 31-year-old man with autism, protected it, pushing his mother back harder with each attempt to yank the toy out his hands.“No,” he said during one try. “Move away,” he said in another.Drew Lorman easily could have thrown his mother to the ground, or worse, had it not been for years of behavioral analysis Donna Lorman said brought him down from 96 aggressive episodes an hour to two or fewer in a month. But he could potentially face lethal force if a police officer tried to detain him without knowing that Drew, who stands over six feet tall and weighs more than 300 pounds, has the cognitive age of a 7-year-old.That’s the kind of situation Donna Lorman, president of the Autistic Society of Greater Orlando and Osceola, said she hopes to prevent for her son and others with autism as she spoke before law enforcement officers from across the Central Florida region on Tuesday at the Kissimmee Civi...