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Man pleads to involuntary manslaughter in Bay Area student athlete’s death

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:40 GMT

On the day his Solano County Superior Court preliminary hearing was to begin, a 20-year-old Fairfield man on Wednesday pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter for the fatal Easter 2021 shooting of a Vanden High student athlete in Fairfield.Daniel Dejon Hughes, 17 (Courtesy photo/Katie Marshman) Seated at the defense table in Department 9, James Sterling Shawn Williams, listening closely to Judge Carlos R. Gutierrez’s questions, first heard the judge note that the maximum sentence he could impose was four years and eight months in state prison but it appeared likely the judge would impose three years eight months instead.The judge dismissed one count, but Williams, as the remaining charges were read, uttered “no contest” not only to the main charge but also to the illegal discharge of a firearm and possession of a semi-automatic handgun, factors that led to the April 4 shooting of Daniel Dejon Hughes, 17.With the no-contest pleas, Williams did not admit guilt but essentia...

2 men take deal in fatal stabbing of Santa Cruz high school student

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:40 GMT

SANTA CRUZ — Avoiding a murder trial set to begin later this month, codefendants in the 2009 fatal gang stabbing of a 16-year-old Santa Cruz High School junior instead agreed to plea deals this week.Paulo Luna and Ivan Tapia Ramirez, both 36, separately pleaded no contest to reduced charges in negotiated deals with the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office.The defendants were the last of five men charged 13 years ago with the gang-related murder of Tyler Tenorio. Luna, arrested after he was extradited from his native Mexico in August 2020, is slated to receive a six-year prison sentence minus credit for time served, according to court documents. Ramirez, arrested in February 2019 after a similar extradition from Mexico, is expected to face an 11-year prison sentence, a judge said Wednesday. The two are pending sentencing hearings scheduled for the coming months.Tyler Tenorio, 16-year-old Santa Cruz High student, was stabbed to death on Laurel Street on Oct. 16, 2009. (Family ...

Armored truck robbed at gunpoint outside Capitola bank

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:40 GMT

CAPITOLA — A security officer driving an armored vehicle was held at gunpoint outside of Bay Federal Credit Union’s Capitola branch on Clares Street Wednesday morning.According to a social media post from Bay Federal, the robbery occurred outside of the bank around 11:15 a.m.Capitola Police Capt. Sarah Ryan told the Sentinel that by the time officers arrived, the individual had taken “an undisclosed amount of money” and fled the scene. No one was injured.As of about 3:30 p.m. law enforcement was still looking for the suspect who, according to Ryan, “appears to be a male” based on video footage.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | 2 men take deal in fatal stabbing of Santa Cruz high school student Crime and Public Safety | Florida man arrested in alleged Berkeley, Palo Alto sexual assaults Crime and Public Safety | Elizabeth Holmes loses bid to delay imprisonment; judge recommends Texas prison camp known for spartan conditions Crim...

Sen. Alex Padilla visits Pajaro River with local, federal officials

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:40 GMT

Sen. Alex Padilla speaks on Wednesday during a press conference on McGowan Road in North Monterey County after touring the Pajaro River Levee. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)Sen. Alex Padilla, center, tours the Pajaro River Levee on Wednesday with Rep. Jimmy Panetta, far right, and other officials. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)Sen. Alex Padilla is flanked by Rep. Jimmy Panetta as he speaks at Wednesday’s press conference. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)Sen. Alex Padilla visits Pajaro on Wednesday. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)A podium adorned with the seal of the United States Senate is set up adjacent to a strawberry field on Wednesday prior to the arrival of Sen. Alex Padilla. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)Show Caption of ExpandPAJARO — Sen. Alex Padilla made a stop on the Pajaro River just outside Watsonville Wednesday to promote federal efforts to bring aid to the region following the floods that devastated t...

2 former California police officers charged with assault for shooting at unarmed man left paralyzed

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:40 GMT

Two former Whittier police detectives used unnecessary force when they shot at an unarmed, mentally ill man who was running away from them, with one of the shots severing his spinal cord and leaving him paralyzed from the waist down, said Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón from the Hall of Justice on Wednesday, April 12.Gascón said Cythnia Lopez and Salvador Murrillo, who no longer work for the Whittier Police Department, erred when they shot multiple times at Nicholas Carrillo after approaching his car in an alley south of Walnut Street, between Comstock and Greenleaf avenues near Uptown Whittier, mid-morning on April 30, 2020.Carrillo, of Whittier, was the driver of a Mitsubishi sedan the detectives saw pull into the alley at around 11:40 a.m. In his passenger seat was a woman accused of stealing a television from a Whittier Target weeks earlier. Lopez and Murrillo, who were investigating the TV robbery, recognized her and followed the vehicle.The detectives, who w...

How baseball’s new rules are changing the game, and how they aren’t

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:40 GMT

Around this time a year ago, complaints about the state of baseball were not limited to pedants, pundits, and old men yelling at clouds. The league-wide batting average by the end of April 2022 was .231. Mario Mendoza, the light-hitting infielder of the 1970s and 1980s whose name is synonymous with below-average hitting, batted .231 in 1981. To some, the game had changed beyond recognition.As it often does, batting average crept up as the season progressed. By the end of the season, it reached .243, still the lowest over a full season since 1968. Then as now, Major League Baseball decided it was time to change the rules.Batting average is about as helpful to diagnosing the balance between hitting and pitching as a digital thermometer is to diagnosing a sick patient: useful, but incomplete. It tells us a lot about the effectiveness of the new rules, but not everything.Here are a few early observations about what’s changed, and what hasn’t:1. Batters are being rewarded with more hits ...

Ukrainian athletes at California universities try to stay strong, positive while war rages

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:40 GMT

They’re homesick and sick with worry, stuck in a situation where the only recourse is to be a rock for their families, rock stars in their own orbits. To live well.To try to be happy.It’s an impossible mission, but Anastasiia Slivina, a rower at USC, and Yuliia Zhytelna, a tennis player at Cal State Northridge, they’re doing their best.Because the home they’re pining for is Kyiv, Ukraine’s cosmopolitan capital, with all the history and culture and nature running through it, where their families are hunkered down, afraid but “staying strong,” as Slivina put it, “and believing in our win.”Ukraine has been under siege since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, 2022, starting a bitter, bloody battle that’s become the largest land war in Europe since World War II.Zhytelna’s parents and three of her four siblings are there, in Kyiv. So is Slivina’s 19-year-old brother, who isn’t permitted to leave Ukraine, and mother – a doctor who has earned an award from the government there for her work over the...

Man dies in Long Beach after third stabbing on LA Metro since April 6

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:40 GMT

A man died after he was stabbed Wednesday afternoon on a Metro A Line, also known as the Blue Line, train in downtown Long Beach.The circumstances leading up to the stabbing were mostly unclear as of Wednesday night, LA metro spokesperson Patrick Chandler said. Long Beach Police officers responded to the scene before 4 p.m., according to a police blotter update, which also said the apparent perpetrator is believed to have fled on foot.The victim, who died of his wounds at a local hospital, was described only as a man in the update. No further information about him was immediately available.It was not immediately clear whether there was a weapon recovered from the scene or whether the stabbing was targeted.The stabbing, which happened shortly before 4 p.m., comes less than a week after two people were stabbed on separate Red Line trains elsewhere in Los Angeles County on Thursday, April 6.Related ArticlesCalifornia News | Antioch leaders express outrage, dismay over racist...

In reversal, Fairfax Co. schools no longer considering banning pajamas

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:40 GMT

Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia is no longer considering a change to its dress code that would have prohibited students from wearing pajamas or sleepwear to school.Virginia’s largest school system unveiled the proposed change to its Students Rights and Responsibilities handbook, which includes the dress code, last month. But in a statement, a county schools spokeswoman said the proposal is no longer included in the draft of the handbook.More Local NewsMore Virginia NewsMore Education NewsThe school system reviews possible updates to the comprehensive guide every year.“The development of the Students Rights and Responsibilities (SRR) and associated documents is an interactive process and is informed by feedback from multiple stakeholders, internal and external to the organization, as well as updates in response to legislative changes,” the spokeswoman said in a statement.Under the proposed change shared with the school community in March, clothing that wou...

1 killed in Northeast DC shooting inside a McDonald’s restaurant

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:40 GMT

A man is dead after a shooting inside a McDonald’s in Northeast D.C. Wednesday evening, D.C. police said.Officers were called to the 1600 Block of Benning Road NE in the Carver and Langston neighborhoods at around 6:15 p.m. and found a man unconscious and not breathing.Local TV outlet 7News reported that the man has died.The homicide branch is leading the investigation.Police asked the public to look out for a man wearing a white shirt and blue jeans. The suspect, armed with a handgun, was also seen with a black sweatshirt wrapped around his waist.Alert: Shooting Investigation in the 1600 block of Benning Rd NE. Lookout is for (1) black male, wearing a white shirt, bluejeans, with a black sweatshirt wrapped around his waist with twists in his hair, armed with a handgunHave info? Call (202) 727-9099/text 50411— DC Police Department (@DCPoliceDept) April 12, 2023Anyone with more information is asked to call police at 202-727-9099 or text 50411.Below is a map of where the shootin...