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Avalanche Journal: Nathan MacKinnon vs. Mikko Rantanen. Who will finish higher in Hart Trophy MVP voting?

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:50:00 GMT

Leave it to the NBA talking heads to bicker about end-of-year awards. The NHL might have the most boring MVP race of this century.When a consensus generational player already armed with two Hart Trophies blows his own past seasons out of the water, the ballots might as well be set to default.Connor McDavid’s numbers have ascended into Gretzkian territory: 152 points, including 64 goals. The Oilers center is undeniable. But which Colorado Avalanche star will appear on more ballots: Nathan MacKinnon or Mikko Rantanen?That’s a brain teaser with a solution nowhere near as clear as the one between Edmonton teammates McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Even Avalanche coach Jared Bednar was stumped when asked how he distinguishes between the two.“I’ve been asked this question a couple times already, and I can’t,” he said. “Because I’d have to go back down to give you the proper answer, and go, ‘OK, this game, he meant this.’ Kind of go th...

Taylor Farms reopens foodservice facility in Monterey County after destructive 2022 fire

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:50:00 GMT

SALINAS – After a massive fire destroyed its Abbott Street facility in Salinas a year ago, Taylor Farms has announced it is ready to reopen its flagship location as a new state-of-the-art facility.The Salinas-based company is a leading producer of salads and fresh foods in North America and will have its rebuilt foodservice facility running at full operation by the end of April the company announced.“Thank you to every helping hand that made this rebuild process possible: thank you to our Taylor Farms team for their teamwork and flexibility during this time, the tremendous community and many city officials whose support we received, and the hardworking construction teams and engineers that worked tirelessly on this project,” said Bruce Taylor, chairman and CEO of Taylor Farms in a press release. “We are thrilled to be back in this facility and once again serve our customers from our flagship location.”A four-alarm fire broke out at the Taylor Farms facility at 1225 Abbott St. on the...

Kristof: How United States can avoid a war with China

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:50:00 GMT

In the summer of 1914, few wanted war or thought a major war was possible. My grandparents were married that spring in Lviv, Austria-Hungary, and I look at their giddy wedding photos and realize they had no clue that a cataclysm would soon erase their country, shatter their lives and eventually send a branch of the family fleeing to the New World.This year I sometimes worry that we’re again too complacent about the risks of conflict ahead. And perhaps the worst geopolitical risk over the next decade or two is a war with China. While neither side wants war, each now accepts that conflict may be looming and is preparing accordingly — driving suspicions on the other side and fueling an arms race.It’s time for both sides to take a deep breath and step back from rhetoric and symbolic jabs that rally nationalists at home but that also increase the risks of a global catastrophe. A reminder of the risks came on Monday when China responded to the warm welcome given in the United States to Ta...

Longtime Monterey County coach charged with alleged sexual assault of a minor

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:50:00 GMT

SALINAS – Local baseball and softball coach Richard Douglas Aldrete is facing charges of allegedly sexually assaulting a minor when he was her coach, according to the Salinas Police Department.In October 2022, Salinas Police received a report from a now 21-year-old adult, accusing Aldrete, 58, of engaging in sexual contact with her when she was a minor, Salinas Police Cmdr. John Murray wrote in an emailed statement.A Salinas Police investigation alleged that Aldrete began assaulting the victim when she was under 18. Police said Aldrete was coaching the victim at the time.Aldrete appears to be the same man who coached CSU Monterey Bay’s baseball team from 2006-2010 and had been a star player at Monterey High, although the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office, Salinas Police and CSU Monterey Bay were unable to confirm.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Florida man charged with six felonies in alleged Palo Alto sexual assault Crime and Public Safety | ...

Where to shop in the Bay Area for your fishing gear

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:50:00 GMT

Ok, it’s time to go fishing!Sadly, we can’t pursue our favorite king salmon this year. The fishery remains closed due to low counts of returning salmon to California’s river systems.Rockfish season opens on May 1 with no depth restrictions until October.  We should have fantastic rockfishing while targeting deep reefs that have lain unmolested for many years.Big halibut are already starting to bite on the flat sandy areas in 50-70 feet of water around the bay.Surfcasting for perch remains a little slow, but will heat up as the ocean temperatures rise.Also very exciting after this tumultuous winter of wind, rain and giant swells, we are seeing big schools of roving striped bass feeding up and down the shore of Monterey Bay due to the Pajaro and Salinas rivers getting a good flush after previous years of drought. The best striper bite so far has remained south of Moss Landing, but there have been a few pulses of stripers on the beaches near Capitola and Santa Cruz just this week.Boat ...

Review: ‘Mafia Mamma’ is bloody, tired and cliché-laden

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:50:00 GMT

By Jocelyn Noveck | Associated PressAt first, when suburban mom Kristin gets the mysterious call to head to Italy to settle the affairs of a dead relative, she protests she’s too busy. Then she realizes there’s not much keeping her: Her son is off to college, her job is dead-end, and her husband? He’s cheating with the school guidance counselor.So why not treat herself to a me-focused trip, a la Julia Roberts? Maybe an “Eat, Pray, Love” trip, muses Kristin (Toni Collette), to which her friend (Sophie Nomvete) replies that what she really needs, bluntly, is to “Eat, Pray, $%&$.”Soon that’s the slogan for her trip. It also would a great alternative title for “Mafia Mamma,” if they could get away with it. And really, they try to get away with most everything else.That includes some cringe-worthy slapstick, some Tarantino-level violence, and also every Italian stereotype you can imagine (Grape-stomping? Check. Gelato, gnocc...

‘The Great Mud Out’: Monterey County navigating through Pajaro cleanup

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:50:00 GMT

PAJARO — Following the April 3 approval of a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration for Monterey County, many services have been in place to assist with the Pajaro flood relief efforts. These were highlighted in a virtual news briefing hosted by the county Wednesday.One item unlocked by the declaration was funding by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Tiana Suber, FEMA media relations specialist, said nearly 300 people have visited the disaster recovery centers in Watsonville and Felton since they opened.“Most are coming to see what they are eligible for, and most are renters as well,” she said. “We offer rental assistance, but we offer temporary housing if they need some place to stay, if they’ve been displaced from their house.”Suber said displaced residents staying in hotels can be eligible for reimbursements for their stays.So far, Suber said FEMA has received 2,500 registrations related to the disaster. The agency has also deployed Disaster Survivor Assistance teams.“The...

Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Office IDs victim in 24-year-old cold case

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:50:00 GMT

BOULDER CREEK — Known merely as “John Doe” and “Huck” for the past 24 years, a man found dead in the Santa Cruz Mountains more than 24 years ago has been identified.Eric Cupo. (Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office — Contributed) The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office’s forensics services team, utilizing forensic genetic genealogy techniques, paired with the California Department of Justice Jan Bashinski DNA Lab, Othram Inc., the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Latent Print Unit to reveal the man’s identity as Eric P. Cupo, authorities announced in a social media post this week.Cupo was just 22 years old when his body was dumped down a steep Bear Creek Road embankment about 8 miles north of downtown Boulder Creek. His body, wrapped in a tarp, was discovered by sightseers parked at a summit turnout at least a month later, on Dec. 27, 1998. In addition to issues with decomposition, Cupo’s skull had been shattered into dozens o...

Hundreds Turn Out to Denounce Texas Republicans’ “Vigilante Death Squads Policy”

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:50:00 GMT

Hundreds of Texans converged on the capital this week to oppose a new state-led security force that would enlist civilians to track and capture undocumented people.In a hearing that stretched into the wee hours of the morning Wednesday, the Texas House of Representatives heard testimony from first-generation college students, undocumented activists, parents, and children about the inherent dangers of House Bill 20. The author of the controversial proposal, Republican Rep. Matt Schaefer, meanwhile, was grilled by his Democratic counterparts over his bill’s logical and constitutional implications.In his most extensive public defense of his bill to date, Schaefer, the founder and chair of the arch-conservative Texas Freedom Caucus, collapsed the issues of fentanyl overdoses and migration, ignoring facts and evidence to argue that migrants are responsible for a wave of death and suffering that exceeds the worst episodes of national trauma in modern American history. Pointing to national...

Michigan State wraps up drills, hoping to spring forward

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:50:00 GMT

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan State coach Mel Tucker hopes he doesn’t have this long of an offseason ever again.The Spartans fell short of being eligible for a bowl last year — a season after winning 11 games — in a fall marred by a melee in Michigan Stadium’s tunnel and being humbled. “Sometimes you have to get beat up and get your face kicked in before you can really lay the true foundation — and that’s happened,” Tucker said. “I know our guys are going to compete and fight. We have a chip on our shoulder and we know the areas we need to improve.“We addressed a lot in recruiting. We have a lot to prove. Going through a season like that can build character.”Tucker will wrap up spring practice Saturday afternoon at Spartan Stadium, where fans will watch a 15-period practice that will include first-string offensive players scrimmaging against the team’s top defense.Entering his fourth year of leading the program, the 2021 Big Ten Coach of the Year ...