NASHVILLE — Country music star Morgan Wallen on Thursday pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment for throwing a chair from the rooftop of a six-story bar in Nashville and nearly hitting two police officers with it. Wallen, who appeared in court alongside his attorney, was sentenced to...
County Leaders OK Stop-Gap Agreements for Merced, Livingston Fire Service
The Merced County Board of Supervisors has approved cost-sharing agreements to continue fire services in Merced and Livingston. The agreements are necessary since Measure R, the countywide sales tax ballot measure for public safety, failed and because the county was not awarded federal grant money for firefighter positions. Back in...
UC Merced, Born Because of Politics, Is CA’s Expensive Stepchild 20 Years Later
The Legislature's budget analyst, Gabe Petek, is marking the 20th anniversary of University of California's Merced campus with an overview of how it has fared. In polite language, Petek fundamentally says the campus has fallen well short of its enrollment targets, requires much more state aid than other UC branches...
Friant Agrees to Hold Water Board Retreats in Valley, Not Distant Swanky Resorts
The Friant Water Authority and three irrigation districts in southern Tulare County hammered out an agreement last week that will force Friant to hold future board retreats in its service area — the San Joaquin Valley — instead of the rolling hills of Paso Robles wine country. The development is...
Willy Adames Plans to Play Every Day for Giants and Bring Them Championships
SAN FRANCISCO — Willy Adames wasted little time making one thing clear: He wants to play all 162 games for the San Francisco Giants. So when introduced as their new shortstop Thursday, Adames looked to his left and gently put a hand on manager Bob Melvin's right shoulder, smiled and...
49ers LB De’Vondre Campbell Refuses to Play Against Rams
SANTA CLARA — San Francisco linebacker De'Vondre Campbell refused to enter Thursday night's game in the third quarter after losing his starting job when Dre Greenlaw returned from an injury. Campbell had started 12 of the first 13 games of the season and played 90% of defensive snaps for the...
UNLV Hires Former Florida Coach Dan Mullen as Its New Football Coach
LAS VEGAS — UNLV is reaching into the Southeastern Conference to keep momentum going for its 24th-ranked football team, hiring former Florida and Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen on Thursday. He will be introduced in a news conference Friday morning. UNLV athletic director Erick Harper, in a news release, called...
Teenage Prodigy Gukesh Dommaraju Becomes Youngest Chess World Champion
NEW DELHI — Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju became the youngest chess world champion Thursday after beating the defending champion Ding Liren of China in the final match of their series in Singapore. Dommaraju, 18, secured 7.5 points against 6.5 of his Chinese rival in the contest, surpassing the achievement of...
Nancy Pelosi Hospitalized After She ‘Sustained an Injury’ on Official Trip to Luxembourg
WASHINGTON — Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been hospitalized after she “sustained an injury” during an official engagement in Luxembourg, according to a spokesman. Pelosi, 84, was in Europe to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. Her spokesman, Ian Krager, said...
The Syrian Upheaval Has Iranian Leaders Reeling, Too
In the days since the abrupt and unexpected obliteration of Iran as a dominant presence in Syria, the government has faced a fierce public backlash over the billions of dollars spent and the Iranian blood shed to back the Assad regime. The criticism has come from unexpected corners, including conservatives,...