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The end of Pac-12 football: Our Q&A with Alabama AD Greg Byrne, who grew up in the conference and witnessed the beginning of the end

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:55:43 GMT

As the final Pac-12 championship game drew close, the Hotline sought context from a voice unlike any others — from someone who not only watched the conference collapse but felt the collapse, from an outsider who’s also an insider, who has the Pac-12 in his DNA but recoiled at the internal rot.We sought context from Greg Byrne.At first, Alabama’s athletic director was hesitant to share his thoughts on the life and death of the Pac-12.After all, Byrne left the conference seven years ago and wasn’t privy to the inner-workings during the existential crisis that began with the departures of USC and UCLA on June 30, 2022, and ended on Aug. 4, 2023, when five more schools left.Eventually, he agreed to answer questions via email.Byrne’s perspective on the topic is unique within college athletics.He attended Sheldon High School in Eugene while his father, Bill, served as Oregon’s athletic director. He went to Oregon and graduated from Arizona State. He worked in the Oregon and Oregon S...

Nearly two dozen Bank of America branches closing across Bay Area

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:55:43 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- Bank of America is closing, or has already closed, nearly two dozen branches across the Bay Area, KRON4 has confirmed. Locations set to close include the San Francisco locations at 1 Market Street, 1275 Fell Street, and 800 Irving Street.Other SF locations at 501 Brannan Street and 3250 Mission Street have already closed. BofA branches in Hayward, Los Altos, Pinole and St. Helena, among others, have also already closed. SJ man who kidnapped his carjacking victim arrested, police say "Financial center closures are driven by changing banking behaviors and where we have multiple financial centers close together," a BofA spokesperson told KRON4. "These closures represent a small percentage of our retail presence in the region, and does not account for new financial centers we have opened or renovated."The spokesperson went on to say that Bank of America remains committed to the Bay Area and cited the bank's 120-year history in the region.Bay Area Bank of Americ...

Ryan Gosling to present award to 'Barbie' director Greta Gerwig at SFFilm Awards Night

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:55:43 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- "Barbie" director Greta Gerwig will be honored at the SFFilm Awards Night with an award presented by one of the film's stars, Ryan Gosling. Gerwig, an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker, will receive the Irving M. Levin Award for Film Direction at the Dec. 4 event which will be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.The award will be presented by Gosling, an Academy Award-nominated actor, who in addition to starring in "Barbie," has appeared in "La La Land," "Drive," and "Lars and the Real Girl." Nearly two dozen Bank of America branches closing across Bay Area Academy Award-winning actor Nicolas Cage will also be on-hand to receive the Maria Manetti Shrem Lifetime Achievement Award for Acting. Cage, a prolific actor who has starred in films that include "Valley Girl," Raising Arizona," "The Rock" and "Wild at Heart," will receive the award previously bestowed on "Barbie" star Margot Robbie.“SFFILM has been part of San Francisco’s cultural landscape for...

Nearly 100K gallons of sewage spills in SoCal, closes beach

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:55:43 GMT

(KTLA) -- A stretch of the Orange County coast has been closed due after tens of thousands of gallons of sewage was spilled in Laguna Beach.The Orange County Health Care Agency closed the coastal area from Laguna Avenue to Blue Lagoon in Laguna Beach, officials announced Wednesday morning."The spill volume is an estimated total of 94,500 gallons, and was caused by a break in a force main sewer line in Laguna Beach," the agency said in a news release.The water is closed to swimming and water-contact sports until water monitoring meets "acceptable standards," officials said.For information regarding Orange County ocean, bay or harbor postings and closures, call 714-433-6400 or visit OCBeachInfo.com. To report a sewage spill, call 714-433-6419.

LSU’s Angel Reese is back with the No. 7 Tigers after 4-game absence

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:55:43 GMT

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — LSU star forward Angel Reese, who has missed four games for undisclosed reasons, is rejoining the No. 7 Tigers in advance of their match-up with ninth-ranked Virginia Tech on Thursday night.Reese had foreshadowed her return when she posted on social media a photo of herself inside LSU’s basketball stadium, the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.LSU coach Kim Milkey has declined to go into detail about why Reese was not with the team for much of the past two weeks beyond saying it stemmed from unspecified “locker-room issues.”Milkey said Wednesday that Reese will play but wouldn’t say whether she would be starting or coming off the bench.Reese, who is one of the most popular and commercially successful players in her sport, missed games at Southeastern Louisiana and against Texas Southern in Baton Rouge before also not accompanying the team to the Cayman Islands for a holiday tournament. LSU defeated Niagara and Virginia in the Cayman Islands Classic last wee...

Feminist website Jezebel will be relaunched by Paste Magazine less than a month after shutting down

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:55:43 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The irreverent feminist website Jezebel is making a comeback less than a month after it was shut down.Paste Magazine, a digital pop culture publication based in Atlanta, announced Wednesday that it was buying Jezebel.com from G/O Media, which closed it and laid off its staff earlier this month.In an announcement on its website, Paste said it “moved quickly to try and save” Jezebel after learning of its closure, calling the site “a beloved platform with a strong focus on women’s issues, pop culture and social commentary.” The acquisition was first reported by the New York Times, which said it was an all-cash deal, though no figures were disclosed. Paste Founder and Editor-in-Chief Josh Jackson said Jezebel’s “acquisition means that the critical information and content that Jezebel readers have come to rely on will live on.”“Our mission has always been to provide insightful, thought-provoking content that resonates with a diverse audience. Jezebel’s unique voice ...

Toppled White House Christmas tree is secured upright, and lighting show will happen as scheduled

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:55:43 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Christmas Tree in front of the White House fell down during high winds but later was hoisted back upright, and its lighting ceremony will go ahead as scheduled.The tree, a 40-food-tall (12-meter-tall) Norway spruce from West Virginia’s Monongahela National Forest, had been planted just two weeks ago on the White House Ellipse, an area known as President’s Park. According to the National Park Service, it fell over around 1 p.m. Tuesday during heavy wind gusts that reached as high at 46 mph (74 km/h) at nearby Reagan National Airport.NPS spokeswoman Jasmine Shanti said in an email that after “replacing a snapped cable,” the tree was back upright by 6 p.m. Tuesday. The lighting of the tree is an annual White House holiday tradition with a countdown and musical performances. This year’s tree is a new one, replacing an older tree that, according to the NPS, developed a fungal disease known as needle cast, which caused its needles to turn b...

LSU star forward Angel Reese is rejoining the No. 7 Tigers in advance of their match-up with ninth-ranked Virginia Tech

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:55:43 GMT

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — LSU star forward Angel Reese is rejoining the No. 7 Tigers in advance of their match-up with ninth-ranked Virginia Tech.Source

Poland’s new parliament brings back state financing for in vitro fertilization

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:55:43 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s new parliament on Wednesday reinstated government funding for in vitro fertilization, previously banned by the conservative party which lost control of the legislature in the country’s recent general election.The parliament, which began its term this month, has made a point of reversing the ban in one of its first moves as it sets on changing various controversial or restrictive laws introduced by the conservative government. Following a heated debate, lawmakers voted 268-118, with 50 abstentions, to guarantee state funding for IVF procedures, estimated at some 500 million zlotys ($125 million) a year.An aide to President Andrzej Duda, who is an ally of the conservative government, suggested last week that Duda may not use his power of veto against the new law. However, Marcin Mastelerek stressed that the final decision was with the president. State funding of IVF was introduced in 2013 by a liberal government led by Donald Tusk, but the conserva...

IOC lines up French Alps to host 2030 Winter Olympics and Salt Lake City for 2034 edition

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:55:43 GMT

Salt Lake City being preferred as a shoo-in to host the 2034 Winter Olympics was expected. The surprise was the IOC favoring the French Alps bid for the 2030 edition on Wednesday.Aiming to finalize back-to-back Winter Games hosts next year, the International Olympic Committee executive board has decided to enter exclusive talks with Olympic officials in France and the United States for Salt Lake City.Salt Lake was alone in the 2034 race to bring the games back to Utah, which hosted the 2002 Winter Games, and the American bid’s support from all levels of government up to President Joe Biden was praised Wednesday.“He would guarantee all the expenses,” said IOC member Karl Stoss, who chaired the Olympics panel assessing potential candidates, adding “and they stand really in a strong, strong status behind these games.”A French bid uniting the snowy Alps region and the French Riviera resort Nice came together only in the past few months to compete with Sweden and Switze...