By falling below 7.0, high school football and water polo teams in the county won’t be required to do coronavirus testing before competitions.,Ventura County’s adjusted rate last week was 9.1.,There was a collective sigh of relief from high school football and water polo coaches last week when Los Angeles County’s adjusted rate dropped below 7.0 for the first time since the California Department of Public Health established that as a guideline for youth sports.,It happened last week when Mission Viejo had a positive test in its program and had to cancel its game against La Habra.,If a county goes up and above a rate of 7.0, the testing requirement is immediately restored for football and water polo teams.

The county of 10 million people was one of several that moved into the state’s orange tier, which is the second-least restrictive of California’s four-tier system.,The International Olympic Committee and International Paralympic Committee said they fully respect and accept the move

Placer County is one of 13 California counties that have moved Sunday to the red tier of California’s COVID-19 reopening framework, loosening some restrictions.,The counties became eligible to move from the purple tier (“widespread”) to the red tier (“substantial” spread) after the state hit its goal Friday of delivering 2 million COVID-19 doses to communities hit hardest by the pandemic, triggering new thresholds.,Butte County has qualified to move from the most stringent purple tier to the less-restrictive red tier of the state’s COVID-19 reopening plan.,For a county to move down to the red tier, there should be a case rate of 4-7 per 100,000 residents with a 5-8% test positivity rate. read more

ESSEX, CT — Shortly after The Black Seal Restuarant in downtown Essex re-opened and Deep River Roasters Coffee opened in Centerbrook for the first time, both businesses announced, via Facebook posts, Tuesday, March 16, that their doors are closed for now, due to possible Covid-19 exposure.,Deep River Roasters wrote to friends and customers that, "...due to a positive case of Covid-19 in our school community, members of our family have been quarantined.",They will reopen once everyone in the family gets negative Covid-19 tests back.,The Black Seal, following the CDC guidelines, is also taking health and safety precautions and posted that the restaurant will be closed March 16, through March 18, "to conduct a deep clean.",This is the same day that Governor Ned Lamont will roll back Covid-19 restrictions, including allowing restaurants to operate at full capacity, lessening rules on entertainment and sports venues and lifting the travel ban.

On the second team is Meskwaki senior Taurice Grant, who is on an all-state team for a second-consecutive year after receiving third-team honors in 2019-20.,Grant is the first Meskwaki player to make an all-state basketball team in school history, and he became the fifth-leading scorer in Meskwaki history by reaching 1,000 points in his senior season.,Grant was named to the All-Substate first team in Class 1A Substate 5 by the other coaches in the group.,On a Waukee team that won its first state title this year and featured three other Division I recruits, DeVries led in scoring with 18.5 points per game while also averaging 6.6 rebounds and 5.6 assists.,Blaise Porter, so., New London; Maddox Griffin, jr., Wapello; Carson Michels, sr., Marquette Catholic; Cole Watts, sr., Montezuma; Keaten Bonderson, so., Le Mars Gehlen; Manny Hammonds, jr., Grand View Christian; Tate Haughenbury, so., North Linn; Taurice Grant, sr., Meskwaki.

Here’s a look at the legal road ahead for Trump —-

Atlanta prosecutors opened a criminal investigation into whether Trump attempted to overturn his election loss in Georgia, including a Jan. 2 phone call in which he urged the state’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to reverse Biden’s narrow victory.,Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., a Democrat, is in the midst of an 18-month criminal investigation focusing in part on hush-money payments paid to women on Trump’s behalf, and whether Trump or his businesses manipulated the value of assets — inflating them in some cases and minimizing them in others — to gain favorable loan terms and tax benefits.,Last month, Vance’s office sent subpoenas to local governments in the New York City suburbs seeking information about a sprawling Westchester estate Trump owns there, and 158 acres of land he donated to conservation land trust in 2016 to qualify for an income tax deduction.,New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil investigation focuses on some of the same issues as Vance’s criminal probe, including possible property value manipulation and tax write-offs Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, claimed on millions of dollars in consulting fees it paid, including money that went to Trump’s daughter Ivanka.,Lawyers for Summer Zervos, a restaurateur who worked with Trump as a contestant on “The Apprentice,” asked New York’s high court last week to dismiss as moot Trump’s appeal that argued a sitting president can’t be sued in a state court. read more

If the Ducks wished to cut out all their mistakes with the puck in their half of the rink, if they wanted to play without any giveaways of any kind, they could simply skate to the red line and shoot it into the other team’s end of the ice and adopt a defensive posture.,“We’ll never score a goal,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said Tuesday, one day after turnovers proved costly in their 3-2 loss to the Sharks in San Jose.,Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf skated on that fine line in the second period Monday.,But on this night, against this opponent, the puck ended up in the back of the Ducks’ net, and the risk outweighed the reward.,COVID-19 RESCHEDULING

The Ducks’ game March 16 against the Arizona Coyotes at Honda Center has been rescheduled for March 20; their game March 27 against the Blues in St. Louis has been moved to March 28; and their March 31 game against the Colorado Avalanche in Denver has been shifted to March 16. read more

The OC Health Care Agency reported 658 new cases of the coronavirus on Tuesday, Feb. 16, increasing the cumulative total in the county to 243,163  cases since tracking began.,The data on deaths in the county is compiled from death certificates or gathered through the course of case investigations and can take weeks to process.,An estimated 8,455 cases of the virus have been recorded in Orange County in the last 14 days.,The county’s breakdown of deaths by age is as follows:

85 and older: 32.96% (1,193, up 14) read more

(U.S. District Court, FBI arrest affidavit)

A man identified as Christian Secor is seen in the U.S. Capitol during the protest and unrest on Jan. 6.,(U.S. District Court, FBI arrest affidavit) read more

UCLA coach Mick Cronin explained the rigorous challenges his team is facing this unprecedented college basketball season.,“The only time (the team) is together is on the bus, that’s when they’re enjoying being a college basketball player,” Cronin said Tuesday.,Center Jalen Hill, who’s been away from the team for weeks, will not be with UCLA (14-5, 10-3) against Arizona, as well as versus Arizona State on Saturday.,More challenges for players include: no off-court team activity, no in-person meetings with academic counselors or tutors, no social life on campus, and no hanging out with Cronin, either.,Following Thursday’s matchup with Arizona, UCLA will have just four games left before the Pac-12 tournament begins March 10.

The end-of-day totals from California public health websites for Tuesday, Feb. 16, registered 8,855 people needing hospital care, a 61.3% drop since the Jan. 1 high of 22,853.,Reports for Tuesday, indicated a 75.9% drop in the 14-day total of 10,208 new cases from a Jan. 1 high of 42,268.,And the 14-day average of 401.9 new deaths represents a 26% decline since its Feb. 1 high of 543.1.,California communities reported 11,236 new cases of the coronavirus on Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases to 3,478,579.,There were 388 new deaths reported Tuesday, for a total of 47,507 people in California who have died from the virus.