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Tag: stretch

  • Lynx, striving to clinch top playoff seed, visit improving Sun

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    (Photo credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images)

    As they close in on clinching the top seed in the WNBA postseason, the Minnesota Lynx are slumping for the first time this season and doing so even with the return of Napheesa Collier from an ankle injury.

    The Lynx attempt to avoid consecutive losses for the second time this season as Collier plays her third game since returning Saturday night in a visit to the Connecticut Sun in Uncasville, Conn.

    The Lynx won six straight and 10 of 11 earlier this summer, a stretch that featured three wins over the New York Liberty. Starting with an 85-75 loss at New York on Aug. 19, Minnesota (30-8) is 2-3 in its past five games.

    Collier returned from missing seven games in Sunday’s 97-84 win over the Indiana Fever and scored 32 points. On Thursday, Collier shot 7-of-23 from the field and was held to 18 in a 93-79 home loss to the Seattle Storm, when the Lynx blew a 21-point lead by getting outscored 60-33 in the second half.

    ‘Play some defense, man,’ coach Cheryl Reeve said after Minnesota allowed 11 3s in the second half and a season-worst 16 overall. ‘Act like that, and (it) matters. We have not done that in a long time. And that was the focus. You play one quarter of defense, and that’s it.’

    The Lynx shot 44.1 percent Thursday as they took their largest margin of defeat this season, and it marked the fourth time in six games they shot 45 percent or lower.

    Connecticut (10-28) will finish with a losing record in a full season for the first time since 2016 but is playing better of late. The Sun dropped 10 straight June 8-July 6 and five straight Aug. 3-11 but since the second skid, they are 5-2 with the two losses coming by a combined eight points.

    The Sun are returning home after earning a 101-95 win over the Dallas Wings on Wednesday. Rookie Leila Lacan led the Sun in scoring for the third time in this improved stretch by scoring a career-high 22 points for the second straight game.

    Lacan started for the 10th in 11 games Thursday and reached double figures for the ninth time this year.

    ‘It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,’ veteran Tina Charles said of Connecticut’s recent improvement. ‘I think we’re definitely defining that. Everybody’s coming together.’

    –Field Level Media

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  • What caused speeding BMW to crash, killing 4 Pepperdine students? Dueling claims amid murder charges

    What caused speeding BMW to crash, killing 4 Pepperdine students? Dueling claims amid murder charges

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    More details are emerging — as well as disputes about the circumstances — in the crash on Pacific Coast Highway that killed four Pepperdine University students last week.

    Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir and Deslyn Williams were sisters in the Alpha Phi sorority and seniors at the university. Authorities say they were standing near several parked vehicles in the 21600 block of PCH in Malibu when a BMW barreled into the cars and then struck the women shortly before 9 p.m. Oct. 17.

    Here is a review of what we know from Times reporting:

    Flowers are placed near the site where the four Pepperdine students were killed.

    (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

    What do authorities say happened?

    Los Angeles County prosecutors allege the driver, Fraser Michael Bohm, 22, was speeding at 104 mph. The stretch of road has a speed limit of 45 mph.

    Investigators have determined that Bohm was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash, but the onboard computer of his car shows he was traveling in excess of 100 mph before he lost control, law enforcement sources not authorized to publicly discuss the case told The Times.

    It was that data, along with statements by Bohm that he was familiar with the stretch of PCH and that he was aware of the posted 45-mph speed limit, that led to murder charges against him, sources say.

    Bohm faces four counts of malice murder and four counts of gross vehicular manslaughter, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón said during a Wednesday news conference, adding that the charges stem from Bohm’s “complete disregard for the life of others.”

    “When you are driving at 104 mph in [a] 45-mph [zone], the only conclusion is you have a complete disregard for life,” Gascón said Wednesday in announcing the charges.

    What does Bohm’s attorney say?

    But Bohm’s attorney, Michael Kraut, says his client was not traveling that fast. He also has forwarded a claim to prosecutors alleging that another vehicle was involved in the crash. He said Wednesday that his client was the victim of a road-rage incident that night.

    “They ignored evidence of a second car,” Kraut told The Times. “My client was getting away from the guy chasing him.”

    Kraut said another driver “came into the lane and clipped him” and Bohm “hit the brakes.”

    “The evidence turned over showed at max [he was going] 70 mph,” Kraut said of the information he has received in the case, adding that his client has “totally cooperated” with the investigation and passed a field sobriety test.

    Los Angeles County sheriff’s Sgt. Jim Arens told reporters Wednesday at the news conference that he had “no evidence” that the crash stemmed from an alleged road-rage incident.

    How has Malibu responded to the crash?

    There has been an outpouring of grief for the victims as well as demands that officials do more to improve pedestrian safety on PCH, which has been the site of numerous accidents.

    The City Council unanimously voted this week to ask staff for a report and to consider a motion to declare an emergency, which would free up resources within its jurisdiction to make PCH safer. But before those actions, nearly 30 people stood up to express their grief and anger about the deadly dangers posed by the stretch of road where the young women were killed.

    Michel Shane is a film producer and father of Emily, who was killed at age 13 by a speeding driver while she was walking on that section of highway in 2010. Shane made a documentary around the incident and told The Times prior to the start of the meeting that he was on hand to push for the California Department of Transportation to make changes to improve safety.

    A petition Shane created on Oct. 20 as a call to action has garnered more than 4,000 signatures.

    Residents and business owners have said speeding is a chronic problem in the area where the accident occurred. They blame Caltrans District 7 for a lack of change.

    Over the last 10 years, Caltrans has counted more than 4,000 collisions along PCH in Malibu, with the primary causes being speeding and improper turns, the city says. After the Oct. 17 crash, Malibu outlined the traffic safety improvements it had already made, including pedestrian crosswalk improvements and traffic signal synchronization.

    But those who spoke at Monday’s meeting were demanding that more be done: speed cameras added, the speed limit reduced and more sheriff’s deputies and California Highway Patrol officers policing the highway.

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    Richard Winton, Jeremy Childs, Karen Garcia

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  • Stretch of the Central California coast is about to be designated a marine sanctuary. What does that mean?

    Stretch of the Central California coast is about to be designated a marine sanctuary. What does that mean?

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    A stretch of land that is expected to be designated as a national marine sanctuary by next year would preserve more than 5,000 square miles of ocean off California’s Central Coast.

    It was the dream of a Native American tribal leader who died before he could see it come to fruition.

    The proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary is not yet finalized, and the public can submit comments on the draft proposal through Wednesday. The sanctuary would span 134 miles along the coast from Hazard Canyon Reef, south of Morro Bay, to just south of Dos Pueblos Canyon, which is home to one of the largest historical Chumash villages. The designation would protect a 5,617-square-mile area.

    The designation would prohibit dumping matter into the sanctuary, disturbing cultural resources, drilling or producing oil, gas or minerals, and disturbing the seabed, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

    The NOAA is hoping to finalize a sanctuary designation by next year, which would add to the agency’s marine sanctuary system that already includes “more than 620,000 square miles of marine and Great Lakes waters from Washington state to the Florida Keys,” according to its website. The network encompasses 15 national marine sanctuaries.

    President Biden has endorsed the proposal as part of his America the Beautiful Initiative, which includes a goal to restore and conserve 30% of U.S. waters and land by 2030.

    The proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary would also protect marine life and cultural and archaeological sites under the National Marine Sanctuaries Act. Regulations would be imposed to protect water quality, habitat and species. The sanctuary would also protect the ecological qualities of the area including marine mammals, birds, fish, sea turtles, algae and other organisms, as well as rocky reefs, kelp forests and beaches.

    Fred Harvey Collins, the chair of the Northern Chumash Tribal Council and an ardent advocate for the protection of sacred Northern Chumash lands, submitted the nomination for the creation of the sanctuary, with the support of Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) and Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla (both D-Calif.). He died on Oct. 1, 2021.

    NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries issued a notice of intent to begin the designation process for the sanctuary in November 2021.

    The draft management plan outlines a framework for Indigenous and tribal collaborative management, providing an opportunity to incorporate Indigenous people’s traditions, values and knowledge.

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    Summer Lin

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  • SoFLo Fitness and Wellness Chosen as Sole Provider of Fitness and Wellness Services at Miami’s Brickell on the River

    SoFLo Fitness and Wellness Chosen as Sole Provider of Fitness and Wellness Services at Miami’s Brickell on the River

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    SoFLo Fitness and Wellness has been chosen by Brickell on the River as the sole provider of fitness and wellness services to the residents of the prestigious condominium towers.

    Press Release
    –

    Jun 1, 2016


    Miami, Florida , June 1, 2016 (Newswire.com)
    –
    ​​​​​​​​​​​​Brickell on the River has chosen SoFlo Fitness and Wellness as the sole provider of fitness and wellness services to the residents of the prestigious 700-unit condominium towers located on the southern banks of the Miami River.

    SoFLo Fitness and Wellness began offering 25 classes per week at the condominium’s indoor fitness facilities, pool and outdoor spaces on May 14, 2016 as part of their Fitness Center Programs and Management service.  A sampling of the classes offered, include yoga, mat Pilates, cardio, boot camp, H.I.I.T, aqua fit, Zumba, SoFLo stretch and more, were chosen based on an earlier survey sent to all residents.

    “The class schedule looks great. We wish them success in bringing outstanding training services to our residents.”

    Bill Fitch, President of the Board of Directors at Brickell on the River

    In addition, SoFLo is offering residents individual services such as personal training, massage, private yoga and Pilates lessons, stretch and injury therapy and nutritional counseling. In keeping with SoFLo’s motto, these personal services are available anytime and anywhere residents choose.

    “We use our expertise in fitness and wellness to help create healthy, positive and productive environments. Our passionate professionals are experts at encouraging participation and creating community and individual enjoyment through social, fun and innovative fitness,” said Nikki Zembal, Founder and CEO of SoFLo Fitness and Wellness.

    “The class schedule looks great. We wish them success in bringing outstanding training services to our residents,” said Bill Fitch, President of the Board of Directors at Brickell on the River. All fitness centers and community environments need participation to truly become a valuable amenity. The residents’ response to SoFLo’s unlimited Class Pass and individual services has been tremendous.

    “The number and variety of classes is just what residents have been asking for. Resident feedback has been very positive and enthusiastic about the fitness services presented by SoFLo,” said Maritza Gonzalez, Property Manager at BoR.

    SoFLo Fitness and Wellness is the brainchild of ACE Certified Personal Trainer and Group Fitness Instructor Nikki Zembal. Her company also offers fitness and wellness related services for the corporate market, including Corporate Fitness and Wellness Training programs. They are not just personal trainers, Pilates and Yoga instructors, massage, stretch, injury, rehab therapists and nutritional counselors, but health and wellness professionals committed to helping anyone feel and look their best.

    More information about SoFLo Fitness and Wellness is available here.

    About SoFLo Fitness and Wellness:

    SoFLo Fitness and Wellness is the premier provider of mobile fitness and wellness services including, but not limited to Personal Training, Yoga, Pilates, Massage, SoFlo Stretch and Flexibility, Injury Rehab and Nutrition services to individuals and groups. Their elite services are available to anyone, anywhere, anytime in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach. They strive to build lasting relationships that produce results and have assembled a vast mobile team of passionate and enthusiastic fitness and wellness professionals in South Florida who share their vision.

    Media Contact:

    Name: Nikki Zembal

    Phone: 954-839-4492

    Email: nikki@soflofitandwell.com

    Source: SoFLo Fitness and Wellness

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