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Officials said members of the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department's football team -- who were practicing Monday for the upcoming Pig Bowl -- tackled a burglar. The football players were practicing at Foothill High School in Sacramento at the time. Sgt. Tim Curran said at least one burglar was captured and handcuffed by one of the football players, who's a deputy. That deputy got handcuffs from an officer who had arrived at the field, Curran said.

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. -- Orange County sheriff's deputies say a man riding a Christmas tree being dragged behind an SUV slammed into a parked car and was hospitalized with head injuries.

No matter what conclusions one gravitates towards regarding climate change and potential solar impacts, the data is irrefutable: the sun is slowly becoming more active. The 10.7cm radio flux spiked in late September with its highest reading in 18 months; now, and this is very significant compared to the pattern since March 2008, it has spiked again, exceeding the late September number and reaching a Cycle 24 maximum of 76.9. This is still a very low value compared to the solar maximum flux numbers, which routinely exceed 200. However, it is an upward move from the “basement” numbers of the...

What would you pay for an item 100% made in the U.S.A.?

Just watched a video clip of O, attempting to shake hands at some function. They wouldn't touch him.

At least three people were injured this afternoon by a residential explosion on Paiute Way between Kachina and Grayson ways, officials said. The victims suffered third-degree burns, police said. There were no reports of fatalities. One firefighter was injured, perhaps overcome by fumes. The blast happened about 1:40 p.m. and involved a few houses, officials said. Firefighters at the scene said one house was destroyed by the blast and several houses nearby were damaged. John Turner, who lives on Paiute Way, said he was in his duplex and the blast shook his home from blocks away. He said he was...

Just a very nice advertisement on a news site I view. Portraits for mothers to be

After two-plus years of few sunspots, even fewer solar flares, and a generally eerie calm, the sun is finally showing signs of life. "I think solar minimum is behind us," says sunspot forecaster David Hathaway of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. His statement is prompted by an October flurry of sunspots. "Last month we counted five sunspot groups," he says. That may not sound like much, but in a year with record-low numbers of sunspots and long stretches of utter spotlessness, five is significant. "This represents a real increase in solar activity." Even more significant is the fact that...

Magnetogram A new sunspot is emerging in the sun's northern hemisphere. After several months of almost-relentlessly blank suns, "this is like a breath of fresh plasma," says photographer Pete Lawrence who sends this picture from Selsey, UK. The magnetic polarity of the emerging spot identifies it as a member of new Sunspot Cycle 24.

A bumper sticker linking Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo to presidential candidate Barack Obama is arriving in the mailboxes of Sacramento voters, and nobody seems to know where it came from. Fargo's campaign says she has nothing to do with the sticker, which features side-by-side floating heads of both candidates, plus their last names fused together to spell "FargObama." Underneath, a tag line asserts: "Heather Fargo, the only TRUE Democratic candidate for mayor."

Jim Thrasher and his wife were enjoying the California State Fair this weekend until they came upon the Colusa County exhibit. For the African American couple from Sacramento, the exhibit's depiction of "Waldo Watermelon Seed" conjured up painful images of the Jim Crow era.

We just got back from the graduation ceremony for the 2008 class from USU (The Uniform Services University {for health sciences}). My kid is now a M.D. The same kid that lost her lunchboxes, forgot books needed for homework, and kept a half full Thermos of rotten milk over Easter vacation. She’s now ready to heal. She has changed immensely, it’s interesting to me when she looks at me with her ‘Doctor Eyes’ when she says “howz it going dad?” Their graduation ceremony was held at the “Daughters of the American Revolution” hall in Washington D.C.. The Marine Corps band...

In spite of solar minimum, there seems to be plenty of action on the sun," reports amateur astronomer Peter Schlatter of Wohlen, Switzerland, who yesterday witnessed a spectacular vortex swirling on the sun's eastern horizon. Indeed, the limb of the sun is where the action is. "A huge prominence emerged today looking like a monster rising from a sea of fire," reports David Leong of Hong Kong. None of this activity is explosive or threatens to cause geomagnetic storms on Earth--it's just a pretty show.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese electronics makers JVC (6792.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and Kenwood Corp (6765.T: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday they would merge under a holding company on October 1 to fight fierce price competition and growing costs of product development. But the new entity would still fall far behind some of its rivals in size as combined sales of the two companies totaled 823.7 billion yen ($8 billion) in the year ended March 31, or less than one-tenth of Panasonic maker Matsushita's (6752.T: Quote, Profile, Research) 9 trillion yen. Kenwood offers car electronics and audio equipment, while JVC...

C.Q. C.Q. all ham radio operators, short wave listeners, public service monitors and anyone interested in the subject. I’m announcing my wish to revive the Ham Radio ping list. A lost Freeper (Denver Ditdat) had the list at one time, but with his absence for almost two years, and his freepmail to me that he had lost most of the original list, I think that the ping list should be built again. There is a large population of Freepers who are hams. My wish in resurrecting this ping list is to once again bring news pertaining to all FReepers, hams...

he man who helped build the 31-flavor craze at ice cream store Baskin-Robbins has died at age 90. Irvine Robbins died Monday at his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Daughter Marsha Veit says he had been in ill for some time. Generations of kids trooped to Baskin-Robbins stores to buy ice cream flavors like Pralines 'n Cream, Daiquiri Ice and Pink Bubblegum.

My daughter is looking to buy a place In San Antonio. Can anyone tell me anything about the area around McDermott Fwy and Woodlawn / Fredricksberg? Many thanks!

Blizzard Warning West Slope Northern Sierra Nevada (California) URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA 613 AM PST THU JAN 3 2008 ...A SERIES OF POWERFUL STORMS EXPECTED TO HIT THE INTERIOR OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA LATE TODAY THROUGH SUNDAY... .THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF STRONG STORMS IS FORECAST TO IMPACT INTERIOR NORTHERN CALIFORNIA LATE TODAY INTO FRIDAY MORNING BRINGING RAIN...WIND AND MOUNTAIN SNOW. A SECOND EVEN MORE POWERFUL STORM IS FORECAST TO MOVE THROUGH THE AREA WITH HEAVY SNOW AND DANGEROUSLY HIGH WINDS ON FRIDAY. THE POWERFUL WINDS AND HEAVY SNOW ARE LIKELY TO CREATE WHITEOUT...

...a lawsuit accusing former Sheriff Lou Blanas of favoring campaign contributors in decisions on concealed weapon permits wends its way through federal court, The Bee examined public records on more than 550 permits issued since 1996, all but 37 of them under Blanas' terms as sheriff and undersheriff.

A Sacramento County sheriff's gang officer was shot and killed while on duty Wednesday afternoon in south Sacramento, Sacramento County John McGinness said. The report came in around 2 p.m. in the area of 42nd Avenue and 37th Street. The deputy, a 10-year veteran of the sheriff's department who has been a gang detective for three years, was with his partner in the neighborhood contacting gang members, according to Sgt. Tim Curran of the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department.