Here’s how much rain and snow the storm dropped on Southern California cities

• February 27, 2023

Rain, snow, hail and wind: A historic,five-day storm brought powerful gusts and dumped a massive amount of precipitation on the greater Los Angeles area starting last Wednesday.

This was the first blizzard warning for Southern California’s mountains in decades, and some mountain towns were buried in, quite literally, feet of snow. Locals used to sunny skies most of the year reveled in the snow drifts landing on their lawns in the foothills and in parts of the Inland Empire over the weekend.

Others took stock of the damage so far: Trees and power lines toppled, cars and houses crushed under branches, and sporadic flooding on city streets.

With more rain and snow on the way in a second set of storms, the National Weather Service added up the precipitation totals from Wednesday to Sunday morning.

The numbers were a preliminary summary of what the region saw over that period; estimates of snow and rain from some areas still ranged widely as of Sunday. But these are the latest totals from local weather watchers. All figures are measured in inches and from locations where the NWS has recording stations.

Top snow totals:

Mountain High: 93
Snow Valley: 78 to 90
End of Mt. Baldy Road: 77
Running Springs: 71
Mount Pinos: 48 to 72
Green Valley Lake: 70
Lake Arrowhead: 68
Arrowbear Lake: 65
Bear Mountain Snow Summit: 63
Crestline Yard: 63
Pine Mountain Club: 36 to 60
Cuddy Valley: 24 to 48
Mount Wilson: 40
Other areas with snow:
Yucaipa: 4
La Crescenta: 2
Fontana: 1
Rialto: 1
Bloomington: 0.5
Apple Valley: 0.5

Rain

NWS forecasters noted some areas saw rain mixed with snow — therefore, the totals represent a bit of both.

The NWS also warned that for some stations located in areas with below-freezing temperatures, the totals may not be accurate. NWS was not immediately available to answer questions about the totals Sunday.

These are the top rain totals for the region:

Woodland Hills: 10.79
Stunt Ranch: 10.15
La Canada Flintridge: 9.29
Newhall: 8.38
Eagle Rock Reservoir: 8.14
Pasadena: 8.11
East Pasadena: 7.93
West Fork Heliport (San Gabriel Mountains): 7.76
Sepulveda Canyon at Mulholland Drive: 7.85
San Gabriel Dam: 7.64
Hansen Dam: 7.28
Canoga Park: 7.25
Topanga Canyon: 7.01
Other areas with rain:
Upper Silverado Canyon (Santa Ana Mountains): 5.55
Cucamonga Canyon: 5.43
Coldwater Canyon: 5.12
Cal State San Bernardino: 4.53
Cucamonga Basin: 4.45
Santa Ana: 4.18
Lower Silverado Canyon: 4.09
Villa Park Dam: 3.94
Coto De Caza: 3.90

More rain and snow on the way to Southern California

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​ Orange County Register 

Mater Dei, Sage Hill to collide in CIF Southern California Regional girls basketball playoffs

• February 27, 2023

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Get ready for Mater Dei-Sage Hill II.

The top-two ranked girls basketball teams in Orange County will meet Wednesday at Mater Dei High in the first round of CIF Southern California Regional Open Division playoffs.

The CIF State announced the pairing on Sunday as it released the brackets for the regionals, which begin Tuesday and conclude March 10-11 at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.

No. 1 Mater Dei (28-3) and No. 2 Sage Hill (21-9) faced off at the Matt Denning Hoops Classic on Jan. 14 at Mater Dei High. The Monarchs defeated the Lightning 62-50, puling away in the final four minutes of the final quarter. Sage Hill, which won the CIF State Division II title last season, trailed 49-48 before Mater Dei’s strong finish.

The winner Wednesday advances to the regional semifinals Saturday at CIF-SS Open Division champion Sierra Canyon (30-0), ranked No. 1 in the nation.

Mater Dei and Sage Hill are part of select group in the SoCal Open Division. The group only consists of five teams: No. 1 seed Sierra Canyon. No. 2 La Jolla Country Day, No. 3 Etiwanda along with No. 4 Mater Dei and No. 5 Sage Hill.

In Division I, CIF-SS Division 1 champion Orange Lutheran (24-7) drew the ninth seed and a game Tuesday at No. 8 Westchester, the Open Division champion in the L.A. City Section.

Rosary (23-7), a semifinalists in CIF-SS Division 1, received the 13th seed and a game at No. 4 Mission Hills on Tuesday.

In Division II, San Juan Hills (25-6) earned the No. 6 seed and a first-round game Tuesday against visiting No. 11 Mater Dei Catholic, the Division 1 champion from San Diego.

In Division III, El Dorado (21-9) claimed the No. 10 seed while Buena Park (24-7) took the No. 13 position. The Golden Hawks play Tuesday at L.A. City Open qualifier Palisades, the seventh seed. The Coyotes travel to No. 4 Torrey Pines, the Division 2 champion in San Diego.

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CIF-SS Division 5AA champion St. Margaret’s (27-6) received the No. 10 seed in Division IV and a trip Tuesday to Poly of Sun Valley, the Division 1 champion in the L.A. City Section.

Laguna Beach (22-10) and Marina (17-15), both from the Wave League, earned the seventh and eighth seeds, respectively, in Division V and home games Tuesday against Fremont and Lompoc, respectively.

​ Orange County Register 

US Energy Department assesses COVID-19 likely resulted from lab leak, furthering US intel divide over virus origin

• February 27, 2023

The US Department of Energy has assessed that the Covid-19 pandemic most likely came from a laboratory leak in China, according to a newly updated classified intelligence report.

Two sources said that the Department of Energy assessed in the intelligence report that it had “low confidence” the Covid-19 virus accidentally escaped from a lab in Wuhan.

Intelligence agencies can make assessments with either low, medium or high confidence. A low confidence assessment generally means that the information obtained is not reliable enough or is too fragmented to make a more definitive analytic judgment or that there is not enough information available to draw a more robust conclusion.

The latest assessment further adds to the divide in the US government over whether the Covid-19 pandemic began in China in 2019 as the result of a lab leak or whether it emerged naturally. The various intelligence agencies have been split on the matter for years. In 2021, the intelligence community declassified a report that showed four agencies in the intelligence community had assessed with low confidence that the virus likely jumped from animals to humans naturally in the wild, while one assessed with moderate confidence that the pandemic was the result of a laboratory accident.

Three other intelligence community elements were unable to coalesce around either explanation without additional information, the report said.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on the new assessment from the Department of Energy. A senior US intelligence official told the Journal that the update to the intelligence assessment was conducted in light of new intelligence, further study of academic literature and in consultation with experts outside government.

A Department of Energy spokesperson told CNN in a statement: “The Department of Energy continues to support the thorough, careful, and objective work of our intelligence professionals in investigating the origins of COVID-19, as the President directed.”

The Department of Energy’s Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence is one of 18 government agencies that make up the intelligence community, which are under the umbrella of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment.

Republicans react

The latest intelligence assessment was provided to Congress as Republicans on Capitol Hill have been pushing for further investigation into the lab leak theory, while accusing the Biden administration of playing down its possibility.

House Foreign Affairs Chairman Mike McCaul said Sunday he was “pleased” that the Department of Energy “has finally reached the same conclusion that I had already come to.”

“I have requested a full and thorough briefing from the administration on this report and the evidence behind it,” the Texas Republican said in a statement.

McCaul in his statement referred to a 2021 report he had released as ranking member of the Foreign Affairs panel, which “found a preponderance of the evidence proved” that the pandemic originated with a leak from the Wuhan lab.

The chairman called on the Biden administration to publicly concur with that conclusion.

“It is critical the administration also begin to work immediately with our partners and allies around the world to both hold the (Chinese Communist Party) accountable and to put in place updated international regulations to ensure something like this cannot happen again,” McCaul said.

Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska on Sunday called for public hearings following the disclosure of the Department of Energy assessment.

“We need to do extensive hearings. I hope our Democratic colleagues in the Congress can support that. I know the Republicans in the House are certainly supportive of that,” the Senate Armed Services Committee member said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“Think about what just happened over the last three years, one of the biggest pandemics in a century. A lot of evidence that it’s coming from the Chinese,” Sullivan said.

A spokesperson for House Oversight Chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, said in a statement that the committee was “reviewing the classified information provided” by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in response to a letter requesting information earlier this month.

One of the sources said that the new assessment from the Department of Energy is similar to information from a House Republican Intelligence Committee report released last year on the origins of the virus.

‘Not a definitive answer’

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that the intelligence community remains divided on the matter, while noting that President Joe Biden has put resources into getting to the bottom of the origin question.

“Right now, there is not a definitive answer that has emerged from the intelligence community on this question,” Sullivan told CNN’s Dana Bash. “Some elements of the intelligence community have reached conclusions on one side, some on the other. A number of them have said they just don’t have enough information to be sure.”

Sullivan said Biden had directed the national laboratories, which are part of the Department of Energy, to be brought into the assessment.

In May 2020, researchers at the government-backed Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory issued a classified report that found it was possible that the coronavirus escaped from a lab in Wuhan, which came at a time when that line of inquiry was considered taboo.

The US began exploring the possibility that Covid-19 spread in a laboratory as early as April 2020, though the intelligence community has noted repeatedly that a lack of cooperation from Beijing has made it difficult to get to the bottom of the question.

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This story has been updated with additional reaction.

The-CNN-Wire & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

​ Orange County Register 

Canyon top-seeded team in CIF SoCal Regional boys basketball

• February 27, 2023

It is not often that a high school basketball team that lost in the CIF Southern Section semifinals is seeded No. 1 in the ensuing CIF Southern California Regional tournament.

That is what happened to Canyon’s boys team. Canyon is seeded No. in in SoCal Regional Division II.

Canyon lost to Etiwanda in the CIF-SS Division 1 semifinals. CIF-SS semifinalists qualified so Canyon is in the tournament that begins Tuesday when Canyon is at home against No. 16-seeded King/Drew.

Like Canyon, Pacifica Christian and Tarbut V’Torah lost in their CIF-SS division semifinals and are in the SoCal Regional.

Regional play begins with Round 1 games in Divisions I-V on Tuesday. Round I games in the Open Division and in Division VI are Wednesday. The Regional tournament continues with Round II games Thursday, semifinals Saturday and finals on March 7. CIF Southern California Regional champions and CIF Northern California Regional champions meet in the CIF State Championships March 10 and 11 at Sacramento.

All Regional games are played at host-school sites and begin at 7 p.m. Starting times can be changed if both participating teams agree to the change and the CIF State office approves the change.

The schedule for Tuesday’s SoCal Regional Round I games that involve Orange County teams …

Division I: La Costa Canyon (16-12) at Mater Dei (27-6).

Division II: King/Drew (15-16) at Canyon (25-6); Pacifica Christian (23-9) at Birmingham (20-9); Stockdale (27-4) at Orange Lutheran (20-11); Centennial/Bakersfield (23-5) at Tesoro (29-4).

Division IV: Sage Hill (15-12) at Grant (21-10).

Division V: Tarbut V’Torah (14-8) at Ramona (21-10).

​ Orange County Register 

Paul George’s heave just late as Clippers lose to Nuggets in OT

• February 27, 2023

By CRAIG MEYER The Associated Press

DENVER — The Clippers’ Paul George nearly took down the first-place team in the Western Conference with an incredible shot at the end of regulation, but his long heave from just in front of the 3-point line in the backcourt came just after the buzzer.

MVP favorite Nikola Jokic had 40 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists to lead the Denver Nuggets to a 134-124 overtime victory against the Clippers in a matchup of contenders on Sunday night.

It was the 23rd triple-double of the season for Jokic and his 14th in the past 19 games. Denver is undefeated this season when he has a triple-double.

“If you’re looking for a super athlete to win MVP, he’s not your candidate,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “If you’re looking for a great player that impacts winning in every possible way, whose team is in first place in the Western Conference, then he’s your man. Frankly, I don’t give a damn what people think. I know he’s the MVP and his teammates know that and all the fans here in Denver and back home in Serbia know that.”

Michael Porter Jr. had 29 points and 11 rebounds for the Nuggets. Jamal Murray added 21 points and 12 assists.

Kawhi Leonard had 33 points to pace the Clippers – two nights after scoring a season-high 44 in a double-overtime loss against Sacramento. George finished with 23 points.

One night after scoring a season-low 94 points in an 18-point loss at Memphis, the Nuggets shot 51% overall – including 63.2% on 2-pointers.

“When we get embarrassed, I think we do a really good job of showing up the next game,” Malone said. “One thing we’re always talking about is good teams don’t lose two games in a row. That’s something you strive for. Tonight, we were able to pull it out.”

Denver is 4-0 this season against the Clippers, with each victory coming by at least 10 points.

Denver led by 18 in the first quarter and had a nine-point advantage entering the fourth, but George’s three-point play gave the Clippers their first lead, 109-107, with 4:17 remaining.

With his team trailing 118-117, Porter drained a 3-pointer with 26.6 seconds left, but George sank two free throws on the ensuing possession and the game went to overtime tied at 120.

“I think we’re right there,” George said. “We’re right where we want to be. We’ve just got to continue to keep working. These late-game losses, we’ll turn these around and we’ll figure out how to win these tough ones.”

HOMECOMING FOR HYLAND

Bones Hyland, a Nuggets first-round draft pick in 2021, played in Denver for the first time since being traded to the Clippers on Feb. 9. He was booed for much of the night and finished with 10 points in 15 minutes.

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“Just with how things were playing out, I probably knew a little bit,” Hyland said when asked if he was surprised to be traded. “I’ve got so much love for Denver. I thank them for taking a chance on a kid like me.”

Hyland averaged 10.9 points in 111 career games with Denver, the fewest played by a Nuggets first-round selection between 2006-21.

“Just because you got to play a lot last year because guys were injured doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s going to be a role for you to play a lot this year,” Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth said. “I think that was always going to be a point of friction for him and for the club.”

UP NEXT

The Clippers host Minnesota on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Kawhi finished with an efficient 33 PTS (12-of-19) to go with 6 boards for the @LAClippers pic.twitter.com/ClYV65h2GI

— NBA (@NBA) February 27, 2023

Nikola Jokic put up 40 PTS, 17 REB and 10 AST to record his 99th career triple-double and lead the @nuggets to the overtime win pic.twitter.com/g1i6bY98vb

— NBA (@NBA) February 27, 2023

​ Orange County Register 

Local boxers highlighted at Golden Gloves qualifier

• February 27, 2023

ALTADENA — A third-round standing eight count on Sunday night had all but guaranteed Terry Washington spot in the California Golden Gloves state tournament.

He won, but Washington, 18, is thinking further ahead than just eight seconds. The San Bernardino amateur boxer has big plans, just like many others at Sunday’s Golden Gloves Southern California qualifier finals at Alta Loma Park.

“I’ll be a world champion someday, that’s a promise,” Washington said. “This is officially my last year of amateurs, so I really want to be a Golden Gloves champion. And today I’m a Golden Gloves district champion.”

Washington is the No. 9-ranked amateur boxer nationally at 112 pounds after moving up from being the No. 1 boxer at 106 pounds, according to the USA Boxing rankings. He’s one of 103 amateurs between the ages of 18 and 40 who competed at the Golden Gloves qualifier, which spanned Thursday through Sunday with one day postponed due to stormy weather conditions.

The tournament featured both a novice division and open division (boxers with more than 10 bouts). Winners of their respective brackets move on to compete at the California Golden Gloves, which are slated for April 1-2 in Concord.

Daniel Mercado, who trains out of G2G Boxing Club in Pomona, punched his ticket to the state tournament in his first fight since summer. The 18-year-old recovered from a shoulder injury just in time for a two-month training camp in preparation for Golden Gloves.

Mercado previously was part of the 147-pound weight class, in which he was ranked No. 5 in the country. He’s moved up to 156 pounds, but is still hoping that winning the Golden Gloves state tournament puts him one step closer to the Olympics.

“That’s my goal and my only goal,” Mercado said. “And after that, straight to the pros.”

The additional 12 pounds didn’t make too much of a difference for Mercado, who was in the eighth bout of the night. His opponent slugged and clinched, forcing Mercado to rely on the experience he gained from sparring heavier boxers.

“When a fighter comes in and tangles up, I just have to step back and use my distance a little more,” Mercado said. “It’s not going to be the last guy I run into like this. I’m going to run into a lot more fighters like this.”

There were 23 bouts on Sunday, and roughly 20 on Thursday and Saturday as well. The three-round matches allowed for plenty of action every night in the 100th anniversary of the Golden Gloves.

Like the boxers, California Golden Gloves delegate and tournament organizer Fausto De La Torre has boxing goals. He’d like to see the Southern California tournament have even greater participation and be at bigger venues.

His goal is to someday use the Rose Bowl as a host site, but would love to see it reach the heights of Crypto.com Arena or SoFi Stadium. For comparison, New York’s Golden Gloves qualifier, the Ring Masters Championships, is held at Madison Square Garden.

“Take it to an iconic location. That’s what I want to do,” De La Torre, who competed in Golden Gloves as an amateur boxer, said. “I want to take Golden Gloves to the most beautiful and the best iconic arenas that California has to offer. I would love to just help the tournament grow.”

This year, the Loma Alta Park gymnasium was packed out on every night of the tournament. Extra chairs had to be brought in during Sunday night’s finals to accommodate for the growing crowd.

De La Torre also coaches boxing at Villa Park Boxing and loves it because of its character-building and the sense of self-accomplishment it gives. Golden Gloves gives athletes not just the chance to pursue their dreams, but also a platform for the aspects that De La Torre has a fondness for.

“I’m trying to be a positive role model for the kids, the youth, the adults,” Washington said. “Whenever anybody says anything about San Bernardino, it’s not always good. I’m trying to be that good thing.”

​ Orange County Register 

JSerra boys soccer wins Division 1 title with two goals seconds apart against Sunny Hills

• February 26, 2023

LONG BEACH — JSerra, the No.1-ranked team in the state and the No. 2-ranked team in the nation, played up to expectations in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship game Saturday at Veterans Stadium.

The top-seeded Lions scored two goals, both off set pieces within a 16-second stretch late in the first half, to come away with a 2-0 victory over No. 2 seed Sunny Hills in a contest that was delayed for 45 minutes due to lightning in the area.

JSerra’s set pieces have given been difficult to defend all season, in large part because of a pair of tall sophomores, Angel Reyes and Tanner Casey, who were the goal scorers for the Lions (18-1-1) against the previously unbeaten Lancers (21-1-3).

The first goal was scored immediately after play resumed following the long delay that occurred 30 minutes into the game.

“And I think that was to our advantage,” Lions forward Reagan Heslin said of the delay. “We all kept our heads straight. We were still focused on the job. We took advantage of something that isn’t usually common in the game and that is a big part of our culture. It’s bouncing back from adversity.”

Reyes scored the first goal of the game from inside the box off of a throw-in and seconds later Casey headed the ball into the goal off a corner kick from Nathan Aquino.

JSerra coach Erik Kirsch said last season’s loss to Servite on penalty kicks in the Division 1 final galvanized this year’s team and served as motivation throughout the season.

“Culture is everything to me,” Kirsch said. “You saw them when they came out for the announcements, they were linked up. That is the fiber that has been created by this culture.”

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Because of the long delay, halftime lasted five minutes instead of 10.

Heading into the match, JSerra had scored a total of 15 goals through three playoff games compared to three for Sunny Hills.

“Defensively we knew it was going to be a challenge to defend those set plays because they are so big and tall and they make great runs into the box,” Sunny Hills coach Mike Schade said. “We were a little too nervous and conservative in the first half and that has a lot to do with how good they are.”

​ Orange County Register 

Boys and girls soccer: Scores from Saturday’s CIF-SS finals

• February 26, 2023

Scores from the CIF Southern Section boys and girls soccer championship games Saturday.

CIF-SS SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIPS

Saturday

BOYS SOCCER

Division 1

JSerra 2, Sunny Hills 0

Division 2

San Clemente 2, Long Beach Poly 0

Division 5

Palm Desert 3, Animo Leadership 1

Division 6

Victor Valley at San Gorgonio, ppd. Monday, 5 p.m.

Division 7

St. Genevieve 3, Oxford Academy 1

GIRLS SOCCER

DIVISION 1

Santa Margarita 0, Los Alamitos 0 (Santa Margarita wins on PKs, 2-1)

Division 3

Moorpark 2, Marina 1 (OT)

Division 4

Western Christian 2, El Rancho 1

Division 5

Crean Lutheran 1, Hemet 0

​ Orange County Register