Fresno State Patent Targets Utility Wildfires

Whales Push Crab Season past the Holidays

California’s commercial Dungeness crab season, which usually opens Nov. 15, has been delayed until January, which will likely keep local crab off Thanksgiving and holiday tables.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife cited an unusually high number of humpback whale entanglements this year, with nine confirmed off California so far, mostly in Monterey Bay, including four tied to crab gear.

This is the seventh straight year entanglements have delayed the opener. Recreational crabbers can still start Nov. 7 using hoop nets and snares, but traps are off-limits until at least Jan. 1, and the state will reassess in mid-December.

Valkyries Bring WNBA Title to Bay Area

The Golden State Valkyries won the WNBA championship in just their second season, beating the Atlanta Dream 68-63 at Chase Center in the first Game 7 in Finals history.

Gabby Williams, who played youth basketball in the Bay Area, scored 30 points and hit a clutch 3-pointer after Atlanta tied the game late in the fourth quarter. The sellout crowd chanted her name throughout the final period. You can watch highlights of the victory here.

The Valkyries have sold out every home game since debuting as an expansion team last season, and the cheapest Game 7 tickets were going for a Finals-record $381 a day before tipoff.

The Finals also brought controversy. Both teams left the court before the national anthem ahead of all seven games, citing their pregame routines, and the Dream’s owners blamed the league after Game 6 was scheduled for a weekday afternoon.

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➤ Stockton: Ammaad Akhtar, 34, pleaded guilty Friday to attempting to provide material support to ISIS after an undercover operation in which federal prosecutors say he gave an agent money, two loaded guns, and other equipment in 2025. He faces up to 20 years in prison when he’s sentenced Feb. 26. (More)

➤ Stockton: After almost three years of construction, a backup levee protecting the Brookside neighborhood from the San Joaquin River is ready for winter, a key piece of a $2 billion plan to upgrade 23 miles of San Joaquin County levees by 2037. (More)

➤ Also Stockton: The City Council unanimously accepted a donation of two acres on Shoreline Drive in north Stockton that police plan to use for mounted patrol training and community engagement, though the department says plans for the site are still in the conceptual stage. (More)

➤ Visalia: Caltrans broke ground Friday on a $71 million overhaul of the Highway 99 interchange at Caldwell Avenue, the district’s first Central Valley interchange with roundabouts at every ramp, and it’s expected to finish in summer 2028. (More)

➤ Bakersfield: A crash-data analysis by local law firm Chain Cohn Clark ranks 23rd Street, 24th Street, and Chester Avenue as the city’s most dangerous intersection, with 34 crashes. Separately, Bakersfield police have installed six new red-light cameras along the Ming Avenue, White Lane, and Panama Lane corridors. (More)

➤ San Luis Obispo County: Health officials are investigating eight more suspected E. coli cases tied to Brookshire Farms’ pumpkin patch on Los Osos Valley Road, on top of five confirmed cases that put three children in intensive care. Anyone who visited the farm between Oct. 16 and 26 and has stomach symptoms is urged to call their doctor. (More)

➤ San Diego County: Federal prosecutors have indicted 42 alleged members and associates of the Poway-based gang Varrio Hidden Hills, saying they ran a meth and fentanyl operation from Oceanside to the U.S.-Mexico border. 35 have been arrested so far, and more arrests and charges are expected. (More)

➤ Los Angeles: Meta has settled with a second teen suing social media companies over alleged addiction-related mental health harms, leaving Snapchat as the only defendant in a trial with opening statements set for Wednesday. (More)

➤ Glendale: Doctor Violetta Mailyan was sentenced to 15 years in prison and ordered to repay nearly $33 million for billing Medicare more than $45 million for Botox injections that prosecutors say were medically unnecessary or never given. (More)

➤ USC scored three touchdowns in a 30-18 upset of No. 2 Ohio State at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, rebounding from a 24-7 loss at Wisconsin that was the lowest-scoring game of Lincoln Riley’s head-coaching career. (More)

➤ No. 7 UCLA improved to 8-0 with a 27-0 shutout of Nevada at the Rose Bowl, while Cal lost 31-10 at NC State and Stanford fell 52-24 to Louisville. (See Scores)

➤ The Los Angeles Lakers’ record $12.5 billion sale to Josh Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger moved closer to completion after Kushner and team governor Mark Walter reportedly “agreed on all outstanding terms.” (More)

➤ The Los Angeles Chargers face the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium today as the NFL’s last winless team. (See Preview)

➤ Yesterday’s Results: NCAAF | WNBA | NHL | NBA | Soccer | Golf

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➤ A SpaceX booster flew for the 18th time Friday night, launching 27 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 9:04 p.m. on Halloween eve before landing on a drone ship in the Pacific. It was SpaceX’s 118th Falcon 9 flight of the year. (More)

➤ A great white estimated at 12 to 15 feet cruised between surfers near Pismo Beach’s Pier Avenue on Wednesday and splashed one with its tail as it swam off, a close encounter that left no one hurt and that experts say reflects a rebounding shark population and a healthy ocean. (More)

➤ San Francisco’s SFDanceworks opens its ninth season Wednesday at Z Space with two world premieres, a five-dancer work by Jermaine Maurice Spivey and a trio by longtime collaborator Brett Conway. The program, which runs through Nov. 7, also features San Francisco Ballet principal Joseph Walsh in a Merce Cunningham solo. (More)

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The following stories are featured exclusively on The Flyover Podcast—a daily show that gives you the most important headlines in under 15 minutes, straight from the heart of the country. 

➤ Halloween came with curfews and extra cops as towns braced for a repeat of last year’s teenage mayhem. (Hear More)

➤ Scientists uncovered secrets of Mars’ ancient, watery past inside a rose-colored meteorite found in the Sahara Desert. (Listen Now)

➤  Art experts revealed how beginners could start collecting valuable artwork without spending a fortune. (Podcast Available)

What would you do if a great white swam by you in the ocean?

1. Stay calm and stay put
2. Head for shore immediately
3. Grab my phone and film it
4. I don’t go in the ocean

Yesterday’s Results:

How are you spending Halloween night?

1. Skipping it this year: 37%
2. Handing out candy: 24%
3. Staying in with a scary movie: 11%
4. Trick-or-treating with the kids: 10%
5. Costume party: 10%
6. Haunted house or theme park: 8%

In 1951, a San Diego businessman converted his drive-in into a hamburger stand built around a drive-thru window and a two-way intercom, topped by a giant clown. What fast-food chain did he launch?

Show me the answer