Sports
SMART completes paving of next path segments in Sonoma County but asks …
The vision sold to voters at the time included a 70-mile rail line from Larkfield to Cloverdale — with a parallel bike and pedestrian path. But the Great Recession forced the agency to revise its plans, resulting in slower progress on rail construction. Assigned a lower priority, the multiuse pathway came together in fits and […]

The vision sold to voters at the time included a 70-mile rail line from Larkfield to Cloverdale — with a parallel bike and pedestrian path. But the Great Recession forced the agency to revise its plans, resulting in slower progress on rail construction. Assigned a lower priority, the multiuse pathway came together in fits and starts, as grant funds become available.
While disheartening to those passionate about the pathway and impatient for its completion, the delay comes as no surprise. They’ve grown accustomed to disappointment.
“At every turn,” the Marin County Bicycle Coalition lamented in a 2020 newsletter, “SMART’s decisions have made it clear that it is a rail-first agency, and that the pathway should only advance when it does not impede or compete for funding with the rail project.”
When they’re completed, “by the end of March,” according to SMART, the long-awaited sections will be a game-changer for bike commuters.
Leading them into temptation are several smooth new ribbons of pavement along the SMART train tracks in Sonoma County. That explains the steady, daily trickle of scofflaws ignoring barricades, stepping or rolling over orange mesh fencing in order to use the new pathway, despite the inconvenient fact that those sections aren’t yet open.
A third stretch, the 2.6 miles from Airport Boulevard in northern Santa Rosa to downtown Windsor, is being built at the same time that the new train tracks are laid.
“It’s so busy!” said Tim Zahner, who lives in Windsor and makes use of the new passage to get to his gym on Airport Boulevard.
“I mean, they were pissed.“
The coalition’s tune has changed since Eddy Cumins replaced Farhad Mansourian as SMART’s general manager in November 2021. In addition to restoring train ridership to levels exceeding those seen before the COVID-19 pandemic, Cumins has taken the pathway off the back burner.
Since 2019, said Julia Gonzalez, SMART’s communications manager, the agency has invested approximately million in pathway construction and maintenance.
Eris Weaver, executive director of the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition, recalls voting for Measure Q. “What we thought we were getting was a bike highway that would go the length of the rail line. It’s been 16 years, and that’s not what we’ve gotten. We still just have pieces.”
SMART’s trains currently operate on 45 miles of rebuilt and modernized track, laid by crews starting in 2012, with service beginning in August 2017. By comparison, to date, 28 miles of pathway are now open. Gaps in the route have limited its usefulness for many potential bike commuters.
Three segments of SMART pathway are tantalizingly close to being completed.
One of them parallels the tracks from Southpoint Boulevard, near the Petaluma DMV, north for 2.9 miles to Penngrove.
While Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit officials are “thrilled to see the community’s enthusiasm for the pathways,” wrote Allison Mattioli, a spokesperson for the agency, those sections “are still under active construction and are not open to the public at this time.” The email had the words “not open” in bold.
The agency’s website had until very recently informed visitors that the “expected completion” of two of the three Sonoma County pathway segments would be “late Fall 2024.” Now, the website shows “early Winter 2025” and “Spring 2025.”
Don’t look now but there are poachers in our midst, trespassing pedestrians and pirates on bicycles, breaking the rules in broad daylight.
Lower priority from inception
The outcry from cyclists and path advocates reached a fever pitch in 2020, after voters rejected an early extension of quarter-cent tax, dealing SMART a bruising public loss and a reckoning with some of its core constituencies.
After challenging the workers to “give me one good reason why I shouldn’t” ride on the new pavement, the trespassing cyclist rode away.
“A bunch of Ghilotti [Construction] guys yelled at me to get off” that stretch of the pathway, a man who did not provide his name recalled on a recent Friday.
Back in 2008, both the Marin and Sonoma County Bicycle Coalitions played important roles in drumming up support for Measure Q, the 20-year, quarter-cent sales tax that made the SMART project possible and forms the largest share of its operations budget. It also helps the agency compete for state and federal grants to bankroll rail and pathway construction.
There are times, he observed, when “we already have a Highway 101-type bottleneck issue on the path. It’s already full.”
Closed though it may be, that stretch of pathway is already surprisingly popular.
When might the new segments be open? “By the end of March,” according to Mattioli with SMART.
It was not always thus.
The next segment, which bridges a 2.8-mile gap in the pathway between Golf Course Drive in Rohnert Park and Bellevue Avenue in Santa Rosa, has been delayed by, among other things, the presence of California tiger salamanders, an endangered species.
Sports
Water Polo: Macalester Places Four on Academic All-District Team
Story Links Coney Kratt Nadolski Palmer-Sammons ST. PAUL, Minn. – Four members of the Macalester College water polo team earned a spot on the At-Large Division III Academic All-District […]

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ST. PAUL, Minn. – Four members of the Macalester College water polo team earned a spot on the At-Large Division III Academic All-District team, the College Sports Communicators (CSC) announced today. They are senior Kendall Coney (League City, Texas/Clear Creek) and juniors Jayden Kratt (Palo Alto, Calif./Henry M. Gunn), Alana Nadolski (Kentwood, Mich./East Kentwood) and Jess Palmer-Sammons (Half Moon Bay, Calif./Half Moon Bay).
The CSC Academic All-America and All-District program honors student-athletes for excellence in both academics and athletics. Student-athletes must be a sophomore, junior or senior, have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.50 or higher and have competed in 90 percent of the team’s total games played or have started 66 percent of the team’s total games to be considered for Academic All-District and All-American accolades.
This is the third year in a row that Coney has appeared on the Academic All-District team. She received All-CWPA honorable mention after registering a career-best 21 goals in 20 games. Coney also had 12 steals and drew a team-high 34 ejections. A sociology and philosophy major, Coney also has received the ACWPC All-Academic Award following each of the last three seasons.
The Scots’ starting goalkeeper, Kratt made the All-CWPA team this spring after receiving All-CWPA honorable mention last year. Also an honorable mention All-American in 2024, she played in 18 games this year, recording 138 saves while posting an 8.94 goals against average and a .491 save percentage. Kratt is a neuroscience major who has received the ACWPC All-Academic Award twice.
Nadolski registered 17 goals and three assists for 20 points this season. A statistics and computer science major, Nadolski earned the ACWPC All-Academic Award in 2023 and 2024. She also made the All-CWPA team as a sophomore.
The CWPA 2025 Most Valuable Player, Palmer-Sammons led the Scots with 49 goals, 16 assists, 65 points and 43 steals en route to receiving All-America honorable mention from the ACWPC for the second year in a row. She closed out her standout campaign by earning a spot on the CWPA All-Tournament team after totaling eight goals and three assists in three games. A two-time ACWPC All-Academic Award recipient, Palmer-Sammons is a biology and Spanish major at Macalester.
The Scots, coached by Scott Reed, were 12-9 overall (7-1 CWPA) and took third at the CWPA Championships for the third straight season.
Click here to view the CSC release.
Sports
Orioles Minor League Baseball player dies after jet ski crash in Lido Key
LIDO KEY, Fla. – A professional baseball player in the Baltimore Orioles’ minor league system has died following last Sunday’s head-on jet ski crash in Lido Key, team officials confirmed. The backstory: According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), two jet skis with two people each on board collided head-on, sending all […]

LIDO KEY, Fla. – A professional baseball player in the Baltimore Orioles’ minor league system has died following last Sunday’s head-on jet ski crash in Lido Key, team officials confirmed.
The backstory:
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), two jet skis with two people each on board collided head-on, sending all four occupants into the water.

Luis Guevara, 19, an infielder with the Orioles’ Florida Complex League affiliate, later died at the hospital.

Photo of Luis Guevara. Courtesy: Minor League Baseball.
A native of Venezuela, Guevara signed with the Orioles in January 2023 and made his U.S. debut this season, appearing in 30 minor league games.
The FCL Orioles postponed Monday and Tuesday night’s scheduled games in the aftermath of the crash.
What they’re saying:
Orioles general manager Mike Elias released a statement, writing in part: “Luis was a beloved member of our organization, and we are devastated following his tragic passing. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and teammates, and we ask for their continued privacy during this difficult time.”
The Source: This story was written with information from the Baltimore Orioles and previous FOX 13 News reports.
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Sports
Twelve Bison Earn CSC At-Large Academic All-District Honors
LEWISBURG, Pa. – A dozen student-athletes from six different sports earned spots on the College Sports Communicators (CSC) At-Large Academic All-District Teams on Tuesday. Bucknell’s honorees were Connor Davis, Louie Germain, Owen Kovacs, and Will Pickering from men’s lacrosse; Kira Leclercq, Lily Neilson, and Nicky Punt from field hockey; Kalena Gatesman and Kona Glenn […]

Bucknell’s honorees were Connor Davis, Louie Germain, Owen Kovacs, and Will Pickering from men’s lacrosse; Kira Leclercq, Lily Neilson, and Nicky Punt from field hockey; Kalena Gatesman and Kona Glenn from rowing; Izzy Lippolis from women’s water polo; Sean Tunnicliff from men’s water polo; and Kurt Phipps from wrestling.
Neilson, a two-time All-American who earned the Christy Mathewson Award as the top athlete in Bucknell’s Class of 2025, was selected to advance to the national Academic All-America ballot. Those honorees will be announced on July 8.
CSC Academic All-America candidates must have a minimum 3.50 cumulative grade-point average in at least their sophomore year academically and athletically, and they must meet certain sport-specific playing-time requirements. The at-large program covers all NCAA-sponsored sports that do not have their own voting process.
Bucknell’s 12 at-large honorees combined for a 3.73 GPA, and all have been prominent members of their teams.
Sports
Three Lions selected to CSC Academic All-District teams
Story Links COMMERCE – Three East Texas A&M University women’s golfers have earned Academic All-District distinction, as selected by the College Sports Communicators, on Tuesday. Marie Baertz (Luxembourg), Julianna Crow (Trinity School of Midland), and Jordan Dusckas (Flower Mound Marcus) were selected to the Academic All-District teams. It is […]

COMMERCE – Three East Texas A&M University women’s golfers have earned Academic All-District distinction, as selected by the College Sports Communicators, on Tuesday.
Marie Baertz (Luxembourg), Julianna Crow (Trinity School of Midland), and Jordan Dusckas (Flower Mound Marcus) were selected to the Academic All-District teams. It is the second time that Dusckas has earned Academic All-District honors in her career, while it is the first for Baertz and Crow, who were both named to the Southland All-Academic teams last week.
The trio is selected to the Academic All-District teams for the At-Large category which includes eligible student-athletes outside the sports of men’s and women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, football, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s swimming & diving, men’s and women’s tennis, softball, baseball, and men’s and women’s track and field and cross country.
Baertz adds another accolade to her name for the 2024-25 season as she has been named the SLC Women’s Golf Student-Athlete of the Year, first team Southland All-Academic, first team All-Southland, and Southland All-Tournament honors. She is a construction engineering major and just wrapped up her sophomore year as a Lion, having been named to the President’s List.
Crow is also a construction engineering major and wrapped up her Lion career this past spring, having earned president’s list honors throughout her Lion career.
Dusckas graduated this past May with her degree in marketing, she has also been named to the president’s list in her Lion career and was selected as an all-conference honoree in 2023-24.
Baertz, Crow, and Dusckas helped the Lions finish second at the SLC Championships for the second year in a row.
The full list of CSC Academic All-District honorees can be found HERE.
-ETAMU-
Sports
Eric Dane Reveals His Right Arm No Longer Works Amid ALS Battle
Eric Dane just revealed in April that he’d been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), but he’s already lost function in his right arm and worries about weakness on his left side and in his legs. “My left side is functioning, my right side has completely stopped working,” the Grey’s Anatomy alum said, after sharing he […]

Eric Dane just revealed in April that he’d been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), but he’s already lost function in his right arm and worries about weakness on his left side and in his legs.
“My left side is functioning, my right side has completely stopped working,” the Grey’s Anatomy alum said, after sharing he only had “one functioning arm,” in an interview with Diane Sawyer that aired on Monday and Tuesday’s Good Morning America. “I feel like maybe a couple more months and I won’t have my left hand either. It’s sobering.”
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Dane, who appeared somewhat physically weak in the pre-taped conversation, already had a scary incident with his 13-year-old daughter when the former competitive swimmer and water polo player jumped into the water and realized he didn’t have the strength to swim.
“She dragged me back to the boat,” he said of his child, adding that he broke down in tears. “I was just, I was, like, heartbroken.”
Dane said his symptoms began over a year ago when he started to notice weakness in his right hand.
“I didn’t really think anything of it at the time. I thought maybe I’d been texting too much or my hand was fatigued,” he recalled. “But a few weeks later, I noticed it had gotten a little worse.”
He then ended up seeing a series of doctors, including two hand specialists and neurologists, the second of which told him, “This is way above my pay grade.”
After nine months of testing, he got the ALS diagnosis: “I’ll never forget those three letters.”
The neurological disorder, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, affects motor neurons, a type of nerve cell in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement and breathing, according to the National Institutes of Health. As these cells deteriorate, muscles weaken and waste away and the brain loses its ability to start and control functions like walking, talking, chewing and breathing. The disease gets worse over time.
Dane, who plays Cal Jacobs on Euphoria and stars in the upcoming Prime Video police thriller Countdown, was focused on his family as he talked to Sawyer and said he wants to work as long as he’s able.
“I mean, I really, at the end of the day, just, all I want to do is spend time with my family and work a little bit if I can,” he said. “I don’t think this is the end of my story. I just don’t feel like, in my heart, I don’t feel like this is the end of me.”
He grew emotional when he referenced wife, Rebecca Gayheart, whom he called his “biggest champion.”
“I talk to her every day,” he said, pausing to collect himself as he got choked up. “We have managed to become better friends and better parents. And she is … probably my biggest champion and my most stalwart supporter. And I lean on her.”
And after losing his own father to suicide at the age of 7, Dane is “angry” the disease could also take him from his teenage daughters while they’re young.
“I’m angry because, you know, my father was taken from me when I was young,” he said. “And now, you know, there’s a very good chance I’m going to be taken from my girls while they’re very young.”
There’s currently no known cure for ALS, and most people die from being unable to breathe on their own, usually within three to five years of symptoms first appearing, according to NIH. Approximately 10 percent of people diagnosed with ALS survive for 10 years or more.
Sawyer had teased the second part of the interview, which aired on Tuesday, when she would speak with Dane and his doctor, Dr. Merit Cudkowicz, the executive director at Massachusetts General Brigham Neuroscience Institute.
“It’s a hard diagnosis to hear, but I want them to hear that there’s hope,” said Cudkowiczm, speaking to others with ALS, which she said affects 5,000 people per year and is a number that is rising too quickly. “I never want anyone to hear that there’s nothing to do because there’s a lot to do.”
Cudkowiczm said it’s predicted by 2040 that the numbers of people with ALS worldwide will increase at least 40 percent, due to the aging population and environmental factors including plastics, bacteria in lakes, pesticides, being in the military and head trauma. She also spoke about a new breakthrough drug that has been showing improvements in clinical testing.
Dane, who doesn’t qualify for that trial per gene testing, is taking medication to slow down the symptoms and participating in a different research study. “I will fly to Germany and eat the head off a rattlesnake if she told me that will help,” said Dane, with a smile, of being open to trying anything to combat the disease.
The Ice Bucket Challenge that went viral starting in 2014 has raised $200 million for U.S. research.
“I’m pretty hopeful,” closed Dane. “In my heart, I don’t feel like this is the end of me.”
— Jackie Strause contributed to this story.
This story first posted on June 16 at 5:58 am PT and was updated on June 17 at 6:30 a.m. with Dane’s Tuesday interview on GMA.
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Sports
Astros Minor League Recap
AA: Corpus Christi Hooks (22-41) won 8-4 (BOX SCORE) The Hooks got on the board in the 2nd inning scoring 5 runs on a Ferreras solo HR, Austin RBI double, Sacco RBI single and Williams 2 run HR. In the 3rd, Guillemette connected on a 3 run HR to extend the lead. Rodning got the […]


AA: Corpus Christi Hooks (22-41) won 8-4 (BOX SCORE)
The Hooks got on the board in the 2nd inning scoring 5 runs on a Ferreras solo HR, Austin RBI double, Sacco RBI single and Williams 2 run HR. In the 3rd, Guillemette connected on a 3 run HR to extend the lead. Rodning got the start and tossed 2 scoreless innings. Santa pitched in relief allowing 4 runs, 2 earned, over 2 innings. The rest of the pen was great tossing 5 scoreless as the Hooks won 8-4.
Note: Chirinos has a 0.00 ERA in Double-A.
- Tommy Sacco, LF: 1-for-5, R, RBI
- Jeron Williams, 2B: 1-for-5, R, HR, 2 RBI
- Edwin Diaz, SS: 1-for-3, 2 BB
- Luis Baez, 1B: 2-for-5, R
- Zach Cole, CF: 1-for-4, R, 2B
- Garret Guillemette, DH: 1-for-5, R, HR, 3 RBI
- Pascanel Ferreras, 3B: 1-for-4, R, HR, RBI, BB
- Trevor Austin, RF: 2-for-3, R, 3B, RBI
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