Southern California

A magnitude 4.4 earthquake rattled Southern California on Tuesday night. The quake was reported at 11:23 p.m. and was centered around Yorba Linda in northern Orange County. There was no immediate word of injuries or damage, but the quake was felt over a wide area. According to the the U.S. Geological Survey, the temblor struck two miles northeast of Yorba Linda, about 29 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. It was felt from Long Beach northwest to Santa Monica, as well as in downtown L.A.

A magnitude 4.4 earthquake rattled Southern California on Tuesday night. The quake was reported at 11:23 p.m. and was centered around Yorba Linda in northern Orange County. There was no immediate word of injuries or damage, but the quake was felt over a wide area. According to the the U.S. Geological Survey, the temblor struck two miles northeast of Yorba Linda, about 29 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. It was felt from Long Beach northwest to Santa Monica, as well as in downtown L.A.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Fernando Valenzuela wanted Friday evening to be electric, just like the Hollywood nights that made him a legend so many years ago. The thousands of fans who lined up outside Anaheim Stadium to see him wanted the same thing, but their aging idol had only the stuff of humans.Valenzuela's return to Southern California was far from triumphant. He lasted four innings and gave up three home runs as the California Angels scored a 8-4 victory over the Orioles in the opener of a three-game series.

Duff Goldman quite literally ate his way across America to film the series "Sugar High" last year - from sea to sugary sea. And we aren't talking Hollywood smoke-and-mirrors eating, where it looks like someone is tasting something but is really spitting it into an off-camera bucket. It was real - all too real, as Goldman now realizes. Bread pudding. S'mores. Apple strudel. Mousse. Maple bacon doughnuts. Bananas Foster. Fried dough. Cookies. Pie. "I was literally eating dessert all day, every day, for seven weeks straight," he says, explaining how he "blew up," gaining no less than 30 pounds, though he was too depressed to get on the scale to see an actual number.

San Juan Capistrano, Calif. -- Did last Sunday's earthquakes convince Don and Debbie Greco to move from California to Urbana, Ill.? Not specifically. Fires? Riots? Drought? The free-falling economy? Gangs? Freeway shootings? Illegal immigrants using the bike path near their home like an underground railroad?No, no, no, no, no, no, no and no.But as they moved from their San Juan Capistrano home this week, they remember the past four years here as an anxious, frustrating and, at times, frightening period in which neighbors got edgier, traffic got worse and even Little League games became potential flash-points.

SAN DIEGO - Fires happen all the time, and what's left behind is never pretty. But seldom is the devastation as complete as it is here in Scripps Ranch, a middle-class community in the suburbs north of San Diego. A few days ago, the corner of Fairbrook Road and Thornbush Court looked like most neighborhoods in America, with Halloween decorations on the doors, minivans in the driveways and kids in the back yard. Look in any direction from the street corner today and little is left except for brick chimneys that stand like eerie sentinels over a charcoal landscape.

LOS ANGELES -- There was a moment yesterday when Reggie Bush seemed human. It came in the first quarter of Southern California's 66-19 demolition of cross-town rival UCLA at the Coliseum. Bush, looking back into the sun, dropped a short swing pass from quarterback Matt Leinart. More inside Texas crushes Colorado, 70-3, for Big 12 title, spot in title game. PG 7D

Just days after rain quenched Southern California's wildfires, nature's disaster-recovery effort is already under way. Deer are browsing in the burned-over zones where new growth has begun to appear. Long-buried seeds are preparing to sprout, in response to chemical signals in the wildfires' smoke. The same chemical cues draw insects to feast on dead wood - and the bugs in turn will draw songbirds in spring. If nature had a free hand, fire would help keep the forests and scrublands healthy.

MIAMI - Dwayne Jarrett had been on the Southern California campus less than a month last summer when he called his mother, Camille, telling her that he wanted to come back home to New Jersey. "There was nobody around, school wasn't in session, and I told her that I didn't think it was the right place for me," Jarrett said one afternoon last week after practice. "She told me to keep pushing hard and don't give up. I had never quit anything in my life and I wasn't going to quit now." Jarrett listened to his mother, as well as to coaches and more experienced teammates.

TIJUANA, Mexico - Federico Fregoso and his wife, Guadalupe Valdovinos, have never lived better. For the first time in her life, Valdovinos can cook "frijoles" - beans - on a gas stove and watch "telenovelas" - soap operas - on a small black-and-white television. Her husband can boast of owning a home, one he built himself on a hilltop with panoramic views of the golden-brown mountains in the distance. Every day, the two pray thankfully at a simple altar above their bed, where a portrait of the Virgin of Guadalupe hangs next to a cross and a rosary.

Vaughn Martin had only been in Southern California a few months, but he somehow knew his geography, and he had a good grasp on what had transpired. Assessing a play against the Baltimore Ravens in September 2009, wherein he was blown back like a leaf as Willis McGahee ran unfettered for a touchdown, Martin said a few days after it happened: “I was in Orange County by the time it was done.” It was funny then, and it's funny now. The play also provides Martin, normally reluctant to talk about his personal growth as a player, an undeniable measuring stick.

Right-hander Kevin Millwood, who was the Orioles' Opening Day starter last season, is now in Irvine, Calif., working out and waiting for a job. For the past week, Millwood, 36, has been training at a Southern California facility run by his agent, Scott Boras. Millwood works out every morning, running, lifting weights and throwing. Every two to three days he has thrown a bullpen side session, and he expects to pitch to college hitters next week. "I am just kind of keeping going, staying in shape and getting my arm ready to go when something does happen," Millwood said.

The Titans are suing Southern California and coach Lane Kiffin for "maliciously" luring away assistant running backs coach Kennedy Pola a week before training camp opens. Tennessee Football Inc., the company that owns the Titans, filed the lawsuit Monday in Davidson County (Tenn.) Chancery Court against both the university and Kiffin. The lawsuit accuses Southern California and Kiffin of violating Pola's contract that required him to have written permission to discuss a job with anyone other than the Titans.

Ty Wigginton's name is beginning to pop up in trade rumors from Southern California to New York, but he's not campaigning for a trade. In fact, the veteran infielder would prefer staying in Baltimore if the alternative is going elsewhere to be a little-used bench player. "If I were to go somewhere, I'd want it to be somewhere I could contribute," Wigginton said. "But I love the city of Baltimore, and I love playing here for these fans." Wigginton, who is a free agent at season's end, has started 52 of 57 games in 2010 for the Orioles, including 32 at second base and 13 at first.

This time, I went with him. And I still got snowed in. Every winter for all the years we have been married, my husband the sportswriter has left me in winter for a subtropical Super Bowl city or a glamorous Winter Olympics venue. And every four years, he leaves me for both. Every year, calamity strikes. It is like the universe knows I am working without a net and takes its best shot at the target on my back. One year, there was a mouse in the kitchen. One year, the IRS attached my wages and shut down my bank account for nonpayment of a $30 bill that never got to me. One year, a snowstorm came at me horizontally, filled my attic and melted its way through my bedroom ceiling and onto my bed. One year, I wrecked my car and had my wallet stolen in the grocery store.

Michael Phelps , who lives in Fells Point, and Katie Hoff of Towson won gold medals Sunday night at the Southern California Grand Prix in Long Beach. Phelps held off Japan's Hidemasa Sano in the 400-yard individual medley to take home his second gold of the meet. Phelps finished in 3 minutes, 38.42 seconds; Sano's time was 3:39.63. Hoff won the 400IM in a meet-record-4:04.39, edging Ariana Kukors (4:06.04). Hoff was second in the 200 freestyle, finishing in 1:44.

Baseball Detroit Tigers -- Agreed to terms with IF/DH Tony Phillips on a three-year contract.College football Southern California -- Football coach Larry Smith announced his resignation.

Manuel Mejia Vallejo,75, an award-winning Colombian novelist noted for his realistic depictions of urban and rural life, died Thursday in Bogota, Colombia, after suffering two strokes.James A. Stanley,93, an automotive engineer and former transportation official who had a major impact on Southern California's freeway system, died July 17 in Los Angeles. He encouraged freeway construction during his tenure in the 1970s on the Southern California Transportation Action Committee.Pub Date: 7/28/98

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- It took awhile for North Carolina to remind Southern California who it was last night, but the Tar Heels certainly did. For nearly 30 minutes, Carolina struggled as USC and its spectacular freshman, Taj Gibson, shined. Then, having been outplayed in virtually every facet, the Tar Heels showed why they are a No. 1 seed and why they have advanced past this stage so many times. North Carolina defeated fifth-seeded USC, 74-64, in an East Regional semifinal before 19,557 at the Meadowlands.

SPOKANE, Wash. -- The blueprint for an upset was simple enough. The Southern California players and coaches figured if they played tough defense and stayed close against favored Texas for the first 10 minutes, they could make a game of it. The Trojans did better than that. They broke to an early lead against the Longhorns - and their super-freshman Kevin Durant - and never looked back, rolling to an 87-68 victory in an East Regional second-round game at Spokane Arena. "The first 10 minutes were critical," USC coach Tim Floyd said.