Magnitude 6.4 earthquake rattles California, Mat Ishbia agrees to buy the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury, and more top news
Here’s a look at trending topics and other top news for today, Dec. 20.
Mat Ishbia
Mortgage executive Mat Ishbia has agreed in principle to buy the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury from the embattled owner Robert Sarver for $4 billion, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
It is the first step in a process that is expected to take several weeks to complete, according to the person, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because neither Ishbia nor the Suns had disclosed the agreement publicly.
ESPN first reported the agreement between Sarver and Ishbia — who is chairman, president and chief executive of United Wholesale Mortgage, which bills itself as the nation’s largest mortgage lender. Forbes recently listed Ishbia’s net worth at $5.1 billion.
Ishbia, a former Michigan State player and a member of the Spartans’ NCAA championship team in 2000, will now be subject to a vetting process by the NBA.
Read more about the deal here:
Kent Porter – member, The Press Democrat
Building inspector Kevin Caldwell, red tags a home in Rio Dell, Calif., that lost an awning and deck, after an earthquake hit Humboldt County, Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022. A powerful earthquake rocked a rural stretch of the Northern California coast early Tuesday, jolting residents awake, cutting off power to 70,000 people, and damaging some buildings and a roadway, officials said.
California earthquake
A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck Northern California’s Eureka area early Tuesday, according to the US Geological Survey, shaking people from their sleep, leaving thousands without electricity and damaging at least one bridge.
The quake, striking at 2:34 a.m. PT, was centered in the Pacific just off the coast, about 7.5 miles from the Humboldt County city of Ferndale, the survey said. That’s about a 20-mile drive southwest of Eureka and a 280-mile drive northwest of Sacramento.
Most homes and businesses in Humboldt County were without power early Tuesday. More than 71,000 outages were reported shortly after 4:30 a.m. PT — out of 99,000 customers tracked in the county — according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us.
Find out more info here:
ANDY MANIS, FOR THE STATE JOURNAL
Celia Ehrhardt walks a candlelit spiral path outside Wingra School in Madison, Wis., in anticipation of last year's winter solstice, a time to celebrate light and the rebirth of the sun on the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.
Winter solstice 2022
Once again we have entered the time of the winter solstice — when daylight is scarce and the creeping darkness seems to whisper: Slow down. Turn inward. Fortify yourself against the long, cold night ahead.
Although shrouded in myths, the winter solstice is a physical event that occurs this year on Dec. 21. It is the day when the North Pole reaches its farthest tilt away from the sun, resulting in the shortest period of daylight of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, followed by the longest night. It is also the day when the sun reaches its lowest maximum point in the sky. In Los Angeles the sun will rise at 6:55 a.m. and set at 4:47 p.m.
On the other side of the world, the Southern Hemisphere experiences its summer solstice on the same day, a sage reminder that on this planet at least, the time of greatest darkness is also the time of greatest light.
Find out more on winter solstice practices here:
