Hamas, Israel continue to fight

Violence between Israel and Hamas has spilled over into the West Bank area, as mostly young demonstrators battled Israeli forces. According to the Associated Press, soldiers have shot and killed at least 11 people.

The conflict, which began several days ago when Israeli police raided a religious building they suspected of harboring terrorists, has escalated into the struggle in which rocket attacks on Israel are met by artillery shelling and air strikes.

At least seven Palestinians were killed by an Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip on Friday. Air strikes are employed to attempt to destroy the “network of tunnels” used by Hamas, according to the Israeli military.

Overall, the AP is reporting at least 126 fatalities in Gaza, and seven in Israel.

Sports: Retired Black NFL vets hit “race-norming”

Many Black former National Football league players are protesting the practice of  “race-norming, which assumes that Blacks suffer less from concussions because they “start with lower cognitive skills.”

According to the Associated Press, the result is that they must score lower in tests to show they have suffered more mental decline, and they are more likely to receive less money in compensation for brain injury claims.

Friday’s games

• Boston 4, Angels 3: Shohei Ohtani hit his 11th home run of the season and added a double, but the Halos lost the first game of a series at Fenway Park to fall to 16-21, still last in the AL West
• Houston Rockets 122, Clippers 115: With their stars on the bench to rest up for the playoffs, the Clips lost at Toyota Center. Luke Kennard scored 23 to pace LAC, which is now 47-24.
• Dallas Wings 94, Los Angeles Sparks: A first quarter lead didn’t hold up for LAS, Nneka Ogwumike scored 18 points to be the top scorer for the Sparks (0-2).
• Dodgers 9, Miami Marlins 6. Matt Muncy hit a three-run home run and Clayton Kershaw struck out 11 batters in six innings as the Dodgers (21-17) moved into a tie for second in the NL West.

Weather:  Chance of rain increasing

The cloudy weather in the skies above West Orange County could be moving into some rain. There’s a 19 percent chance of rain on Saturday and a 24 percent chance of rain in Saturday. Otherwise, it looks like morning clouds and afternoon sun with daytime highs in the high 60s and low 70s. In coastal Huntington Beach, a similar forecast except that daytime highs will be in the mid-60s.