Los Angeles Times Profile picture
Jul 7 6 tweets 6 min read
Every morning, before thousands of spectators enter and @Wimbledon play gets underway, @RufusTheHawk flies over the world’s most manicured tennis courts.

He and handler Wayne Davis have a job to do: keeping pesky nuisance birds away. latimes.com/sports/story/2…
@Wimbledon @RufusTheHawk The pair have worked together for 22 years at #Wimbledon and places like Westminster Abbey.

@Wimbledon's 15,000-seat Centre Court, with its network of beam-lined ceilings and all the grass seed a bird could want, could be “pigeon heaven,” Davis said. latimes.com/sports/story/2…
@Wimbledon @RufusTheHawk “(A pigeon) might be swooping low as you were about to serve,” said Pam Shriver. “I never had one land on the net or got pigeon poop on me in the middle of a match, which might have brought me good luck.”
latimes.com/sports/story/2…
@Wimbledon @RufusTheHawk .@RufusTheHawk began training when he was 15 weeks old, but he's still a wild animal — that makes him better at his job — and it’s not unheard of for him to fly off for 24 hours or longer. latimes.com/sports/story/2…
@Wimbledon @RufusTheHawk “Hawks are not like dogs,” Davis said. “It’s a different relationship, because dogs respond to a tone in your voice, whereas with hawks and falcons, it’s a much more basic reaction. The hawk is basically a free spirit and I have to work with it.” latimes.com/sports/story/2…
@Wimbledon @RufusTheHawk Rufus and Davis clearly have a rapport. While others watch from a safe distance, Davis is comfortable enough to get nose-to-beak with Rufus. With affection. latimes.com/sports/story/2…

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More from @latimes

Jul 8
Patients are turning to apps for therapy. But do digital mental health startups really help?

latimes.com/business/story…
Online therapy provider Talkspace says it has served more than 1 million people with 3,000 providers nationwide. It charges $400 or more a month for four weekly live sessions.

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“There are fundamental questions about what these companies are doing and whether they are reaching people who really need help,” said Dr. John Torous, director of the digital psychiatry division at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

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Jul 8
“The reason that they want to implement (an international) draft is because the teams themselves corrupted the system down there (in Latin America) so poorly,” one prominent agent said of @MLB.

“The scouts are robbing from the teams themselves.
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In the Dominican Republic, people realized developing baseball players was good business. So trainers, known as buscones, surfaced to pull children from school to practice baseball full-time at 12 and 13 years old.

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Problems escalated when MLB imposed spending caps on its clubs in the international amateur market in 2012 and stricter limits in the previous CBA, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

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Jul 8
Continuing to work from home while testing positive for COVID has become a familiar practice among professionals who can do their jobs remotely.

Physicians caution, however, that rest is an important part of weathering a COVID-19 infection.
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“Sleep equals immunity,” said Dr. Susan Cheng, a cardiologist, researcher and professor in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
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People forget that COVID-19 is not the common cold, Dr. Susan Cheng said — and even for a common cold, “you do not want to be going 100% or even 80%.”
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Read 6 tweets
Jul 7
You can almost hear it: the crunch of crisping lawns all over L.A., thanks to the ongoing drought and recent restrictions on outdoor watering. latimes.com/lifestyle/stor…
It’s no surprise, then, that many Angelenos are thinking seriously about ripping out their lawns in exchange for less thirsty landscapes and a rebate from the Metropolitan Water District. latimes.com/lifestyle/stor…
Hiring a landscape contractor can make the lawn removal project much easier but far more expensive. So some people, especially those with smaller yards, are considering the DIY approach. latimes.com/lifestyle/stor… Image
Read 4 tweets
Jul 7
Many Northern California cities have received two-thirds of their normal rainfall over the past three years.

latimes.com/california/sto… Image
San Francisco ended the three-season period with only 56% of its normal rainfall season.

Some places, such as Ukiah, Santa Rosa and Mount Shasta City, did even worse, logging about half or less of their normal precipitation.

latimes.com/california/sto… Image
Places in Southern California fared better than those in the Northern region, with downtown Los Angeles getting 77% of normal rainfall for the three-year period.

Read more about the driest 22-year period in the West in over 1,200 years:
latimes.com/california/sto… Image
Read 4 tweets
Jul 7
It was the last day of Mississippi’s last abortion clinic. The last day volunteers could wrap their arms around a patient, ushering them through the clinic’s glass door for an abortion.
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The last day staffers would answer the phone — “Jackson Women’s Health. May I help you?” — knowing they actually could help.
latimes.com/world-nation/s…
Dubbed “The Pink House” for its bubblegum-pink walls, this clinic has long been the epicenter of the nation’s fight over abortion and the last bastion of reproductive rights in a staunchly conservative state.
latimes.com/world-nation/s…
Read 8 tweets

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