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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — High-speed gusts of wind caused trees to fall throughout the Sacramento area Tuesday, leading to damage, power outages and blocked roads.

One decades-old eucalyptus tree fell from a Sacramento family’s yard across South Land Park Drive near 43rd Avenue, partially blocking traffic for several hours. Nobody was hurt and no homes or vehicles were damaged.

“It is really sad to see it go because it’s been there for so long,” said homeowner Ananda Rochita. “It was a good shade tree, and it helped me on my energy bills, my electric bills, which I loved.”

She said she was about to set up a trimming appointment for the tree, but the wind had other plans. Eucalyptus trees have shallow root systems, which make them susceptible to falling over in high winds when the ground is saturated with water.

“I feel like I’m just really grateful that it didn’t hit the house or my neighbor’s home too, so I’m just kind of thinking positively,” she said.

Her positivity includes gratitude that the 350-year-old oak tree in her backyard isn’t the one that fell in the wind.

“I’m hoping the oak tree survives. It’s been around for so, so long -- for centuries!” she said.

Over in Sacramento County’s Lemon Hill neighborhood, people living near MLK Jr. Boulevard and 44th Avenue jumped into action when a tree fell near powerlines.

Neighbors are cutting up a fallen tree at 44th Ave & MLK Jr Blvd in South Sacramento. @ABC10 pic.twitter.com/IcLBqBFwLq

— Becca Habegger (@BeccaReports) March 14, 2023

“I was sitting across the street on the stairs and the tree fell,” said neighbor Shanaye Jones. “We came out here and started moving it and then somebody came out here with the chainsaw... and started cutting it, and we just started just moving it off the street.”

She said she thinks the county should have responded sooner. A CHP officer who arrived on scene told neighbors the county was on its way and busy responding to multiple fallen trees in roadways. Neighbors finished clearing the street before the crew arrived.

“That’s awesome: a bunch of people, you know, jumping in to help,” said neighbor Kyle Orr. “A lot of people around here have each other’s backs, and it’s nice when people have the community impact as well.”

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Mikal Bridges tried to put the Nets on his back in the final minutes of Thursday’s game against the Kings.

The Nets attempted to come back from a 17-point second-half deficit and a nine-point hole with 5:14 left in the fourth quarter, and Bridges scored seven consecutive points to keep the Nets in the game.

But a Malik Monk 3-pointer and a De’Aaron Fox offensive rebound helped seal a 101-96 win for Sacramento.

After surviving a rough five-game road trip, the Nets returned to Brooklyn, where they faced another stiff test in the Kings.

They were prepared for the 1-2 punch of Fox and Domantas Sabonis.

Sabonis dominated for the first half, and Fox starred in the second in the Nets’ second straight loss.

It was a disappointing start to a four-game homestand for the Nets (39-31) against four teams that look to be bound for the postseason.

Head coach Jacque Vaughn said before the game he was wary of facing the Kings (42-27), who have the top offense in the league.

He was right to be concerned.

“They have two All-Stars [Sabonis and Fox], and they play like that every night,’’ Vaughn said. “Sabonis can dictate the offense and push it.”

He pushed around the undersized Nets and helped spark a 13-0 run at the end of the first half that broke open what had been a tie game.

The Nets got back into the game with 10 straight points to cut the deficit to six with 4:11 to go in the third.

Sacramento built another 13-point lead in the third, and the Nets cut it back to five with a Nic Claxton with 6:42 left.

Royce O’Neale missed a 3-pointer that would have made it a two-point game.

Bridges hit two straight jumpers and a free throw to get the Nets back to within five, and Cam Johnson’s 3-point attempt rimmed out with 3:42 left.

It came after the Nets faded in the second half of their last game on the trip in Oklahoma City.

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The Nets opened up a nine-point lead in the first quarter, highlighted by 10 early points from Bridges.

But Bridges didn’t score again for the rest of the half and Sacramento went on a 10-0 run to take the lead, with Sabonis dominating inside.

Sabonis scored seven straight points for the Kings late in the second quarter, as Sacramento took the lead.

In the process, Nic Claxton picked up his third foul before the half.

It was part of another 13-0 run by Sacramento, as the Kings took a 54-41 lead into the second half, their largest advantage of the game.

The Nets were also outrebounded, 32-22, in the first half. Sabonis had 12 boards to go along with his 20 first-half points.

Fox heated up in the third quarter with a pair of quick 3-pointers.

The Nets have to recover quickly, with Denver — struggling, but still leading the Western Conference — coming to Brooklyn on Sunday.

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Vaughn acknowledged how crucial this stretch of games is to the Nets, trying to stay out of the play-in round.

“It’s important with where we are in the season,’’ Vaughn said. “Each game, can we put four quarters together? Because if you don’t this week, you’ll definitely pay for it.”

Once again, Sacramento Kings executives are making the trip to watch Sasha Vezenkov live.

By Eurohoops Team/ [email protected]

Sacramento Kings general manager Monte McNair and vice president Phil Jabour are traveling to Athens, Greece in order to watch Olympiacos Piraeus forward Sasha Vezenkov in action according to Sotiris Vetakis. The Kings own Vezenkov’s NBA rights and have been closely monitoring him over the last year.

McNair and Jabour will attend the Greek League derby between Olympiacos and archrival Panathinaikos Athens Sunday (19/3) where Vezenkov and his teammates will look to extend their undefeated streak on a domestic level. Jabour is expected to also be present in the next Greek League game of Olympiacos vs. Lavrio BC Tuesday (21/3).

This is the second time this season that a member of the Kings travels to Greece to check out Vezenkov’s game up close. In February, Sacramento assistant coach Jay Triano watched the 27-year-old star winning MVP in the Greek Cup after averaging 19.0 points 7.7 rebounds and 4.0 assists.

Vezenkov signed a multiyear contract extension with Olympiacos in January. The deal includes an increase on both the player’s salary and the sum of his NBA buyout.

In his latest game, Vezenkov scored 25 points and hit the game-winner in a road win of Olympiacos over Zalgiris Kaunas. So far in the 2022-23 EuroLeague, he’s posting competition-highs 18.2 points and 7.3 rebounds. He’s considered the favorite to win MVP.

Hailing from as far away as Princeton, New Jersey and as near as East Sacramento, college basketball fans descended on the Golden 1 Center on Thursday for a fun-filled weekend of March Madness.

Ask any basketball devotee, and they’ll tell you it’s the most wonderful time of the year. Conference tournaments give way to the “Big Dance,” more formally known as the NCAA men’s basketball championship. And for the sixth time, Sacramento gets to play host to the madness-filled first and second rounds of the tournament.

Eight teams took the court Thursday and the four survivors will battle it out again Saturday for the chance to play in the Sweet 16. But the action on court is only half of what makes March so magical.

It wasn’t long ago that pandemic-era games without fans proved the real magic comes from the stands, where thousands of supporters scream words of encouragement (and occasional profanities), igniting the air with excitement.

The Bee spoke to several fans to capture their NCAA gameday experience. Here are a few of their many stories:

Thousands of faces graced the Golden 1 jumbotron Thursday afternoon, but Thomas O’Rourke’s bright yellow banana costume turned more than a few heads.

“There’s the banana kid!” fans shouted as the 13-year-old from Littleton, Colorado walked the concourse with his mom Leslie, dad John and little brother William. Missouri had just knocked out Utah State in the afternoon’s opening matchup.

“Oh my gosh, I love your outfit!” one woman told Thomas. “I might just have to steal it.”

Unlike many of the fans in Golden 1, the O’Rourke family has no particular allegiance to any of the teams playing in Sacramento this weekend. Thomas’s parents cheer for the Duke Blue Devils since their colleges – Sewanee and the Colorado School of Mines – don’t have strong basketball programs. (Thomas likes Villanova, who failed to make the tournament this year).

The O’Rourkes use March Madness as a guide to their family’s spring break vacation. They look at which cities are hosting the first and second-round games and then pick one they’ve never visited before. The family visited Nashville in 2018, Columbus in 2019, and Portland in 2021. Last year, the family traveled to San Antonio for the Sweet 16 and the Elite 8.

So far, the family says Sacramento ranks high on the list of tournament cities they’ve visited. They’re planning to explore Midtown and visit some local breweries, including Urban Roots, after the games.

“I love it, because it has all the amenities of a big city,” Leslie said, “but at the same time it feels cozy.”

The banana kid’s verdict?

“I like it a lot because people are really nice,” Thomas said. “It’s pretty cool!”

Annabelle Davis doesn’t usually watch college basketball. But she had to read up on the Princeton versus Arizona matchup when she learned her high school band was selected to play for the Tigers during Thursday’s game. The university’s own pep band wasn’t available, since they’re accompanying the women’s basketball team in Salt Lake City.

A junior at West Campus High School in Sacramento, Davis had Googled the teams during her English class on Wednesday. She learned that if Princeton won, that would be a huge upset.

“My dad said they were going to get crushed,” said the 16-year-old flute player. “I don’t watch basketball, but I’m going to apply there next year.”

Across the arena from Davis and the West Campus crew sat the Arizona Wildcats’ pep band, decked out in the traditional red-and-white block-striped rugby polos of college basketball bands. It’s intimidating to go up against a college-level band, Davis said, with their loud heckles and even louder brass.

“It’s very intimidating,” she said, “but they were nice!” The Wildcat band cheered and gave double thumbs-up to Davis and her friends as they warmed up backstage, she said.

Since bands take turns playing during media timeouts, West Campus was on deck for the second half’s first timeout. The score sat at Princeton 32, Arizona 37. As the buzzer sounded, Davis and her bandmates stood up and locked their eyes on director Briana Fonseca. She counted off four beats, and the band launched into its rendition of “Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes.

Davis, who happily skipped her AP Calculus class to play with the band, had never been to a college basketball game before Thursday. Nor was she an avid Princeton sports fan. But March works in mysterious ways, and by the second half, Davis couldn’t help but feel like she had a stake in the game’s outcome.

“I’m very invested – I really want them to win!”

Princeton fans came from far and wide in hopes of witnessing a historic upset.

“I was afraid I wasn’t going to make it,” said Jess Deutsch, a 1991 Princeton alum and fan who flew in from New Jersey late Wednesday night. “But I was determined to get here!”

Deutsch, who works for Princeton athletics in student athlete services, battled flight delays out of Newark to watch her Tigers compete Thursday afternoon. Even before the Tigers ever took the lead, she didn’t doubt they could pull off the upset of heavily-favored Arizona.

“It’s March – anything can happen!” she said. “And I believe!”

Natalie and Dan Holligan, also Princeton fans, drove in from Walnut Creek with their two young children to see the Tigers take on the Wildcats. Dan played water polo and graduated from Princeton in 2004.

“We’re fighting hard,” Dan said as he watched the game from the upper concourse, holding his daughter Delilah. The Tigers were in a scoring drought. “They don’t have any quit in them.”

The family doesn’t often find themselves in Sacramento, but they were impressed with what the city had to offer – especially the Kings’ new home at Golden 1.

“The stadium is gorgeous – they have a beautiful arena here,” Natalie said. “I’m kinda jealous.”

Two sections over, Dan’s former teammate Kevin Foster was dialed into the game. The Davis native proudly wore his Princeton water polo cap, the number “2” emblazoned on the side, and didn’t take his eyes off the court.

With about six minutes left in the game, the Tigers sunk a 3-pointer and Arizona took a timeout. Foster leapt up, towering above the Arizona fans in the next row, and motioned with his arms for the fellow Princeton fans to get on their feet.

“Get up! Let’s go!” he shouted.

As the clock ticked down, and the Tigers inched closer to victory, the cheers grew louder from everyone except fans in Arizona gear.

The Wildcats, who were down by four, launched a half-hearted Hail Mary from the backcourt as the buzzer sounded. Doink! A miss.

Ashley Conrad-Saydah, a class of 1999 Princeton alumn whose family lives in East Sacramento, roared with cheers.

“It’s another David and Goliath story – just like (27) years ago,” she said, referencing the iconic 1996 upset when Princeton knocked off defending champion UCLA. “It’s about student athletes persevering. This is what we’re meant to do when the Ivies get to the tournament.”

Instead of going out to celebrate, Conrad-Saydah said she had to go pick up her kids from school after the game. But for a few minutes, she soaked in the glory of the moment alongside fellow fans in black and orange.

“We have this beautiful arena, this gorgeous downtown, this beautiful day after all this rain,” Conrad-Saydah said. “It’s like it was meant to be.”

This story was originally published March 17, 2023, 5:00 AM.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

For fifteen years, Annette Wells has lived on Shady Leaf Way in Natomas. She’s seen her share of issues, she said, but now her focus – and frustration – is on one thing: Mail theft.

“It’s aggravating,” she said, of the cluster mailbox down the street from her home. “Somebody has to do something.”

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Wells said her street is repeatedly seeing break-ins at their cluster mailbox; the latest incident coming just Thursday.

| PREVIOUS COVERAGE | Mail theft arrests in Placer, Amador counties as postal crimes continue to bring issues to region

“I’m tired of it and I’m tired of it just repeatedly happening. Every day, every week now,” Wells said. “They need to do something.”

Natomas isn't unique in this issue, according to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, investigators are working cases of mail theft day in, and day out, all over the country.

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“The important thing for us is just letting people know that they can report this — and not to just throw their hands up and just think there's nothing they can do,” Matthew Norfleet, a postal inspector, said.

Norfleet recommended picking up mail as quickly as you can after it’s been delivered, before the sun goes down, signing up for informed delivery, and reporting issues to the service as well as law enforcement when incidents occur. He also recommended adding lighting and security cameras, when possible.

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It’s important, he said, not only to deter thieves from targeting mailboxes to protect the mail but to ensure letter carriers’ safety, too. He said tips can range from information about items stolen and used later to video from surveillance or doorbell cameras.

“Postal inspectors are following up on those leads every day,” he said. “It is a challenge. It’s a big country and there are literally millions of mailboxes. Mail thieves often operate in the dead of night and make it very difficult to detect where they are and where they’re going to be so they can be intercepted and arrested.”

Norfleet said often, when an arrest is made, suspects are armed, which is why it is so important, he said, incidents are reported. Reports can be made by calling 877-876-2455.

| MORE | Mail thieves hold up letter carriers in Sacramento County, stealing master key to mailboxes

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