Mark Laird steps up this year as a first-year head coach for the Bethany University men’s basketball team, hoping that this season will be transformational both on and off the court.

Sport fishing for Dungeness crabs started with a bang Nov. 6. Reports of crabs loading the pots were streaming in, followed up with happy stories of fresh steamed crab dinners. Meanwhile, rockfish season is closing, and steelhead fishing in the rivers is just around the corner.

MEXICO — I'm halfway through my trip in Mexico. I started in Tuxtla, the capital of Chiapas, last week and will stop today in Campeche in Yucatan on the Gulf of Mexico. How different are the people, the soils, the climate, the weather and the landscapes of each locale. It's as diverse as going from Bonny Doon to Pasatiempo to Scotts Valley and then to San Lorenzo Valley.

I'll be vacationing the next week in southern Mexico, traveling east from the state of Chiapas to the Yucatan peninsula. In addition to exploring ruins, waterfalls, cenotes and flamingo breeding grounds, I'll be especially interested in the local plants, which vary from hardwood forests of mahogany and cedar to tropical.