Highlights, lowlights from the week’s news

HIT >> During a rant, former Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson once spoke these famous words — “We’re talking about practice, not a game — practice.”

Indeed, we are talking about practice — and in a good way!

Friday marked the first day that contact sports, like football and soccer, were able to resume practice — not socially distanced conditioning, which was the case before the California Department of Public Health revised its youth sports guidelines Feb. 19.

This may be the first time we’ve seen high school athletes gleaming with joy just to go out and practice.

Kids are actually thanking their coaches for holding practice; that’s how happy they are. It makes sense, since practice is a time where these kids are able to exert some energy alongside their friends and teammates.

We hope that the athletes, the coaches and all the parents involved with athletics will continue following guidelines so we can keep this downward trend of COVID-19 cases going.

MISS >> When over 40 dead snow geese turned up in a north Chico field, it was not only disturbing but incredibly disappointing.

The good hunters of this area understand the guidelines set by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and respect the wildlife.

The individual who killed the geese cleaned the birds for their meat, then dumped the rest of the carcasses in an empty field.

The unethical disposal of these geese was not only a sickening sight, it was a blemish on law-abiding hunters everywhere. Hopefully the CDFW can find out who committed the crime and issue a hefty fine so everyone is deterred from ever doing this again.

HIT >> After spending most of the past year reporting nothing but bad news about COVID-19, we’re delighted to bring yet another positive weekly update.

The numbers have not just dropped, they’re fallen off a cliff.

One month ago, Butte County had 399 active cases with 51 people hospitalized because of coronavirus. Today those numbers are down to 118 and 13, respectively. The same thing is happening in Glenn County, where the numbers have dropped from 200 active cases and 13 hospitalizations to just 49 and seven in the same amount of time.

California’s cases have declined 87% from last month’s peak and been cut by more than half in the past two weeks. Hospitalizations have fallen 73% from last month’s peak and by 43% in the past two weeks.

Perhaps best of all, as of Friday morning, 23 percent of Butte County’s residents had already received at least one round of the vaccination shots.

Fifty weeks after we shut everything down “for a couple of weeks to flatten the curve,” that curve is finally taking a huge dip in the right direction.

MISS >> It’s a shame we have to keep repeating this, but it needs to be done — especially after we’ve had so many horrific accidents in our area lately.

People, slow down. And stop driving like such an idiot.

Every morning, cars driving 20 or 30 miles an hour over the speed limit are putting lives at risk on Highway 99, Highway 32, Highway 70 and all over the county. Stunningly, there is still no shortage of fools convinced if they just keep passing cars on a two-lane road, their days will somehow be brighter and better as a result.

Inevitably, when those drivers make it into town and stop at a red light, they’re sitting right next to cars they recklessly passed along the way. You really saved a lot of time passing over that double-yellow line and forcing an oncoming car into a ditch, didn’t you?

There’s a reason you seldom see older, more mature people driving so recklessly: Bad drivers don’t live long enough. Even worse, they take innocent lives with them.

Slow down. And don’t drink and drive.

Friday marked the first day that contact sports, like football and soccer, were able to resume practice — not socially distanced conditioning.