Highlights, lowlights from the week’s news

HIT >> Perhaps the greatest lesson young people can learn from sports is this — Life isn’t always fair. It’s what you do afterward, and how you handle adversity, that really matters.

That’s why, in a week that saw several Butte County teams take big steps toward possible state championships, we’re recognizing a team that fell just short.

It would have been completely understandable for Pleasant Valley coach Tim Keating and his players to blame an official following the Vikings’ 55-53 loss to Whitney in the CIF Division III opening round playoffs. After all, the game ended with a blown call — video and photographic evidence clearly showed Whitney’s Derek Lamb still had the ball in his hands when the shot clock hit zero, and it wasn’t even close. Yet, officials counted his basket, which gave Whitney the winning margin at the very end.

But “the blame game” is not the way Keating — who already has two state championships on his coaching resume — operates. Instead of mentioning the missed call, Keating said the Vikings had missed plenty of opportunities themselves, and it was their own fault for allowing the game to be put in the officials’ hands at the end.

“I’m just proud of the guys. They came together, battled through a lot of adversity this year,” Keating said. “To win a league and section title this year is awesome for these guys.”

It’s such a far cry from the poor sportsmanship we see too often these days, including a brawl late in a boys Division I playoff game in San Francisco. The Vikings should hold their heads highly for a great season — and especially for going out with class.

Meanwhile, Pleasant Valley’s girls basketball team, Chico’s boys and Butte College’s women are each continuing postseason play tonight, along with Gridley’s boys soccer team. Here’s wishing them all the best.

MISS >> The theft of public money is always a serious issue. It somehow feels even worse when the theft is taking place at a public university.

Former Chico State professor and department chairman Timothy Kizirian and department secretary Ronda McGrath entered a plea of no contest Wednesday to a scheme involving grand theft.

According to a press release issued Wednesday by Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey, Kizirian, who worked in the accounting department, and McGrath submitted fake expenses that contained duplicate compensations along with gift card purchases, fraudulent mileage claims and falsified personal and travel expenses. Ramsey said the investigation turned up $1.12 million that was spent by making these claims.

That’s $1.2 million from a university that’s trying to find ways to save money in the midst of a one-third drop in enrollment the past six years.

The chutzpah and sense of entitlement from people committing such crimes is incredible. We’re glad these people got caught, and can’t help but wonder how many others continue to get away with it.

HIT >> We’ve been saying for years that California’s homeless crisis is not going to change in any meaningful way until the state increases its effort to provide more care for people on our streets who obviously have mental health problems. This week, we have an actual bipartisan effort under way to do just that.

State Senator Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton), the Big City Mayors coalition, NAMI California, the California State Association of Psychiatrists, and the Psychiatric Physicians’ Alliance of California announced legislation to overhaul the state’s behavioral health care system. Senate Bill 43 seeks to reform California’s LPS conservatorship law by updating the criteria for determining if a person is “gravely disabled,” the standard for LPS conservatorship eligibility.

The bill would also establish a real-time, internet-based dashboard about the availability of beds in a range of psychiatric and substance abuse facilities.

It’s similar to AB 2020 introduced last year by Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-Yuba City), who supports this latest effort. San Francisco Mayor London Breed is also on board.

“We cannot continue to let those with serious mental health and substance abuse disorders suffer and deteriorate on our streets. This is not just a housing issue; it is a public health crisis that demands action,” said Gallagher, the Assembly Republican Leader. “We cannot simply throw billions of dollars at the issue and pat ourselves on the back for a job well done. We need policy changes.”

We agree. And with a few more “Ds” after the names of the sponsors of this bill, maybe it’ll actually go somewhere.

MISS >> It’s tough to imagine a summer without Highway 70 open through Plumas County, but it’s looking like a real possibility. A series of rockslides and mudslides over the winter has left months of cleanup work ahead, with 80,000 cubic yards of material coming down between Belden and Twain this week alone.

Just another reminder that when we’re blessed with an abundance of precipitation (finally) after a series of dry winters, there always seems to be an extra price to pay.