Dan Malloy

Hurricane surf rumbles up the coast from Baja, big waves bursting off the south side of the pier, filling the air with a white mist. A swell has arrived just in time for the U.S. Open of Surfing this week. The boys down on the beach, the young professionals in their sponsored eyewear, hoot and holler. "It's macking," the guy on the loudspeaker declares. It is the sort of day Dan Malloy used to dream about while fidgeting in class at St. Bonaventure High in Ventura.

Professional surfing is not always about carving big turns and launching into aerials. Sometimes the waves run inconsistent, without much shape. Sometimes the tide and wind conspire to whip the ocean into a chaotic mess. On such days, the competition becomes a test of nerves. The surfers play a game of chess, jockeying for position, looking to pounce on anything decent that rolls through. So it took all the patience that Dan Malloy could muster to survive the round of 64 at the U.S.

Professional surfing is not always about carving big turns and launching into aerials. Sometimes the waves run inconsistent, without much shape. Sometimes the tide and wind conspire to whip the ocean into a chaotic mess. On such days, the competition becomes a test of nerves. The surfers play a game of chess, jockeying for position, looking to pounce on anything decent that rolls through. So it took all the patience that Dan Malloy could muster to survive the round of 64 at the U.S.

Hurricane surf rumbles up the coast from Baja, big waves bursting off the south side of the pier, filling the air with a white mist. A swell has arrived just in time for the U.S. Open of Surfing this week. The boys down on the beach, the young professionals in their sponsored eyewear, hoot and holler. "It's macking," the guy on the loudspeaker declares. It is the sort of day Dan Malloy used to dream about while fidgeting in class at St. Bonaventure High in Ventura.

A week ago, Sunny Garcia stood in almost the exact same spot in the media area of the scaffolding overlooking the swells on the south side of Huntington Beach pier and bitterly ripped Australian Michael Campbell, who had just beaten him in the final of the Bluetorch Pro. Sunday, Garcia lashed out only at the waves, carving his trademark powerful turns and slashing cutbacks that sent buckets of water spraying in wide arcs as he dominated the final of the Panasonic ShockWave U.S. Open.

It was like a blast from the past. Three-time world champion Tom Curren was catching wave after wave, racking up points in his heat. But unlike past tournaments, Curren was not seeded in a later round with the Kelly Slaters and Conan Hayeses of the surfing world, but instead was working his way through countless qualifying rounds in the Op Pro Surfing Championships at the Huntington Beach Pier. Curren, of Santa Barbara, won the world title in 1985, 1986 and 1990.

NEWTOWN, Conn. -- School shooter Adam Lanza killed his mother with "multiple" shots to her head and killed himself with a single shot to his head, according to a coroner's report released Sunday. After killing his mother in the home they shared, Lanza, 20, drove her car to Sandy Hook Elementary School, where he opened fire in two classrooms Friday morning, killing 20 children and six adults. He then turned the gun on himself. The autopsy reports were released by Connecticut Chief Medical Examiner Dr. H. Wayne Carver II, who said earlier that all the children had been shot multiple times.

NEWTOWN, CONN. -- The time for prayer came early Sunday morning for many as the town awaits the arrival of President Obama and as officials plan to release more information about the gunman in the school shooting. As early as 7:30 a.m., residents were streaming into area churches to find some sense of meaning from the Friday morning massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School that left 20 children and six adults dead. Gunman Adam Lanza, 20, also killed his mother and himself.  "This is, this is mental illness, you know, dressed in evil, I suppose," Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy said on CBS' "Face the Nation.

Boxing's return to network television for the first time in 15 years went off smoothly Saturday, though there were moments when it wasn't certain it would come off without interruption. Stephen Espinoza, the television executive presiding over the situation, breathed a sigh of relief when the fight was barely delayed by an overtime basketball game. "It was a good match and performance for this broadcast, all-action from the opening to the final bell," Espinoza said after world bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz successfully defended his title against Alberto Guevara by unanimous decision on CBS. "We'll look at the ratings and have the discussion about when we can do it again, but I thought the production went extremely well.

Lawmakers in Connecticut, the site of the Dec. 14 massacre that renewed a national debate over gun control, passed a bipartisan measure that increases background checks for buyers and bans the sale of semiautomatic rifles like the one used in Newtown's Sandy Hook Elementary School. The Senate passed the bill 26-10 yesterday, and the House of Representatives approved it 105-44 in Hartford. The legislature is controlled by Democrats, and Democratic Governor Dan Malloy, 57, has said he will sign the measure.

A week ago, Sunny Garcia stood in almost the same spot in the media area of the scaffolding overlooking the swells on the south side of Huntington Beach pier and bitterly ripped Australian Michael Campbell, who had just beaten him in the final of the Bluetorch Pro. Sunday, Garcia lashed out only at the waves, carving his trademark powerful turns and slashing cutbacks that sent buckets of water spraying in wide arcs as he dominated the final of the Panasonic ShockWave U.S. Open.

Tita Tavares didn't seem to notice the waves were no good. The Brazilian so dominated the field in the finals at the elleven women's U.S. Open at Huntington Beach Saturday that her worst scoring wave was better than any of her competitors' best waves. "I don't feel so horrible," runner-up Megan Abubo of Hawaii said. "Tita even caught that one at the end of the heat and it ends up being, what, a 7.50? Everyone out there was looking around saying, 'What the heck?' " Tavares ran away with the U.S.