WASHINGTON (AP) — Before basketball became such a big part of AJ Dybantsa’s life, he was like any other kid — growing up as a fan of a fictional superhero.

When he was about five, his father bought him a Spider-Man basketball hoop that went on the back of his door.

“I loved Spider-Man growing up. So I just started shooting from my bed with this miniature ball. Then I started playing in the YMCA leagues … ended up falling in love with the game,” Dybantsa said. “So Spider-Man is the reason why I love basketball.”

The Washington Wizards are certainly glad Dybantsa took up the sport and committed himself to it. Two days after taking the 6-foot-9 star out of BYU with the top pick in the NBA draft, the team introduced him Thursday at a hotel overlooking the Potomac River, about 1 1/2 miles south from where the Wizards play their home games.

“Nothing comes easy, but I want to be a piece of the puzzle that is part of the rebuild,” he said. “Obviously, Wizards fans have been waiting for a long time.”

This was the first time the Wizards have picked first in the draft since 2010 when they took John Wall. Dybantsa joins a team that hasn’t won 50 games in a season since 1979 — and more recently managed only 50 victories over the past three seasons combined.

One issue of uncertainty was resolved at the news conference. Dybantsa wore No. 3 in college, but in Washington that belongs to Trae Young. Dybantsa will change to No. 4.

“Previously wore No. 3, but I was the No. 1 pick,” he said. “Wanted to add those up, and we got four.”

Dybantsa averaged 25.5 points per game in college, becoming the first freshman to lead the nation in scoring since his new teammate, Young, did it at Oklahoma in 2017-18.

Washington fans will have a chance soon enough to see what Dybantsa brings on the court, but Thursday’s event was an opportunity to see the type of person they’ll be investing so much hope in. Dybantsa was personable and confident, and he seemed eager to get down to business. That much was clear back at the combine before the draft.

“It was like a job. My dad was like, ‘This is your first job interview,’” he said. “So we decided to dress up. I went to a suit and tie in every single interview. Media availability, that was in a suit and tie. So I just wanted to treat it like a real job.”

That made quite an impression on Wizards general manager Will Dawkins.

“It was a pretty fun first introduction, just to learn the maturity that he brings,” Dawkins said. “We allow opportunities to ask questions. Sometimes you get the standard questions from guys. We didn’t get that from AJ. He’s just curious and mature and asked some really deep questions.”

Dybantsa said he intends to graduate college, finishing his studies online, and he has big plans for how he can make a difference away from basketball. The 19-year-old has already started a foundation aimed at empowering young people.

“My mom’s from Jamaica, my dad’s from Congo. We’re going to start off just sending 20 kids from there to different universities,” he said. “If that’s universities in the continent of Africa, if that’s different universities in Jamaica, if that’s universities in the States, we’re going to try that. But after those, we’re just going to expand all around the world. We just want to help kids all around the world.”

CASPER, Wyo. — On Thursday, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department announced that the Dan Speas Fish Hatchery will be temporarily closed, beginning June 25, due to the construction of a brand-new, state-of-the-art cool-/warm-water fish production facility.

A release from Game and Fish says that the brief pause in public access is a necessary step to ensure the safety of visitors and staff during the heavy-lifting phases of the project.

“We had hoped to keep access open to the hatchery, but we have discovered there will be too many safety hazards during the demolition phase of construction,” said Lars Alsager, Game and Fish superintendent of Dan Speas. “The Department will reassess the closure in the fall of 2026, once initial demolition and foundational work are safely wrapped up.”

As Wyoming’s largest producer of fish for stocking, the Dan Speas Fish Hatchery — along with the state’s nine other fish hatcheries — will continue its normal cold-water fish production uninterrupted throughout the entire construction process.

Once the expansion is complete, the new facility will dramatically boost Game and Fish’s ability to manage diverse recreational fishing opportunities across Wyoming by raising sport fish locally, rather than importing them from other states.

Anglers can look forward to high-quality, in-state production of walleye, sauger, crappie, bluegill, largemouth bass and channel catfish.

“This project marks a thrilling milestone for Wyoming’s outdoor community, ensuring a robust, self-sustaining future for cold, cool and warm-water sport fishing right here at home,” adds Alan Osterland, chief of fisheries.

The release notes that the Wyoming Game and Fish Department is committed to keeping the community in the loop every step of the way. They included a brief snapshot of what to expect throughout the project:

• Fall 2026: Demolition and foundation work conclude, and the department reassesses public access to the facility.
• Fall 2027: Construction of the new cool-/warm-water fish production facility officially ends.
• Spring 2028: The first batch of cool- and warm-water fish will be produced and prepared to stock Wyoming waters.

“The Wyoming Game and Fish Department extends its sincere thanks to the public for their understanding and cooperation as we build a premier fishery asset for generations of anglers to come,” the release states.

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SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — A recent Civil Grand Jury report has identified wildfire risks in San Francisco’s Glen Canyon, warning that vegetation management is needed to reduce the potential for a fire in an area not typically associated with wildfire danger.

The report focuses on the canyon’s large population of Blue Gum eucalyptus trees, an invasive species originally imported from Australia.

Historical photographs show Glen Canyon was largely treeless in the late 1800s, when the land was used primarily as a dairy farm.

The eucalyptus trees were planted after investors believed the fast-growing species could be harvested for timber.

“And these people were so stupid, they didn’t realize they were going to build railroad ties and use the wood for building, and it’s worthless. It warps, it splits. it has no commercial value,” said Rick Carell, a member of the Civil Grand Jury.

While the timber venture failed, the trees remained.

Today, their flammability is a concern for fire safety officials and grand jury members.

MORE: 600 goats graze Poplar Beach in Halfmoon Bay to reduce wildfire risk

“The leaves have a lot of oil in them, and so actually, if it’s very hot, and it’s been very, very dry, they actually explode, because it’s highly flammable. And so, you can see here, look at all the debris right next to this road. So somebody throws a cigarette out into there, and you have a potential fire,” Carell said.

Carell said assessments of the trees have raised additional concerns.

“They evaluated something like 427 eucalyptus trees and 80% of them, back in 2012, were in bad shape,” he said.

Although CAL FIRE has repeatedly rated San Francisco’s wildfire risk as low because of the city’s cool, foggy climate, the grand jury report points to the 2025 Pacific Palisades fire in Los Angeles as an example of how fires can occur in urban areas where vegetation management is inadequate.

The report notes that Glen Canyon has only two fire hydrants, one near the Glen Park Recreation Center and another near a day camp building.

However, San Francisco’s Emergency Firefighting Water System provides additional resources through reservoirs, high-pressure hydrants and underground cisterns.

One nearby cistern at Chenery and Surrey streets can supply 75,000 gallons of water. Based on a fire engine’s typical pumping rate of 1,500 gallons per minute, that amount of water would be exhausted in about 50 minutes. Additional cisterns are located in surrounding neighborhoods.

MORE: CAL FIRE urging Bay Area residents to create defensible space as wildfire season begins

Despite the concerns, the report concluded that removing all eucalyptus trees is not a practical solution because of the canyon’s steep terrain. Large-scale removal could increase the risk of landslides. Instead, the report recommends managing vegetation by clearing brush and fallen debris and removing diseased trees.

“To remove any brush that might be a fire hazard, if something could really ignite quickly. We’re going to raise up the branches, the lower branches of the tree because that’s where a lot of the problem is for the spread of the fire, and if there are any dead trees that are really hazardous or branches that may hang over the roadway, that we can take them out as well,” said Rachel Gordon of the San Francisco Department of Public Works.

Public Works officials are expected to coordinate closely with CAL FIRE on vegetation management efforts.

“CAL FIRE guys, they train in the type of environment, and so what they do, they get their chainsaws out, they eliminate. They limb the trees, they bring out the debris and that sort of stuff so this is an ideal training site for them,” Carell said.

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which manages a small portion of the canyon, has already removed trees on its property to prevent them from falling across O’Shaughnessy Avenue, a potential emergency evacuation route.

The agency has also hired habitat experts to remove non-native vegetation and replace it with fire-resistant native species, including coast live oaks.

“That has all these tannins in the foliage that resist fire. You can put a lighter right under that thing in the middle of the hottest day of the year, and it will not burn like these willows. They will not burn, and so that’s what we want to load our parks with instead of having things like the eucalyptus and the pine — which, as we all know, they just burn like a crazy Christmas tree fire,” said Habitat Specialist Josiah Clark.

The majority of the 66-acre canyon is managed by the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department, which agrees that improved coordination among city agencies is essential to maintaining fire safety in the area.