Author: Shelby Grad

Corey Haim’s mother said the actor had a fever the morning before he died of an apparent drug overdose, his mother told an L.A. 911 operator.

Authorities released the 911 tape related to the death last week of the 1980s teen star.

"He’s not breathing," Judy Haim told the operator. "He’s 38 years old. I don’t know what’s
going on. He had a fever this morning."

During the 10-minute call, Judy Haim answered a series of medical questions before Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics arrived.

The coroner’s office has not listed a cause of death, but the Los Angeles Police Department has said the death appears to be some type of overdose.

State Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown announced Wednesday that his office is
investigating the possible connection between an illegal Southern California prescription drug ring and Haim’s death. The actor, whose credits included “The Lost Boys”
and “Lucas,” died at a Burbank hospital after being found unresponsive
in his apartment near Universal City.

Brown said an unauthorized
prescription under Haim’s name was found during an ongoing investigation
of fraudulent prescription drug pads ordered from a San Diego vendor.

–Shelby Grad

Photo: Haim and mother. Credit: Associated Press

Listen to 911 call (via KTLA News).

More breaking news in L.A. Now: 

L.A. County official calls for accountability
in alleged fight club case

Motorcycle gang sweep nets numerous arrests in
Riverside County

L.A. officials detail first group of layoffs

L.A. officials deny dispensaries’ bid for more
time on medical marijuana referendum

Superior Court workers to march in downtown
L.A. to protest layoffs, closures

Bank-robbery hero sues Long Beach bank

Agents conduct gang sweep in Riverside County

Revelers suffer burns at Persian New Year
party at L.A. beach

At least three motorists got flat tires after a "spike strip" designed to stop car chases accidentally fell out of a Newport Beach Police Department vehicle.

Newport Coast resident Meghan Marcum was driving home down East Coast
Highway on a rainy night last month when she felt the front left tire of
her 2003 Honda Civic give out.

When Marcum got out of her car,
she discovered that her left rear tire was also flattened.



“It
scared me,” Marcum told the Daily Pilot. “It was raining and cold. I was in heels, and I
don’t have any family in California.”

Marcum and at least two
other motorists had their tires spiked Feb. 27 by a tire-deflation
device that police use to slow fleeing suspects. Marcum’s tires deflated
within seconds and without a sound, she said.

The device had
fallen out of a Newport Beach police officer’s Chevy Tahoe after he
forgot to shut the back door, according to a police report. Now,
Marcum and at least one other driver want the city of Newport Beach to
pay to replace their tires. Read the full story here.

— Brianna Bailey

More breaking news in L.A. Now:

Superior Court workers to march in downtown
L.A. to protest layoffs, closures

Bank-robbery hero sues Long Beach bank

Revelers suffer burns at Persian New Year
party at L.A. beach

Teenage girl shot dead while walking home with
friend in Pomona

Los Angeles heat wave to continue as records
fall, but cooling trend coming

St. Patrick’s Day parade scrapped in L.A., but
the party goes on

Woman describes attack at same lake where
Chelsea King was killed

Passenger wanders off, causing brief security
scare at LAX

Angels Flight closed part of Tuesday night for
routine maintenance

Fatal collision snarls traffic on 5 Freeway in
East Los Angeles

Victim in Woodland Hills home-invasion robbery
arrested for growing pot

Human remains found near Feather River in
Northern California

Malibu library to close for $5.7-million
‘green’ makeover

The warm temperatures that have broken some records this week are expected to continue Wednesday.

New highs for Tuesday were recorded in several parts of Southern California, including UCLA (87 degrees), Oxnard (86), and Camarillo (85). Santa Ana hit a new record for the day, 92 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

Forecasters say temperatures will reach the high 70s along the coast and the high 80s in inland valleys as high pressure and warm breezes continue.

But a cooling trend is on the way.

Temperatures will begin to drop Thursday, with highs in the 70s expected by the weekend. Coastal areas will begin to experience haze and sea breezes.

–Shelby Grad

More breaking news in L.A. Now:

St. Patrick’s Day parade scrapped in L.A., but
the party goes on

Woman describes attack at same lake where
Chelsea King was killed

Passenger wanders off, causing brief security
scare at LAX

Angels Flight closed part of Tuesday night for
routine maintenance

Fatal collision snarls traffic on 5 Freeway in
East Los Angeles

Victim in Woodland Hills home-invasion robbery
arrested for growing pot

Human remains found near Feather River in
Northern California

Malibu library to close for $5.7-million
‘green’ makeover

A woman broke her silence to describe being attacked at the same San Diego County lake where Chelsea King was slain, allegedly by a registered sex offender.

Authorities suspect Candice Moncayo was attacked by John Gardner, who has pleaded not guilty to killing King in February.

In an interview on CNN, Moncayo said she was attacked while jogging around the lake. She said she was able to fight him off and run to a nearby home, where she called authorities.

"He grabbed his face and turned away from me and yelled some things,
and I got up and ran faster than I think I ever ran in my life," she said.

Moncayo said she will testify in Gardner’s upcoming murder trial.

Gardner, 30, was charged earlier this month and
faces the death penalty if convicted of murder. Authorities said DNA
from semen found on Chelsea’s clothing linked him to the crime.

Gardner, 6-feet-2 and
weighing 230 pounds, pleaded guilty in 2000 to molesting a
13-year-old girl.

A psychiatrist at the time recommended that
Gardner be given the maximum sentence of at least 10 years in prison. "It is my opinion
that [the defendant] would be a continued danger to underage [girls] in
the community," said the psychiatrist in the court documents. San
Diego County prosecutors recommended a six-year term.

According to the Megan’s Law website, Gardner lived in Lake
Elsinore, in Riverside County, but was visiting his mother in San Diego
County when the attack occurred.

–Shelby Grad

More breaking news at L.A. Now:

Los Angeles heat wave to continue as records
fall, but cooling trend coming

St. Patrick’s Day parade scrapped in L.A., but
the party goes on

Passenger wanders off, causing brief security
scare at LAX

Angels Flight closed part of Tuesday night for
routine maintenance

Fatal collision snarls traffic on 5 Freeway in
East Los Angeles

Victim in Woodland Hills home-invasion robbery
arrested for growing pot

Human remains found near Feather River in
Northern California

Malibu library to close for $5.7-million
‘green’ makeover

Authorities have determined that the cracks on the Santa Ana Freeway near Lakewood Boulevard were caused by wear and tear, not this morning’s 4.4 earthquake.

The cracks on Interstate 5 were reported soon after the temblor struck. But California Highway Patrol officer Monica Posada said officials said the damage was caused by road wear, not the temblor.

Residents living near the epicenter near
Pico Rivera said some items fell off shelves and tables, but
authorities said they have no reports of structural damage to homes.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the temblor struck at 4:04
a.m. about 11 miles east of downtown Los Angeles and about one mile
from Pico Rivera. The depth was recorded at about 11 miles. The quake
was considered small, but it was felt over a large swath of Southern
California.

On the USGS website, more than 1,000 people across Southern California reported feeling the temblor.

Tuesday’s quake produced about 500 times less energy than the Whittier
Narrows earthquake, said Kate Hutton, a seismologist at Caltech.
Tuesday’s shaker was also weaker than the 5.5 Chino Hills earthquake in
the summer of 2008, which was felt widely but caused little damage.

Earthquakes with a magnitude of 4 are actually quite common in
Southern California, occurring somewhere in the region every month or
two. The last magnitude 4 earthquake in the region occurred Saturday in
a remote area of northern San Diego County near the town of Julian.

"It’s all location, location, location," Hutton said. "The only
thing that distinguishes this [morning’s earthquake] is that it
happened in a populated area."

— Rong-Gong Lin II

Map credit: USGS

Officials in Burbank are pushing the developers of a high-speed rail line to add a stop at Bob Hope Airport.

City officials have proposed the stop be located near the intersection of Hollywood Way and San Fernando Road.

Representatives of the California High-Speed Rail Authority had planned to present two station alternatives to their board of directors as soon as May 6 in San Jose. But the Burbank City Council last week called on the representatives to consider as part of their environmental study a stop near Bob Hope Airport, arguing that a proposed $120-million regional transportation center there should not be isolated from high-speed trains.

“I think we should be as strong as possible to let them know that if they don’t include a link to the airport, that they’re going to have an enemy in us, and that we would find that unacceptable,” Councilman Dave Golonski told the Glendale News-Press.

A subcommittee of the council has scheduled a meeting this week with airport and rail officials before the board meets to weigh the benefits and drawbacks of studying a third station option, said principal city planner David Kriske.

Vice Mayor Anja Reinke contended that examples of regional transportation hubs connecting airports to trains, buses and rental cars are readily available throughout the world.

Read the full story here.

— Christopher Cadelago, Glendale News-Press

Photo: Bob Hope Airport. Credit: Burbank Leader

Map credit: Los Angeles Times

Erin Andrews isn’t happy about the 30-month prison sentence given a Chicago-area businessman who pleaded guilty to charges he secretly shot video of the ESPN reporter and posted it on the Internet.

Andrews, speaking to reporters after the sentence was handed down by an L.A. federal judge on Monday, said she felt Michael David Barrett deserved a harsher sentence and that she continues to be victimized because the videos remain on the Internet.

In court, Andrews told the judge: "He stalked me, he terrorized me — this will never be over for me, and I don’t want it to ever be over for you,” she said, referring to Barrett.

"You are a sexual predator, a sexual deviant," she told Barrett, saying she lives in a state of fear and needs security at work and home. "They should lock you up and throw away the key."

Barrett also spied on Andrews at a Nashville hotel in September 2008 and shot video of her while she was unclothed, the plea agreement states.

Seven of the eight videos posted on an Internet site apparently were taken in the Nashville hotel room, according to federal authorities.

In court Monday, Barrett apologized: "I have no words to adequately tell Miss Andrews how sorry I am for what I’ve done to her. I hope that one day she will forgive me."

— Shelby Grad

Photos: (top) Erin Andrews. Credit: Associated Press

(bottom) Michael David Barrett. Credit: KTLA

A foster mother and her boyfriend are under investigation in the death
of a 2-year-old child in their care who was beaten with a hammer,
according to authorities and coroner’s records.





Viola Vanclief‘s death March 4 is the latest in a series of troubles
linked to United Care Inc , a nonprofit foster care agency that
contracts with Los Angeles County to provide shelter for abused and
neglected children.




Records show that United Care, which oversees 88 homes with 216
foster children, has been repeatedly cited in recent years after
caregivers choked, hit and whipped their charges with a belt. In 2007,
a foster child drowned while swimming unsupervised in a pool.





South Los Angeles residents Kiana Barker, 30, and her boyfriend, James
Julian, 38 were arrested last week on suspicion of murder in connection
with Viola’s death, according to Los Angeles police records. They were
released two days later, with no charges filed. Police are continuing
to investigate the couple.

Barker was decertified as a foster parent last week, and state
regulators posted a notice near one of the no trespassing signs outside
her house saying that a child-care center license there had been
suspended.

Read the full story here.

Read The Times’ series on child deaths in L.A. County here.

–Garrett Therolf and Anna Gorman

More breaking news in L.A. Now:

After the quake in Pico Rivera, everything’s
OK at OK Donuts

4.4 earthquake awakens Southern California; no
major damage or injuries reported

L.A. earthquake rattles region awake but no
major damage is reported

Authorities said the 4.4-magnitude earthquake that hit the Los Angeles area Tuesday morning rattled nerves but caused no major damage or injuries.

Residents who live near the epicenter near Pico Rivera said some items fell off shelves and tables, but authorities said they have no reports of structural damage to homes.

[Updated at 5:30 a.m.: The temblor may have caused damage to the Santa Ana Freeway (Interstate 5) southbound at the Lakewood Boulevard exit. According to Caltrans, two southbound lanes of the freeway have buckled and were closed down. The rest of the freeway remains open, but the closure is expect to jam the morning commute. Officials are trying to determine whether the damage was related to the temblor.]

[Updated at 6 a.m. TV footage showed a roughly 5-foot crack in the roadway. KTTV Channel 11 quoted officials at the scene as saying they were not sure whether the crack was caused by the quake or by a passing truck. Traffic on both sides of the 5 Freeway was jammed.]

Updated at 6:30 a.m.: All lanes of the 5 Freeway were reopened after Caltrans crews patched the crack. Officials were looking into motorist reports of a second smaller crack on the 5 near the 605 Freeway.]

No damage has been reported by Los Angeles County fire stations,  according to county fire official Ed Pickett. The county’s fire stations completed a roll call of all stations about 10 minutes after the earthquake.

“They’re all reporting they felt it, but are not reporting any damage,” Pickett said. “It just seemed to be a significant jolt. But no damage, knock on wood.”

Pickett described the earthquake as a big jolt, “kind of like the building dropped. … It was really quick.” He described feeling the quake for about “15 seconds at the most.”

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the temblor struck at 4:04
a.m. about 11 miles east of downtown Los Angeles and about one mile
from Pico Rivera. The depth was recorded at about 11 miles.

The quake was considered small, but it was felt over a large swath of Southern California. On the USGS website, more than 1,000 people across Southern California reported feeling the temblor.

Jeff Carr, chief of staff to L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, said in a Twitter message it appeared there was "no major damage in the City at this time. Good reminder that we all need 2 be prepared."

The quake was centered about four miles from the epicenter of the 1987 Whittier Narrows quake, which caused eight deaths. That quake registered magnitude 5.9.

A 4.4 quake is considered a light earthquake, according to general size conventions on earthquakes.

The Whittier Narrows quake in 1987 was considered  moderate. It was centered about six miles underground, and caused substantial damage to buildings, particularly those made out of unreinforced brick.

— Ruben Vives in Pico Rivera, Rong-Gong Lin II, Geoff Mohan and Shelby Grad

RELATED: Times map of earthquake epicenter

A 4.4-magnitude earthquake rattled Southern California this morning, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the temblor struck at 4:04 a.m. about 11 miles east of downtown Los Angeles and about one mile from Pico Rivera. The depth was recorded at about 11 miles.

The quake was considered small, but it was felt over a large swath of Southern California. More than 1,000 people have already reported to the USGS’s "Do You Feel It?" website that they detected the temblor. Many of those who responded on the website were from Los Angeles and Orange counties.

In Pasadena, a few items fell off a shelf.

The quake struck not far from the spot of the much larger Whittier Narrows temblor in 1987, but officials have not identified the the fault involved in this morning’s quake.

[Updated at 4:30 a.m.: The Los Angeles Fire Department reported no major incident calls due to the quake. And Dispatcher Supervisor Andre Gougis of the Los Angeles County Fire Department said there were no major reports of damage.]

[Updated at 4:45 a.m.: The USGS response page says the quake was felt from San Diego to Santa Clarita.]

–Ruben Vives, Rong-Gong Lin II and Shelby Grad

High-performing teachers should earn more pay, tenure should be more
difficult to achieve and teacher reviews should be tied to student test
scores, a Los Angeles school district panel is expected to recommend
Tuesday.





The proposals, aimed squarely at increasing the effectiveness of
teachers, would be the most far-reaching change in years in how the Los
Angeles Unified School District decides which teachers to promote and
retain.





If approved by the city’s Board of Education, the recommendations would
be among the most aggressive in the state, if not the nation. Employee
unions are expected to oppose some of the proposals, some of which
would have to be collectively bargained.

The task force was created by the board, by a narrow margin, shortly before The Times published a series of articles last May examining the difficulties in firing and evaluating teachers.

Read the full story here.

–Jason Song

A Los Angeles federal judge today sentenced a Chicago businessman to 30 months in prison for secretly shooting video of ESPN reporter Erin Andrews and and posting it on the
Internet.

Michael David Barrett, 49, was also ordered to pay restitution totaling  $7,366.

Seven of the eight videos posted on an Internet site apparently were
taken in the Nashville hotel room, according to federal authorities.

 After nine years in mothballs, the so-called "shortest railroad in the world" was again ferrying passengers up and down Bunker Hill as the Angels Flight funicular reopened Monday morning.

Hearty Angels Flight lovers were on hand at 6:45 a.m. as the approximately 300-foot-long railway — which was closed in 2001 after a deadly accident — again cranked up.

"It’s great, as much fun as when I was a kid," said
William Daniel, 67, among a group of passengers who hopped on the
orange funicular at 6:43 a.m.

"I think it’s going a little faster now," he added. "It’s wonderful they didn’t
change the trolley much. It’s virtually the same, except for the
electric door. And more warning signs."

The California Public Utilities Commission last week approved the safety
certificate for Angels Flight.

In a
letter to Angels Flight Railway Co., the PUC said that it had "no major
safety concerns" regarding the rail line. The company had faced numerous delays in reopening the funicular.

The rail line was designed to connect
downtown L.A. with the residential community on Bunker Hill. But when the
city demolished that neighborhood as part of a 1960s redevelopment
push, Angels Flight was left moribund. The funicular was revived in
1996 after years of effort by preservationists.

"I think Los Angeles is a wonderful place with important
history and the only part of Bunker Hill that remains is Angels
Flight," said John Welborne, president of the Angels Flight Railway
Foundation, said Monday morning.

In 2001, a car broke loose and slid backward  before
smashing into another rail car at the bottom of the steep hill, killing an
83-year-old man and injuring seven other people. Federal investigators
concluded that faulty mechanical and brake systems, combined with weak
oversight, were to blame.

The ride Monday morning was not the smoothest, and the rail cars shook a
little bit, but Angels Flight was restored to ride like it did in
1969, Welborne said.

The funicular features new equipment, but the
technology is much the same, save for some added safety features. The
kind of head on collision that happened nine years ago is no longer
possible, he said.

— Hector Becerra at Bunker Hill

Photo: The Angels Flight funicular resumes operation Monday morning after being closed for nine years. Credit: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times

Photos: Angels Flight Railway reopens

More breaking news in L.A. Now:

Pedestrian killed in hit-and-run on Malibu’s
PCH

Charlie Sheen to appear in Colorado courtroom
on charge of assaulting wife

GOP gubernatorial candidates to face off in
Orange County debate 

Glendale says it’s willing to put its money where its mouth is in the possible extension of the 710 Freeway, where officials fear an extension will worsen traffic in the city.

The City Council this week endorsed taking a more active role in
opposing the proposed tunnel extension of the 710 Freeway — a fight
that city officials said could require significant resources, according to the News-Press.

The
decades-long controversy surrounding the proposed “gap closure” of the
Foothill (210) and Long Beach (710) freeways was reinvigorated last
year when the California Department of Transportation and Los Angeles
County Metropolitan Transportation Authority released draft results of
a $6-million route feasibility study.

The report showed
tunneling was feasible within five potential route zones, which include
connections to the 210 and Glendale (2) freeways.



The City
Council last year voted to formally oppose the tunnel, but on Tuesday
council members expressed interest in furthering the city’s involvement
in the fight against the tunnel — voting 4 to 1 to direct city
officials to create an action plan, including potential involvement in
future legal challenges.

Read the full story here.

–Melanie Hicken

Map: Various routes for 710 tunnel. MTA

Detectives are investigating whether a triple shooting that left two men dead in Moreno Valley was tied to a "drop house" used to smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States.

The
shooting occurred about 6:15 p.m. Thursday in the 21000 block of Bay Avenue. One
victim died at the scene. A second was taken to a hospital, where he
was pronounced dead, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said.

While
investigators were at the scene, they discovered a third victim who had
run to a nearby store after he was wounded, Deputy Melissa Nieburger
said.

The man was taken to a hospital. His condition was not known.

The Press-Enterprise said the surviving shooting victim claimed that a "coyote" who had smuggled him and others into Moreno Valley opened fire after demanding money for his efforts.

No suspects were in custody. Detectives were at the scene Thursday night interviewing witnesses and gathering evidence.

–Robert J. Lopez and Ann M. Simmons

Photo: Alleged immigrant drop house. KTLA

Between 10% and 12% of the parking meters in Los Angeles fail at any given time,
according to a recent study.

Officials aren’t supposed to give parking tickets to motorists parked at broken meters, but some residents complain the city is doing just that.

Amir Sedadi, assistant general manager of
the Transportation Department, assured city council members "the policy of the
Department of Transportation is not to issue any citations to broken
meters." But in some instances, Sedadi said, broken meters can
inexplicably snap back into operation, which could be why some
Angelenos have been ticketed.

But The Times’ Maeve Reston reports that some are demanding more action. "There’s
a lot of short fuses in the world, people are out of work and out of
jobs. . . . I want to have a friendly, efficient" Transportation
Department, said Councilman Tom LaBonge. "If someone says ‘I got a ticket,’
henceforth, ‘from a failed meter,’ we want to know about that, because
we don’t do that." 

What do you think the city is doing? Have you gotten a ticket at a broken meter? Share your experiences and thoughts below.

Photo credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

At a time when county government is tightening its belt, a new Times investigation examined how the five L.A. County supervisors spend $3.4 million a year they receive in discretionary funding.

According to records, they use the money in part to pay chauffeurs, hold parties for friends and lobbyists and support pet projects. They also use it to help bolster programs and services in their districts.

Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas gave $25,000 last year to throw a reception for a
for-profit exhibit on the African American experience organized by TV
and radio host Tavis Smiley, a longtime friend.





He also donated $25,000 last year to the Diva Foundation, whose mission is to support groups that conduct AIDS research, education and support. Its president, Tony-nominated Sheryl Lee Ralph, emceed his 2008 campaign kickoff. The charity holds one main event each year, a concert in Beverly Hills, outside Ridley-Thomas’ South Los Angeles district. Ridley-Thomas used $25,000 to buy a place in Who’s Who in Black Los Angeles.

Check out a searchable database that allows readers to look at how the county supervisors spent their discretionary funds. Read Garrett Therolf’s story here to see how Zev Yaroslavsky, Don Knabe, Gloria Molina and Mike Antonovich spend their funds.

The California Public Utilities Commission  has approved the safety certificate for the historic Angels Flight rail line in downtown L.A., nine years after a fatal accident closed the funicular.

In a letter to the Angels Flight Railway Co., the PUC said it had "no major safety concerns" regarding the rail line, which runs up and down Bunker Hill. The company has faced numerous delays in reopening Angels Flight.

John Welborne, head of a nonprofit foundation that is trying to reopen the funicular, said he was pleased by the PUC’s decision, calling it an important step forward. He said the group had been waiting for the PUC’s approval for nearly a year.

But he stressed that more work needs to be done before it can once again ferry passengers. Welborne could not estimate when it would open.

In 2001, a car broke loose and sped backward for almost a block before smashing into another rail car at the bottom of the hill, killing an 83-year-old man and injuring seven others. Federal investigators concluded that faulty mechanical and brake systems, combined with weak oversight, were to blame for the crash.

The rail line was designed to connect downtown with the once-bustling residential community on Bunker Hill. But when the city leveled that neighborhood as part of a 1960s redevelopment push, Angels Flight was left moribund.

The funicular was revived in 1996 after years of efforts by preservationists.

— Cara Mia DiMassa

Photo: L.A. Times file

The district attorney’s office will offer plea deals to alleged members of the “bling ring," the circle of friends accused of burglarizing the homes of young Hollywood celebrities, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Sarika Kapoor told a judge during a court appearance for five of the six defendants that she plans to present the offers at a hearing next month.

A sixth suspect is in plea talks, the prosecutor told another judge last week. Outside court, Kapoor declined to discuss the details of the possible plea deals, but she said making such offers was common in nonviolent and less serious cases.

The defendants, who have pleaded not guilty, are charged with first-degree residential burglary, a crime that carries a sentence of up to six years in prison.

Two are also charged with receiving stolen property.

Authorities blame the group for a string of burglaries that netted $3 million in designer clothing, jewelry, art and other goods from the residences of actors Megan Fox, Orlando Bloom, Rachel Bilson and others.

— Harriet Ryan

Photo: LAPD

More breaking news in L.A. Now:

Corey Haim apparently overdosed on
prescription drugs, law enforcement sources say

Linking L.A.: Google Maps adds bike routes for
150 cities, including Los Angeles

Couple at helm of Irvine firm arrested in
$8-million Ponzi scheme targeting Korean Americans

Authorities search for armed men in Norwalk
home invasion reported by 7-year-old boy over cellphone

O.C. dentist who killed three patients could
be released from prison

Actor Corey Haim died of apparent drug
overdose

L.A. wants to quit or alter two bank deals