Author: Shelby Grad

A long awaited audit released by Los Angeles County officials found that the Board of Supervisors often use behind-the-scenes levers to control the inner workings of the Regional Planning Department, whose decisions are key to hotly contested battles over development, environmental protections and code enforcement.

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky’s planning deputy, Ben Saltsman, and Supervisor Mike Antonovich’s planning deputy, Paul Novak, fought vigorously behind the scenes during the development of a Green Building ordinance, issuing e-mails to department staffers that “could be interpreted as violating” county rules against supervisors’ directives outside the public meeting process, according to the report, which was obtained by The Times.

Supervisor Gloria Molina’s planning deputy, Nicole Englund, hand-picked department staffers to go to professional conferences in Las Vegas and San Francisco despite former Director Bruce McClendon’s claim that he told her that they were not qualified to go with all expenses paid and that their attendance would amount to a “junket." In addition, investigators determined that Englund had ordered the department to fund the trips with federal anti-poverty money despite program rules that “could lead to the conclusion that travel and training are ineligible expenses,” the report said.

And former Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke’s planning deputy, Mike Bohlke, pressured department staffers to increase their recommended cap for the number of wells eligible for drilling in the Inglewood oil fields before it reached the supervisors for a vote in public. When the staffers suggested more community input first, he wrote “Enough is Enough … !!!!!” in an e-mail to top department officials, the report said.

The audit was initiated after the firing of McClendon as regional planning director in January 2009. McClendon had received a positive job evaluation several months before, and said he was fired for blowing the whistle of the supervisors’ activities to Chief Executive William T. Fujioka and for enforcing rules against supervisor’s intrusions behind the scenes.

Though the report suggests that the supervisors play a hands-on role in the department, the majority of McClendon’s allegations were neither substantiated nor refuted. Auditors noted that “many of Mr. McClendon’s allegations involve one-on-one conversations over the phone or in person. There were no recordings of these conversations and therefore little or no evidence to support or refute his claims in these instances.”

The audit was carried out under the oversight of Auditor Controller Wendy Watanabe, who reports directly to the supervisors. Her investigators conducted initial interviews with McClendon before contracting out the investigation to Harvey M. Rose Associates to ensure impartiality.
More details on the report will be published in Saturday’s paper.

County officials initially declined to release the audit, but after extensive conversations with The Times, the report was released late Thursday.

–Garrett Therolf at the L.A. County Hall of Administration

Photo: McClendon. Barbara Davidson / L.A. Times

A man who allegedly went on a joy ride with a plane, eventually landing at LAX earlier this month, was charged with multiple felony counts in San Diego court.

The 23-year-old pleaded not guilty to stealing the aircraft as well as grand theft and burglary.

Skye Edward Turner, 23,
allegedly took the Cirrus SR22 single-engine aircraft after a domestic
argument and had planned to fly the plane into the ocean but
reconsidered, authorities said. 

After Turner contacted LAX air traffic controllers about 2:25 a.m.
while he was still outside the airport’s airspace, controllers in San
Diego issued instructions to help him descend and got clearance from
LAX for the plane to land. The pilot aborted his first landing because
he was coming in too fast.

The aircraft had been flying for six hours before landing in Palm
Springs, where it was refueled and flown to Los
Angeles.

Turner claimed he had gotten the aircraft’s keys from an
airport in San Diego County, law enforcement sources said. 

Turner faces up to three years in prison if convicted. He was ordered
held on $75,000 bail pending his next court hearing on March 8.

–Shelby Grad

Photo: KTLA

The board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has approved an internal audit of the agency’s litigation costs amid questions about how much the agency has spend on a long-running lawsuit with contractors.

Some MTA board members called for the audit, which was approved unanimously, after reports that the organization had spent more than $34 million litigating one case over the last 15 years — even though the most the agency could win in damages would be about half that sum. That case involves contractor Tutor-Saliba and issues during construction of the Red Line subway.

With
the agency now considering fare increases and service cuts, some
officials are calling for an audit of the expenditures and wonder if
the lawsuit is a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Many MTA
board members disagree, saying Tutor-Saliba tried to cheat
the agency out of millions of dollars by submitting a low bid and then
asking for dozens of change orders and other requests that dramatically
increased the price of constructing parts of the Red Line subway.

–Ari B. Bloomekatz

Photo: L.A. Times file

The suspect accused of killing a Fresno County sheriff’s deputy and wounding other lawmen was found dead inside the mobile home where he had been barricaded for most of the day.

Sheriff
Margaret Mims told the Fresno
Bee that deputies discovered the body around 5 p.m. when they entered the trailer. The deputy was killed when he and others were
investigating reports of arson and shots fired at the mobile home in a
small community east of Fresno.

Fresno
television station KMPH-TV Channel 26 is reporting that Reedley Police Officer Javier
Bejar is on life support and is not expected to recover, Reedley City Manager Rocky Rogers said. 

Authorities arrived at the scene
in the 18200 block of Kings Canyon Road in Minkler, about 20 miles east of Fresno, about 9:40 a.m. to
serve the suspect and were met by gunfire, Fresno County sheriff’s
spokesman Chris Curtice said.

Two deputies and a Reedley police officer, who arrived later, were
shot. They were taken to Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno.
Authorities could not confirm whether a fourth officer had also been
taken to the hospital.

The suspect continued to exchange gunfire
with officers who surrounded the trailer Thursday afternoon,
authorities said. About 200 officers were on the scene, Curtice said.

— Amina Khan

Photo: Officials care for a wounded officer. Fresno Bee

The Los Angeles County Commission for Children and Families is calling for an audit of the county’s probation ombudsman and the grievance process for youths in county detention halls and camps.

The commission’s leader, Patricia Curry, sent a letter to county supervisors Tuesday asking them to direct the county Auditor-Controller’s Office to perform an independent review of the probation ombudsman’s procedures, reports and phone service and make recommendations about how to ensure youths’ grievances are investigated.

“Recently, the Commission for Children and Families became aware of difficulties youth in probation camps and halls were having in obtaining access to the probation ombudsman due to problems with the ombudsman phone line which was disconnected for an extended period of time,” Curry wrote. “It is important that a process and mechanism is in place which allows them to file a grievance.”

The request follows a Times story about probation officers who were convicted of crimes or disciplined for inappropriate conduct involving current or former probationers, including several cases of officers molesting or beating youths in their care. The phone number listed for Probation Ombudsman Jessica Gama on websites and signs posted in the halls and camps was inoperable until about four weeks ago, when a probation spokeswoman responding to calls from The Times said an "urgent work order" had been submitted to repair it.

Interim probation chief Cal Remington said Gama’s phone line was mistakenly shut off by probation staff for about two weeks during a cost-cutting review of unused lines because records showed she never used it to call out.

He said department staff fixed the line as soon as they were alerted to the problem. “We certainly want kids and families to have access to our ombudsman,” Remington said, adding, “It shouldn’t happen again.” Remington said he has spoken with Gama and was reassured that she is fielding complaints effectively. “She does her job well and follows up on those phone calls,” he said. “If there are problems with the grievance system, this is a check and balance on that.”

Some youth advocates who have fought to improve the probation grievance system vouched for Gama, but said probation managers have failed to investigate grievances she reported in the past. “Young people still don’t feel like filing those grievances gets a positive response, nor do parents,” said Kim McGill of the Inglewood-based Youth Justice Coalition, which wants to see probation incorporate youths and families into its oversight and outreach efforts.

The Probation Department has faced federal investigations of the camps and halls in recent years, as well as a federal class action lawsuit filed by the ACLU last month on behalf of students at one of the probation camps alleging they received substandard education. Given the problems raised by those inquiries, Curry wrote, it is particularly important to ensure an effective probation grievance process.

“The commission believes that assistance from the auditor-controller can provide quality control oversights and a more independent approach which would assist the new chief of probation in identifying systemic issues in the camps and halls,” Curry wrote. “It would also provide an important service for the youth.” About 20,000 youths were held at the county’s three juvenile halls last year, about 4,200 at the county’s 19 camps, Remington said.

On Wednesday, Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Mike Antonovich proposed that the Office of Independent Review, which monitors the Sheriff’s Department, evaluate the Probation Department’s internal affairs and child abuse investigations.

On Tuesday, Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas proposed expanding probation’s internal affairs staff. Remington, who is in the midst of assessing the department before newly appointed director Donald Blevins takes over April 19, said he supports both proposals. “We want accountability,” he said. “I need help looking at all this. We want everything to get better and we don’t want problems to pop up.”

–Molly Hennessy-Fiske

In the latest twist in a 30-year legal odyssey, an Orange County jury on Thursday convicted accused serial killer Rodney Alcala of five counts of murder.

The jury deliberated for less than two days before reaching its decision.

[Updated at 2:19 p.m.: Alcala sat upright and motionless in a packed courtroom while a clerk read the verdicts. He wore plastic-rimmed glasses, a gray sport coat, tie and bluejeans with tennis shoes. He said nothing when the verdicts were read, and answered the judge’s questions afterward in a steady, muted and matter-of-fact voice.]

Alcala, 66, has been tried twice in the 1979 kidnapping and murder of Robin Samsoe, 12, of Huntington Beach. Each of those convictions was overturned.

The case this time expanded as authorities said they were able to tie Alcala to the murder of four Los Angeles County women between 1977 and 1979. Investigators said they linked Alcala to the torture and murder of Jill Barcomb, 18; Georgia Wixted, 27; Charlotte Lamb, 32; and Jill Parenteau, 21, with DNA, blood and fingerprint evidence. Each murder carried a special circumstance charge that would make Alcala subject to the death penalty.

Prosecutors painted Alcala as a sadistic monster who sexually tortured his victims, posed them and possibly took photos. Alcala, who acted as his own attorney, took the stand and asked and answered his own questions. Throughout the trial, he repeatedly ignored the charges in the Los Angeles cases and focused on proving his innocence in the Samsoe case.

Unlike the Los Angeles County cases, there was no DNA, blood or fingerprint evidence linking Alcala to Samsoe’s death. In opening and closing arguments, the defendant almost entirely ignored the four Los Angeles cases.

At one point, Alcala, a onetime typist at the Los Angeles Times, showed the jury a 20-second clip of his winning appearance in a 1978 episode of "The Dating Game" to prove his claim that he did not take a pair of earrings from Samsoe. Alcala’s long, feathered hair and the poor quality of the VHS recording made the earrings almost impossible to make out.

— Paloma Esquivel in Santa Ana

THE ALCALA CASE: A TIMELINE

1972 — Alcala is convicted in the 1968 rape and beating of an 8-year-old girl.

Nov. 10, 1977 — The body of 18-year-old Jill Barcomb is found in the Hollywood Hills. She had been sexually assaulted, bludgeoned and strangled with a pair of blue pants.

Dec. 16, 1977 — Georgia Wixted, 27, is found beaten to death at her home in Malibu. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled.

1978 — Alcala appears in an episode of “The Dating Game” as Bachelor No. 1.

June 24, 1978 — Charlotte Lamb, a 32-year-old legal secretary from Santa Monica, is found in the laundry room of an El Segundo apartment complex. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled with a shoelace. 

June 14, 1979 — Jill Parenteau, 21, of Burbank is found strangled on the floor of her Burbank apartment.

June 20, 1979 – Robin Samsoe, 12, disappears near the Huntington Beach Pier. Her body is found 12 days later in the Sierra Madre foothills.

July 24, 1979 — Rodney James Alcala, an unemployed photographer, is arrested at his parents’ Monterey Park home.

September 1980 – Alcala is convicted of the 1978 rape of a 15-year-old Riverside girl and sentenced to nine years in state prison.

June 20, 1980 — Orange County Superior Court Judge Philip E. Schwab sentences Alcala to death after he is convicted of Samsoe’s murder.

July 11, 1980 — The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office files murder, burglary and sexual assault charges against Alcala in the slaying of Parenteau.

April 15, 1981 — The L.A. district attorney’s office tells a judge that prosecution of Alcala in the Parenteau case could not proceed because a key witness admitted that he had committed perjury in another case.

Aug. 23, 1984 — The state Supreme Court reversed Alcala’s murder conviction in connection with Samsoe, ruling that the jury was improperly told about Alcala’s prior sex crimes.

June 20, 1986 — For the second time, Alcala is convicted for Samsoe’s murder and sentenced to death in Orange County Superior Court.

Dec. 31, 1992 — The California Supreme Court unanimously upholds Alcala’s death sentence.

April 2, 2001 — A federal appellate court overturns Alcala’s death sentence in the Samsoe case, ruling that the Superior Court judge precluded the defense from presenting evidence “material to significant issues.”

June 5, 2003 — The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office files murder charges against Alcala alleging that he killed Wixted during a burglary and rape.

Sept. 19, 2005 — Additional murder charges are filed against Alcala in connection to the deaths of Barcomb, Wixted and Lamb.

Jan. 11, 2010 — Alcala’s trial for the five murders begins. He represents himself.

— Kimi Yoshino

Photos: (top) Rodney James Alcala was convicted of five counts of murder in an Orange County court Thursday. Credit: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times

More photos:

At least three law enforcement officers were shot — one in the head — during a confrontation with an arson suspect in the town of Minkler, east of Fresno.

According to the Fresno Bee, four people were rushed to a hospital, including two Fresno County sheriff’s deputies and a police officer from the town of Reedley.

Their conditions were unknown, but one of the deputies apparently suffered life-threatening wounds to his head, the Bee said.

The shooting suspect is a man wanted on suspicion of arson, officials said, and he is holed up in a home in Minkler, where the shooting occurred.

The Associated Press reported the home is being surrounding by law enforcement officials.

— Shelby Grad

A jury has reached a verdict in the trial of accused serial killer Rodney Alcala, and Orange County court officials said it will be read at 1:30 p.m.

The jury deliberated for less than two days before reaching its verdict.

Alcala, 66, has been tried twice in the 1979 kidnapping and murder of Robin Samsoe, 12. Each of those convictions was overturned.

The case this time expanded as authorities said they were able to tie Alcala to the murder of four Los Angeles County women between 1977 and 1979. Investigators said they linked Alcala to the torture and murder of Jill Barcomb, 18; Georgia Wixted, 27; Charlotte Lamb, 32; and Jill Parenteau, 21, with DNA, blood and fingerprint evidence. Each murder carried a special circumstance charge that would make Alcala eligible for the death penalty.

Prosecutors painted Alcala as a sadistic monster who sexually tortured his victims, posed them and possibly took photos. Alcala, who acted as his own attorney, took the stand and asked and answered his own questions. Throughout the trial he repeatedly ignored the charges in the Los Angeles cases and focused on proving his innocence in the Samsoe case.

Unlike the Los Angeles County cases, there was no DNA, blood or fingerprint evidence linking Alcala to Samsoe’s death. In opening and closing arguments the defendant almost entirely ignored the four Los Angeles cases.

At one point, Alcala, a onetime typist at the Los Angeles Times, showed the jury a 20-second clip of his winning appearance in a 1978 episode of the Dating Game in order to prove his claim that he did not take a pair of earrings from Samsoe. Alcala’s long, feathered hair and the poor quality of the VHS recording made the earrings almost impossible to make out.

— Paloma Esquivel in Santa Ana

Photo: Rodney Alcala sits in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana on Jan. 11. Credit: Nick Ut / Associated Press

SeaWorld San Diego, which temporarily closed its Shamu whale attraction on Wednesday after the death of a whale trainer on Florida, has worked to improve safety after several incidents over the last three decades in which trainers were hurt.

The first reported incident occurred in 1971, when an employee suffered puncture wounds when a whale tossed her, according to Times reports. The last reported one was in 2006, when a 33-year-old trainer was hospitalized after a killer whale dragged him to the bottom of the Shamu pool during a show.

There were a series of incidents in the mid-1980s that led to the removal of several executives at the park and new safety measures, according to Times reports.

Trainer Joanne Webber’s neck was fractured June 15, 1987, during a practice session when a whale leaped into the air above her, then landed on her "with the full force of 6,000 pounds, fracturing her neck and thrusting her underwater to the bottom of a 40-foot-deep pool," according to a lawsuit she filed.

Ex-trainer Jonathan Smith was injured during a March 1987 performance when two killer whales seized him in their jaws and repeatedly dragged him 32 feet to the bottom of the pool. After about 2 1/2 minutes, during which he was smashed against the floor of the tank, Smith escaped. He was hospitalized nine days with bruised kidneys and ribs and a 6-inch cut on his liver. 

After those incidents, SeaWorld made changes to the whale attractions and said safety was significantly improved.

SeaWorld San Diego has not announced whether its whale attraction will reopen Thursday.

— Shelby Grad

Photo: (
RED HUBER, ORLANDO SENTINEL

/
February 24, 2010

Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck told a group of bicycle advocates that department-wide training  would be implemented to highlight the rights of bicyclists on the road and ensure that officers know how to deal with incidents involving bikes.

Beck’s statements come amid growing complaints from cyclists that their rights are being infringed by drivers. It marks the first time top LAPD brass has publicly addressed the issue.

Beck said bike riders are “our most vulnerable commuters” and that the police department needed to do a better job protecting them.

“We hear you, we know we need to do a better job for you,” Beck said.

Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger said the training would include a document that would be included in official department policy outlining officers’ responsibilities in dealing with cyclists on the road. He said it was still unclear what would be in the document but said he hoped to meet with bicycle groups and have it ready within 30 days.

Paysinger also said that in less than 45 days the department would create a computer-based “e-learning” agenda that would be mandatory for all police officers to help them better recognize problems and issues involving cyclists.

Paysinger also pointed to other actions the LAPD had recently taken involving bicyclists – creating a working group with advocacy groups, appointing an official liaison within the police department and ensuring that all incidents involving bicyclists are handled by each bureau’s traffic division – as evidence the LAPD had begun to take bicycling safety more seriously. 

Beck’s statements came during a transportation committee meeting Wednesday afternoon.

About 20 cycling advocates, including some from the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, came to the meeting to address Beck after they completed a bike ride to call for justice for victims of hit-and-run accidents and to protest what it says is unfair treatment of cyclists.

Councilman Bill Rosendahl, chairman of the transportation committee, said
it was a “historic first” to have the chief of police listening
directly to the experiences of cyclists and promising reform.

“Today is the beginning of a new day with the LAPD,” Rosendahl said. “My
hope is that six months from now an officer will know the rights
of cyclists as well as the rights of motorists.… I think the LAPD, like
pretty much the citizenry in general, has had the car culture.”

The ride traced the route that local cyclist Ed Magos used to take on his daily commute to City Hall, where he works in the information technology department. Magos was injured Jan. 6 when he was struck from behind while cycling on 2nd Street near Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles, according to the coalition.

The motorist stopped but then drove away. The motorist later went to an LAPD station but was  not charged with a crime. 

–Ari B. Bloomekatz

Photos: L.A. Times file

More breaking news in L.A. Now:

SeaWorld San Diego cancels Shamu show for second day in row

Two hikers rescued from Sylmar canyon

Police search for shooter who killed man in South L.A.

SeaWorld San Diego worked to improve safety after several whale trainer injuries

Strong rainstorm expected Friday in Southern California

The executive director of Napa State Hospital, a Northern California mental institution that treats child sexual offenders, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of molesting his adopted son for more than a decade.

Long Beach police detectives took Claude Edward Foulk, 62, into custody Wednesday morning at the hospital, following a lengthy investigation into alleged molestations in Southern Calfornia and Northern California. L.A. County prosecutors have charged Foulk with 35 felony counts, including 22 counts of forcible oral copulation and 11 counts of sodomy by use of force.

Authorities said they have evidence that Foulk molested at least five children – including some foster children in his care. But they said the statute of limitations in those cases has already expired, so no charges could be brought.
Long Beach police Cmdr. Jeff Johnson said officials began building their case in September, when one of his former foster children contacted them with details about abuse he had allegedly suffered decades earlier. 

The man, now in his 40s, came forward after learning that Foulk was now heading a hospital that dealt with sex offenders, authorities said.
Detectives believed that Foulk used his position working at mental facilities in Southern California to make connections with children. Johnson said the victims included children who lived in Foulk’s neighborhood.

“He used his position of trust not only as a parental figure but as a healthcare professional to obtain his victims,” Johnson said. “He was able to not only use strategic threats of force or intimidation but use monetary as well as other rewards to his victims and their caretakers to prevent discovery of his crimes.”

Detectives said the alleged victims came in contact with Foulk as far back as 1975, when he lived in Long Beach and other locations around the region. Johnson said most of the alleged incidents occurred before 1988, which is the cutoff date under the statute of limitations under a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision.
The charges filed this week involve his adopted son, now in his mid 20s, who alleges that Foulk molested him between 1992 and 2006.

The arrested shocked some officials at Napa State Hospital, where Foulk has been director since 2007. Hours after his arrest, state officials announced that they had terminated Foulk’s employment.
State officials declined further comment. Neither Foulk nor his attorney could be reached for comment.

Some employees at the hospital said they were concerned because Foulk lived in a house on the facility grounds, next to a daycare center. The charges don’t include any allegations of molestation at the Napa facility, but Long Beach police said they believe there might be more victims both in L.A. County and Northern California.

–Andrew Blankstein and Richard Winton in Los Angeles, Lee Romney in San Francisco

SeaWorld in San Diego has canceled its Shamu whale show at least for Wednesday after an Orlando SeaWorld employee was killed in an encounter with a whale at that theme park.

"We’re terribly saddened by the loss of the member of our SeaWorld family, it doesn’t matter what park," said SeaWorld San Diego spokesman David Koontz. "We have canceled our afternoon Shamu show here today."

Koontz said park officials had yet to make a decision about to whether to cancel Thursday’s show.

Orlando SeaWorld officials are not revealing the identity of the victim, although a local TV station is reporting that a female employee was killed after she was grabbed by one of the theme park’s whales at the start of a public show. Park guest Victoria Biniak told the station that the trainer was a veteran of SeaWorld and had just finished explaining to the audience the show they were about to see.



At that point, Biniak said, the whale came up from the water and grabbed the woman.

"He was thrashing her around pretty good. It was violent," Biniak said.

Read more on the story from the Orlando Sentinel.

— Amina Khan

Photo: Dolphins at SeaWorld San Diego. Credit: EPA

 The Glendale City Council Tuesday night voted to require “CSI: Miami” actress Eva La Rue to remove the gate she illegally constructed in front of her home.

Councilman Ara Najarian cast the lone dissenting vote.

The decision concludes weeks of controversy that generated heated debate at City Hall and media and community attention.

La Rue had said she built the gate to guard against an alleged stalker, but neighborhood residents decried the addition, which according to city code was too close to the right-of-way, as blatantly flouting zoning regulations.

Last month, La Rue pleaded with the Glendale City Council to keep the gate. "I am asking please, please to keep my gate. I’m a single mom. I know that this gate can’t really protect me from somebody that wants to do me and my 8-year-old harm, but at least it is some sort of barrier."

According to KTLA News, it appears La Rue has moved out of the home and has been staying at an unknown location.

— Melaine Hicken, Glendale News-Press

More on the story here.

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A federal magistrate has ruled that a convicted sex offender accused of traveling to Cambodia to have sex with a minor must remain behind bars until a preliminary hearing next month.

Michael James Dodd, 59, was brought from Cambodia to Los Angeles on Monday to face the charges in the "sex tourism" case. If convicted, he could face up to 30 years in federal prison.

Dodd taught English in Cambodia, had sex with a 14-year-old girl and was seen with her on several occasions in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, according to an affidavit for arrest filed in federal court.

In 2002, Dodd pleaded guilty in Saipan to five counts of sexual abuse of a child after he was accused of inappropriately touching 13 female students at an elementary school where he taught, an FBI agent said in the affidavit. Dodd served time in prison and was placed on probation for 15 years.

He also faces criminal charges in Cambodia.

Agents in the FBI’s Los Angeles office handled the case because they are working with the Cambodian government and non-governmental agencies to identify and prosecute U.S. citizens who travel to that country to have sex with minors, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.

— Shelby Grad and Robert J. Lopez

Here’s an earlier KTLA report on the case:

Irvine police Wednesday morning continued to investigate the case of a man who was struck by a Metrolink train Tuesday morning in Irvine — two weeks after he was struck by another Metrolink train in Laguna Niguel.

In the Tuesday incident, the man suffered injuries to his hand and arm, the Irvine Police Department said. He suffered more serious injuries in the Laguna Niguel incident.

"That’s a bit peculiar," Irvine Police Lt. John Hare told The Times, referring to the two accidents within two weeks.

He said that the man’s injuries were not life-threatening and that he was expected to undergo a mental evaluation at a local hospital. His name was not released.

In Laguna Niguel, the man was dragged 87 feet by a Metrolink train. According to the Orange County Register, his left hand was cut off at his wrist.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department talked to his family after that incident and believe it was an accident. The Register quoted a deputy as saying the man didn’t indicate he was trying to take his own life.

— Robert J. Lopez and Shelby Grad

Photo credit: KTLA

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former President Clinton are scheduled to attend a summit on health, nutrition and obesity in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

The governor, a former bodybuilder who has long advocated healthy living and exercise, will join with health professionals, educators and others to discuss ways California can combat obesity and promote physical fitness.

In a statement, the governor cited several efforts he has supported to combat obesity in California, including requirements that some vending machines include healthy foods, that larger restaurant chains have nutritional information on menus and that some junk foods be removed from school campuses.

“We have made significant strides in promoting healthy eating and active living since my first Summit in 2005, but there remains action that can be done to promote a healthier California for all,” Schwarzenegger said. “I am thrilled to join with President Clinton and The California Endowment to continue building upon our work for a healthier future for our children and all Californians.”

— Shelby Grad

The mudslides that damaged dozens of homes in La Cañada Flintridge earlier this month have dumped nearly 2 million tons of mud into the county’s system of debris catch basins – so much debris that officials say they might need to truck it to the dump.

Crews have been racing to extract the mud, especially before a predicted round of storms hits the Los Angeles area later this week. The catch basins are crucial to protecting homes, holding mud falling off the hillsides and keeping it from flowing into streets and homes.

But as crews have been emptying the basins, they have been running out of space to dump the muck. They have been loading the mud into areas controlled by the county flood control district, but there’s so much of it that they may be forced to begin transporting the debris to landfills, officials said.

As a result, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved steps that would make it easier for the county to dump mud at the Sunshine Canyon and Scholl Canyon landfills for the next 90 days. The landfills are located, respectively, in the northern San Fernando Valley and Glendale.

The measures include allowing the county to exceed regular limits on how much waste can be dumped at a landfill. County fees on dumping costs associated with the mud would be waived, and the Public Works Department is being asked to work with the state to waive additional fees.

Public works officials estimated that it will cost $20 million to $30 million this year to remove mud and other debris from the catch basins for the current rainy season. Because it will take several years before enough vegetation returns to the San Gabriel Mountains to hold the soil and keep it from washing off hillsides, county officials estimate that the costs will continue for an extended period, totaling up to hundreds of millions of dollars.

— Rong-Gong Lin II at the L.A. County Hall of Administration

Photo credit: Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Board of Education voted Tuesday to turn over control of 18 new schools and 12 troubled ones to groups of teachers and administrators, charter groups and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s nonprofit organization.

The big winners were the teacher-led groups, who claimed the vast majority of the schools, including some that were expected to go to charter schools.

The move came after nearly 50 speakers appealed to the board for their various constituencies and others demonstrated outside the downtown Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters.

Bidders inside and outside the district have been vying for the schools under a reform plan that the board adopted in August.

The main competitors have been groups of district teachers and charter school operators. Charters are independently run schools that are free from some restrictions that govern traditional schools.

In the end, charters claimed only four new small schools, one of which would be shared with a district school run by an employee-led group.

Another competitor has been Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who seeks to increase the number of schools under the control of his education nonprofit.

Villaraigosa will now control one new school, Carver Middle School in South Park, and Griffith Joyner Elementary in Watts. For the last school, he had to rely on a decision of the school board, which overruled L.A. schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines.

— Howard Blume

Photo: Sgt. George Sandoval, of the Los Angeles School Police, explains the ticketing and seating procedures for Tuesday’s meeting to teachers and supporters waiting outside district headquarters. Credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

California’s lottery jackpot could be getting bigger. 

Backers of the proposed legislation say it could increase the amount of money the California Lottery pays to schools, from $1 billion to $1.4 billion, according to one estimate. But some educators are skeptical, The Times’ Patrick McGreevy writes in PolitiCal, The Times’ blog on politics in California.

Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi (D-Castro Valley) said her legislation
would ultimately mean more money for education, but the United Teachers Los Angeles objected during a committee hearing, saying it would allow
funds to be shifted from education to prizes.

Voters approved the lottery in 1984 with a requirement that at least
84% of the money go back to the public, at least 50% in prizes and 34%
to schools. Hayashi’s proposal would increase the amount going back to
the public to 87%, which would allow more revenue to be be put into jackpots, but would leave it to the Lottery Commission to decide how
much goes to education.

Should California increase its lottery jackpots? Share your views below.

Photo: Don Kelsen / Los Angeles Times

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