Author: Shelby Grad

A program that Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca championed three
years ago to sharply reduce the early release of jail inmates by
placing as many as 2,000 additional offenders on electronic monitoring
at home has failed to make a significant dent in the problem.



When
he first announced the initiative in 2007 and prodded the state
Legislature to allow it, Baca touted it as a major step that would free
jail space and allow the department to keep more-serious offenders
behind bars longer.



But officials now concede the plan was based on a misunderstanding of the jail population. That doomed it from the outset.



Last
week, only 135 inmates were involuntarily serving sentences at home,
where they wear electronic ankle bracelets to track their movements,
according to Sheriff’s Department numbers provided to The Times.

There are now fewer inmates on home detention than when Baca pushed to expand the program in 2007, according to the records.

Read the full story here.

–Jack Leonard

A dozen paparazzi were huddled on the sand — angling for a shot of
famously bare-chested celeb Matthew McConaughey — when suddenly they
were confronted by a pack of local surfers.





"Let’s go!" shouted one surfer. "We’ll draw a line in the beach, and
we’ll fight for the beach. If you guys win, you can have the beach."





A fight broke out, and L.A. prosecutors charged two of the surfers with misdemeanor battery.





Two years later, the trial against Skylar Peak and Philip Hildebrand is
getting underway. But the popular sentiment in Malibu is that the
surfers should be hailed as heroes, not hauled into court. The
defendants get pats on the back and words of encouragement as they make
their way around town, according to their lawyers.





Even the prosecutor on the case seemed a bit torn. "I’m ecstatic . . .
really," Deputy Dist. Atty. Bill Penzin deadpanned. Like many in
Malibu, Penzin believes the paparazzi are too aggressive in their
pursuit of celebrities. "Think Princess Di in Paris in the tunnel," he
said.

Read the full story here.

–Robert Faturechi in Malibu

PHOTOS: Surfers versus photographers.

Photo: L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy Tim Braden asks paparazzi to leave Little
Dume beach in Malibu after an altercation between one of them and other
beach-goers ruffled feathers.

(Los Angeles Times / June 28, 2008)

The death of Times sports writer Mike Penner brought an outpouring sympathy from both his longtime readers and those moved by his public transition to a female identity, Christine Daniels.

After Penner’s death last November, The Times’ Chrisotpher Goffard spent several months reporting the sportswriter’s story. Here is a sampling:

In late April 2007, Mike Penner published an article unlike any of the
thousands he had written for the Los Angeles Times. It was brief, just
823 words, and placed without fanfare on the second page of the Sports
section that had been his home for 23 years.

Under the headline "Old Mike, new Christine," Penner explained that he
would soon assume a female identity and byline, a decision that
followed "a million tears and hundreds of hours of soul-wrenching
therapy."




It was "heartache and unbearable discomfort" to remain a man, he
explained. Being a woman promised "joy and fulfillment." The article
ended on a hopeful note: "This could be the beginning of a beautiful
relationship."




Gone was quiet, circumspect Mike Penner, replaced by ebullient,
outgoing — and instantly famous — Christine Daniels. Celebrity meant
a megaphone, and Daniels vowed to use it as an advocate. She told her
story at transsexual conferences across the country, becoming a symbol
of courage to a transgender community inspired by the most visible
coming-out in decades.

A year after the essay, the Daniels byline vanished from the newspaper,
and within months Penner was back at work, living as a man and writing
under his male name. Once so voluble about the reasons for becoming
Christine, Penner was silent about the reasons for abandoning the
identity.

A year after the essay, the Daniels byline vanished from the newspaper,
and within months Penner was back at work, living as a man and writing
under his male name. Once so voluble about the reasons for becoming
Christine, Penner was silent about the reasons for abandoning the
identity.





This time, there was no essay, no explanation. But friends saw a person
in torment. Last November, in the parking garage of the apartment
complex where he lived alone, Penner killed himself. He was 52.

Read the full story here.

Read the best of Mike Penner from the pages of the The Times’ sports section.

Share your thoughts and memories below.

Photos: L.A. Times

A magnitude 3.4 earthquake hit off the coast of Southern California on Friday afternoon.

The temblor occurred at 3:33 p.m. near the Channel Island area off Ventura County. There were no reports of injuries or damage. It was one of several small quakes to hit the coastal region.

The quake’s epicenter was seven miles west of San Miguel Island and 18 miles west of Santa Rosa Island (that’s about 125 miles from downtown Los Angeles).

The quake was originally believed to have measured magnitude 3.5, but it was downgraded.

The U.S. Geological Survey got a handful of reports of people feeling the quake as far away as Los Angeles. There are several faults in the area, but it’s unclear which one was responsible for the temblor.

–Shelby Grad

To the cheers of fans and family members, a smiling Dennis Hopper received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Friday.

Many of Hopper’s Hollywood friends were in attendance, including Jack Nicholson, director David Lynch and singer Johnny Mathis.

Hopper thanked them for giving him a thrilling career. "You gave me a life I would never have seen as a boy from Dodge City, Kansas," he said.

Hopper, who is battling what his doctors have described as terminal cancer, was helped onto the stage. His hand and forehead were bandaged, the result, he said, of a fall on Thursday.

Actor Viggo Mortensen and producer Marc Canton offered tributes to the actor, recounting his storied career as an actor, director and artist.

Hopper, who has starred in numerous movies including "Speed," "Blue Velvet" and "Hoosiers," also co-wrote and directed "Easy Rider."

Hopper’s battle with cancer has become public because it’s coinciding with his divorce proceedings. According to court papers, the actor weighs about 100 pounds, but his doctors said he’s healthy enough to attend the ceremony.

Hopper, 73, and his wife, Victoria, have been locked in a bitter feud since the actor, director and artist filed to end the couple’s nearly 14-year marriage in January.

— Shelby Grad

Photo: Dennis Hopper, right, received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame with his friend Jack Nicholson at his side. Credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

A new Times database puts readers on the sidewalks of Hollywood, using more than a century of archives to track the lives of the stars, including current Oscar nominees Jeff Bridges, James Cameron, Matt Damon, Morgan Freeman, Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep.

Seattle police said Friday that detectives are looking for links between convicted serial killer Rodney Alcala and two women who were killed in the late 1970s.

Seattle police are seeking DNA samples to determine whether Alcala is a suspect in the slayings of Antionette Witaker, 13, and Joyce Gaunt, 17. Both were killed in Seattle, and their cases were never solved.

Det. Mark Jamieson of the Seattle Police Department said officials don’t have any definitive evidence yet linking Alcala to the homicides but are exploring whether there is a connection.

Last month, an Orange County jury found Alcala guilty of five counts of murder in the killings of four women and a teenage girl.

Days later, Huntington Beach detectives released a trove of photographs
of women and children they seized more than 30 years ago from a storage
locker the killer rented just as police were closing in on him.

Detectives
said they wanted to know who these people were and whether they might
have gone missing during Alcala’s murder spree in the late 1970s. Since
then, detectives have spent their days fielding a flood of phone calls
from people whose loved ones have been missing for decades.

The photos were found in a Seattle storage locker Alcala rented soon
after the 1979 kidnapping and murder of Robin Samsoe, 12, of Huntington
Beach. 

The locker also contained what prosecutors called Alcala’s
"trophies" — earrings that linked Alcala to Robin and another pair
later linked to Charlotte Lamb, a Santa Monica legal secretary who was
strangled in the laundry room of an El Segundo apartment complex.

— Ruben Vives

Here are some of the Alcala photos released by authorities.

Photo: Rodney Alcala. Credit: Los Angeles Times 

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burglaries

Big hike in L.A. power bills might just be the
beginning. Are you willing to pay more

Hollywood gang spreading heroin in Glendale,
La Crescenta, police chief says

Dennis Hopper, battling cancer, to get star on
Hollywood Walk of Fame

Sig Alert issued on southbound 5 Freeway in
Burbank

Grunion runs lure sharks as well as human
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There has been much public outcry over the plan to increase
residential electric bills by 9% to 28% in Los Angeles.

While the L.A. City Council debates that proposal, the Times’ David Zahniser reports that an even larger rate increase is being considered in the future.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is planning to boost the
electricity bills of its customers by 37% over the next four years as
part of its effort to cover steadily rising costs.

The numbers were provided as the council committee reviewed the first
of four rate hikes planned by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Not surprisingly, there is already some opposition.

"That’s an extraordinary burden on our homeowners and businesses," said
Councilman Paul Krekorian, who called the four-year plan "unacceptable."

What do you think of the rate increases? Share your views below.

Photo: Transmission towers at the foothills of the Inyo Mountains near the Owens Valley town of Lone Pine. Credit: Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times

A former Burbank middle school teacher who had sex with a 14-year-old student felt guilt-ridden for her actions and "couldn’t live with what she did," her attorney said Friday.

Amy Beck, 33, pleaded no contest on Thursday to charges related to sex with a minor. She faces up to two years behind bars. Burbank police investigators allege that Beck, a teacher at David Starr
Jordan Middle School, had a relationship with one of her male students
from March to September 2009.

Beck’s attorney, Michael Williamson, said his client felt so bad about her actions that she turned herself into police earlier this month and refused bail, deciding instead to stay in jail.

"Amy’s a very compassionate individual. She became really guilt-ridden
and remorseful," Williamson told ABC News. "She couldn’t live with what she had
done and had to bring it to light."

Williamson told "Good Morning America" that he’s not sure why she had the relationship. "Amy was a very good teacher, very close with her students," he said. "At some point she crossed the line with this one
particular young man. There’s no indication it happened with anyone
else."

Beck is married to an LAPD officer and has three children. Williamson said her husband is "absolutely standing by her."

He expects Beck will spend about a year in jail.

— Shelby Grad

Photo: Former Burbank middle school teacher Amy Beck. Credit: Glendale News-Press

More breaking news in L.A Now:

Hollywood gang spreading heroin in Glendale,
La Crescenta, police chief says

Dennis Hopper, battling cancer, to get star on
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Sig Alert issued on southbound 5 Freeway in
Burbank

Grunion runs lure sharks as well as human
hunters off Newport Beach

Authorities say they are growing increasingly concerned over heroin use in the La Crescenta and northern Glendale areas.

A Hollywood-based gang has played a major role in supplying heroin to the area, Glendale Police Chief Ron De Pompa told the News-Press.



Gang members have allegedly given free samples of heroin to teens and taught them to smoke the drug to increase their client base, he said.

All drug-related offenses in January investigated by Glendale police in the Crescenta Valley were attributed to heroin, an increasingly popular opiate among youth in the region, De Pompa said.

Heroin use has been escalating in the Crescenta Valley in the last five years as more high school students and young adults have become hooked, he said during a presentation to the City Council on drug use in northern Glendale.

“For years and years, La Crescenta seemed to be untouched by a lot of the big-city ailments that we started experiencing in the rest of the community, and we are starting to see a change in that now,” he said.

Read the full story here.

— Veronica Rocha, News-Press

Photo: Glendale Police Chief Ron De Pompa. Credit: city of Glendale

A member of the Los Angeles Police Department’s elite SWAT unit, who also served as a U.S. Marine, was killed Wednesday in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb, LAPD officials said.

Sgt. Maj. Robert J. Cottle, 45, was traveling with three other Marines in the Marja region of the country, which has been the focus of an intense U.S.-led offensive against Taliban forces in recent weeks, said LAPD Capt. John Incontro, who oversees SWAT operations.

Their armored vehicle struck an improvised explosive device, killing Cottle and another Marine and seriously wounding the two others, Incontro said. No other details of the incident were available. Cottle, who joined the LAPD in 1990 and won one of the coveted SWAT positions six years later, is the first active LAPD officer to be killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, police officials said.

A veteran of two tours of duty in Iraq, Cottle had deployed to Afghanistan in August last year and was scheduled to return home this summer.

A somber mood fell over the department’s Elysian Park training academy Wednesday afternoon, as members of the tightly knit SWAT unit were summoned to receive news of Cottle’s death from command staff. Officers recalled a friend who stood out even in the rarefied air of SWAT for the intensity he brought to the LAPD’s most demanding assignment and the care he showed for other officers who had turned him into one of the unit’s leaders. 

Incontro remembered the night in 2008 when another SWAT officer, Randall Simmons, was killed during a prolonged standoff with a man who had killed several people and then barricaded himself in a house. After Simmons was shot and rushed to a hospital, Cottle went from one SWAT officer to the next, helping to calm them and keep them focused on the still-unfolding situation.

“He was a very, very special guy,” Incontro said. “He is going to be missed.”

[Updated at 5:15 p.m.: Cottle was sergeant-major (the top enlisted position) with the 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, based at Camp Pendleton. Among his citations was the Combat Action Ribbon, for having been under fire and returning fire.

At Camp Pendleton, his death was announced Thursday during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a $13 million training facility to train Marines to detect the improvised explosive devices that are the top weapon used by the Taliban in Afghanistan to kill and wound U.S. and Afghan troops.

Brig. Gen. Rex McMillian, deputy commanding general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, with a slight catch in his voice, praised Cottle as a fine Marine who had shown leadership in a variety of assignments since joining the Marine Corps in 1983.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa released the following statement: “On behalf of the residents of Los Angeles I want to extend our thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of LAPD Officer Robert Cottle. It is during these times, when tragedy hits home that we are reminded of the dangers our brave men and women in uniform face each day while protecting our country.]

— Joel Rubin in Los Angeles and Tony Perry in San Diego

Share a memory about Cottle and read stories about more than 580 Californians serving in the U.S. military who have died in support of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on The Times’ California’s War Dead database.

Photos credit: LAPD

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board on Thursday approved $690 million in funding for the extension of the Gold Line in San Gabriel Valley, marking a significant step forward for the project.

The money would go toward extending the light rail line 11.3 miles from its current terminus at Sierra Madre Villa in Pasadena to Azusa. The approval by the board means the project is on track to break ground in June and begin service in 2014.

The Gold Line extension is one of several major rail projects being planned for L.A. County in the next few years, including an extension of the Expo Line into Santa Monica, a new line down Crenshaw Boulevard into the South Bay and an extension of the Eastside Gold Line.

There has been much debate about which projects should get funding, and L.A. County Supervisor Mike Antonovich said it’s important that a line outside the City of Los Angeles got funding.

“We need to have a regional transportation network and not one that just favors one city,” he said. “Los Angeles has cannibalized the funds, and this is the first time we have been able to bring ‘regional’ to the front of the plate instead of the back of the bus.” 

Antonovich said the extension — with stops in Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte, Irwindale and Azusa — would move the region toward a “truly regional transit system.” The six cities are looking at creating a high-tech corridor and build housing and multi-use commercial projects along the line, which also parallels the 210 Freeway.

The extension would bring the county’s commuter rail network farther into the San Gabriel Valley. Planners would like the extend the Gold Line all the way to Ontario International Airport in San Bernardino County. With the Thursday vote, $690 million in revenues from Measure R will be transferred to the Gold Line Construction Authority.

Measure R was the 2008 voter-approved measure to increase the sales tax by half a cent for 30 years in order to raise $40 billion to construct specific mass transit projects. The funding effectively moves the scheduled opening to 2014 from 2017, Antonovich said, because it allows for the construction authority to seek bids for faster construction in a private-public partnership.

The three-year project would generate 6,900 jobs, a third of which would be construction-related, according to the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. The second phase of the project would add stations in Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne, Pomona, Claremont and Montclair and is estimated to cost around $600 million to $700 million.

— My-Thuan Tran

Map: MTA

Orange County prosecutors have charged a Perris man who allegedly attacked a pelican on the Newport Pier when it tried to steal his catch.

The incident occurred last week, and authorities allege the fisherman stomped on the pelican’s beak. An online posting from a local rescue shelter said he also kicked it in the head.

Daniel Richard Moreno, 19, will be in court Friday for a pretrial hearing after pleading not guilty last week to misdemeanor animal cruelty. Police said Moreno was fishing on the pier about 3:30 p.m. on March 14 and set one of the fish he caught on the ground next to him.

That’s when a pelican standing on a nearby building’s roof swooped down and tried to grab Moreno’s fish, authorities said.

The pelican had a 33- to 36-centimeter “hairline fracture” on its beak, Debbie McGuire, director for the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach, told the Daily Pilot. The fracture drew blood from the bird, police said.

— Joseph Serna, Daily Pilot

Photo: The pelican who was allegedly attacked. Credit: Daily Pilot

Caltrans announced Thursday that freeway transition roads in San Dimas have reopened after being closed more than a month ago because of a landslide.

The hillside near Interstate 10 and California 57 collapsed on Feb. 18, knocking over a light pole and affecting transition roads on the westbound Interstate 10 and northbound California 71 connectors to the northbound 57.

According to a Caltrans statement, the landslide deposited tons of dirt and boulders onto the road.

"Approximately 110,000 cubic yards of dirt has been removed," officials said. "To stabilize the slope, the hillside has been graded and erosion control materials have been applied. Additionally, new drainage ditches have been built."

— Shelby Grad

Photo: While geologists survey the top of the hill on Feb. 18, CHP Officer Edmund Zorrilla gives the media a close-up view of the landslide. Credit: Allen J. Schaben  / Los Angeles Times 

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Burbank teacher accused of having sex with
14-year-old student pleads no contest

MTA to vote on funding for Gold Line extension
in San Gabriel Valley

The California Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a Los Angeles ordinance that prohibits Hare Krishna members and other groups from soliciting money at Los Angeles International Airport.

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness of California challenged the 1997 ordinance, and a federal trial court ruled that it violated the state’s constitutional guarantee of free speech.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals referred the case to California’s high court, which has final say over matters of state law. In finding the Los Angeles law constitutional, the state Supreme Court said the International Society for Krishna Consciousness "has ample alternative means of conveying its message."

"It can distribute literature and speak to willing travelers," Justice Carlos R. Moreno wrote for the court. "It can even seek financial support, as long as it does not request the immediate exchange of funds."

— Maura Dolan in San Francisco

Photo: A scene at Los Angeles International Airport. Credit: Los Angeles Times

More breaking news in L.A. Now:

Freeway ramps closed by landslide reopen more
than a month later

Boardwalk goes up around reservoirs in Silver
Lake

Burbank teacher accused of having sex with
14-year-old student pleads no contest

MTA to vote on funding for Gold Line extension
in San Gabriel Valley

Horses run through the streets of Chula Vista
for more than an hour

L.A. County reviews possible lapses in death
of 2-year-old boy

Octuplets’ mother gets cash in exchange for
placing PETA sign on front lawn, attorney says

50% of Californians now support gay marriage,
poll finds

LAPD searches for man who stole life savings
of 97-year-old woman

Earlier this month, she resigned from the school district. She could face up to two years in prison when sentenced.

— Shelby Grad

More coverage on the case here.

Photo: Amy Beck joins her colleagues in togas for a school celebration of Greek Day in April 2009. Credit: Scott Smeltzer / News-Press

More breaking news in L.A. Now:

Freeway ramps closed by landslide reopen more
than a month later

Boardwalk goes up around reservoirs in Silver
Lake

State Supreme Court upholds LAX ban on Hare
Krishna fundraising

MTA to vote on funding for Gold Line extension
in San Gabriel Valley

Horses run through the streets of Chula Vista
for more than an hour

L.A. County reviews possible lapses in death
of 2-year-old boy

Octuplets’ mother gets cash in exchange for
placing PETA sign on front lawn, attorney says

50% of Californians now support gay marriage,
poll finds

LAPD searches for man who stole life savings
of 97-year-old woman

L.A. County officials are reviewing the circumstances surrounding the case of 2-year-old Deandre Green, who was killed weeks after authorities received reports that he might be the victim of abuse.

Family members said they had warned police and Los Angeles County child-welfare officials at least twice about possible abuse in the last few months of the child’s life. Deandre’s father told The Times in an interview Tuesday that he had taken his son to the Hawthorne Police Department in October to show officials bruises on the child’s chest and stomach. Deandre’s cousin said she had called the county Department of Children and Family Services in February to report her concerns.

The boyfriend of the boy’s mother has been arrested in connection with Deandre’s death.

County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, whose district includes Hawthorne, said he was “very concerned about what happened here.”

An independent county investigator was assigned to review the circumstances leading to the boy’s death as a matter of protocol, he added.

Ridley-Thomas said he hoped the probe would explain why the case was bounced from the DCFS to the Hawthorne police and, ultimately, to the Long Beach Police Department, which is investigating it as a homicide because he died in that city.

“It’s not usually the case that you have two different law enforcement agencies involved in a case like this,” Ridley-Thomas said. “The question is whether there was enough communication between the two departments and the county. … That’s one of the things that I’m very concerned about.”

The office of Supervisor Don Knabe, whose district includes Long Beach, released a written statement saying “the death of any child is a horrible tragedy,” but he declined to comment on the case because it is under active investigation.

“Supervisor Knabe is confident that DCFS takes abuse allegations seriously and investigates rapidly,” the statement said.

Deandre’s death comes as the county continues to face scrutiny in its handling of child abuse cases. Earlier this month, 2-year-old Viola Vanclief was killed while in the care of a foster family agency that contracts with the court despite a long history of child abuse incidents. About 35 children who passed through the county system since January 2007 have died from abuse or neglect.

Long Beach Police Officer Jackie Bezart confirmed that detectives are examining at least two reports of abuse submitted to the county before Deandre died, but said she could not provide more details.

— Tony Barboza in Long Beach

Photo: A family photo of Deandre Green.

Octuplets mother Nadya Suleman has accepted a payment from the animal rights group PETA in exchange for allowing the organization to place a sign outside her La Habra home, her attorney said.

PETA made the offer amid reports that Suleman could be evicted from her home because she was falling behind on her payments.

Last week, the home’s owner, Amer Haddadin, said the Suleman family has fallen behind in the house payments and that Suleman could face eviction if the matter is not taken care of.

He said Suleman’s father purchased the home under a deal in which Haddadin would carry the $450,000 loan for a year until the family could gather enough money to provide a substantial down payment.

A year later, he says, Suleman’s father has not provided the money.

In a statement, Suleman’s attorney, Jeff Czech, said: The PETA organization has offered to help Nadya with a small payment in exchange for allowing PETA to place a sign on Nadya’s front lawn, urging owners to neuter their pets. Nadya has accepted."

It’s unclear how much money PETA will give Suleman.

— Shelby Grad

Photo: Nadya Suleman outside her home last summer. Credit: Associated Press

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50% of Californians now support gay marriage, poll finds

LAPD searches for man who stole life savings of 97-year-old woman

Plane lands on 57 Freeway near San Dimas

Santa Ana mother charged with having sex with boy, 15, who fathered her child

Death of Kern County inmate under investigation as a possible homicide

UC regents apologize to black students over racial incidents

Less than two years after Californians approved a ban on gay marriage, a new poll found that more residents support same-sex union than oppose it.

According to the Public Policy Institute of California poll, 50% of respondents support gay marriage and 45% oppose it. The PPIC said it marks the highest level of support for gay marriage their polls have recorded in California.

Some gay rights activists had planned to ask voters to repeal the ban on gay marriage, Proposition 8, this year. But several key groups decided to push back that effort until at least 2011.

A Los Angeles Times/USC poll released in November found a small majority of California voters supports the right of gay couples to marry, but a much larger portion of voters opposes efforts to place the issue on the ballot in 2010.

The PPIC polled 2,002 California adults by phone from March 9-16. It had a margin of error of 2%

— Shelby Grad

Photo credit: Associated Press

More breaking news in L.A. Now:

Horses run through the streets of Chula Vista for more than an hour

L.A. County reviews possible lapses in death of 2-year-old boy

UC Irvine researcher Francisco Ayala wins Templeton Prize

Octuplets’ mother gets cash in exchange for placing PETA sign on front lawn, attorney says

LAPD searches for man who stole life savings of 97-year-old woman

Plane lands on 57 Freeway near San Dimas

Santa Ana mother charged with having sex with boy, 15, who fathered her child

Death of Kern County inmate under investigation as a possible homicide

UC regents apologize to black students over racial incidents