KPCC: Stories by Nick Roman

Beckham brings home championship in last game with LA Galaxy

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 10:02:17 -0800

David Beckham of the LA Galaxy holds aloft the winning trophy following victory over the Houston Dynamo in their MLS Cup final at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California on November 20, 2011. The LA Galaxy defeated the Houston Dynamo 1-0. Credit: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images

Before a record Home Depot Center crowd on a rainy night, the L.A. Galaxy beat the Houston Dynamo, 1-0, to win the MLS title this season. The game marked the last game in L.A. for soccer star David Beckham.

Injuries, age and bad luck collectively kept David Beckham from being the superstar for the Galaxy that he’d been in Britain. In four years, Beckham and the Galaxy had reached the finals only once — and had lost.

Now, in his last game under the giant contract he’d signed with L.A. five years ago, Beckham had one last chance to bring an MLS title to L.A. In the 56th minute of a scoreless tie with Houston, Beckham flipped the ball ahead to fellow United Kingdom player Robby Keane, who rolled it expertly between the goalkeeper’s legs for a goal.

Only it wasn’t; the linesman ruled Keane was offside, although a TV replay showed he wasn’t. L.A. had kept the ball in the Houston end all game long — and yet, the game was scoreless.

But minutes later, Beckham used his head to punch the ball forward again to Keane, who slid it to his right, then rolled it ahead to Landon Donovan, who chipped it with the outside of his right foot off the goalkeeper’s hand and into the net.

The Galaxy finally had a goal and a lead — and a few minutes later, the MLS Cup. Beckham had a title — and all was right in the Galaxy.

Sunday LA storm floods Sepulveda Tunnel underneath LAX

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:48:49 -0800

File: Traffic through the Sepulveda Boulevard tunnel under Los Angeles International Airport is backed up as a lane is closed due to flooding while an airliner lands, as rain falls on a large part of Southern California Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2010. Credit: Reed Saxon/AP

The Sunday storm sent an inch-and-a-third of rain pouring down on the Sepulveda Pass. That sent a river of mud and water onto lanes of the 405 Freeway near Mulholland Drive, and into backyards near Ventura Boulevard. The biggest problem on a rainy Sunday was at LAX.

The problem wasn’t with the planes landing on the runway. It was in the tunnel under the runway.

You know that Sepulveda Boulevard between the Century Freeway and Century Boulevard runs under the main runway at LAX. If you get enough rain in the right spot, the Sepulveda tunnel will flood — and Sunday afternoon, it flooded enough to close the southbound lanes.

That fouled up traffic. Airport officials told anyone heading to the airport to catch a flight to leave 45 minutes earlier than usual just to be safe.

By 8 o’clock, a convoy of maintenance trucks showed up to pump out the water. A half-hour past midnight, airport traffic was back to normal.

Another storm will show up on Thanksgiving Day, but that’s the day after the busiest travel day of the year.

One more note about the Sunday storm: the L.A. County health officer says don’t swim in the ocean until Wednesday evening — too much bacteria from storm drain runoff. And that Thanksgiving Day storm could extend that warning well into the weekend.

The LA fight that helped make Joe Frazier a champ

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 08:26:06 -0800

FILE - In this March 8, 1971, file photo, Muhammad Ali takes a left from Joe Frazier during the 15th round of their heavyweight title boxing bout in New York. Frazier won a unanimous decision. Prime seats were $150 — an astonishing sum at the time — and they could have sold them for twice that price. Credit: AP Photo/File

Joe Frazier died Monday night after a brief battle with liver cancer at the age of 67. Frazier fought and won four times at Los Angeles's Olympic Auditorium early in his pro career. One of those fights in 1966 put Frazier on the road to the heavyweight title.

After he’d won an Olympic gold medal and turned pro, heavyweight Joe Frazier pounded his first 11 opponents. But then young Oscar Bonavena floored him twice; Frazier escaped with a split decision.

Next, Frazier came to L.A. to take on the most experienced boxer he’d ever faced: California’s Eddie Machen, who’d nearly beaten Sonny Liston and Floyd Patterson years earlier. Frazier needed a big win.

Nov. 21, 1966: A sellout crowd at the Olympic Auditorium, with the overflow watching closed-circuit TV at the Sports Arena. Frazier ended Round 1 by punching Machen through the ropes and out of the ring. It went like that for nine more rounds.

San Francisco Chronicle sportswriter Jack Fiske told his readers that Frazier, who’d trained to be a butcher, “treated Machen like a side of beef.” The L.A. win over Machen began six years of tough and skilled opponents; Frazier flattened them all.

One of Frazier's most notable fights was with Muhammad Ali in 1971 in the Fight of the Century at Madison Square Garden. A vicious left hook got Frazier the win in the 15th round of the fight.

They fought three times, twice in the heart of New York City and once in the morning in a steamy arena in the Thrilla in Manila in the Philippines. They went 41 rounds together. Neither gave an inch and both gave it their all.

"I will always remember Joe with respect and admiration," Ali said in a statement. "My sympathy goes out to his family and loved ones."

Born in Beaufort, S.C., on Jan. 12, 1944, Frazier took up boxing early after watching weekly fights on the black and white television on his family's small farm. He was a top amateur for several years, and became the only American fighter to win a gold medal in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo despite fighting in the final bout with an injured left thumb.

Frazier's death was announced in a statement by his family, who asked to be able to grieve privately and said they would announce "our father's homecoming celebration" as soon as possible.

The International Boxing Hall of Fame announced its flags in Canastota, N.Y., will fly at half-staff in memory of Frazier. Frazier was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1990.

The Associated Press contributed to this story

Killer extradited to Calif. to stand trial for 5 murders

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 10:34:36 -0700

FILE: This undated file photo provided by the Illinois Department of Corrections shows serial killer Andrew Urdiales. On March 9, 2011, Urdiales had his death sentence commuted for the second time to life in prison after Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation abolishing the state's death penalty. California officials began seeking the extradition of Urdiales within hours after Quinn commuted his sentence. A California grand jury indicted Urdiales in 2009 in the murders of five women there. Credit: AP Photo/Illinois Department of Corrections, File

A convicted serial killer will return to California this week to stand trial in the murders of five women. Authorities expect the man to arrive in the Southland on Thursday.

Juries in Illinois convicted former U.S. Marine Andrew Urdiales of three murders in Illinois — and sentenced him to die for two of them.

Illinois commuted his death sentences to life in prison when the state banned the death penalty.

Prosecutors in Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties accuse Urdiales of killing four other women while he was stationed at various military bases between 1986 and 1995. The first of those murders claimed the life of a Saddleback College student.

The cases will be consolidated and tried in Orange County.

Michael Jackson doctor trial jury selection begins Thursday

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 06:43:51 -0700

Dr. Conrad Murray sits in court at his arraignment in January 2011 at Superior Court in Los Angeles, California. Murray is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of pop star Michael Jackson. Credit: Ifran Kahn/AFP/Getty Images

The judge in the trial of "King of Pop" Michael Jackson’s doctor says jury selection starts in two days — unless an appeals court holds things up.

You know the case — Dr. Conrad Murray is on trial for involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors say the Texas physician gave Jackson a fatal dose of a strong sedative, and violated medical guidelines to do it.

The fact that you know that and more about the case is one of the legal twists. Murray’s defense lawyers say this trial, which should last about five weeks, will generate attention like nothing since OJ. They want its jury sequestered as the jury was in the OJ Simpson murder trial.

But they couldn’t get LA Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor to go along, so they filed an appeal. Now the judge has taken that into account; he’ll start jury selection on Thursday, unless the appeals court stops him while it considers the sequester request.

If that doesn’t happen, potential jurors will fill out what the judge calls an “exhaustive” questionnaire. The judge, the prosecutors and Murray’s lawyers will use that, plus their own questions, to cut down the jury pool.

UC Irvine Muslim students stand trial for speech disruption

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 06:35:10 -0700

Opening statements begin Wednesday in the trial of 11 Muslim students who disrupted a 2010 speech by the Israeli ambassador at the University of California, Irvine.

The Orange County District Attorney's Office has charged the students with misdemeanor charges of conspiring to disturb a meeting and disturbing a meeting in a case that has generated an impassioned debate about freedom of speech.

The students claim they had a right to protest when they stood up one by one during a speech at UC Irvine by Israeli ambassador Michael Oren. The students delayed Oren's remarks by 20 minutes and prosecutors say they infringed on the rights of the audience who had come to hear Oren speak.

Orange County prosecutors have emails to bolster charges that these 11 students conspired to interrupt Israel's ambassador to the United States. One email talks about a "Chicago-style" protest to disrupt the event - and essentially silence Ambassador Michael Oren.

But don't equate the "Irvine 11" with the "Chicago Seven." The charges that Tom Hayden and other Vietnam War opponents faced 40 years ago were far more serious and their trial far more chaotic. The 11 students from UCI and UC Riverside face misdemeanor charges; even if they're convicted, jail seems unlikely.

Jurors filled out eight-page questionnaires that asked about their attitudes toward Muslims, UCI and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. UCI law school dean Erwin Chemerinsky has said the students were wrong to interrupt, but he's said the prosecutors were also wrong when they filed criminal charges.

One student whose case was handled separately is doing time at a soup kitchen.

The trial is expected to last several weeks.

The Associated Press and KPCC wire services contributed to this story.

McCourt gets $1.2 billion offer to sell the Dodgers

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 07:00:09 -0700

Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt at a news conference at Dodger Stadium. Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

There’s been a lot of talk that somebody should buy out bankrupt Dodger owner Frank McCourt. Now there’s money behind that talk. A group of American and Chinese investors is offering more than a billion dollars for the Boys in Blue.

Here’s the deal outlined on the Los Angeles Times website: a group that gets some of its cash from what are described as “state-owned” Chinese institutions is putting up $1.2 billion for the Dodgers. That’s more money than anyone has ever offered for a Major League Baseball team. Bill Burke, the founder of the L.A. Marathon, leads the group.

The L.A. Times says Dodger owner Frank McCourt got the offer on Tuesday. He hasn’t responded yet, and for good reason — he’s got a lot to consider.

You know about the Dodgers’ bankruptcy, McCourt’s divorce and his longshot hope of keeping the Dodgers by auctioning off their TV rights. Those rights could bring in a billion dollars — but only if there’s an auction. That’s up to a bankruptcy judge.

Another judge, the one who’s hearing his divorce case, could order McCourt to sell the team. But Frank McCourt doesn’t have to wait for that. He could sell now — and now he knows what he could get.

Cerritos remembers mid-air jetliner crash

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:25:07 -0700

Firefighters battle flames from a burning home in Cerritos, Calif., in this Aug. 31, 1986 file photo, as they straddle pieces of fuselage from an AeroMexico jetliner. Credit: Rod Boren/AP

The city of Cerritos today marked the 25th anniversary of a jetliner crash that killed 82 people.

The Aeromexico Flight 498 crashed on Aug. 31, 1986 and was remembered Wednesday by community leaders, friend and family's of the victims.

Telemundo news reporter Vicky Gutierrez choked back tears as she recalled that her mother and brother visited Tijuana, but were not supposed to be on the DC-9 Aeromexico Flight headed to L.A.

“Trying to get home sooner, they took the place of two other passengers that didn’t make it. So they got on the plane and unfortunately had a terrible ending," she said.

On that Sunday — just before noon — the DC-9 jet collided with a small, private plane 6,500 feet in the air.

The single-engine aircraft plummeted into the athletic field of a Cerritos elementary school. The larger plane slammed into a Cerritos neighborhood and erupted into a fireball. The carnage spread across 10 blocks.

Near 183rd Street and Carmenita Road, neighbors could see a large portion of the plane stretching from the sidewalk into the backyard of a house. KPCC’s Nick Roman — then at another station — reported on the crash on the day it happened.

“The plane had smashed through the cinderblock wall which runs along the sidewalk. That home and the home next to it and the home next to that one were all burnt away," he said.

A quarter-century after it happened, dozens of people gathered for a public memorial at Cerritos Sculpture Garden. They honored all 82 people who died in the accident, including 15 on the ground.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe was the mayor of Cerritos at the time. He recalled that after the crash, he and other leaders pushed lawmakers in D.C. to draft new safety regulations.

“And out of this we got the collision avoidance system mandated in both small and big aircraft so something like that could not happen today. So I mean, that’s the good news," he said.

Investigators concluded that pilot error on the smaller plane and air traffic control failures caused the collision.

Some people at the tribute snapped pictures of marble and granite monuments banked with flowers. Others just lingered over the inscribed names of the people they recall on this anniversary and every day.

OC student who hacked into computer, changed grades gets jail time

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 15:13:50 -0700

A school computer lab. Credit: Scott Woods-Fehr/Flickr

A former high school student who hacked into a school computer to change his grades got a final grade from an Orange County judge Friday.

Several colleges turned down Tesoro High senior Omar Khan three years ago. He wanted to do something about it. He could have worked hard in community college and transferred.

Instead, Khan broke into the Tesoro High offices, hacked into the computers, swiped copies of Advanced Placement tests – and changed the grades on his transcript. It worked – until a school janitor nabbed him and a friend one night.

The friend – Tanvir Singh – pleaded guilty right away and got three years’ probation and 200 hours of community service. Now three years later, a judge has formally sentenced Khan to something more. For five felonies, he got 30 days in jail, 500 hours of community service, three years’ probation - and $15,000 in restitution.

The judge then wiped four of the five felonies off his record. Omar Khan is in college now, studying at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on scholarship after he worked hard in community college to get his grades up.

Health care major issue as grocery workers begin strike vote

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:31:17 -0700

Grocery store worker casts his ballot. Credit: Brian Watt/KPCC

Thousands of union workers at Vons, Ralphs and Albertsons stores have begun two days of voting to authorize a strike against the grocery chains. It comes after six months of stalled contract talks.

Workers are casting ballots at locations throughout Southern California, including the United Food and Commercial Workers Union hall in Harbor City. Hundreds of supermarket employees lined up to vote as the doors opened at 7 a.m.

A steady stream of workers continued throughout the morning. Union representatives spoke to them in small groups to explain the details of the contract offer from the three supermarket chains.

UFCW members are voting on two questions: whether to accept or reject the contract offer, and whether to give union leaders the authority to call a strike if contract talks fail. They've been working without a contract for six months.

"This vote is about sending a message to corporations for us and for everybody,'' union spokesman Mike Shimpock told City News Service. "If you work hard, you should be able to support your family.''

Health care costs have been the sticking point in negotiations. The new offer would charge workers about $36 a month for single or $92 a month for family coverage.

"The current proposal from our employer doesn’t want to contribute enough funds to keep our health care alive," said 55-year-old Ed Mora, who works as a clerk at an Albertsons in Carson. "This is gonna fast track us into county services. All we want is health care, not welfare."

The stores say it's a fair deal while union workers say it could eat up as much as half of their take-home pay.

Shimpock noted that the health care dispute is not based on the amount of premiums paid by the employees, but on the amount of money paid by the grocery chains into a health care trust fund - payments Shimpock said have actually decreased over the past decade.

UFCW members and the same three grocery chains ended up in a labor dispute nearly eight years ago that kept picket lines outside Vons, Ralphs and Albertsons stores for 20 weeks.

KPCC Wire Services contributed to this story.

Fullerton police face wrongful arrest lawsuit

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 13:00:05 -0700

Fullerton police are now facing new legal problems. A man who says he was wrongly arrested is suing the city police department in federal court.

The lawsuit by 35-year-old Veth Mam claims Fullerton officers were wrong when they arrested him in October as he used a cell phone video camera to record them taking one of his friends into custody.

Mam said officers slapped the cell phone out of his hand and grabbed him, claiming he’d jumped on an officer’s back and choked him.

Mam said Friday he was the one who got jumped, not the officer.

"The thing I remember is that they grabbed me by the sleeve and slammed the phone down and then just tossed me around, and I figured, well, maybe they'll let me go right away,'' Mam said. "Once he grabbed me down and just slammed me around, I was scared. I mean, what can I do?''

Last month, an Orange County jury acquitted Mam of assault, battery and resisting arrest after watching the video he’d begun recording the night he was arrested.

A spokesman for the Fullerton police says Mam was arrested in error.

Mam's lawsuit alleges that officers Kenton Hampton, Frank Nguyen, Jonathan Miller and Daniel Solorio, among others, falsified information in a combined effort to conceal excessive force used in Mam's arrest.

The suit claims that officers knew Mam was innocent of the charges and that his rights were being violated and did nothing to rectify the situation. It also contends that the city and Police Chief Michael Sellers condoned a history of officer misconduct and "encouraged an atmosphere of lawlessness.''

"It's not just what happened that day, it's what happened afterward,'' attorney Garo Mardirossian said. "Because the officers sat down and wrote reports, they conspired to write reports that would gibe with one another's reports, but it does not gibe with the videotape. The videotape shows something quite different.''

Fullerton police spokesman Sgt. Andrew Goodrich said department officials had "no comment at this point'' about the suit.

Mardirossian said on Friday in Mid-City Los Angeles that Mam’s lawsuit names an officer who may have been involved in last month’s beating of Kelly Thomas — a schizophrenic homeless man who later died.

On July 5, Fullerton officers used a Taser and struck the 37-year-old Thomas several times in an effort to subdue him.

Thomas died five days later. His death has prompted angry protests at recent Fullerton City Council meetings.

The officers involved are on administrative leave. Fullerton’s police chief has left on medical leave. This week, the city hired law enforcement expert Michael Gennaco to review the Thomas arrest and death, and make recommendations about Fullerton police training and policies. Gennaco serves as the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department watchdog.

KPCC Wire Services contributed to this story

Dodger lawyers challenge claims in Stow lawsuit

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 12:52:23 -0700

Dodger Stadium on the evening of April 29, 2011. Credit: brendan-c/Flickr (cc by-nc-nd)

Attorneys for the L.A. Dodgers want to get rid of some claims in the lawsuit filed by the San Francisco Giants fan badly beaten after this year's Opening Day baseball game.

It's not unusual for the defendant in a lawsuit to ask a judge to cut back the allegations made by the plaintiff. In this case, attorneys for the Dodgers say in court papers that Bryan Stow and his children don't specify what team owner Frank McCourt and 13 other team entities did or didn't do that would allow a punitive damage award.

They also want some of the lawsuit's language taken out – including talk about McCourt mismanaging the Dodgers and a supposed "gang presence" at Dodger Stadium. On that point, prosecutors haven"t said anything about gangs and beating suspects Louie Sanchez and Marvin Norwood; they've pleaded not guilty.

The Dodger attorneys also want to take out a reference to the team's decision to cancel a half-price beer promotion after the Stow beating.

They also say Stow's children shouldn't get to pursue a negligence claim because they weren't at the game and didn't see their father's beating in the Dodger Stadium parking lot after the game. What stays in the lawsuit and what goes is the subject of a Sept. 30 court hearing in L.A.

PG&E picks Michigan power chief to head company

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 12:38:03 -0700

The shell of a truck sits in front of a burned home near the epicenter of the gas line explosion that devastated a neighborhood near San Francisco International Airport on Sept. 24, 2010 in San Bruno, Calif. Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Northern California power giant Pacific Gas and Electric has brought in outsider Anthony Early, a Michigan energy executive, to take over and fix the company's super-charged problems as its new president and CEO.

For 106 years, when PG&E needed to plug in a new boss, it chose someone from within the company. But last year's deadly San Bruno pipeline disaster and several other foulups have pushed the Northern California power giant to look outside for new leadership. The San Bruno disaster killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes.

It's found that new leader in Michigan, where 62-year-old Earley has been in top management of Detroit Edison or its parent company for 17 years. The word on Earley is that he's an excellent crisis manager, proving it in 2003 when the biggest blackout in U.S. history shut down power in much of the upper Midwest.

That's a crisis, but PG&E's blunders surrounding the San Bruno blast are worse from a financial and a public relations standpoint. The company will almost certainly have to pay out hundreds of millions of dollars to settle San Bruno lawsuits.

The chair of the National Transportation Safety Board has scolded PG&E for misplacing documents on the condition of the San Bruno pipeline. All new PG&E boss Anthony Earley has to do is fix it all – and keep the lights on, too.

Earley plans to take over on Sept. 13 from lead director Lee Cox, who has been serving as interim CEO since long-time leader, Peter Darbee, stepped down in April. With a $35 million retirement package.

In a statement, Cox called Earley "the person best qualified to help us win back public confidence."

This story includes information from the Associated Press.

LA businessman becomes NBA’s first Hispanic team owner

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 09:22:22 -0700

Josh Smith #5 of the Atlanta Hawks, a team now owned by Alex Meruelo, drives against Luol Deng #9 of the Chicago Bulls in Game Six of the Eastern Conference Semifinals in the 2011 NBA Playoffs at Phillips Arena on May 12, 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia. Credit: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

The owner of one of L.A.’s biggest pizza chains made sports history Monday as moved one step closer to becoming the NBA’s first Hispanic team owner. Alex Meruelo is purchasing the Atlanta Hawks.

Alex Meruelo’s parents left Cuba for Miami 50 years ago, moved to New York soon after and eventually settled in Southern California. But the 48-year-old Meruelo is all L.A.

The Cal State Long Beach grad was 21 when he opened the first of his 50 or so La Pizza Loca stores in L.A. in 1985. He owns the Meruelo Group, Fuji Food Products in Santa Fe Springs, L.A. Spanish language TV station KWHY, and now the Atlanta Hawks basketball team, too.

Meruelo says the purchase is a "dream come true," and says the Hawk's Phillips Arena has great potential.

Meruelo says the plan is yet to be approved by the NBA Board of Governors, but expects the deal will close later this year. His public purchase has quelled rumors of a Mystery Buyer for the team, a deal Meruelo says he wanted to keep quiet until it was official.

Remember the Sacramento Kings maybe moving to Orange County? You won’t hear about Meruelo moving the Hawks west. He’s told the “Atlanta Journal-Constitution” that the team will stay in Atlanta, and that he’ll be a “hands-on” owner.

It figures the NBA’s first Hispanic owner’s first order of business might be to do what the Lakers did years ago: hire a Spanish language broadcaster. What else Meruelo does will have to wait, maybe a long time, until the NBA owners and players end their contract fight.

No opting out of controversial Secure Communities

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 17:39:32 -0700

Protest against Secure Communities in San Francisco. Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The Obama administration has canceled agreements with states over a Homeland Security program that shares fingerprint data with immigration agents. Democratic governors had complained about the Secure Communities program, saying the data could be used to deport illegal immigrants who were fingerprinted for minor offenses.

But it turns out that ending the agreements means little: Immigration agentswill still get the fingerprint data.

Long before Secure Communities came along, states already shared fingerprint data with the FBI. Since 9/11, a number of laws require the FBI, which is part of the Justice Department, to share information with Homeland Security. ICE — Immigration and Customs Enforcement — is part of Homeland Security, so when Justice shares with Homeland Security, it means the FBI shares with ICE. And that includes fingerprint data that states like California send to the FBI.

Some governors might not like sharing fingerprint data with ICE, but they can’t stop it. Keeping it away from ICE means keeping it away from the FBI. There are very good reasons why states, counties and law enforcement agencies want the FBI to have the fingerprints of the people they’ve arrested.

San Francisco Sheriff Michael Hennessey — one of the loudest critics of the Secure Communities program — still doesn’t like it that someone who’s undocumented and gets arrested for a minor offense might be deported. He’s said he’ll release them from custody, and get around Secure Communities that way.

Grocery chains, union dig in on health benefits

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 06:00:00 -0700

Grocery store workers lead a rally on June 14, 2011 to demand a "fair and timely" contract from the major stores. Credit: AP

Union employees at local Ralphs, Vons, and Albertsons supermarkets have been working on an expired contract since March. They’ve voted to authorize a strike if their leaders decide it’s necessary — and they’ve staged rallies to demonstrate their resolve. But the grocery chains have dug in, too. The two sides remain far apart on the issue of health benefits.

Here’s one thing the union and the employers agree on: the cost of health care has gone up and is going up. What they can’t agree on is who should pay for it. Mike Shimpock, spokesman for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 770 says as health care costs have risen, the grocery chains have shouldered less of the burden, while the workers pay more.

"It’s taken out of hourly wages," Shimpock said as he marched recently with hundreds of grocery store workers and supporters to Vons' Southern California headquarters in Arcadia. "We’ve paid for every increase over the last 10 years, and now these highly profitable companies, who make billions of dollars a year, what they’re trying to do is finally shift almost all of it over to these people that are working day in and day out just to make ends meet. "

But the view from inside Vons headquarters was different.

"The initial proposal the employers put out has the employers paying more tomorrow than they do today," said Vons spokesman Daymond Rice. "So by definition that is not a cost shift. The employers will always continue to pay the lion share of the health care benefits. What we need is modest cost sharing."

The employers — that is, the three big grocery chains — want workers hired since 2004 to pay more for health care. They want to raise the worker contribution for individual health coverage from$7 a week to $9. For family coverage, the worker contribution would jump from $15 a week to $23.

It might sound like just a few dollars more, but not to the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. Add the increases to rising premiums, deductibles, and out of pocket maximums, and the union estimates some workers could fork over almost half their take-home pay for health coverage. It’s holding out for a better deal.

Vons spokesman Daymond Rice said the counterproposal the union had submitted the day before actually asked for health care benefit improvements.

"Improvements, you know, in this day and age, in this health care cost environment, that’s just not realistic," Rice said. "So they need to put forth a proposal that can help find solutions to these issues."

Mike Shimpock of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union said the workers aren’t really looking for improvements.

"We only want to maintain what we have," Shimpock said. "We’re grateful for what we have, and we’re willing to pay to maintain those benefits. But if they make those benefits so expensive that people can’t afford them, and it’ll force people onto welfare, it’ll force people to drop their health care and they won’t be able to take their kids to the doctor. That’s unacceptable to us.

A walkout or a lockout requires three days notice. The last labor action on the supermarket front happened nearly eight years ago: a walkout, say the grocery chains; a lockout, say the workers. Whatever it was, it lasted five long months, right through the holiday season. With Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons crippled, shoppers spent their money at two well-stocked local chain that the union didn't picket: Stater Bros. and Gelson’s.

The big supermarkets also lost business to Costco, Smart & Final and other warehouse stores. Parking lots at Trader Joe's got a little more crowded, too.

Now there are even more alternatives for Southland grocery shoppers, from British-based Tesco markets to 99 Cent Only stores with deli and produce aisles, to Target stores that sell meat, poultry and fresh produce.

That longer list of grocery store options might push the supermarkets and their workers to do what they couldn’t do eight years ago: Get a deal done.

San Bruno pipeline explosion: PG&E reveals major leak suffered 23 years ago

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 06:17:19 -0700

Flames from a massive fire September 9, 2010 in San Bruno, California on the day a gas pipeline exploded. Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The natural gas pipeline that blew up in Northern California last September – killing eight people – suffered a major leak 23 years ago - but accident investigators looking into the recent blast didn’t know that until this week, when Pacific Gas and Electric told them. Regulators responded to the belated information.

The National Transportation Safety Board is meticulous. Its investigators take bits of shattered planes, crumpled trains – or in this case, a pulverized pipe – and piece together the reasons a catastrophe happened.

But to do that, they need to know everything – especially the details of gas leak that happened 23 years ago nine miles south of the portion of San Bruno pipeline that blew up last September. Pacific Gas and Electric just told the Safety Board about that leak – and board chair Deborah Hersman didn’t take the revelation well.

She’s touring San Bruno this week to meet with families who lost relatives in the explosion. She said she’s “very dismayed” that PG&E took nine months to realize the pipeline had experienced a major leak years before.

Hersman said PG&E didn’t keep adequate records. She also suggested that the crews might have to excavate and examine the section of pipeline that leaked in 1988.

California prison officials hold 1st 'medical parole' hearing for convicted rapist

Tue, 24 May 2011 12:50:40 -0700

The parole board rejected paralyzed inmate Steven Martinez's request for medical parole. Credit: California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation

California takes a small step toward reducing its inmate population and prison costs today. Prison officials will consider whether to grant “medical parole” to a paralyzed inmate.

Steven Charles Martinez is serving a life sentence at Corcoran State Prison for an especially brutal rape and kidnap 13 years ago. After he was convicted and sentenced, Martinez ended up at Centinela State Prison in Imperial County.

Ten years ago, a pair of inmates attacked him and stabbed him in the neck – severing his spinal cord. Ever since, Martinez has been a quadriplegic – but he’s been under guard the whole time. At 42, Martinez could live another 20 years or more – which means paying for guards for another 20 years, too.

A new state law aims to stop assigning guards to watch convicts too injured or too sick to escape. It requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to hold “medical parole” hearings.

Martinez is the first inmate to get one – but he won’t be the last. Corrections could give them to more than 30 inmates.

If he’s approved for “medical parole,” Martinez would still be an inmate – but without the guards.

Los Angeles jury convicts gold trader of hiring a hitman to kill his wife

Fri, 20 May 2011 10:55:49 -0700

A Los Angeles jury Thursday convicted a Ventura businessman for ordering his wife’s murder three years ago. The case revolves around divorce, greed and gold.

James and Pamela Fayed were headed for a divorce, but their meeting with attorneys in July 2008 wasn’t about that. It was about a federal probe into Goldfinger Inc. – their gold trading company.

After the meeting, Pamela walked alone to her rented SUV in a Century City parking garage. A man in a hood attacked her – and stabbed her to death.

Investigators quickly focused on the husband, James Fayed. Prosecutors said the motive was greed – Fayed thought his wife would cooperate with the feds as they dug into the gold business; that his wife might clean him out in the coming divorce strengthened the theory.

The prosecution argued that Fayed hired a three-man hit team to kill his wife; all three will be tried for murder.

A defense attorney offered an alternate theory: that Fayed’s sister wanted Pamela dead. The jurors didn’t buy it.

They found James Fayed guilty of murder – and added special circumstances that could toughen his sentence. The penalty phase in James Fayed’s murder trial begins today.

LA County supervisors to grab control of Probation, Children and Family Services

Wed, 18 May 2011 12:33:03 -0700

Los Angeles County Chief Executive Officer Bill Fujioka explains his proposed 2011-2012 budget to a reporter at a news briefing at the Hall of Administration. Credit: Frank Stoltze/KPCC

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has voted to take direct control of a pair of problem departments - Probation and Children and Family Services. The two departments might be L.A. County government’s biggest headaches.

L.A. County supervisors hired a new Probation boss last year about the same time auditors couldn’t find about $80 million that was supposed to pay for more Probation staff. The department now has to cut 200 staffers under a plan the supervisors have OK’d.

But if Probation is the supervisors’ Excedrin headache, Children and Family Services is their migraine. Every report of a child who dies in the department’s care is a headline. Too many headlines – and out went the director late last year.

A deputy to County Chief Executive Officer William Fujioka took over – but last week, she quit over how much confidential material from child abuse investigations she should share with county supervisors.

They’ll get their share now. They’ve voted to have Probation and Children and Family Services report directly to them, and not to Fujioka. That’s trouble for the county’s Chief Executive Officer – and it arises as he tries to balance an out-of-balance budget.