Thursday, September 1, 2011

36 pounds of cocaine seized at U.S.-Mexican border

Cocaine Seized
Customs officers at the Calexico border checkpoint in Imperial County seized 36 pounds of cocaine from a Mexican resident who was trying to sneak the drugs into the United States, federal authorities said Thursday.

The 16 wrapped packages, valued at about $324,00, were hidden in the undercarriage of a Ford F-250 pickup truck, the Department of Homeland Security said.

Officers used a density measuring device, which registered abnormal readings on the truck's undercarriage and then uncovered the coke with the help of a drug-sniffing dog, authorities said. The discovery occurred Tuesday.

The 38-year-old driver was turned over to immigration authorities. His name was not released.

ALSO:

L.A. earthquake: Temblor upgraded to 4.3

High surf to peak today in Southern California

College professor allegedly led motorcycle gang, drug ring

— Robert J. Lopez

twitter.com/LAJourno

Photo: Confiscated cocaine. Credit: U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Sen. Alex Padilla takes lead on football stadium bill

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef01538fd98b0c970b-piState Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima) said late Thursday that he will be the author of SB 292, the long-anticipated legislation that would restrict legal challenges to a football stadium project proposed in downtown Los Angeles.

The bill, which will be gutted of its current language on community colleges, is on the Assembly floor and ready for action, but Padilla promised it will go through public hearings.

“I fully expect it will have committee reviews,'' Padilla said, adding that he worked on the bill with Assembly Speaker John Pérez (D-Los Angeles).

    Other legislative officials said the measure will require any lawsuit challenging the stadium’s environmental review to go directly to the California Court of Appeal, bypassing the Superior Court, and a decision would have to be made by the court in 150 to 175 days.

    Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield (D-Woodland Hills), a negotiator on the bill, said the proposal is “much more balanced” in protecting the environment than what the Legislature approved two years ago for a competing stadium proposed in the City of Industry.

“There will be no exemption from our environmental laws,’’ Blumenfield said. “I would not support that.  Under expedited judicial review, we can bring jobs to this community while building a carbon-neutral stadium that will prioritize transit more than any other NFL stadium.”

Anschutz Entertainment Group is promising to adopt measures to make sure the stadium has a 10% better rate of public transit use than any other football stadium in the country.

Padilla and Pérez plan to outline more details of the legislation at a Capitol media briefing Friday morning.

ALSO:

L.A. earthquake: Temblor upgraded to 4.3

High surf to peak today in Southern California

College professor allegedly led motorcycle gang, drug ring

--Patrick McGreevy

Image: A rendering of the proposed stadium.  Credit: AEG Digital Group

Spreckels mansion death was a suicide, investigators conclude


http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef014e8a1c7457970d-pi

Investigators have concluded that Rebecca Zahau, the girlfriend of pharmaceutical executive Jonah Shacknai, committed suicide at his Coronado mansion, according to Zahau's sister, who was briefed by San Diego County Sheriff's Department detectives.

Mary Zahau-Loehner, in emails and interviews, told reporters Thursday night that the family does not believe Zahau took her own life.

But San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore, backed by detectives and the medical examiner, plans a news conference Friday morning to explain how forensic evidence and interviews with people who talked to Zahau in the days before her death led to the overwhelming conclusion that she committed suicide and was not the victim of foul play.

Zahau may have been despondent over a sense of responsibility for the injury suffered by Shacknai's 6-year-old son Max during a time when Zahau was supposed to be watching him.

Retired San Diego homicide Det. Rick Carlson, who was not involved in the case but has investigated hundreds of traumatic deaths and written a book about suicides, said one sign that sheriff's detectives have concluded it was suicide was that they have not named a "person of interest" who might have killed Zahau.

LAPD revises details of Aug. 25 shooting of officer

SWAT officers

Los Angeles police officials have corrected several details of how a police officer was shot last week.

In the chaotic hours after the Aug. 25 shooting at Western Avenue and 70th Street, police officials reported that the officer had been struck in the hand and twice in the chest, but said his life had likely been saved by the protective vest he was wearing. They also said that a suspect had been shot and taken into custody, and that the officers had been driving a black-and-white police vehicle.

The officer, as first reported, was shot in the hand, but police officials now say he was not wearing a protective vest. He did suffer a bruise or similar injury on his ribcage, which he told LAPD Cmdr. Andy Smith he believes was caused by a bullet, Smith said.

It is unclear whether the injury was, in fact, caused by a bullet and, if so, whether the bullet perhaps was deflected or somehow passed through the car before striking the officer.

The alleged shots to the chest and the vest persisted as accepted facts so much after the shooting that the doctor who oversaw the officer’s treatment told reporters the day after the incident that the vest had protected the officer from more serious injury.

The Times is not releasing the name of the wounded officer at the request of LAPD officials, who have said the safety of the officer and his family could be jeopardized.

The officer, a seven-year veteran of the LAPD, was released from the hospital after undergoing hand surgery and is expected to make a full recovery.

An accurate account of the shooting, police say, is this:

LAPD seeks leads on woman whose body was found in scrap yard

Woman whose body was found. Los Angeles police are offering a $50,000 reward for information that helps identify a woman whose decomposed body was found last year in a recycling yard.

The woman' dental work was sent to the California Dental Assn. in hopes that a dentist might recognize the work and contact authorities, the Los Angeles Police Department said Thursday.

Authorities believe that the woman was white and between 50 and 70 years old. Her body was found Sept. 10, 2010, in the recycling yard near downtown, the LAPD said. She was wearing a sterling silver ring with an inexpensive blue alexandrite center stone, surrounded by cubic zirconium stones.

Investigators are not sure of the cause of death, which helps make the case "extremely challenging," said Lt. Paul Vernon, commander of the LAPD's Central Division detective unit.

Anyone with information is asked to call Det. Thayer Lake or Det. Brian Putnam at (213) 972-1254 or (213) 972-1257. Anonymous tips can be left at (800) 222-8477.

 

— Robert J. Lopez

twitter.com/LAJourno

Image: Artist's sketch of woman. Credit: LAPD

L.A. earthquake: Quake was strongest in more than a year

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/pager/events/ci/11001205/exposure.pngThe 4.2 earthquake that shook parts of Los Angeles on Thursday was the largest in the Southern California quake region in more than a year.

The last major quake to be felt in Los Angeles was the 7.2 Easter Sunday quake of 2010, which struck the California-Mexico border on April 4, 2010.

Several weeks before that, a predawn 4.4 quake hit Pico Rivera, and in May 2009, a 4.7 earthquake in Inglewood shattered windows close to the epicenter.

The quake was followed by several aftershocks.

Despite being felt over a large area, Thursday’s quake did no damage -- not even near the epicenter in the Newhall area.

ALSO:

High surf to peak today in Southern California

College professor allegedly led motorcycle gang, drug ring

--Rong-Gong Lin II

Credit: USGS

O.C. nursing assistant charged with sexual battery of 3 teens

Alfredo Gonzalez booking photo An Orange County nursing assistant is scheduled to be arraigned Friday on sexual battery charges involving three female teenagers, authorities said.

Alfredo Fernandez Gonzalez, 45, who lives in Orange, is accused of hugging the victims, touching their bodies, kissing their necks and making comments about their bodies, the Orange County district attorney's office said.

The victims -- two of them 17 years old and the other 18 years old -- were students in a nursing course at Park West Care and Rehabilitation Center in Santa Ana, prosecutors said.

Gonzalez was a trainer in the program and allegedly touched the victims' buttocks under the guise of demonstrating nursing procedures, prosecutors said. The alleged battery took place between March 8 and May 4.

Authorities said there may be additional victims and asked anyone with information to call investigator Carl Waddell at (714) 834-7538 or Det. Mike Judson at (714) 245-8378.

ALSO:

L.A. earthquake: Temblor upgraded to 4.3

High surf to peak today in Southern California

College professor allegedly led motorcycle gang, drug ring

— Robert J. Lopez

twitter.com/LAJourno

Photo: Alfredo Gonzalez. Credit: Orange County district attorney's office.

Downtown stadium: Time limit on legal challenges being drafted


Image: A rendering of the proposed stadium.  Credit: AEG Digital Group Environmental lawsuits against a proposed NFL stadium in downtown Los Angeles would be required to go directly to the Court of Appeal and be decided within 150 to 175 days under proposals for state legislation being drafted by the project developers and lawmakers, those familiar with the talks said.

In exchange for protection from protracted legal challenges, including bypassing the Superior Court, the Anschutz Entertainment Group  (AEG) would complete a full environmental review of the $1.2-billion project and would guarantee fewer cars per football game ticket-holders than any stadium in the country. In addition, the 72,000-seat stadium would be “carbon neutral.”

AEG would like the legislation to require any environmental lawsuit to be decided by the state Court of Appeal within 150 days.

However, state Assembly members are arguing that the time limit should be at least 175 days from the time an environmental impact report (EIR) is completed, with that decision appealable to the state Supreme Court.

An environmental leader who was briefed by AEG officials said he might support the measure with the longer time limit and other concessions.

“The idea of direct jurisdiction in the Court of Appeal is far from ideal but I think we can live with it if we get something back in terms of mitigation over and above what the EIR is going to call for,’’ said  David Pettit, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

A period of 150 days  “is very unrealistic,” Pettit added. “I just don’t think you can get all the briefing done and have the court have oral argument in 150 days. This is going to be a 10,000-page record.’’ He said 175 days is “in the ballpark'' for what might work.

Legislative officials said they hope to have a final draft of the legislation completed tonight or early Friday.

ALSO:

L.A. earthquake: Temblor upgraded to 4.3

High surf to peak today in Southern California

College professor allegedly led motorcycle gang, drug ring

--Patrick McGreevy

Image: A rendering of the proposed stadium.  Credit: AEG Digital Group

UCLA student on summer break reportedly joins Libyan rebels

A UCLA student is gaining international attention for his summer break trip. Chris Jeon apparently traveled nearly 7,000 miles to Libya and has reportedly joined a brigade of rebels fighting the forces of ousted leader Moammar Kadafi.

In an interview with The National, an English-language newspaper based in the United Arab Emirates, Jeon, 21, said he decided only two weeks ago to make the perilous journey because “this is one of the only real revolutions” in the world.

He reportedly was with rebel fighters who were among the first to enter the city of Nawfaliyah after it was taken over from Kadafi’s troops. Jeon apparently speaks no Arabic and communicates mostly using sign language. But he appears to have ingratiated himself with the rebels and has been staying with the fighters and their families, the report said.

In a photo, he wears a blue basketball jersey with the words "Los Angeles" and the number 44, while holding what appears to be an AK-47 assault rifle.

A UCLA spokeswoman confirmed that Jeon is a student in the class of 2013. He is listed as a classics major, although media accounts have reported his major as math. His Facebook page lists his hometown as Cypress.

UCLA spokeswoman Claudia Luther said university officials had no independent knowledge of Jeon's travels but had seen media accounts. "We’ve got thousands of students on summer break, and of course we would have no way of knowing what they do during their time away," she said.

Jeon told the Emirates newspaper that he bought a one-way ticket from Los Angeles to Cairo, traveled by train to Alexandria, took buses to the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi and then hitched rides towards the capital of Tripoli.

The rebels -- and Jeon -- were reportedly on their way to launch an assault on Kadafi’s hometown of Surt.

ALSO:

L.A. earthquake: Temblor upgraded to 4.3

High surf to peak today in Southern California

College professor allegedly led motorcycle gang, drug ring

-- Carla Rivera

L.A. earthquake: 4.3 quake felt across Southern California

L.A. earthquake Sept. 1, 2011
Weak shaking from a magnitude 4.3 earthquake in the San Fernando Valley was felt as far away as the Grapevine and Orange County, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

But the shaking was not enough to cause damage. And the shaking was variable, depending on the neighborhood.

For example, Anthony Guarino, a seismic analyst at Caltech in Pasadena, said he didn’t feel the quake, but his colleagues across the street at the U.S. Geological Survey felt a sharp jolt.

The quake was centered in a highly seismic area in the mountains north of the Valley, near the same area where the 1971 Sylmar earthquake and the 1994 Northridge quake occurred, Guarino said.

“There’s a lot of faults in that area, very complex geology,” Guarino said.

Gay student slaying: Mistrial declared [Updated]

Photo: Brandon McInerney, left, and  Larry King. Credit: Los Angeles Times  / E. O. Green Jr. High School  2006-2007 yearbook

A judge declared a mistrial Thursday in the case of an Oxnard teenager accused of killing a gay classmate.

The vote was 7 to 5 in favor of finding Brandon McInerney guilty of voluntary manslaughter.

Jurors in the case, in which McInerney fatally shot 15-year-old Larry King in a junior high school computer lab, were ordered earlier Thursday to continue deliberating despite failed vote.

[Updated at 4:31 p.m., Sept. 1: McInerney was stoic as the judge declared a mistrial, but after jurors left he smiled at his family members, some of whom he hadn’t seen in three years, and blew a kiss to his girlfriend.  King’s family did not react and left the courtroom without commenting.]

The mistrial brings to a close a trial that has been followed closely by gay-rights groups that have fought hard to protect gay and transgendered students from campus bullying.

But as the weeks of testimony continued and a more nuanced portrait emerged of what was happening at E.O. Green Junior High before the shooting, it also raised a host of thorny questions.

The prosecution says it was a calculated murder carried out in part because McInerney was exploring white supremacist ideology and didn't like homosexuals. Defense attorneys painted a different picture, that of a bright but abused 14-year-old who snapped after being sexually harassed by King.

Reader photos: Southern California Moments, Day 244

Click through for more photos of Southern California Moments.

A reader named Jorge photographs a woman in a mask at the Eastside Luv Wine Bar and Queso in Boyle Heights on Wednesday night.

Every day of 2011, we're featuring reader-submitted photos of Southern California Moments. Follow us on Twitter and visit the Southern California Moments homepage for more on this series.

High surf pounds Southern California coast

Surfer
The unusually high surf pounding the Southern California coast will peak Thursday,  prompting warnings of possible coastal flooding and treacherous swimming conditions at the beach.

The National Weather Service has issued a high-surf advisory through 5 p.m. Friday, warning of up to 11-foot waves on south- and southwest-facing beaches.

Newport Beach officials said waves there reached 10 feet to 13 feet at the beaches and 20 feet at the Wedge. Flooding had subsided from the streets, but water breached at least one parking lot along the Balboa Peninsula.

The surf is expected to generate strong and dangerous rip currents.

In Laguna Beach, lifeguards closed the parking lot at Aliso Beach on Wednesday afternoon after a high tide brought heavy deposits of sand and debris ashore, an Orange County parks spokeswoman said.

Capistrano Beach had its parking lot closed Thursday after the waves washed up sand and debris and damaged a wooden boardwalk.

The U.S. called off its search Thursday for swimmer Jowayne Binford, 26, of Long Beach, who was last seen about 6 p.m. Wednesday about 200 yards offshore of Seal Beach.

Lifeguards warned beachgoers to avoid the heavy surf, or at the very least use caution.

Gay teen slaying: Forewoman says verdict is ‘unlikely’

California says yes to recycled water

Graywater
The state Senate today passed a bill allowing so-called graywater systems in homes and commercial buildings.

The bill, AB 849, is aimed at clarifying a patchwork of local regulation that has at times prohibited these "non-potable water reuse systems," which divert drain water for irrigation and other purposes.

If signed by the governor, the new state law would prohibit local jurisdictions from banning graywater systems, which have gained popularity as more municipalities face restrictions on fresh water. It would allow those jurisdictions to enact stricter graywater standards than those of the state only if they provide climatic, geographic and topographic reasons for the tougher regulations.

The state adopted uniform rules for installing graywater systemsin 2009, according to an analysis of the bill, which was sponsored by Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles).

The Assembly already has approved the bill.

ALSO:

BPA ban passes California state Senate

Mountain lion killed in attempt to cross 405 Freeway

Sierra magazine ranks UC Irvine among top 10 green schools

-- Geoff Mohan

Photo: A graywater system collects and filters laundry water in an East Rancho Dominguez low-income housing development. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times

Spilled marijuana scooped up by bystanders after truck crashes

Motorists grab free marijuana after truck crashes
A truck carrying big bags of marijuana crashed in San Jose, allowing passing motorists and pedestrians to snatch up free pot.

The San Jose Mercury News reported that bags of marijuana were strewn about an intersection after the truck crashed Wednesday near Oakridge Mall. The truck driver fled, and several motorists grabbed most of the pot before police arrived at the scene.

"Officers eventually collected the remaining bags of weed left at the scene and also found a loaded handgun inside the white truck," the newspaper said.

The police were trying to track down the truck driver and anyone who made off with some marijuana, but they had no descriptions of suspects, according to the paper.

No other vehicles were involved in the crash.

ALSO:

Burglary suspect arrested when she returns for her purse

Monterey displays great white shark captured off Marina del Rey

Disneyland Resort donates California Zephyr to railroad museum

-- Kimi Yoshino

Photo credit: Getty Images

L.A. earthquake: 4.2-magnitude quake hits San Fernando Valley

Earthquakemap
A magnitude-4.2 earthquake shook Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley on Thursday afternoon, with the epicenter just 3 miles north of Sylmar.

The quake was felt as far away as Woodland Hills, Santa Monica and downtown Los Angeles, and felt like a rolling motion for a few seconds in downtown office buildings.

The quake, which hit at 1:47 p.m., was very shallow –- just one-tenth of a mile underground –- which could explain why the quake was felt so widely. A magnitude-2.0 aftershock followed at 1:50 p.m., at a deeper depth of 3.9 miles; followed by a 2.6 quake at a depth of 1.4 miles below the surface.

The epicenter of the first quake was in the Angeles National Forest, north of Sylmar and east of Santa Clarita.

ALSO:

Bogus emails hid a killing, O.C. officials say

High surf to peak today in Southern California

College professor allegedly led motorcycle gang, drug ring

Map: Location of 4.2.-magnitude earthquake in black brackets. Other small quakes appear in yellow. Source: U.S. Geological Survey

-- Rong-Gong Lin II

Coast Guard calls off search for missing swimmer

Coast Guard calls off search for missing swimmer
Big waves near the Los Angeles-Orange County line may have claimed a body boarder.

The U.S. Coast Guard on Thursday called off a search for Jowayne Bindford, 24, of Long Beach, who had gone missing off Surfside, a gated enclave between Seal Beach and Sunset Beach.

Bindford, according to an alert from the Coast Guard, was last spotted on his board 200 yards offshore at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

A Coast Guard helicopter dispatched from Los Angeles and a response boat from Long Beach spent nine hours scouring Seal Beach, Sunset Beach and Huntington Beach. Bindford’s family kept vigil along the coast, according to the Orange County Register.

The Coast Guard said it would resume the search if new information about Bindford became available.

ALSO:

Porn industry blasts condom campaign

Four arrested in alleged scheme to smuggle stolen cars to Iraq

Hearing postponed for former teachers accused of sex with minor

-- John Canalis, Times Community News

Photo: Coast Guard looks for missing body boarder before the search was called off. Credit: KTLA-TV

Burglary suspect arrested when she returns for her purse

Burglary suspect arrested A woman suspected of burglarizing a Seal Beach surf shop was arrested after she returned to the store for her purse.

Arlene Louise Bremner, 43, of Long Beach is accused of stealing clothing from Inflight Surf and Sail in the 1200 block of Pacific Coast Highway on Tuesday, according to KTLA.

An employee at a neighboring business tipped Inflight's owner off to the burglary after witnessing Bremner allegedly carrying clothing during several trips to her car, the Orange County Register reported.

The owner confronted the suspect and grabbed the clothing from the front seat as she drove off. Bremner's purse was wrapped inside the clothing.

When she returned about a half-hour later, demanding her purse, a scuffle broke out after owners called police.

Bremner allegedly pepper sprayed the store's owners in a struggle to reclaim her purse. She was arrested on suspicion of multiple felony counts of commercial burglary and other charges.

She may be tied to similar burglaries in the area.

ALSO:

High surf to peak today in Southern California

Monterey displays great white shark captured off Marina del Rey

Disneyland Resort donates California Zephyr to railroad museum

-- KTLA

Photo: Arlene Louise Bremner Credit: Seal Beach Police Department

Monterey displays great white shark captured off Marina del Rey

The captured young male shark is now on display

A great white shark recently captured near Marina Del Rey is now on display at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, officials said Thursday.

The young male shark, about 4 feet, 7 inches long and weighing just over 43 pounds, was caught Aug. 18 and kept for observation in a holding pen off Malibu for a couple of weeks before being transferred Wednesday to Monterey, aquarium officials said in a statement.

The shark -- the sixth of its kind to be exhibited at the aquarium, will be displayed at the Open Sea exhibit for the next several months.

The exhibit is seen “as a way to change public attitudes and promote stronger protection for this magnificent and much-maligned ocean predator,” officials said.

The other five sharks previously displayed were all returned to the wild. 

College professor allegedly led motorcycle gang, drug ring

A Cal State San Bernardino professor who allegedly led a chapter of the Devils Disciples motorcycle gang was charged Thursday with heading up a methamphetamine drug ring that involved several other dealers.

Stephen Kinzey, a 43-year-old professor of kinesiology, is considered a fugitive and is being aggressively sought by authorities, Sheriff Rod Hoops said at a morning news conference at sheriff’s headquarters in San Bernardino. Nine others involved in the drug ring have been arrested since Friday, he said.

“It’s alarming to me -- I have kids in college -- to have an associate professor who is a member of Devils Disciples dealing methamphetamine,” Hoops said. Authorities are trying to determine if he was involved any drug dealing on campus.

The six-month investigation culminated with a joint drug task force raiding Kinzey’s home Friday, recovering a pound of methamphetamine as well as a number of rifles, handguns and biker paraphernalia, he said.

Kinzey’s live-in girlfriend, Holly Robinson, 33, was taken into custody during the raid and faces charges of possession and sale of methamphetamine and numerous firearms violations.

Det. Jason Rosenbaum said that Robinson was Kinzey’s business partner and helped him distribute meth to mid-level dealers in the cities of San Bernardino, Highland, Redlands and the community of Mentone. 

--Phil Willon in San Bernardino

San Diego lifeguards on watch for shark; La Jolla beach reopened

Beachgoers in La Jolla after beach was closed.

A two-mile stretch of beach in La Jolla was reopened Thursday morning after being closed Wednesday when surfers and boogie-boarders spotted the dorsal fin of a great white shark, San Diego lifeguards announced.

Lifeguards patrolled the area and found no evidence of the shark. Still, an advisory warning remains for those entering the water within one mile south and north of the Children's Pool.

The La Jolla closing came just days after a two-mile stretch of Mission Beach was closed for two days because of shark sightings.

Also Thursday, a lifeguards determined that a citizen's report of a shark off Sunset Cliffs was not credible. The beach remains open.

ALSO:

High tides flood streets near Balboa Pier

Search continues for swimmer missing off Seal Beach

Malibu waves twice normal size with swell still building

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Photo: Beachgoers in La Jolla after beach was closed. Credit: Fox 5 San Diego

Getting Doctors to Wash Their Hands

A new study has a message for doctors and nurses who fail to wash their hands: Don’t think about yourself. Think about your patients.

Getting health care professionals to comply with notices to wash their hands before and after dealing with patients has been something of a thorn in the side of many hospitals. Although this simple measure limits the spread of sickness — and could potentially reduce the nation’s hospital health care bill by billions of dollars — many doctors and nurses simply ignore it. Compliance rates for hand washing in American hospitals are only around 40 percent, and years of awareness programs urging doctors to wash up or use disinfectant gels have had little effect.

Part of the problem, according to a forthcoming study in the journal Psychological Science, are the actual signs posted in hospital washrooms urging health care workers to wash up. Changing the message from “Wash Your Hands to Protect Yourself” to “Wash Your Hands to Protect Your Patients,” the study found, could motivate some doctors and nurses to wash their hands more frequently.

“There’s this perception among some health care providers that ‘I’m around sick people all the time and I don’t get sick very often, so my immune system is extra strong,’” said David Hofmann, an author of the study and a professor of organizational behavior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “But if you go back to the Hippocratic oath that all doctors adhere to, it’s ‘First do no harm.’ So if you have a sign that says ‘Hey, look, here’s a really vulnerable person you’re about to walk in and see,’ then maybe a sign focused on that person will cue this larger core value in the physician to protect the patient.”

To find out, Dr. Hofmann and his co-author, Adam Grant, took baseline measurements of the amount of soap and disinfectant caregivers used in a large North Carolina hospital. Then they measured the change in soap use when they put up different signs by the dispensers. One sign read “Hand Hygiene Prevents You from Catching Diseases.” Another read “Hand Hygiene Prevents Patients from Catching Diseases.” And a third sign, which served as a control, had a generic message: “Gel In, Wash Out.”

The patient-focused sign produced a 33 percent increase in the amount of soap and disinfectant used per dispenser over a two-week period, compared with the other signs.

In a second phase of the study, trained observers recorded how often doctors and nurses physically washed or disinfected their hands. The sign urging doctors to think about patients produced a roughly 10 percent spike in hand washing compliance, a jump that was small but statistically significant.

“We think it’s proof that this identifies a vulnerable person and therefore cues more responsibility on the health care worker to protect that patient,” Dr. Hofmann said. “We think that signs focused on vulnerable patients seem to have a stronger effect, and we would encourage hospitals to adopt that kind of approach.”

Some experts caution that while any increase in hand washing rates can go a long way, the causes of low compliance are complex and varied. A 2009 study from the Joint Commission, a group that accredits more than 16,000 hospitals, nursing homes and other health care providers, found that the reasons for skipping soap varied from hospital to hospital, and even from unit to unit on a single floor. Some doctors said their hands were usually too full when they walked into a patient’s room. Others complained that too much soap dried out their hands or said the placement of sinks and gel dispensers was inconvenient.

Still, the data also showed that when hand hygiene compliance in a hospital went up, patient infection rates went down, and that discussing this specific source of patient harm with doctors was an effective way to persuade caregivers to wash up more frequently, said Anne Marie Benedicto, the chief of staff for the Joint Commission and the Center for Transforming Health Care. She said that simply changing the messages of signs urging hand washing was unlikely to eradicate the problem, but she called it a step in the right direction.

“I would say that if these issues could be solved by a poster, we would have solved them a long time ago,” she said. “But the whole idea of creating an environment that’s focused on patient safety is a good way of thinking about it.”

Mountain lion killed trying to cross 405 Freeway

The young mountain lion killed Tuesday

A young mountain lion killed Tuesday while trying to cross the 405 Freeway near the Getty Center was one of about half a dozen living in the Santa Monica Mountains.

"We believe it may have made such a daring crossing attempt possibly because it was being flushed out of the area it was in by another male lion," said Woody Smeck, superintendent of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

The 15-month-old male, known as P18, was one of three cubs born last year in the area and had been tracked since it was a few weeks old. Another mountain lion was killed crossing the 405 in the same area three years ago.

Authorities have tried to develop paths that allow the lions to cross under freeways safely.

ALSO:

Porn industry blasts condom campaign

Four arrested in alleged scheme to smuggle stolen cars to Iraq

Hearing postponed for former teachers accused of sex with minor

-- Bettina Boxall

Photo: P-18, a mountain lion born in the Santa Monica Mountains in May 2010, was killed Tuesday while crossing the 405 Freeway near the Getty Center. This photo was taken shortly after P-18 became independent from his mother. Credit: National Park Service

Sierra magazine ranks UC Irvine among top 10 green schools

UC Irvine
An environmentally minded magazine has named UC Irvine as one of America's top 10 coolest schools for green initiatives.

For a second year, Sierra magazine ranked UC Irvine No. 6, noting it as one of the most energy-efficient schools, the Daily Pilot reported.

In its iSeptember/October issue, the magazine singled out the school's use of a co-generation facility to meet most of its heat and electricity needs.

"This is wonderful validation of the initiatives we've undertaken to reduce our carbon footprint and mitigate other environmental impacts," Wendell Brase, vice chancellor of administrative and business services, said in a statement. "We maintained our top 10 status in what is becoming an increasingly competitive arena as campuses across the nation recognize their responsibility to the global environment."

The University of Washington in Seattle was listed as No. 1, with Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vt., UC San Diego, Warren Wilson College in Asheville, N.C., and Stanford University following.

UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., and Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vt., also made the top 10.

ALSO:

Grizzly blamed for Yellowstone hiker death

Endangered arroyo toads cling to existence in the Tehachapi Mountains

Pika could be a candidate for endangered listing as a result of global warming

-- Britney Barnes, Times Community News

Photo: UC Irvine campus. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Hearing postponed for former teachers accused of sex with minor

Teacher charged with sexual relations with minor

A pretrial hearing for two former teachers charged with having sexual relations with a 17-year-old boy has been postponed.

Daniel Shepard, who taught at Westminster High School, and his wife, Gay Davidson-Shepard, who retired this spring from Mesa View Middle School, appeared at the West Justice Center in Westminster for a scheduled hearing, the Huntington Beach Independent reported.

Attorney John Drummond Barnett, who represents Davidson-Shepard, asked for the postponement on both defendants' behalf.

"We're still doing investigating and getting police reports," Barnett said outside the courtroom.

The couple, who have pleaded not guilty, are charged with oral copulation of a minor, sodomy of a person younger than 18 and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Shepard is also charged with possession and control of child pornography.

He faces a maximum sentence of five years in state prison, Davidson-Shepard a maximum of eight years and four months.

The hearing was rescheduled for Oct. 27.

ALSO:    

Shark sighting closes stretch of beach in La Jolla

Harbor-UCLA medical chief placed on leave amid investigation

Sea lion bites caused mysterious pelican wounds, biologists find

-- Michael Miller, Times Community News

Photo: Gay Davidson-Shepard. Credit: Times Community News

Search continues for swimmer missing off Seal Beach

 











Officials identified a swimmer missing off Seal Beach as Jowayne Binford, 26, of Long Beach.

A search was scaled back due to darkness Wednesday, but the U.S. Coast Guard resumed its efforts Thursday across a 61-square-mile swath of ocean, said Coast Guard spokesman Trent Kelly.

The search was made more difficult because of conditions, including 5- to 7-foot waves with crests reported as high as 10 feet.

“It was difficult for boats to be able to get there and work the surf like we like to,” Kelly said Thursday. “It’s a little calmer today.”

Binford went swimming with several friends Wednesday but failed to return with them when they left the water because of difficult conditions. He was last seen by lifeguards around 6 p.m., officials said.

At the time, he was about 200 yards offshore between Sunset Beach and the northern entrance of Anaheim Bay, Kelly said.

“He was seen in the water and all of a sudden he was not seen in the water,” Kelly said.



Lost Navy SEAL rescued by San Diego fire helicopter

A Navy SEAL who became lost, dehydrated and too weak to hike while on a training mission in the Laguna Mountains east of San Diego has been rescued, officials said Thursday.

The 24-year-old was part of a training group of 50 SEALs. He became separated from the others Wednesday and did not meet at the agreed-upon rendezvous point at 2 p.m., according to Cal Fire.

After a search, the Navy asked for civilian help.

A San Diego County Sheriff's Department helicopter spotted the lost SEAL's emergency strobe light shortly before 9 p.m., and a city of San Diego Fire-Rescue Department helicopter was able to hoist him to safety about 10:30 p.m.

ALSO:

5 arrested in L.A. area in illegal driver's license case

Swimmer still missing off Seal Beach as big surf hits coast

Harbor-UCLA medical chief placed on leave amid investigation

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Glendale man pleads no contest to housing fraud

A Glendale man will be sentenced in November for defrauding the city of $18,492 when he lied about his finances to get federal subsidized housing.

Norayr Aklyan pleaded no contest Friday to one felony count of defrauding the Glendale Housing Authority and four felony counts of perjury and obtaining money, labor or property by false pretenses, said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Aklyan has reimbursed the Housing Authority for the loss, the Glendale News-Press reported, citing federal officials.

Aklyan was accepted into the city's low-income housing assistance program after he declared having only one bank account and his Social Security benefits — $870 per month — as his sole income, according to police reports.

But he allegedly never notified housing advisors that he established a bank account and deposited about $12,150. He later went on to deposit tens of thousands of dollars into the bank account, according to city officials.

ALSO:

5 arrested in L.A. area in illegal driver's license case

Swimmer still missing off Seal Beach as big surf hits coast

Harbor-UCLA medical chief placed on leave amid investigation

-- Veronica Rocha, Times Community News

Rocky Mountain pikas not nearing extinction, study finds

 

Pika 

A team of researchers from the University of Colorado has concluded that the hamster-sized mammal is doing better than previously believed, finding the population is holding its own in the southern Rocky Mountains.

The study, in the September issue of the journal Ecology, paints a brighter picture for the species than other surveys, notably a study from Nevada's Great Basin earlier this year in which local extinction rates were found to have increased five-fold in the past decade.

In 2010 the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service denied endangered species status for the rare creature, in part because there was insufficient data about its habitat and population numbers. Pikas are a member of the rabbit family and live in rocky slopes throughout the Rockies.

But scientists, seeing few of the small animals, have surmised that pika are abandoning former habitat and moving upslope as temperatures rise.

ALSO:

Grizzly blamed for Yellowstone hiker death

Endangered arroyo toads cling to existence in the Tehachapi Mountains

Pika could be a candidate for endangered listing as a result of global warming

--Julie Cart

Photo: The American pika is highly sensitive to changes in temperature. Credit: U.S. Geological Survey.

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