Newport-Mesa school chief gets no confidence vote from teachers

An overwhelming majority of Newport-Mesa Unified School District teachers have no confidence in their beleaguered superintendent, according to a vote announced by the teachers union.

Ballots sent out Oct. 20 to the teachers in the Newport-Mesa Federation of Teachers showed 91.2% voted no confidence in Jeffrey Hubbard, union officials confirmed.

Of the 959 members, 379 participated -- a nearly 40% voter turnout.

"We hope the school board will pay attention that 90% of the teachers have no confidence in our superintendent," said union President Kimberly Claytor. "It's a sad thing. I don't mean it's sad that they have no confidence, it's sad about the whole scenario."

Jeers greet neo-Nazi rally near Pomona City Hall

About 75 people who participated in a neo-Nazi demonstration Saturday afternoon near Pomona City Hall  exchanged jeers with a group of opponents before the protest ended,  authorities said.

Mark Gluba, a city spokesman, said the demonstration by the National Socialist Movement began about 2 p.m. adjacent to City Hall and ended about 1 1/2 hours later.

Gluba estimated that the neo-Nazi group, which is based in Detroit, was confronted by several hundred protesters.  Except for people yelling back and forth, the event was generally peaceful and no one was arrested, he said.

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Man shot thousands of 'upskirt' photos, police say

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Santa Ana man convicted of killing 9-month-old baby by fracturing head

-- Dan Weikel

Reader photos: Southern California Moments Day 309

Keep on truckin': A man trucks along in his electric wheelchair near Valley Boulevard in Alhambra, in this Oct. 26 photo by Howard Fang. 

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.

Search continues for suspect in Monrovia-area kidnapping

Authorities on Saturday released a sketch of a suspect who they say  kidnapped a 6-year-old boy Friday afternoon from the backyard of the boy's home in an unincorporated area of Monrovia.

The boy escaped about a block away by biting one of the kidnapper's hands, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Richard Conti.

The kidnapper fled the scene in the 2500 Block of Graydon Avenue on foot. He was described as a Hispanic with black hair, about 25 to 40 years old. He was last seen wearing a white T-shirt and dark blue jeans.

"The mom saw [her son] wasn’t outside, and when she went out front looking for him, the kid was running back home and yelling for his mom," Conti said.

Authorities brought in search dogs to try to pick up the kidnapper's trail, Conti said.

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Football coach charged with assaulting student, 15

Jaycee Dugard urges vigilance to keep children safe

Man accused of taking 'up-skirt' photos pleads not guilty 

-- Matt Stevens   

Photo: A composite drawing of the kidnapping suspect

Credit: Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Temple station

Coast Guard suspends search for owner of boat found off Coronado

The Coast Guard has suspended active searching for the owner of a 45-foot fishing vessel discovered abandoned off Coronado.

The Coast Guard on Friday dispatched a cutter and helicopter to search off the Silver Strand after the Navy reporting seeing the vessel about a half-mile offshore.

Lifeguards reached the boat but found it abandoned. The boat  is known to have a dinghy, but the dinghy is missing, suggesting that the owner used it to get to shore, officials said Saturday.

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FULL COVERAGE: Occupy Wall Street protests around the nation

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Magnitude 3.2 earthquake strikes near Berkeley

A shallow, magnitude 3.2 earthquake was reported Saturday afternoon two miles from the Bay Area town of Piedmont, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The temblor occurred at 2:52 p.m. at a depth of 3.7 miles.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the epicenter was three miles from Berkeley, three miles from Emeryville and 11 miles from San Francisco City Hall.

In the last 10 days, there have been two earthquakes magnitude 3.0 and greater centered nearby.

Read more about California earthquakes on L.A. Now.

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Man shot thousands of 'upskirt' photos, police say

Police probe car accident that injured 2 children, 2 adults

-- Ken Schwencke

Image: Location of the epicenter

Credit: Google Maps

Boy, 15, accused of groping girls, women near high school

A 15-year-old former Glendale High School student has been arrested in connection with groping three students and two women near the campus, police said this week.

The boy, whose name wasn’t released because he’s a minor, was expelled from the high school following the sexual battery reports, but he is being home-schooled, Steven Frasher, spokesman for Glendale Unified School District told the Glendale News-Press.

The boy touched three girls at the high school and two women in separate incidents that occurred in neighborhoods near the campus, Glendale Police Sgt. Harout Bouzikian said.

The incidents are a concern, Bouzikian said, because they “can manifest to something more serious in the future.”

Detectives arrested the boy on Oct. 7, the same day the girls reported the alleged sexual batteries to school authorities. He was expelled Oct. 10, said Frasher, who declined to elaborate on the district’s response.

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Man shot thousands of 'upskirt' photos, police say

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Santa Ana man convicted of killing 9-month-old baby by fracturing head

--Veronica Rocha, Times Community News

Search continues for suspects in fatal Santa Ana shooting

Santa Ana police continue to search for at least two suspects in a Wednesday night vehicle-to-vehicle shooting in the 1600 block of East Edinger Avenue. The shooting killed one man, injured another and led to a collision with car carrying a couple and three children.

Authorities have determined that the suspects were driving a Toyota Four-Runner westbound down Edinger, alongside a van driven by the victims.      

“There is some kind of interaction between the two cars,” said Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna. “Then someone in the Toyota fires multiple rounds into the van, striking both the passenger and the driver.”

The driver of the van, Juan Manuel Diaz, 36, died from gunshot wounds. His passenger, a 23-year-old cousin, remained in the hospital with non-life-threatening injures as of Thursday, Bertagna said.

Diaz lost control of his van and swerved into the eastbound lanes of Edinger before plowing into a Volkswagen Beetle that was carrying a five people near the intersection with Grand Avenue, authorities said. In the Beetle were an aunt and an uncle who were driving two nieces and a nephew, ages 5, 9 and 13.

Bertagna said that as of Thursday, all the Beetle passengers had been released from the hospital, with the exception of the aunt, who “took most of the impact” in the front passenger’s seat.   

The truck cut through a gas station at the intersection as its assailant fled the scene.     

Authorities have released a tape of the truck moving through the station, and are asking the public to help identify the vehicle. There appear to be two suspects in the truck.  

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Suspect sought in fatal Santa Ana shooting

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--Matt Stevens

Photo: Police respond to the shooting at Edinger and Grand avenues Wednesday night. Credit: KTLA

Occupy L.A. protesters march to mark so-called Bank Transfer Day

Hundreds of protesters vented their frustration with Wall Street Saturday in a march through downtown L.A.'s financial district that at one point erupted into a pushing and shouting match with a counter-protester.

It was part of Bank Transfer Day, a national effort to get people to move their money from large corporate banks into smaller banks or credit unions. The march was organized by a coalition of labor unions and community organizations fighting foreclosures and also drew a sizable contingent of protesters from nearby Occupy L.A.

The event started just before noon at California Plaza, where old protest songs blasted from speakers and several demonstrators told the crowd about why they had withdrawn their money.

PHOTOS: Occupy protests around the nation

Things turned tense when Mario Brito, an organizer with Occupy L.A., took to the microphone and was interrupted by a counter-protester who grabbed the microphone and yelled, "Mario, are you still a member of the Communist Party?"

Pushing and shouting ensued as the man filmed the whole thing with an iPhone.

After a few minutes, things cooled and the march began.

As the crowd traveled north up Grand Avenue, they chanted slogans such as, "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out."

Vivian Sepulveda, 27, who works for Good Jobs L.A., the coalition that organized the event, was one of them. She said she pulled her money out of Bank of America because she feels the bank contributed to the foreclosure crisis by not helping struggling homeowners in her South L.A. neighborhood with loan modifications.

"If you walk around South Central, there's a lot of empty houses, a lot of houses boarded up," she said.

Walking out of Bank of America with 10 others who had also withdrawn their money felt good, she said.

"It was really exciting and liberating knowing that I had no business with them anymore."

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FULL COVERAGE: Occupy Wall Street protests around the nation

-- Kate Linthicum

Photo: A counter-protester uses his phone to record the scene at an Occupy L.A. march marking Bank Transfer Day. Credit: Kate Linthicum / Los Angeles Times

Jaycee Dugard urges vigilance to keep children safe

Jaycee Dugard, who was kidnapped and held captive by a sex offender for more than 18 years, released a public service announcement Friday, urging people to exercise constant vigilance to help keep neighborhoods safe.

In the 20-second video released on her foundation’s website, Dugard asks people to speak out if "something looks wrong or amiss." Behind her, images of children walking the streets and an empty swing flash by.   

"You might be wrong," she narrates, "but you might just save someone's life."

Dugard was 11 when she was kidnapped from her Lake Tahoe neighborhood in 1991. Her captors, Phillip and Nancy Garrido, held her in Antioch, Calif., for 18 years, and both are serving life sentences.

Dugard has written a best-selling memoir about her experience and received a monetary settlement from the state.

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Football coach charged with assaulting student, 15

Woman crashes into telephone pole in Silver Lake, dies

South L.A. fire rips apart house, sends at least one person to hospital

-- Matt Stevens

Photo: Jaycee Dugard, right, gave her first interview to Diane Sawyer. Dugard was freed from captivity in 2009. Credit: Reuters /Jill Belsley / ABC News

Occupy Oakland: Second Iraq war veteran hurt, recovering

A second Iraq war veteran who was hurt in Occupy Oakland protests is in stable condition, a hospital spokesperson said Saturday.

Kayvan Sabeghi, 32, was injured Thursday morning at the hands of Oakland Police, according to Dottie Guy, a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

A spokeswoman for the Oakland Police Department confirmed in a email that Sabeghi was arrested Thursday, and said the department is conducting an investigation into the circumstances leading to the arrest.    

PHOTOS: Occupy Oakland

The Associated Press reports that Sabeghi was booked during protests on suspicion of resisting arrest.

Guy said Sabeghi spent time in a jail cell before being released to Highland Hospital for treatment. 

Guy added that she spoke with Sabeghi Friday morning, and the veteran told her he was suffering from internal bleeding and a lacerated spleen.

“He was in a lot of pain,” Guy said. “He sounded like someone who had been through quite an ordeal.”

Hospital spokesperson Vintage Foster said that Sabeghi’s family classified his recovery as “positive.”  

Respect, tears at memorial for 17 Marines killed in Afghanistan

They were young -- all in their 20s -- but different from many in their generation.

"These men were throwbacks to a time when selfless service, love of one's country and team over self meant something," Lt. Col. Thomas Savage, the battalion commander, said Friday at a memorial service at Camp Pendleton for 17 Marines killed in Afghanistan.

All were from the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment.

INTERACTIVE: California's War Dead database

Capt. Michael Donaldson, a company commander, said the pain of their loss is mixed with the gratitude  that comes from knowing that many of them died while trying to protect fellow Marines from the dangers of a Taliban stronghold called Sangin.

"Nothing will ever make that pain go away," Donaldson said. "[But] many of us are standing in formation because of the heroic action of these men."

Along with the 17 Marines killed during the deployment, 191 were wounded, some of whom attended the memorial service.

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--Tony Perry at Camp Pendleton

Photo: Lance Cpl. Cody Elliott, 21, of Pismo Beach, who lost his left leg during a deployment to Afghanistan, comforts a fellow Marine at Friday's memorial service. Credit: Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times

South L.A. fire rips apart house, sends at least one person to hospital

A  fire gutted a South Los Angeles house early Saturday morning and sent at least one man to the hospital with symptoms of smoke inhalation, authorities said.

Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey said the fire at 310 E. Colden Ave. broke out around 3:18 a.m. and was knocked down within the hour.

Twenty-eight firefighters and six ambulance personnel were deployed to the house, according to City News Service. Arriving firefighters found the home fully engulfed by flames. It remains unclear how many residents were displaced.

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Woman, 18, found dead in Palos Verdes house

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10-year-old boy is grabbed from Monrovia-area backyard, escapes

-- Matt Stevens

Image: Map shows approximate location of where a fire broke out in South L.A. Source: Google Maps

Woman, 18, found dead in a Rancho Palos Verdes house

Authorities continue to investigate the case of an 18-year-old woman who was found dead in a friend's Rancho Palos Verdes home Friday morning.

L.A. County coroner’s officials identified the woman as Brittany Vandergoes. Coroner spokesman Larry Dietz said Saturday that she was found in bed in a friend’s house in the 1900 block of MacArthur Street around 10 a.m.

No cause of death has been established. A spokesman with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said the investigation is ongoing.

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Football coach charged with assaulting student, 15

Conrad Murray jurors begin deliberations in Jackson death

Transient threatened good Samaritan who aided woman, police say

-- Matt Stevens

Thanksgiving With Squash on the Side

Delicious no-meat recipes for your holiday table.

If you’re looking for a new way to spice up your Thanksgiving table, consider one of these new winter squash recipes from Martha Rose Shulman. She writes:

Many families fall into one of two camps when it comes to Thanksgiving menus. There are those who never veer from their annual menu; recipes are pulled out once a year, then put away until the next. Then there are those who like to try new recipes. I fall somewhere in between. I make certain favorites every Thanksgiving, but I also put new recipes to use, and this year I know I’ll be cooking some of these winter squash dishes.

Visit the interactive recipe collection to see all the dishes in Well’s Vegetarian Thanksgiving so far; we will be adding new dishes daily.

Puréed Roasted Squash and Yams With Citrus: This aromatic dish is inspired by a recipe in Lynne Rossetto Kasper’s wonderful book “The Splendid Table.”

Winter Squash and Sage Blini: These are simple buttermilk/buckwheat blini with puréed butternut squash and sage whisked into the batter.

Fried Winter Squash With Mint: In Sicily this dish is served both hot and at room temperature; if you make it for Thanksgiving and don’t want to be in the kitchen frying squash at the last minute, opt for the room-temperature version.

Simple Provençal Winter Squash Gratin: There’s little more than squash here, seasoned with lots of garlic and fresh herbs.

Family calls for federal probe in fatal police shooting

His family stood quietly during a Friday afternoon news conference outside the Long Beach Police Department, holding signs that read, "Justice for Douglas Zerby!" and "Jail Killers Ortiz and Shurtleff."

They listened as their attorney, Brian Claypool, called for a federal probe into last year's fatal police shooting of Zerby, 35, because, Claypool said, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office had mishandled its own investigation.

The call for the federal probe came a day after the district attorney's office cleared Long Beach Police Officers Victor Ortiz and Jeffrey Shurtleff in the shooting.

The findings showed that the officers were acting lawfully in self-defense when they mistook a black spray nozzle in Zerby's hand as a handgun and shot him. It also shows that Zerby had pointed the black spray nozzle at one of the officers in a shooting position.

But since the Dec. 12 incident, Claypool and Zerby's family have said the officers never identified themselves to Zerby, never ordered him to lay down his alleged weapon, and claimed a third officer who was observing Zerby through a rifle scope should have been able to determine that Zerby was not armed with a handgun.

On Friday, Claypool went further by accusing Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley of rubber-stamping the Long Beach Police Department's internal investigation as his office's own, rather than independently investigating the shooting. He questioned the accuracy of the information in the report, including the    23-foot distance one of the officers was from Zerby.

"It was 12 feet," Claypool said.

He also accused Cooley of stalling the investigation and refusing to let him see the investigation file. "They refused to comply with the subpoena until I threatened a motion to compel and seek a court order and monetary sanctions," Claypool said. "And on the day I was to meet in person with the D.A.'s county counsel, the D.A. magically concludes the criminal investigation."

Family members at the news conference expressed their outrage over the results of the investigation.

"I thought the D.A. was conducting an investigation of its own," said Zerby"s mother, Pam Amici. "That's why we stayed quiet, let the law do its thing. But now they're saying they are innocent? The police is suppose to protect and serve, not murder in cold blood."

The family has already filed a civil lawsuit against the department and the city, according to Claypool.

The news conference was organized by the Long Beach Campaign to Stop Violence and Act Now to Stop War and End Racism. Organizers say they plan to protest next month on the anniversary of Zerby's death.

ALSO:

Football coach charged with assaulting student, 15

Conrad Murray jurors begin deliberations in Jackson death

Transient threatened good Samaritan who aided woman, police say

-- Ruben Vives in Long Beach

Photo: Eden Biele and her daughter Cirrafina, 8, protest the killing of Biele's brother, Douglas Zerby, by Long Beach police. The family held a news conference Friday to call for a federal investigation into the shooting. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times