Sunday, February 10, 2008
"Play ball!" Major League umpires won't shout those magical words in the Southland for nearly two more months. Can't wait that long? Then plan a jaunt to Arizona, where the Angels and 11 other teams will play in the Cactus League. In late March, they'll be joined by the Dodgers, who are moving their spring training from Florida to Arizona. It's all just a short flight -- or an easy drive -- from L.A. Ticket prices are a real steal, starting around $5 for lawn seating to $25 for a seat behind home plate. Check out schedules at cactusleague.com and springtrainingonline.com.
O.C. toll road hearing draws thousands
Several thousand people turned out today for a California Coastal Commission hearing that will decide whether to approve a six-lane tollway through San Onofre State Beach, a popular preserve known for its ocean setting and famous surf spots.
Commission officials estimated that about 3,000 people--both toll road supporters and opponents--had filled Wyland Hall, a large pavilion at the Del Mar Fairgrounds that had been set aside for the toll road hearing.
They sat in rows of chairs and banks of bleachers at the back of the hall to hear what could turn into a daylong discussion about the Foothill South project.
"This is the largest turnout we have ever had," said Sarah Christie, the commission's legislative director.
Estimated to cost at least $875 million, the Foothill South would run 16-miles from Oso Parkway in Rancho Santa Margarita to I-5 at Basilone Road south of San Clemente. The highway would course through the northern half of San Onofre and pass over the Trestles marine estuary, which is a nature preserve. About 320 of the park's 2,100 acres would be taken for the road.
The controversy has generated intense public interest across the state. Local governments in Southern California have voted to support or oppose the highway. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger endorsed the project in January and other high-ranking state officials have taken positions on the road.
Before the hearing even began this morning„ such surfing-related companies, as Billabong, Etnies, Vans, Reef, and GFH Boards bused hundreds of tollway opponents to the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Cars of protesters bore painted signs that read, "Honk to Save Trestles," and "Save the Park."
Popular among the opposition were blue T-shirts that stated "Save the Park, Stop the Tollroad."
"There are only so many state parks left and we really should not pave over them," said Mike Matey, 40, of San Diego, who frequently camps and surfs at San Onofre. "I can't trust what the TCA says about the impacts of the highway on our coast."
Just outside Wyland Hall there was a carnival atmosphere. Hundreds of people milled about, sometimes shoulder to shoulder. Booths set up by the Sierra Club, the Surfrider Foundation and other environmental groups dispensed anti-tollroad literature while concessionaires sold hot dogs, burgers, coffee, mochas and lattes.
Heading inside the pavilion was Armando Esparza, secretary for Laborers' Union Local 652, which is affiliated with the Southern California District Council of Laborers. He was part of a group of more than 100 union members and tollway supporters from Orange County, the Inland Empire, and Los Angeles and San Diego counties.
"Maybe at the end of the day, this project will mean more jobs, but it also will help relieve congestion," Esparza said. "Look at our freeways now--the 91 and the 710. They are all congested. People are now coming in from San Diego County to work in Orange County. That creates a bottleneck on the 5."
Commission officials estimated that about 3,000 people--both toll road supporters and opponents--had filled Wyland Hall, a large pavilion at the Del Mar Fairgrounds that had been set aside for the toll road hearing.
They sat in rows of chairs and banks of bleachers at the back of the hall to hear what could turn into a daylong discussion about the Foothill South project.
"This is the largest turnout we have ever had," said Sarah Christie, the commission's legislative director.
Estimated to cost at least $875 million, the Foothill South would run 16-miles from Oso Parkway in Rancho Santa Margarita to I-5 at Basilone Road south of San Clemente. The highway would course through the northern half of San Onofre and pass over the Trestles marine estuary, which is a nature preserve. About 320 of the park's 2,100 acres would be taken for the road.
The controversy has generated intense public interest across the state. Local governments in Southern California have voted to support or oppose the highway. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger endorsed the project in January and other high-ranking state officials have taken positions on the road.
Before the hearing even began this morning„ such surfing-related companies, as Billabong, Etnies, Vans, Reef, and GFH Boards bused hundreds of tollway opponents to the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Cars of protesters bore painted signs that read, "Honk to Save Trestles," and "Save the Park."
Popular among the opposition were blue T-shirts that stated "Save the Park, Stop the Tollroad."
"There are only so many state parks left and we really should not pave over them," said Mike Matey, 40, of San Diego, who frequently camps and surfs at San Onofre. "I can't trust what the TCA says about the impacts of the highway on our coast."
Just outside Wyland Hall there was a carnival atmosphere. Hundreds of people milled about, sometimes shoulder to shoulder. Booths set up by the Sierra Club, the Surfrider Foundation and other environmental groups dispensed anti-tollroad literature while concessionaires sold hot dogs, burgers, coffee, mochas and lattes.
Heading inside the pavilion was Armando Esparza, secretary for Laborers' Union Local 652, which is affiliated with the Southern California District Council of Laborers. He was part of a group of more than 100 union members and tollway supporters from Orange County, the Inland Empire, and Los Angeles and San Diego counties.
"Maybe at the end of the day, this project will mean more jobs, but it also will help relieve congestion," Esparza said. "Look at our freeways now--the 91 and the 710. They are all congested. People are now coming in from San Diego County to work in Orange County. That creates a bottleneck on the 5."
55 charged in welfare fraud scheme
More than 50 people were charged in a $3 million child-care scam that involved bogus corporations and child-care facilities set up to receive state welfare funds, the Los Angeles County district attorney said Thursday.
In what prosecutors described as the largest such fraud case in the state, and possibly the nation, alleged ring-leader Demetrius Eugene, 36, created six bogus child-care facilities under the name of Home Sweet Home Day Care Inc. and listed family members and friends as care providers.
According to Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, Eugene and fellow defendants recruited individuals qualified for state "welfare-to-work" programs, which provide child-care support for welfare recipients transitioning into employment.
One arm of Eugene's corporation provided false employment to parents, while the other claimed to provide child-care to those parents to collect state funds, prosecutors said.
The "welfare-to-work" candidates signed fake time cards for themselves and attendance sheets for their children at the operation's headquarters in Los Angeles, and received roughly $300 per child per month in return, authorities said. At most of the facilities, there was no evidence that child-care services were ever provided.
Cooley said the case was an indication of a complete lack of accountability and verification in the welfare transition program run by the state Department of Education.
"It's not just this crime, the way they perpetrated it, or how much money they got. It's really about the fact that it could have been prevented," Cooley said. "It will occur again and we won't be able to detect it."
Dist. Atty. James Baker, who worked on the case, said the ring is one of hundreds of child-care fraud operations that are referred each year to the county Department of Public Social Services.
"This might be one of the most sophisticated," he said. "They were able to fool the child-care agencies that they were legitimate."
The 55 defendants named in five separate complaints include nearly 50 parents, most of whom said they knew about the scheme, prosecutors said.
Eugene, a former employee of the California Department of Corporations, had little difficulty turning the day care center he inherited from his mother into a corporation, Baker said.
Most of the fraud alleged in the complaints occurred between 2000 and 2004, Baker said.
Among those charged in the case was Kmond Day, 32, who received his child-care license from a state agency and set up a facility shortly before he was convicted of drug trafficking. But even after Day was sent to prison, the state continued to provide welfare funds to his care center.
Day and his wife received more than $400,000 in state funds, authorities said.
"He surely wasn't there taking care of children, he was in federal prison." Cooley said.
In what prosecutors described as the largest such fraud case in the state, and possibly the nation, alleged ring-leader Demetrius Eugene, 36, created six bogus child-care facilities under the name of Home Sweet Home Day Care Inc. and listed family members and friends as care providers.
According to Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, Eugene and fellow defendants recruited individuals qualified for state "welfare-to-work" programs, which provide child-care support for welfare recipients transitioning into employment.
One arm of Eugene's corporation provided false employment to parents, while the other claimed to provide child-care to those parents to collect state funds, prosecutors said.
The "welfare-to-work" candidates signed fake time cards for themselves and attendance sheets for their children at the operation's headquarters in Los Angeles, and received roughly $300 per child per month in return, authorities said. At most of the facilities, there was no evidence that child-care services were ever provided.
Cooley said the case was an indication of a complete lack of accountability and verification in the welfare transition program run by the state Department of Education.
"It's not just this crime, the way they perpetrated it, or how much money they got. It's really about the fact that it could have been prevented," Cooley said. "It will occur again and we won't be able to detect it."
Dist. Atty. James Baker, who worked on the case, said the ring is one of hundreds of child-care fraud operations that are referred each year to the county Department of Public Social Services.
"This might be one of the most sophisticated," he said. "They were able to fool the child-care agencies that they were legitimate."
The 55 defendants named in five separate complaints include nearly 50 parents, most of whom said they knew about the scheme, prosecutors said.
Eugene, a former employee of the California Department of Corporations, had little difficulty turning the day care center he inherited from his mother into a corporation, Baker said.
Most of the fraud alleged in the complaints occurred between 2000 and 2004, Baker said.
Among those charged in the case was Kmond Day, 32, who received his child-care license from a state agency and set up a facility shortly before he was convicted of drug trafficking. But even after Day was sent to prison, the state continued to provide welfare funds to his care center.
Day and his wife received more than $400,000 in state funds, authorities said.
"He surely wasn't there taking care of children, he was in federal prison." Cooley said.
Two buses involved in crash in South Los Angeles
An accident involving a transit bus, a school bus and three cars in South Los Angeles has left six people injured.
The crash happened about 4:20 p.m. on Manchester Avenue near Western Avenue. A city fire spokeswoman says no students were on the school bus nor was anyone aboard the Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus.
Six people had minor injuries but none of them were taken to a hospital.
The crash is under investigation.
The crash happened about 4:20 p.m. on Manchester Avenue near Western Avenue. A city fire spokeswoman says no students were on the school bus nor was anyone aboard the Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus.
Six people had minor injuries but none of them were taken to a hospital.
The crash is under investigation.
This time, Microsoft may meet its match in Google
WASHINGTON -- Bill Gates worried that something like Google would come along before it even existed.
In 1995, the Microsoft leader recognized how a powerful Internet player could topple his company from the high-tech pyramid and launched an attack on all potential threats. Netscape, Sun Microsystems and other competitors paid the price.
So did Microsoft. Its tactics triggered a landmark antitrust case that handcuffed the software giant for a decade, hampering its ability to respond when the real Web boogeyman appeared: Google Inc.
But today the shackles are off. Largely unconstrained by the antitrust problems that have dogged it since the late 1990s, Microsoft is the aggressor again.
Its surprise $44.6-billion offer for Yahoo Inc. capped off a year in which Microsoft proved that it was serious about the Internet and willing to throw around its cash hoard.
Yahoo's board of directors has decided to reject the offer, a person familiar with the matter said Saturday. The person, who is close to Yahoo management, said the company planned to tell Microsoft in a letter Monday that the deal undervalues the Internet company and fails to offset its risk if regulators were to overturn the merger.
Although Yahoo doesn't want to sell to Microsoft, it has few alternatives. Many analysts expect Microsoft to sweeten its offer, and Yahoo to accept it.
If it wins Yahoo, the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant will have pulled off by far the largest acquisition in its 33-year history to try to keep Google from getting further ahead.
"Microsoft tends to be a reactive company," said Mark Anderson, an entrepreneur and author of an industry newsletter that counts Gates and Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer among its subscribers. "They also tend to always be focused on their competition, even down to the individuals that run divisions on both sides."
Google is lobbying against a potential Yahoo deal, saying Microsoft can't be trusted. Microsoft counters that it isn't the dominant player in Web advertising as it is in operating systems and office productivity software.
Pulling for former foe
Fearful of the new giant on the block, some of Microsoft's old enemies are rooting for it.
For years, Chris Tolles had a front-row seat to the brutal side of the so-called Beast from Redmond. The software developer worked at companies that went head-to-head with Microsoft, including Sun and Netscape.
But now he's running Topix, a Silicon Valley company that offers local news and other information online. Google launched a competing product last week.
"Creating a valid competitor for Google would be very helpful to the industry," Tolles said. "That's the irritating part: I'm rooting for Microsoft."
Microsoft, which declined to comment, doesn't enjoy the underdog role.
After its previous attempts to acquire Yahoo or strike a partnership were rebuffed, Microsoft made an unsolicited bid for the company Jan. 31 and announced it the next day. The half-cash, half-stock bid valued the struggling Internet company at $31 a share -- 62% more than its stock's closing price Jan. 31. But with the slump in Microsoft's share price since then, the offer's value has declined to $29.08 a share. Investors expect Microsoft to offer more.
"We keep at things," Ballmer told employees when the bid was announced. "We don't start and stop."
It's been a long, eventful struggle since Microsoft began its online push.
In a lengthy memo sent to Microsoft executives May 26, 1995, Gates warned that the young World Wide Web could spawn a competitor to threaten the software giant's computing dominance. He assigned the Internet "the highest level of importance."
In 1995, the Microsoft leader recognized how a powerful Internet player could topple his company from the high-tech pyramid and launched an attack on all potential threats. Netscape, Sun Microsystems and other competitors paid the price.
So did Microsoft. Its tactics triggered a landmark antitrust case that handcuffed the software giant for a decade, hampering its ability to respond when the real Web boogeyman appeared: Google Inc.
But today the shackles are off. Largely unconstrained by the antitrust problems that have dogged it since the late 1990s, Microsoft is the aggressor again.
Its surprise $44.6-billion offer for Yahoo Inc. capped off a year in which Microsoft proved that it was serious about the Internet and willing to throw around its cash hoard.
Yahoo's board of directors has decided to reject the offer, a person familiar with the matter said Saturday. The person, who is close to Yahoo management, said the company planned to tell Microsoft in a letter Monday that the deal undervalues the Internet company and fails to offset its risk if regulators were to overturn the merger.
Although Yahoo doesn't want to sell to Microsoft, it has few alternatives. Many analysts expect Microsoft to sweeten its offer, and Yahoo to accept it.
If it wins Yahoo, the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant will have pulled off by far the largest acquisition in its 33-year history to try to keep Google from getting further ahead.
"Microsoft tends to be a reactive company," said Mark Anderson, an entrepreneur and author of an industry newsletter that counts Gates and Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer among its subscribers. "They also tend to always be focused on their competition, even down to the individuals that run divisions on both sides."
Google is lobbying against a potential Yahoo deal, saying Microsoft can't be trusted. Microsoft counters that it isn't the dominant player in Web advertising as it is in operating systems and office productivity software.
Pulling for former foe
Fearful of the new giant on the block, some of Microsoft's old enemies are rooting for it.
For years, Chris Tolles had a front-row seat to the brutal side of the so-called Beast from Redmond. The software developer worked at companies that went head-to-head with Microsoft, including Sun and Netscape.
But now he's running Topix, a Silicon Valley company that offers local news and other information online. Google launched a competing product last week.
"Creating a valid competitor for Google would be very helpful to the industry," Tolles said. "That's the irritating part: I'm rooting for Microsoft."
Microsoft, which declined to comment, doesn't enjoy the underdog role.
After its previous attempts to acquire Yahoo or strike a partnership were rebuffed, Microsoft made an unsolicited bid for the company Jan. 31 and announced it the next day. The half-cash, half-stock bid valued the struggling Internet company at $31 a share -- 62% more than its stock's closing price Jan. 31. But with the slump in Microsoft's share price since then, the offer's value has declined to $29.08 a share. Investors expect Microsoft to offer more.
"We keep at things," Ballmer told employees when the bid was announced. "We don't start and stop."
It's been a long, eventful struggle since Microsoft began its online push.
In a lengthy memo sent to Microsoft executives May 26, 1995, Gates warned that the young World Wide Web could spawn a competitor to threaten the software giant's computing dominance. He assigned the Internet "the highest level of importance."
Funeral horses stampede, overturn hearse
LONDON (Reuters) - A hearse overturned when the horses pulling it to a south London cemetery stampeded, dragging the carriage and coffin past appalled relatives and sending floral tributes flying.
"It was dreadful," a mourner told the South London Press. "The horses dragged the carriage to the cemetery on its side, tossing the coffin all over the place and destroying all the flowers inside.
"Some people got very angry and had to be restrained by other mourners... It is understandable given the circumstances. I'm horrified that something like this could happen."
Police were called to calm angry mourners so that the funeral last month could go ahead.
The carriage appeared to have clipped a mini-roundabout as it entered Lambeth Cemetery for the funeral, the local council which administers the graveyard said Friday.
Police say Florida woman strapped beer in with seat belt but not baby
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - Florida police arrested a motorist they said had a 24-pack of beer strapped in with a seat belt but had a 16-month-old girl unrestrained in the back seat with the toddler's mother.
Tina Williams was pulled over in St. Augustine on Sunday for allegedly running a red light.
A 24-pack of Busch beer was strapped in with the passenger-side seat belt, said an arrest report. The girl was in the back seat with 20-year-old Amber Tedrick, who is the toddler's mother.
Williams, 46, said she didn't know why the child wasn't restrained.
Williams refused to take a breath test and a deputy found two metal pipes commonly used to smoke drugs in her purse, authorities said.
Williams was charged with driving under the influence, child abuse, possession of drug paraphernalia and driving without a licence, a jail official said. She remained in the St. Johns County jail Tuesday after bail was set at $31,000.
The jail did not have the name of her lawyer. It was not clear if Tedrick would face any charges but the child was released to her care, the Florida Times-Union newspaper reported.
Drunk threatened city with TV remote
CANBERRA (Reuters) - A drunken man's threat to blow up half a city with his television remote control forced Australian police to declare a state of emergency at a luxury golf resort, a local court heard Thursday.
Geoffrey Martin Fryatt, 57, a resident of the Fairways Golf and Lifestyle Retreat in Brisbane, was arrested by elite paramilitary police after terrifying neighbors with a knife and threatening to detonate a store of chemicals with the TV remote.
"One push of the button will blow up half of Brisbane," Fryatt shouted in the standoff last May before police in the Queensland state capital opened fire with rubber bullets.
Fryatt's lawyer told the Brisbane District Court that his client lost control after losing much of his life savings in a fraud carried out by his finance broker, local media said.
"People are genuinely scared of sudden explosions," the judge said, sentencing Fryatt to a year's probation. "Frightening members of the public with threats of bombs and bomb hoaxes has a much greater impact than it once did," she said.
Fryatt accepted probation, but said he was concerned it could interrupt plans to travel overseas to do humanitarian aid work, the Brisbane Times newspaper reported.
"Let's get you right before we send you off to a third world country," the judge said.
Minnesota man who robbed woman and licked toes put on probation
MINNEAPOLIS - A man who robbed a woman of her keys and cellphone, then licked her toes, was sentenced Wednesday to five years' probation.
Carlton Jermaine Davis, 26, faces 21 months in prison if he fails to complete probation for the robbery charge in Ramsey County District Court.
A criminal complaint said Davis approached the woman around 1 a.m. on Sept. 9 as she was leaving work and forced her to put her phone and purse inside a bag.
Then he told her: "Now I'm going to suck your feet."
Police arrested Davis a few minutes later about four blocks away.
Have you heard? Hospitals to ban gossiping
BELGRADE (Reuters) - A ban on grumpiness, gossiping, mini-skirts and rudeness is what the doctor orders to improve patient care in Serbia's hospitals, according to new rules issued by the country's Health Ministry.
The rules, posted on the ministry's Web site, say staff are not allowed to criticize their hospital or their superiors, and should not accept gifts for their services.
Hospital staff are often bribed with cash or gifts for attention or better treatment.
"There needs to be ground rules for decency," a ministry spokesman said.
Serbia's public health system crumbled during the conflicts of the 1990s, with patients' relatives having to provide everything from bandages and antibiotics to food.
Funding improved as stability returned but bribery, often involving hundreds of euros, is still widespread.
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