Students were sent home from Huntington Beach High School on Wednesday after police discovered what appeared to be an explosive device.

Police were called to the school about 9:30 a.m. to investigate a report that a student was in possession of fireworks, according to Huntington Beach Police Lt. Russell Reinhart.

The school was evacuated – and students later dismissed – after police found what looked like a bomb. A bomb squad determined that it was a fake device.  Police arrested a student in connection with the incident and charged him with possession of a facsimile of a bomb.

The student was taken to Orange County Juvenile Hall.

-- Kate Linthicum

A registered sex offender pleaded not guilty to the killing of Chelsea King, a 17-year-old last seen jogging near a San Diego County lake.

During a brief court hearing in San Diego, John Albert Gardner III, 30, said through an attorney that he denied killing King. Gardner, handcuffed and dressed in a jail jumpsuit, did not address the court.

Gardner was arrested Sunday afternoon outside a restaurant near Lake Hodges after unspecified evidence linked him to the crime, authorities said. The 230-pound Gardner, who is registered as living in Lake Elsinore, had been visiting his mother in Rancho Bernardo last week.

In 2000, Gardner pleaded guilty to molestation charges involving a 13-year-old girl.

The warden of a federal prison in San Bernardino County was indicted Wednesday on charges of disclosing confidential information about a pending criminal investigation and then lying to investigators about having done so, authorities said.

Scott A. Holencik, warden of a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility in Adelanto, is charged in a six-count indictment, which includes two felony counts of making false statements to investigators, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angles.

Holencik, 45, is accused of lying to investigators from the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General last year in connection with a probe into Internet postings that disclosed confidential information.

If convicted of all counts, Holencik faces a maximum of 14 years in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

[For the record: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the prison was in Riverside County. It is in San Bernardino County.]

-- Scott Glover

More breaking news in L.A. Now:

L.A. mayor finalizes first list of city job cuts

Prosecutors decline to charge paparazzi arrested during 'Bachelor' taping

Body of newborn found by trash collector in Redondo Beach

Man sentenced for taking kickbacks at Los Angeles Air Force Base

L.A. County probation workers elude punishment for misdeeds

Michael Jackson's children never in any danger from stun gun, attorney says

Woman slain by gunfire in Lancaster

LAPD apologizes to family of slain Sen. Robert F. Kennedy for homicide exhibit items

Pink slips will soon be on their way to Los Angeles city workers now that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and his general managers have finalized the first list of 542 positions slated for elimination.

In a memo to 13 general managers Wednesday, Villaraigosa’s chief of staff, Jeff Carr, ordered each agency head to immediately sign off on the proposed layoff list for his or her department, and said he expected “full cooperation” with the directive. The move is intended to help close the city’s $212-million budget shortfall this fiscal year and help shrink next year's $485-million gap.

“If there was any doubt that that city is moving forward on the original 1,000 position eliminations, this confirms that we are moving forward on that,” said City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana. He added that department heads must now determine whether workers in those positions have already been transferred to other positions.

The initial list includes the elimination of 89 child-care workers in the parks department, more than 100 messengers, clerks and librarians in the library department, and about 50 tree surgeons in the bureau of street services (some of whom may move to the Department of Water and Power).

Prosecutors will not file charges against two paparazzi arrested by security guards during a weekend taping of "The Bachelor" TV show at a Palos Verdes luxury hotel, authorities said Wednesday.

Maximiliano Lopez, 28, of Torrance and Eric Brogmus, 22, of Burbank were booked by L.A. County sheriff's deputies Saturday on suspicion of misdemeanor battery and unlawful blocking of a sidewalk after a citizen's arrest.

But the L.A. County district attorney's office, which handles prosecutions of misdemeanor crimes committed in county jurisdiction, said there was insufficient evidence to charge the men.

The incident unfolded Saturday when the photographers and other paparazzi attempted to snap pictures and video of "Bachelor" participants as they were arriving for the wedding of "Bachelor" couple Jason Mesnick and Molly Malaney.

Video posted to the X17online website shows a security guard choking one of the photographers and taking him to the ground on a path leading to the ocean as other paparazzi shout at the men to stop.

Sheriff's deputies detained the two men after security guards insisted the photographers be booked on a citizen's arrest.

-- Andrew Blankstein

A dead newborn baby was discovered by a trash collector Wednesday in a household bin on a residential Redondo Beach street near Pacific Coast Highway, police said.

Redondo Beach Police Sgt. Phil Keenan said the employee of Consolidated Disposal discovered the body about 9:05 a.m. on Irena Avenue during regular curbside trash pickup. The trash collector noticed the body while preparing to empty the bin. 

Keenan said that the residential neighborhood is relatively close to heavily traveled Pacific Coast Highway and that it is possible the child’s body was dumped by someone passing through the area.

The Los Angeles County coroner's office has been called to the scene to assist investigators. A cause of death for the child has not been determined. Police did not say whether the newborn was a boy or girl.

Anyone with information is asked by Redondo Beach police to contact investigators at (310) 379-2477.

-- Richard Winton

Photo: KTLA

More breaking news in L.A. Now:

Man sentenced for taking kickbacks at Los Angeles Air Force Base

L.A. County probation workers elude punishment for misdeeds

Michael Jackson's children never in any danger from stun gun, attorney says

Woman slain by gunfire in Lancaster

LAPD apologizes to family of slain Sen. Robert F. Kennedy for homicide exhibit items

The Poway City Council cut short its regular meeting Tuesday evening so that those present could attend a candlelight vigil for Chelsea King, whose body was believed to have been found in a shallow grave near the lakeside park where the teenager had gone running last week.

"Poway is a tiny town. We are 50,000 now. When things like that happen, it rocks the soul of the community," Councilmember Betty Rexford said Wednesday.

She said the community has been grappling for some time with the issues that come with urban growth.

"They call it a city in the country," Rexford said.

When she moved to Poway 40 years ago, there was only one traffic light, she said. Children could enjoy the lake and trails in relative safety. Now, she said, parents are wondering whether they should allow their children to go to the mall alone.

"The world has changed," said Rexford, who worries about her two teenage granddaughters. "It is kind of scary that as a society we have to be looking over our shoulders all the time."

But she said the community had rallied around King's family. Already a city with a strong volunteer tradition, she said thousands helped search for the 17-year-old Poway High School senior.

"It does your heart good that you have a community that, when something happens to their own, they come together," she said. "It was just an outpouring of love and support."

When an earthquake struck South America last weekend, the ground rumbled in Chile, the sea rose in the Pacific, and a day on Earth got shorter.

Not by much.

Earthlings ended up losing 1.26 millionth of a second of a day. You can’t sense it. Nor can your dog -- the one you insist senses approaching earthquakes -- feel it.

But while other experts charted the shift of tectonic plates and the swell of ocean waters wrought by the quake, geophysicist Richard Gross mathematically calculated the temblor’s disruption of the day. The thrust quake -- in which plates underground move vertically -- caused mass to move everywhere, according to Gross, and made the planet slightly denser.

“It got a bit more compact,” Gross said. With the Earth’s mass pulled a bit closer to its center, the planet rotates faster -- “just like a spinning skater brings her arms in closer to her body to rotate faster,” he said. When the planet rotates faster, the day shortens. Gross studies the Earth’s rotation and how it is affected by cataclysmic forces of nature.

“Anything that moves mass around on the Earth, I take a look at,” said Gross, who works at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge. And it takes a mega-earthquake to attract Gross’ attention.

With deep cuts expected to move hundreds of Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies from desk duties to street patrols, don't be surprised to see the most visible of their ranks cruising in a patrol car or walking the halls of the County Jail.

Sheriff Lee Baca told The Times he plans to "lead from the front" with the rest of his command staff, from the rank of captain and above, to fill possible shift gaps caused by cuts in overtime.

“I will go out into the field and into the jails,” Baca said Tuesday, noting he would be working those assignments once or twice a month and possibly weekend shifts in coming weeks.

Plans call for the Sheriff's Department to reduce its budget by $128 million over the next 16 months, amounting to about 9% of the nearly $1.3-billion total it receives from the county.

OK Go's new music video has been making its rounds on the Internet lately, and for good reason – it features an amazing Rube Goldberg machine that's synchronized to the music of their new song "This Too Shall Pass."

But did you know the video was filmed in an Echo Park warehouse, and the Rube Goldberg machine was designed by an L.A. firm? The Eastsider LA has a breakdown of the locals OK Go used to film the video, and Wired Magazine has a detailed explanation of how the whole thing works:

For nearly four minutes — captured in a single, unbroken camera shot — the machine rolls metal balls down tracks, swings sledgehammers, pours water, unfurls flags and drops a flock of umbrellas from the second story, all perfectly synchronized with the song. … The wooden tracks used to guide metal balls at the beginning of the video had to be cleaned and waxed to keep dust from slowing down the balls and making them stick. And the angle of that board was set at a precise 3.4 degrees of incline, which was perfect for the timing but sometimes led the balls to jump the track.

Read the full story from Wired here.

Here are some other interesting L.A. items on the Web:

Bald Eagles – live: A webcam on one of the Channel Islands is broadcasting live video and audio of two Bald Eagles incubating their eggs. Laist reports:

Once ousted from Southern California's existence, thanks to the harmful chemical DDT, bald eagles have been making a comeback in Channel Islands National Park… a webcam (complete with sound!) has been set up for scientists and the public to monitor the action, if you will, in real time.

Students celebrate Dr. Seuss: Students gathered in their pajamas at Frank Woodruff Elementary school to read Dr. Seuss and raise money. The Long Beach Press Telegram reports:

Tuesday's read-a-thon with pledges gathered per page raised funds toward a replacement for the school's 20-year-old marquee... Students and faculty wore pajamas and held their favorite stuffed toys during the hourlong event.

"90210" house for sale: The beach house featured in the original "Beverly Hills, 90210" is up for sale. The price for a piece of television history? $10.5 Million. The Huffington Post reports:

We all remember Donna Martin and Kelly Taylor's picturesque Beach-side shack; well, now this little sliver of television history can be yours… The 6-bedroom, 5-bathroom Hermosa Beach property sits on 136-feet of beachfront sand, complete with panoramic views and wrap around patios and decks.

-- Anthony Pesce

Have some news for Linking L.A.? Contact Times reporter Anthony Pesce.

Video: OK Go's new video, "This Too Shall Pass."

 

A Beverly Hills historian was perusing old newspapers when an article caught his eye. It was a story about city officials burrowing a time capsule inside the walls of the Beverly Hills post office in 1933.

The news was timely. The old post office is going to be a part of of the new Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, and construction crews are in the process of preserving it.

The city decided to retrieve the time capsule, said Amy Phillips, a spokeswoman for the Wallis Annenberg Center.

Hidden in a cubbyhole behind the cornerstone of the an ornate Italian Renaissance building they found a narrow copper box. Inside of that, they found a curious collection of objects.

Among them: Four newspapers (none of which was the Los Angeles Times), an assortment of business cards (including one for a real estate agent to the stars) and paperwork having to do with the National Recovery Act, the Depression-era legislation credited by many with lifting the United States out of economic trouble.

It seems then, as now, that the economy was forefront in many people's minds.

Beverly Hills Mayor Nancy Krasne and other city officials will gather outside the old post office at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday to show the 76-year-old contents of the time capsule to the public for the first time.

-- Kate Linthicum

A man who worked at Los Angeles Air Force Base has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for taking more than $70,000 in kickbacks from subcontractors, authorities said Wednesday.

Alejandro Rivera, 39, pleaded guilty in December to eight counts of accepting kickbacks and three counts of mail fraud. Rivera, a civilian, admitted that he asked for and received compensation for awarding four subcontractors lucrative plumbing, construction and painting contracts at the Air Force base hospital.

One of the subcontractors was an FBI source who contacted authorities in 2008 after Rivera solicited bribes.

A federal judge on Tuesday also ordered Rivera, of Los Angeles, to pay more than $38,000 in restitution.

The Air Force base is located in El Segundo, near Los Angeles International Airport.

-- Kate Linthicum

At least 170 Los Angeles County Probation Department employees have committed misconduct -- including cases of excessive force and abuse -- but have so far escaped punishment because there is not enough staff to mete out discipline, officials said Tuesday.

"We have too many cases and not enough staff," interim chief Cal Remington said in an interview with The Times. "I'm not happy with the time it takes to complete an investigation and determine the discipline."

Department investigations have concluded that the employees committed misconduct and should face discipline ranging from written reprimands to terminations, Remington said. Of the 170 employees, most are sworn officers and about half the cases involved allegations of abuse of juvenile probationers. Most of the employees remain on the job, and it was unclear if they ultimately would be punished.

The disclosures come after a Times story revealed that juvenile probation officers in recent years have been convicted of crimes or disciplined for inappropriate conduct involving current or former probationers, including several cases of officers molesting or beating youths in their care.

Read the full story here.

Read The Times' investigation here.

--Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Richard Winton

A stun gun found at the Jackson family compound in Encino drew the attention of county child welfare officials.

Officials from the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services visited the home Tuesday -- reportedly to check on a report of a stun gun possessed by a child. But Katherine Jackson's attorney, Adam Streisand,  released a statement saying there was no danger posed to anyone, including Michael Jackson's three children, who live with their grandmother.

"Two weeks ago, Jermaine Jackson's 13-year old son, Jaafar, who lives with his mother Alejandra at the home of Mrs. Katherine Jackson, received a package with a stun gun he ordered online,'' the statement said. "Jaafar opened the package alone in his bathroom and tested it on a piece of paper."

According to the statement, Katherine Jackson and a security official heard the sound, went into the bathroom and confiscated the gun. Streisand said none of Michael Jackson's children were ever in any danger from the weapon.

Detectives were investigating the circumstances involving the slaying of a woman Tuesday night in Lancaster, authorities said.

The woman was shot at least once about 8 p.m. in the 4400 block of East 15th Street, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said.

The woman was pronounced dead at a hospital, the department said. Her name was not released.

Since January 2007, at least 37 homicides have been reported in Lancaster, according to a Times database.

Homicide detectives were at the scene Monday night. Further details were not available.

-- Robert J. Lopez

Photo: Red dots show Lancaster homicides since 2007. Credit: Los Angeles Times Homicide Report.

The Los Angeles Police Department has apologized to the family of the late Robert F. Kennedy and removed items from a homicide exhibit in Las Vegas that included the dress shirt worn by the senator when he was assassinated in 1968, officials said Tuesday night.

The shirt was among a number of items included in the highly publicized display at the 2010 California Homicide Investigators Assn. Conference, which is being hosted by the LAPD. The crime-scene evidence can be seen by the general public for the next two days.

The multimedia exhibit at the Palms Casino Resort features photographs, videos and evidence from the vaults of the LAPD and the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. 

The department bills the 8,000-square-foot display as a first-ever look at homicide evidence from some of the city's most notorious cases. "Behind-The-Scenes: The LAPD Homicide Experience" was publicized by the department as including materials that have never been seen in or outside a courtroom.

The showcased items were gleaned from the last 100 years. They include the 1997 Bank of America shootout in North Hollywood, the Black Dahlia slaying, the death investigation of actress Marilyn Monroe, the SLA shootout, the "Onion Field" killing and the bloody Manson family murders.

Also on display was evidence connected to the assassination of Sen. Kennedy, who was shot to death by Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968. Kennedy was mortally wounded in a kitchen pantry moments after declaring victory in the California Democratic presidential primary. 

Members of the Kennedy family and others were offended that items -- including a shirt, tie and jacket -- worn by the late senator would be displayed, LAPD officials said.

Those items, which were on display to the media most of Tuesday, were removed and LAPD Chief Charlie Beck apologized to the family.

Reached by phone Tuesday night, Beck said the Kennedy items were removed immediately after he was contacted by one of the family members.

"The last thing we want to do is traumatize a victim's family and I am very sensitive to that," Beck said. "But at the same time, we want to preserve the history of the city of Los Angeles and improve the quality and understanding about our homicide investigations."

He noted that there were "significant lessons" that law enforcement experts around the world could learn from examining not only the high-profile crimes themselves but the resulting media attention and notoriety connected to them.

-- Andrew Blankstein

Photo: Artwork created for the 40th anniversary of Robert F. Kennedy's assassination. Credit: Jennifer Kohnke/TMS.

Three people playing basketball in Compton, including a 10-year-old girl, were wounded Tuesday evening when a gunman walked up and opened fire in an apparent gang-related attack, authorities said.

The three were playing at a makeshift court in the 1800 block of East San Luis Street when the attacker appeared about 5 p.m., the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said.

"He walked up, committed the deed and ran to an awaiting vehicle," Lt. Henry Saucedo of the Compton sheriff's station said.

The girl was listed in stable condition with wounds to her hip and knees, Saucedo said. The two males, ages 17 and 45, were in critical condition and undergoing surgery.

No additional details were available. Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at (310) 605-6500.

-- Robert J. Lopez

Photo: KTLA

Costa Mesa will stop enforcing its controversial anti-solicitation ordinance following an agreement reached with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, city officials said Tuesday evening.

City Atty. Kimberly Hall Barlow confirmed an earlier report from an ACLU attorney, who said that Costa Mesa agreed to a moratorium on enforcing the ordinance -- which prohibits anyone from actively soliciting work in public streets -- until the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rules on another case challenging a similar ordinance.

In exchange, the ACLU, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund will temporarily hold off pursuing their recently filed lawsuit that alleges Costa Mesa’s ordinance is unconstitutional.

The Daily Pilot has the details here.

-- Mona Shadia in Orange County

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday against Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley and other Los Angeles County officials, ordering them not to discipline or discriminate against prosecutors for belonging to the union that represents hundreds of local deputy district attorneys.

The order, issued by U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II, came in a lawsuit filed by the Assn. of Deputy District Attorneys alleging that Cooley and others demoted, transferred and gave mediocre performance reviews to prosecutors as part of an anti-union campaign.

County lawyers disputed the claims, saying the union was using the lawsuit to get the upper hand in contract negotiations.

But Wright concluded the union would likely win its case, saying evidence established retaliation against union members “that is both striking and rampant.”

The judge wrote that the county did not dispute allegations that Cooley instructed one prosecutor to “undermine” or interfere with the union and that the prosecutor was demoted when he refused. 

When prolific Israeli burglar Na’aman Diller died of cancer in 2003, he left his widow a collection of more than 100 priceless artifacts of decidedly questionable origin.

They included rare clocks, manuscripts, paintings and an item billed as “the world’s most expensive watch”: a gold and rock crystal pocket watch made for French Queen Marie Antoinette in the 18th century.

All the items had allegedly been stolen during a storied heist at Jerusalem’s L.A. Mayer Museum of Islamic Art back in 1983. But that didn’t stop Diller’s widow, Nili Shamrat, 64, of Tarzana, from trying to sell the treasures back to the art museum no questions asked, authorities said.

Her effort to sell the booty put in motion a lengthy international investigation that ended a few weeks ago when Shamrat was sentenced to five years of probation and 300 hours of community service for receiving the property. 

A Whittier Pop Warner football coach who allegedly sexually molested two boys on his team was charged Tuesday with nine felony counts in Los Angeles County Superior Court, authorities said.

Paul Anthony Ayala, 42, was charged with one felony count of oral copulation of a child under 10 and eight felony counts of sexual molestation of a child under 14, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said.

One victim was allegedly molested in 2008 and the other was molested last year, the district attorney's office said. Both victims were 10 at the time of the alleged attacks.

Police were notified last week after one of the alleged victims told family members what had happened, according to the district attorney's office.

-- Robert J. Lopez

A Santa Ana jury Tuesday voted for the death penalty for a 46-year-old woman convicted of murdering a Westminster fortuneteller and her daughter, a crime prosecutors said was motivated by a bad fortune.

Tanya Nelson, 46, of North Carolina was found guilty last month in the 2005 stabbings of fortuneteller Ha Jade Smith, 52, and her daughter, Anita Vo, 23.

If the judge agrees with the jury's recommendation at a formal sentencing later this month, Nelson would become the second woman to receive the death penalty in Orange County history.

Smith and Vo were found stabbed and covered in white paint in their home in April 2005. Credit cards, jewelry and cash were also taken from the home.

Five weeks later, police arrested Nelson in Orange County, after she had assumed the identities of the victims and spent more than $3,000 in a shopping spree at South Coast Plaza.

The prosecution relied on the testimony of Phillipe Zamora, who pleaded guilty last year to two counts of first-degree murder in the case and could be sentenced to 50 years to life.

Zamora testified that Nelson ordered him to stab Smith and that he panicked after seeing Nelson attack Vo.

-- My-Thuan Tran

Los Angeles police said Tuesday that detectives were investigating an alleged sexual assault at Narbonne High School in Harbor City.

The incident involved a 17-year-old male student and a 15-year-old female student, the Los Angeles Police Department said. The alleged assault happened Tuesday shortly after 10 a.m. while classes were in session.

"So far, the investigation has shown the encounter to be an isolated incident between two individuals and not part of a trend or serial related," the LAPD said in a news release.

The male was taken into custody on suspicion of sexual assault, police said. The investigation was ongoing.

-- Robert J. Lopez

An Orange County jury Tuesday ruled against the mother of a Texas girl who contended Botox injections killed her 7-year-old daughter.

The verdict came in what is believed to be the first case to come to trial alleging the botulinum toxin-based drug contributed to a death. At question was the safety of the blockbuster cosmetic drug in the higher dosages used to treat children with cerebral palsy.

Dee Spears, of Amarillo, Texas, had alleged her daughter Kristen died as a result of receiving large doses intended to reduce limb spasticity.

Allergan Inc., the Irvine-based manufacturer, said in a statement that “the jury’s conclusion supports the evidence that Botox played no role in the passing of Kristen Spears."

“The evidence presented in this case and acknowledged by the jury showed that Kristen died as a direct result of the progression of her condition, and that any symptoms or issues affecting Kristen’s health were present before Kristen first received treatment with Botox,” the statement read.

Botox, best known as a face-lift-in-a-syringe, can relax contorted muscles and sometimes help young patients walk without surgery. Kristen Spears began getting Botox injections at the age of 6 to calm spasms in her legs. The girl died on Nov. 24, 2007, at the age of 7.

Jaime Escalante spent a career helping youths learn math. His exploits teaching calculus at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles were immortalized in the film "Stand and Deliver."

Now, the 79-year-old former teacher is suffering from advanced stages of cancer, and his friends and supporters are seeking to help the family pay medical bills while Escalante undergoes treatment at a center in Reno, Nev.

"He probably has changed the course of the way we view inner-city children of color with his commitment to helping them understand mathematics," said actor Edward James Olmos, who portrayed Escalante in the 1988 feature film. "Mathematics is a great equalizer. It's a universal language."

Olmos said Tuesday that Escalante may have only a few weeks to live and that his family can no longer afford to cover the treatment costs at a holistic cancer center in Reno. Escalante is suffering from bladder cancer that has spread to other parts of his body, according to Olmos.

To help pay for medical costs, which are totaling several thousand dollars a day, cast members from "Stand and Deliver" and other supporters will hold a fundraising event Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. outside of Garfield High. Olmos said he plans to be there in the afternoon.

Born in Bolivia, Escalante came to Los Angeles in the early 1960s and later was hired to teach math at Garfield. He helped transform the school's calculus program into one of the top public high school programs in the nation.

In 1999, Escalante moved back to Bolivia to teach math. He returned to the U.S. about four months ago to seek treatment.

 Olmos, who posted a call for help on his website, said he paid for Escalante and some of his family to return to the United States. Escalante's wife is still in Bolivia and is hoping to make her way to Reno.

"They're really in trouble," Olmos said of the family's financial situation. "They need help."

-- Robert J. Lopez

Photo: Jaime Escalante with members of the Garfield High band during a 1998 event to celebrate his inclusion into the Latino Walk of Fame. Credit: Bob Chamberlin/Los Angeles Times.