UNION SAYS IT WON'T COUNT RALEY'S CONTRACT VOTES: WEST SACRAMENTO (AP) — A tentative contract agreement between a Northern California supermarket chain and its workers has hit a snag.
The Sacramento Bee reports (http://bit.ly/U6PRPg) that the union representing Raley's workers said Monday it won't count the results of contract-ratification votes until grievances are resolved.
United Food and Commercial Workers Local 8 President Jacques Loveall said Raley's has violated the strike settlement agreement.
He did not elaborate. But the president of another local, Ron Lind, told members that Raley's had implemented some of the terms of the tentative contract even though it had not been ratified by union members.
Raley's spokesman John Segale said both parties agreed to binding arbitration for any dispute, and the union should file a grievance rather than impound the ballots.
The tentative agreement was reached last month. It ended a nine-day strike at West Sacramento-based Raley's stores.
SHOPLIFTING MOM FLEES MACY'S, LEAVES KIDS BEHIND: VISALIA . (AP) — Investigators say a California mother left her two young daughters behind at a Macy's department store when employees caught the woman shoplifting.
The 28-year-old woman ran from the store and was found hiding in a car in the Visalia Mall parking lot. Her name hasn't been released.
Visalia police say the woman was in Macy's on Sunday night with her 1-year-old and 2-year-old daughters and two adult friends when she was spotted shoplifting.
Employees tried to stop the woman but she broke away, leaving the youngest daughter in a stroller and the older girl behind.
STUDENT, 18, ARRESTED IN BOMB THREAT: HUNTINGTON BEACH . (AP) — An 18-year-old Southern California high school student has been charged with reporting a false bomb threat after police say he left a note on his teacher's desk warning of an explosive.
Orange County prosecutors said Tuesday that Christopher Michael Casey threatened to detonate a bomb at Huntington Beach High School on Dec. 14, the same day as the shooting at a Connecticut elementary school.
The note was found by a secretary, who called police.
US MOVES TO DROP CASE AGAINST ANTI-GANG LEADER: LOS ANGELES (AP) — Federal prosecutors moved Tuesday to drop a racketeering and conspiracy case against a prominent anti-gang figure in Los Angeles because of flaws in a grand jury indictment.
However, authorities said they would later present the allegations to another grand jury and seek to reinstate the case.
The motion filed by the U.S. attorney's office asked for dismissal of a 2009 indictment against Alex Sanchez, executive director of the anti-gang organization Homies Unidos.
A onetime member of the brutal Mara Salvatrucha "MS-13" gang, Sanchez eventually disavowed gang life and became one of Los Angeles' best known interventionists who work to steer youth away from violence.
At the time of the indictment, law enforcement officials contended Sanchez was leading a double life as an active leader of a faction of the MS-13 and had ordered a killing.
BROTHERS SENTENCED IN MURDERS OF 2 TEENS: FRESNO (AP) — Two teenage brothers convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the Fresno shooting deaths of two other teens have been ordered to serve time in prison.
A Fresno County judge on Monday sentenced 19-year-old Jarrad Beard to 34 years in prison and his 16-year-old brother, Jerry Beard, to 10 years.
The sentencing of the brothers comes after a jury in November found Jarrad Beard guilty of voluntary manslaughter for the shooting deaths last December of 18-year-old Justin Hesketh and 16-year-old Brandon Moore. Jerry Beard was only convicted in Hesketh's death.
During the trial, prosecutors told the jury that the shooting was sparked by a confrontation that started when Hesketh and Moore exchanged dirty looks with the Beard brothers at a crosswalk.
