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Hundreds to clean, paint school as Paradise rebuilds
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uPARADISE  (AP) — Hundreds of students, families and community volunteers will plant trees, clean and paint inspirational murals in Paradise High School as the Northern California town slowly starts to rebuild after a devastating wildfire.

Comcast says dozens of its employees will join Paradise High School students, their relatives and local officials Saturday to beautify the high school’s campus ahead of the June 6 graduation ceremony, the first since a blaze decimated the town.

The Nov. 8 blaze was the deadliest U.S. wildfire in a century, killing 85 people and destroying nearly 14,000 homes and numerous businesses in Paradise and nearby communities.

Paradise High School was mostly spared but due to safety hazards, classes were moved to Chico.

Officials say at least one family has broken ground on a new home and seven others have permits to start rebuilding.


uLOS ANGELES COUNTY IDENTIFIES ADDITIONAL CASE OF MEASLES: LOS ANGELES (AP) — The number of cases of measles among Los Angeles County residents this year has risen to seven.

The county Department of Public Health said Thursday a new confirmed case is linked to an outbreak of four cases reported last month and is not associated with the University of California, Los Angeles, or California State University, Los Angeles.

Both universities recently had quarantines for students staff who may have been exposed to measles.

Health officials say they have not identified any public exposure locations associated with the new case.

In addition to the cases involving county residents, there have been five cases among non-residents who traveled through the county.

Authorities are urging people to get immunized and to learn symptoms of the extremely contagious illness.


uREPORT: CALIFORNIA PRISON STAFF DIDN’T DELIBERATELY MISLEAD: SACRAMENTO  (AP) — A federal judge’s special investigator says California prison officials provided misleading data on inmate mental health care. But he has found no intent they did so deliberately.

Former U.S. Attorney Charles Stevens concluded in the report released Friday that there is no need for U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller to hold a hearing on whether state officials committed fraud on the court.

However, Stevens substantiated many of the allegations contained in a 161-page whistleblower report last year by Dr. Michael Golding, the prison system’s chief psychiatrist.

Attorney Michael Bien, who represents mentally ill inmates in the long-running class action lawsuit, says the report shows the judge and other court officials can’t trust the state’s data no matter if it was unintentionally false.


uWOMAN IMPERSONATING NANNY ARRESTED IN BAY AREA: KENSINGTON  (AP) — Police in Northern California say a woman with a criminal background accused of impersonating a nanny to rob young, affluent families in the San Francisco Bay Area has been arrested.

Darlene Monticalvo was arrested Thursday after Emeryville police learned that she had allegedly assumed the identity of another woman and was being considered for employment by two San Francisco families.

Emeryville police say the two families contacted police after realizing that the 60-year-old Monticalvo was an impostor.

They say Monticalvo is known for running nanny schemes in the past and that they were able to identify her from surveillance from one of the family’s homes.

Police say she has 22 prior convictions and is wanted by the Oakland Police Department for several felonies, including injury to a two-month-old child.

 

uSTANDOFF ENDS WITH DEATH OF MAN IN APPARENT MURDER-SUICIDE: SOMERSET  (AP) — Authorities in Northern California say a standoff at a home in El Dorado County ended with deputies locating man dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and a deceased woman.

The Sacramento Bee reports the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office has identified the shooter as Ulrich Smith and his victim as 58-year-old Janet Trigg.

The office says deputies surrounded the home Thursday after receiving calls from a woman who said she believed her daughter had been shot by Smith.

Deputies confirmed the homicide suspect was still inside the home and negotiations began about 4:30 p.m. An hour later, sheriff deputies heard a single gunshot.

Officials say deputies found the bodies of Smith and Trigg inside the home.

 

uVINCE VAUGHN CONVICTED OF RECKLESS DRIVING FOR DUI ARREST: LOS ANGELES (AP) — Actor Vince Vaughn has been convicted of reckless driving after his arrest for failing a drunken driving test last year.

An attorney for the 49-year-old “Wedding Crashers” star entered a no contest plea to the misdemeanor count Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Vaughn was arrested June 10 at a sobriety checkpoint in the upscale community of Manhattan Beach.

Police say he repeatedly refused to get out of his car and then failed a field sobriety test and a blood alcohol test.

Vaughn was sentenced to three years of unsupervised probation and ordered to complete a three-month alcohol program. He has been advised that if he drives drunk and kills someone he could be charged with murder.

Vaughn’s attorney Blair Berk declined comment after the hearing.