By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Nation news briefs
Placeholder Image

 

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — A young male gray wolf that wandered hundreds of miles across Oregon and eventually crossed into California as he searched for a mate has apparently been photographed for the first time.
The black-and-white photo shows a wolf sniffing the ground in a stand of dense forest. It is likely the animal known as OR-7, said Roblyn Schneider Brown, an Oregon state biologist.
The photo was taken Nov. 14 by an automatic trail camera set up by a hunter tracking blacktail deer on public land east of Butte Falls. Brown said the wolf in the photo appeared to be wearing a tracking collar, and GPS data showed that OR-7 was in the same area of the Cascades in southern Oregon around that time.
Santa Monica chases
 away van for elderly
SANTA MONICA (AP) — A transport van used to shuttle elderly residents of an assisted-living facility has been chased away by a Santa Monica law designed to keep recreational vehicles off the streets at night.
The Sunrise Senior Living van has parked overnight outside the 15th Street center for eight years without a problem.
But a decades-old ordinance is now being enforced.
Since late November, eight $64 tickets have cited the van for being more than 20 feet long on the roadway.
The van is now being parked four miles away at a Sunrise location in Playa Vista.
When the van arrives each day, the elderly residents now have to walk to a nearby driveway for loading.
Muslim county worker
files discrimination suit
SACRAMENTO  (AP) — A Muslim employee of Sacramento County claims he has been a victim of religious and racial discrimination since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Abdur-Rahim Wasi, filed a lawsuit against his employer in Sacramento County Superior Court last year.
Wasi, who is African-American, alleges his co-workers at the Human Assistance Department called him numerous names associated with terrorism after he joined the agency in 2001. He says county managers failed to stop the harassment and in one case mocked his concern, according to the suit.
Wasi, who works as a case worker for the county department responsible for various welfare benefits, also claims the county failed to make reasonable accommodations to allow him to practice his Islamic faith.
In a complaint to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission two years ago, Wasi wrote he was "tired of being called Osama Bin Laden" and condemned the Sept. 11 attacks.
German man charged
in Los Angeles arsons
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A German man was charged Wednesday with 37 counts of arson in connection with a rash of fires that terrorized Los Angeles over the New Year's weekend.
Harry Burkhart, 24, was charged with 28 counts of arson of property and nine counts of arson of an inhabited structure, District Attorney Steve Cooley said.
Burkhart is suspected of setting more than 50 blazes that caused an estimated $3 million in damage. He has refused to cooperate with investigators since his arrest on Monday