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NEWS FROM ACROSS CALIFORNIA
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• SAILOR’S BODY FOUND IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The body of a sailor whose boat sank near the Golden Gate Bridge was recovered Tuesday, officials said.

The Marin County Sheriff’s Office identified the sailor as Andrew Henry Ewing, 31, of Sacramento.

Ewing had set course for the Philippines just hours before the U.S. Coast Guard received a distress signal, officials said.

The lone passenger on a 30-foot sailboat named the Alma, Ewing set out from a dock in Alameda on Sunday.

Early Monday, the Coast Guard received an alert from the sailboat that sank off the rocks near the Golden Gate Bridge and prompted a search.

Deputies said Ewing’s body washed ashore on the southwest side of Angel Island, where a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter crew spotted him Tuesday.

 

• CHP SAYS 1 DRIVER DELIBERATELY CAUSED DOUBLE FATAL: LAKESIDE  (AP) — Authorities in San Diego County say a wrong-way freeway driver deliberately crashed head-on into a car, killing herself and the other driver.

California Highway Patrol Officer Kevin Pearlstein tells KNSD-TV that 29-year-old Trista Lynn Stier drove her car the wrong way up an off-ramp on State Route 67 in Lakeside Friday, colliding with a Select Electric utility truck driven by 50-year-old Douglas M. Menegos of Alpine.

Menegos’ father-in-law says he can’t understand such a senseless act and his family is searching for answers.

The San Diego County medical examiner’s office says based on statements from Stier’s family, officers believe she was suicidal at the time of the crash and caused it on purpose. Her cause of death was listed as suicide.

Menegos was married and the father of two.

 

• ABANDONED CAMP HAS COST ORANGE COUNTY $1.5 MILLION: SANTA ANA  (AP) — A youth detention camp in the Cleveland National Forest has cost Orange County $1.5 million since it was closed in 2009. There are still 15 years left on the lease.

The county is negotiating to break the lease with the U.S. Forest Service, but in the meantime, security and maintenance bills have to be paid.

Supervisor Todd Spitzer tells The Orange County Register the board needs to get the property off the books but the federal government is dragging its feet.

The county negotiated its first lease in 1970 and last renegotiated in 2008. One year later the economic downturn forced the county to shut it down, releasing or moving 150 students.

 

• SMALL QUAKES OCCUR NEAR SAN SIMEON: SAN SIMEON  (AP) — Two small back-to-back temblors have occurred under Central Coast mountains near San Simeon.

The U.S. Geological Survey website says a magnitude-3.7 tremor occurred at 1:53 a.m. Tuesday seven miles northeast of San Simeon. It was followed within seconds by a magnitude-3.5 quake centered less than a mile northeast of San Simeon.

The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office did not receive any reports of damage or injury.

The scenic pastoral region is about 230 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

 

• THIEF WHO STOLE 9 URNS GETS 25 YEARS: MERCED  (AP) — A 55-year-old man found guilty of stealing nine urns filled with human remains from a Central California funeral home has been sentenced to nearly 25 years in prison.

Merced police say Marc Reid dumped the ashes of 11 people into the trash and sold the ground up metal as scrap to buy meth.

In May, a jury found Reid guilty of 11 felonies for unlawfully removing human remains. Some urns contained married couples.

Reid’s 68-year-old get-away driver, Richard Madsen, pleaded guilty for a five-year sentence and testified against Reid. He asked the families for forgiveness.

Reid’s attorney Tom Pfeiff tells the Merced Sun-Star that his client maintains his innocence and plans to appeal.

The victims’ relatives say Madsen’s apology means little because they’ve never recovered their loved ones’ ashes.

 

• SACRAMENTO TRANSIT INCREASING RAIL SECURITY: SACRAMENTO (AP) — Sacramento Regional Transit plans to increase security presence on light-rail commuter trains during nights and weekends.

The Sacramento Bee Tuesday that the move is in response to feedback from rail riders who don’t feel safe during those hours. The concern arose after two unusual shootings aboard trains this year.

Sacramento Police Lt. Norm Leong, who oversees Regional Transit Police Services, says a security guard will be on every light-rail train running after 6:30 p.m., and two more guards will work each light-rail line as backup for the guards aboard trains.

Currently, four two-man teams are spread out over as many as eight trains.

 

• SMALL TRUCK DRIVEN INTO RESTAURANT, NO INJURIES: RIVERSIDE  (AP) — Police say an elderly woman driving a small pickup hit the accelerator instead of the brake and crashed the truck into a Denny’s restaurant in Riverside.

Lt. Guy Toussant tells The Riverside Press-Enterprise the crash happened about 5 p.m. Monday.

He says the woman’s husband was a passenger in the truck and was shaken but not hurt. No one inside the restaurant was hurt.

Toussant says the truck got about halfway inside the building and knocked down part of a Denny’s sign.

The lieutenant says no one was cited or arrested.

The restaurant did have to close for a while.

 

• UNION STATION IN FOR A BIG TIME MAKEOVER: LOS ANGELES (AP) — Union Station in downtown Los Angeles is due for a major makeover.

The Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority is proposing improvements that will add 3.25 million square feet of new development space and a subterranean concourse. But the price is yet to be determined.

Officials predict the number of travelers using Union Station between now and 2040 will double from 70,000 to 140,000. That also assumes the construction of the bullet train between Los Angeles and San Francisco goes on.

Metro officials tell the Los Angeles Times include a hotel, office towers, residences, retail shops, cafes and snack bar. A small, existing parking lot will be replaced with a civic center.