TEEN REMOVED AFTER TWEETING FROM POLLING PLACE: WESTMINSTER (AP) — A teenage poll worker who was tweeting obscenities and taking photos of voters was removed from an Orange County polling place on election day.
The Los Angeles Times reports the girl complained on Twitter that many voters at the Westminster polling station didn’t speak English. One of her tweets was followed by four emoticons of guns.
At one point she tweeted a photo of voters and threatened to throw a table.
Registrar Neal Kelley tells the Times that the worker, identified by election officials as a minor, was removed.
Kelley says workers are trained to know that that kind of behavior is unacceptable.
TWITTER PROPOSING SKY BRIDGE IN SAN FRANCISCO: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Twitter wants to build a sky bridge to connect the two buildings that make up its San Francisco headquarters.
The social networking company says a bridge would save employees time as they move from one building to the other. Workers currently have to go down an elevator, out of one building and into the other, and then up an elevator again to reach the correct floor.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports (http://bit.ly/1E5BqPz) that the proposal is awaiting review by city officials.
City supervisors approved a tax break three years ago to lure Twitter to the city’s blighted mid-Market neighborhood. It exempts the company from a payroll tax on new hires
RIVERSIDE COUNTY PIT BULL TEARS OFF TODDLER’S EAR: JURUPA VALLEY (AP) — Riverside County animal control officials say a toddler’s ear was torn off by his family’s pit bull.
The Department of Animal Services says the boy about 1 ½ years old was at his home in Jurupa Valley Wednesday with his grandmother who believed he was sleeping when he ended up alone in the backyard with the dog. The grandmother heard screaming and found that the boy’s left ear had been torn off.
The boy’s mother signed papers authorizing the county to euthanize the 2-year-old licensed and neutered pit bull named Poncho.
The dog showed no aggression toward the officer who took him into custody and the mother says the dog had given the family no previous problems.
MAN CHARGED OVER LOS ANGELES GRIFFITH PARK BEATING: LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles man who allegedly beat a homeless man with a rock at Griffith Park, leaving him in a coma, has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder.
Prosecutors say 54-year-old Tyrone Isumu of Encino entered the plea Wednesday and could face a life sentence if convicted.
He remains jailed.
Police Detective Gina Franco says Isumu and the 39-year-old victim met at a liquor store on Monday and went to some brush off a Griffith Park trail to take drugs, where they got into an argument.
Authorities say Isumu beat the man with a rock and a steel trash bin, causing serious injuries to his face and body. Prosecutors say the man has paralysis and is comatose.
However, Franco says he’s expected to recover. His name hasn’t been released.
LOS ANGELES MOVES TO CURB ‘MANSIONIZATION’: LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles officials have moved to temporarily curb demolitions in neighborhoods where residents complain about so-called “mansionization” — the practice of knocking down older homes and replacing them with much bigger ones.
The Los Angeles Times reports the City Council voted Tuesday to impose temporary restrictions in 14 neighborhoods including Miracle Mile, Valley Village and North Beverly Grove.
Planning officials say the rules will halt the problem in mansionization hot spots while the city works on tightening rules citywide — a process expected to take a year-and-a-half.
As builders buy smaller homes, raze them and replace them with mansion-like houses, homeowners complain it’s destroying the feel of established neighborhoods, depressing prices and reigniting bitter fence fights.
SCIENTISTS FIND NEW CORAL SPECIES OFF CALIFORNIA: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Scientists have discovered a new species of deep-sea coral in underwater canyons off the Northern California coast, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Wednesday.
A NOAA research team using small submersibles found the coral in September near national marine sanctuaries off the coast of Sonoma County, the agency said.
The coral from the genus Leptogorgia was discovered about 600 feet deep in the first intensive exploration of underwater canyons near the Gulf of Farallones and Cordell Bank national marine sanctuaries.
Collecting data on the 4-inch-long white and red coral will help scientists determine the ecological importance of deep sea communities in the area and the threats they face, said the Farallones sanctuary’s superintendent, Maria Brown.
“Deep-sea corals and sponges provide valuable refuge for fish and other marina life,” Brown said. “Effective management of these ecosystems requires science-based information on their condition.”
