OC COLLEGE SAFETY OFFICER FIRED OVER HITLER PHOTO: LOS ANGELES (AP) — A public safety officer at two Orange County campuses has lost one of his jobs after being accused of posting pro-Nazi and racist photos on social media.
The Los Angeles Times reports (31-year-old Carlos Vazquez was fired from his position at Golden West College in Huntington Beach. He was put on administrative leave from his post at the University of California, Irvine.
The newspaper says the controversial photos were posted on Instagram under Vazquez's handle "clos_vaz." The photos included a shot of Adolf Hitler with children and a caption that read, "I love how attentive my kids are when it comes to real WW2 history."
KCBS-TV reports there were also several photos of African Americans with racially insensitive comments.
Asked by KCBS if he was a Nazi sympathizer, Vazquez said he had no comment.
ARREST MADE IN 1990 DEATH OF S. CALIFORNIA BABY: SAN BERNARDINO (AP) — Southern California authorities have arrested a woman on suspicion of killing a 5-month-old baby nearly a quarter of a century ago.
Forty-nine-year-old Chris Tilghman of Riverside was arrested last week and remains jailed Tuesday on suspicion of murder.
Tilghman is suspected of killing Cole Terpack, who died at a hospital in August of 1990. Paramedics called to a San Bernardino home found the child unconscious and not breathing. Authorities say the infant was starved and had numerous broken bones.
The case went cold but it was revisited this year by cold-case investigators from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.
Authorities won't say what led them to Tilghman but they say she wasn't related to the baby.
FEDS CALLED IN INQUIRY OF CA ARSON ATTEMPT: DAVIS (AP) — Police in a Northern California university town are calling on federal authorities to help investigate an attempted arson that they say appears to have been intended to maim and kill people in and around an off-campus fraternity house.
Davis Police Assistant Chief Darren Pytel says Kappa Sigma fraternity members at the University of California Davis detected the strong odor of natural gas at about 1 a.m. Sunday along with evidence that someone had tried to light the fumes. Pytel says someone appeared to be trying to cause an explosion.
The fraternity house is in a neighborhood densely packed with multi-family apartments.
Davis police have contacted the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and are working with the university fire and police departments.
HOMEOWNERS SUE COUNTY OVER SINKING HOMES: LAKEPORT . (AP) — Residents of a Northern California subdivision where homes are sinking into a hilltop have filed a lawsuit against the county.
The lawsuit — filed Friday— alleges that a leaking public water system is to blame for the damage to the Lake County subdivision.
County officials have said a landscape irrigation system operated by the homeowners association may be to blame for the wet ground.
The subdivision is in the city of Lakeport and overlooks Clear Lake. Numerous homes have been destroyed or threatened by the sinking earth.
Lakeport is about 120 miles north of San Francisco.
MAN FATALLY JUMPS OR FALLS FROM HELICOPTER OFF CALIF COAST: NEWPORT BEACH (AP) — Authorities say a man has jumped or fallen to his death from a helicopter off the Orange County coast and his death is being investigated as a possible suicide.
Ian Gregor of the Federal Aviation Administration says the man was the only passenger in a helicopter flying about 500 feet above Newport Beach on Tuesday afternoon when he opened the door and went out.
He landed near the Balboa Pier.
Newport Beach police say the 60-year-old was pulled from the water but he died at a hospital.
SUTTER TO PAY $46M TO SETTLE ANESTHESIA CASE: SACRAMENTO (AP) — One of the state's largest hospital chains has agreed to pay $46 million to settle allegations that its method for billing for anesthesia services was false and misleading.
Sutter Health's decision to pay comes as a trial was scheduled to start this month.
The agreement stems from a complaint originally filed in 2009, the San Francisco Chronicle reported (http://bit.ly/1b3z5aB).
In addition to paying the fine, Sutter has agreed to make changes to its billing procedures. Those changes include billing for anesthesia on a flat-fee basis rather than on time and more clearly disclosing its anesthesia charges and services to its patients, insurers and other payers.
"This settlement represents a groundbreaking step in opening up hospital billing to public scrutiny," Dave Jones, commissioner of the state Department of Insurance, said.
Sutter officials insisted the chain had followed the appropriate billing regulations and protocols. The Sacramento-based company operates more than 20 hospitals in Northern California.
The $46 million will be divided among the plaintiffs' lawyers, the whistle-blower and the state general fund, Sutter officials said.
