MOTORIST FATALLY STABBED AFTER CRASHING INTO HOUSE: INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — A motorist being chased at high-speed by another driver has been stabbed to death after crashing into a Southern California house.
Inglewood police Lt. Gabriela Garcia says the driver of a station wagon lost control of the vehicle at about 2:41 p.m. Wednesday and slammed into the Inglewood house.
The station wagon was being chased by a car whose driver said he was chasing a thief.
KCBS says the drivers started fighting in the street and the driver who was chasing the alleged thief stabbed the man to death.
The suspect ran away, but police found him hiding behind a house a block away and he was arrested.
LANDLORDS COULD NOT ORDER PETS DECLAWED UNDER BILL: SACRAMENTO (AP) — Landlords could not require renters to declaw or devocalize their pets under a bill approved by the state Senate.
They also would be prohibited from rejecting tenants who refuse to have such surgery on their pets. They could not advertise in a way that discourages renters whose pets have claws or can bark.
Landlords who violate the restrictions would face civil fines up to $1,000 for each pet.
BILL TAKES AIM AT FAN VIOLENCE: SACRAMENTO (AP) — State lawmakers have passed a bill aimed at curbing fan violence at sporting events.
AB2464 would require professional sports stadiums and arenas to post a phone number for security in parking lots and the stands. The Assembly passed the bill 72-0 Thursday, sending it to the Senate.
Democratic Assemblyman Mike Gatto of Los Angeles said he wrote the legislation in response to a series of high profile incidents of stadium violence. Fans sometimes dial 911 when violence erupts, but the stadium's own security workers can respond more quickly.
The legislation originally called for the nation's first sports "ban list," but was watered down during committee hearings. The original bill sought to block unruly fans from attending professional games anywhere in the state for up to five years.
ANIMAL GROUPS SUE EGG PROCESSOR THAT LEFT 50K HENS RO DIE: TURLOCK (AP) — Three animal welfare sanctuaries are suing a Central California egg processor for abandoning more than 50,000 hens in their cages to starve.
The groups — Animal Place, Farm Sanctuary and Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary — rescued 4,500 of the birds that were found starving and dehydrated at A&L Poultry in February. The rest either died or were euthanized.
The suit filed Thursday in Stanislaus County Superior Court demands that owners Andy Keung Cheung and Lien Diep pay for their food and veterinary care.
Investigators say the hens had been left without food and water for two weeks when a neighbor complained.
Of the 4,500 rescued birds, 460 of them eventually died.
FAMILY SUES MORTUARY OVER SWITCHED BODIES: LOS ANGELES (AP) — A family is suing a mortuary over a body switch that resulted in a grandmother being buried in another woman's clothes in a California cemetery instead of an above-ground crypt in Nicaragua.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday by the 88-year-old woman's family seeks unspecified damages.
Mercedes Adilia Rodriguez died in 2010. The grandmother of 11 wanted a closed casket funeral and a final resting spot above-ground in Nicaragua rather than the chilly earth of a cemetery.
Rodriguez was put in an open casket wearing another woman's clothes and she was buried in the Whittier cemetery. She was exhumed days later and sent to Nicaragua. Crop damage in SJ Valley from storm tops $79M
HUGE MARILYN MONROE STATUE ARRIVES IN PALM SPRINGS: PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) — A massive statue of Marilyn Monroe has arrived in the desert resort city of Palm Springs.
The 26-foot-tall, 34,000-pound statue arrived Monday morning.
Chamber of Commerce CEO Nona Watson says the statue of the "Some Like it Hot" star is still being assembled.
The sculpture depicts Monroe trying to push down her skirts as they're billowing in the wind from her memorable scene in the "Seven Year Itch."
The statue was created by 80-year-old artist Seward Johnson, an heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune.
The artwork was previously in Chicago, and it took about a week and $40,000 to transport the statue.
SJ VALLEY CROP DAMAGE AT $79M: FRESNO (AP) — San Joaquin Valley's crop damage estimate from a hail storm last month has reached more than $79 million.
Kings County — among the hardest hit areas of the region — recently increased its damage estimate from $20 million to $25 million. Officials there have requested a disaster declaration from the state and U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Elsewhere in the Valley, Fresno County reported $26 million in crop damage from the storm and Tulare and Madera counties each topped $13 million.
KERN CO. TO PAY $1M FOR TAKING CHILD FROM COUPLE: BAKERSFIELD (AP) — Kern County will pay $1 million to a couple whose son was taken away by authorities after a food allergy dispute with his school.
Officials reached the lawsuit settlement Tuesday with Darlene and Larry McCue.
The couple's 7-year-old son was taken by Child Protective Services in 2008 after the family clashed with the South Fork Union School District over the lack of non-peanut options for their son.
CPS claimed the family was endangering the child by having him undergo unnecessary medical procedures.
After the boy spent four months in foster care, a judge found no evidence to support the allegations.
County counsel Mark Nations says CPS is working on a new policy that would require social workers to get a warrant before removing children, unless they're in imminent danger.
