THOUSANDS OF POT PLANTS SEIZED IN TULARE COUNTY: TULARE (AP) — Authorities in the Central Valley have seized more than 8,500 pot plants that would have produced marijuana with a street value in excess of $25 million.
The seizure on Monday took place near the small community of Badger in Tulare County. Sheriff's officials say the crop was discovered during a routine flight over the area.
The grow site included a drip irrigation system. Sheriff's detectives also discovered firearms, rat poison, fertilizer and insecticides.
$1M IN GRANTS FOR LA YOUTH FROM OLYMPICS SURPLUS: LOS ANGELES (AP) — Surplus funds from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games continues to pay for grants for 28 youth sports programs in Southern California.
The LA84 Foundation says it has awarded more than $1 million this year to support programs, and has given more than $200 million since its inception.
Foundation president Anita DeFrantz says the funds are more important than ever as kids are faced with fewer options to stay active and fit.
Nearly $500,000 of this year's awards went to the Beyond the Bell branch of LA schools to support free, year-round after school sports programs at all 95 middle schools in the district.
About $125,000 went to a running group called Students Run LA and more than $50,000 went to the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center for swimming lessons.
2 MEN DRESSED AS WOMEN CHARGED IN CREDIT CARD SCAM: MANHATTAN BEACH (AP) — Two men have been arrested in Manhattan Beach after authorities say they posed as women to steal thousands of dollars in goods from stores through a credit card fraud scheme.
Cornell Jackson of Lakewood and Marquet Dorsey of Rialto were arrested earlier this month and charged with fraud. They remain jailed Wednesday.
Authorities say the men, each of whom weighs 200 pounds and stands over 6 feet tall, wore makeup and women's clothing as they walked into Southern California stores to buy goods using phony or empty prepaid credit cards.
Police say one man would buy items. When his credit card was declined, the other man allegedly would pose on the phone as a credit card company employee and authorize the transaction.
COMEDIAN JERRY LEWIS HOSPITALIZED FOR BLOOD SUGAR: LOS ANGELES (AP) — A publicist for Jerry Lewis says the comedian is OK after being hospitalized in New York overnight.
The 86-year-old Lewis had a health scare Tuesday night just before he was scheduled to receive an award and present another to Tom Cruise at the Friars Club Entertainment Icon Awards.
Publicist Candi Cazau in Las Vegas says colleagues have told her Lewis is fine. She says he is very busy and simply forgot to eat or drink and his blood sugar level took a dive.
She says she doesn't know if he collapsed, but he became weak and was taken to the hospital as a precaution.
Besides the Friars event, Cazau says Lewis is beginning three weeks of directing rehearsals for a new musical based on Lewis' 1963 film "The Nutty Professor."
MAN CHARGED WITH DUI DEATHS OF 3 OTHER MARINES: SANTA ANA (AP) — Prosecutors say a 25-year-old man stationed at California's Camp Pendleton has been charged with the drunken-driving deaths of three of his fellow Marines.
An Orange County district attorney's statement says Jared Ray Hale was charged Wednesday with three felony counts of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.
Hale remains in a medical rehabilitation facility for his injuries. An arraignment date will be determined later.
Prosecutors say on Feb. 13, Hale went a Dana point bar with Christopher Arzola of Massachusetts, Jeremiah Callahan of Nebraska and Jason Chleborad of South Dakota, all Marines from Pendleton.
After three hours the men got into Hale's sedan, and as he rounded a corner he lost control and hit a tree, killing his three passengers.
Police said Hale's blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit.
SACRAMENTO SAILOR OK AFTER RESCUE OFF MEXICO: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard says a 66-year-old Sacramento man is OK after he was rescued from his sinking sailboat off the coast of Mexico.
A Coast Guard spokeswoman says Max Young was sailing alone about 40 miles west of La Playa, Mexico when his 50-foot sailboat was hit by a whale late Tuesday.
The impact from the collision with the whale knocked out sailboat's steering and started flooding the boat.
Young, described by the Coast Guard as a "seasoned sailor," activated an emergency beacon that was picked up by the Coast Guard in its Alameda, Calif. command center.
The Coast Guard directed a merchant ship, which was about 60 miles away, to rescue Young.
When the ship arrived around 4 a.m. Wednesday, Young was able to scramble off his sinking boat by a rope ladder thrown down by the crew of the merchant ship.
JURY FINDS EX-POLICE OFFICER GUILTY OF RAPE: RANCHO CUCAMONGA (AP) — A former police detective who blamed the antidepressant Zoloft for his behavior was found guilty Wednesday of kidnapping and raping a waitress at gunpoint in a brutal attack.
A San Bernardino County jury will now have to determine whether Anthony Nicholas Orban was sane at the time of the attack.
Orban's attorney argued during trial that his client suffered a psychotic break because he was taking Zoloft and was effectively unconscious when he kidnapped the woman in the Ontario Mills mall parking lot in San Bernardino County.
Prosecutors say the off-duty officer used his service weapon to force the woman to drive to a self-storage lot, where he sexually assaulted her and shoved a gun in her mouth on April 3, 2010. The woman escaped when Orban was distracted by an incoming cellphone call, prosecutors said.
Orban, a 32-year-old who served in the Marines in Iraq, had pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity to eight counts, including kidnap and rape. Defense attorney James Blatt said the crux of the case is not the elements of the crime but whether his client was aware of what he was doing.
