• ORANGE COUNTY WOMAN SELECTED AS MISS CALIFORNIA: FRESNO (AP) — A 22-year-old Orange County woman will represent California at the Miss America competition in January.

Leah Cecil of Garden Grove was named Miss California Saturday night in Fresno. She came into Saturday’s competition as Miss Southern California Regional.

Cecil, a graduate of Cal State Fullerton, plans to get a Master’s Degree in business and wants to teach music at the college level.

The first runner up was Miss South Counties, 20-year-old Crystal Lee of San Francisco.



• THOMAS KINKADE’S WIFE, GIRLFRIEND HEAD TO COURT: SAN JOSE (AP) — Thomas Kinkade’s widow and girlfriend face off in court on Monday as hearings begin over who will be executor of the late artist’s $66.3 million estate.

Amy Pinto-Walsh, who was living with Kinkade and found his body when the 54-year-old died in April, has submitted handwritten notes she says bequeath her his mansion in Monte Sereno and $10 million to establish a museum of his paintings there.

Kinkade’s wife of 30 years, Nanette Kinkade, disputes the claims by Pinto-Walsh and seeks full control of the estate. The couple had been legally separated for more than two years when Kinkade died.

Nanette Kinkade’s lawyers have requested that the probate proceedings be conducted behind closed doors. A ruling on that point is pending.

Kinkade, known as the Painter of Light, accidentally overdosed on alcohol and Valium.



• 3 metro areas to get new patent, trademark office: DENVER (AP) — Good news for Denver — the federal government is expected to announce Monday that metro Denver is one of three places receiving a new U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The other two metropolitan areas chosen are Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, and San Jose, Calif. The offices will be open by 2014.



• OAKLAND TEEN FACING CHARGES FOR PUNCHING GIRL: SAN LEANDRO, (AP) — A 17-year-old Oakland boy is facing charges after police say he punched a teenage girl in the face at a Bay Area Rapid Transit station.

BART police say officers were called to the Bayfair station in San Leandro around 7 p.m. Saturday when about 70 teens gathered in a bus zone area near the station and a fight broke out.

BART police Lt. John Conneely told the Contra Costa Times that after punching the girl, the teen ran from officers, with one of the officers deploying his Taser stun gun.

Conneely says the boy was not shocked by the Taser because he was only hit by one probe from the device.

The teen was taken into custody after jumping over a fence and trying to hide in pickup truck.

Police say the video camera captured images of the boy punching the girl.



• CALIFORNIA TRUCKER CHARGED AFTER GWB STOP IN NJ: FORT LEE, N.J. (AP) — The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says its police caught a California truck driver who allegedly wrapped his license plates with duct tape in a bid to evade tolls.

Port Authority spokesman All Della Fave says 28-year-old Ashwin Kumar of Pittsburgh, Calif., faces theft of services and tampering with public records charges after being stopped early Sunday on the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee.

Della Fave said Port Authority Officer George Kwiecinski was in a building when he first noticed Kumar’s truck. Kwiecinski initially thought the truck was disabled, but then realized Kumar was wrapping duct tape around his plates.

Kwiecinski then drove after the truck, stopping it shortly after it went through a toll plaza.