CALIFORNIA TOBACCO TAX SUPPORTERS CALL FOR RECOUNT: SACRAMENTO (AP) — Tobacco tax supporters want a recount of ballots in parts of Los Angeles County to see if California's barely-defeated Proposition 29 might swing the other way.
Unofficial ballot results show the $1-per-pack cigarette tax initiative to fund cancer research lost in June by fewer than 30,000 votes out of more than 5 million cast statewide.
San Francisco surgeon John Maa, a member of the American Heart Association, requested a recount Monday.
He asked the California secretary of state's office to recount 190 precincts in the Los Angeles County areas of Sherman Oaks and North Hollywood. Those precincts accounted for about 48,000 votes cast June 5.
Los Angeles registrar Dean Logan says the recount begins Monday with an electronic tally before a manual count at midweek.
SURFING GOATS RIDE WAVES IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: SAN ONOFRE STATE BEACH (AP) — Two goats named Goatee and Pismo are wowing California beachgoers with their surfing skills.
The goats' owner, Dana McGregor, says he taught his goats to surf because he loves to ride the waves and thought they would like it, too.
The goats stood on surfboards and cruised along the water Wednesday at San Onofre State Beach, as bystanders watched in amazement.
Goatee, a nanny goat, and her billy goat, Pismo, even rode waves together. But after a few rides, Goatee swam to shore.
McGregor says he got Goatee originally to eat unwanted plants on his property.
He began taking the goat to the beach with him, eventually putting her on a surfboard.
McGregor says he started putting Pismo on a board shortly after he was born in March.
DISABILITY CARE PROVIDER CHARGED WITH BIAS: SACRAMENTO (AP) — A nonprofit California disability care provider is being sued for rejecting a job applicant because she's disabled.
The U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Sacramento saying Vallejo's Pace Solano violated the same disabled-rights laws that it promotes with its services.
Pace Solano provides day care and other services for 387 developmentally challenged adults in Solano County.
The San Francisco Chronicle (http://bit.ly/Mp0C8l) says Katrina Holly was offered a teaching job after a 2009 interview. She passed a physical exam and told the examiner that her left hand was partially paralyzed.
The commission says Pace Solano withdrew the job offer, saying her injury makes her a liability.
A Pace Solano lawyer disputes allegations in the suit, saying Holly was rejected for safety reasons.
CALIFORNIA PAIN DOCTOR DUPED BY DOG X-RAY IN STING: GLENDORA (AP) — Investigators say a Southern California doctor saw enough from an X-ray to prescribe pain killers to an undercover cop but missed the tail showing it was an image of a dog.
Police and Los Angeles County deputies on Thursday raided the Glendora urgent care clinic of 69-year-old Dr. Rolando Lodevico Atiga after a two-month investigation that included three undercover deputies posing as patients.
One of the undercover deputies showed Atiga an X-ray to prove she needed pain killers. The scan of her German shepherd clearly shows the dog's tail.
Atiga examined the X-ray and asked if she wanted Vicodin, oxycodone, Valium or Xanax.
Glendora police Capt. Timothy Staab says Atiga is well known among drug addicts and was considered the doctor to go to.
MAN SHOT, KILLED WHILE HOLDING THE BIBLE: SALINAS, Calif. (AP) — Salinas Police have identified a man who was shot and killed while holding a Bible on his way home from church.
Officer Miguel Cabrera said 25-year-old Jonathan Perea Hernandez of Salinas was pronounced dead at the scene he was shot multiple times in his upper torso Wednesday night.
Police say two others also were wounded.
Cabrera says a 17-year-old boy is hospitalized with serious injuries after also being shot multiple times in his torso and a 20-year-old man shot in the leg is expected to recover from his wound.
Cabrera said the victims were each holding Bibles when they were approached by another group of males in dark-colored clothing and randomly shot at them.
8,000 WEAPONS SEIZED FROM CRIMINALS DESTROYED: LOS ANGELES (AP) — More than 8,000 weapons taken from criminals in Los Angeles County have been melted down at a steel mill and turned into construction rebar rods.
Sheriff Lee Baca says the weapons seized weapons are taken each year to Gerdau Steel Mill in Rancho Cucamonga.
The weapons were collected by 20 law enforcement agencies in the county.
City News Service says the rebar will be used in freeway and bridge upgrades in California, Arizona and Nevada.
SOME ARRESTS AS LA POLICE BREAK UP PROTEST: LOS ANGELES (AP) — A free-speech protest turned into a bottle-throwing clash with police that injured four officers and ended with 20 arrests, authorities said Friday.
The confrontation occurred Thursday night during Art Walk, a monthly event that encourages people to visit galleries, bars and restaurants in a revitalized downtown area.
Protesters said they were demonstrating against the recent arrests of some people for chalking on sidewalks.
"We were handing out free chalk for freedom of speech," Cheryl Aichele, 34, of the group Occupy L.A. told the Los Angeles Times.
The demonstrators were ordered to disperse shortly before 10 p.m. after they began writing on the sidewalks and buildings with chalk, Officer Norma Eisenman said.
Some messages chalked at the intersection of Spring and 5th streets included "May the youth rise" and "End the Fed," the Times reported.
Instead of dispersing, police said some protesters began hurling cans and glass bottles. Three officers were treated for minor injuries but a policewoman received a mild concussion when she was struck in the helmet, Eisenman said.
GOVERNOR SIGNS LAW RAISING COCKFIGHTING FINES: SACRAMENTO (AP) — The fine for staging a cockfight will double in California under a law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown.
The governor announced Friday that he signed SB1145 by Hemet Republican Sen. Bill Emmerson. The bill raises the fine for anyone convicted of cockfighting from a maximum of $5,000 to $10,000.
