AMMO STORE SIGNS REMOVED AT HIGH SCHOOL: SHINGLE SPRINGS (AP) — A Northern California school district has ordered removal of an ammunition store sign on a campus football stadium scoreboard.
El Dorado Union High School District officials decided the Ammo Depot sign on the Ponderosa High School scoreboard was inappropriate.
The family-run Ammo Depot store opened in Rancho Cordova last year and a contract was signed with the Shingle Springs school a short time later. Ammo Deport doesn't sell guns.
The Ammo Depot sent a letter to district officers stating that it might pursue breach of contract lawsuit.
Shooting sports are popular in Shingle Springs, which is about 35 miles north of Sacramento.
MAN CRASHES BMW, SEVERS FOOT; GETS DUI ARREST: LIVERMORE (AP) — A man lost his foot after police say he stuck his leg out the door of his moving BMW, and then was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.
John Buna, 31, severed his foot at the ankle Wednesday after hitting it on a cinder block during a reckless drive in a Livermore parking lot.
A woman with Buna said she exited his two-door BMW because she was frightened of his driving, police said.
Buna stuck his foot out of the driver's side door as if he was exiting the car, but instead accelerated suddenly, crushing the foot between the car and block.
Police said Buna parked his car and the woman called for help.
Police are still waiting for Buna's blood alcohol results.
NO MAKE-UP SHOW FOR SAN DIEGO FIREWORKS FIZZLE: SAN DIEGO (AP) — Organizers of a San Diego fireworks display that went up in a flash on July 4 won't do a make-up show.
Instead, they'll use $125,000 worth of free fireworks to enhance next year's "Big Bay Boom."
Garden State Fireworks offered the freebies after a computer glitch caused all 7,000 of its pyrotechnics for this year's show to go off at once. Instead of a quarter-hour, the popular waterfront show lasted 20 seconds.
In an email Thursday, organizer Sandy Purton said that even with free fireworks, the show costs up to $250,000 to put on and it made no sense to try raising that much in donations twice in one year.
Instead, Purton says organizers will try to make the next Fourth of July show even bigger.
CHICO RESIDENTS GIVE $500 FOR LOST DOG'S AIRFARE: CHICO (AP) — A lost dog that ended up in a Northern California animal shelter after traveling half-way across the country with a homeless man will soon be heading home to Colorado.
The Chico Animal Shelter had raised $500 as of Friday after it asked the community a day earlier for donations towards an airline ticket would reunite Sara Bella with her family in Aurora.
Manager Tracy Mohr tells the newspaper that the man who dropped the Queensland mix off at the shelter reported finding her at a truck stop in Kansas and taking her with him out west.
With the help of a microchip inserted under the dog's skin, staff members learned she was registered to a family in Colorado and that she had escaped while in the care of another relative in Kansas.
PHONY DRUG AGENTS HANDCUFF GROWER, STEAL MARIJUANA: HILMAR (AP) — Merced County authorities are searching for four suspects who posed as narcotics investigators to steal marijuana from a man growing plants for medicinal purposes.
Sheriff's officials say the suspects arrived at the Hilmar home Thursday evening and told the owner they needed to check on his marijuana plants to make sure he was complying with state law.
Officials say the suspects then pulled out a handgun, handcuffed the owner and harvested about 20 mature plants from his marijuana garden before driving away in two vehicles. Before they left, they uncuffed the man and told him not to report the robbery.
Authorities say the men were dressed in shorts and T-shirts — without anything that identified them as law enforcement officials.
SPIKE IN GONORRHEA CASES IN SHASTA COUNTY: REDDING (AP) — Officials in a northern California county are urging residents to get tested for gonorrhea following a spike in new cases.
Some 81 gonorrhea cases were reported in Shasta County this year. Official say that's four times higher than the average rates for recent years.
The county website directs infected people to a link that allows them to send former partners anonymous online greeting cards warning them to get tested.
Health official Dave Maron says cases are often reported by people having sex without condoms or with multiple partners. Maron says sexually transmitted diseases travel fast in small communities like Shasta County, which has less than 200,000 people.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says gonorrhea can cause infertility and fatal infections.
FRESNO FOSTER MOM TO FACE TRIAL IN BABY'S DEATH: FRESNO (AP) — A Fresno judge has ordered a trial in the case of a foster mother accused of killing her newborn foster daughter.
Fresno County Superior Court Judge Gregory Fain ruled Thursday that Jovannee Reynolds must stand trial for shaking 1-month-old Mikayla Tabin to death in September 2010.
The 25-year-old Reynolds faces charges of murder and assault. She is also charged with abusing a 3-year-old boy in her care.
Her attorney Martin Teleisnik says the baby's injury could be the result of freak trauma that occurred during birth or an assault by her foster brother.
Reynolds could face up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted. She's due in court Sept. 12 for a pre-trial briefing.
HOSPITAL CHAIN PAYING $16M TO SETTLE KICKBACK CASE: LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles-based hospital chain charged with Medicare and Medi-Cal fraud has agreed to pay $16 million to settle a criminal kickback case.
The Los Angeles Times (lat.ms/NNIo34) Pacific Health Corp. hospitals were charged paying recruiters to find homeless patients who would receive unnecessary services that were billed to Medicare and Medi-Cal.
Federal prosecutors say criminal conspiracy charges filed Thursday will be dropped if Pacific Health pays $16.5 million by March 2017 and meets other conditions.
Pacific Health provided payroll services to three hospitals that allegedly paid more than $2 million in kickbacks to two patient recruiters and submitted $16 million in improper Medicare and Medi-Cal claims during a six-year period ending in 2008.
