• ARTIFACT STOLEN FROM OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA: OAKLAND  (AP) — Officials say what they’re describing as a “valuable artifact” has been stolen in a break-in from the Oakland Museum of California.

Museum spokeswoman Kelly Koski said that a California Gold Rush era quartz and gold box with ornamentation depicting early California was taken from a museum display Monday morning.

Koski did not disclose the worth of the box, and would not say if other items were stolen.

Authorities did not provide details about how the museum — which is closed on Mondays — was broken into.

The museum was also broken into in November, with other valuable historic artifacts, including pieces of gold, being stolen.



• CALIF. DISTRICT APPROVES LANDMARK CHARTER OPERATOR: ADELANTO . (AP) — A Mojave Desert school district has unanimously approved the new operator of the nation’s first school to be converted to a charter by parent demand.

The Adelanto Elementary school board Tuesday night voted 4-0 to approve LaVerne Elementary Preparatory Academy to take over Desert Trails Elementary School in September.

The approval marks the end of a nearly two-year battle by the Desert Trails Parents Union to use California’s so-called “parent trigger” law. The landmark legislation allows parents to force radical change at a failing school through a petition. It has inspired similar laws in about six other states.

Teachers and administrators largely opposed the parents group, saying reforms were under way at Desert Trails.

The parents group had to obtain two court orders compelling the district to accept the petition.



• PARENTS SUE OVER LA-AREA TEEN’S SCHOOL SUICIDE: GLENDALE  (AP) — The parents of a 15-year-old student who leapt to his death at Crescenta Valley High School north of Los Angeles are suing the school district alleging they turned a blind eye to bullying that brought on their son’s death.

Drew Ferraro’s parents, John and Deana, filed the lawsuit last month claiming the teen was picked on for his small size, demeanor, style and attitude toward girls.

The Ferraros say school officials didn’t attempt to create a safer learning environment for their son.

Glendale Unified Superintendent Dick Sheehan says he can’t comment on pending litigation.

At the time of the death, Sheriff’s Lt. John Corina told reporters there wasn’t evidence of bullying and said the teen gave a different reason for his suicide.



• 71-YEAR-OLD SACRAMENTO ATTORNEY SENTENCED TO JAIL: SACRAMENTO  (AP) — Prosecutors say a 71-year-old Sacramento attorney has been sentenced to jail for misappropriating funds and over his fee collection practices.

After pleading no contest to grand theft and to three misdemeanor counts of collecting illegal upfront fees for loan modification services, Frank Ferris was also ordered Tuesday to pay more than $72,000 in restitution and serve five years of probation.

Prosecutors say while representing a client in a civil case, Ferris collected $10,000 intended for a settlement and instead took the money for personal use.

Additionally, prosecutors say Ferris failed to return $50,000 he received from another client and instead wrote that client non-sufficient-fund checks.

In a separate matter, Ferris also collected illegal upfront payments for mortgage modification services before services were performed.



• NED WERTIMER, DOORMAN ON ‘JEFFERSONS,’ DIES AT 89: LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ned Wertimer, who played Ralph the Doorman on all 11 seasons of the CBS sitcom “The Jeffersons,” has died.

Wertimer’s manager Brad Lemack said Tuesday that the 89-year-old actor died at a Los Angeles-area nursing home on Jan. 2, following a November fall at his home in Burbank.

A native of Buffalo, N.Y., and a Navy pilot during World War II, Wertimer had one-off roles on dozens of TV shows from the early 1960s through the late 1980s, including “Car 54 Where Are You?” and “Mary Tyler Moore.”

But he was best known by far as Ralph Hart, the uniformed, mustachioed doorman at the luxury apartment building on “The Jeffersons,” the “All In the Family” spinoff that ran from 1975 to 1985.

The show’s star, Sherman Hemsley, died July 24.



• CALIF. HIGH COURT WON’T LET SCOUTS CONCEAL FILES: LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Boy Scouts of America must release two decades of files detailing sexual abuse allegations after the California Supreme Court refused the organization’s bid to keep the records confidential.

A Santa Barbara County court ruled last year that the files must be turned over to attorneys representing a former Scout who claims a leader molested him in 2007, when he was 13. That leader later was convicted of felony child endangerment.

Last week, the state Supreme Court rejected an appeal from the Boy Scouts to halt the files’ release.

The former Scout’s lawsuit claims the files, which date to 1991 and involve allegations from across the nation, will expose a “culture of hidden sexual abuse” that the Scouts had concealed.

The Boys Scouts of America has denied the allegations and argued that the files should remain confidential to protect the privacy of child victims and of people who were wrongly accused.