ROSEVILLE MOM PLEADS NO CONTEST IN DAUGHTER DEATH: ROSEVILLE (AP) — A Northern California woman has pleaded no contest in the death of her 2-year-old daughter last year.
Sentencing was set for October after Denise McGrath Wilder entered the plea to two counts of felony child abuse and one count of child neglect.
The Roseville mom was rearrested in June 2012 in the death of her daughter, McKinley, after authorities said an autopsy showed the girl died from malnutrition and alcohol poisoning.
Prosecutors said Wilder was the only adult present when emergency responders arrived at her ex-husband's house and found the toddler dead in April of that year. Wilder was allegedly intoxicated.
HATE CRIME ALLEGED IN FRESNO SIKH BEATING CASE: FRESNO (AP) — Prosecutors say the beating of an 82-year-old Sikh man outside a Fresno Sikh temple was a hate crime.
The Fresno County district attorney said Thursday that a hate crime charge was added to the case against 29-year-old Gilbert Garcia Jr.
Garcia pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and elder abuse earlier this month.
Investigators say Garcia attacked Piara Singh with a pipe outside the Nanaksar Sikh Temple. Singh was hospitalized with head wounds, broken bones and ribs.
Civil rights groups say Sikh men — who wear beards and turbans as part of their faith — are sometimes mistaken for Muslims and targeted in bias-motivated attacks.
REFINERY EVACUATES 1,000 DURING OUTAGE : TORRANCE (AP) — All it took was a wayward metallic balloon to temporarily shutter a California refinery on Thursday, forcing the evacuation of about 1,000 workers and tripping an automated emergency system that sent huge flares and billows of dark smoke from smokestacks, authorities said.
The ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance momentarily lost power about 9:20 a.m. after a Mylar balloon blew into power lines and caused a short circuit, fire Capt. Steve Deuel said.
The resulting dip in power tripped restart systems and prompted a large burn-off of products at the refinery, Deuel said. No injuries were reported.
