PRODUCT MAY HAVE CAUSED FIREWORKS BLAST: The operator of a Southern California fireworks show that sprayed the crowd and injured more than three dozen people says a product malfunction appears to be the cause of the "catastrophic failure." Pyrotechnic operator Bruce Sussin said Monday that they immediately pulled the plug on the July 4 show when the problem occurred at a park in Simi Valley northwest of Los Angeles. Sussin says fire inspectors checked the site before the show by Bethpage, N.Y.-based Bay Fireworks and everything was fine. Sussin says he later heard that other operators reported similar problems with some fireworks. He declined to say which ones or who made them. The American Pyrotechnics Association says there were no immediate reports of widespread problems with a particular firework product over the holiday.
MARS ROVER CURIOSITY BEGINS ROAD TRIP: LOS ANGELES (AP) — Martian mountain, here Curiosity comes.
The NASA rover has officially kicked off its long-delayed road trip to Mount Sharp, a trek that involves rolling over rocky landscapes. Since July Fourth, the six-wheel rover has driven 190 feet to the southwest, leaving behind the spot where it spent the past seven months performing science experiments. From this point on, the team is in a "drive, drive, drive mentality," mission deputy scientist Ashwin Vasavada said Monday. The journey, expected to last nine months to a year with stops, will take Curiosity through unfamiliar terrain. With the help of images taken from space, mission managers plotted a path that was mostly straight with not a lot of boulders, steep slopes and other potential obstacles.
MISSING PLANE FOUND: YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK (AP) — A plane reported missing over Yosemite National Park in December has been located along with its pilot. Park officials say a visitor spotted the largely intact plane on Saturday in rugged high country in the park. Rangers hiked to the location the next day and found the plane and the pilot's body. The pilot has been identified as Nicol Wilson. Wilson was flying the single-engine plane from Santa Barbara to the Mammoth Lakes Airport in the eastern Sierra when he disappeared during a storm on December 17. Officials searched the high country, but suspended it for the winter when no trace of the plane could be found. Park officials had begun searching again as snow melted.
YAHOO SHUTS DOWN INTERNET RELIC ALTAVISTA: Once up on a time, there was a popular search engine called AltaVista. It lives no more. On Monday, its owner Yahoo Inc. sent AltaVista.com to the Internet graveyard to rest alongside order-almost-anything venture Kozmo.com and the butler from Ask Jeeves. Palo Alto-based AltaVista was introduced in 1995, three years before Google Inc. was founded. Eclipsed by Google in the early 2000s, AltaVista's star had already faded by the time Yahoo acquired it as part of its $1.7 billion purchase of Overture Services Inc. in July 2003.
WILDFIRE THREATENS CABINS: JULIAN (AP) — Fire crews are making slow progress against a 4-square-mile wildfire threatening dozens of vacation homes in the Southern California desert. The 2,500-acre blaze in the Anza-Borrego area of San Diego County is just 20 percent contained Monday. State fire spokesman Mike Mohler says the blaze, which began Saturday afternoon, forced about 30 people from campgrounds in the Cleveland National Forest and from rural homes. He says the blaze threatens 120 buildings but most are unoccupied vacation cabins.
RARE JELLYFISH MAY HAVE MADE LAGUNA BEACH DEBUT: A rare jellyfish may have made a stinging debut at a Southern California beach. The Orange County Register says some people suffered stings all over their bodies last week at Thousand Steps Beach in south Laguna Beach. Some Fourth of July swimmers came ashore with dark membranes clinging to their bodies as the jellyfish broke up in the surf. From the color, the jellyfish may be rare black jellies. Nigela Hillgarth of Birch Aquarium says the species was only identified in 1999 and it's only recently appeared in Southern California. Black jelly tentacles can grow to 30 feet long.
SAN DIEGO MULLS HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT: The San Diego County Water Authority said Monday that the San Onofre nuclear power plant's closing underscores the need to decide whether it makes sense to move forward on a project that has been discussed for years. Pumps at San Vicente Reservoir would generate up to 500 megawatts of electricity, or enough to supply about 325,000 homes. Construction would be completed in five years.
POLICE WILL RECORD 'CURB-SITTING' STOPS: SAN JOSE (AP) — Police in San Jose will record the race of every person they stop and question on the street under a new policy that supporters say could finally determine whether officers are racially profiling. The San Jose Mercury News says police by year's end will be following a new policy that requires them to record detailed information about so-called "curb sitting" detentions — whether or not an arrest is made. Such information has long been required when officers stop people in cars.