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State news briefs
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CLERK'S WALLET STOPS BULLET DURING ROBBER STRUGGLE: MODESTO  (AP) — A Modesto convenience store clerk's wallet has stopped a bullet during a struggle with an armed robber.

The Modesto Standiford Minit Mart employee was only bruised by the gunfire.

Three men, one of them armed, entered the convenience store on Wednesday night and demanded money.

Officer Scott Nelson said that the clerk was getting money out of the cash register when the armed robber fired a round.

The clerk then struggled with the gunman and another shot was fired and the bullet lodged in the clerk's wallet in his left pant pocket.

Police arrested 18-year-old Richard Westover and 21-year-old Samuel Leon Lunda, who were booked for investigation of attempted murder, robbery and conspiracy.

MISSING MORGAN HILL TEEN MAY HAVE WORN SHIRT IN TOSSED BAG: MORGAN HILL  (AP) — Authorities say a Northern California girl who went missing last week may have been wearing the clothes that were later found in a bag tossed near an intersection.

Santa Clara County sheriff's investigators found a neatly folded San Jose Sharks jersey and a pair of pants inside Sierra LaMar's bag on Sunday.

Officials said Friday that the 15-year-old appears to be wearing the jersey in a photo she tweeted on the morning she disappeared. But they say the photo doesn't show enough of the shirt to be sure it's the one in the purse.

Sierra hasn't been seen or heard from since she left for school on March 16.

FBI agents were stopping drivers Friday morning near her Morgan Hill home to ask if they noticed anything unusual the morning of her disappearance.

NEIGHBORS' DISPUTE OVER DOG TURNS DEADLY IN FRESNO: FRESNO  (AP) — A long-running dispute over a Fresno's man dog has turned fatal. Police say a neighbor who was irate about the animal getting into his yard shot and killed the dog's owner before turning the gun on himself as officers moved in to arrest him.

The Fresno Bee reports that 59-year-old Frank Cardoza was shot three times outside his condominium Thursday night just after he and the suspected gunman, 74-year-old Dan Andersen, had gotten into a fistfight over Cardoza's collie.

Andersen shot himself in his car near a Fresno restaurant an hour later as police tried to block in his vehicle.

Police Chief Jerry Dyer says the two neighbors had been arguing about the dog for about five years, but that officers had never been called to mediate the situation.

JURY CONVICTS MAN FOR KILLING WOMAN FOR HER LAPTOP: LONG BEACH  (AP) — A Southern California man has been convicted for the gunshot killing of a woman so he could to steal her laptop computer.

Prosecutors say 34-year-old Michael Lee Bonfiglio and two co-defendants wanted the woman's laptop because she was using it to commit identity theft and they wanted to use the stolen credit account numbers.

Thursday's first-degree murder verdict included a special circumstance allegation that the killing occurred during a robbery. The Whittier man was also convicted of conspiracy to commit a crime and second-degree robbery.

FORMER HOUSE CANDIDATE'S CONVICTION UPHELD: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal appeals court says a mailer sent out by the campaign of a California congressional candidate threatening immigrant voters groups constituted voter intimidation.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal on Friday turned down Tan Nguyen's request to toss out a search warrant underpinning his obstruction conviction. Nguyen was sentenced last year to a year in prison for lying about a mailer sent to Latino voters in 2006 warning that immigrants could not vote.

Nguyen denied scant knowledge of the letter. But investigators using a search warrant turned up emails between Nguyen and campaign staffer disclosing a much deeper understanding of the letter than the candidate told investigators.

Incumbent Lorreta Sanchez beat Nguyen by nearly 24 percentage points to earn her sixth term representing the central Orange County district.

MAN CLINGING TO BOAT IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY RESCUED: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A tugboat operator and U.S. Coast Guard personnel have rescued a man whose boat overturned in San Francisco Bay.

Petty Officer Edward Stachel said  the tugboat operator spotted the man clinging to the capsized 15-foot vessel near a San Francisco pier Thursday evening.

Stachel said the man was wearing a life vest. No one else was aboard the boat.

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TORI SPELLING ANNOUNCES SHE'S PREGNANT _ AGAIN: NEW YORK (AP) — Hopefully she didn't pack away her maternity clothes. Reality TV star, actress and author Tori Spelling is pregnant again.

Spelling and her husband, Dean McDermott, have three children together, including a daughter, Hattie, born in October. They have another daughter, Stella, and a son, Liam. McDermott also has a son from a previous marriage.

The 38-year-old Spelling made the announcement on her website Friday by saying: "Baby makes 6!" and her family is "beyond thrilled" to announce "another little McDermott is on the way!"