CALIFORNIA WILDFIRE
Firefighters say Castaic fire grows to 250 acres
FRAZIER PARK, Calif. (AP) - Firefighters in Southern California say a brush fire that briefly threatened an elementary school in a rural community has grown to 250 acres as it churns through thicker brush.
The fire started in Castaic (kas-TAY'-ihk) around 1:30 p.m. Friday. Firefighters in the air and on the ground were able to douse the flames closest to Northlake Hills Elementary School.
Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Scott Miller says the school had a great defensible space around it, so it was easy to protect.
Miller says the fire is still quite a distance from 19 homes on Elk Ridge Road and Vista Point Place. He says residents have been asked to voluntarily leave their homes as a precaution.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
HERBAL DOCTOR FRAUD
Calif. doc with 'cancer cure' gets 14 years prison
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A California doctor has been sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for bilking her patients out of more than $1 million by promising that an herbal supplement could cure late-stage cancer and other diseases.
U.S. District Judge Robert Timlin sentenced 58-year-old Christine Daniel on Friday. He also ordered her to pay about $1.3 million.
Daniel was found guilty of 11 counts, including wire fraud, tax evasion and witness tampering.
Authorities say Daniel enticed patients to take her herbal product.
She also charged them as much as $100,000 for a six-month treatment program that she claimed could cure cancer, diabetes and multiple sclerosis.
Some of her patients, however, died from complications of cancer within three to six months after taking the supplement.
OJ SIMPSON
OJ's ex-lawyer contradicts his testimony on guns
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Testimony has concluded in a Las Vegas court hearing on O.J. Simpson's bid for a retrial of the armed robbery and kidnapping case that led to a conviction and a prison sentence of 9 to 33 years.
Clark County District Court Judge Linda Maria Bell told attorneys late Friday afternoon she will give them her decision as soon as possible, but she did not specify a day.
The 5-day hearing on the former football star's bid for a new trial focused on testimony by Simpson's main trial lawyer, Yale Galanter, who defended the way he represented Simpson.
Galanter contradicted significant testimony by Simpson earlier this week. Among key points, Galanter said Simpson did know that two buddies had guns when he confronted two sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2007.
BODY FOUND
Body found in remote OC ID'd as missing woman
ORANGE, Calif. (AP) - Police in Orange County say a body found in a remote part of Orange County is a 36-year-old former Army sergeant who has been missing for two weeks, and her former roommate has been arrested.
Orange police said at a news conference Friday that the body found in a canyon late Thursday night has been identified as Maribel Ramos.
Police say the investigation has shifted from a missing persons case to a murder probe, and Ramos's former roommate K.C. Joy has been arrested.
POLICE LOBBY SHOOTING
Silent man with knife killed in Alhambra PD lobby
ALHAMBRA, Calif. (AP) - A man investigators say was carrying a large knife and a backpack has been shot and killed by officers in the lobby of the Alhambra Police Department.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lt. Dave Coleman says the man was repeatedly asked before the fatal confrontation if he needed help or needed to see someone.
Coleman says the man never replied, or even acknowledged the questions, prompting officers in the lobby to call for backup.
He says three officers fired their weapons.
No one else was hurt, and the man's name has not been released.
Sheriff's homicide detectives are helping Alhambra police investigate the incident.
Alhambra is about 5 miles east of Los Angeles.
ATTORNEY GENERAL-GUNS
Calif. AG meets with new task force on guns
LOS ANGELES (AP) - California Attorney General Kamala Harris has met with a new statewide taskforce of district attorneys to study ways to reduce gun violence and enforce existing law.
Harris discussed the task force at a Friday news conference held after her first two-hour meeting with 11 district attorneys and Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck.
She pointed to a nearby table of weapons seized from people she said should not own weapons because of mental health issues or their criminal history.
She says the state has a backlog of about 20,000 such people.
Harris says she hopes to work with the district attorneys to eliminate that backlog over the next three years.
That program recently received an infusion of $24 million, which was approved by the state Legislature to rejuvenate its efforts.
NURSING HOME ASSAULT
Officials report assault at Calif. nursing home
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) - Authorities in Central California are investigating an alleged sexual assault at a Bakersfield nursing home.
The Bakersfield Californian reports that the Kern County District Attorney's office is reviewing a police report submitted Friday detailing the alleged assault at the Rehabilitation Center.
Bakersfield Police Sgt. Joe Grubbs said a staff member at the facility reported Tuesday witnessing an adult male patient assaulting an adult female patient.
The names or ages of the patients have not been released.
OBIT-VENTURI
Venturi, US Open champion and CBS analyst, dies
Former U.S. Open champion Ken Venturi has died just 12 days after he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. He was 82.
His son, Matt Venturi, says he died Friday afternoon in a hospital in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Venturi had been hospitalized the last two months for a spinal infection, pneumonia and an intestinal infection.
Venturi was all about overcoming the odds. He won the 1964 U.S. Open at Congressional despite playing with severe dehydration. He overcame a stuttering problem as a kid in San Francisco to spend 35 years in the broadcast booth with CBS Sports. He also was the Presidents Cup captain in 2000.
Venturi was inducted into the Hall of Fame on May 6.
CRYSTAL CATHEDRAL-NAME CHANGE
Crystal Cathedral church gets new name
ORANGE, Calif. (AP) - The church once known as California's Crystal Cathedral has been renamed Shepherd's Grove.
The church is moving next month to St. Callistus Catholic Church in Orange. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange bought its famous building, which contains some 10,000 glass panes, in bankruptcy proceedings last year.
The Orange County Register reports the new name was voted on by the congregation at a service last weekend. The church will keep Crystal Cathedral Ministries as its corporate name.
The new name is a nod to the early history of Orange, which was known for its orange and walnut groves. It also refers to Jesus as the Christians' shepherd.
The Crystal Cathedral building is being renamed Christ Cathedral.
The Rev. Robert Schuller built the glass-paned cathedral to house his television ministry.
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