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Associated Press - September 2, 2010 2:34 PM ET

Brown recruits Hispanic activists to gov campaign

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown is seeking to shore up support among Hispanic voters as he prepares for a competitive fall campaign.

Brown has dismissed a midsummer poll that showed his candidacy struggling among Hispanic voters. On Thursday, he surrounded himself with Hispanic lawmakers and community activists at Laney College in Oakland.

A Field Poll taken in July shows the attorney general had the support of 50% of Hispanic voters while Republican candidate Meg Whitman had support from 39%, a strong showing for a GOP candidate.

Pollsters say Hispanics usually favor Democratic candidates 3 to 1 over Republicans.

Asked if he was worried about the support of Hispanic voters, Brown says he's simply trying to reach out to all voters.

Accused SoCal con man facing life for third strike

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A man accused of bilking South Los Angeles people out of their homes in a foreclosure scam is facing a potential life sentence in a rare use of California's three-strikes law for a white-collar crime.

Timothy Barnett was arrested in April and he's pleaded not guilty to 23 felonies. His lawyer says he's done nothing wrong.

Barnett has two 1997 convictions for burglary stemming from fraud schemes in which he met the victims at their homes.

Los Angeles County prosecutors say he's an incorrigible criminal who deserves to get 25 years to life if he's convicted of a third felony.

But critics say the 1994 three-strikes law was designed to put away repeatedly violent and serious offenders, not con men.

Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com

Man accused of bomb threat at Lambert Airport

ST. LOUIS (AP) - A St. Louis-area man is facing charges for allegedly threatening to carry a bomb onto a plane at Lambert Airport.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that 35-year-old Dorian Mequel Williams pleaded not guilty Thursday in federal court. Williams did not have a listed phone number. His attorney was out of the office and did not return a message seeking comment.

Prosecutors and investigators say Williams threatened to carry a bomb onto a Continental Airlines flight on Jan. 15. He was indicted March 31 but the indictment was sealed until his arrest in Santa Monica, Calif., last month.

Court documents show that Williams was arrested in Santa Monica after punching a police officer in the face. The officer used a Taser to subdue Williams.

Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com

Prosecutors: 8 juveniles accused in fatal shooting of Sacramento girl to be charged as adults

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Prosecutors say eight juveniles accused in the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old Sacramento girl will be charged as adults with murder.

A total of 12 people were arrested in the Jan. 3 killing of Aliyah Smith.

Police say Smith had gotten into a fight with a member of the group at a party, so the group sought revenge later in the night.

Armed with two guns, the group allegedly fire shots into the house where Smith was hiding. The bullet pierced a wall and struck the girl in the head.

Prosecutors filed a criminal complaint naming 18-year-olds Marcel Bullard Jr. and D'Andre Monroe as the shooters.

All 12 are expected to be arraigned Thursday on charges of murder and discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling. The defendants range in age from 15 to 19.

Information from: The Sacramento Bee, http://www.sacbee.com

Father expects Calif to deny claim over dead teen

SAN DIEGO (AP) - The father of a slain San Diego-area girl expects a board that considers compensation for California crime victims to reject his claim that authorities are responsible for his daughter's death.

The claim filed last week with the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board says 17-year-old Chelsea King would be alive today if authorities acted on repeated parole violations by John Gardner, her confessed killer.

Brent King, whose daughter was killed in February, said Thursday that he filed the claim to meet a six-month deadline. King says he is undecided whether he would sue the state or agree to mediation if his claim is denied.

The board last month rejected a similar claim by parents of another girl killed by Gardner.

Calif AG wants man back in prison for mom's death

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The California attorney general has asked a federal judge to reverse a ruling that overturned the murder conviction of a man who spent 26 years in prison for his mother's death.

The motion filed late Wednesday asks that Bruce Lisker be sent back to prison because he missed a filing deadline seeking release. The 45-year-old was freed in August 2009 after the judge ruled he was convicted with false evidence and didn't have adequate legal representation.

Lisker was sentenced to life in prison in stabbing of his 66-year-old mother, Dorka, in 1983 in her Sherman Oaks home.

State lawyers say Lisker should go back to prison because an appeals court recently ruled in another case that inmates should not be allowed to file late petitions even if they can prove their innocence.

Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com

Book says Nazi hunter Wiesenthal worked for Mossad

JERUSALEM (AP) - An Israeli historian alleges in a new book that renowned Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal worked for Israel's Mossad spy agency, providing information on war criminals and Germans working in Arab countries.

Tom Segev says in "Wiesenthal - The Life and Legends," that the Holocaust survivor began working with Israeli intelligence even before the establishment of the Mossad in 1949.

The book, which was released Thursday, says that in 1948 Wiesenthal participated in a failed attempt to capture top-Nazi Adolf Eichmann, who was later nabbed in Argentina and executed in Israel.

The founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, Rabbi Marvin Hier, said Wiesenthal had told him he had assisted the Mossad. But Hier said he never realized how formal the relationship had been or that Wiesenthal had been paid for it.

Small plane crashes near Sacramento, injuring 2

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Authorities say two people have been injured in the crash of a small, homemade airplane as it tried to land at a rural runway about 25 miles southeast of Sacramento.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford said the pilot was airlifted to a hospital with head injuries after the 9:45 a.m. Thursday crash. The lone passenger was taken by ambulance to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries.

Lunsford says the plane bounced several times while attempting to land at the privately owned Rancho Murieta Airport. The nose gear collapsed and the plane flipped on its roof.

The single-engine experimental KR-2 aircraft is registered out of Cameron Park, about 30 miles east of Sacramento.

Ex-aide at victim's Calif school has home searched

MORENO VALLEY, Calif. (AP) - A man living in a Riverside County home that was searched by detectives investigating a teenager's killing was a teacher's aide at the victim's school.

Authorities would not say if 25-year-old Lazarus Tasby was a suspect in the death of 17-year-old Norma Lopez in July.

They spent Tuesday at his family's Moreno Valley home and impounded a green SUV similar to one seen speeding away from the area where Lopez was abducted.

An attorney for Tasby's parents denied that anyone in the family is linked to the girl's kidnapping and death.

School records confirm Tasby worked with disabled students at Valley View High School from March 2007 to November 2009.

Court records show he was arrested Oct. 29 on suspicion of soliciting a prostitute. He pleaded not guilty and the case is pending.

Information from: The Press-Enterprise, http://www.pe.com

Study: 1 in 7 home kitchens would flunk inspection

ATLANTA (AP) - A new study suggests that at least one in seven home kitchens would flunk the kind of health inspection commonly administered to restaurants.

The small study done in Los Angeles County found that less than two-thirds of home kitchens would get an A or B if put through the rigors of a restaurant inspection. At least 14% would fail.

In comparison, 98% of restaurants in the county get A or B scores each year.

The study is believed to be 1 of the first to offer this kind of look at food safety in private homes.

Food poisoning outbreaks in restaurants often get the most attention. But experts believe most illnesses may stem from meals prepared at home.

DA: Man shot in Oakland over insults

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Prosecutors say an exchange of insults led to the shooting of a man in downtown Oakland.

Thirty-2-year-old Michael McCurty has been charged with murder in the death of 27-year-old Craig Ainsworth.

Alameda County Chief Deputy District Attorney Tom Rogers says the two men were trading insults around 9:20 p.m. on Aug. 23 when McCurty fired a shot into the ground and told Ainsworth to shut up.

Rogers said when Ainsworth continued to insult McCurty, McCurty shot him in the chest.

McCurty is being held without bail.

Ainsworth's death was among eight killings in Oakland during a 10-day period last month.

Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle

Damages awarded in alleged Vallejo attack

VALLEJO, Calif. (AP) - A Vallejo man who claimed he was punched and hit with pepper spray by supermarket security personnel has been awarded more than $54,000 in damages.

A jury ruled that 62-year-old Darrell Archer should receive $50,135 from the owner of Vallejo Food 4 Less, store managers Tomas Martinez and Dwight Woodard and former security officer Rudolpho Granados.

The jury also decided last week that Granados was liable for nearly $5,000 in punitive damages.

Archer said he was shopping with his son at the supermarket on Christmas Eve 2005 when Granados approached his son about the shoplifting of gloves.

Archer said he was attacked after intervening. No charges were filed against Archer or his son.

Sacramento attorney David Worthington, who represented all the defendants, did not return a call for comment.

Information from: Times-Herald, http://www.timesheraldonline.com

Joey Chestnut wins NV rib-eating competition

SPARKS, Nev. (AP) - Joey Chestnut has eaten his way to another rib-eating contest in Nevada.

The 26-year-old San Jose, Calif., man ate 8 pounds of pork ribs in 12 minutes to win the Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-off's eating competition on Wednesday night in Sparks.

America's No. 1 professional eater, Chestnut holds world records in rib, steak, asparagus, hot dog and hamburger eating.

His win was his fourth in five years in the Nugget's competition.

Pat Bertoletti of Chicago, who defeated Chestnut last year, finished second on Wednesday night by devouring 6.9 pounds of ribs.

Chestnut slid the meat off each bone with his hands and ate it in a ball, while Bertoletti bit off the bone each time.

Information from: Reno Gazette-Journal, http://www.rgj.com

Rapper T.I., wife arrested on drug charges

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Authorities say Grammy-winning rapper T.I. and his wife have been arrested on suspicion of possessing methamphetamines after sheriff's deputies stopped their car in West Hollywood and smelled marijuana smoke.

Deputy Diane Hecht said Thursday the 29-year-old rapper and Tameka Cottle were booked Wednesday night in Los Angeles County jail.

Deputy Luis Castro says the couple posted $10,000 bail each and were released from jail at about 4 a.m. Thursday.

T.I.'s publicist declined to comment.

The rapper is a multiplatinum hitmaker who also appears in the new movie "Takers."

He has history of drug offenses and was released in March after serving time on a federal weapons charge.

Antioch man convicted of molesting young girl

ANTIOCH, Calif. (AP) - An Antioch man is facing more than 200 years in prison after being convicted of molesting and taking pornographic pictures of a young female relative.

A jury on Monday found 54-year-old Kevin Mueller guilty of 8 felony counts of sex acts on a child and one count of possession of child pornography and producing child pornography.

Authorities say Mueller molested the girl starting when she was 5 through his arrest in 2008 when she was 9. Mueller was previously convicted of child molestation in Nevada and was registered as a sex offender.

Authorities say he was arrested after police found child pornography on his computer.

Deputy public defender David Goldstein told jurors there was insufficient evidence to convict Mueller on the sex crime charges.

A sentencing date has not been set.

Information from: Contra Costa Times