LOS ANGELES (CBS) — With the city going broke you may be surprised to find out that Los Angeles is the proud owner of a million dollar yacht and it is about to undergo hundreds of thousands of dollars in renovations at taxpayer expense.

As the head of the Port of Los Angeles raced down the hall, they tried to block our camera and dodged our questions, not wanting to talk about a yacht owned by the port, which is a city agency.

But the mayor said that it is not what we think.

“It’s not a yacht. It’s a boat,” Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said.

But whatever you call it, the Angelena II is 73 feet long and worth about a million bucks — according to a boat broker we contacted — and it is all your money.

The port bought it in 1988. It is used for public relations tours of the harbor, which run about two hours long. They are free of charge for just about any group, like one we observed for students of Banning High.

We obtained the ship’s logs for the past two years, which show cruises with as many as 48 passengers at a time. We also obtained the names of thousands of people who have been on-board.

More than 4,000 took the cruise just last year. Some of the people do business with the port, but many have nothing to do with it.

We found members of the Morongo Indian Tribe, screenwriters from Universal Studios, a YWCA cruise, people from the exclusive Jonathan Club, UCLA students and dozens of the mayor’s interns.

But he said it is all business.

“They’ve gone to see why the port is such an important part of this administration’s priorities. We have got to promote trade. That’s why I was in China, Japan and Korea,” Mayor Villaraigosa said.

“It’s not a perk to get them out on the water,” I asked?

“No. No,” he replied.

Rusty Millar can “almost” see the port from his home in Silverlake more than 20 miles away. But he and more than a dozen others from the Silverlake Neighborhood Council took a tour on the Angelena in 2006.

“I think somebody brought a boyfriend with them,” Millar said.

They brought friends and posed for pictures with the life preserver. But Millar said the tour was beneficial.

“I think it’s just a kind of goodwill kind of thing. I don’t see a problem with that,” he said.

But it is costing the port money — $147,000 combined last year for two captains primarily assigned to the Angelina; $106,000 for two deck hands; and more than $32,000 for fuel and maintenance.

The Angelena is now in drydock at the Port of L.A. and has not been out on the high seas since September. But over the next couple of months they will be spending close to three quarters of a million dollars on upgrades.

The engines have been removed because they no longer meet California emissions standards. They will be replaced by low-emission hybrid motors.

The port is using $489,000 in federal taxpayer stimulus money that is supposed to go create jobs, plus another $200,000 coming from the port — totaling $689,000 for new engines.

“It’s not helping to create any real jobs,” said Tom Schatz with Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW).

He said the Angelena should be sold, not refurbished with taxpayer money.

“It’s a big waste of money both for taxpayers across the country and for Los Angeles residents, who clearly aren’t all going to benefit from this and are spending money at a time when the city is more than $70 million in the red,” Schatz said.

But the port said it is worth it.

“The best way to show people the port is from the water,” said John Holmes of the Port of L.A.

The expenditures are coming even when port General Manager Geraldine Knatz testified before the City Council that she is watching spending.

Councilmembers called her in because they were following up on our investigation last year, which revealed the port threw a $200,000 party in Korea.

Knatz claimed that she learned her lesson.

“I have recognized that public perception is an important part of what we do every day and that we really have to tighten our belt and watch every dollar,” she said.

Perhaps she forgot about the $689,000 in new engines. But she did not want to talk about it.

“Why won’t you talk with me for one second. You talk about public perception being important, yet you’re spending close to three quarters of a million dollars on the port’s yacht. Is that good for public perception,” I asked?

She did not have an answer.

But just last week the port received the final go ahead from the Coast Guard for the new engines and they say the Angelena will be back on the high seas in about 90 days to continue the public relations tours at taxpayer expense.

» RELATED STORY:Port Of LA Spends Nearly $200K On Party

SOUTH LOS ANGELES (CBS) — The entire staff of Miramonte Elementary School will be replaced when the school reopens Thursday, says LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy.

The announcement, made at a meeting Monday between officials and parents of the school’s students, comes amidst an investigation into multiple allegations of sex abuse taking place on school grounds.

Police informed members of the media they would not be allowed inside Monday night’s meeting per the school district. However, KNX’s Claudia Peschiutta was able to make her way into the standing room only auditorium and shared details from inside.

Deasy told parents the faculty and staff will be reassigned to a site that does not host students, and that many or all may return as the investigation is completed.

In the interim, each classroom will be staffed with a psychiatric social worker.

Deasy says the school district plans to interview every student who has attended the school and every adult who has worked at the school.

The investigation, he says, will be overseen by an independent commission chaired by a former California Supreme Court associate justice.

It was announced Monday that Miramonte would be closed Tuesday and Wednesday.

Parents staged a protest Monday morning at the South Los Angeles elementary school where two teachers were arrested last week on suspicion of several bizarre sex crimes.

Peschiutta said parents at Monday night’s meeting were given a briefing by an LA County Sheriff’s Department lieutenant. He explained the months-long investigation process delayed notification to parents, as police did not want to taint potential victims and witnesses by making information public.

Parents were assured however that Mark Berndt, a 30-year Los Angeles Unified School District veteran, was removed from the classroom as soon as the alleged crimes were discovered.

Berndt was arrested Jan. 30 and charged with 23 counts of lewd acts on a child. He was removed from the classroom one year prior.

Berndt, 61, reportedly took an estimated 300 photos of students bound, gagged and blindfolded in his classroom between 2008 and 2010. Some photos show cockroaches being placed on the students’ faces. Others are being fed a milky-white substance on a spoon that officials say tested positive for the teacher’s DNA.

Fellow Miramonte teacher Martin Springer, 49, was arrested Friday after two of his former students told police they were fondled in his classroom.

OXNARD (CBS) — Two girls struck in a possible hit-and-run accident in Silver Strand Saturday have been released from the hospital, while the most severely injured child was transferred to another hospital Monday, officials said.

The three girls were walking in the northbound bicycle lane of Victoria Avenue near Santa Monica Drive about 7:10 p.m. Saturday when they were struck by a northbound vehicle that veered into the lane, the California Highway Patrol reported.

The victims were sisters ages 6 and 8 and their 10-year-old friend. The vehicle missed Joan Aronson, 50, of Oxnard. Aronson, the sisters’ mother, was closest to oncoming traffic as she and her daughters walked their friend home, officials said.

The vehicle left the scene after the crash. A witness ran after it and flagged down a vehicle to help, but the driver was not found, officials said.

The 8- and 10-year-old girls were discharged from the hospital, said Officer Steve Reid, a spokesman for the Ventura CHP.

The 6-year-old was transferred to a Northridge hospital. The children’s names were not released.

CHP officials are seeking the public’s help in finding the driver and vehicle, he said.

The vehicle was described as a silver or gray older model with tinted front windows. It had damage to its left front fender, a headlight and a bumper, and it was missing a hubcap, officials said.

CHP officials plan to put up an electronic sign about the incident near the scene in hopes of getting help from the public, Reid said.

ANAHEIM  (AP) — Niklas Hagman scored the deciding goal in the eighth round of a shootout and the Anaheim Ducks beat Calgary 2-1 on Monday night for their 14th straight home victory over the Flames.

Bobby Ryan and Matt Beleskey scored less than 2 minutes apart in the first period for the Ducks, who won the tiebreaker by a 3-2 margin. Jonas Hiller made 24 saves.

The Ducks haven’t lost to the Flames at home since a 5-1 defeat on Jan. 19, 2004 — Calgary’s only regulation win in its last 24 visits to Anaheim (1-13-10). The Flames’ last seven games at Honda Center have resulted in one-goal losses, five of them either in overtime or a shootout.

Alex Tanguay and Jarome Iginla scored for Calgary. Miikka Kiprusoff had 31 saves in the opener of a three-game road trip.

BURBANK (CBS)— A mother and her two children are behind bars Monday following the fatal stabbing of a family member’s dog in Burbank.

Police describe the bloody crime scene as “pretty horrific.”

Charissa Bodtcher, 23, and her 18-year-old brother, Timo Bodtcher, allegedly stabbed their aunt’s older cocker spaniel mix, Prince, “numerous” times with an 8-inch blade Saturday, according to Burbank Leader. The brutal slaying took place at the aunt’s home in the 200 block of East Cedar Avenue.

Charissa had reportedly experienced “run-ins” with the pooch in the past. “It appears that when she’s come over the dog has tried to nip at her heels and has barked at her,” said Burbank police Lt. John Dilibert. Charissa visited her aunt’s home Saturday with the intent of doing laundry.

The duo’s 47-year-old mother, Maria Theresa Bodtcher, was also arrested for allegedly helping her children dispose of the murder weapon near a dumpster at a shopping mall near Victory Boulevard and Vineland Avenue.

Prince died of his wounds while en route to the animal shelter.

Detectives are working with the L.A. County district attorney’s office to investigate the murder.

All three suspects face animal cruelty and related conspiracy charges.

They are each being held in lieu of $20,000 bail and are scheduled to appear in Burbank court Tuesday.

Kushner is married to Ivanka Trump, the daughter of Donald.

According to the Times, the 31-year-old was born into a prominent real estate family in New York,  and in 2006, became owner and publisher of the New York Observer.

There are at least nine confirmed ownership groups that have advanced to the second round of bidding for the storied franchise.

Star linebacker Shayne Skov was arrested and jailed last weekend for driving under the influence.

A Stanford University Department of Public Safety spokesman said Skov was arrested for driving under the influence Sunday at about 2 a.m. The incident, first reported by The Stanford Daily student newspaper Monday night, occurred on campus.

Skov was pulled over in the parking lot of his dormitory after his vehicle swerved several times, SUDPS spokesman Bill Larson said. Skov was booked at the Santa Clara County jail, he said, and the case is being turned over to the Palo Alto District Attorney’s office.

“We have an expected standard of excellence and conduct for our players and Shayne failed to adhere to those standards,” Stanford coach David Shaw said in a statement released through a team spokesman. “It’s a matter we are taking very seriously. Shayne will be responsible to adhere to any legal responsibilities regarding this event along with ramifications which will be determined by the program.”

Skov’s signature Mohawk and liberal display of eye black made him the unquestioned face and leader of Stanford’s defense.

Skov led the Cardinal with 84 tackles and had 7 1/2 sacks two years ago. He tore a ligament in his left knee in the third game of the 2011 season, sidelining him for the year and likely through most of spring practice.

The senior figured to be preparing for the NFL draft right now. Instead, his career took a big detour in a victory at Arizona on Sept. 17 and so did Stanford’s national championship hopes.

Moving in to make a tackle in the second quarter, Skov had his left knee buckle when Wildcats receiver Juron Criner barreled into him. Stanford announced the next day that Skov was done for the year, putting the go-hard-all-the-time linebacker on the shelf and ending thoughts of heading to the NFL early.

Stanford also could’ve used his presence in the two biggest games of the year.

A 53-30 loss to Oregon cost the Cardinal a chance at a Pac-12 championship and a BCS championship, with LaMichael James leading the Ducks stampede past Stanford defenders. The Cardinal finished with an 11-2 record, including a 41-38 overtime loss in the Fiesta Bowl to Oklahoma State.

But not just a tweak type of thing.

HoopsWorld reports that Billups could potentially be finished for the season. Many of Billups teammates commented in the locker room that Billups was “done”, hinting that the Achilles was more than a strain and was in fact a full tear.

Full article

DOWNEY (CBS) — After a recent string of arson fires, more than 100 regional fire investigators are taking part in a four-day arson training school.

The Downey Fire Department, LAFD, and ATF assembled fully furnished standalone rooms equipped with cameras and fire data sensors. The rooms were engineered to simulate both arson and accidental fires.

The makeshift structures were fully engulfed within ten minutes, with flames reaching up to 1700 degrees.

After firefighters suppressed the flames, investigators began repetition exercises to determine each fire’s cause and origin.

Officials say this type of training helped investigators track down Harry Burkhart, who is accused of setting more than 50 fires in the Hollywood area between Dec. 30 and Jan. 2.

“These guys are really good at picking out the very minute details and telling a jury and me why they’re so important,” says LA County Deputy DA Sean Carney.

Blake Griffin and Chauncey Billups each added 18 points for the Clippers.

The Clippers have won six of the last seven games and snapped a nine-game losing streak to the Magic. But they may have lost Billups for an extended period after he slipped and left in the fourth quarter with a left Achilles injury.

Dwight Howard had 33 points and 14 rebounds, and Jason Richardson 20 points for the Magic.

Orlando’s loss ends a three-game win streak. It came as point guard Jameer Nelson returned to the lineup after missing five consecutive games with concussion symptoms, but had 15 points and 12 assists.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Nelson and J.J. Redick put the Magic up 100-96 with 2:49 remaining in overtime.

Caron Butler used a 3 of his own a few possessions later to nudge the Clippers back ahead 101-100 and then Paul floated a jumper over the outstretched hand of Howard to make it 103-100.

Jason Richardson cut it to a basket with a dunk on the other end, but the Magic couldn’t grab a missed jumper by Paul.

Mo Williams connected on a pair of free throws with 12.6 seconds left, but left the Magic a chance to tie. Richardson’s 3-pointer from the wing rattled out and Paul was able to close the game out at the line.

The Clippers led by as many as nine in the fourth quarter before Billups went down with 5:48 to play in regulation. He had 11 points in the quarter and 18 in the game before his injury.

Nelson would score six straight Magic points, followed by Ryan Anderson‘s 3-pointer to tie the game at 89 with 2:45 left.

A driving layup by Paul put the Clippers back in front 93-91 before Richardson completed a three-point play to put the Magic back up a point.

A turnover by the Clippers gave the Magic the ball back, but Richardson was then stripped near midcourt by Butler. The ball went ahead to Paul on the fast break and eventually ended up in the hands of Griffin, who was fouled and hit 1 of 2 at the line.

The Magic milked the clock for a final shot, but Nelson missed a fade away jumper. The Clippers rebounded and wound up with five-tenths of a second, but after a timeout, Williams’ 18-foot jumper at the horn missed off the front of the rim.

Nelson didn’t show any noticeable effects from his layoff, dishing to Howard for an easy dunk on the Magic’s first possession of the night.

He also didn’t shy away from contact, throwing his body in front of Griffin early in the second quarter as he attempted to catch a lob from Paul on a fast break.

Orlando built as much as a 15-point lead in the first half, but took only a 47-42 edge into halftime thanks to a second quarter scoring drought that allowed the Clippers to get back in the game.

Howard was virtually unchallenged underneath going 9 for 11 from the field and 3 for 5 from the foul line in the half to lead all scorers with 21 points.

Nelson’s penetration also opened up the lane for the Magic, which had a 30-16 halftime edge in points in the paint.

Notes: Howard posted his 19th double-double of the season. … Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said he and big man Glen Davis talked Monday morning and are on the same page following his two-game suspension for a verbal run-in with Van Gundy. “He’s (had) some frustration with his role and being with a new team,” Van Gundy said. “But I’ve never thought for a second that he was a bad guy.” … Though he wasn’t available Monday night, Clippers free agent signee F Kenyon Martin did shoot at the team’s morning walkthrough. Coach Vinny Del Negro said that one of the benefits of signing the 6-foot-9 Martin is he’ll bring even more flexibility to an already deep roster. He said that could even mean Griffin getting minutes at small forward. … Former major league baseball player Gary Sheffield was in attendance Monday night.

]]> http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/02/06/paul-leads-clippers-past-magic-in-ot-107-102/feed/ 0 http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/02/06/gang-member-convicted-in-slaying-of-woman-who-interrupted-graffiti-vandal/ http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/02/06/gang-member-convicted-in-slaying-of-woman-who-interrupted-graffiti-vandal/#comments Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:33:39 +0000 Alyson http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/?p=190559 A 21-year-old man was convicted today of murder for shooting a Pico Rivera woman to death after she interrupted a gang member spraying graffiti near her home, but the jury acquitted his two co-defendants. ]]> NORWALK (CBS) — A 21-year-old man was convicted today of murder for shooting a Pico Rivera woman to death after she interrupted a gang member spraying graffiti near her home, but the jury acquitted his two co-defendants.

Angel Chris Rojas was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Maria Hicks, 58, shooting at an occupied vehicle, street terrorism and unlawful firearm activity, along with an allegation that he committed the crimes to benefit a Pico Rivera gang called the Brown Authority. He faces at least 50 years to life in prison at his sentencing March 16.

However, the co-defendants — Jennifer Ann Tafolla, 24, and Richard Daniel Rolon, 25 — were convicted only of street terrorism. They will be sentenced Feb. 24.

The prosecution alleged that on Aug. 10, 2007, Rojas — who was 16 at the time — shot three to five rounds at the Honda Element being driven by Hicks after she flashed her headlights and honked her horn at Cesar Lopez, another Brown Authority member who was spray-painting graffiti on a wall at San Gabriel River Parkway and Woodford Street.

Rojas, who was riding in a Lincoln Continental being driven by Tafolla, was accused of getting out of the car to shoot at Hicks. Rolon was another passenger in the vehicle.

Hicks was hit once in the head and died three days later.

During the trial, a detective who works in the sheriff’s department’s gang unit, said he would expect a confrontation to result if a civilian tried to stop a gang member from spraying on graffiti.

Rojas’ lawyer argued that he thought he was protecting Lopez from rival gang members when he shot at Hicks’ vehicle.

Lopez, who accepted a plea agreement, is awaiting sentencing.

ANAHEIM (CBS) — Police have arrested the husband of a former state correctional officer whose killing 14 years ago has gone unsolved.

Elizabeth Bergaren, 40 at the time of her death, was shot to death Jan. 17, 1998, as she and her husband, Nuzzio Bergaren, drove on an off-ramp of the 91 Freeway in Anaheim.

Also in the vehicle was Nuzzio’s 10-year-old daughter from a previous marriage.

Nuzzio told the Los Angeles Times in 1998 that he believed his family was targeted by attackers who wanted to rob his wife, who was carrying $4,800 in her purse after a shopping trip

But police said Monday that Nuzzio himself was involved in her killing.

Police arrested Nuzzio, 50, Monday afternoon in Rancho Cucamonga on suspicion of murdering his wife for financial gain, police said.

Police have not released details of Nuzzio’s alleged plot, but the Times reported in 1998 that he took out a $1-million life insurance policy on his wife just before here death.

Authorities also arrested Jose Luis Sandoval, 36, and Rafael Garcia Miranda, 45, on suspicion of murder and street terrorism.

Investigators are now looking for a fourth man, Guillermo Espinoza, 37, who they say was also involved in Elizabeth Begaren’s death.

(©2012 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Three pieces of physical evidence — a bite mark, a bullet and a gun barrel — and the motive of a “broken heart” will prove that a former Los Angeles police detective murdered the woman her ex-boyfriend had recently married, a prosecutor told jurors Monday.

An attorney for 51-year-old Stephanie Lazarus, however, questioned the link between the physical evidence and his client, and suggested the DNA evidence had been mishandled over the years.

Lazarus’ “obsession” with her former paramour drove her to kill Sherri Rasmussen in Van Nuys nearly 26 years ago, Deputy District Attorney Shannon Presby said during his opening statement at Lazarus’ murder trial.

He showed the jury excerpts from journal entries in which Lazarus apparently expressed her torment over John Ruetten’s engagement to Rasmussen.

“Stressed out about John,” she wrote in a June 16, 1985, journal entry. In an Aug. 4, 1985, letter to Ruetten’s mother, Lazarus declared, “I’m totally in love with John and this past year has really torn me up.”

About six months later — on the morning of Feb. 24, 1986 — Lazarus “went into Sherri’s townhouse, beat her in the face, bit her on the left arm and shot her three times in the chest,” Presby said. “This killing was
personal.”

Ruetten found his 29-year-old wife dead on the living room floor when he returned home from work later the same day. The couple had been married for just four months.

LAPD Detective Lyle Mayer, who originally investigated the case, theorized at the time that Rasmussen was slain after surprising burglars in the home.

Lazarus, a 23-year veteran of the LAPD, was arrested on suspicion of murder in 2009 after testing matched her DNA to a saliva sample collected from the bite mark on Rasmussen’s arm, police said.

Referring to that crucial piece of evidence, Presby told a packed courtroom during his 40-minute presentation that “there was one thing Lyle Mayer did not know. There was one thing the defendant did not know. There was
one thing that no one could have known in 1986 — that a tiny Stephanie Lazarus was hiding in the bite on Sherri Rasmussen’s arm.” The probability of the DNA belonging to another person was one in 1.7 sextillion, Presby said.

The prosecutor also said ballistics evidence will connect Lazarus to the crime. Two .38-caliber bullets collected from the crime scene were the same type the LAPD used at the time, he said, and they were fired from a Smith &
Wesson revolver with a two-inch barrel — the same type of weapon that Lazarus owned at the time.

“A bite, a bullet, a gun barrel, a broken heart — that’s the evidence that will prove defendant Stephanie Lazarus murdered Sherri Rasmussen, and murdered Sherri Rasmussen because she married the man that the defendant
loved,” Presby said.

Ruetten, an engineer, and Lazarus met at UCLA in the late 1970s while they were undergraduates. They dated for a while but Presby said Lazarus’ love for him was “unrequited.” “She was not for him ‘The One,”‘ he said. “He did not love the
defendant.”

But in his opening statement, defense attorney Mark Overland painted a very different picture of the relationship.

“It was not just an obsession,” he insisted, noting that Ruetten admitted to having sex with Lazarus in August 1985 — when he was engaged to Rasmussen.

After the murder, Overland said, Lazarus “did zero, nothing to pursue John Ruetten. She never contacted him, never wrote to him, never called him. On the contrary, it was he who initiated contact” between them.

Turning to the key physical evidence, Overland said the bite mark saliva sample was compromised between the time it was collected by an LAPD criminalist at the crime scene in 1986 and the time it was analyzed by an LAPD scientist in 2009.

The sealed envelope containing the sample, he noted, had been torn open and coroner’s officials violated their “chain of custody” policy.

The defense lawyer also said “millions” of the same .38-caliber bullets were sold to the general public and that those found at the crime scene could have been fired from at least 37 other firearms, “none of which Stephanie Lazarus had.”

Lazarus, dressed in a black suit, showed no emotion as Presby made a presentation that included a formal portrait of her with Ruetten taken while they were dating. The photo “promised a future with John, a future that Sherri Rasmussen made impossible,” the prosecutor said.

After Lazarus took out her fury on Rasmussen, Presby said, the victim was “not just dead. Her beauty was disfigured, obliterated, blotted from existence by three close-range gunshots to the chest.”

Lazarus, who is in custody in lieu of $10 million bail, retired from the LAPD after her arrest.

The trial before Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry is expected to last five to six weeks.

TEMECULA (CBS) — Hundreds of people in colorful green and orange shirts showed up in force Monday at a meeting of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors over a controversial strip mining project that has been shot down by the county’s planning commission.

The proposed strip mine is near Temecula, at the Riverside and San Diego county line. It’s also near an ecological reserve and adjacent to Interstate 15 and Rainbow Valley Boulevard.

Residents of Temecula, known for its vineyards and wineries, don’t want their home to be polluted by mining activity.

“If they put that in, it would kill me,” Temecula resident Ronald Glusac said. Glusac suffered from silicosis as a 7-year-old child because he lived near a quarry in Palos Verdes in the 1940s. He says he moved to Temecula for the clean air.

Glusac was one of the dozens of Temecula residents wearing orange shirts.

The people wearing green shirts want the planning commission’s decision overturned by the Board of Supervisors. The company asking for the mining permits, Granite Construction, says there is no reason to be concerned over the proposed project.

“All the people that actually are in that industry of studying that, have looked at it,” Granite Construction spokeswoman Karie Reuther said. “Several people and air consultants have looked at it and have come back and said air’s not an issue.”

Most of the people wearing green T-shirts, however, are not from the Temecula area. They are all union members from all over Southern California, bussed into Riverside, paid by their union and given a free lunch for attending the meeting.

The green T-shirts sport a message in support of the mine project: “New Jobs. Less Traffic. Cleaner Air.”

Temecula Mayor Chuck Washington says he doesn’t believe any new jobs will be created and thinks that workers will be transported in from another quarry. Granite Construction’s Reuther says the project will create 99 new jobs.

Gallery: Kobe Bryant Through The Years

Bryant, playing in his hometown of Philadelphia, needed 23 points to tie O’Neal, scored his 24th point of the game in the 2nd quarter.

“To say this is a huge honor would be an understatement. I’m so fortunate to have such a good career.” Bryant said after the game.

It was looking like a night where the Lakers would be able to celebrate Bryant’s milestone, but after Andrew Bynum’s alley-oop with 4:38 left in the fourth quarter, the 76ers went on a 14-2 run to end the game.

The Lakers (14-11) will play at Boston on Thursday.

NBA All-Time Scoring Leaders

CHATSWORTH (CBS) — Police on Monday were looking for possible victims after sexual assault allegations were made against a Southland school janitor.

Paul Adame, a janitor at Germain Elementary School in Chatsworth, was arrested Monday morning for lewd acts with a child, LAPD Captain Chris Pitcher said.

A mother of one of a student at Germain Elementary went to the Devonshire division on Sunday and reported “inappropriate contact between a janitor employed at the school and her child” that allegedly occurred on Feb. 3.

Pitcher said police are asking for any other possible victims to step forward with information.

“Detectives are requesting the parents of any child who attends Germaine Street Elementary School who has either been approached by this individual, has had any inappropriate contact with this individual, or has been told of or witnessed inappropriate contact with any other individual at the school to speak with their children, find out the information, and ultimately give us a call,” he said.

Concerned parents arrived to the school early Monday to pick up their children.

“What do they do to screen these guys who were hired, you know what I’m saying?” asked parent Ben Lopez. “It’s happening everywhere, like I said, I’m going to home-school my daughter, or something, just to make sure she’s safe?”

“It’s disgusting. Children should be safe. There’s no reason for anybody to have the fear that when they send their children to school, something horrible could happen to them,” another parent said.

In a letter to parents, Germain Elementary principal Sonia Ugarte said school officials “take these allegations very seriously and will fully cooperate with the police investigation”.

Adame is free on $100,000 bail is scheduled to appear in a Los Angeles courtroom on Feb. 27.

Adame’s release had some neighbors concerned.

“Trust me, I’m like in shock right now, like completely in shock. It’s impossible, it’s like you can never leave it. You have these people next to you and you don’t even know them,” Evelyn Rios said.

Most children at the school were not told about the arrest, but we spoke with one second-grader who knew the janitor.

“Not really anyone trusts him and some of my friends said that they, he creeps them out,” he said.

Although Adame had been removed from the school, some parents remained on edge.

“He won’t use the bathroom at school. He just says that it’s dirty,” a parent said. “That’s what he tells me, but now I’m going to investigate it further.”

Adame’s arrest marks the third time in a week that a Los Angeles Unified School District employee has been arrested for sexually-related crimes.

Anyone with information can call the Devonshire Sexual Assault Unit at (818) 832-0609.

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Sources say the Los Angeles Unified School District will be replacing the entire staff at Miramonte Elementary School this week.

They also plan to interview every student who is attending the school now and any students who have gone there in recent years.

Parents staged a protest Monday morning at a South Los Angeles elementary school where two teachers were arrested last week on suspicion of several bizarre sex crimes.

Parents began boycotting at Miramonte Elementary School at 7 a.m. Monday, demanding action from administrators.

“We are a community and if we don’t speak out, who’s going to speak out. I speak out for our children, everybody’s children,” a Miramonte parent told CBS2’s Kirk Hawkins.

Teacher Mark Berndt, a 30-year Los Angeles Unified School District veteran, was arrested Jan. 30 and charged with 23 counts of lewd acts on a child.

Berndt, 61, reportedly took an estimated 300 photos of students bound, gagged and blindfolded in his classroom between 2008 and 2010. Some photos show cockroaches being placed on the students’ faces. Others are being fed a milky-white substance on a spoon that lab tests confirm tested positive for the teacher’s DNA.

He was removed from the classroom in January 2011. Berndt left the district in March of that year.

Fellow teacher Martin Springer, 49, was arrested Friday after two of his former students told police they were fondled in his classroom.

Springer is still employed by the district but paperwork has been filed in order to fire him, LAUSD officials said. Springer is expected to be fired Tuesday at a special meeting.

“It is horrible and the violation of trust in public is something that is gonna to take time to recover, but LAUSD has a responsibility and a commitment to those families,” said LAUSD School Board President Monica Garcia.

It’s still unclear whether there is any connection between the two suspects.

Classes will be canceled on Tuesday and Wednesday for pupil free days aimed at helping the district and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s investigations. It is unclear if the school will be open on Thursday.

Attorney Luis A. Carrillo of South Pasadena filed claims Monday against the District on behalf of six families in Berndt’s case.

“Everybody fell asleep and the wheel and the responsibility relies with the school district to protect the kids,” said Carrillo said.

He believes there could be hundreds of additional victims.

A meeting has been planned for 6 p.m. Monday at South Region 2 High School with parents and LAUSD administrators to discuss the latest on the teacher sex scandal.

Berndt is being held on $23 million bail. Springer has been booked on suspicion of lewd acts upon a child. His bail has been set at $2 million.

The district has established a hotline for anyone to call in with information about Miramonte. The line can be accessed at specialvictims@lasd.org or 866-247-5877.

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» South LA Teacher Arrested For Allegedly Taking Photos Of Students Bound, Gagged

» 2nd Teacher At Miramonte Elementary School Arrested For Alleged Lewd Acts Against Children

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — An hour-long standoff ended Monday following a shooting Monday near a BMW dealership in the mid-Wilshire area.

A man was shot in the upper body near Mansfield Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard at 1:45 p.m., Los Angeles Police Department Officer Gregory Baek said.

The unidentified man was taken to a hospital, but it did not appear that his condition was life threatening.

The shooting led to an hour-long standoff, which ended when a sharpshooter team swarmed the suspect.

The standoff temporarily forced the closure of Wilshire Boulevard from La Brea to Highland. John Burroughs Middle School on Wilshire was locked down, since shortly before 2:30 p.m.

(©2012 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

Two King brass sousaphones valued at $6,000 each were the latest to be stolen in a series of high school thefts believed to be related to the popularity of Mexican banda music, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The thieves cut the locks on numerous metal lockers in the school’s band room, apparently searching for the sousaphones. When they didn’t find any, they broke into the band director’s office, where the uniforms and tubas are stored under lock and key, the Times reported.

Two less-expensive fiberglass sousaphones and dozens of other instruments were left behind.

There have been burglaries at several other school over the last several months, in which only tubas were stolen. Sycamore Junior High School in Anaheim had all its band instruments stolen over the Christmas break, a loss valued at $25,000.

Instructors have connected the thefts to the popularity of banda, a dance music played with marching band instruments and anchored by tubas. The popularity of banda has skyrocketed the pay of tuba players, who make more than, sometimes double, what other banda musicians are paid, according to the Times.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Los Angeles coach Mike Brown has been suspended one game without pay and fined $25,000 for making contact with a game official and failure to leave the court in a timely manner following his ejection in Saturday’s game.

The NBA announced the suspension Monday. Brown will miss Monday’s game in Philadelphia against the 76ers.

The incident occurred with 8:41 remaining in the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ 96-87 loss to the Utah Jazz.

Brown received two quick technicals for arguing Pau Gasol was fouled by Utah’s Earl Watson.

Emotion got the best of him on Saturday night against the Rockets, and now he and the Minnesota Timberwolves have to pay the price: Love, his team’s leading scorer and rebounder, was suspended for two games by the NBA for “driving his foot into the upper body and face of the Rockets’ Luis Scola as Scola was lying on the floor.”

The play happened in the third quarter of Saturday’s victory over the Rockets after the two tangled while going for a rebound. As Love went to step over Scola, who a week earlier had thrown a ball off Love’s groin while trying to save it from going out of bounds, he looked down at the Rockets forward and stepped on him as he headed back up the court.

It marked the second time last week Love delivered a hard foul after not getting a call on the other end. He raked Pacers forward Danny Granger across the chest on Wednesday, touching off a small skirmish in a loss to Indiana.

Love apologized to Scola both after the game and in a statement issued by the team on Monday following the suspension, and said he has to do a better job handling his emotions.

“I don’t want to be known for that,” Love said after practice. “I want to be known as a stand-up guy who happened to make a mistake with a size 19 shoe and just move on. So everybody knows there were no ill intentions there.”

He will miss Tuesday’s game against Sacramento and Wednesday’s game at Memphis as the Timberwolves (12-12) look to climb above .500 for the first time this season.

Love is averaging 25.0 points and 13.7 rebounds per game and leads the NBA with 39.4 minutes per game. The All-Star forward was contrite on Monday, saying he thought the suspension from NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson “was warranted.”

“It’s been a chippy year,” Love said. “It’s not only us. It’s not only the Pacers, the Rockets or anything like that. It’s a lot of games. The guys are tired. Games are being drawn out and guys are worn down.

“For me and for us, it’s no different. And also for the refs as well. They’ve got to go over film just like we do, maybe even more. So you’ve got to respect them and got to respect what they do.”

Timberwolves coach Rick Adelman said he has spoken with Love and the rest of his young team about playing through any perceived mistreatment from the other team or the officials.

Adelman did wonder how Jackson landed on two games as proper punishment.

“Do I think it’s fair? No. Absolutely (not),” Adelman said. “I don’t know the reasoning. They don’t tell you the reasoning. I don’t know the reasoning why two games. They haven’t said anything. You’ve just got to move on.”

The 23-year-old Love, who recently signed a four-year extension worth more than $60 million, has been barking at the officials most of the season.

Adelman said he saw Love get upset with no-calls on two straight possessions before the run-in with Scola “and it led to the incident.”

“You’ve got to play through,” Adelman said. “Play with emotion, but you’ve got to play through it and not let it affect what happens on the court.”

Adelman didn’t say who would start in Love’s place against the Kings, but Derrick Williams and Anthony Tolliver figure to see a lot more time. Williams, the No. 2 overall pick, has had a tough time getting settled into a role with the Wolves.

He has played just 37 minutes combined in the last four games and tweeted on Saturday “anybody ever felt like a caged lion?”

“I guess it’s just patience and hopefully I pick up (Adelman’s) trust and have the ball in my hands more often,” Williams said. “I kind of feel like it’s just a lack of confidence, not in myself, but him in me being in that position. I’ve just got to earn his trust.”

Separately, the Timberwolves sent rookie G Malcolm Lee to Sioux Falls of the NBDL for what essentially is a rehab assignment. The second-round pick has not played this year after having surgery on a torn meniscus in his left knee.

___

Dr. Jones is an emergency room doctor who says he came face to face with the dark side of human behavior and learned “the ability of people to abuse and harm themselves and others is boundless.”

In his book A Murder in West Covina, Dr. Jones says he uses true crime to “study the dark side of the mind, of intrigue, infidelity, betrayal, deceit, and manipulation.” In the summer of 1959, the nation was shocked by a high-profile murder case out of West Covina, a small California town some 20 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Police accused Bernard Finch, a wealthy physician, of murdering his wife just outside the couple’s home.

A Murder in West Covina is the result of two years of extensive research, including first person interviews and the careful dissection of courtroom testimony. It samples the opinions of people who lived in the community at that time, while detailing the evidence against Bernard Finch and his mistress Carole Tregoff. Dr. Jones also explores the remarkable heroism of the family’s au pair – Marie Anne Lidholm – who put herself in the line of danger when she responded to Mrs. Finch’s cries for help. In the book’s forward, Lidholm says Dr. Jones has “given the case a soul.”

For more information, visit the book online.

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Will a Southland mask maker finally help federal investigators capture one of California’s most infamous bank robbers?

Rusty Slusser of SPFX Masks said he will cooperate with agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigations in their efforts to find the serial robber whom officials suspect has carried out 16 heists across California since 2009.

Investigators said in November that the bandit is likely a younger male who may be using a latex mask to disguise his identity, and has since focused its efforts on SPFX Masks, which makes form-fitting silicone masks for the film and television industry.

While the realistic-looking masks sell for about $600 each, Slusser said he wants whoever is committing these robberies to stop using the product.

“I say please do not use our masks to commit crimes,” he said. “These are meant for novelty use only and people to have fun, fool their friends.”

The bandit has allegedly threatened to shoot bank tellers if they fail to meet his cash demands whenever he has struck over the last two and a half years, the FBI said.

A $20,000 reward has been offered for any information leading to his arrest and conviction.