Family: Heart Attack Victim Moved for Michael Jackson
A woman who had suffered a massive heart attack died after hospital personnel moved her out of a trauma room to accommodate a flu-stricken Michael Jackson, the patient’s family said. Jury selection in Jackson’s child molestation child had to be temporarily postponed Feb. 15 when the pop star was taken to Marian Medical Center in Santa Maria, Calif., complaining of flu-like symptoms. Manuela Gomez Ruiz, a 74-year-old grandmother, was moved from the primary trauma room and taken off the machine ventilator, with her breathing instead assisted manually by hand pump, until she was relocated to a smaller room nearby, her family told ABC News. The larger room was kept for Jackson, the family says. Hospital records show Jackson, 46, told emergency room staff he had severe abdominal pain. His body temperature, 96.9 degrees, was below normal and he had tears in his eyes. The initial emergency room report said he could go home anytime. There was no doubt Jackson was sick—as a doctor assured the judge presiding over his trial—but how sick? Ruiz’s daughter-in-law says she watched as Jackson entered the emergency room. Read the story here.
Home Depot Names Tom Ridge to Board
Tom Ridge, the former secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and former governor of Pennsylvania, was named to Home Depot Inc.’s board of directors, the home improvement retailer announced on Thursday. “Tom Ridge served his country with great distinction, and we are honored to have him join our board, where we expect that his unique global experience and perspective will make a profound contribution to our company and our shareholders,” said Bob Nardelli, chairman, president and CEO. The appointment of Ridge brings the number of directors on Home Depot’s board to 13. This includes 12 outside directors, 11 of whom are considered independent. Last month, the company reported that Roger Penske would not stand for re-election to the board after his term expires at the company’s next shareholders meeting. Read the story here.
Peterson sentencing delayed briefly
In Scott Peterson’s first public appearance since a jury determined his crimes worthy of the death penalty, a judge delayed his formal sentencing until March 16, 2005. The sentencing, which was originally scheduled for Friday, had already been moved once to March 11. “The 16th is in cement,” Judge Alfred Delucchi sternly informed lawyers. “I am not going to change that date.” The 32-year-old fertilizer salesman, who was convicted of the double murder of his pregnant wife, Laci, and her fetus, looked fit and healthy in a well-tailored black suit and yellow tie. As he walked into court, Peterson smiled at his mother, Jackie, and sister-in-law Janey, sitting in the front row. Read the story here.
Thursday, February 24th, 2005
Trackers Kill Tiger in Ventura County
Sharpshooters searching for a 425-pound tiger that had prowled the hills of Simi Valley for two weeks shot and killed it Wednesday after a family awoke to find it walking past their backyard. The decision by government trackers to use high-powered rifles instead of tranquilizer darts to bring down the elusive cat outraged animal rights activists. But state officials said they had no alternative but to shoot to kill, because the animal could have attacked or bolted onto a highway or into a public park nearby. Thus ended a bizarre two-week saga that brought wilderness trappers to suburbia and forced families to keep children and pets indoors after huge cat tracks started being spotted throughout the oak-studded hills of eastern Ventura County. About 6 a.m. Wednesday, 45-year-old Ken Tucker awoke to see the tiger slowly pacing along his backyard fence on Coffeetree Lane in Moorpark and then crouching next to his neighbor’s wrought-iron fence. Usually, he said, two small dogs are in the neighbor’s yard, but they were inside. The tiger, Tucker said, “was intently looking through that fence like it wanted something. It could easily have jumped that fence because it’s only 5 feet high.” Tucker woke his wife and teenage daughter and son. “I told them they had to come and see this. Then I called 911 and I said, ‘I found the tiger you’ve been looking for.’ ” Read the story here.
Alternate Jurors Seated in Jackson Trial
Jury selection in the Michael Jackson trial was completed today when eight alternate jurors were sworn in to hear the child molestation case against the pop star. The alternates will listen to the evidence during what is expected to be a six-month trial, but will only take part in deliberations if another juror is unable. A jury of 12 was sworn in Wednesday to weigh the fate of Jackson, accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy at the star’s Neverland ranch. No African Americans are on the jury, though a 19-year-old African American man was among those seated as an alternate. He is sixth on the list, so the probability of participating in a verdict is low. Despite defense objections, the prosecution used its peremptory challenges to keep two African American women from serving as a juror or alternate. Race has been one of the issues throughout the Jackson proceedings. His family has argued that he is being prosecuted in part because he is a popular African American star. Read the story here.For Some, Avalon Is Alcatraz
The bright orange postcard is easy to spot on display at souvenir shops that dot Avalon: “Help! I’m marooned on Catalina Island.” Goofy keepsake for most visitors, but for Avalon resident Jorge Rodriguez, 28, an illegal immigrant and construction worker who’s lived on the island since he was a teenager, the card’s gag has an uncanny note of accuracy. “You can’t go there anymore,” Rodriguez said, gesturing north to the mainland. “Since they started checking los IDs, everyone’s afraid.” Avalon’s sizable Latino community has been abuzz for months with stories and rumors of periodic documentation checks by U.S. Coast Guard and immigration officials on the ferries that connect Avalon to the mainland, where workers go for cheaper food, medical care, family visits and to spend their wages at Southern California theme parks. Read the story here.
Builder charged with embezzlement
A foreman for a Temecula-based construction company has been charged with 102 counts of accepting kickbacks and embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from undocumented immigrant employees, a prosecutor said Tuesday. Juan Gonzalez Valdovinos, 53, of Moreno Valley, is accused of taking a percentage of the wages owed to the undocumented workers he hired for prevailing-wage jobs of building public schools. Valdovinos’ lawyer, Don Inskeep, said he has not seen all of the investigative reports yet, but believes his client is “a worker who got caught up in something bigger than himself.” Prosecutor Paul Fick contends Valdovinos has been conducting business in this manner since he started working for Four Point Builders about four years ago. Fick said Valdovinos would take an employees paycheck, get it cashed and give the employee a cut of the money. Read the story here.
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2005
Michael Jackson Jury Selected
A jury for the Michael Jackson child molestation case has been chosen, FOX News has learned – and there isn’t a single African American person on the panel of 12. Twelve jurors were picked by attorneys and the judge by 2:30 p.m. EST (11:30 a.m. PST) Wednesday. The eight alternates still hadn’t been finalized. The primary panel consists of eight women and four men, and none of them are black. Early reports indicated that seven are Caucasian, four are Latino and one is Asian. The ages are 20 to 79. One man is in a wheelchair. The jury selection process lasted a short total of two-and-a-half days, in spite of interruptions in the form of two separate weeklong delays. Earlier Wednesday, lawyers sailed through the selection process, dismissing a self-styled “karaoke junkie” and two women with ties to law enforcement. Both sides are allowed to reject 10 jurors each without explanation. The defense cut six Tuesday and the prosecution five. Along with three jurors who were removed by mutual agreement and six jurors the judge dismissed at their requests, 20 prospective panelists were gone by the end of the day. The dismissal of another prospect last month for health reasons brings the size of the remaining jury pool to 221 people. If attorneys maintain their current pace, a jury could be seated within days. Read the story here.
Despite new technology, Border Patrol overwhelmed
Across an expanse of desert where nothing marks the Mexican border but a flimsy line of barbed wire, Border Patrol agent Mitch King flies his helicopter low to search for signs of illegal entry into the USA. He spots footprints and tire tracks and hovers to get a better look. If the sandy impressions are fresh, he’ll radio agents on the ground. But King’s experienced eyes tell him these prints are at least a day or two old. Now, they serve only as evidence that more people have crossed the border illegally without getting caught. More than three years after the terrorist attacks in 2001, the 11,000 men and women who serve as the border’s front-line defense are overwhelmed. Despite an influx of new technology, such as underground sensors and cameras that pan the desert, agents catch only about one-third of the estimated 3 million people who cross the border illegally every year. Read the story here.
Sex offender feels duty to explain actions
To put it bluntly, the neatly dressed, articulate man outside a midtown coffee shop is a sex offender, sipping on a $4 blend of coffee and chocolate and blowing smoke into the crisp morning air. He is 5 feet 7 inches, 175 pounds, was born in 1937 and has a prominent scar on a left finger. He’s also a blue dot on a big map. But you would know that already if you had looked him up on the state’s new—and busy—Web site of registered sex offenders, where you could also get the address of his $1,000-a-month bachelor apartment in San Francisco and learn that he was convicted of Section 288(a) of the criminal code: “lewd or lascivious acts with child under 14.” What goes unreported online is that Jake Goldenflame, who went to prison in 1985 for molesting a young girl, is an outspoken supporter of Megan’s Law, which allows people to know the location of sex offenders living in their neighborhood. The Web information also wouldn’t tell you that he is affable, articulate and, along with the pain he has caused many others, has suffered through decades of disgrace himself. Read the story here. Tonight at 6pm Jake Goldenflame will be in studio to talk about his book “Overcoming Sexual Terrorism”.
Blake Defense Closes With Videotaped Interview
Robert Blake’s defense rested its case Wednesday without calling him to the witness stand, but he was able to tell jurors his story in a videotape of a television interview that was played in court. “It’s all about Rosie,” he said, referring to the baby he had with slain wife Bonny Lee Bakley. “It’s always been about Rosie. The greatest gift in the world, and I’m going to try to mess it up by being selfish?” The final day of Blake’s extensive defense case also featured his adult daughter, Delinah Blake-Hurwitz, testifying about her adoption of the child and undergoing such a rigorous cross-examination by the prosecutor that many of the questions went unanswered when the judge ruled they were argumentative. The one person who pervaded the case—the child Rosie—was seen by jurors for the first time during the videotape of the Barbara Walters interview, which showed Blake with the little girl on his shoulders. Read the story here.
Tuesday, February 22nd, 2005
English-immersion foes hold children back
By Jill Stewart
When test scores came out recently showing that Latino immigrant kids are getting much better at reading and writing in English, California Superintendent of Schools Jack O’Connell urged schools to find ways to move them out of special English and into mainstream classes. Good idea, since many students can’t get access to Advanced Placement courses for college so long as they’re designated as “English learners” and kept too long in training-wheels-style English immersion classes. But I find it rich that O’Connell is urging schools to act. To large degree, it’s his fault. Under Proposition 227, immigrant children were only supposed to stay in special immersion for a year or so, then go to mainstream class. But O’Connell has refused to credit English immersion for soaring English literacy rates. His silence emboldens the anti-English ideologues who still strive to keep Latino kids in a separate world. Again this month, O’Connell refused to credit English immersion, telling The San Francisco Chronicle he won’t guess why kids are learning English so well. Read the story here. Tonight at 6pm, John & Ken will have Jill Stewart on the phone to talk about her article.
Driven by Events, Hahn Turns to a Familiar Bloc
Prompted by events and political necessity, Mayor James K. Hahn has turned increasingly to African Americans to propel his candidacy as he heads into the frantic two weeks before election day. Over the last nine days, he has darted across African American neighborhoods almost daily, attending church services, community meetings and a reception of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People. At a black heritage celebration on Friday, Hahn joined a choir in singing a civil rights anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Hahn’s appeals to African Americans – formerly his most loyal voting bloc – have dominated his public events just as the mayoral candidates have begun to catch the public’s attention with a burst of TV ads. To some extent, an event outside his control has driven Hahn’s intense focus on black voters: the Feb. 6 death of Devin Brown, the 13-year-old African American boy who was shot and killed by a police officer in South Los Angeles. Read the story here.
Witness: Robert Blake’s Hands Too Clean To Have Fired Gun
A forensic scientist testified Tuesday that Robert Blake had minuscule amounts of gunshot residue on his hands—only four particles—far less than the 97 or 98 particles that would have been expected if he was the shooter. Celia Hartnett, who has worked in the field for 32 years, was hired by Blake’s defense to reanalyze results that had been presented by the prosecution earlier in the trial. She said she conducted test firing of the weapon with ammunition from the same manufacturer and with the same specifications as the bullet that killed Blake’s wife, Bonny Lee Bakley. She said she found that when two shots were test-fired in rapid succession the gun produced 2,440 particles of gunshot residue. But she said calculations showed that after two and a half hours, the length of time that elapsed before Blake’s hands were tested by police, he would have been expected to have 97 or 98 particles on his hands. Read the story here.
Monday, February 21st, 2005
Credit Scam Victim Nails Home Depot
Home Depot ignored Alan R. Sporn for almost two years, but a $1-million court judgment got the company’s attention. The Laguna Hills businessman had his Social Security number stolen, which ended up in a dozen requests for Home Depot credit. The fiasco hurt Sporn’s credit rating, but the home improvement giant that prides itself in customer service brushed off his concerns – until he filed a lawsuit, won and then tried to collect the money from a company bank account. Then, Home Depot decided to act. It appealed the case, but this week an appellate court in Santa Ana sided with Sporn. On Friday, the victor and his lawyer were celebrating with a bit of humor. The pair joked they might just show up at one of the company’s Southern California stores to conduct a yard sale. “I want to sell everything for a dollar,” quipped Steve Young, Sporn’s attorney. “I imagine the John Deere tractors will be the first to go.” “I feel vindicated,” Sporn, 52, said of his nearly 3-year effort to get Home Depot to respond. “They’re such a huge corporation and we are just little people.” In a brief written statement, the Atlanta-based company said that it was “disappointed in the decision … and respectfully disagrees with the conclusions of the court.” Read the story here.
Smokeless but Still Tobacco
Kevin Dager gets dreamy-eyed when she recalls her life as a closet chewer. It started when she was dating a cowboy at Casper College, and he offered her a plug. He thought it was funny. She couldn’t get enough. As the years rolled by, Dager found herself slipping into drugstores where she wouldn’t be recognized to feed her three-can-a-week habit. She married, had kids and went through nursing school – all with a wad of wet tobacco tucked in her cheek. “No one ever knew,” the 51-year-old said with a slight smile. “I hid it in my panty drawer, in my purse.” And she showed a little class as well. “I was a swallower, not a spitter,” she said. “Spitting is crass.” This month, in the interests of educating others, Dager outed herself as a former tobacco chewer. She quit years ago but was embarrassed to admit she’d ever used it. “I felt I was living a lie,” she said. More people chew tobacco in Wyoming than in any other state except West Virginia, health officials say. Five percent of young women, 21% of high school boys and 17% of adult men use it. Read the story here.
Cars Jam Road to Victory
With the city’s clogged streets and patchwork public transit system now horn-honking issues in the mayor’s race, there’s a new regular stop on the campaign circuit: the crowded intersection photo-op. Sirens screaming and cars belching fumes nearby, former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg stood at the corner of Sepulveda and Wilshire boulevards during the morning commute one day last month and promised to ease congestion. A few days later, City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa held forth a few blocks away, promising to do the same. Councilman Bernard C. Parks released his transportation plan at a busy intersection in South Los Angeles, and incumbent Mayor James K. Hahn has stood before reporters to discuss traffic at three intersections since last summer. And no wonder. In a recent Los Angeles Times poll, 24% of registered voters surveyed named transportation-related issues as a top concern, more than any other issue except education, which also garnered 24% of responses. Read the story here.
Audit Faults U.S. for Its Spending on Port Defense
The Department of Homeland Security has allocated hundreds of millions of dollars to protect ports since Sept. 11 without sufficiently focusing on those that are most vulnerable, a policy that could compromise the nation’s ability to better defend against terrorist attacks, the department’s inspector general has concluded. Hundreds of thousands of dollars has been invested in redundant lighting systems and unnecessary technical equipment, the audit found, but “the program has not yet achieved its intended results in the form of actual improvement in port security.” In addition, less than a quarter of the $517 million that the department distributed in grants between June 2002 and December 2003 had been spent as of September 2004, the inspector general found. The report also questioned whether grants allocated for small projects in resort areas and some remote locations should have been considered as critical to national security needs as larger projects at ports that are more vital to the national economy. Read the story here.
Friday, February 18th, 2005
SAVE OUR LICENSE
The campaign to amend the California Constitution to ban driver licenses for illegal aliens forever has failed to qualify for the ballot. The effort fell about 150,000 signatures short, pretty good considering the effort was grassroots and focused largely here in Southern California. But don’t give up- sign up for the Angry Mob March On Washington (see above).
Blake’s Lawyers Try to Discredit Witnesses
A UCLA expert on drug use took the stand today in the Robert Blake murder trial as the actor’s defense team beefed up its effort to discredit key prosecution witnesses over their allegedly frequent consumption of methamphetamine and other narcotics. In testimony this morning, psychopharmacologist Ronald Keith Siegel told the jurors that long-term users of methamphetamines and cocaine could suffer from alternate realities. In addition, Siegel, who is a paid defense expert, said that physical symptoms of long-term drug use include heart and vision problems. Siegel spoke in general terms and did not refer to any specific people or incidents in the Blake case. However, his testimony was designed to raise questions about the credibility of stuntman Ronald “Duffy” Hambleton, a prosecution witness who accused Blake of soliciting the murder of his wife. Earlier this week, two defense witnesses testified that Hambleton snorted, ate and smoked methamphetamine frequently. Hambleton cooked the drug in a coffeepot and was prone to paranoia and hallucinations, according to acquaintances. Read the story here.
Smoking Bans Bad Science, Bad Policy
Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised at my reception last week at a Lakewood, Ohio hearing on banning smoking in restaurants and bars. Such events tend to bring out the penny-ante dictators. After all, when customers can readily find smoke-free facilities and nobody’s forced to take a job, such bans are inherently authoritarian. But these people made Mussolini look like freedom’s friend. The nine-member commission appointed to advise the city council on the ban originally arranged to have six witnesses testify. Three for and three against, right? Try six for and zero against. Then they relented and deigned to allow one witness on the other side – until they discovered it was me. Specifically, those behind the national jihad against so-called “passive smoking” insisted I must not speak. One email labeled me a “shock jock” – an interesting metaphor considering I’ve never even guest-hosted a radio show. (Note to broadcast producers: Not that I have anything against it. Read the story here.
CONSTANTINE
Another Friday, another “comic book” movie. This one got my attention just because they bought so much air time during the Super Bowl. I always figure if they’re going to spend that much promoting a movie, I have to see it, because it’s either a big hit or a big dud. If you want, scroll ahead to the end of this review to see which way I voted.
And then there’s always the enigma that is Keanu Reeves. There’s no in between in the world of opinion on Keanu – people either love him or hate him. I prefer to think of him as the “new Arnold Schwarzenegger”. Think about it – most of his hit movies are action/adventure types, and, just like Arnold, Keanu’s job is to say little and play the strong, tough guy. Oh, and when he does speak, it’s in a monotone. He doesn’t disappoint this time either, delivering one completely “devoid of emotion” line after another.
Keanu plays the role of John Constantine, a “man” with unusual powers. Well, let me simplify it – he sees “demon people”. These would be the awful creatures of hell who have managed to slip into our world to create some havoc. John has spent twenty years exorcising their kind, but now finds out there may be more to what they are usually up to then meets the eye. (more…) 
