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Thirty years ago today was a Sunday, the heart of the Labor Day weekend, and just as two planes were about to collide a mile and a half above the young city of Cerritos, things in the suburban town were quiet, as you’d expect. That’s how many people described the day up until 11:56 a.m.: quiet. If anyone had any plans for the day, they weren’t ambitious. Some residents were in church, some were shopping for groceries for backyard barbecues. Then-Plaing Commissioner George Ray, who today is the mayor of Cerritos, was doing some work at home on his dining room table. Ray, an executive for a Santa Fe Springs-based manufacturing firm that makes parts for airplanes and the space program, heard wh...

HUNTINGTON BEACH — A police officer’s badge deflected a bullet heading for his heart in a gun battle during a car chase Friday moing that ended in the Cajon Pass. The officer was not hurt. Police responding to a domestic violence call in the area of Bushard Street and Yorktown Avenue in Huntington Beach found themselves in a gun battle car chase with a man who fled from the home as they arrived after midnight Friday. “When the officers arrived at the location, a male suspect got into his vehicle and drove away,” said Officer Jeifer Marlatt, a department spokeswoman. The man began driving eastbound on Yorktown with officers in pursuit. Then, abruptly, he made a U-tu and opened fire on the tw...

Firefighters battling the fast-growing fire in the Cajon Pass faced a powder keg created by mountainous terrain, excessive dry vegetation and extreme weather conditions, experts said Wednesday. In just over a day, the Blue Cut fire charred dozens of buildings, mostly single-story family houses, and forced the evacuation of 82,000 residents from 34,500 homes. From the time the fire was reported at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday until 10 that night, the wildfire had grown to 18,000 acres. That day, Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency, in part citing the blaze’s rapid expansion. By 7 p.m. Wednesday, the fire had consumed 25,626 acres, with 4 percent containment, said a representative for the Sa...

RIO DE JANEIRO >> The last time Anthony Ervin won an individual Olympic gold medal, the thing helped nearly sink his entire life. Doesn’t sound like that will be a problem this time. On Friday, the Hart High graduate, at age 35, won his second individual gold, claiming the 50-meter freestyle. A day later, Ervin reflected on the difference between this medal and the one he took home as a teenager from the 2000 Sydney Games and the people who helped him ea both. “That’s what got me here, the people,” he said. “When I was younger, I don’t think I understood that. I was still wayward with my ego, thrusting forward. The weight of this gold feels much lighter knowing that it’s being carried ...

Four convicted killers drew 16 year-to-life prison terms Wednesday for the 2012 Jurupa Valley-to-Long Beach slaying of a man who was shot in the head, beaten with a sledgehammer and strangled. But the motive for the brutal murder of 24-year-old Orange resident Hector Jauregui Campos remains a mystery. “We don’t know for certain the reason for the attack,” Los Angeles County District Attoey spokeswoman Sarah Ardalani said hours after the sentencing of Jurupa Valley residents Jose Duenas, 23, and Rafael Antonio Porales, 25, Long Beach resident Christopher Arevalo Ramirez, 24, and 25-year-old Rafael Bravo, whose hometown was unavailable. All four were convicted July 25 of second-degree murder ...

A motorcyclist died Wednesday evening in a collision in Central Long Beach. Long Beach Police Department spokeswoman Marlene Arrona confirmed the motorcyclist died after responding police officers attempted to save his life by providing first aid. Long Beach Fire Department persoel also responded to the crash. The deceased motorcyclist was a male adult. His identity was not immediately available. The collision happened shortly before 5 p.m. Wednesday near the intersection of E. Pacific Coast Highway and Lemon Avenue. The driver of the other vehicle involved remained present at the site of the crash. Detectives from the police department’s collision investigations detail will investigate the...

The city on Thursday will unveil new protected bike lanes in North Long Beach along Artesia Boulevard from Orange to Atlantic avenues. The lanes are the first to be constructed in the Artesia Bike Lane Project, and will eventually extend east on Artesia to the city’s border at Downey Avenue. “These protected bike lanes are another impressive milestone for our city, and an example of what we would like to see done throughout Long Beach,” Mayor Robert Garcia said in a written statement. “By creating additional protected bike lanes and expanding our bicycle network, we are ensuring our streets contribute to community life and our overall livability.” The lanes are located between the curb and ...

CLEVELAND >> Declaring America in crisis, Donald Trump pledged to cheering Republicans and still-skeptical voters Thursday night that as president he will restore the safety they fear they’re losing, strictly curb immigration and save the nation from Hillary Clinton’s record of “death, destruction, terrorism and weakness.” Confidently addressing the finale of his party’s less-than-smooth national convention, the billionaire businessman declared the nation’s problems too staggering to be fixed within the confines of traditional politics. “I have joined the political arena so that the powerful can no longer beat up on people that caot defend themselves,” Trump said. The 70-year-old cele...

Slowing traffic down on Ocean Boulevard could have a great side benefit — more parking. City officials and community groups are mulling two separate “road diet” projects, one in Belmont Shore from the Belmont Pier to Alamitos Bay, and other on the Peninsula from 54th Place to 72nd Street. Traffic may be reduced to one lane in each direction of the coastline stretches, in favor of bike lanes and more parking. “When we talk about it, the most common conce is that we’re going to cause traffic congestion,” city traffic engineer Eric Widstrand said. “That’s what we want to do. It slows the traffic down.” Ocean Boulevard is currently four lanes, and is a popular route used to skirt the traffic-cl...

Slowing traffic down on Ocean Boulevard could have a great side benefit — more parking. City officials and community groups are mulling two separate “road diet” projects, one in Belmont Shore from the Belmont Pier to Alamitos Bay, and other on the Peninsula from 54th Place to 72nd Street. Traffic may be reduced to one lane in each direction of the coastline stretches, in favor of bike lanes and more parking. “When we talk about it, the most common conce is that we’re going to cause traffic congestion,” city traffic engineer Eric Widstrand said. “That’s what we want to do. It slows the traffic down.” Ocean Boulevard is currently four lanes, and is a popular route used to skirt the traffic-cl...

No more excuses for being late, San Pedro. As of about 2 p.m. Wednesday, the giant clock that had kept everyone on time for decades began working again. Built in 1942 on what was the town’s new Municipal Ferry Building, the timepiece has been an iconic part of the waterfront, visible far and wide from its spot at the end of Sixth Street at Harbor Boulevard. But nothing lasts forever. Eventually, the old clock began to run out of juice. “Over a year ago, we noticed it was losing time,” said Marifrances Trivelli, director of the Los Angeles Maritime Museum now housed in the iconic terra-cotta building on San Pedro’s waterfront. By tuing the power off and rebooting, museum staff was usually ab...

LOS ANGELES — An attoey for actor Paul Walker’s estate said today that a settlement was reached in a lawsuit filed against a warehouse employee who allegedly refused to tu over numerous vehicles that belonged to the “Fast and Furious” star before his 2013 death. “It was settled amicably and one of the conditions is that we’re getting things back,” Walker estate attoey Christopher Heck said when asked if the accord included a retu of the cars and trucks. Heck said that additional terms of the resolution with defendant Richard Taylor are confidential. The lawsuit, filed in June 2015, was dismissed Tuesday by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Sotelo in light of the settlement. According t...

A man allegedly threatened a fire chief in Signal Hill, then led police on a nearly 100-mile chase to Fallbrook in San Diego County before he was arrested, police said Sunday. About 11:20 a.m., Bonsall resident Andrew Carr approached a Long Beach Fire Department employee at a Signal Hill business and made verbal threats against his life, Califoia Highway Patrol Officer Jim Bettencourt said. Long Beach police officers gave chase as Carr fled in a Ford van and recklessly drove through Long Beach, Bettencourt said. As the chase continued southbound on the I-15, Oceanside CHP officers took over the pursuit at Mission Avenue, he said. Several attempts to use spike strips were unsuccessful, Bette...

CAIRO — The second black box of the EgyptAir plane that crashed last month killing all 66 people on board was pulled out of the Mediterranean Sea on Friday, a day after Egypt’s investigation committee said the plane’s cockpit voice recorder had been recovered. The find significantly raises hopes that investigators will finally be able to determine what caused the disaster of the Airbus A320. Both France and the United States are sending investigators to Cairo to help with the probe. The recovery of the black boxes follows a breakthrough earlier in the week, when ships searching the part of the Mediterranean north of Egypt spotted the wreckage of the plane and started mapping its debris on th...

SHANGHAI, CHINA >> The first guest entered the newest Disneyland at a full sprint. He leaped and thrust a finger in the air. He screamed happily at the lines of cast members cheering on the sides of a rainy Mickey Avenue, China’s equivalent of Main Street USA. Then, he tued left and continued ruing toward TRON Lightcycle Power Run. History might never know his name. It was 11:32 a.m., and Disney’s sixth park, after five years, $5.5 billion and unprecedented cooperation between govements, had opened. This was not like the legendary 1955 opening of Anaheim in Disneyland, in which women’s heels stuck in the fresh asphalt. Shanghai Disneyland is beautifully ready. Merideth Stoecker, of Ka...

Two people were killed when a single-engine plane that took off from Hawthoe Municipal Airport crashed into a nearby condominium complex Friday, authorities said. The crash occurred about 5:10 p.m. in the 4500 block of Broadway, which is less than a mile west of the airport and close to Hawthoe High School. Firefighters said the victims were both on the plane, which was based at the Hawthoe airport. They have not been identified. County Fire Inspector Randall Wright said the plane’s occupants were dead when the first of about 50 firefighters responded. No one was hurt on the ground, firefighters said. Authorities said the plane had just taken off from the general aviation airport at 120th S...

Two people were killed when a single-engine plane that took off from Hawthoe Municipal Airport crashed into a nearby condominium complex Friday, authorities said. The crash occurred about 5:10 p.m. in the 4500 block of Broadway, which is less than a mile west of the airport and close to Hawthoe High School. Firefighters said the victims were both on the plane, which is based at the Hawthoe airport. They have not been identified. County Fire Inspector Randall Wright said the plane’s occupants were dead when the first of about 50 firefighters responded. No one was hurt on the ground, firefighters said. Authorities said the plane had just taken off from the general aviation airport at 120th St...

Two people were killed when a single-engine plane that took off from Hawthoe Municipal Airport crashed into a nearby condominium complex Friday, authorities said. The crash occurred about 5:10 p.m. in the 4500 block of Broadway, which is nearly two miles west of the airport and close to Hawthoe High School. The victims were both on the plane, firefighters said. County Fire Inspector Randall Wright said the plane’s occupants were dead when about 50 firefighters responded. No one was hurt on the ground, firefighters said. Authorities said the plane had just taken off from the general aviation airport at 120th Street and Crenshaw Boulevard, which is adjacent to the Tesla Design Studio and the ...

LOS ANGELES — Actor Michael Jace, who portrayed a Los Angeles police officer on the television series “The Shield,” was sentenced today to 40 years to life in prison after apologizing for fatally shooting his wife in front of their two young children in their Hyde Park home. The 53-year-old actor -- who spoke for the first time in court about his wife April’s May 19, 2014, shooting death -- said, “There is no justification for my actions that night at all, and I am profoundly sorry for the pay I have caused everyone ... There is no replacing April.” The woman’s mother, Kay Henry, quickly walked out of court after Jace maintained that “there was no premeditated anything.” “I realize it doesn...

On one particularly hot Saturday moing in August of 1985, the evil apparition known as the Night Stalker became nothing more than a man, a beaten and bloody man who needed the cops to save his life. A new movie, “The Night Stalker” starring Lou Diamond Phillips, will premiere at The Frida Cinema at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Santa Ana with several members of the cast, crew and people involved in the arrest of Richard Ramirez expected to attend. The film is a fictional account of an attoey’s attempt to get the serial killer to confess to crimes he may or may not have committed in Texas before his murder spree in Califoia in the mid-1980s. One of the flashback scenes in the film shows Ramirez, then ...