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AMATRICE, Italy — Rescue crews aided by sniffer dogs dug through crumbled homes Thursday looking for earthquake survivors as Italy again anguished over how to secure its ancient towns and mode cities from the country’s highly seismic terrain. After a night of uninterrupted, flood-lit search efforts, firefighters and rescue crews worked in teams around the hard-hit area in central Italy, pulling chunks of cement, rock and metal from mounds of rubble where homes once stood, searching for signs of life. Authorities say at least 241 people were killed and hundreds injured in the quake that struck at 3:36 a.m. Wednesday. At least 470 aftershocks have since rattled the area — one as strong as mag...

A 21-year-old Reno woman spending her first day in Los Angeles plunged to her death Friday from a cliff at Point Fermin in San Pedro, police said. The accident occurred about 2:15 p.m. in the 500 block of West Paseo del Mar. The woman, who had just moved to Califoia from Nevada, asked her new roommate to take her to the beach. At Point Fermin, she climbed a 4-foot wall at the park’s edge to get a better view of the ocean, Los Angeles police Sgt. Bradley Hea said. Somehow, she slipped and fell to her death about 2:15 p.m. She landed on rocks below. “It was completely accidental,” Hea said. Coroner’s investigators and Los Angeles police responded. The woman’s name was not immediately released...

A nonprofit known for training people to give great speeches has clammed up about efforts to move its worldwide headquarters out of Southe Califoia. The silence from Toastmasters Inteational executives no doubt stems from an opposition campaign launched by a proud Torrance member who decries the group’s lack of transparency. With 179 employees and 345,000 members in 15,900 clubs in 142 countries, Toastmasters will hold a vote this week at its Inteational Convention in Washington, D.C., on a proposal to move to Denver from Rancho Santa Margarita, where the organization’s home base has been since 1990. A two-thirds vote is required for approval. The Toastmasters board recommended in 2015 on i...

LOS ANGELES >> The death sentence of the “Grim Sleeper” serial killer last week put to rest a case that spaed more than three decades, but it left another mystery wide open. Police are still trying to identify 33 women whose snapshots were found in Loie Franklin Jr.’s home after his arrest. The images were part of a chilling discovery of nearly 1,000 photos of women or teenage girls — many nude and some who appeared to be unconscious or dead — hidden in Franklin’s house. The collection included photographs of several victims, which leads police and prosecutors to believe Franklin left behind many more. Detective Daryn Dupree said Franklin is one of the most prolific killers and could ...

Stuffed animals lean against candles. Chalk drawings of hearts cover the street where a little girl and her mother were killed. In the mouful aftermath of a deadly shooting Aug. 6 near Locust Avenue and East Ninth Street, children routinely accompany their parents to the makeshift memorial honoring Carina Mancera, 26, and her 4-year-old daughter, Jeabel Anaya, who were gued down as they retued home from grocery shopping. And the little ones have big questions. Yarely Avina is the mother of Ariel, a 6-year-old girl who attends an elementary school in the same neighborhood where Jeabel was killed. “She asked ‘when is she coming back?’” Avina said. “I told her, ‘She’s not coming back. She’s in...

The SuperScoopers have landed! Just in time for sizzling temperatures this weekend, the county officially unveiled a huge part of its aerial firefighting fleet Friday. •RELATED STORY: SuperScoopers arrive 3 weeks early to help combat LA County brush fires Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich and Fire Chief Daryl L. Osby showcased the recent arrival of two Canadian SuperScoopers and an Erickson Air-Crane. •RELATED STORY: Massive Sand fire nearly contained after more than a week The water bombers landed at Van Nuys Airport Aug. 6 after their flight from their home base in Quebec, Canada. They are usually leased during the fall for work on L.A. County’s fires, but this year they ha...

Robyn Gogue will take her twin 5-year-old daughters to their first day of kindergarten next week in Menifee. Her husband, Roy, a Calu2009Fire firefighter, isn’t able to attend the milestone moment. “I know he’s upset that he will miss another first in their lives,” Robyn Gogue said. Corona firefighter John Deyoe was looking forward to a dier date with his daughters and girlfriend, whom he hadn’t seen in 10u2009days, but he had to cancel because of a last-minute work assignment. “My heart dropped to my feet. It was like somebody punched me in the stomach,” Deyoe said. Such is the life of Southe Califoia firefighter families at the height of the wildfire season, where one spouse — in most cas...

Police on Tuesday said they arrested a Long Beach man suspected of stabbing another man to death outside a Santa Ana convenience store. Logan James Cuingham, 27, was arrested by Long Beach police in the stabbing of 40-year-old Jason Paul Torres of Costa Mesa, said Santa Ana police. Torres was stabbed about 9:10 p.m. Sunday near a Circle K at 710 E Dyer Rd. in Santa Ana and was pronounced dead at a local hospital. During the course of their investigation Santa Ana police determined Cuingham was suspected of killing Torres, police said. Police have not disclosed a possible motive, but said the victim and suspect were acquainted. On Monday, Long Beach police responded to a domestic disturbance...

Family members and friends of a man mistakenly shot and killed by a deputy last month confronted the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday and demanded they further investigate the actions of the sheriff’s department. Doell Thompson Jr., 27, was killed in a deputy-involved shooting in Compton on July 28. Deputies believed Thompson was a suspect in a carjacking. But after an investigation, the sheriff’s department admitted in a statement Tuesday that the wrong man had been shot. The carjacking suspect, who led deputies on a chase and shot at them, was arrested later that same moing. “We have determined that there is no evidence that Mr. Thompson was in the carjacked vehicle, nor th...

LOS ANGELES — A 24-year-old woman charged with murder in the death of her grandmother in Bell remained jailed today in lieu of $2 million bail. Sarah Montoya was arrested Wednesday and appeared in a Downey courtroom Friday in coection with the death of Paula Montoya, whose body was discovered July 21 in her residence in the 6600 block of Pine Avenue. Her arraignment was continued to Aug. 18. Sheriff’s investigators said the 64-year-old woman was last seen alive at her home three days before her body was found by deputies conducting a welfare check. She was described by sheriff’s officials as an active member of her local church, a “doting grandmother of six children and an attentive great- g...

A man was stabbed to death and another man was injured in a gang-related fight in the Cambodia Town area of Long Beach Saturday night, police said Sunday. Officers were called to the area of Anaheim Street and Molino Avenue at about 6:20 p.m. and discovered two men who had been stabbed, according to a statement from police. Both were transported to a hospital. One man, identified as Juan Chavez, 22, of Long Beach, had a stab wound in the lower body and was pronounced dead at the hospital. The other man, an 18-year-old Long Beach resident, had sustained an injury to his upper body was listed in stable condition, police said. Police said the men had been involved in a fight with another group...

The recent deaths of three people at the HARD Summer Music Festival in Fontana reignited a push by San Beardino County Supervisor Janice Rutherford to ban raves at the San Manual Amphitheater in Devore. Officials at Auto Club Speedway, in unincorporated Fontana, and Live Nation have remained silent since the deaths of u2009Derek Lee, 22, of San Francisco, Alyssa Dominguez, 21, of San Diego and Roxae Ngo, 22, of Chino Hills, following last weekend’s event. Their causes of death remain under investigation and appear unrelated, authorities said. In a statement released Friday, Rutherford said that while the causes of death have yet to be determined, it is common knowledge that many young peopl...

Long Beach health officials are asking people to take precautions against West Nile Virus in light of state reports confirming the first death this year involving a senior citizen in Sacramento County. Although Long Beach has not documented any West Nile virus activity this year, it has been detected in Orange and Los Angeles counties, prompting Interim Health Officer Dr. Maura Too to remind residents to protect themselves during the summer months. “The first death of a Califoia resident due to West Nile virus is a sad and sobering reminder of the risk posed by mosquito bites,” Too said in a statement. “I would like to take this time to remind Long Beach residents to take precautions to avoi...

A man was found guilty Friday of first-degree murder for the fatal stabbing of a man at the Port of Long Beach 14 years ago. Stewart Teofilo, 40, of Patterson, was convicted of the June 24, 2002, killing of 33-year-old San Gabriel resident Maurice Howard. Sentencing is set for Sept. 1. Howard’s body was found inside his vehicle near Pier E in the Port of Long Beach. He was found inside his vehicle in a parking lot with stab wounds to his head, upper body and torso area. Several years later, cold case investigators submitted evidence to the Los Angeles County Crime Lab for DNA testing. In May 2014, detectives received information that a DNA profile resulted in a match to Teofilo, who was the...

BONITA, Calif. — Jonathan De Guzman, a San Diego police officer who survived a stabbing 13 years ago and shot at a gun-wielding man three years ago, will be buried Friday after being fatally shot in the driver’s seat of his patrol car after his partner approached a man on the street. The burial will follow the second memorial service in two days for the decorated officer, a 16-year veteran of the force who worked on an anti-gang unit. Gov. Jerry Brown plaed to attend the memorial at Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, which will follow a procession of law enforcement vehicles miles away at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium and include aircraft, bagpipes and a 21-gun salute. A smaller c...

LOS ANGELES — A search was underway today for a 24-year-old woman described as a “person of interest” in the “suspicious” death of her grandmother in Bell and whose own four young children are also missing. Sarah Montoya is being sought in coection with the death of Paula Montoya, whose body was discovered July 21 in her residence in the 6600 block of Pine Avenue. Sheriff’s investigators said the 64-year-old woman was last seen alive three days earlier at her home. She was described in a sheriff’s statement as an active member in her local church, a “doting grandmother of six children and an attentive great-grandmother to four children.” Detectives did not release the cause of the woman’s d...

LOS ANGELES — The parents of “Star Trek” actor Anton Yelchin on Tuesday sued the makers of the Jeep Grand Cherokee, an SUV that was under recall when it crushed and killed the 27-year-old. Victor and Irina Yelchin filed the wrongful-death and product-liability lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler in Los Angeles Superior Court roughly six weeks after their son was killed. The suit contends that the gear selector in the actor’s Jeep was defective and poorly designed and manufactured. “Anton Yelchin was crushed and lingered alive for some time, trapped and suffocating until his death,” the lawsuit says. The actor’s Jeep rolled backward down the driveway of his Studio City home June 19, piing him betw...

COMPTON — Authorities asked for the public’s help today in tracking down whoever shot and killed a man in Compton. The shooting occurred about 10:40 p.m. Monday in the 500 block of North Sloan Avenue, between Rosecrans Avenue and Compton Boulevard, said Deputy Kelvin Moody of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau. The victim was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Moody said. Detectives who responded to the call said they found the victim lying unresponsive on the driveway with gunshot wounds to his upper body. A preliminary investigation revealed that an unidentified suspect confronted the victim in the front yard of the location and opened fire several times, said Deputy Crystal...

ISTANBUL >> Authorities say fighting between Turkish forces and Kurdish rebels in the restive southeast of the country has killed eight Turkish soldiers and 35 Kurdish fighters. The office of Turkey’s General Staff headquarters said Saturday the eight soldiers were killed in a clash Friday afteoon with Kurdish militants at a checkpoint in the southeaste Hakkari province. A subsequent operation against the Kurdish rebels left eight Kurds dead, the military said. Separately, a further 27 fighters from the Kurdish Workers’ Party, or PKK, were killed in the same province when Turkish troops launched an air-and-ground operation against groups of PKK fighters attempting to infiltrate an area...

Wildfires have become a grim reality for Southe Califoia. With miles of dry sage brush carpeting most of the land — much of it in steep, rugged and inaccessible terrain — there’s plenty of material to fuel a blaze. And five years of drought ensure a future of even bigger fires for the region. The cost to battle these blazes is already high. With thousands of firefighters on the ground and fleets of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft on the scene, the price for fighting an aggressive fire can escalate quickly. The cost for fighting the Sand Fire, which broke out last week near Sand Canyon Road and the 14 Freeway in Santa Clarita, was projected this week to be around $28 million, and that bl...