"200,000 in Southern California are without power after violent windstorm" December 03, 2011|By Associated Press
PASADENA, Calif. - Violent winds that wreaked havoc in Western states eased yesterday, but hundreds of thousands of people remained without power and crews struggled to clean up smashed trees, toppled power lines, and debris-strewn roadways.
In Southern California, where the damage was the worst, several cities maintained states of local emergency for a second day and a dozen school districts remained closed.
A street in the Los Angeles suburb of Temple City was blocked by a row of toppled power poles, their wires still attached.
About 200,000 people in Southern California and thousands more in Utah - where winds on Thursday topped 100 miles per hour - remained without electricity. Authorities said some areas might not have power restored until tomorrow....
Meanwhile, in Northern California, crews battled wildfires yesterday that were sparked by power lines blown down by the wind. Nearly two dozen fires erupted Thursday, but some were contained and most were confined to a few acres of land. Winds were blamed for the destruction of at least four homes.
Aiding firefighters and those involved in the cleanup was the fact that high winds, which had been expected to return overnight, never materialized. Around the state, the 60- to 80-mile-per-hour wind gusts of the previous day had become mere breezes....
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"California cleans up from storm as residents brace for more winds" December 06, 2011|Associated Press
PASADENA, Calif. - Southern Californians were struggling yesterday to clean up millions of dollars in damage and restore power to thousands of people still left in the dark nearly a week after one of the worst windstorms in years ripped through the region....
And whadda ya mean more winds?
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Globe stopped blowing.
Whodunit, readers?
"Officials reopen Wood’s 1981 drowning case, say Wagner not suspect" November 19, 2011|By Anthony McCartney, Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - Investigators reopened the case of Natalie Wood’s 1981 drowning after receiving new information they deemed credible enough to warrant another look at one of Hollywood’s most enduring mysteries.
But a detective said yesterday that the three-time Oscar nominee’s husband, actor Robert Wagner, was not a suspect.
Los Angeles Sheriff’s Lieutenant John Corina said nothing has yet changed the official view that Wood’s death in the chilly waters off Southern California’s Santa Catalina Island was an accident.
“Right now, her death is an accidental drowning,’’ Corina said.
Corina said yesterday that two detectives would delve into the case and interview witnesses, including some who have come forward since the announcement a day earlier that the actress’ death is being reviewed again.
Corina declined to say whether all the new information came from Dennis Davern, who was a captain of the yacht that Wagner, Wood, and actor Christopher Walken were sharing on Thanksgiving weekend in 1981. Davern said on national television yesterday that he lied to investigators about events on the yacht Splendour when he was interviewed after Wood’s death.
Davern accused Wagner of having a fight with Wood before she went missing and delaying the search for her after she went missing from the boat.
On Nov. 29, 1981, Wood drowned after spending several hours drinking in a yacht with Wagner, Walken, and Davern. Davern told NBC’s “Today’’ show yesterday that he made mistakes by not telling the truth about events leading to the death and had urged Los Angeles County sheriff’s homicide investigators to reopen the case.
It is Davern’s latest attempt to change the official account of what happened.
I've reached the point where I don't believe the official account of anything. They maybe small or it may be large, but there are always lies within.
Related:
"The best account is the book Coroner by Thomas T Noguchi MD, published in 1983. Noguchi was the medical examiner who conducted the forensic investigations into the deaths of dozens of stars, including Marilyn Monroe, Robert F Kennedy, Sharon Tate, Janis Joplin, William Holden and John Belushi."
Oh, yeah, I'm really going to trust the cover-up specialist of L.A. county.
“Was the fight between Natalie Wood and her husband Robert Wagner what ultimately led to her death?’’ show host David Gregory asked.
“Yes,’’ Davern replied.
“How so?’’
“Like I said, that’s going to be up to the investigators to decide,’’ the captain said after a long pause.
And me:
"The summary:
Los Angeles County homicide detectives have reopened an investigation into the 30-year-old mystery of actress Natalie Wood’s death. The star’s 1981 drowning was ruled an accident. But her last evening, which she spent on a yacht with husband Robert Wagner and movie co-star Christopher Walken, has long been the subject of speculation. Law enforcement officials have now decided to take another look at the case after receiving fresh information, and they plan to interview the boat’s captain about comments he made about the case recently, the Los Angeles Times reports.
In the captain’s book Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour, he recalls that on the night she drowned, Wood was drinking and taking Quaaludes with Wagner and Walken. An argument erupted between the two men, apparently over Wood, followed by shouting between the couple in their room—and thumps, according to the captain. He says he was later told “Natalie is missing” by Wagner, who allegedly refused to let him call the Coast Guard. The captain’s co-author, Marti Rulli, has been in touch for months with police, reports TMZ. An investigation at the time determined that Wood apparently fell into the sea after attempting to climb into the yacht’s dingy or trying to secure it. Wagner has issued a statement saying he supports the new investigation.What are your thoughts? Do you think Natalie Wood may have been murdered?
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It may not be conspiracy, but it sure is coincidence that Wood was involved with Wagner and Holden with Stephanie Powers and both suffered "accidents" with the cover-up coroner doing the autopsies. Soon thereafter Wagner and Powers got together, and Hollywood rumors are that the affair had already started because of Wagner's network show "Hart-to-Hart," where Powers played his wife. Maybe not Liz and Dick, but you know. That's Hollywood. Could that have been what the argument was about with some domestic violence resulting in a not-to-good situation and dumping of the body?
Davern said he believes Wagner had intentionally kept the investigation into Wood’s death low profile and did not do everything he could have done. When Gregory pressed Davern for supporting details, he said that was the duty of investigators.
Davern has said for years the official account of Wood’s disappearance was not what really happened, including in a 1992 appearance on a Geraldo Rivera special and in a 2000 Vanity Fair piece. He also worked with author and friend Marti Rulli on “Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour,’’ a book out last year.
Corina said he was not concerned about a 2010 book Davern cowrote on Wood’s disappearance, or that it was the 30-year anniversary of the actress’ death.
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Maybe she faked her own death:
"Calif. prison psychologist accused of faking rape" by Don Thompson Associated Press / December 9, 2011
SACRAMENTO, Calif.—She split her own lip with a pin, scraped her knuckles with sandpaper and had her friend punch her in the face. Investigators say she even ripped open her blouse, then wet her pants to give the appearance she had been knocked unconscious.
But it was all part of what authorities said Friday was an elaborate hoax by the woman to convince her husband she was raped so they could move to a safer neighborhood.
Charges filed by the Sacramento County district attorney allege Laurie Ann Martinez, a prison psychologist, conspired with the friend to create the appearance that she was beaten, robbed and raped by a stranger in April in her Sacramento home.
Martinez, her friend and two co-workers eventually told police the whole thing was a setup to convince Martinez's husband that they needed to move from a blighted, high-crime area three miles north of the state Capitol.
It didn't work. Instead, the couple filed for divorce six weeks after the April 10 incident, according to court records.
"If all you wanted to do is move, there's other ways than staging a burglary and rape," said Sacramento police Sgt. Andrew Pettit. "She went to great lengths to make this appear real."
Martinez, 36, a psychologist for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, reported she had come home that day to find a stranger in her kitchen, authorities said.
"As she tried to run away, the suspect grabbed her and hit her in the face," court records say in describing what she told police. "She lost consciousness and then when she awoke she found her pants and underwear pulled down to her ankles."
Missing from her home were two laptop computers, Martinez's purse, an Xbox video game console, a camera and numerous credit cards that Martinez said the stranger had stolen.
In reality, the items were all at the home of her friend, Nicole April Snyder, authorities allege. Investigators say Martinez had Snyder punch her in the face with boxing gloves they bought for that purpose.
Maybe she can treat herself while she is in prison.
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Also see: Michael Jackson's doctor gets 4-year sentence
Calif. jogger mauled by pack of pit bulls
