"Family of dead hospital patient wants answers" | AP October 10, 2013
SAN FRANCISCO — A patient who disappeared from her room at San Francisco’s main hospital more than two weeks ago has been identified as the woman found dead this week in a stairwell at the facility, authorities said Wednesday, as they continued to investigate how she got there and what caused her death.
San Francisco General Hospital chief medical officer Todd May said at a news conference officials were still awaiting confirmation of the woman’s identity from the medical examiner’s office. But he said hospital officials had enough information to conclude it was 57-year-old Lynne Spalding.
‘‘What happened at our hospital is horrible,’’ a visibly emotional May said. ‘‘We are here to take care of patients, to heal them, to keep them safe. This has shaken us to our core. Our staff is devastated.’’
David Perry, a friend of Spalding’s who is acting as a spokesman for her family, called the news a ‘‘nightmare’’ and said city officials have a lot of explaining to do. Spalding’s relatives and friends spent days ‘‘scouring the streets of San Francisco because we were under the assumption that San Francisco General had been searched and Lynn was not here,’’ Perry said.
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"Police investigate death in stairwell in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO — Investigators looking into the death of a woman found in a stairwell at San Francisco General Hospital are investigating reports that an orderly told hospital authorities that he saw an unconscious woman there a week before her body was found on Oct. 8. It is still unclear why sheriffs did not locate the woman after hospital authorities reported the worker’s finding. Lynne Spalding, 57, disappeared from her room Sept. 21, two days after she was admitted for an infection."
I wonder how that investigation is going.
Also see:
Calif. children stricken by rare polio-like disease
Paralysis in children linked to polio-like virus, but it’s rare
Stay out of the hospitals in California.
"Former Calif. officers on trial in man’s death" | Associated Press December 02, 2013
SANTA ANA, Calif. — A trial will begin Monday for two former Fullerton police officers charged in connection with the death of mentally ill homeless man in 2011.
Audio recordings and surveillance video taken during a nearly 10-minute brawl show 37-year-old Kelly Thomas being kneed, shocked, and pinned down by six officers.
One of them, Manuel Ramos, is charged with second-degree murder, marking the first murder trial of a uniformed police officer in Orange County’s history. Ramos, 39, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.
Jay Cicinelli, 42, has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and use of excessive force. Both are free on bail. A third officer will be tried separately on charges of involuntary manslaughter and excessive force. Three other officers were not charged.
Thomas’s father, Ron, said his son was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
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"Journalist assaulted at Calif. protest" | Associated Press January 20, 2014
FULLERTON, Calif. — A protest over the acquittal of two former California police officers in the beating death of a homeless man turned violent Saturday when someone assaulted a TV camerawoman, resulting in at least 14 arrests, police said.
The protest against Monday’s acquittal of two former Fullerton officers in the 2011 death of Kelly Thomas drew about 200 people, police Sergeant Jeff Stuart said.
He said most of the protesters were peaceful, but some took over intersections, blocked streets, and vandalized businesses.
What this shows you very briefly is the American people have had it with jackboot tyranny at all levels.
Video broadcast by KCBS-TV showed someone whose face was covered by a bandanna striking the camerawoman. She fled into her news van, and her crew called 911 when a group surrounded the vehicle, Stuart said.
The attack prompted police to declare the protest an unlawful assembly. Officers in riot gear came to disperse the crowd and arrested those who did not leave, Stuart said.
Also arrested were the assault suspect and two others who allegedly scrawled an obscenity and an anarchist symbol on police property.
I see police agent provocateurs there.
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"Suspect in Calif. killings found dead" by Gillian Flaccus | Associated Press November 30, 2013
SANTA ANA, Calif. — A former Marine who was awaiting trial in the killing of six people, including four homeless men, died after ingesting Ajax in his jail cell, his lawyer said Friday.
That is never good for authority!
Itzcoatl Ocampo, 25, apparently accumulated the cleaning product over time while in custody, said his attorney, Michael Molfetta, who was briefed on the death.
The death raises serious questions about how well Orange County jail deputies were supervising Ocampo, who had mental health issues, Molfetta said.
Ocampo was found shaking and vomiting in his single-man cell Wednesday and taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead Thursday afternoon, said Orange County sheriff’s Lieutenant Jeff Hallock. An autopsy is scheduled.
Prosecutors alleged that Ocampo, a native of Mexico, stabbed four homeless men in what they called a serial thrill-kill rampage in late 2011 and early 2012. Ocampo, who was discharged from the Marines in 2010, also was facing murder charges in the deaths of a school friend’s mother and brother in October 2011.
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Also see:
"A California judge ruled Thursday that a 13-year-old boy who was 10 when he killed his neo-Nazi father will spend at least the next seven years in a state juvenile facility. He would be the youngest person in the lockup, and prosecutors have acknowledged he probably would be placed with some of the most violent offenders."
Related: California Flare-Ups: Let Sleeping Nazis Die
I'm going to by not commenting.
What I found strange was the need for a hunger strike in California's prisons due to the overcrowding and squalid conditions -- all in the land of the free. Looks more like a Gitmo to me.
Related: Lost hunter survived on squirrels
Sounds like the a Life of Jose story only in the woods.
"Calif. city moves to expand eminent domain" Associated Press September 12, 2013
RICHMOND, Calif. — A San Francisco Bay Area city voted Wednesday to try to expand a first-in-the-nation plan to use its power of eminent domain to seize hundreds of mortgages that exceed the value of homes.
Oh, I'm liking this! Fire away!
The Richmond City Council voted 4 to 3 to set up a joint powers authority to bring more cities into the plan, according to reports in local media.
Mayor Gayle McLaughlin says the city of El Monte in Southern California has expressed interest, and she believes other cities will follow.
This is going to make the bankers mad!
Under the plan, Richmond would use eminent domain to seize so-called underwater mortgages.
Rather than using it so a house can be torn down for a shopping mall or highway.
It would then offer the bank fair market value for them and give the homeowner a new loan that would lower monthly payments and improve their chances of staying.
I'd rather they just bail you out, but okay.
Banks have filed lawsuits to stop Richmond from going ahead with the strategy, and investors have shied away from purchasing city bonds since the eminent domain plan began garnering national attention.
What did I say a couple of paragraphs ago?
More than 200 speakers jammed City Hall to debate the plan, delaying the vote until after 1 a.m. Wednesday.
Critics fear the city will lose its legal battle with the banks and face millions of dollars in damages if it adopts the unprecedented plan to forcefully take mortgages from financial institutions and pay them far less than is owed.
Good chance they will lose in court because it';s a corporate government now.
The city faces an uphill battle to implement the plan.
It would take votes from five council members to grant the city the eminent powers it needs to seize the loans.
Supporters mustered only four votes for the action on Wednesday.
However, the council also voted 5 to 2 to reject a proposal to kill the plan altogether.
‘‘Waiting for the next wave of foreclosures is the real risk,’’ said McLaughlin, an outspoken proponent of the plan.
‘‘It’s time for us to take a stand,’’ she added.
So they haven't yet?
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Related: Occupy-Supplied Outhouse
And the minimum wage is going up, too!
"Man who hid assets gets 17-year term" | Associated Press March 06, 2014
SACRAMENTO — A California businessman accused of declaring bankruptcy and hiding his assets to avoid paying child support and alimony following a contentious divorce was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison.
Steven K. Zinnel, 50, of Sacramento County was also ordered on Tuesday to pay a $500,000 fine and forfeit assets of more than $2.8 million, The Sacramento Bee reported.
The fraud came to light after Zinnel called the FBI and asked the agency to investigate his ex-wife, the Bee reported. The couple, who have two teenage children, split in 1999.
He did it to himself, but it's all settled now!
The state Third District Court of Appeal ruled on the divorce case in 2008, and said it was Zinnel’s ‘‘view that if he can conceal his finances long enough he will not have to support his children.’’
Federal prosecutors alleged Zinnel put much of his property in other people’s names before and after his 2005 bankruptcy. Zinnel was convicted of 15 counts of bankruptcy fraud and money laundering last year.
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Related:
"A professed psychic and her husband were charged after a man was bilked out of nearly $1 million, supposedly to break a curse that was keeping him from true love."
This is love:
"Teen dies saving girlfriend from train | Associated Press March 25, 2014
MARYSVILLE, Calif. — A Northern California teen pushed his girlfriend away from the path of an oncoming train before he was struck and killed, witnesses and family members said Monday.
The girlfriend, 16-year-old Mickayla Friend, was still grazed and critically injured, though her mother, Sandy, said at a vigil Sunday that she was breathing on her own and walking.
Mickayla and Mateus Moore, also 16, were heading to a school dance Friday night in Marysville when they were struck by the Union Pacific freight train.
Sandy Friend said Mickayla told her that Mateus pushed her as hard as he could. Witnesses to the train strike said Mateus’s actions prevented Mickayla from being run over as well.
“He just sacrificed himself to save my daughter,’’ Sandy Friend said.
Marysville Police Chief David Baker said investigators are looking into whether the teens got distracted by headphones or something else when the accident occurred.
The conductor sounded the horn and tried to stop, but it typically takes more than a mile to come to a halt, Union Pacific said in statement, which said the two teens were trespassing on railroad property.
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Related: Man turns 103, gets sign of LA love
This is not:
"San Diego’s ex-mayor gets probation in sex harassment case" by Elliot Spagat | Associated Press, December 10, 2013
SAN DIEGO — Bob Filner was sentenced Monday to three months of home confinement and three years of probation for harassing women while he was mayor of San Diego, completing the fall of the former 10-term representative who barely a year ago achieved his long dream of being elected leader of the nation’s eighth-largest city.
No jail?
Filner, who resigned amid widespread allegations of sexual harassment, pleaded guilty in October to one felony and two misdemeanors for placing a woman in a headlock, kissing another woman, and grabbing the buttocks of a third.
Superior Court Judge Robert Trentacosta’s sentence was the same as what prosecutors recommended in a plea agreement with Filner. The 71-year-old faced a maximum penalty of three years in prison for the felony and one year in jail for each misdemeanor.
Filner apologized to the victims and told the judge he would work to earn back the trust of those he betrayed and recover his integrity, a sharp contrast to his defiant resignation speech nearly four months ago in which he said he was the victim of ‘‘a lynch mob.’’
‘‘I want to apologize to my family, who have stood by me through this ordeal, to my loyal staff and supporters, the citizens of San Diego, and most sincerely to the women I have hurt and offended. ... Certainly the behaviors before this court today will never be repeated,’’ he said in a brief statement.
In a defense memorandum written for the judge to consider in sentencing, attorney Jerry Coughlan said that as mayor, Filner ended his exercise routine and stopped therapy that congressional doctors prescribed ‘‘to help stabilize his mood and safeguard mental health.’’
The disruption in his medications and stress associated with his new job ‘‘substantially contributed’’ to his misconduct, the attorney wrote.
Among sentencing terms, Filner cannot seek or hold elected office while on probation and will be monitored by GPS during his home confinement, which begins Jan. 1. Exceptions to home confinement include medical, mental health, and therapy appointments as well as travel to religious services.
He's Jewish!
--more--"
You ladies got abused again.
At least the "deal signals the end of Filner’s life in elective politics."
Related: Putting Out Filner's Fire
Also see: The city’s first elected Jewish mayor
That gets us down to LA:
LA fails to meet goals for diversity in contracts
LA library offers diploma program
"A Northern California couple out walking their dog on their property stumbled across a modern-day bonanza: $10 million in rare, mint-condition gold coins buried in the shadow of a tree."
Chapter suspended by Sierra Club
Were they complaining about radiation on the West Coast?
"The falling tree top killed 21-year-old art counselor Annais Rittenberg and injured Moore and three others. Officials say they do not know what caused the tree top to fall. No children at the camp were hurt. Staff members at the camp were having breakfast outdoors when they felt what the parent of one counselor described as an earthquake."
As for the rest I'm really in limbo and want to ride out on a rail, bus, plane (Asiana makes me think Malaysia, and Santa Monica), car, or anything that moves. I know it's rather stupid, but maybe some money should have been spent on infrastructure lo these many years?
Man in alleged Calif. assault claims senior prank
Police in Calif. detain couple in toddler’s death
Arizona mother accused in children’s deaths
Calif. woman held in tribe shooting
Man guilty in killing of USC students
Calif. police seek motive in slaying of 3
4 arrested in shooting of Calif. teacher
Also see:
Fire Away Friday: The Aggravation of Aaron Alexis
Fire Away Friday: The Problem With AmeriKan Prosecutors
Fire Away Friday: Florida Prosecutors Return Fire
Fire Away Friday: Zanco's Execution
Fire Away Friday: Columbining Maryland and Colorado
Fire Away Friday: The Mattapan Mistake
California and shootings now current.
LA library offers diploma program
"A Northern California couple out walking their dog on their property stumbled across a modern-day bonanza: $10 million in rare, mint-condition gold coins buried in the shadow of a tree."
Chapter suspended by Sierra Club
Were they complaining about radiation on the West Coast?
"The falling tree top killed 21-year-old art counselor Annais Rittenberg and injured Moore and three others. Officials say they do not know what caused the tree top to fall. No children at the camp were hurt. Staff members at the camp were having breakfast outdoors when they felt what the parent of one counselor described as an earthquake."
As for the rest I'm really in limbo and want to ride out on a rail, bus, plane (Asiana makes me think Malaysia, and Santa Monica), car, or anything that moves. I know it's rather stupid, but maybe some money should have been spent on infrastructure lo these many years?
Man in alleged Calif. assault claims senior prank
Police in Calif. detain couple in toddler’s death
Arizona mother accused in children’s deaths
Calif. woman held in tribe shooting
Man guilty in killing of USC students
Calif. police seek motive in slaying of 3
4 arrested in shooting of Calif. teacher
Also see:
California and shootings now current.
