Americans Kenneth Bae, Matthew Todd Miller released by North Korea

Two Americans detained in North Korea were freed and brought home to the United States on Saturday, the result of a surprising move by the reclusive nation that may signal a shift in its approach to the United States.

The men — Matthew Todd Miller, 25, of Bakersfield, arrested in April, and Kenneth Bae, 46, of Lynnwood, Wash., held since 2012 — landed Saturday night at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, near Tacoma, Wash., accompanied by James R. Clapper, the director of national intelligence.

 "We're very grateful for their safe return," President Obama said at the White House, thanking Clapper for succeeding in "a challenging mission" to help bring about the release of the men.

The sudden announcement came hours before Obama was to head to Asia for a weeklong trip, starting with a stop in China, North Korea's most important ally.

The U.S. has no direct diplomatic relations with North Korea. Sending Clapper, the nation's top intelligence official, on a secret mission to the country was highly unusual. He had been scheduled to speak at the Council on Foreign Relations on Wednesday in New York, but the appearance was abruptly canceled.

The North Koreans apparently had rejected unofficial envoys who had sought to intervene for the Americans. In 2009, President Clinton made a secret trip for the release of American women held there.

The demand by the government in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, for a high-level representative was perhaps to provide an opportunity for relaying a message to Washington.

"As a sitting government official, it's entirely plausible to imagine that if the North Koreans chose to send other messages, he would be capable of transmitting them," Scott Snyder, a senior fellow for Korea studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said of Clapper.

"But in no way does that signal on the U.S. side that the U.S. will begin to engage in a broader dialogue," Snyder said.

The North Koreans have come under enormous pressure over a report circulating at the United Nations on alleged human rights violations and crimes against humanity in the tightly closed country, Snyder said. They have engaged in an "unprecedented" mobilization in recent weeks to tamp down further consideration of the report by international officials, and the release of the Americans appears to be a continuation of that.

"The United States has long called on [North Korean] authorities to release these individuals on humanitarian grounds," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. "We join their families and friends in welcoming them home."

North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, recently appeared in public for the first time in weeks after apparently suffering a medical ailment. Shortly after he resurfaced, another detained American, Jeffrey Fowle, was released, renewing hope that Bae and Miller would be freed as well.

The two American men had been detained in North Korea under different circumstances, though both cases point to the nation's sensitivity to threats to its authority.

Bae, an American evangelist, was arrested and charged with "hostile acts against the state" in 2012 in the North Korean city of Rason. He was serving a 15-year hard labor sentence, and U.S. officials were concerned about his health. He was transferred this year from a hospital to a prison labor camp.

Bae's sister, Terri Chung, said in a statement Saturday that she was contacted by the State Department early in the day and told that her brother and Miller had just left North Korean airspace and were heading to the United States.

"I am thrilled to imagine hugging my brother soon. He will not have to spend another day at a labor camp," she said. "He can now recover from this imprisonment and look forward to his wife, kids and rest of his life. Our Thanksgiving celebration this year will be one we will never forget."

Miller was sentenced in September to six years of hard labor after acknowledging that he had ripped up his tourist visa when he entered the country at the Pyongyang airport in April.

North Korea's state-run news agency said last month that Miller had been a student in Seoul, the South Korean capital, and deliberately sought to get arrested in the North as part of an elaborate plan to meet another American imprisoned in the country, negotiate for his release and ultimately expose "the human rights situation" in the country.

The state news agency's accounts, which were not independently verified, suggested that Miller had written that he sought to disclose information "like Snowden," referring to former U.S. government contractor Edward Snowden, who exposed details of secret U.S. surveillance programs last year.

But in another account, Reuters reported last month that Miller had told people in Seoul that he was a British citizen working on an anime adaptation of Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland," and that he appeared "awkward" and "mysterious."

Miller's family has not spoken publicly about his situation. Those who knew him growing up in California's Central Valley have said he seemed to be a typical child.

The two men were the last Americans known to be detained in North Korea. Previous efforts to free them had failed, making their release something of a surprise.

The administration's foreign policy critics on Capitol Hill were slow Saturday to weigh in on the release as news of the circumstances trickled out of the unannounced mission.

For the Obama administration, "it was probably the least unsatisfactory option for securing the release of these individuals," Snyder said. "If this is what it takes to get these people out, they're holding their nose and doing it."

Times staff writer Javier Panzar in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

9:13 p.m.: This post was updated with their arrival in the U.S.

8:34 p.m.: This post has been updated throughout.

11:20 a.m.: This post has been updated with a statement from Kenneth Bae's sister.

9:12 a.m. This post has been updated with details about the detained Americans and comments from President Obama and the State Department.

This post was originally published at 7:33 a.m. PST.

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Body of missing 59-year-old man found in Riverside

Riverside police found a body in a dirt field Saturday afternoon that was later identified as that of a missing 59-year-old man.

The remains of Dennis Guthaus, of Riverside, were found near Alta Cresta Avenue and Van Buren Boulevard, police said.

Police said Guthaus had Parkinson's disease and had been reported missing the day before.

No foul play is suspected.

Twitter: @LATChrisGoffard

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Americans Kenneth Bae, Matthew Todd Miller released by North Korea

Two Americans detained in North Korea were freed and brought home to the United States on Saturday, the result of a surprising move by the reclusive nation that may signal a shift in its approach to the United States.

The men — Matthew Todd Miller, 25, of Bakersfield, arrested in April, and Kenneth Bae, 46, of Lynnwood, Wash., held since 2012 — landed Saturday night at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, near Tacoma, Wash., accompanied by James R. Clapper, the director of national intelligence.

 "We're very grateful for their safe return," President Obama said at the White House, thanking Clapper for succeeding in "a challenging mission" to help bring about the release of the men.

The sudden announcement came hours before Obama was to head to Asia for a weeklong trip, starting with a stop in China, North Korea's most important ally.

The U.S. has no direct diplomatic relations with North Korea. Sending Clapper, the nation's top intelligence official, on a secret mission to the country was highly unusual. He had been scheduled to speak at the Council on Foreign Relations on Wednesday in New York, but the appearance was abruptly canceled.

The North Koreans apparently had rejected unofficial envoys who had sought to intervene for the Americans. In 2009, President Clinton made a secret trip for the release of American women held there.

The demand by the government in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, for a high-level representative was perhaps to provide an opportunity for relaying a message to Washington.

"As a sitting government official, it's entirely plausible to imagine that if the North Koreans chose to send other messages, he would be capable of transmitting them," Scott Snyder, a senior fellow for Korea studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said of Clapper.

"But in no way does that signal on the U.S. side that the U.S. will begin to engage in a broader dialogue," Snyder said.

The North Koreans have come under enormous pressure over a report circulating at the United Nations on alleged human rights violations and crimes against humanity in the tightly closed country, Snyder said. They have engaged in an "unprecedented" mobilization in recent weeks to tamp down further consideration of the report by international officials, and the release of the Americans appears to be a continuation of that.

"The United States has long called on [North Korean] authorities to release these individuals on humanitarian grounds," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. "We join their families and friends in welcoming them home."

North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, recently appeared in public for the first time in weeks after apparently suffering a medical ailment. Shortly after he resurfaced, another detained American, Jeffrey Fowle, was released, renewing hope that Bae and Miller would be freed as well.

The two American men had been detained in North Korea under different circumstances, though both cases point to the nation's sensitivity to threats to its authority.

Bae, an American evangelist, was arrested and charged with "hostile acts against the state" in 2012 in the North Korean city of Rason. He was serving a 15-year hard labor sentence, and U.S. officials were concerned about his health. He was transferred this year from a hospital to a prison labor camp.

Bae's sister, Terri Chung, said in a statement Saturday that she was contacted by the State Department early in the day and told that her brother and Miller had just left North Korean airspace and were heading to the United States.

"I am thrilled to imagine hugging my brother soon. He will not have to spend another day at a labor camp," she said. "He can now recover from this imprisonment and look forward to his wife, kids and rest of his life. Our Thanksgiving celebration this year will be one we will never forget."

Miller was sentenced in September to six years of hard labor after acknowledging that he had ripped up his tourist visa when he entered the country at the Pyongyang airport in April.

North Korea's state-run news agency said last month that Miller had been a student in Seoul, the South Korean capital, and deliberately sought to get arrested in the North as part of an elaborate plan to meet another American imprisoned in the country, negotiate for his release and ultimately expose "the human rights situation" in the country.

The state news agency's accounts, which were not independently verified, suggested that Miller had written that he sought to disclose information "like Snowden," referring to former U.S. government contractor Edward Snowden, who exposed details of secret U.S. surveillance programs last year.

But in another account, Reuters reported last month that Miller had told people in Seoul that he was a British citizen working on an anime adaptation of Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland," and that he appeared "awkward" and "mysterious."

Miller's family has not spoken publicly about his situation. Those who knew him growing up in California's Central Valley have said he seemed to be a typical child.

The two men were the last Americans known to be detained in North Korea. Previous efforts to free them had failed, making their release something of a surprise.

The administration's foreign policy critics on Capitol Hill were slow Saturday to weigh in on the release as news of the circumstances trickled out of the unannounced mission.

For the Obama administration, "it was probably the least unsatisfactory option for securing the release of these individuals," Snyder said. "If this is what it takes to get these people out, they're holding their nose and doing it."

Times staff writer Javier Panzar in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

9:13 p.m.: This post was updated with their arrival in the U.S.

8:34 p.m.: This post has been updated throughout.

11:20 a.m.: This post has been updated with a statement from Kenneth Bae's sister.

9:12 a.m. This post has been updated with details about the detained Americans and comments from President Obama and the State Department.

This post was originally published at 7:33 a.m. PST.

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

In final analysis, stats have stature with Andrew Friedman's Dodgers

The Dodgers have transformed their baseball operations department, turning what was considered a traditional front office into one that now looks like one of the most progressive in baseball.

If hiring Andrew Friedman to be their primary decision maker signified an increased commitment to statistical analysis, their moves over the last two days marked a full-on embrace.

Friedman is the leader of a group of young "Moneyball"-style executives, among them Farhan Zaidi, who was introduced Friday as general manager.

Zaidi, 37, was an assistant GM of the Oakland Athletics and spent the last decade working under Billy Beane.

Friedman's other top lieutenant will be Senior Vice President Josh Byrnes, 44, who demonstrated fluency in sabermetrics as general manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres.

Incoming scouting director Billy Gasparino, 37, has a background in finance, like Friedman. Farm director Gabe Kapler, 39, is a former major league outfielder and television commentator who wrote in an online column last year that players should become acquainted with advanced metrics.

The group's understanding of statistical analysis is believed to be far better than that of the previous regime headed by Ned Colletti.

"For us, information is king," Friedman said.

Zaidi is aware that sabermetrics are viewed suspiciously in these parts because Paul DePodesta's tenure as the Dodgers general manager was considered a failure. Zaidi made light of his reputation as a stathead, saying, "I brought my mini-screwdriver in case you want to leave your laptop with me after we're done."

In a more serious moment, he said, "At the end of the day, I know how we're going to be judged is how the team performs on the field."

Zaidi said he believes numbers tell only part of the story.

"Every mathematical model is a gross simplification of reality," Zaidi said. "So every time you see a metric, you're sort of asking yourself not only what it's telling you but also what it's missing, because there's always something that's missing."

That's why Zaidi said it was important to also use traditional methods of evaluating players.

"Our quest isn't just evaluating how good players are, it's how good players are going to be," he said. "How are you going to identify guys that are going to break through? How are you going to identify guys that make a mechanical adjustment and turn into a completely different player? That's why you need this sort of holistic approach in baseball operations, because otherwise you're going to miss out on a whole swath of opportunities."

Zaidi doesn't view the use of statistical analysis as an either-or proposition.

"We need to be the best at everything," he said. "I don't think we're in a position to make trade-offs of saying we're a stat organization or a scouting organization."

Zaidi said he expects decisions made by the Dodgers front office to be something of a democratic process. While Zaidi is outranked by Friedman, who is the president of baseball operations, he envisions a situation similar to that of the Athletics.

"In Oakland, I worked with a general manager who was regarded as this high authority figure and it was very collaborative there," he said. "There was always a lot of discussion, a lot of debate, a lot of different perspectives. It's not that you talk and the GM goes into another room and renders a decision."

Zaidi said he expects he, Friedman and Byrnes to share the responsibility of communicating with other teams, as well as agents.

"We've all worked in different circles and have familiarity with different people in baseball," Zaidi said. "I don't think we're going to have hard and fast rules about that. I think when one of us gets a call from another team, we'll share that information and go from there."

Short hops

Friedman announced that Manager Don Mattingly's entire coaching staff would return next season: bench coach Tim Wallach, pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, hitting coach Mark McGwire, third-base coach Lorenzo Bundy, first-base coach Davey Lopes, assistant hitting coach John Valentin, assistant pitching coach Ken Howell and bullpen coach Chuck Crim. . . . Shortstop Hanley Ramirez has not accepted or rejected the one-year, $15.3-million qualifying offer he received from the Dodgers, Friedman said. Ramirez has until Monday to make a decision.

dylan.hernandez@latimes.com

Twitter: @dylanohernandez

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

In final analysis, stats have stature with Andrew Friedman's Dodgers

The Dodgers have transformed their baseball operations department, turning what was considered a traditional front office into one that now looks like one of the most progressive in baseball.

If hiring Andrew Friedman to be their primary decision maker signified an increased commitment to statistical analysis, their moves over the last two days marked a full-on embrace.

Friedman is the leader of a group of young "Moneyball"-style executives, among them Farhan Zaidi, who was introduced Friday as general manager.

Zaidi, 37, was an assistant GM of the Oakland Athletics and spent the last decade working under Billy Beane.

Friedman's other top lieutenant will be Senior Vice President Josh Byrnes, 44, who demonstrated fluency in sabermetrics as general manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres.

Incoming scouting director Billy Gasparino, 37, has a background in finance, like Friedman. Farm director Gabe Kapler, 39, is a former major league outfielder and television commentator who wrote in an online column last year that players should become acquainted with advanced metrics.

The group's understanding of statistical analysis is believed to be far better than that of the previous regime headed by Ned Colletti.

"For us, information is king," Friedman said.

Zaidi is aware that sabermetrics are viewed suspiciously in these parts because Paul DePodesta's tenure as the Dodgers general manager was considered a failure. Zaidi made light of his reputation as a stathead, saying, "I brought my mini-screwdriver in case you want to leave your laptop with me after we're done."

In a more serious moment, he said, "At the end of the day, I know how we're going to be judged is how the team performs on the field."

Zaidi said he believes numbers tell only part of the story.

"Every mathematical model is a gross simplification of reality," Zaidi said. "So every time you see a metric, you're sort of asking yourself not only what it's telling you but also what it's missing, because there's always something that's missing."

That's why Zaidi said it was important to also use traditional methods of evaluating players.

"Our quest isn't just evaluating how good players are, it's how good players are going to be," he said. "How are you going to identify guys that are going to break through? How are you going to identify guys that make a mechanical adjustment and turn into a completely different player? That's why you need this sort of holistic approach in baseball operations, because otherwise you're going to miss out on a whole swath of opportunities."

Zaidi doesn't view the use of statistical analysis as an either-or proposition.

"We need to be the best at everything," he said. "I don't think we're in a position to make trade-offs of saying we're a stat organization or a scouting organization."

Zaidi said he expects decisions made by the Dodgers front office to be something of a democratic process. While Zaidi is outranked by Friedman, who is the president of baseball operations, he envisions a situation similar to that of the Athletics.

"In Oakland, I worked with a general manager who was regarded as this high authority figure and it was very collaborative there," he said. "There was always a lot of discussion, a lot of debate, a lot of different perspectives. It's not that you talk and the GM goes into another room and renders a decision."

Zaidi said he expects he, Friedman and Byrnes to share the responsibility of communicating with other teams, as well as agents.

"We've all worked in different circles and have familiarity with different people in baseball," Zaidi said. "I don't think we're going to have hard and fast rules about that. I think when one of us gets a call from another team, we'll share that information and go from there."

Short hops

Friedman announced that Manager Don Mattingly's entire coaching staff would return next season: bench coach Tim Wallach, pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, hitting coach Mark McGwire, third-base coach Lorenzo Bundy, first-base coach Davey Lopes, assistant hitting coach John Valentin, assistant pitching coach Ken Howell and bullpen coach Chuck Crim. . . . Shortstop Hanley Ramirez has not accepted or rejected the one-year, $15.3-million qualifying offer he received from the Dodgers, Friedman said. Ramirez has until Monday to make a decision.

dylan.hernandez@latimes.com

Twitter: @dylanohernandez

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Marines mark 10th anniversary of fight for Fallouja

Jim Simpson's son, Marine Lance Cpl. Abraham Simpson, was killed on the third day of the 46-day fight for control of Fallouja, Iraq, in 2004.

"My son was a devout Christian," Simpson said after an emotional ceremony Friday attended by hundreds of Marines, former Marines and family members on the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the second battle of Fallouja.

"He believed God would take care of him and if he died he would be going to a better place," Simpson said. "We know he's in that better place now."

Simpson's wife, Maria, said she is untroubled by the fact that Fallouja is now controlled by Islamic State militants.

The Iraqi army has been unable to hold Fallouja and other areas of Anbar province since the U.S. left in 2011. The U.S. is rushing military trainers to Iraq in hopes of improving the Iraqi security forces.

"Our son wasn't doing this for politics," Maria Simpson said. "We know he was doing the right thing at the right place at the right time."

By late December 2004, when the battle was over, 82 Marines and U.S. soldiers had been killed and more than 560 wounded. Eight Marines were awarded the Navy Cross for bravery, second only to the Medal of Honor.

A heavily armed insurgent force in Fallouja had been routed and the path cleared for an election in January, the first since Saddam Hussein had been toppled.

When recruits arrive for boot camp in San Diego or Parris Island, S.C., they are quickly tutored on Marine battles of the past: Belleau Wood, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Chosin Reservoir, Khe Sanh, and, now, Fallouja.

For Marines, Fallouja was the bloodiest, most prolonged fight since Hue City in Vietnam. Marines fought street to street, attacking buildings where heavily armed insurgents were barricaded.

Although historians will have the final say, odds are strong that, of all the battles fought by Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan, the fight in Fallouja will be the most remembered.

About 6,500 Marines and 1,500 soldiers fought in Fallouja, backed by British and Iraqi forces and 2,500 U.S. sailors in support roles. Insurgent casualties are estimated at 1,200 to 1,500, with an additional 1,500 taken prisoner.

"We did our job and we did it damn well," said Maj. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson, commander of the 1st Marine Division. "We took that city away from the enemy."

The keynote speaker at the ceremony was retired Marine Lt. Gen. Richard Natonski, who was the division's commander during the Fallouja battle. "Recent events in the Middle East have been very disappointing, disheartening," he told the assemblage.

But that should not lessen the pride Marines have in what they accomplished in Fallouja, he said.

Clint Thoma agreed. He was a mortar specialist as the U.S. fired thousands of mortars at enemy positions before victory was proclaimed and the city was declared safe for civilians to return.

"I still feel proud about what we did," Thoma said.

So do others, even though they prefer not to discuss the days of killing. "It was bad," said Greg Judie, who was a machine-gunner. "I don't talk about it."

Andy Knava, who was part of a combat engineer battalion, said he does not follow events in Iraq. He came to the ceremony to be with buddies with whom he served in Fallouja.

"It just feels good to be back with friends," said Knava, who was wearing a T-shirt with a likeness of Marine legend Lt. Gen. Chesty Puller.

The ceremony was replete with quotations from James Michener, Tennyson, and, of course, "band of brothers" from Shakespeare's "Henry V."

Natonski chose a quote often attributed to George Orwell about people being able to sleep soundly because rough men are awake to protect them.

"I want to thank the rough men who were in Fallouja 10 years ago," he said.

tony.perry@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATsandiego

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dwight Howard powers Rockets' rout of Spurs, 98-81

Dwight Howard scored 32 points and grabbed 16 rebounds as the Houston Rockets continued their dream start, beating the in-state rival San Antonio Spurs, 98-81, on Thursday night at Houston.

Howard exploited a Spurs interior that was missing two key players, Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter. Manu Ginobili also was held out of the game for rest a night after helping San Antonio to a 94-92 win over the Atlanta Hawks.

Howard and Houston took advantage, leading the game wire to wire on the way to a league-best 6-0 record. With the loss, the Spurs dropped to 2-2.

James Harden had 20 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Rockets.

Cory Joseph led the Spurs with 18 points off the bench and Aron Baynes had 12 points.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

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Idaho National Guard helicopter crashes near Boise airport; 2 on board

An Idaho National Guard Apache helicopter crashed Thursday night just south of Boise Airport, according to officials with the Boise Fire Department.

The helicopter went down about 7:50 p.m. local time, said Tammy Barry, spokeswoman for the Boise Fire Department.

"Two people were on board, but their condition is unknown at this time," Barry said.

The fire department has cleared the scene, and the National Guard will lead the investigation, she said. 

Calls to the Idaho National Guard were not immediately returned.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

Follow Ryan Parker for breaking news at @theryanparker and on Facebook. 

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

'Any Sunday' sequel rides in as energetic eye candy

Bruce Brown's 1971 Oscar-nominated documentary "On Any Sunday" celebrated motorcycle racers and enthusiasts (like Brown himself) in the immersive manner of his noteworthy surf movie, "The Endless Summer."

Now his son Dana (of "Step Into Liquid" fame), clearly intent on updating Dad's work, has directed and narrated "On Any Sunday: The Next Chapter," a high-energy sequel spotlighting two-wheel passion around the world, including motocross champs (James Stewart), daredevils (Robbie Maddison) and the international stars of the global MotoGP circuit (Marc Marquez).

The movie zips from place to race — the Bonneville Salt Flats, the Pikes Peak hill climb, a crazy off-road competition in Austria — with the attention span of someone over-juiced on Red Bull, whose logo is emblazoned everywhere because the company's media arm produced the movie. As lifestyle flicks go, it's energetic eye candy, with the Ultra HD slo-mo, slick aerial views and thumb-size cams putting a 21st century stamp on the original film's POV innovations.

But over-editing too often disrupts the flow of the more beautiful shots, and some engaging personalities, like deaf racer Ashley Fiolek, get short shrift in an effort to sell motorcycles as a community builder and even a tool for bringing healthcare to remote regions of Africa.

"Next Chapter" may not exhibit the scrappy charm that characterized the first film's glimpse into a marginalized but colorful world, but for devotees, Dana Brown has assembled a love letter to a now-global culture.

"On Any Sunday: The Next Chapter."

Rated PG for perilous action, crashes, brief language.

Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes.

Playing: AMC Burbank Town Center 8.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

California GOP survives, barely, to fight another day

When political neophyte Pete Peterson was thinking about running for California secretary of state, his mentor urged him on with surfer logic: "Sometimes you need to be the guy in the water when the wave hits."

The mentor was former Secretary of State Bill Jones, a fellow Republican who himself caught a national GOP tidal wave to narrowly win the office 20 years ago.

Peterson, a Pepperdine University think tank director with a gorgeous daily view of the Malibu surf, was figuratively in the water Tuesday and caught a nice wave. But it wasn't quite big enough to carry him to Sacramento. He lost to Democratic state Sen. Alex Padilla of Los Angeles by five percentage points, at last count.

Yet that's a better performance than most experts had expected from the Republican, who was greatly outspent and barely had enough cash for a few radio ads.

The national GOP wave did ripple onto our blue state shores and provide a lift for Republican candidates. None won statewide office — again. But most races were a bit closer than expected, including Gov. Jerry Brown's.

The Democrat won in a near-landslide with roughly 59% of the vote. But only a few weeks ago, prognosticators were projecting him to soar into the high 60s or even 70s. Still, his was the biggest gubernatorial win in California since Republican Gov. George Deukmejian was returned to office with 60.5% support in 1986.

California has turned left since then, threatening to run over Republicans and bury them. The national wave, however, had sufficient splash to revive the party here and allow it to survive until the next election, at least.

The GOP won enough legislative seats to deny Democrats another two-thirds majority — not a hugely significant achievement in practical terms, but important for morale and symbolism.

Especially encouraging for the minority party was the capture by two Asian American women — Janet Nguyen and Young Kim — of Orange County legislative seats. That's changing the face of the party, something badly needed in this most demographically diverse state in the nation.

Other observations from the election:

• Brown's reelection, even if by a smaller margin than expected, represented a truly remarkable feat historically.

Think about it: By the time Brown finishes his record fourth term in 2018, Democrats will have held the California governor's office for only 33 of the previous 120 years. But in 24 of those 33 years, it will have been occupied by the Brown father-son team.

Uncharacteristically for Jerry Brown, 76, he seemed a bit humble election night talking to reporters in front of the historic governor's mansion, last occupied for any length of time by his father Pat.

"It's going to be quite challenging," he said of the next four years. "I'm going to have to keep my foot on the brake while I slam on the accelerator."

We'll have to wait and see what that means.

He seemed to admit not putting much thought into a final term agenda. "So tomorrow," he said, "I'll be there figuring out ... what the hell you do in a fourth term."

When a reporter mentioned that his Republican opponent, Neel Kashkari, had urged him to be bold, the governor replied: "Being here tonight is bold….

"I didn't get here by being pusillanimous." He added with a grin: "I just had to throw one of those words out."

He promised to "avoid the mistakes" of his second term 36 years ago. He wouldn't identify them. But running for president a second time was one.

• It's tempting to pontificate about the meaning of those ballot initiative results. One could argue that voters were saying, "Don't mess with my healthcare," "We've gone too far locking up people," "Keep those Indian casinos out of cities." And there's some truth in all that.

But what those results really were about were gobs of campaign money. The winners outspent the losing sides anywhere from 10 to 1 to 40 to 1. The medical profession and insurers forked out well over $100 million to beat Props. 45 and 46 with an unrelenting barrage of truth-challenged TV ads.

"Propositions are where money has the most influence in elections," says former Common Cause official Derek Cressman, a secretary of state contender who didn't survive the primary. "Candidates have party labels. Some voters don't need much more information than that."

It's corrupting in any election when one side can drown out the other, he says.

"Imagine in court if one attorney was allowed 20 minutes for a closing argument and the other got just one minute. That's what we have for ballot measures."

What can be done about it? Very little, short of a U.S. constitutional amendment. And that's not going to happen soon, if ever.

::

I reached Peterson on his cell Wednesday morning as he sipped some coffee, sitting with his wife and daughter at an outdoor cafe in Santa Monica.

Would he ever run for office again? "If someone called and told me, 'I've got a great Senate district for you to run in,' I'd tell them to shove off," he said good-naturedly. Actually, he used a different word than "shove."

"It's still an ocean-view office back in Malibu," he added. "No one needs to feel sorry for me."

Peterson and Padilla ran one of the more positive, feel-good contests of the year.

Someone find that Republican a Senate seat.

george.skelton@latimes.com

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Irvine voters oust Larry Agran, a decades-long fixture

Larry Agran has spent a generation as the face of Irvine as it grew from a startup community to a more cosmopolitan city recognized for its safe streets and high-performing schools, sometimes as a council member, often as its mayor.

Since 1978, he lost only one bid for reelection, in 1990, after which he left city politics and launched a quixotic campaign for president. But he returned and ran again in 1998, and voters continued to elect him like clockwork — until Tuesday.

Mired in allegations of inefficiency and cronyism regarding his oversight of the Great Park, Agran finds himself out of office, falling short of two other candidates who won seats on the five-member council.

While Agran's reputation once held as a young, ambitious Democrat in a blossoming, meticulously planned American town, critics today describe a controlling and obstinate politician, reluctant of relinquishing any power.

The perception found weight in a preliminary audit of the expenditures for the Great Park, launched in 2013 by a new, more-conservative council majority. With more than $200 million spent so far, the park remains far from the envisioned civic space that was supposed to rival New York's Central Park.

Agran, 69, likens the audit to a "political witch hunt." And his election opponents employed a "campaign of smears and lies," said council member Beth Krom, a supporter.

As Agran sees it, his is a David-and-Goliath tale, a battle to defend the public interest against powerful developers, who, he said, ultimately outspent him in support of his political foes.

"This sounds like it's going to be a long obituary," he said, when asked to start an interview with a discussion of the nascent beginnings of his political career.

Agran would not say whether he would attempt to remain in politics, though he indicated he'd stay involved in the city, perhaps in an elected position, or perhaps not.

Agran moved to Irvine in the mid-1970s, when his wife was a medical school student at UC Irvine, where she is now a professor emeritus. A lawyer by training, Agran got into local politics in an effort to slow rapid development.

Agran's legacy may have been cemented with the approval of a 1988 ballot initiative for the preservation of open space, but he also points to the city's provisions for affordable housing, balanced budgets and an early-day human rights ordinance.

"This is a guy that was just loaded with interesting ideas," said Mark Petracca, associate professor of political science at UC Irvine.

Much more than a mainstay, Petracca said Agran "has been the — not one of — the most consequential political figure in the political development of the city.… The city's entire progressive character, which is shared by Democrats and Republicans alike, is largely attributed to Agran."

But the fight over how to redevelop the retired El Toro Marine base proved to be the beginning of a long downfall for Agran, who opposed plans for an international airport at the spot and became the face of the Great Park initiative in its stead.

Agran's ambitious plans began to fray during the recession when the state did away with redevelopment districts and the homes that were to provide a revenue stream for the park were never built. By then, the city had spent about $200 million but had little developed parkland to show for it.

A developer has since agreed to construct a portion of the park in exchange for the right to build thousands of additional homes in the area.

Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach said the Great Park effort had been bungled to such a degree that a "new regime" had to step in to put the pieces back together.

"You can be clever so long until someone picks up the roof and looks inside the house, and it isn't pretty, it isn't pretty at all," Moorlach said. "After a while, you just have to realize, this guy's gaming us."

Agran cites the park's iconic balloon, new visitor's center, public lawns, reflecting pond and a historic hangar that has been saved. He maintains that not a dollar of public funds is unaccounted for, but Petracca's perception is that it was "pretty much all wasted for a big balloon, a couple of bathrooms and some grass."

Petracca and Agran once chatted every day promptly at 7 a.m., but they've since gone separate ways. The man he used to regard for his political acumen, who was skilled at empowering ordinary people, had became "imperious," Petracca said.

Yet he sees Agran pulling himself off the mat.

"He'll be back," Petracca said. "He needs it like air and water."

emily.foxhall@latimes.com

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

In hunt for Washington state murder suspect, police surround Oregon home

Police have surrounded a home in Portland, Ore., hoping to catch the man suspected of killing his girlfriend in Washington state, posting photos of her corpse online and leading Portland police on a high-speed chase.

David Kalac, 33, of Port Orchard, Wash., is believed to be inside the home, Portland police Officer Peter Hurley confirmed Wednesday night. He would not provide any additional details. Earlier in the afternoon, Portland police announced that they found the gold Ford Focus that Kalac was believed to have been driving.

Amber Lynn Coplin, 30, was found dead in her Port Orchard apartment Tuesday afternoon when her teenage son arrived home, Kitsap County Sheriff's Deputy Scott Wilson said.

However, before the son got to the apartment, photos of Coplin's nude body were posted on the Internet, including on the website 4chan, along with messages detailing the killing, Wilson said. 

A warrant has been issued for Kalac's arrest.

"We have a strong reason to believe that he took those photographs after her death and put them on social media," Wilson said.

"Turns out its way harder to strangle someone to death than it looks on the movies," a user whom police believe to be Kalac posted Tuesday afternoon on 4chan. "She fought so Damn hard."

The user also detailed a plan to be killed by police.

"Her son will be home from school soon. He'll find her, then call the cops. I just wanted to share the pics before they find me. I bought a BB gun that looks realistic enough. When they come, I'll pull it and it will be suicide by cop," the user said in another post. "I understand the doubts. Just click the ... news. I have to lose my phone now."

Police in Portland were led on a high-speed chase early Wednesday after they spotted a person driving the victim's car, Portland police spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson said. 

The driver got away after he swerved into oncoming traffic, Simpson said.

Wilson said Kalac has a lengthy criminal record and is considered armed and dangerous. 

Kalac was convicted in April of domestic violence against another woman, the Kitsap Sun reported Wednesday. 

Coplin and Kalac moved into the small apartment complex on Madrona Drive in the small town of Port Orchard in July from a nearby apartment, said next-door neighbor Marlene Fecto.

The two lived with Coplin's son and mainly kept to themselves, she said. 

Fecto said she was home around the time Coplin is believed to have been killed but that she didn't hear anything. She later went for a walk and when she came home saw Coplin's son standing outside their apartment as police arrived. 

"He was probably in shock if he went in and saw his mother completely naked sprawled out," Fecto said. "It is shocking for all of us."

Times staff writer Lauren Raab contributed to this report.

Follow @jpanzar for breaking news.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

9:05 p.m.: This post has been updated to add that Portland, Ore., police have surrounded a home and found the vehicle.

The first version of this post was published at 3:26 p.m.

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Proposition 1, a water bond measure, passes

Proposition 1 has passed, AP reports. It authorizes state officials to borrow $7.12 billion and repurpose $425 million in bonds approved earlier to pay for new water projects.

The measure includes $2.7 billion for storage projects, such as dams; $800 million for cleaning up contaminated underground water; and $725 million for water recycling projects.

In addition, $1.5 billion will be dedicated to the protection and restoration of wildlife habitat and watersheds.

The borrowing will be repaid from the state budget.

The Legislative Analyst's Office estimates that it will cost an average of $360 million a year to pay off the bonds over about 40 years.

Follow @melmason for more on California government and politics.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Neel Kashkari concedes governor's race to Brown

Neel Kashkari conceded the governor's race to incumbent Jerry Brown at the Westin South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa on Tuesday night. 

Kashkari appeared before a crowd of around 100 supporters at 8:24 p.m. He said his campaign was "always a long shot, always a total mountain to climb," but added that he had no regrets.

"This was always about … the future of California and the future of the Republican Party," he said, vowing to continue to pursue familiar themes of improving education and bolstering the middle class.

"I want you to know this: I'm just getting warmed up."   

From the outset, Kashkari had been considered a long-shot to unseat Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat seeking his fourth term. Results of a recent USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll of likely voters showed the challenger trailing by a wide margin, 56% to 37%.

A former aerospace engineer and Goldman Sachs investment banker, Kashkari, 41, is a fiscal conservative and social moderate who has never held elective office. The son of Indian immigrants, he may be best known for his stint as head of the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program -- the Wall Street bailout -- during the national financial crisis.

Those who know the Laguna Beach Republican have described him as bright, energetic and direct. But unfortunately for his gubernatorial aspirations, he has remained unknown to many California voters, even as he spent more than $3 million of his own money on his campaign.

Combined with the additional $4 million he raised from others, his total is but a fraction of what most gubernatorial candidates spend in a state with 17.6 million voters and some of the nation's most expensive television advertising markets.

Kashkari focused much of his campaign on broad issues such as jobs and schools, and said he wanted to rebuild the Republican Party and reintroduce it to California voters. He walked precincts and worked phones across the state, often stumping for Republican candidates at campaign events and on radio shows.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Proposition 1, a water bond measure, passes

Proposition 1 has passed, AP reports. It authorizes state officials to borrow $7.12 billion and repurpose $425 million in bonds approved earlier to pay for new water projects.

The measure includes $2.7 billion for storage projects, such as dams; $800 million for cleaning up contaminated underground water; and $725 million for water recycling projects.

In addition, $1.5 billion will be dedicated to the protection and restoration of wildlife habitat and watersheds.

The borrowing will be repaid from the state budget.

The Legislative Analyst's Office estimates that it will cost an average of $360 million a year to pay off the bonds over about 40 years.

Follow @melmason for more on California government and politics.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Hidden code of two great composers deciphered

The propriety of projecting a composer's personal life onto how we hear and perform the music goes through fads. Half a century ago, the Bay Area was home to Apollonian musicologists who prized structural analysis and dismissed biography as gossip.

We live now in an era where symphonies are valued as coded narrative, where centuries-old opera is related to modern life. And the Bay Area happened to be the place to be last weekend for remarkable revelations about the inner nature of two great composers, Mahler and Handel.

Saturday night, at a Davies Hall lighted up in Giants' orange and black and decorated with images from the Day of the Dead, Michael Tilson Thomas led the San Francisco Symphony in a startlingly triumphant performance of Mahler's least-performed and least-understood symphony, the nocturnal and seemingly crazy Seventh.

The following afternoon, San Francisco Opera presented a psychologically and sexually discerning production of one of Handel's rarest and most oddball operas, "Partenope," at War Memorial Opera House.

The confusion over Mahler's symphony begins with its epic, tortured progress from death to glory. Mahler had followed this path before but never in so peculiar a way. The five-movement score, nicknamed "Song of the Night," begins with creepy funereal intimations, progresses through spookily seductive "night-music" dalliances and ends with psychotically over-the-top optimistic music.

For Tilson Thomas, getting what could well have been the most rapturous playing ever from the San Francisco Symphony, that seeming irreconcilable Finale became a meaningful and personal grotesquerie.

In the movement, Mahler transforms the grandiose theme that opens Wagner's opera, "Die Meistersinger," a symbol of all that is noble and good in German art, into an emotional handball to be thrown against different harmonic walls and see what happens to it.

Born Jewish but converted to Catholicism to further his career in anti-Semitic Vienna, Mahler pollutes the "Meistersinger" theme with episodes of vaguely Jewish-sounding dance music, which Tilson Thomas wondrously exaggerated. He relished the harmonic adventure and turned grotesqueries into effusive and overpowering celebration.

The result was as though Beckmesser — the bender of rules who Wagner belittles in his opera and gives Jewish attributes — were dancing on Wagner's grave.

Pierre Boulez has probed Mahler's proto-Modernism in this symphony. Leonard Bernstein uniquely captured its unsettled cultural ferocity. Gustavo Dudamel, in a new recording, makes a case for symphonies as inherently untamable.

Tilson Thomas, though, makes the symphony the revenge of the Thomashefskys. The grandson of these stars of the Yiddish theater, Tilson Thomas is the first to get at this core inner dramatic and psychological essence of the Seventh.

"Partenope," the 27th of Handel's 49 operas, is more crazy stuff. The queen Naples, Partenope, loves her fiancé, Arsace, who is also betrothed to Rosmira, who disguises herself as Eurimene and pretends to love Partenope and fights Emilio, who also loves Partenope, who winds up marrying Armindo.

Christopher Alden's production turns all of this into a Paris salon of Surrealists in the 1920s, with Partenope its hostess. Emilio, like Man Ray, photographs everything. Ormonte, the only one who doesn't appear to love anyone, looks like the composer Erik Satie. The others are hard to place.

The point of making the characters Surrealists is mainly because Surrealists were open to letting emotions be emotions, not necessarily tied to cause and effect. By freeing Handel's opera from its conventional narrative, Alden is also free to directly reveal how subversively Handel makes them compellingly real.

The composer's arias are a compendium of emotional states built around the confusion and insecurities of love and relationships. Alden lets loose those emotions in extravagant ways that call for and get an unusually versatile and accomplished cast, despite the tame though gracious conducting by Julian Wachner.

At one extreme, Armindo, the countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, sings while crawling up and falling down stars, while swinging by his hands and while tap dancing. At the other, Arsace, the countertenor David Daniels in a stirring slow aria, all but maps his id while putting on a shoe.

The most theatrical moment for Emilio, tenor Alek Shrader, is singing while locked in a bathroom and trying to escape through a perilously high window. The most outrageous getup is that of Ormonte, bass Philippe Sly, in elaborate red Victorian gown.

And then there is Partenope, in this instance soprano Danielle de Niese as the hostess with the mostess starved for attention. She has sparkling, gorgeous arias. Unlike the others (excepting the bemused Ormonte), she remains mostly unflappable just so long as someone desires her.

De Niese, a Coco Chanel of a Partenope, reigns over this show in high style and high spirits. She has a tendency to telegraph every little expression, but here that seems just right. She may be wronged by Arsace (who, in the end, returns to Rosmira), but her fickleness is stronger than her affections, and yet it is Handel's genius that she wins our affections in doing so.

In the program note, Alden brings up the issue of Handel's sexuality. Circumstantial evidence implies that he could have been gay, and that could explain what contributed to making him so subversive a composer. His operas present psychological and sexual states that can be read different ways. By being ultimately unknowable, he remains ever intriguing and germane.

Partenope, in this exceptional production, is the character we are most drawn to yet remains a mystery. She's Handel.

Follow me on Twitter: @markswed

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Hidden code of two great composers deciphered

The propriety of projecting a composer's personal life onto how we hear and perform the music goes through fads. Half a century ago, the Bay Area was home to Apollonian musicologists who prized structural analysis and dismissed biography as gossip.

We live now in an era where symphonies are valued as coded narrative, where centuries-old opera is related to modern life. And the Bay Area happened to be the place to be last weekend for remarkable revelations about the inner nature of two great composers, Mahler and Handel.

Saturday night, at a Davies Hall lighted up in Giants' orange and black and decorated with images from the Day of the Dead, Michael Tilson Thomas led the San Francisco Symphony in a startlingly triumphant performance of Mahler's least-performed and least-understood symphony, the nocturnal and seemingly crazy Seventh.

The following afternoon, San Francisco Opera presented a psychologically and sexually discerning production of one of Handel's rarest and most oddball operas, "Partenope," at War Memorial Opera House.

The confusion over Mahler's symphony begins with its epic, tortured progress from death to glory. Mahler had followed this path before but never in so peculiar a way. The five-movement score, nicknamed "Song of the Night," begins with creepy funereal intimations, progresses through spookily seductive "night-music" dalliances and ends with psychotically over-the-top optimistic music.

For Tilson Thomas, getting what could well have been the most rapturous playing ever from the San Francisco Symphony, that seeming irreconcilable Finale became a meaningful and personal grotesquerie.

In the movement, Mahler transforms the grandiose theme that opens Wagner's opera, "Die Meistersinger," a symbol of all that is noble and good in German art, into an emotional handball to be thrown against different harmonic walls and see what happens to it.

Born Jewish but converted to Catholicism to further his career in anti-Semitic Vienna, Mahler pollutes the "Meistersinger" theme with episodes of vaguely Jewish-sounding dance music, which Tilson Thomas wondrously exaggerated. He relished the harmonic adventure and turned grotesqueries into effusive and overpowering celebration.

The result was as though Beckmesser — the bender of rules who Wagner belittles in his opera and gives Jewish attributes — were dancing on Wagner's grave.

Pierre Boulez has probed Mahler's proto-Modernism in this symphony. Leonard Bernstein uniquely captured its unsettled cultural ferocity. Gustavo Dudamel, in a new recording, makes a case for symphonies as inherently untamable.

Tilson Thomas, though, makes the symphony the revenge of the Thomashefskys. The grandson of these stars of the Yiddish theater, Tilson Thomas is the first to get at this core inner dramatic and psychological essence of the Seventh.

"Partenope," the 27th of Handel's 49 operas, is more crazy stuff. The queen Naples, Partenope, loves her fiancé, Arsace, who is also betrothed to Rosmira, who disguises herself as Eurimene and pretends to love Partenope and fights Emilio, who also loves Partenope, who winds up marrying Armindo.

Christopher Alden's production turns all of this into a Paris salon of Surrealists in the 1920s, with Partenope its hostess. Emilio, like Man Ray, photographs everything. Ormonte, the only one who doesn't appear to love anyone, looks like the composer Erik Satie. The others are hard to place.

The point of making the characters Surrealists is mainly because Surrealists were open to letting emotions be emotions, not necessarily tied to cause and effect. By freeing Handel's opera from its conventional narrative, Alden is also free to directly reveal how subversively Handel makes them compellingly real.

The composer's arias are a compendium of emotional states built around the confusion and insecurities of love and relationships. Alden lets loose those emotions in extravagant ways that call for and get an unusually versatile and accomplished cast, despite the tame though gracious conducting by Julian Wachner.

At one extreme, Armindo, the countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, sings while crawling up and falling down stars, while swinging by his hands and while tap dancing. At the other, Arsace, the countertenor David Daniels in a stirring slow aria, all but maps his id while putting on a shoe.

The most theatrical moment for Emilio, tenor Alek Shrader, is singing while locked in a bathroom and trying to escape through a perilously high window. The most outrageous getup is that of Ormonte, bass Philippe Sly, in elaborate red Victorian gown.

And then there is Partenope, in this instance soprano Danielle de Niese as the hostess with the mostess starved for attention. She has sparkling, gorgeous arias. Unlike the others (excepting the bemused Ormonte), she remains mostly unflappable just so long as someone desires her.

De Niese, a Coco Chanel of a Partenope, reigns over this show in high style and high spirits. She has a tendency to telegraph every little expression, but here that seems just right. She may be wronged by Arsace (who, in the end, returns to Rosmira), but her fickleness is stronger than her affections, and yet it is Handel's genius that she wins our affections in doing so.

In the program note, Alden brings up the issue of Handel's sexuality. Circumstantial evidence implies that he could have been gay, and that could explain what contributed to making him so subversive a composer. His operas present psychological and sexual states that can be read different ways. By being ultimately unknowable, he remains ever intriguing and germane.

Partenope, in this exceptional production, is the character we are most drawn to yet remains a mystery. She's Handel.

Follow me on Twitter: @markswed

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Hidden code of two great composers deciphered

The propriety of projecting a composer's personal life onto how we hear and perform the music goes through fads. Half a century ago, the Bay Area was home to Apollonian musicologists who prized structural analysis and dismissed biography as gossip.

We live now in an era where symphonies are valued as coded narrative, where centuries-old opera is related to modern life. And the Bay Area happened to be the place to be last weekend for remarkable revelations about the inner nature of two great composers, Mahler and Handel.

Saturday night, at a Davies Hall lighted up in Giants' orange and black and decorated with images from the Day of the Dead, Michael Tilson Thomas led the San Francisco Symphony in a startlingly triumphant performance of Mahler's least-performed and least-understood symphony, the nocturnal and seemingly crazy Seventh.

The following afternoon, San Francisco Opera presented a psychologically and sexually discerning production of one of Handel's rarest and most oddball operas, "Partenope," at War Memorial Opera House.

The confusion over Mahler's symphony begins with its epic, tortured progress from death to glory. Mahler had followed this path before but never in so peculiar a way. The five-movement score, nicknamed "Song of the Night," begins with creepy funereal intimations, progresses through spookily seductive "night-music" dalliances and ends with psychotically over-the-top optimistic music.

For Tilson Thomas, getting what could well have been the most rapturous playing ever from the San Francisco Symphony, that seeming irreconcilable Finale became a meaningful and personal grotesquerie.

In the movement, Mahler transforms the grandiose theme that opens Wagner's opera, "Die Meistersinger," a symbol of all that is noble and good in German art, into an emotional handball to be thrown against different harmonic walls and see what happens to it.

Born Jewish but converted to Catholicism to further his career in anti-Semitic Vienna, Mahler pollutes the "Meistersinger" theme with episodes of vaguely Jewish-sounding dance music, which Tilson Thomas wondrously exaggerated. He relished the harmonic adventure and turned grotesqueries into effusive and overpowering celebration.

The result was as though Beckmesser — the bender of rules who Wagner belittles in his opera and gives Jewish attributes — were dancing on Wagner's grave.

Pierre Boulez has probed Mahler's proto-Modernism in this symphony. Leonard Bernstein uniquely captured its unsettled cultural ferocity. Gustavo Dudamel, in a new recording, makes a case for symphonies as inherently untamable.

Tilson Thomas, though, makes the symphony the revenge of the Thomashefskys. The grandson of these stars of the Yiddish theater, Tilson Thomas is the first to get at this core inner dramatic and psychological essence of the Seventh.

"Partenope," the 27th of Handel's 49 operas, is more crazy stuff. The queen Naples, Partenope, loves her fiancé, Arsace, who is also betrothed to Rosmira, who disguises herself as Eurimene and pretends to love Partenope and fights Emilio, who also loves Partenope, who winds up marrying Armindo.

Christopher Alden's production turns all of this into a Paris salon of Surrealists in the 1920s, with Partenope its hostess. Emilio, like Man Ray, photographs everything. Ormonte, the only one who doesn't appear to love anyone, looks like the composer Erik Satie. The others are hard to place.

The point of making the characters Surrealists is mainly because Surrealists were open to letting emotions be emotions, not necessarily tied to cause and effect. By freeing Handel's opera from its conventional narrative, Alden is also free to directly reveal how subversively Handel makes them compellingly real.

The composer's arias are a compendium of emotional states built around the confusion and insecurities of love and relationships. Alden lets loose those emotions in extravagant ways that call for and get an unusually versatile and accomplished cast, despite the tame though gracious conducting by Julian Wachner.

At one extreme, Armindo, the countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, sings while crawling up and falling down stars, while swinging by his hands and while tap dancing. At the other, Arsace, the countertenor David Daniels in a stirring slow aria, all but maps his id while putting on a shoe.

The most theatrical moment for Emilio, tenor Alek Shrader, is singing while locked in a bathroom and trying to escape through a perilously high window. The most outrageous getup is that of Ormonte, bass Philippe Sly, in elaborate red Victorian gown.

And then there is Partenope, in this instance soprano Danielle de Niese as the hostess with the mostess starved for attention. She has sparkling, gorgeous arias. Unlike the others (excepting the bemused Ormonte), she remains mostly unflappable just so long as someone desires her.

De Niese, a Coco Chanel of a Partenope, reigns over this show in high style and high spirits. She has a tendency to telegraph every little expression, but here that seems just right. She may be wronged by Arsace (who, in the end, returns to Rosmira), but her fickleness is stronger than her affections, and yet it is Handel's genius that she wins our affections in doing so.

In the program note, Alden brings up the issue of Handel's sexuality. Circumstantial evidence implies that he could have been gay, and that could explain what contributed to making him so subversive a composer. His operas present psychological and sexual states that can be read different ways. By being ultimately unknowable, he remains ever intriguing and germane.

Partenope, in this exceptional production, is the character we are most drawn to yet remains a mystery. She's Handel.

Follow me on Twitter: @markswed

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Baseball: Santa Margarita championship rings arrive

It took a few months, but the Santa Margarita High championship baseball rings have arrived, and they're pretty nice.

The Eagles won the Southern Section Division 1 championship last June at Dodger Stadium behind Griffin Canning, now at UCLA.

He struck out 11 in a 3-1 win over Foothill.

I'd say the current and past players will be showing off their nice rings to anybody and everybody.

Twitter:@LATSondheimer

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Several arrested in fatal Halloween hit-and-run in Santa Ana

Santa Ana police arrested several people Sunday in connection with a fatal hit-and-run car crash that claimed the lives of three teenage trick-or-treaters on Halloween night.

The arrests were made at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, but investigators declined to release any details. Police said earlier that they were looking for the driver and another person who were in the Honda CR-V that plowed into the teenagers before fleeing the scene.

"Our victims' advocates are now talking to the families" of the victims, said Cpl. Anthony Bertagna, a police spokesman. He said more details about the arrests will be released during a news conference scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday at the Police Department.

Twin sisters Lexia and Lexandra Perez, 13, and their friend Andrea Gonzalez, also 13, were struck about 6:45 p.m. by a driver "going at a high rate of speed" while they were in a crosswalk in the area of Old Grand Street and Fairhaven Avenue, police said.

All three were declared dead at the scene.

The driver and a passenger of the SUV that struck the girls left the vehicle in a nearby Big Lots parking lot and fled the scene, police said. Police said the Honda bore evidence that it had been involved in the hit-and-run.

Arlette Huerta, the twins' aunt, said the girls had just left the house to go trick-or-treating. Late Sunday afternoon she said the family had not been formally notified by police about the arrests and had been overwhelmed with more immediate responsibilities, including making funeral arrangements for the girls.

"If there have been arrests, we are happy," Huerta said.

Andrea's brother, Josafat Gonzalez, 21, said of the arrests, "It won't bring my sister back, but the people who committed such a terrible crime will get their time in court and justice will be served."

On Sunday evening, about 100 people gathered around a curbside memorial where the girls were struck as police blocked off the street. Mourners brought bouquets and lit hundreds of candles.

Among those standing with hands clasped and eyes teary was Salha Zeidan, who was Lexandra's math teacher at Portola Middle School in Orange.

Zeidan was playing back memories of better times.

"Lexandra was very quiet, very smart and generous — she was also a very hard-working student," Zeidan said.

Wiping away tears as she looked up at the sky, Zeidan added: "I don't know exactly how to deal with her empty desk when class starts tomorrow at 9:05 a.m. My plan right now is to hug each student who comes through the door. No high-fives tomorrow. Hugs."

When Maria Gonzalez, Andrea's mother, arrived for a religious service, she was led through the crowd by a friend on each arm, one announcing, "Make way for the mother of Andrea, please."

A path appeared through the crowd to the memorial, where Maria was handed a lighted candle. Her hands were visibly trembling.

Moments later, a church leader turned to the crowd and began a sermon in Spanish: "There are no words to describe what happened here," he began, as volunteers moved through the crowd with small boxes wrapped in pink paper and a slot on top for donations.

The Santa Ana incident was the first of two fatal accidents involving Orange County pedestrians on Halloween. Ten miles away in Irvine, about 30 minutes after the girls were hit, a man was trick-or-treating with his 4-year-old son when they were struck by a motorist.

John Alcorn, 65, was killed and his son, who was not identified, was rushed to a trauma center, where he was in critical condition.

louis.sahagun@latimes.com

Times staff writer Esmeralda Bermudez contributed to this story.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Game updates: UCLA 17, Arizona 7, third quarter

Arizona's offense has been dreadful. Completely lost, completely inept. UCLA's defense is playing well and not letting the Wildcats off the hook, but still, it should be noted how awful this offense looks. 

This Arizona drive ended in a sack, and yet another punt -- its eighth of the game. 

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Tonight's attendance at the Rose Bowl is 80,246. That makes five consecutive home crowds of over 70,000.

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Is there anything more overused in football than holding up four fingers at the end of the third quarter. It was cool 15 years ago, when Friday Night Lights came out. Now, when every pro, college and high school team in the county does it, it's getting a bit tired. 

---

Well, Arizona's vaunted offense finally showed up, at least to some extent. After finishing the first half with just 103 total offensive yards, the Wildcats tallied 53 yards on this drive. 

But again, the Bruin defense held firm, and Arizona missed a 39-yard field goal. With the third quarter winding down, it's still a two-score game. 

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UCLA 17, Arizona 7 (4:44 left in the third quarter)

Well, umm, that'll change a game. Jordan Payton was wide open down the far sideline, and Brett Hundley hit him right in stride for a 70-yard touchdown pass. Just like that, UCLA takes a 10 point lead. Goes without saying how important of a touchdown that was. 

And, with that touchdown pass, Hundley tied Cade McNown on UCLA's all-time career passing touchdowns list with 68. 

---

Anu Solomon has really looked like a freshman tonight. He's been pretty awful, to put it blunty, having issues completing any pass of any distance. Arizona, home to the explosive Rich Rodriguez offense, just punted for the seventh time this game. 

Again, credit where credit is due. UCLA's defense is playing well. 

---

UCLA 10, Arizona 7 (5:34 left in the third quarter)

It's remarkable that UCLA is now leading this game, but hey, give credit where credit is due. With all the penalties and all the offensive miscues, the Bruins still have the lead.

Brett Hundley was almost intercepted in the end zone, but then Paul Perkins blasted through the left side of the line for the five-yard touchdown to give UCLA the lead. 

---

Arizona averages 348 passing yards per game. So far tonight, Anu Solomon has thrown for 30 yards. Oof. 

---

This is becoming an unwatchable football game. Penalties aplenty on both sides, and a total lack of offensive execution from both UCLA and Arizona. 

On this drive, the Wildcats had a huge first down, but it was called back because of an offensive pass interference. The two teams have combined for nine punts and 104 total passing yards. Explosive offenses, indeed. 

---

UCLA attempted one pass on this drive, and it was called back due to a penalty. Arizona has one of the worst pass defenses in the Pac-12. Those two ideas are correlated. 

Anyway, the Bruins got stuffed near midfield and had to punt. Team M.V.P. so far is punter Matt Mengel, who has been solid all game. He's downed the Wildcats inside their own red zone four times, including this most recent punt. 

---

The clocks inside the stadium stopped working, but apparently it's halftime. 

This has been an incredibly weird game: UCLA has 98 penalty yards, while Arizona has 103 offensive yards. The Bruins also haven't been passing the ball against one of the worst pass defenses in the Pac-12, but have run for 159 yards against one of the best rush defenses in the Pac-12. None of that makes any sense. I have no idea how Arizona only has seven points. 

Brett Hundley has thrown for just 65 yards, but has 13 carries for 67 yards. As always, he's the X factor in the second half. 

---

Hey! Arizona got a penalty! 

The Bruins were helped out by an Arizona penalty when Jourdon Grandon was called for targeting and was ejected. That was UCLA's biggest gain of the drive, though, as Brett Hundley continues to miss targets downfield. The Bruins got another good punt from Matt Mengel, so that's a bright spot. 

---

Hey, Mr. penalty flag. Haven't seen you in a while.

Kenny Clark was the latest offender, picking up a 15-yard personal foul. But again, Arizona couldn't capitalize. It's a bit insane that UCLA has 90 penalties yards and the Wildcats, who have one of the best offenses in the country, have only scored a touchdown. Crazy stuff here in the Rose Bowl tonight. 

---

Arizona linebacker Scooby Wright sacked Brett Hundley for the third time this game, but a huge gain from Nate Starks on third down kept the drive alive. But on third down, a short pass in the flat fell short, and the Bruins elected to punt rather than go for the short conversion on Arizona's 44-yard line. 

UCLA really isn't throwing the ball that much, surprising given how bad Arizona's pass defense has been this season. Hundley has completed eight of his 11 pass attempts, totaling 50 yards, but has carried the ball 10 times already. 

---

UCLA had stopped Arizona on third down, again, only for a penalty to be called, again. This time it was defensive holding on Fabian Moreau. 

The Bruins were helped out by the Wildcats dropping a couple passes, though, and the Jaleel Wadood made a very nice play on third down to force the punt. 

UCLA has seven penalties for 75 yards, but can take the lead on this drive. That's pretty remarkable, all things considered. 

---

Arizona 7, UCLA 3 (12:17 left in the second quarter)

Amazing what this UCLA offense can do when its not dealing with constant penalties. Arizona has one of the best rush defenses in the Pac-12, statistically speaking, but the Bruins are running at will so far. 

That is, until they got down to the goal line. UCLA already has 114 yards on the ground, including 52 from Brett Hundley, but couldn't punch it in. Hundley was stopped short, then Paul Perkins was stuffed, then Myles Jack lost yards. Ka'imi Fairbairn converted the 24-yard field goal, but UCLA should have been able to get a touchdown on that drive. 

---

Stop me is this sounds familiar, but UCLA is having issues cutting down its penalties. Ishmael Adams had a nice punt return, but it was called back because of a block in the back. 

The Bruins got out of their own red zone with a nice third down conversion, only to go backwards after a holding penalty on Scott Quessenberry. That's the team's sixth penalty of the first quarter. 

UCLA got out of its own red zone, though, after an impressive 29-yard run from Brett Hundley on third down. The play didn't appear to be a designed run, but Hundley ran with some conviction there. The first quarter ends with UCLA near midfield, driving for a chance to tie this game up at seven. 

---

The Bruin defense is holding their own right now. Arizona got a first down, but it was called back due to penalty, and UCLA held strong. This is an absolutely explosive offense, and the Bruin defense has looked good so far. 

---

UCLA got some positive yards from Myles Jack at running back, but not enough to get into the end zone. Brett Hundley was sacked on third down, and then kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn missed a 37-yard field goal. 

Side note: UCLA used up its second timeout of the half less than eight minutes into the first quarter. So, that's not ideal. 

---

A great punt from Matt Mengel pinned Arizona at its own five-yard line, and the Wildcats couldn't get out of their own red zone. UCLA's defense, particularly Deon Hollins, have played well so far. Hate to keep harping on this, but if not for Myles Jack, this game would still be scoreless. 

---

Penalties continue to be an issue. The Bruins were driving down the field, but then Jake Brendel got called for a holding penalty on second down. Quarterback Brett Hundley missed badly to an open receiver, and the Bruins were forced to punt. 

Not exactly the offensive response UCLA was looking for. 

Notable on the drive is that Paul Perkins picked up enough yardage to give him over 1,000 yards on the season. He's just the 13th Bruin in school history to cross that threshold. 

---

Coach Jim Mora has to be mad about that previous drive. His defense actually played pretty well, but those Myles Jack penalties were just killer. You can't afford to give an offense like Arizona's any extra chances. 

---

Arizona 7, UCLA 0 (12:27 left in the first quarter)

UCLA coaches have been saying all week that Arizona's offense has options on top of options. With quarterback Anu Solomon, the Wildcats can go pretty much anywhere with the ball. 

We saw that on Arizona's first drive. The Wildcats ran dive plays with running backs, quarterback keepers, throws on the run, and throws in the pocket. They converted an early third down, and also played with enough temp to force the Bruins into both an offside penalty and a penalty-saving timeout. 

The Arizona drive was saved, though, by Myles Jack. The Bruins forced a punt on a nice play from Anthony Jefferson, but Jack was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the play.

UCLA stopped Arizona on its next third down, but again, Jack got called for a 15-yard penalty. This time, it was a facemask. The next play, Arizona threw a 14-yard touchdown pass in the back of the end zone. 

So, not to point fingers or anything, but this game would still be scoreless if it wasn't for Jack's penalties. 

---

It's a brisk 55 degrees at kickoff. UCLA won the kick and is choosing to defer, meaning Arizona will start this game off with the ball. 

---

The same offensive line that has started the last two games is warming up as the starting group. From left to right: Conor McDermott, Malcolm Bunche, Jake Brendel, Scott Quessenberry, and Caleb Benenoch. 

That means Alex Redmond will start the game on the sidelines, despite indications being that he's healthy. 

---

Wide receiver Thomas Duarte is dressed and warming up. The sophomore injured his hamstring against Cal, and hasn't appeared in a game since. We'll see how much actual playing time he gets, but it's an encouraging sign that he's at least out there warming up. 

---

It's a beautiful night in the Rose Bowl, albeit a bit colder than usual. Tonight's matchup against Arizona is perhaps UCLA's most important game of the season, if for no other reason than how devastating a loss would be. If the Bruins drop this game, whatever hopes they have of a Pac-12 title are out the window. For a team that had national championship aspirations before the season, that would be a serious fall from grace.

A win would get UCLA closer to first place and save its season. So yeah, tonight is a big game. 

To commemorate the occasion, UCLA is wearing its special "L.A. Steel" uniforms, which are not all that cool and also make the numbers essentially impossible to see from the press box. So if we miss an appearance or misplace a name, that's why.

For all those concerned that the Bruins are going to have trouble with Arizona's spread offense, the advantage might not be that distinct.

UCLA Coach Jim Mora is well versed in the lickety-split offense that Arizona Coach Rich Rodriguez throws at opponents. Mora has studied it for years.

He first started examine it when he was the Atlanta Falcons coach and Rodriguez was at West Virginia. Mora had had quarterback Michael Vick and wanted to tap his running skills.

"Rich was at West Virginia and were looking for ways to use Mike creatively," Mora said. "We studied West Virginia. They were doing things I had never seen before, or thought you could do. I still don't know if you can do them in the NFL, but he changed college football." 

The difficulty is the relentlessness of Rodriguez's spread offense, Mora said.

"You have to defend everything," Mora said. "It's not just a couple plays, it's every play. You have to have the athletes that can move well in space and tackle and still rush the passer and cover. And, you have to be big enough withstand the run."

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Things go bump in right for Bayern in Breeders' Cup Classic

In a Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Saturday that was more pinball machine than horse race, at least six significant things happened.

•Bayern won, giving his owner, Kaleem Shah, 60% of the richest thoroughbred purse of the year, $5 million.

•His trainer, Bob Baffert, won his 11th Breeders' Cup race and his first Classic.

Shared Belief, the unbeaten betting favorite, didn't win.

•California Chrome, the crowd favorite, didn't win.

A crowd of 61,114, added to Friday's 37,205, made it the best-ever for a Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita since the event went to two days. The total was 98,319.

•A good portion of that crowd, especially the connections of Shared Belief, left the premises angry.

The story of this prestigious race was expected to be the showdown between 3-year-old stars Shared Belief and California Chrome. Shared Belief had been injured and held out of the Triple Crown season. His record was 7-0. California Chrome had won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, then faded a bit in two races after that, including the Belmont.

Simple story, right?

Settle it head-to-head on the race track. Or maybe see if other late bloomers, such as Bayern or Tonalist, should edge into that conversation.

But this is horse racing, where nothing is simple and never will be.

They sent the horses to the gate, the crowd roared in anticipation, the gates opened and all hell broke loose. Shortly thereafter, fingers started pointing in all directions.

Bayern, ridden by Martin Garcia and leaving out of the No. 7 post position, stumbled in his first step out, broke lots of dirt loose and veered left ....

... directly into Shared Belief, in the No. 6 post.

Garcia quickly got Bayern straightened out and off and running.

"The thing about Bayern, his athleticism, he is just so handy on his feet," Baffert said.

While Bayern was being handy on his feet and Shared Belief, under Mike Smith, appeared to be trying to collect himself, Toast Of New York, from the No. 9 spot, either dished out or received a good bang from Shared Belief.

The first 100 yards of this race were a rugby scrum. X Box should duplicate it and sell it.

Smith, a Hall of Fame jockey and the winningest rider in Breeders' Cup history with 21 victories, said, "I was never able to get comfortable after getting hit at the break. I kept getting bounced all the way around the turn and Moreno kept getting out and bumped through the backside."

When the pinball machine finally became a race, Bayern took over, Toast Of New York came within a nose of running him down at the wire and California Chrome came within a neck of catching Toast of New York.

They were the 1-2-3. Bayern returned a nice $14.20, $8 and $5.20. Toast of California brought $18 and $10.80 for second and California Chrome returned $5.40 for third.

Immediately after the horses crossed the finish line, the stewards' inquiry sign went up.

The massive crowd around the winner's circle paced, speculated and grumbled. The crowd was restless and appeared confused. They should have known better. This is horse racing. That's what it does to its customers. Confuses the heck out of them.

Smith and Shared Belief had weaved through the obstacle course to finish fourth. Tonalist, the Belmont winner who had wrecked California Chrome's Triple Crown chances, was 11th after a mile, in the 11/4-mile race, and somehow managed to get home fifth.

They were both conceivably in play, because the first two finishers had been involved in early race bumping. The stewards could have taken down both Bayern and Toast Of New York and given the crowd a popular 1-2-3 of California Chrome, Shared Belief and Tonalist.

In the 10 minutes of waiting, there was that buzz, and much more, in the crowd.

But then, the announcement came. The three stewards, Scott Chaney, Kim Sawyer and Tom Ward, had ruled the finish would stay as is.

They issued a statement that said, "After speaking with patrol judges and riders involved, it was our unanimous decision that, pursuant to CHRB Rule 1699, the incident occurred in a part of the race where the horses interfered with were not cost the opportunity to place where they reasonably expected to finish."

Ah, good old CHRB rule 1699. The translation seems simple: It happened so early in the race that the fouled horses had a chance to get back in the mix and win. And whose "reasonable expectation" of finish was that?

Old Rule 1699 seems to make all the trainers' talk about the importance of a good start just so much claptrap. It also brings into question why racing spends hours and hours and millions of dollars on staging made-for-TV shows at big races that feature drawing numbers of starting positions out of hats.

Also worth pondering is why Smith would say that the mess at the start "cost him the race," when the stewards of the richest race in North America have ruled, in essence, that the start doesn't matter.

Baffert said he thought, when the inquiry sign went up, that it was about the No. 9 horse, Toast Of New York.

"The 9 came over and just crushed everybody," he said. "There was probably more going on. The 9 was doing more crushing back there than we did."

Shared Belief's trainer, Jerry Hollendorfer, and his longtime assistant, Dan Ward, heard the ruling and stalked off.

Hollendorfer, a man of few words, had exactly that.

"You saw what happened," he said.

Ward said a few words too, none printable.

Bayern's owner, Shah, said that he had been stricken with a painful sciatic nerve problem this week.

"As soon as [Bayern] hit the wire," Shah said, "it automatically cured itself."

Stewards might reverse that cure, but Shah is probably safe.

bill.dwyre@latimes.com

Twitter: @DwyreLATimes.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

No. 3 Auburn gets by No. 4 Mississippi, 35-31

Cassanova McKinzy recovered a fumble in the end zone to preserve No.3 Auburn's 35-31 victory over No. 4 Mississippi on Saturday night in what amounted to the first College Football Playoff knockout game.

The Tigers (7-1, 4-1 Southeastern Conference) got a reprieve after Rebels receiver Laquon Treadwell lost the ball at the end of a tackle-breaking catch-and-run to the end zone with 1 minute 30 seconds left. It was ruled a touchdown, but the replay official determined he lost the ball before crossing the goal line.

McKinzy dove on it, deflating the Mississippi crowd enjoying the team's best start since 1990. The Rebels (7-2, 4-2) have lost two consecutive games.

Auburn milked a minute off the clock before Mississippi got the ball back at its 49 with 26 seconds left and no timeouts. Bo Wallace, who had fumbled at Auburn's six on the previous drive, threw three consecutive incompletions before a final play went nowhere.

The Tigers gained 507 yards against the nation's top scoring defense, the only unit that hadn't given up 20 points in a game coming into this SEC West clash. A Mississippi offense held to seven points in a loss to No. 19 Louisiana State matched them nearly yard for yard, gaining 492 yards.

It was a compelling duel between two teams tangling for playoff shots, and two quarterbacks swapping big plays.

Marshall completed 15 of 22 passes for 254 yards with an interception that was Senquez Golson's nation-leading ninth. Marshall ran and passed for two touchdowns. Cameron Artis-Payne turned in another workhorse game, gaining 143 yards in 27 carries.

Wallace was 28 for 40 for 362 yards and two touchdowns. He had a 59-yard run and scored on a three-yard run early in the fourth quarter to give the Rebels a 31-28 lead. Mississippi had three receivers reach 100 yards: Evan Engram (123), Vince Sanders (105) and Treadwell (103).

Auburn answered with Artis-Payne's six-yard touchdown run with 10:23 left that proved the last points.

Auburn was penalized 13 times for 145 yards.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

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Three teen girls killed by car while trick-or-treating in Santa Ana

Three 13-year-old girls, two of whom were twins, were killed by a hit-and-run driver Friday evening while they were trick-or-treating in Santa Ana, police said.

The three were struck around 6:45 p.m. by a driver "going at a high rate of speed" westbound while they were in a crosswalk in the area of Old Grand Street and Fairhaven Avenue, near Fairhaven Elementary School, said Anthony Bertagna, a spokesman for the Santa Ana police.

All three girls were declared dead at the scene, said Orange County Fire Capt. Steve Concialdi. 

The third girl was a friend of the twin sisters, Bertagna said. 

All families have been notified and are scene, Bertagna said. 

A crowd of about 200 people, many still wearing costumes, gathered near the scene consoling one another as they watched the police activity. 

Witnesses said the victims lived in the area. 

Authorities believe they have located the suspect vehicle, a Nissan Pathfinder, which was found behind a Big Lots store near the crime scene, police said. 

"It has damage to the front of it and evidence inside it," Bertagna said. Witnesses followed the car after the collision, but lost the suspects once they fled on foot, police said. 

Police are looking for two men who they said were in the car at the time of the incident. 

A large crime scene has been set up in the area. 

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.  

Follow Ryan Parker for breaking news at @theryanparker and on Facebook. 

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

10:10 p.m.: This story has been updated with the ages of victims and that two were twin sisters. 

9:53 p.m.: This story has been updated with details from the scene. 

9:35 p.m.: This story has been updated with more details from the scene. 

9:08 p.m.: This story have been updated with more information about the suspects.

8:46 p.m.: This story has been updated with information from the scene. 

8:19 p.m.: This story has been updated with details on the victims. 

8:06 p.m.: This story has been updated with more details. 

This story was originally published at 8:04 p.m. 

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Three teen girls killed by car while trick-or-treating in Santa Ana

Three 13-year-old girls, two of whom were twins, were killed by a hit-and-run driver Friday evening while they were trick-or-treating in Santa Ana, police said.

The three were struck around 6:45 p.m. by a driver "going at a high rate of speed" westbound while they were in a crosswalk in the area of Old Grand Street and Fairhaven Avenue, near Fairhaven Elementary School, said Anthony Bertagna, a spokesman for the Santa Ana police.

All three girls were declared dead at the scene, said Orange County Fire Capt. Steve Concialdi. 

The third girl was a friend of the twin sisters, Bertagna said. 

All families have been notified and are scene, Bertagna said. 

A crowd of about 200 people, many still wearing costumes, gathered near the scene consoling one another as they watched the police activity. 

Witnesses said the victims lived in the area. 

Authorities believe they have located the suspect vehicle, a Nissan Pathfinder, which was found behind a Big Lots store near the crime scene, police said. 

"It has damage to the front of it and evidence inside it," Bertagna said. Witnesses followed the car after the collision, but lost the suspects once they fled on foot, police said. 

Police are looking for two men who they said were in the car at the time of the incident. 

A large crime scene has been set up in the area. 

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.  

Follow Ryan Parker for breaking news at @theryanparker and on Facebook. 

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

10:10 p.m.: This story has been updated with the ages of victims and that two were twin sisters. 

9:53 p.m.: This story has been updated with details from the scene. 

9:35 p.m.: This story has been updated with more details from the scene. 

9:08 p.m.: This story have been updated with more information about the suspects.

8:46 p.m.: This story has been updated with information from the scene. 

8:19 p.m.: This story has been updated with details on the victims. 

8:06 p.m.: This story has been updated with more details. 

This story was originally published at 8:04 p.m. 

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Three teen girls killed by car while trick-or-treating in Santa Ana

Three 13-year-old girls, two of whom were twins, were killed by a hit-and-run driver Friday evening while they were trick-or-treating in Santa Ana, police said.

The three were struck around 6:45 p.m. by a driver "going at a high rate of speed" westbound while they were in a crosswalk in the area of Old Grand Street and Fairhaven Avenue, near Fairhaven Elementary School, said Anthony Bertagna, a spokesman for the Santa Ana police.

All three girls were declared dead at the scene, said Orange County Fire Capt. Steve Concialdi. 

The third girl was a friend of the twin sisters, Bertagna said. 

All families have been notified and are scene, Bertagna said. 

A crowd of about 200 people, many still wearing costumes, gathered near the scene consoling one another as they watched the police activity. 

Witnesses said the victims lived in the area. 

Authorities believe they have located the suspect vehicle, a Nissan Pathfinder, which was found behind a Big Lots store near the crime scene, police said. 

"It has damage to the front of it and evidence inside it," Bertagna said. Witnesses followed the car after the collision, but lost the suspects once they fled on foot, police said. 

Police are looking for two men who they said were in the car at the time of the incident. 

A large crime scene has been set up in the area. 

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.  

Follow Ryan Parker for breaking news at @theryanparker and on Facebook. 

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

10:10 p.m.: This story has been updated with the ages of victims and that two were twin sisters. 

9:53 p.m.: This story has been updated with details from the scene. 

9:35 p.m.: This story has been updated with more details from the scene. 

9:08 p.m.: This story have been updated with more information about the suspects.

8:46 p.m.: This story has been updated with information from the scene. 

8:19 p.m.: This story has been updated with details on the victims. 

8:06 p.m.: This story has been updated with more details. 

This story was originally published at 8:04 p.m. 

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More