Boy who shot neo-Nazi dad just another killer, prosecutor says

The 10-year-old son of a Riverside neo-Nazi leader was just another killer when he shot his sleeping father on the couch on an early May morning last year, a prosecutor told a judge Tuesday.

Sitting unshackled, the now 12-year-old boy listened as Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Soccio told a Riverside County judge that the sandy-haired boy knew that killing his father, Jeffrey Hall, 32, was wrong.

Hall's role as a regional director of the National Socialist Movement is simply a "red herring," he said.

The boy "is no different than any other murderer," Soccio said in his opening statement. He "would have shot his father if he was a member of the Peace and Freedom Party."

But Public Defender Matthew Hardy said the boy, who had learning disabilities, pulled the trigger after being manipulated to kill Hall by his stepmother, Krista F. McCary. Hardy portrayed her as angry over the possibility her husband was about to leave her for another woman.

"We are not going to suggest she killed him," Hardy told the judge. "She used this young man to kill him."

The boy, whose name is not being released by The Times because he is a juvenile, has been charged with murder. If the allegations against the boy are found to be true, he could remain in juvenile custody until he is 23.

During his opening statement, Soccio portrayed the family as rather normal, showing the court several photos, including one of the family frolicking in the surf.

Soccio said the boy shot his father with a .357 magnum revolver because he believed Hall was about to leave McCary and take custody of the boy. So, Soccio said, he "found a way to stop it."

While on a backyard swing set the day before, the defendant told one of his sisters about the plan, Soccio said.

Superior Court Judge Jean P. Leonard, who is acting as a juvenile judge in the case, must rule that the child knew that his actions were wrong at the time of the shooting to find the murder allegations true.

Hardy argued that the child's sense of right and wrong was clouded by the household in which he lived, where National Socialist Movement meetings took place, guns were accessible and beatings were regular. The upbringing conditioned the boy to violence, he said.

In the end, Hardy argued, the child believed that he was protecting his family and putting an end to the violence Hall inflicted upon them. The boy thought he would become a "hero," Hardy said.

"He would not have pulled the trigger if he thought it was wrong," Hardy said.

Riverside Police Officer Michael Foster, a prosecution witness, testified that the child expressed remorse on the day of the shooting.

"He asked me things like 'Do people get more than one [life]?' " he told the court.

McCary, 27, said Tuesday that she viewed the boy as her son, and he shared that view, calling her mother.

She testified that the boy knew right from wrong, was difficult to control and was prone to violent outbursts. Her husband, a plumber who was unemployed at the time of the killing, abused drugs and beat the boy more than the other children; when he was intoxicated, the family would go to another room to avoid him, she said.

McCary said she had an "open relationship" with her husband and was not angered by the possibility of his relationship with another woman. Still, she said, she expressed a desire to end the marriage because of her husband's mood swings.

"You were never sure which Jeff you were going to get," she said.

In the early morning hours of May 1, 2011, McCary testified, she came downstairs after hearing a bang.

"When I flicked on the lights, I could see blood on the floor," she testified.

The family's suburban home near UC Riverside blended in with the well-kept neighborhood. But neighbors complained about Hall's occasional neo-Nazi gatherings and police discovered filthy bathrooms, bedrooms smelling of urine and a National Socialist Movement flag hanging above strewn beer bottles.

After McCary found her husband bleeding on the couch, she testified, the boy admitted shooting him.

"He said 'I shot dad.' "

"I said, 'Why?' "

"He didn't answer."

andrew.khouri@latimes.com

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In a world of change, dancing puppets still delight

One day, maybe not so many days from now, the Bob Baker Marionette Theater will be gone.

Its debt will prove at last too much to bear. Its boxy white buildings will be sold.

And people will be sad, particularly those who talked for years about going without doing so.

"You better hurry up," says Baker, 88, whose pain-plagued hands and feet make it hard for him to walk and to get his beloved creations to dance.

Outside his 53-year-old theater on a still scruffy edge of downtown, so much has changed in the world.

Baker's handmade puppets used to land parts in movies and pitch products in television commercials.

He was known as "the butterfly man," he says, because he used real butterfly wings to make lifelike butterfly puppets and stood on many a set on a crane waving a pole, manipulating strings to make them flutter.

"Now they can do that with CGI," Baker says. Computer graphics came in and studios stopped calling. Families stayed at home too, staring at TV. Another prime source of income — schools — in recent years also all but dried up, as deep budget cuts axed many a field trip.

Still, inside the theater, the same old music from decades gone by continues to play under the same chandeliers. Puppeteers dressed in black still step out toward the audience, lit by lights from the long-gone Philharmonic Auditorium. (No one makes the bulbs anymore, says Baker. Recently, they tracked down two in Paris.)

And in this seemingly changeless place, something remarkable often happens — even at this time of the year, which is the slowest of the slow, when it's only worth trying to draw a crowd for a few performances a week.

People come in who first came as children. They bring their children or even their grandchildren. They find a world extraordinarily close to the one they remember, not markedly altered by time. And they are startled.

How often in this fast-moving world does reality match distant memory?

We look back on childhood movies that were sweet and innocent. We go to ones made now and find that snark and innuendo snuck in.

Not so in Bob Baker's annual "Halloween Hoop-de-Doo," which plays Wednesday morning and closes on Sunday.

It is a Halloween vision far removed from the modern-day horror-movie graphic.

Yes, glowing skeletons dance, but a la vaudeville, in straw hats, swinging canes. Coffins creak, but they're counterbalanced by a little boy in a red nightshirt and nightcap, singing, "You are my lucky star," as stars surround him. Dracula woos Vampira, but there are '50s-era spaceships too; they look like spinning tops, and cheerful green creatures pop out of them.

Here and there a moment is just scary enough to make a toddler squirm. When the show's over, there's free vanilla ice cream for all.

No such happy ending's yet in view for the venerable theater, which is mortgaged to the hilt and in arrears on taxes.

Stop by when you can, Baker says. Lend a hand by showing up.

"Come," he says. "Come and use your imagination. Come inside and let yourself believe."

nita.lelyveld@latimes.com

Follow Lelyveld's City Beat on Twitter @latimescitybeat or on Facebook at Los Angeles Times City Beat.

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Disney adds 'Star Wars' to its galaxy

Adding another marquee pop-culture property to its roster, Walt Disney Co. has agreed to pay $4.05 billion to acquire the company that controls the blockbuster "Star Wars" franchise — allowing Disney to exploit the brand through film, television, consumer products and theme parks.

With the purchase of Lucasfilm Ltd., Disney plans to churn out new "Star Wars" movies every two or three years beginning in 2015 with "Star Wars Episode 7," Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger said in conference call with analysts late Tuesday.

The acquisition surprised rival studios, especially 20th Century Fox, which has released all of the live-action "Star Wars" movies since the 1977 original. Executives at Fox and other studios said they weren't even offered a chance to bid for Lucasfilm, the San Francisco company founded and owned by filmmaker George Lucas.

But it's unlikely anyone else would have paid more than Disney, which can make use of "Star Wars" characters throughout its sprawling media and consumer empire, analysts said. Disney already has "Star Wars"-related attractions at four theme parks.

"No other company is as well positioned to take advantage of this opportunity as Disney is," said RBC Capital Markets analyst David Bank.

The acquisition is another high-stakes gamble for Iger. Since taking the helm in 2005, he has transformed Disney from a company that developed and produced its intellectual property in-house to one that spends billions to buy popular characters. The Burbank company purchased Pixar Animation Studios in 2006 for $7.4 billion and Marvel Entertainment in 2009 for $4 billion.

So far, the deals are paying off. Although Iger was criticized by some for overspending, the acquisitions have generated billions of dollars in revenue through such mega-hits as "Cars" and "The Avengers." The studio's track record outside of Pixar and Marvel has been mixed, marred by such box-office flops as "John Carter" and "Mars Needs Moms."

"Nobody, not even George Lucas, can just go out and create another 'Star Wars,'" Wunderlich Securities media analyst Matthew Harrigan said. "By the time Bob retires, I think people will be confident they're going to see more consistent performance from Disney's movie studio."

Iger said that although Disney is also getting Lucasfilms' well-regarded special effects and sound units, the deal was all about acquiring the "Star Wars" property.

"It makes sense not just because of our brand compatibility and the previous success that we've had together, but because Disney respects and understands probably better than just about anyone else the importance of iconic characters and what it takes to protect and leverage them effectively," he said.

With the sale of his 41-year-old company and his previously announced retirement, Lucas will end three decades as the movie industry's most powerful independent producer while simultaneously injecting new life into the fan-favorite "Star Wars" brand.

The seven "Star Wars" movies, including 2008's animated "The Clone Wars," have grossed $4.4 billion worldwide, making it the third-most-successful franchise ever at the box office, behind only "Harry Potter" and "James Bond."

"I wanted to go on and do other things, things in philanthropy and doing more experimental kinds of films, but I couldn't really drag my company into that," Lucas said in a video released by Disney. "This will give me a chance to go off and explore my own interests and at the same time feel completely confident that Disney will take good care of the franchise I've built."

At one time, Lucas said he had no intention of making new "Star Wars" movies. But in the last few months he has changed his mind, putting together story treatments for three movies that would take place chronologically after 1983's "Return of the Jedi." He is now turning those treatments over to Disney.

"I'm doing this so that the films will have a longer life, so more people can enjoy them in the future," Lucas said. "I get to be a fan now."

The deal with Disney comes almost five months after Lucas named veteran producer Kathleen Kennedy co-chairman of his company as the first step in his retirement plan. Lucas had intended to remain chief executive and serve as Kennedy's co-chairman for at least a year.

However, Lucas will not be a part of Disney once the sale is complete, except as one of its 10 largest shareholders, with an approximately 2% stake. Kennedy will remain and report to new movie studio Chairman Alan Horn, overseeing the "Star Wars" brand.

Few financial details are available on privately held Lucasfilm. Disney Chief Financial Officer Jay Rasulo said the purchase will dilute Disney earnings by "low single-digit percentage points" in its fiscal 2013 and 2014. But in fiscal 2015, when the next "Star Wars" movie is set to come out, he expects the acquisition to turn positive.

In 2005, the last year a "Star Wars" movie came out, Lucasfilm generated $550 million in operating income.

About 25% of Lucasfilm's revenue last year came from its movie business and another 25% from consumer products, Rasulo said. The other half came from video games and postproduction services.

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Gov. Jerry Brown has yet to pick a central Prop. 30 sales pitch

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown still has not settled on a central sales pitch for his tax-hike initiative, even though support is shaky and election day is fast approaching.

He has said at turns that Proposition 30 is about fixing Sacramento, supporting local schools and creating jobs. At recent campaign stops, he has said the measure would help stabilize the state budget — even though ads in favor of it say the billions of dollars in new taxes will flow only to schools and cannot be touched by Sacramento politicians.

On the stump, Brown emphasizes that most of the tax increases will affect only the wealthiest Californians. The campaign ads make little mention of that.

VOTER GUIDE: 2012 California Propositions

The mixed messages underscore the Democratic governor's struggle to persuade skeptical taxpayers to open their wallets and provide fodder for a well-financed opposition to plant doubt among voters. A recent USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll showed support for the proposal slipping below 50% for the first time.

The shifting "creates uncertainty and makes voters head in the 'no' direction," said John Matsusaka, president of the Initiative & Referendum Institute at USC.

Californians have not approved a statewide tax increase since 2004, when they voted for a levy on those making more than $1 million to pay for expanded county mental health programs.

Brown has acknowledged the difficulty of selling new levies to voters, saying his campaign made a strategic decision not to mention the word "taxes" in its ads.

"It's hard to find the right phrases, the right words," Brown said, speaking to reporters after a San Francisco campaign event last week. "Everybody's so afraid to mention that taxes are even involved. We walk on eggshells."

From the outset, Brown had pitched his initiative as part of what he called a "balanced approach" to closing the state's budget gap. He had already cut billions of dollars from government programs.

With polls showing that voters were most likely to approve taxes to help schools, he said the new levies on sales and upper incomes would help him balance California's books, stave off education reductions and fulfill his campaign pledge to restore fiscal sanity to Sacramento.

As he traveled the state to promote his plan in the spring, he hammered home that point. "My goal is to balance the budget," the governor said repeatedly.

He cast his initiative as "far superior" to a separate tax measure by civil rights attorney Molly Munger because that proposal, Proposition 38, would send most of its new revenue to schools but would not fill the budget hole.

By summer, Brown had changed tactics.

Rocked by a financial scandal at the parks department and ill-timed legislative pay raises, the governor co-opted Munger's education message — and even mimicked her advertising, which vilified Sacramento and focused on government accountability. He aired television spots featuring teachers who argued that the new money would go directly to classrooms.

Another ad stars the state controller, an elected official, asserting that "Sacramento politicians can't touch the money."

But the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office has said "future actions of the Legislature and the governor would determine the use of these funds."

Some political analysts said the campaign ads tarnished the governor's reputation as an honest broker in the polarized Capitol.

"Brown's credibility was the most precious commodity that campaign had, and they've degraded it," said Rob Stutzman, a Republican consultant who helped former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger craft messages for a series of ballot measures in 2005.

Brown's opponents have seized on the contradictions, airing ads that cast Proposition 30 as "just another misleading budget gimmick by Sacramento politicians." And since most of the governor's ads do not mention where the new money would come from, anti-tax activists are filling the vacuum, focusing on the quarter-cent hike in the state sales tax.

"Prop. 30 makes our sales tax the highest in the nation," says one opposition ad, featuring a mother at a kitchen counter. "A billion dollars more a year for gasoline, clothes, things we buy every day."

Some of Brown's allies lament that he has failed to capitalize on the most politically potent part of the initiative: The new income taxes would fall on individuals making more than $250,000 a year or couples earning more than $500,000. That message could help reverse flagging support from Democrats, more than a third of whom say they're undecided or won't vote for the measure, according to the latest USC Dornsife/Times poll.

"People who are in the top 2% can afford to pay a bit more. We think it's really a powerful message," said Rick Jacobs, chairman of the Courage Campaign, a liberal advocacy group that backed the idea of a "millionaire" tax before abandoning that plan in an agreement with Brown. "The campaign has made another choice."

michael.mishak@latimes.com

anthony.york@latimes.com

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Massive storm Sandy kills at least 8 as it roars ashore in East

NEW YORK – At least eight people were killed by massive storm Sandy as it moved inland after roaring ashore in New Jersey with 80 mph winds Monday night.

Floodwater swamped New York City, pouring into subway tunnels and filling the enormous construction site where the World Trade Center was destroyed in 2001. Much of Lower Manhattan was plunged into darkness after exploding transformers cast a rosy glow against the gloomy sky.

New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said the downed power lines had sparked numerous fires. New York University Hospital, near the East River in Lower Manhattan, lost  backup power and was being evacuated. Bloomberg pleaded with residents to stay off the streets and to avoid calling 911 except in extreme emergencies; 300 calls to 911 were being placed each minute.

PHOTOS: Hurricane Sandy approaches

"These are not games," Bloomberg said. "Things have gotten tough. But we're going to get through this together."

More than 3 million people were without power, including more than a million in New York state.

Sandy's center appeared to pass over land just south of Atlantic City, N.J., shortly after 8 p.m., moving northwest at 23 mph. Although its winds reached hurricane strength, officials called Sandy a post-tropical cyclone. Cyclones, unlike hurricanes, are not defined by wind speed but how they find their energy, officials said.

MAP: Hurricane Sandy barrels in

But the precise location of landfall didn't matter. Sandy is a freak event — a late-season hurricane hemmed in by weather bands, gobbling up the energy of the Gulf Stream as it raked the coast while growing into a ragged, 1,000-mile-wide storm. As it grew, so did its power to push a wall of sea water onto shore with such force that some rivers were expected to run backward.

The result was a plodding ogre of a storm, powerful more because of its scope than its sheer strength. The metropolitan areas of Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York City were most immediately in the cross hairs, but Sandy cast tropical-storm-strength winds from the Carolinas to Maine. Hurricane-force winds stretched from Virginia to Massachussets.

Because of its size, Sandy is more than a coastal event. Officials predicted a blizzard in the West Virginia mountains, 33-foot waves in Lake Michigan and high winds in Indiana. There were formal government warnings of one variety or another in 23 states, and 60 million people — nearly 1 in 5 Americans — could feel the storm before the end of the week.

PHOTOS: Massive U.S. storms -- Frankenstorm, Snowpocalypse and more

Maryland was getting pounded on both ends of the state. There were blizzard warnings to the west, with some areas expected to receive as much as 2 feet of snow, and flood warnings for the area around Chesapeake Bay, with storm surges as high as 4 feet forecast for Tuesday.

"This is going to be a long night,'' Gov. Martin O'Malley said.

At least eight people have been killed.

In North Carolina, a replica of an iconic British transport vessel sank in churning seas, killing at least one crew member. The HMS Bounty, built for the 1962 Marlon Brando film "Mutiny on the Bounty," was featured in several other films and welcomed by large crowds at numerous ports. It was en route to St. Petersburg, Fla., when it began to take on water southeast of Cape Hatteras. One crew member's body was recovered and 15 others were rescued by Coast Guard helicopters. The 63-year-old captain was still missing.

According to official accounts and media reports, falling trees killed people in the New York City borough of Queens; in the community of Roslyn on Long Island; in Mendham Township, N.J.; and in Mansfield, Conn. In Toronto, a woman was killed by a falling sign, and another woman died in a storm-related car crash in Maryland.

Government officials implored the public to take precautions and heed evacuation orders.

"Don't be stupid," New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told his constituents.

"There will be people who will die," O'Malley said.

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L.A. schools fail to gain union backing for grant application

An effort by the Los Angeles Unified School District to win a high-profile $40-million grant has unraveled after the L.A. teachers union declined to sign the application, a condition for the competition imposed by the federal education department.

The dollars were modest compared to the school system's multibillion-dollar annual budget, but school district officials said the Race to the Top grant could have provided critical services as well as additional jobs.

"I'm disappointed," said L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy. "It's a shame that we won't be able to provide this support for students and hire the staff."

Deasy could submit an application anyway, but said federal rules for the money required a written commitment to the terms of the grant by the local teachers union.

Hurricane Sandy on the East Coast resulted in an extension of the Oct. 30 application deadline, but "I've been told that we're done," said Deasy, recounting his last contact Monday with the union.

In the end the main sticking point was financial, said Warren Fletcher, president of United Teachers Los Angeles. He noted that similar grants to states have committed officials to efforts that cost more than the grants provided.

He said the district's $43.3-million proposal seemed headed in the same direction.

The end result, he said, could have been future cutbacks in classroom teachers and services to students.

"There was greater risk than likely reward," he said.

Deasy has countered that, in fact, the money would have supported efforts already underway. He said private donations would have made up for any costs beyond the grant award.

L.A. Unified's 150-page application focused in the first year on helping 25,000 students in 35 low-performing middle and high schools. Six of 10 ninth-graders fail to earn enough credits to advance to 10th grade, marking a "critical tipping point" for them, the application said.

The district proposed personalized learning plans aided by digital tablets, summer school, learning projects linked to careers, anti-dropout counseling and other services.

The Race to the Top grant program was extended from states to individual school districts for the first time this year. The U.S. Department of Education established a $400-million pool of funding. About 15 to 25 awards, in the range of $5 million to $40 million, will be distributed as four-year grants.

California failed to win earlier state competitions in part because many unions declined to support the effort.

All along, union officials in California have objected to some of the federal conditions, in particular that students' test scores or other measures of academic achievement be a "significant factor" in teacher evaluations by 2014.

The L.A. union has vociferously asserted that state standardized test scores are an inaccurate measure of teacher performance, but Fletcher said that issue wasn't the fatal flaw.

He noted that the district and union already are negotiating over terms of a teacher evaluation that, under state law, must incorporate test scores. The negotiations are taking place with a mediator under a court order.

Deasy said he was willing to agree in writing that the grant application would not be used as leverage in these negotiations.

Still, Fletcher said he was concerned that the grant would set in stone potentially problematic practices. It would be better, he said, for officials, principals (through their union) and teachers to reach consensus on how best to move forward.

howard.blume@latimes.com

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More than 7,000 flights canceled as major U.S. airports eye storm

Airline travelers could face a long wait as Hurricane Sandy triggers thousands of flight cancellations. (Emile Wamsteker / Bloomberg News / October 28, 2012)

By Chad Terhune

October 28, 2012, 3:06 p.m.

Airlines have canceled more than 7,400 flights as Hurricane Sandy nears major airports along the East Coast.

About 1,200 flights were scratched for Sunday and more than 5,500 were canceled for Monday as airlines scrambled to prepare for a potentially severe storm. An additional 640 flights were dropped for Tuesday, according to FlightAware.com, an airline information service.

Many of the cancellations involved flights coming or going to New York area airports, such as Newark Liberty International, LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy.

PHOTOS: Hurricane Sandy, en route to "Frankenstorm"

For Monday, United Airlines had canceled nearly 800 flights and Delta Air Lines had scrubbed more than 500 flights, according to FlightAware data.

Airlines were waiving fees so travelers could rebook their flights at no charge, primarily for travel from Sunday through Wednesday.

Last year, Hurricane Irene caused about 14,000 flights to be canceled during a four-day period in August.

ALSO:

New Jersey braces for brunt of Hurricane Sandy

NYSE closes trading floor for Monday, keeps electronic trading

Presidential campaigns adjust to hurricane

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State strips 23 schools of API rankings for cheating

The third-grader had good news: She was doing great on her standardized tests, she proudly told a teacher at the school.

How did she know? the instructor asked.

"My teacher points out the answers that I need to correct," she said.

With that, the fate of Westside Elementary in Thermal was sealed.

State officials have stripped Westside and 22 other schools of a key state ranking for cheating, other misconduct or mistakes in administering the standardized tests given last spring. The offenses ranged from failing to cover bulletin boards to more overt improprieties, including helping students correct mistakes or preparing them with actual test questions. The details were included in school district reports obtained by the Times through a public records request filed with the California Department of Education.

The state defines such episodes as "adult irregularities," and if they affect at least 5% of students tested at a school, the campus loses its annual rating on California's Academic Performance Index, which was released this month.

The API is a scale by which schools are officially measured in California. Top rankings are celebrated and contribute to high property values. Low scores can label schools as failures and trigger penalties.

The number of schools with invalidated test scores remains relatively small: about two dozen each of the last three years in a state with more than 10,000 schools.

Some teachers may have thought they were within bounds when in fact they weren't.

A fifth-grade teacher at Short Avenue Elementary in the Del Rey neighborhood told her students in advance to jot down such helpful clues as multiplication tables, fraction-to-decimal conversions and number lines on scratch paper prior to starting the tests, according to a Los Angeles Unified report. On exam day, she allegedly walked around the classroom making encouraging remarks to make sure students followed through. That sort of test-day coaching is against the rules and cost Short Avenue its ranking. The teacher has since retired, according to the district.

Short Avenue also lost its API score last year for alleged testing mistakes, improper coaching or outright cheating by three popular teachers. All were pulled from campus and have since retired; at least two faced being fired if they didn't leave.

A teacher this year at Baldwin Lane Elementary in Big Bear City, stopped just short of handing out answers, but only just, a school report said.

She used "facial expressions" to cue students on right or wrong answers: "smiles, blank stares, etc.," the report said. She also allegedly would direct students to redo problems or place dots beside incorrect answers.

She even "corrected student tests and sent students back to their desk to fix incorrect responses" and "helped set up math problems where students couldn't themselves," the report said.

Later, the teacher, who also was the school's testing coordinator, "informed parents that their student had done well on portions of the test," which is something that, according to the rules, the teacher would have no knowledge of at that point, the report said.

Allegations of similarly aggressive coaching from a teacher invalidated eighth-grade geometry scores as well as sixth- and seventh-grade math tests at high-performing Adams Middle School in Redondo Beach, which otherwise would have recorded its best results.

There was no direct coaching, but a displayed cornucopia of reference material in a fifth-grade class at Global Family Elementary School in Oakland. During six days of testing, instructional material covered three walls and hung from light fixtures, including posters containing science vocabulary and directions for "adding and subtracting decimals, how to find the perimeter and volume of geometric figures … and conjugation of common English verbs," said a school report.

Teachers at six other schools were suspected of prepping students, at least in part, with actual test questions, including at Capistrano Elementary in the west San Fernando Valley and ICEF Inglewood Elementary Charter Academy.

A teacher in Camarillo displayed the test booklet with her "document camera and projector," a school report said.

Teachers in Garden Grove, Fresno and Sunnyvale allegedly read ahead in the test booklet while their students were taking the tests. Then they tried to go over questions or material about a test topic with students in advance, before they reached that section, according to school reports.

At Arroyo Valley High in San Bernardino, "slam the exam" review materials for biology were distributed among 11 teachers, including one who allegedly used the prep package with 141 students. The teacher who put together the review claimed all the sample problems came from appropriate sources, according to an investigation.

It turned out that 19 of 60 were exact matches with the state test.

howard.blume@latimes.com

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As Hurricane Sandy nears, 450,000 on East Coast told to evacuate

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Hundreds of thousands of people were told to flee low-lying areas, New York and Washington shut down their subways, federal offices and local schools closed, and presidential candidates curtailed their campaigning as Hurricane Sandy roared ever closer to the Eastern Seaboard on Sunday, promising epic storm surges, howling winds and drenching rain across much of the Mid-Atlantic region and Northeast.

Facing the fury of a storm system nearly 1,000 miles wide, at least five states declared emergencies. Airlines canceled more than 7,000 flights, and anxious families and businesses from North Carolina to Maine were warned to expect power blackouts lasting days or longer once the storm makes landfall, probably late Monday night. More than 450,000 people were ordered to evacuate.

With high tides driven by a full moon, forecasters warned of devastating waves and tidal surges 6 to 11 feet above normal that could trigger flash floods and treacherous conditions from New Jersey to southern New England. As far west as Chicago, the National Weather Service cautioned that Lake Michigan's waves could reach 16 to 22 feet — about four times normal.

PHOTOS: Hurricane Sandy

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime storm," said Tom Kines, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather. The damage "is going to be phenomenal."

The storm, which was expected to get even worse once it slammed into two other weather systems, churned northwest in the Atlantic and appeared likely to slam ashore with winds at or near hurricane force in southern New Jersey. But unlike most hurricanes, the eye of this monster wasn't the focal point.

"The winds are spread out over a huge area," said Todd Kimberlain, a forecaster at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Strong winds "are going to extend all the way up into Boston."

Hurricane-force winds were expected to whip parts of the coastline between Chincoteague, Va., and Chatham, Mass., the weather service said, a distance of 540 miles. Heavy snows were expected when Sandy collided with a cold front.

As federal and state officials scrambled to open shelters and position emergency supplies, President Obama joined a conference call with the governors of Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts, as well as the mayors of several major cities.

Obama promised to "cut through red tape" to help states respond. "We are not going to get bogged down with a lot of rules," he said.

The president warned that the storm's creeping pace could worsen destruction and hinder the cleanup. "It is important for us to respond big and to respond fast," he said after a meeting at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney canceled plans to campaign in Virginia and scrubbed events in New Hampshire — both among swing states where the race to Nov. 6 has been hottest.

Both campaigns also said they would stop soliciting funds in storm-affected states. In some areas, campaign workers began collecting and delivering supplies to emergency centers.

"I know that right now some people in the country are a little nervous about a storm about to hit the coast," Romney told about 2,000 supporters at a rally in Findlay, Ohio. "And our thoughts and prayers are with the people who will find themselves in harm's way."

Several candidates urged supporters in threatened areas to remove campaign signs. "The last thing we want is for yard signs to become projectiles," said Tim Kaine, a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate in Virginia.

In Maryland, where voters casting early ballots formed lines three or four blocks long Sunday under pewter-gray skies, Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley announced he would halt early voting Monday to keep voters out of danger. The state is considered a sure win for Obama.

But Sandy's impact on Democratic and Republican get-out-the-vote efforts in closely contested battlegrounds like North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio and New Hampshire was less clear. A large turnout generally benefits Democrats.

With millions of people at risk of losing power, utility companies rushed in reinforcement crews and equipment from as far away as New Mexico. Some areas could get a foot of rain over several days, and the rest of the Mid-Atlantic region was likely to get 4 to 8 inches.

Officials warned that the combination of downed trees, flooding, fallen power lines and other dangers were a lethal mix. Hurricane Sandy left about 60 people dead in the Caribbean last week before heading north.

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Hawaii prepares for tsunami after quake hits Canada

HONOLULU—

A senior geologist tracking a tsunami expected to hit Hawaii says the first waves hitting shore are smaller than expected.

But Gerard Fryer of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said Saturday night that the first waves are usually not the biggest for tsunamis in Hawaii. He says it could be as long as seven hours before the warning is canceled if waves get bigger.

The National Weather Service says there are reports of water quickly receding in bays, including Hilo Bay on the Big Island.

Tsunami waves are stronger and different from normal beach waves. Fryer says 3-foot tsunami waves would be strong enough to flood two blocks in from shore and destroy property at ground level.

The warning comes after a magnitude-7.7 earthquake struck off the coast of Canada.

Earlier Saturday, emergency officials urged people along Hawaii's coasts to move to higher ground, and officials in North America downgraded a tsunami warning to an advisory for southern Alaska and British Columbia. They also issued an advisory for areas of northern California and southern Oregon.

A small tsunami was barely noticeable in Craig, Alaska, where the first wave or surge was recorded Saturday night.

The wave or surge was recorded at 4 inches, much smaller than forecast, said Jeremy Zidek, a spokesman for the Alaska Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit in the Queen Charlotte Islands area, followed by a 5.8-magnitude aftershock several minutes later. The quake was felt in Craig and other southeast Alaska communities, but Zidek said there were no immediate reports of damage.

The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning for coastal areas of southeast Alaska, down the western Canadian coast to the tip of Vancouver Island.

Later Saturday evening, the warning for those areas was downgraded to an advisory, while a warning was issued for Hawaii.

Local television stations in Hawaii were running live news updates and warning tourists to check with hotels.

At first, officials said the islands weren't in any danger of a tsunami, but they later issued a warning, saying there had been a change in sea readings.

In addition, officials issued an advisory for areas from Gualala Point, Calif., about 80 miles northwest of San Francisco, to the Douglas-Lane county line in Oregon, about 10 miles southwest of Florence.

A tsunami warning means an area is likely to be hit by a wave, while an advisory means there may be strong currents, but that widespread inundation is not expected to occur.

Lucy Jones, a USGS seismologist, said the earthquake likely would not generate a large tsunami.

"This isn't that big of an earthquake on tsunami scales," she said. "The really big tsunamis are usually up in the high 8s and 9s."

She said the earthquake occurred along a "fairly long" fault - "a plate 200 kilometers long" in a subduction zone, where one plate slips underneath another. Such quakes lift the sea floor and tend to cause tsunamis, she said.

In Craig, officials implemented an emergency plan, and took fire trucks, ambulances and heavy equipment to higher ground.

"If nothing else it was a good exercise in determining how well our disaster plan works. I thought it came off quite well, really," he said.

Watson said he did receive calls from townspeople about the tsunami.

"There's supposed to be a big Halloween party downtown. People are calling, `Did the wave hit yet so we can go to the party?"' he said.

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7.7 quake off Canada prompts tsunami warning for Hawaii

ANCHORAGE, Alaska—

A tsunami warning for southern Alaska and northern British Columbia has been downgraded to an advisory, while a warning has been issued for Hawaii.

In addition, the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center says parts of coastal Oregon and Northern California have been placed under a tsunami advisory.

The alerts came after the U.S. Geological Survey said a 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit in the Queen Charlotte Islands area Saturday night.

A tsunami warning means an area is likely to be hit by a wave, while an advisory means an area could be hit.

A small tsunami was barely noticeable in the small community of Craig, Alaska, where a four-inch wave was recorded.

The warnings had been sparked by a strong earthquake Saturday night off the west coast of Canada. The U.S. Geological Survey said the 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit in the Queen Charlotte Islands area, followed by a 5.8-magnitude aftershock several minutes later.

The National Weather Service issued a warning for coastal areas of southeast Alaska including Craig. The U.S. Coast Guard in Alaska tried to warn everyone with a boat on the water to prepare for a potential tsunami.

Also included in the original warning were Northern California, Oregon and Washington state. An advisory on the website of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said coastal areas of Hawaii would also see small  changes in sea level and strong or unusual currents for several hours after 10 p.m. Hawaii time, Bloomberg News reported.

Bill Knight at the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center said any forecast that includes waves of 1 foot to 3 1/2 feet qualifies for an advisory threat level, which does not mean a full-fledged evacuation.

"It does mean pulling back from harbors, marinas, getting off the beach," Knight said.

The state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management activated its emergency operations center and notified officials in southeast Alaska communities.

Lt. Bernard Auth of the Juneau Command Center said the Coast Guard was also working with local authorities to alert people in coastal towns to take precautions.

Lucy Jones, a USGS seismologist, said the earthquake likely would not generate a large tsunami.

"This isn't that big of an earthquake on tsunami scales," she said. "The really big tsunamis are usually up in the high 8s and 9s."

She said the earthquake occurred along a "fairly long" fault -- "a plate 200 kilometers long" in a subduction zone, where one plate slips underneath another. Such quakes lift the sea floor and tend to cause tsunamis, she said.

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More Jews praying on site also sacred to Muslims

JERUSALEM — A simple, ancient ritual is threatening the delicate security balance atop Jerusalem's most sacred plaza: Jews are praying.

On most days, dozens — sometimes hundreds — of Jewish worshipers ascend to the disputed 36-acre platform that Muslims venerate as Al Aqsa mosque and Jews revere as the Temple Mount with an Israeli police escort to protect them and a Muslim security guard to monitor their movements.

Then, they recite a quick prayer, sometimes quietly to themselves, other times out loud.

Jewish activists call the prayers harmless acts of faith. Police and Muslim officials see them as dangerous provocations, especially given the deep religious sensitivities of the site and its history of violence. Twelve years ago, the presence of Jews on the plaza was so controversial that a brief tour by Israeli politician Ariel Sharon helped trigger a Palestinian uprising that lasted more than four years.

But today Jewish worshipers are commonplace, coming in greater numbers than at any time since Israel's founding and perhaps, some scholars say, as far back as half a millennium ago. Their goal? To challenge the Israeli government's tacit acceptance and enforcement of a ban on Jews praying there by the Islamic trust that has continued to administer the site even after Israel captured the Old City in 1967.

Jewish visits to the plaza are expected to surpass 12,000 this year, up 30% from 2011, according to estimates by Jewish worshiper groups.

"What is provocative about a person wanting to pray?" Rabbi Chaim Richman asked after defying mainstream rabbinical religious rulings and risking arrest by praying on a recent morning near the golden Dome of the Rock. The world's oldest surviving Islamic monument, it's built atop the site where Jews believe their first temple held the Ten Commandments.

"It's the most basic human right," said Richman, international director of the Temple Institute. "I'm not asking to build a temple. I'm just asking to move my lips."

His group and others that advocate the rebuilding of a Jewish temple have often been dismissed by other Israelis and the international community as extremists and zealots who seek to destroy the Dome and the nearby Al Aqsa mosque. Now they are betting this prayer campaign will give their cause more mainstream support, portraying it as a matter of religious equality and free speech.

How can it be, they ask, that in the state of Israel, Jews and Christians are banned from praying at Judaism's holiest site, while Muslims can worship freely? Even the U.S. State Department has cited Israel's ban on non-Muslim prayer on the plaza in its annual report on religious freedom, they note.

The groups want the Israeli government to implement a time-sharing plan that would set aside certain hours for Jewish worship, similar to one used to divide Hebron's Cave of the Patriarchs, a holy site for Muslims and Jews.

Palestinians and Muslim leaders call the prayer campaign the latest ruse designed to instigate clashes so that Israel can justify putting the plaza under military control.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas this month accused Israel of launching a "fierce assault" on the mosque after soldiers broke up a Muslim riot triggered by a group of Jewish worshipers.

Jordan, which has maintained day-to-day supervision of the plaza through an Islamic trust called the Waqf, is asking the U.N.'s cultural body, UNESCO, to condemn Israel for permitting an increase in Jewish prayers.

"The Israeli strategy is to take it over," said Mahdi Abdul Hadi, chairman of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs, a Jerusalem think tank. "We don't want to share, not because we don't accept them, but because we don't trust them." He said the Hebron agreement was supposed to result in sharing, but it led to bloody clashes between Jews and Muslims, and finally a military takeover.

Hadi also noted that temple-rebuilding extremists set fire to Al Aqsa mosque in 1969 and plotted to bomb the Dome of the Rock in the 1980s.

Jewish prayer at the Jerusalem holy site is certainly not new, but it has been rarely seen during the last 2,000 years. After the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70, a Jewish presence on the plaza was mostly banned or severely limited during Christian and Islamic rule.

Under the Ottoman Empire, Jews were given access to the Western Wall — believed to be a remnant of the Second Temple compound — but banned from the plaza above, which was reserved for Muslims only, according to Israeli historian F.M. Loewenberg.

Even after Israel took control of East Jerusalem in 1967, most Jews stayed away because of rabbinical prohibitions that warned them against visiting the site lest they inadvertently step on hallowed ground.

In recent years, however, a small but growing number of rabbis have softened that position. At the same time, national religious groups have argued that Israel should exert greater control over what is considered Judaism's holiest site.

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Billboard firm wrote L.A. proposal on signs

The outdoor advertising company Clear Channel quietly wrote a controversial Los Angeles City Hall proposal that could help the company preserve hundreds of millions of dollars in electronic billboard business.

Two weeks ago, Councilmen Ed Reyes and Paul Krekorian called for new negotiations with digital billboard companies that could allow the cash-hungry city to capture a portion of sign revenues. In a motion approved by the council, the lawmakers also said it was "critical" for the city to act before a ruling is handed down in an ongoing billboard case.

The outcome of the case could force the elimination of 100 digital signs, four-fifths of them operated by Clear Channel.

The motion was loudly denounced by neighborhood activists, who accused Krekorian and Reyes of trying to head off a court decision detrimental to the interests of the two companies that operate the electronic billboards.

On Friday, Reyes spokeswoman Monica Valencia acknowledged that a Clear Channel lobbyist had drafted the initial motion. She defended the company's involvement, saying Reyes receives motions from private sources "all the time."

"It's not uncommon for us to collaborate with other stakeholders on a motion," Valencia said in an email. "We are most concerned with the context of the motion, not the person who wrote it, and its sensitivity to the needs of our constituents."

Clear Channel Vice President Jim Cullinan said that his company has been talking to council members for years and that the Reyes-Krekorian proposal was "discussed, debated and modified" during an open council meeting.

Dennis Hathaway, president of the Coalition to Ban Billboard Blight, said Reyes' handling of the matter shows that council members are trying to tip the scales in favor of Clear Channel, which regularly donates to election campaigns and has four lobbying firms assigned to City Hall.

"This puts the lie to the idea promoted by Krekorian, Reyes and other council members that all they want to do is get a dialogue going on digital billboards," he said. "When the motion is written by the billboard company lobbyist, it's obviously to put something in motion that the company wants."

The digital signs at issue were installed in Hollywood, Westwood, Venice and elsewhere under a deal reached in 2006 between the council and two companies: Clear Channel and CBS Outdoor. Another billboard firm, Summit Media, challenged the agreement, which was struck down by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge in 2009. The City Council has allowed the signs to continue operating while the case is on appeal.

The Reyes-Krekorian motion did not mention Clear Channel by name or indicate that 100 signs are in jeopardy because of the lawsuit. Phil Recht, an attorney for Summit, said the motion gave a "terribly distorted picture" of the legal issues facing the city.

"We're not shocked to hear" that a Clear Channel lobbyist wrote the proposal, he said. "Summit has been saying it from Day One."

Valencia said Morrie Goldman, Clear Channel's lobbyist, drafted the digital billboard proposal last month after discussing the matter with a Reyes staffer. Goldman brought his two-page draft motion to a Sept. 27 meeting with Reyes. The councilman then recommended one change, she said: that a working group of city officials and billboard companies develop criteria that could legalize existing digital signs.

Goldman sent a slightly reworded proposal on Oct. 1, according to Valencia and documents obtained by The Times under a California Public Records Act request.

On Oct. 10, Krekorian's staff sent an email making more changes, suggesting that the proposed billboard talks include discussions on reducing the total number of signs citywide. The proposal was introduced jointly by Reyes and Krekorian that day and later approved on an 11 to 3 vote.

Krekorian said he was not troubled by the process used by Reyes. There would only be a problem, he said, if council members had failed to vet the proposal submitted to them.

"Who sends the first letter, who writes the first words, is not so significant as what the council does with it afterwards," he said.

david.zahniser@latimes.com

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Romney spends big on firms tied to aides

WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney's campaign has directed $134.2 million to political firms with business ties to his senior staff, spotlighting the tightknit nature of his second presidential bid and the staggering sums being spent in this election.

Nine firms that are run by, or recently employed, top Romney aides have received almost a third of the $435.8 million that Romney's campaign and a related fundraising committee have spent on operating expenses through Oct. 17, according to a Los Angeles Times analysis of federal election finance reports.

President Obama's reelection campaign and a joint fundraising committee have paid about $5.8 million in consulting fees to companies with business ties to senior strategists, according to the finance reports.

CHEAT SHEET: Follow the money

The campaign finance reports show that this year's presidential race has created a huge economic stimulus package for campaign operatives, whose total payday is often undisclosed.

Ryan Williams, a Romney spokesman, said payments to firms with connections to staff members were not only for consulting, but also were used to purchase a variety of services, including "polling, video production, political mail, get-out-the-vote phones, online advertising, website development, and budget and compliance management, among other things." He declined to break down the specific amounts.

It is unclear from the finance reports how much the firms may be earning on commissions for producing or buying Web ads, among other tasks.

In its analysis, The Times did not include millions that both campaigns have paid consultants to buy airtime for commercials, money which is largely passed on to television and radio stations.

Obama and his Republican challenger are on track to raise $1 billion each for their campaigns and political parties this election. The record-breaking totals stem from a decision by the candidates to reject public financing, which would have capped their general election spending at less than $92 million. Obama laid the groundwork for the financial escalation when he made history in 2008 by becoming the first presidential candidate to turn down the public funds.

"These guys are spending as much in two weeks as we were spending in two months," said Democratic consultant Tad Devine, who served as a senior strategist on the presidential bids of then-Vice President Al Gore in 2000 and Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry in 2004. "It's a whole different level."

An examination of finance reports shows that Romney and Obama both lean on trusted advisors to provide major services, such as media, polling and direct mail. But the Romney campaign has gone further, building its operations around a small group of companies that are either run by senior campaign aides or had employed them until they joined the campaign.

Two companies that Romney finance chair Spencer Zwick controls — SJZ and VG — have together been paid more than $22 million, which the campaign reported as payments for fundraising consulting.

VG, which stands for Victory Group 2012, was incorporated in April, the same month Romney secured the Republican presidential nomination. The company was registered by a corporate services agent, but campaign officials confirmed it belongs to Zwick. SJZ dates to 2005.

American Rambler, the company of top media strategists Stuart Stevens, Russ Schriefer and Eric Fehrnstrom, has been paid $23.6 million for services, including more than $6 million for strategy consulting and nearly $2.4 million for communication consulting.

The firm has also received $130 million to buy media time.

Its equivalent for the Obama campaign, GMMB, the Washington outfit of Obama's longtime media strategist Jim Margolis, received $306.5 million for media buys. It was paid $2.1 million for consulting and production.

Overall, the Obama campaign has relied more heavily on outside vendors. That is partly because many of its top officials joined the president's reelection effort from posts in the administration and do not have their own businesses.

Among the few staff-connected firms is Blue State Digital, the company of chief digital strategist Joe Rospars, which has received nearly $2.4 million for technology consulting and Web hosting. Senior strategist David Axelrod's firm, Axelrod Strategies, has received $166,000 for strategy consulting. And his former firm, AKPD Message and Media — where campaign strategist Larry Grisolano now serves as a partner — has received almost $1.1 million for media consulting and production.

The structure of Romney's campaign is largely a reaction to his consultant-heavy 2008 presidential bid, which aides said was plagued by turf wars between competing strategists. This time around, the infrastructure is centered on members of Romney's inner circle who have long histories with the candidate, such as Zwick and Fehrnstrom.

"Romney clearly made a decision after the 2008 campaign to put together a smaller and more cohesive brain trust," said Dan Schnur, a veteran GOP political strategist who now directs the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC. "The risk is that you may shut yourself off to outside perspective. But if you have a small group that you trust, it makes sense."

Mark Kennedy, a former GOP congressman from Minnesota who directs the George Washington University School of Political Management, noted that campaigns doing business with firms owned by senior staff must have safeguards to ensure that the candidate's best interests are being served.

"You make sure that key decisions are confirmed by people that don't have a conflict," he said.

The Romney campaign declined to answer questions about how it manages potential conflicts or whether senior advisors have a say over how much is allocated to their firms.

Several top officials oversee departments in which related firms provide services.

One of the campaign's top vendors is Targeted Victory, a 3-year-old digital consulting firm whose co-founder, Zac Moffatt, is the campaign's digital director. The Alexandria, Va.-based company has been paid more than $64 million for digital consulting and Web development.

A large share probably went to buy online ads, although those figures are not broken out in Federal Election Commission reports. Digital media consultants said commissions for such buys usually range from 10% to 15%, often not including fees for creative consulting.

Another official with business ties to a vendor is Rich Beeson, Romney's political director. Before joining the campaign, he was a partner at a Minnesota-based telemarketing firm called FLS Connect, which has been paid $16.5 million.

The company also has a tie to Targeted Victory: FLS Connect partner Tony Feather is listed as the original manager of the digital firm, according to corporate paperwork filed in Minnesota.

Three staff-run firms share an address.

American Rambler, which was registered in May 2011, is located in a suburban office building about 20 miles north of Romney's Boston headquarters.

Also there are two firms run by the campaign's chief financial officer, Bradley Crate: Red Curve Solutions, a financial management firm that the campaign has paid nearly $1.4 million for compliance consulting, and Easterly Capital, a private equity firm that has received almost $1.5 million for the use of its corporate jet.

CHEAT SHEET: Follow the money

matea.gold@latimes.com

maloy.moore@latimes.com

melanie.mason@latimes.com

Times staff writer Anthony Pesce contributed to this report.

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Man awaiting sentencing in Zoloft rape case is found dead

Los Angeles Times

A 26-year-old rape victim stood before a subdued San Bernardino County courtroom Friday, and read a carefully drafted statement addressed to the former Westminster police detective who kidnapped and raped her two years earlier.

"I forgive you," she said, choking up.

But Anthony Orban, 33, was not there. Hours before, at 2:49 a.m., Orban was found unresponsive in his cell at the Central Detention Center in San Bernardino, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said. He was declared dead at the scene.

His attorney, James Blatt, said he was informed that Orban hanged himself. The Sheriff's Department declined to reveal details of Orban's death, which was under investigation.

The rape victim told the court she suffered post-traumatic stress disorder for two years and lost four months of her life to shock. She criticized Orban for failing to take responsibility for his actions, alluding to his claims that he suffered a blackout allegedly induced by the antidepressant Zoloft.

"While I was trying to get past my rage and shame and feelings of worthlessness, you maintained that you weren't responsible for your actions," she read.

Orban had testified that he had no recollection of abducting the waitress from the Ontario Mills Mall, then raping her near a Fontana self-storage lot in April 2010.

Zoloft, the Iraq War veteran said, triggered hallucinations and suicidal and homicidal fantasies in the days leading up to the attack.

Experts for both sides agreed during the trial that Orban suffered some form of blackout during the attack. But clinical psychologist Craig Rath, a witness called by the prosecution, testified that it had more to due with alcohol. On the day of the attack, Orban and a friend ordered eight margaritas and two pitchers of beer while barhopping, according to evidence presented at trial.

"He was not insane," Rath testified during the sanity phase of the trial. "He understood the nature and quality of his acts and could distinguish between right and wrong."

California law considers alcohol-induced blackout voluntary intoxication, which does meet the criteria for legal insanity.

Jurors convicted Orban of kidnapping, rape and multiple counts of sexual assault. He could have faced a sentence of more than 200 years, but his sentencing was on hold while a judge looked into allegations of juror misconduct.

Superior Court Judge Shahla S. Sabet told the court Friday that she had been prepared declare no jury misconduct took place, reject a motion for a new trial and sentence Orban to 82 years to life in prison, then tack on an additional 95 years.

After court, Blatt said he and his client had no prior knowledge that Sabet was prepared to deny a motion for a new trial. Orban, Blatt said, nonetheless had a feeling it was coming and that he would spend the rest of his life in prison as a convicted sex offender and a former police officer. Blatt said he last spoke to Orban about a month ago.

"All of us knew" suicide "was a possibility," Blatt told reporters outside court. "But when it happens it is a shock."

Retired Salvation Army Maj. Bill Nottle said he saw Orban on Thursday afternoon. He said his demeanor was what he had come to understand as normal: "very tired" due to what his actions and trial imposed upon his family.

After the victim spoke, Blatt told her and the court that the Orban family is "truly sorry" for their relative's actions and that they have been praying for her. Blatt added that Orban had expressed to him his "great remorse and shame for his actions."

Outside court, Deputy Dist. Atty. Debbie Ploghaus said that Orban took the "easy way out," and made the day in court about him, when it should have belonged to the victim, who was scheduled to read her statement.

Standing in front of a group of reporters on the second floor of the Rancho Cucamonga courthouse, the rape victim said she felt sorry for Orban's family after hearing the news, but also that "it felt good" to express her feelings and forgive Orban.

Still, she yearned for more.

"I really wanted to tell him myself," she said calmly. "That would have been the ultimate closure."

andrew.khouri@latimes.com

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Police detain four in fatal Downey shooting rampage

Four people have been detained for questioning in connection with Wednesday's shooting rampage in Downey, which left three members of a family dead and two others injured, Downey police said.

"We have detained four people for questioning. We have not made an arrest yet," Lt. Leslie Murray said in a brief interview at police headquarters.

No other details about the move were immediately available.

PHOTOS: Downey shooting rampage

Police initially said that they did not know the motive for the attack, but that it was "targeted" and "not a random act of violence."

One Downey city councilman told The Times it was a drug-related hit.

The violence unfolded Wednesday after 11 a.m. when, police say, a man entered United States Fire Protection Services on Cleta Street, where he shot and killed a man and a woman and wounded a second woman. The gunman then went to the home of the business owner, also on Cleta Street, police say; a woman there was shot and killed and her 13-year-old son wounded.

The gunman fled in a stolen black 2010 Camaro, which belonged to one of the shooting victims.

Witnesses described a bloody, chaotic scene.

The teenage boy who had been shot was screaming and wounded, said witness Grace Mendez, 33.

"He was screaming, 'Oh my God, oh my God!'" Mendez said. "And then I saw that he was shot in the shoulder blade and stomach."

Police tried to help him, Mendez said, adding: "He had gone into complete shock." Witnesses saw another woman with a gunshot wound to her head.

Blanca Parker, who owns a nearby business, said she was at a loss for words.

"Everyone figured nothing bad would ever happen over here," Parker said.

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As Syria cease-fire looms, so do the doubts

BEIRUT — The Syrian military said Thursday that its forces would observe a temporary holiday cease-fire starting today, signaling a potential new phase in international efforts to halt a conflict that has caused vast destruction and loss of life and threatened to destabilize the Middle East.

Brokering the truce was peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, a veteran Algerian diplomat who has been on a shuttle diplomacy mission aimed at selling the truce idea to the warring sides and to their international allies.

Brahimi has voiced optimism that a truce coinciding with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha could expand into a more far-reaching peace initiative. How that might happen was unclear.

Both sides reacted cautiously to the announcement and there were no signs of a broader breakthrough in the 19-month-old conflict.

In a late-afternoon bulletin, Syria's state-run television reported that the armed forces command had agreed to a "cease of military operations" for four days beginning Friday, the first day of the holiday.

But authorities stressed that the truce was conditional and that the military reserved the right to respond to attacks or block any efforts to reinforce or resupply "terrorist groups," the government's label for the rebels fighting to oust President Bashar Assad.

Rebel commanders expressed skepticism about the truce, but some indicated that their forces would respect the initiative if the military suspended offensive operations.

Unlike an ill-fated cease-fire six months ago, this truce is not linked to any formal peace plan or call for negotiations. Nor are there any international observers inside Syria to monitor compliance.

At this point, any form of peace negotiations seems a long way off: The government says it will not talk with "terrorists" and rebels say Assad must step down before discussions begin.

Even a limited truce, however, provides some glimmer of hope, as well as the prospect of a respite, at least for the weekend, for the beleaguered residents of the northern city of Aleppo and other areas of Syria under government bombardment.

Still, many observers regard the chances of a broader peace, or even four days without an outbreak of violence, as slim.

"I don't believe the cease-fire will hold," Mustafa Sheik, who heads the military council of the Free Syrian Army, a rebel umbrella group, told the pan-Arab Al Jazeera satellite news station.

Some rebel factions have dismissed the truce outright and say they have no intention of laying down their arms, even for four days. Others have publicly backed the plan but insist the military must also not use a pause in fighting to rearm and resupply troops.

The opposition's fragmented nature poses a huge hurdle for any peace initiative. Without a central rebel command, no one can order the scores of brigades and militias fighting in Syria to stop shooting.

Syria's acceptance of the cease-fire was widely expected after intensive efforts by Brahimi, who serves as special peace envoy to Syria for the United Nations and the Arab League. Last weekend, he met in Damascus, the Syrian capital, with Assad, who apparently gave his go-ahead for the truce.

The deal was first announced by Brahimi in Cairo on Wednesday, but Assad's government waited until Thursday to give its official imprimatur.

Russia, a key Assad ally, has encouraged Damascus to go along with the truce. Moscow has used its position as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council to head off any international action against the Syrian government.

Fierce battles have been playing out in many areas of the country, including Aleppo, the nation's commercial center; the central city of Homs, Syria's third-most populous; and around Damascus. Fighting has also raged in small towns and rural areas. The daily death toll averages about 150, according to opposition groups. The government provides no overall casualty figures.

Rebels control considerable swaths of territory, though many "liberated" zones suffer artillery bombardment and none are out of the reach of government warplanes and attack helicopters. Rebels also control a number of border crossings with neighboring Turkey, a key rebel logistics and resupply hub.

The latest truce carries none of the buildup or bureaucratic scaffolding that accompanied the April cease-fire, which was brokered by Brahimi's predecessor, Kofi Annan, the former U.N. secretary-general and Nobel laureate. That truce was part of Annan's six-point peace plan, which, among other things, called on Assad to withdraw forces and armor from populated areas. Both sides agreed to the plan. But the military never pulled back and fighting soon resumed.

Each side blamed the other for the collapse of the cease-fire. A frustrated Annan resigned the envoy post in August, labeling his job "mission impossible" and saying that Assad must step down for any kind of peace to take hold.

patrick.mcdonnell@latimes.com

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For patients warned in meningitis outbreak, waiting is agony

Patsy Bivins can't stop worrying about the warning letter she got from the hospital.

It came seven weeks after she received two steroid injections in her back to treat chronic pain. The steroid had been made at the New England Compounding Center and was from one of the three lots later discovered to be contaminated with a fungus. The notice informed Bivins, 68, that although she had tested negative for fungal meningitis, she was still at risk of developing the disease, which has so far sickened more than 300 people and killed 24 across the nation.

"It said, 'Go to the doctor if you have headaches,'" said Bivins, a retired waitress in Sturgis, Ky. "Well, I've had headaches for a few days now and I don't know if it's because of the shot or all the stress I'm feeling."

As state and federal health officials struggle to treat an extremely rare and little-understood form of meningitis, about 14,000 patients who were injected with the tainted painkiller face an uncertain — and often angst-filled — future.

Though medical authorities say patients are most vulnerable to stroke and death within the first 42 days of injection, it can still take up to three months for symptoms to become apparent.

Patients like Bivins say the wait has been excruciating.

"I don't really eat a whole lot and I don't sleep now because I'm worried sick," she said. "They say three months, but what if it's not? What if it goes on and on? I don't think they honestly know."

In the hardest-hit states east of the Mississippi River, officials acknowledge that the stress felt by patients and their families has been intense. Just this week, the Tennessee health commissioner started a mental health hotline to help patients cope with the anxiety and uncertainty.

"We're in this in-between state," said Carol Scott, a Los Angeles lawyer whose 89-year-old mother, Ruth, received a tainted shot in August. "I don't want to upset her, but I'm freaked out about this."

Reports of patients who received clean bills of health only to be diagnosed with meningitis weeks later have deepened anxieties.

On Wednesday, a Michigan man whose wife died from the disease last month announced that he too had been diagnosed with fungal meningitis after getting a shot to alleviate neck and back pain. Just a week earlier, George Cary told reporters that a spinal tap showed no indications of meningitis. Now the 65-year-old engineer is receiving powerful intravenous antifungal medicines in a hospital, more than five weeks after his injection.

"I was truly shocked," Cary's daughter, Jill Bloser, told the Detroit Free Press. "I really didn't think he was going to have it because of how much time has passed. ... I really thought he was in the clear."

Investigators from the Food and Drug Administration have traced the outbreak to three lots of methylprednisolone acetate packaged by the now-shuttered New England Compounding Center of Framingham, Mass. The company distributed the tainted drugs to medical facilities in 23 states, including California. All of the center's products have been recalled and are being examined by investigators.

A report this week by Massachusetts health authorities said investigators discovered numerous violations and unsanitary conditions at the compounding center. Black particles could be seen floating in some vials of recalled methylprednisolone, and autoclaves had not been properly tested. Mats designed to trap dirt, dust and other contaminants were visibly soiled, and a pool of water was observed near a leaking boiler.

The steroid medication is often used to ease back pain in older patients and is injected directly into a patient's spinal canal or in tissue alongside the spine. The doses from the compounding center somehow became contaminated with the fungus Exserohilum, a black mold that usually infects grass, and not people. A second type of fungus, Aspergillus, has been detected in one fatal case so far.

"This is a very unusual fungus, so unusual that its name doesn't even appear in any medical school texts," said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville.

Unlike bacteria, which can reproduce every 20 minutes, the fungus involved in the outbreak takes days to reproduce. That slow reproduction is partly why the interval between exposure and the onset of symptoms can be so long.

In all but a few cases, the medication containing the fungus was injected in the back. While the steroid was intended to soothe inflammation of a pinched nerve, it also suppressed the body's immune response. As a result, instead of being destroyed by the body, the fungus began to multiply.

Schaffner said the growing fungus uses surrounding tissue as nourishment, destroying it in the process. Eventually, the fungus makes contact with the dura — the tough, protective sheath that surrounds the spinal cord — and "eats" through it. If the injection isn't done properly, the needle can pierce the dura and deposit the fungus directly.

Once the fungus breaches the dura, it invades the spinal fluid and causes inflammation in the thin membranes surrounding the spine and brain.

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Scientists defend safety of genetically modified foods

To the naked eye, the white puffs of cotton growing on shrubs, the yellow flowers on canola plants and the towering tassels on cornstalks look just like those on any other plants. But inside their cells, where their DNA contains instructions for how these crops should grow, there are a few genes that were put there not by Mother Nature but by scientists in a lab.

Some of the genes are from a soil bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis that makes proteins lethal to flies, moths and other insects. Others are from the soil bacterium Agrobacterium that programs plants to make a key enzyme that isn't vulnerable to a popular weed killer. These modifications allow farmers to grow crops with easier weed control and fewer pest-killing chemicals.

To an increasingly vocal group of consumers, this genetic tinkering is a major source of anxiety. They worry that eating engineered foods could be bad for their health or cause unanticipated environmental problems. At the very least, they insist, they deserve the right to know whether the foods they might buy contain genetically modified ingredients.

In California, this unease has culminated in Proposition 37. If approved on Nov. 6, the initiative would require many grocery store items containing genetically modified ingredients to carry labels.

But among scientists, there is widespread agreement that such crops aren't dangerous. The plants, they say, are as safe as those generated for centuries by conventional breeding and, in the 20th century, by irradiating plant material, exposing it to chemical mutagens or fusing cells together to produce plants with higher grain yields, resistance to frost and other desirable properties. Now they want to insert other genes into plants to make them more nutritious, resistant to drought or able to capture nitrogen from the air so they require less fertilizer, among other useful traits.

"There's no mystery here," said UCLA plant geneticist Bob Goldberg. "When you put a gene into a plant ... it behaves exactly like any other gene."

Genetically engineered crops have been extensively studied. Hundreds of papers in academic journals have scrutinized data on the health and environmental impacts of the plants. So have several in-depth analyses by independent panels convened by the National Academy of Sciences.

The reports have broadly concluded that genetically modified plants are not only safe but in many respects friendlier to the environment than nonengineered crops grown via conventional farming methods.

For instance, a review this year of 24 long-term or multigenerational studies found that genetically modified corn, soy, potato, rice and wheat had no ill effects on the rats, cows, mice, quails, chickens, pigs and sheep that ate them. Growth, development, blood, tissue structure, urine chemistry and organ and body weights were normal, according to the report in Food and Chemical Toxicology.

About 90% of the corn, soy and cotton now grown in the U.S. is genetically modified, and that has led to less use of pesticides, more targeted insect control, a shift to fewer toxic chemicals and less soil erosion compared with conventional farms, according to a 250-page analysis from the National Academies in 2010.

"There were hundreds and hundreds of peer-reviewed articles we combed through," said environmental economist David Ervin of Portland State University, who chaired the panel.

Though genetically modified crops are widespread, the alterations are quite limited.

The most common one makes crop plants tolerate the herbicide Roundup, allowing them to thrive while weeds die. Roundup kills weeds by disabling an enzyme called EPSPS that plants need to make amino acids. But crops are vulnerable too. So scientists at Monsanto Co. developed seeds with a resistant version of the EPSPS gene from Agrobacterium, splicing it into soy, alfalfa, corn, cotton, canola and sugar beets. The resulting crops have built-in protection to the herbicide; hence the brand name Roundup Ready.

It was such an easy way to control weeds that farmers flocked to it, said weed scientist Mike Owen of Iowa State University in Ames: "The siren song of simplicity and convenience was incredibly powerful."

Scientists used another strategy to make crops that can resist insect pests, such as the European corn borer and cotton bollworm.

For this job, the key genes are from Bacillus thuringiensis, known as Bt, which makes proteins that are toxic to insects but harmless to fish, birds, people and other vertebrates because they lack a receptor to which the proteins bind.

For decades, Bt proteins have been sprayed on organic crops to control insects. In the genetically modified version of the strategy, genes for Bt proteins are spliced into the plant's DNA so that it makes the protein itself.

Adoption of these crops has led to several documented benefits. American farmers cut back on their use of traditional insecticides that kill a broader array of bugs — including helpful ones — between 1996 and 2008, the National Academies review found.

China's broad adoption of Bt cotton led to a rise in numbers of beneficial ladybugs, lacewings and spiders and fewer aphids and other pests, according to an April study in the journal Nature. Benefits like these spill over to conventional crops as well, scientists have found.

In one famous case, genetic engineering saved a crop headed for extinction. Papaya plantations in Hawaii were under attack from the papaya ringspot virus; a new genetically altered papaya is resistant.

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3 family members killed, 2 wounded in Downey shooting attack

Five members of a Downey family were shot — three fatally — in a bizarre series of events that started at the business they owned and ended at their home a few blocks away.

Authorities said they don't know the motive for the attack and said they are searching for the gunman, who allegedly fled in a 2010 black Camaro stolen from one of the victims.

Witnesses described seeing family members wounded and bleeding outside both properties, including one woman who appeared to be shot in the head.

"The family was targeted for a specific reason," Downey police Lt. Dean Milligan said. "But we don't know what that reason was yet."

Detectives are now looking at surveillance tapes from around the area in the hope they can shed light on what happened.

The first sign of trouble came at 11:12 a.m., when someone called 911 about a shooting at the business, United States Fire Protection Services. When officers arrived three minutes later, they found a man and a woman dead and another woman wounded.

At 11:17 a.m., police received a second call from the home of the business owner, about two blocks away, in the 8500 block of Cleta Street. There, they found another dead woman and a wounded 13-year-old boy.

The boy told police he didn't recognized the gunman, Milligan said. The shooter was described as a 30-year-old black man about 6 feet tall and 230 pounds. He was last seen in the Camaro, which had the license plate 6LEA010.

Grace Mendez said she saw the teenager near the business as she drove down Cleta Street.

"He was screaming, 'Oh my God, oh my God!" Mendez, 33, said. "And then I saw that he was shot in the shoulder blade and stomach."

Police tried to help him, Mendez said, adding: "He had gone into complete shock." She also saw a woman sitting on a cement wall, bleeding from her head.

A woman who works near the business said she heard a heard a helicopter and went outside, where she saw one of the business owners on his knees, crying.

"He told me his mom got shot in the head and the bullet came out," said the woman, who declined to give her name.

As news of the shooting spread, worried family members hurried to the business, desperate for answers.

"My wife works in there!" yelled a man in a white T-shirt who approached the police tape about 1 p.m. "I need to know if she's OK!"

Residents and business owners said they were shocked by the violence. They described the area as safe and the family as hard-working, owners who would lock the front door of the business even if they were inside.

Blanca Parker said one of the reasons she moved her copier company to Cleta Street was because she had been told the area was safe. A Coca-Cola bottling plant across the street "has cameras everywhere," she said.

"I'm at a loss for words," Parker said. "Everyone figured nothing bad would ever happen over here."

Art Portillo lives directly behind Cleta Street near the house. The 60-year-old retired building inspector said the neighborhood was quiet and he never saw any signs of trouble.

"I have never heard anything," he said. "That's why we moved here. This is so quiet you can hear a pin drop."

wesley.lowery@latimes.com

ruben.vives@latimes.com

andrew.khouri@latimes.com

Times staff writers Kate Mather and Richard Winton contributed to this report.

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U.S. sues BofA, calling loan fraud 'brazen'

Bank of America thought it was laying claim to a crown jewel of American mortgage lending when it scooped up Countrywide Financial Corp. at the depths of the housing crisis in 2008.

With a name reflecting its ambition, Countrywide transformed itself from a regional lender in Calabasas to a burgeoning powerhouse. It seemed to have perfected the elusive art of making home loans to borrowers with scuffed credit.

But the deal quickly became a millstone for Bank of America, U.S. taxpayers and the American economy when Countrywide dissolved in a heap of bad loans and shoddy bookkeeping.

The extent of Countrywide's wayward behavior is still coming to light four years after the deal. New revelations emerged Wednesday in a mammoth lawsuit filed by the federal government.

The $1-billion civil suit alleges that Countrywide fraudulently deceived mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into believing the company's risky loans were safe and sound.

Document: The complaint filed against BofA

Countrywide code-named its mortgage program "the Hustle" to prod employees to churn out loans as the housing market was beginning to crack.

The name was apt, said Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan who brought the suit, because it underscored dubious behavior that began at Countrywide and continued at Bank of America. In its haste to stick the government with loans that it knew were flawed, Countrywide dispensed with traditional internal safeguards designed to ensure loan quality, according to the suit. The suit, which seeks treble damages, says the abuses occurred from 2007 to 2009.

"The fraudulent conduct alleged in today's complaint was spectacularly brazen," Bharara said. "Countrywide and Bank of America made disastrously bad loans and stuck taxpayers with the bill."

Bank of America said in a statement that it "has stepped up and acted responsibly to resolve legacy mortgage matters."

"At some point, Bank of America can't be expected to compensate every entity that claims losses that actually were caused by the economic downturn," the statement said.

Housing advocates hailed the suit but said Countrywide-related losses far exceed the amount the government is seeking.

"It's better late than never, but it sure as heck should have been earlier and should have been more," said Dennis Kelleher, chief executive of Better Markets Inc., a liberal nonprofit group focused on financial reform.

The case underscores the lasting damage caused by Countrywide, critics say.

BofA bought Countrywide for about $2.5 billion and has racked up more than $30 billion in legal costs, write-downs and other charges since the acquisition. Numerous reports said BofA's directors last year discussed putting the Countrywide unit into bankruptcy if it continued to hemorrhage money.

U.S. taxpayers had to ante up $137 billion after the government bailed out Fannie and Freddie in the financial crisis. The companies are quasi-governmental entities that guarantee millions of home loans.

By inflating the mortgage balloon, Countrywide played an outsized role in the housing crisis and ensuing recession, critics say.

"Countrywide was the poster child for the problems that precipitated the financial crisis," said Kevin Stein, associate director of the San Francisco-based California Reinvestment Coalition.

"We're still seeing the effects in terms of people going into foreclosure as a result of the Countrywide practices," Stein said. "People are still suffering."

Though the U.S. housing market recently has begun to rebound, many areas of the country remain shaky.

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Judge rejects former Bell police chief's bid to double pension

A judge has rejected an effort by Bell's former police chief to more than double his pension to $510,000 a year, saying that the City Council never approved his extravagant contract and that city officials tried to keep his salary secret.

Randy Adams, who was fired as the city was engulfed in scandal, would have become one of the highest paid public pensioners in California had his request been approved.

The cost of doubling Adams' pension would have fallen primarily on Ventura, Simi Valley and Glendale, where he spent most of his career. Ventura alone would have been on the hook for nearly $2 million of Adams' future pension, according to state pension officials.

The ruling leaves Adams with a $240,000-a-year pension, the eighth highest paycheck in California's largest public employee retirement system

The decision follows a three-day hearing in Orange County last month in which Adams asserted his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination 20 times.

"It's justice for the citizens of Bell and justice for the citizens of California who start to take a stand against pension abuse," City Manager Doug Willmore said. "It tells Randy Adams what he did was clearly wrong, and he knew it or should have known it."

Adams ran the tiny police department in Bell for just a year, but his extraordinary salary put him in a position to more than double his retirement pay. As chief, he was paid $457,000 a year, much higher than either Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck or the police commissioner of New York City. He and other municipal leaders in Bell were fired after The Times exposed their salaries.

Eight city officials now charged with public corruption are awaiting trial. Adams is not among them.

In his fight for a higher retirement check, Adams was appealing a decision by the California Public Employees' Retirement System that his short stint in Bell should not count toward his retirement.

CalPERS calculated that the higher pension would have cost an additional $3.1 million, with Ventura paying $1.93 million, Simi Valley $600,000 and Glendale $536,000. Bell would have owed $84,579.

Adams retired as police chief in Glendale shortly before taking the job in Bell. Although Glendale is roughly six times the size of Bell, his salary doubled when he took his new job.

James Ahler, the administrative law judge who heard the case, said that keeping Adams' contract secret was part of a plan by former City Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo and former assistant administrator Angela Spaccia to hide city salaries.

"Some emails demonstrate a conscious effort to shield salaries paid to certain City of Bell employees, including Mr. Adams, from public view," Ahler wrote.

The chief, the judge wrote, also wanted to keep confidential an agreement that would have eventually granted him a disability retirement, meaning that half his pension would have been tax-free. His decision included an email that Adams sent to Spaccia during contract negotiations. "I am looking forward to seeing you and taking all of Bell's money?!" he wrote. "Okay...just a share of it."

Greg Adam, the former police chief's attorney, said they had expected the ruling.

"It doesn't surprise me, given the political prism things in Bell are now being viewed through, that the judge found a way to rule against Randy," he said.

Adams can appeal the ruling to CalPERS' 12-person board or file a lawsuit.

Other legal fights await Adams. He has sued the city for severance pay. The city has sued him, saying that it wants Adams to return his salary and a portion of the $20 million Bell estimates it lost in the corruption scandal.

Besides the $457,000 salary, Adams' contract also called for Bell to pay his retirement contributions and to offer him and his dependents lifetime medical, dental and vision insurance.

Adams' attorney criticized CalPERS for waiting until the Bell scandal broke before acting. "CalPERS was accepting the contributions on this very large sum. They must have seen this was an inordinate amount of money, yet did anyone say, 'Wait a minute.' No. They took the money."

Rizzo, Spaccia and former Councilman George Cole — all of whom face corruption charges — are also fighting CalPERS' decision to cut their pensions.

jeff.gottlieb@latimes.com

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Man killed by shark in Santa Barbara County

A 39-year-old man surfing off the Santa Barbara County coast was killed Tuesday in a shark attack that occurred off the same beach where a bodyboarder was killed two years ago.

Francisco Javier Solorio Jr. of nearby Orcutt was dragged by a friend onto the beach after he suffered a massive bite on his upper torso that turned the water around him red, Santa Barbara County sheriff's officials said. He died at the scene.

"His friend saw the shark bite him," said Sgt. Mark Williams. "It was a pretty bad bite."

Solorio's surfboard also had bite marks on it, said Lt. Erik Raney. The Santa Barbara County coroner's office is expected to consult with a shark bite expert to examine both Solorio's wounds and the marks on the board.

The attack occurred amid light winds and 1- to 2-foot waves shortly before 11 a.m. off Surf Beach. The beach runs along the edge of Vandenberg Air Force Base but is a popular spot with local swimmers and surfers.

Authorities ordered beaches along the Vandenberg coast closed for 72 hours as officials try to determine the level of danger to public.

Officials said they are still trying to officially ascertain what kind of shark was responsible for the attack. One expert, however, said it had all the hallmarks of a great white.

"There is no other species swimming off of the coast regularly that could possibly do that kind of damage," said Andrew Nosal of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla. He added that great whites are responsible for almost all shark attacks off the California coast.

Solorio's friends told local TV stations in Santa Barbara County that Solorio had been surfing in the local waters since he was a boy.

"He was a really good surfer," Nathan Winkles told KEYT-TV.

Solorio's death marks the 13th fatal shark attack in California waters since 1950. Five of those have occurred since 2003.

On Oct. 22, 2010, Lucas Ransom and his friend were bodyboarding when a shark appeared and pulled the 19-year-old under, ripping his left leg off at the pelvis.

Ransom's surfing buddy Matthew Garcia told The Times that the shark was 18 to 20 feet long and that the attack was stealthy and sudden.

"It was all really quick.... Imagine a river of blood. That's what the wave looked like for a minute," Garcia said. "You would have never known there was a shark in the water."

Shark attacks declined in the United States last year, but worldwide fatalities doubled, according to a report released earlier this year.

Of the 75 shark attacks around the globe in 2011, a dozen were fatal, up from six the year before, according to the annual report by the International Shark Attack File, which is compiled by the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida.

Despite the publicity that comes with shark attacks, they are extremely rare, said Nosal of the Scripps Institute.

He said that the documented increase in shark attacks is largely due to higher volumes of people using the water for surfing and body boarding, and not because of an increase in the number of sharks.

"The population off of California is rather small," Nosal said, adding that the most recent survey placed the state's great white shark population at around 300. "The fact that people are reporting more shark sightings is due in large part to there being an increase in awareness."

But Peter Howorth, director of the Santa Barbara Marine Mammal Center, said there appears to be an uptick in the number of shark-related attacks on people and marine mammals in recent years in California. And he is skeptical of studies that suggest the shark population is declining.

A state ban on gill nets and a prohibition against "the taking of great whites" has led to an increase in the numbers of sharks, including species that prey on large marine mammals, he said.

wesley.lowery@latimes.com

andrew.blankstein@latimes.com

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CVS Caremark has become a frequent subject of government probes

Retired social worker Nina Nestor got an all-too-familiar phone call last week: Her prescription refill was ready at her CVS store in San Clemente.

Trouble is, the 83-year-old cancer patient didn't ask for the refill or numerous others that CVS pharmacists filled this year without her permission. "The pharmacist told me after two weeks they put it back in stock and reverse the billing," Nestor said. "But I wonder about that."

Government officials share her concerns. Allegations that the pharmacy giant has been automatically refilling medications without patient consent — and possibly overbilling insurers and government programs for unused medicine — have sparked four government investigations in recent weeks, the most recent by the U.S. Justice Department.

CVS Caremark Corp. is no stranger to government scrutiny. In recent years, the company has paid more than $80 million to resolve allegations of overbilling Medicaid, improperly changing patients' prescriptions and, in one case, using blow dryers to peel off patients' mailing labels to resell returned medicine.

Federal authorities say they are reviewing whether the latest allegations, made by pharmacists and consumers in several states, including California, violate any terms of previous settlements with the government.

Critics say CVS Caremark warrants closer inspection because of its record. "This company will keep pushing the envelope and stepping across the line," said Mark Cooper, director of research at the Consumer Federation of America. "If they have serious violations, it's time to make them understand that breaking the law is not going to be profitable."

CVS Caremark says it has done nothing wrong and insists that it has procedures in place to ensure compliance with all applicable laws and protect the well-being of patients. Company spokeswoman Carolyn Castel said it will cooperate with any inquiry and it is company policy to refill and dispense a prescription only with the patient's authorization.

"We continuously monitor to ensure that prescriptions are filled appropriately, and we have well-established, time-tested and thoroughly audited procedures for the proper handling of medications that are not picked up by patients, including procedures for reversing any insurance charges," Castel said. She also said the company is frequently audited by insurers and other payers.

All this comes as the nation struggles to control rising healthcare costs and absorb the effect of baby boomers entering Medicare. Some experts worry that consolidation in the pharmacy business and across much of the medical industry is driving up prices even further while the $2.6-trillion U.S. healthcare system loses tens of billions of dollars annually to fraud and abuse.

CVS Caremark is a key player, handling 1 in 5 prescriptions in the U.S., or about 800 million annually, at its drugstores and through the mail. The Woonsocket, R.I., company is the product of a 2007 deal that merged the CVS retail chain with the Caremark pharmacy-benefits business.

Its 7,400 drugstores are a familiar sight across the U.S. But the company's reach extends far beyond those stores because it also manages drug benefits for more than 60 million people on behalf of major employers, such as the federal government, and numerous health plans such as Aetna Inc.

In that role as a pharmacy-benefits manager, the company negotiates discounts with drug makers, advises employers and insurers on prescription coverage and runs huge mail-order pharmacies. It has also become a leading provider of Medicare prescription-drug plans, and it has opened nearly 600 in-store clinics to help ease a shortage of primary-care doctors.

Last year, CVS Caremark's revenue grew 12% to $107.1 billion, and it posted a profit of $3.5 billion.

The company is already operating under two previous settlements with the federal government that call for tighter monitoring. It denied any wrongdoing in those two cases and said it settled them to avoid the time and expense of litigation.

CVS Caremark originally entered into a corporate integrity agreement in 2008, when it paid $36.7 million to resolve allegations from a CVS pharmacist that the company improperly switched patients to a more expensive form of a stomach medicine billed to Medicaid, the government program for the poor and disabled. The agreement called for extra employee training, reviews by an outside organization and additional reporting to the government.

Last year, the company's probationary status was extended three years after the company settled another whistle-blower complaint for $17.5 million. A CVS pharmacist in Minnesota accused the company of using a computer program to inaccurately bill Medicaid.

This year, the company has paid an additional $10.3 million to the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department to resolve allegations that a subsidiary reported inaccurate information about generic-drug prices in 2007 and 2008 and overcharged seniors on a Medicare Part D plan. CVS Caremark said those errors were inadvertent and occurred before its acquisition of the unit involved.

Some industry experts say it's common for big companies to occasionally overstep the rules, particularly in healthcare because regulations are often vague and subject to change.

"I don't believe CVS Caremark has a global compliance problem," said Adam J. Fein, a pharmaceutical industry consultant.

More importantly for the company, the FTC dismissed allegations of anticompetitive behavior this year. For more than two years, federal regulators had looked into whether CVS Caremark had an unfair market advantage by being a large retailer and one of the biggest pharmacy-benefit managers. The company works with nearly 60,000 pharmacies to distribute medicine to insured patients beyond its own stores.

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