CHARRED REMAINS
Police: Parents of 1 of 2 missing California teens arrested in charred remains case
HEMET, Calif. (AP) — Police have arrested the parents of one of two Southern California teens who have been missing since last month, when charred human remains were found in the backyard of the parents' home.
Hemet police have also issued an arrest warrant for their missing son, and say the other youth is believed to have been murdered with a total of six people present during or just after the crime.
Prosecutor Chuck Hughes says "burning the remains of a young man to hide a murder shows a definite inhumanity."
The arrested parents were identified at a news conference minutes ago as Jose and Maria Seym (SAY-em). Their son is 17-year-old Jose Campos.
Police say they believe the charred remains are those of 17-year-old Adrian Rios.
Police have not said what the parents or their son are alleged to have done.
SWINE FLU-CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS
California schools to get masks to help curb swine flu
SANTA FE SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) — California schools will be getting millions of masks and gloves to block the spread of swine flu.
State schools chief Jack O'Connell says California has bought 23 million disposable masks and gloves for distribution to school districts around the state.
Children with symptoms of the H1N1 flu will be asked to wear a surgical mask while they are examined or kept in a sick room until their parents can arrive to take them home.
The school nurse or other school staffer will wear a different style of mask and gloves to avoid exposure.
Federal grants paid for the items.
State health officials say there have been more than 7,200 cases of swine flu reported this year, including 366 deaths.
ROMAN POLANSKI
Roman Polanski begins house arrest at chalet in Gstaad as Swiss decide on US extradition
GSTAAD, Switzerland (AP) — Roman Polanski is out of a Swiss jail and confined to his luxurious Alpine chalet under house arrest.
The 76-year-old Los Angeles fugitive, who posted $4.5 million bail while awaiting extradition to California for a 1977 child sex crime, arrived today in Gstaad in a police convoy and was greeted by his French actress wife Emmanuelle Seigner and children -- 9-year-old Elvis and 16-year-old Morgane.
He had been in jail for more than two months.
Swiss officials say Polanski transferred the bail and deposited all identification and travel documents with the Zurich police.
His house in Gstaad is fitted with an electronic monitoring system that will trigger an alarm if Polanski leaves the house or removes the device on his ankle.
TORTURE ATTACK
San Diego County girl, 14, pleads not guilty to ambush, torture and stabbing of teen rival
VISTA, Calif. (AP) — A 14-year-old girl has pleaded not guilty to ambushing, torturing and stabbing a former classmate in San Diego County -- charges that carry a potential life sentence.
The girl, who's being tried as an adult, is in jail with bail set at $2 million.
Prosecutors say she and another girl ambushed a 14-year-old girl in the victim's Escondido home in May. They allegedly beat and kicked her, carved her face and body with a knife and stabbed her five times.
The girl recovered.
Authorities say she was targeted because she liked the same boy as one attacker. Prosecutors want to try that girl as an adult.
A 14-year-old boy who went along to the home faces juvenile charges.
TRAIN STATION SHOOTING
L.A. judge to block cameras from courtroom during murder trial of Bay Area transit officer
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A judge says no cameras will be allowed in the courtroom during the murder trial of a former San Francisco Bay area transit police officer who shot an unarmed man on New Year's Day.
The trial has been moved to Los Angeles because another judge ruled it impossible to seat an impartial jury in Alameda County. A trial date has not yet been set.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry says he will deny requests for still and video cameras during Johannes Mehserle's trial.
Spokesman Allan Parachini says the camera ban is not yet official because there has been no media requests.
Mehserle has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer says the former officer meant to use his Taser instead of his handgun in the New Year's Day shooting on an Oakland train station platform.
GAY BISHOPS
Election for Episcopal bishops in Los Angeles diocese includes 2 gay candidates
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles clergy and laypeople have gathered in Riverside to pick replacements for two retiring assistant bishops.
The pool includes two openly homosexual candidates -- the Rev. John Kirkley of San Francisco and the Rev. Canon Mary D. Glasspool of Baltimore.
The annual Episcopal convention is being held in Riverside.
The selection of one or both of the gay candidates at the diocese's annual convention would mark the first election of a bishop in a same-sex relationship since Bishop V. Gene Robinson was chosen in New Hampshire in 2003. Robinson lives with his longtime male partner.
Robinson's win six years ago led dozens of conservative parishes and four dioceses to vote to leave the 2.1-million member U.S. denomination and pushed the 77 million-member Anglican fellowship to the brink of schism.
Last July, the Episcopal General Convention, the church's top policy-making body, effectively lifted a moratorium on electing another gay bishop. The temporary ban had been requested by Anglican leaders seeking to prevent a permanent break in the communion.
The Los Angeles diocese has 70,000 members and covers six Southern California counties.
FIERY CRASH
Downey man convicted of killing student who burned to death in fiery, drunken crash
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — An Orange County jury has convicted a man of killing a college student who burned to death after a drunken crash.
Twenty-two-year-old Kenneth McNair of Downey was found guilty yesterday of vehicular manslaughter and unlicensed driving. He ran into the rear of a Mustang stopped at a red light and 20-year-old Jose Pacheco -- a Cal State Long Beach student -- was killed in the fiery wreck.
McNair faces up to 15 years in prison when he's sentenced next month.
Prosecutors say McNair had been drinking for hours in November 2008 and his blood alcohol was more than three times the legal limit when his speeding car rear-ended the Mustang and struck a big-rig. McNair and a passenger walked away but were stopped a block away.
GLOBAL WARMING OSCAR
2 motion picture academy members want Gore global warming Oscar
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two members of the motion picture academy are demanding revocation of the Oscar given to former Vice President Al Gore for the environmental movie "An Inconvenient Truth."
The Los Angeles Times is reporting on its Web site that Hollywood conservatives Roger L. Simon and Lionel Chetwynd are citing recent documents showing University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit scientists apparently falsified data to give the appearance of global warming.
The university is reportedly investigating the claims.
