IN BRIEF
MEDIA MANAGEMENT
L.A. Times fires editor over budget dispute
The Los Angeles Times fired its top editor after he rejected a management order to cut the newsroom budget by $4 million, the newspaper reported Sunday, making James O'Shea the second top-ranking editor to be ousted in the past 14 months in a dispute over budget cuts.
O'Shea's departure follows that of his predecessor, Dean Baquet, who was forced to resign after he opposed further cuts to the newsroom budget in 2006.
L.A. AREA SHOOTINGS
Parties turn deadly; two people killed
Two people were killed in a spate of shootings at two separate parties in the Los Angeles area.
The first shooting happened late Saturday at a Long Beach Masonic temple that had been rented for a birthday party, police Sgt. Dina Zapalski said. Several gang members crashed the party, she said. A fight started, and two teens were killed, she said.
The second shooting occurred early Sunday in Compton, when four or five men turned up at a party and opened fire, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Tony Moore said. Eight people were shot, and three were critically wounded.
LAKE TAHOE AREA
Slick road near resort causes vehicle pileups
Police responded to vehicle pileups Sunday afternoon near the Heavenly ski resort on Lake Tahoe's south shore blamed on slick road conditions, authorities said.
At least a dozen vehicles were involved in the string of pileups on a resort exit road, said a dispatcher for the South Lake Tahoe, Calif., police department.
No major injuries were reported, but some motorists suffered minor injuries when they slipped and fell after the accidents, the dispatcher said.
INTERSTATE 80
6-year-old left behind at highway rest stop
A 6-year-old Sacramento, Calif., boy with 13 brothers and sisters is back with his family after being left behind at a freeway rest stop.
A Placer County sheriff's spokesman said the boy's parents did not report him missing for about four hours after a motorist found him alone Saturday afternoon.
Sheriff's Lt. Jeffrey Ausnow said the boy was left at an Interstate 80 rest area near Colfax.
The boy's father said he thought the boy had been asleep in their van.
CALIFORNIA AIRPORT
Small planes collide, killing five people
Two private planes flying about a mile from an airport collided Sunday, killing at least five people as debris fell on car dealerships below, authorities said.
The planes, small Cessnas, collided at 3:35 p.m. about a mile from the Corona, Calif., airport, FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer said.
Four of the dead were from the planes, and the fifth was in a dealership hit by debris, he said.
POLICE INVESTIGATION
Photos of students found on gay Web site
Santa Ana, Calif., Police are investigating how photographs of male high school water polo players ended up on several gay adult Web sites.
Some of the pictures were of boys as young as 14, and were juxtaposed next to photos of nude young men and graphic sexual content, The Orange County Register reported Saturday.
