IN BRIEF

WINDY DAYS

County officials warn of poor air quality

Clark County air quality officials issued an advisory for today and Friday, saying strong winds are expected to whip up dust from vacant lots and unpaved roads.

Construction site operators were alerted.

"Under windy conditions, localized or valley-wide areas of blowing dust are likely to occur. ... Children, the elderly and people with respiratory diseases are urged to stay indoors," reads the statement Wednesday from the Clark County Department of Air Quality and Environmental Management.

Airborne dust particles can aggravate respiratory diseases such as bronchitis and asthma, the advisory said.

SAN DIEGO NEIGHBORHOOD

Residents evacuate homes after landslide

Residents of million-dollar homes in a hilltop La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego scrambled to rescue pets and secure belongings Wednesday after a landslide cut a 50-yard-long chasm in a four-lane street, destroying one home and damaging eight others.

No injuries were reported, but by late afternoon, the evacuation had expanded to 111 homes on three streets.

The neighborhood is in an area that has a history of landslides dating to the 1960s.

The earth moved at 9 a.m. the day after city officials warned residents of four homes not to sleep in them because the land might give way.

DEATH OF ACTRESS

Spector seeks lawyers for second murder trial

Most of Phil Spector's defense lawyers are bowing out of his second murder trial, and the music producer has begun a search for a new lead counsel, a remaining lawyer told the judge Wednesday in Los Angeles.

"I'm the last man standing," said attorney Christopher Plourd, who presented scientific evidence during the trial, which ended last week in a mistrial. The jury deadlocked 10-2 for with the majority favoring conviction.

"Mr. Spector is actively seeking new lead counsel," Plourd said. "I don't know if I'll stay on the case or not."

He said that San Francisco attorney Dennis Riordan, who joined the team in its last weeks, will stay on to handle legal motions but not as trial counsel.

Spector did not attend Wednesday's hearing. The 67-year-old record producer is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting of actress Lana Clarkson.

Clarkson, 40, died about 5 a.m. on Feb. 3, 2003, from a gunshot fired in her mouth as she sat in the foyer of Spector's Alhambra mansion. The defense contends the shot was self-inflicted, either an accident or a suicide.