SACRAMENTO – Two divers who were inspecting a treacherous segment of the California Aqueduct near a pumping station died yesterday after being submerged about 30 feet below the surface in murky, fast-moving water.
The divers were employed by the state Department of Water Resources and were performing what was supposed to be a routine, 20-minute inspection of the aqueduct where the water flows through a large grate into the Dos Amigos Pumping Plant, about 85 miles southeast of San Jose.
“For reasons we don't know yet, they did not come up,” department spokeswoman Sue Sims said. The divers were identified as Tim Crawford, 56, of the Seaside area near Monterey and Martin Alvarado, 44, of the Coalinga area.
Associated Press
Prison workers being
paid during discipline
SACRAMENTO – At least 40 state prison medical workers have been receiving full pay while they've been on disciplinary leave for up to four years, corrections officials said yesterday. They plan to bring the employees back to work even as the state tries to fire them.
As many as 45 prison employees were pulled from their duties in the past few years because of failures or neglect that sometimes resulted in inmates' deaths, said Robert Sillen, the federal court-appointed receiver who took over the prison medical system in April.
Dr. Peter Farber-Szekrenyi, director of the state Division of Correctional Health Care Services, said that within the next few days he will order the employees to return to assignments that will not put them in contact with inmate patients.
“I'll put them in the library and let them read books. They're not going to sit at home and rip off the taxpayers,” Sillen said told a Senate budget panel.
Associated Press
Judge favors putting
Spector trial on TV
LOS ANGELES – The judge in the murder case against music producer Phil Spector said yesterday he's leaning toward allowing the trial to be televised and will make a decision after hearing from lawyers this month.
The 67-year-old producer – famed for creating the “wall of sound” recording technique that revolutionized rock music – is charged with killing actress Lana Clarkson in his suburban mansion on Feb. 3, 2003.
The next pretrial hearing is set for Feb. 16.
Associated Press
Bill clears funds for
firefighters' survivors
CABAZON – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill yesterday allowing families of five U.S. Forest Service firefighters killed in an arson blaze to receive more than $1 million in donations that were held up by tax rules. The firefighters were overrun by flames Oct. 26 while protecting homes in Twin Pines, about 90 miles east of Los Angeles.
Associated Press
Early-primary bill
clears Senate panel
SACRAMENTO – A bill that seeks to move California's presidential primary from June to February next year cleared the Senate Elections Committee yesterday on a 3-0 vote.
California's traditional June primary has left the state virtually irrelevant in the nominating process. Moving the primary would change the dynamic of presidential politics, said state Sen. Ron Calderon, the bill's author. A similar bill is pending in the Assembly.
Associated Press
