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	California Briefing Los Angeles Times February 13, 2009 http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-briefs13-2009feb13,0,6705265.story School staff member is focus of investigation The campus minister at Crespi Carmelite High School in Encino has been placed on administrative leave, pending an investigation by police and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles into alleged inappropriate conduct at another school in the 1990s, officials said. Joseph Schnelldorfer was a coach at Bishop Alemany High School in Mission Hills when the alleged misconduct took place, archdiocese spokesman Tod Tamberg said, adding that the allegations did not involve sexual abuse. Tamberg said he had no information about which teams Schnelldorfer had coached or why the allegation was just coming to light. Officials at Alemany High said they could provide no details. Tamberg said that the allegation was referred to Los Angeles police and that the archdiocese was cooperating with the investigation. In an e-mail sent to parents last week, Crespi Principal Father Paul Henson said Schnelldorfer, who was hired in 2000 as campus minister at the all-boys school, was directed to have no contact with Crespi students on or off the campus. School counselors have been made available to students with concerns, Henson said. -- Carla Rivera SACRAMENTO County officials may hold funds Angered by what they see as a state raid on cash that belongs to them, top officials from a dozen counties converged on Sacramento on Thursday and warned of a mutiny. In a contentious meeting attended by half a dozen legislators, the officials threatened lawsuits, vowed to withhold local taxes owed to Sacramento and said they would shut down unfunded state programs -- including those aiding children and the poor -- if the "deadbeat state," as one official put it, does not change its ways. Their ire stems from money the state owes the counties but has delayed paying amid the ongoing fiscal crisis. Some of that cash could start flowing again if lawmakers finally pass a state spending plan in coming days. State officials may continue to hold back some cash indefinitely. "It's incomprehensible," said Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach, a certified public accountant. He told legislators: "We are not the bank, and you need to find different lenders." -- Patrick McGreevy SANTA ANA Cities in line for federal funds Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido said today that mayors from across the country have reached an agreement with key members of Congress that will likely take as much as $150 billion of the federal economic stimulus package that would have gone to states and route it directly to city governments. In his third lobbying trip since last month, Pulido joined a score of other mayors, including L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, in Washington on Wednesday to lobby key members of Congress to give cities a share of the funding. "We need immediate projects and local projects, and we need to be able to move quickly," Pulido said in a phone interview from the Phoenix airport, where he was on a stopover on his way back to California. Pulido said he and other California politicians, including the mayors of Sacramento, San Jose, San Diego and Fresno, made last-minute appeals to express concern that because of the budget mess in Sacramento, state lawmakers would use the money to balance the state budget rather than start infrastructure projects. "The intent of this money is to stimulate the economy to create jobs, not to balance budgets," Pulido said. The state already has stalled projects from courthouse construction to transportation improvements, he said, and -- along with other mayors -- argues that cities are better positioned to put the federal money to good use. "We want to make sure that the money is used for what it's intended for, and if we can make sure we have a large share of it, and we will, we'll make sure it is spent locally," he said. -- Tony Barboza LOS ANGELES FAA issues Airbus correction The Federal Aviation Administration this week corrected information that agency officials provided to The Times for a Jan. 25 article about the special handling that Airbus A380s receive when the jumbo jets operate at Los Angeles International Airport. Officials originally said that air traffic controllers are required to hold A380s 4,000 feet from the departure ends of runways in bad weather because the world's largest passenger plane might interfere with the airport's instrument landing system. The technology, which uses radio signals, guides aircraft into LAX during foggy or cloudy conditions. The FAA now says that the aircraft does not interfere with the landing system, but air traffic controllers keep A380s away from the departure end of a runway in poor weather because of a safety issue raised by the height of the tail, which is almost eight stories high. "This restriction is in place in case a pilot of an approaching aircraft is not able to see the runway and decides to abandon the approach from a relatively low altitude," FAA officials said. "The A380 taxi restriction provides the needed safety buffer between the landing aircraft and the tail of the A380." -- Dan Weikel SANTA ANA District eases graduation rules High schoolers will have an easier time earning diplomas after the school board decided this week to reduce graduation requirements from 240 to 220 credits. The board of Orange County's largest school district voted 4 to 1 late Tuesday to cut world geography, earth science, health, and college and career planning as required courses as a way to retain more students. Administrators and school counselors said the move will free up jammed student schedules and boost graduation rates. Santa Ana raised its requirements in 2000 to among the state's strictest, saying the higher standards would challenge more students to aim for college. -- Tony Barboza ANAHEIM Death of man called 'suspicious' Anaheim police are investigating a woman's claim that her boyfriend died after jumping from her car as she drove on the 5 Freeway. Police Sgt. Rick Martinez says the man was found injured on the freeway shoulder Monday and was hospitalized with severe head trauma. He was declared dead two days later. Police said Thursday that Rene Sixtos' death was initially investigated as a hit-and-run until investigators interviewed his girlfriend, who said they were arguing when he jumped from the car. Police say the girlfriend did not stop and did not report the incident. Martinez calls Sixtos' death "very unusual, very suspicious." -- associated press TEMECULA Woman stabbed, killed at mall A woman was stabbed to death in a minivan parked outside a Temecula mall Thursday in what authorities believe is a case of domestic violence. The attack happened about 1 p.m. at the Promenade Mall and was witnessed by a police officer patrolling the area. Riverside County Sheriff's Department spokesman Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez said the officer reported seeing a man in a Toyota minivan on the third level of the mall parking garage stabbing a woman. The suspect was ordered out of the car. When he refused he was shot with a Taser, Gutierrez said. The woman died at the scene. Her name is being withheld until her next of kin are notified. -- David Kelly
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