Supercross returns to Anaheim on Saturday

James Stewart celebrates a victory in Anaheim while soaring over a triple jump. (Allen J. Schaben, Los Angeles Times / January 6, 2007)

Four races. Four winners. All former champions.

Parity prevails among supercross racing’s top riders as the series makes its second and final season stop at Angel Stadium on Saturday night.

After reigning champion Ryan Villopoto won the season opener Jan. 7 at Angel Stadium, 2010 champion Ryan Dungey won in Phoenix, two-time champ Chad Reed captured the Dodger Stadium race and another two-time title winner, James Stewart, won last weekend in Oakland.

The sport knew it had one of the deepest fields in history this year, but the early results still have surprised. The last time there were four different winners through four races was in 1976, before any of the current top riders was born.

– Jim Peltz, Los Angeles Times

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O.C. homeless slayings: Police connect Ocampo to double homicide

Former Marine Itzcoatl Ocampo, 23, in court. (Irfan Khan, Los Angeles Times)

The Anaheim Police Department on Thursday night confirmed a connection between suspected serial killer Itzcoatl Ocampo and the double slaying of a Yorba Linda woman and her son nearly two months earlier.

Sgt. Bob Dunn with the department said that Ocampo, 23, is involved in the Oct. 25 slaying, in which Eder Herrera, 34, has been charged with two counts of murder.

“There’s an association between the two,” Dunn said.

Herrera, 34, pleaded not guilty to the stabbings in a hearing Jan. 23 and remains in custody.

Dunn would not specify the connection between the two men or give the nature of their relationship.

– Nicole Santa Cruz, Los Angeles Times

Worker falls into reactor pool at San Onofre nuclear plant

(Mark Boster, Los Angeles Times)

A veteran worker at the San Onofre nuclear power plant lost his balance while trying to retrieve a flashlight and tumbled into a reactor pool at the facility last week.

The worker at the San Diego County power plant did not suffer significant radiation exposure, the North County Times reported.

Southern California Edison spokesman Gil Alexander said Thursday that the man, who is employed by a private contractor assigned to replace the reactor’s vessel head, “momentarily lost his balance” and fell into the pool Jan. 27 while leaning over to retrieve a flashlight.

– Steve Marble, Los Angeles Times

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Worn tubes found at San Onofre nuclear facility after leak

(Mark Boster, Los Angeles Times)

Nuclear regulation officials said Thursday that extensive wear had been found on the tubes inside a unit at the San Onofre nuclear plant, where another unit was placed off-line after a leak earlier this week.

Dozens of relatively new tubes that carry radioactive water in a steam generator showed “many, many years” worth of wear, even though the tubing is 22 months old, said Victor Dricks, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Nearly 70 tubes, made from a metal alloy and formed into a U-shape, had 20% of their interior lining worn off, while hundreds more had 10% of the lining deteriorated. More than 9,000 tubes are in the generator.

– Rick Rojas, Los Angeles Times

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California Supreme Court overturns O.C. killer’s death sentence

The California Supreme Court on Thursday voted unanimously to overturn the death penalty for an Orange County man convicted of burning a woman to death over $100 of methamphetamine.

The high court ruled that Orange County Superior Court Judge John J. Ryan failed to properly instruct the jury that recommended the death sentence for Gary Galen Brents, who was convicted of the 1995 murder of Kelly Gordon.

Gordon was a prostitute who worked for Brents and had agreed to sell $100 in methamphetamine for him. When he tried to collect, she had neither the drugs nor the money.

– Maura Dolan in San Francisco, Los Angeles Times

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FBI: Southern California bank robberies fall to three-decade low

The number of bank robberies in Southern California continued its steady decline in 2011, reaching a three-decade low, federal law enforcement officials said Thursday.

Law enforcement agencies responded to 287 bank robberies in seven counties — Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, Riverside, San Bernarndino, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo — the FBI said in a statement.

Most of the robberies took place in Los Angeles County (122), followed by Orange County (67).

– Rick Rojas, Los Angeles Times

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Allergan halts Lap-Band sales to 1-800-GET-THIN clinics

1-800-GET-THIN billboards line Southern California freeways. (Mariah Tauger, Los Angeles Times)

Irvine-based Allergan Inc. said it will no longer sell its Lap-Band weight-loss device to companies affiliated with the 1-800-GET-THIN marketing company.

The move comes amid state and federal investigations of surgery centers affiliated with the ad campaign.

Five Southern California patients have died since 2009 following Lap-Band surgeries at clinics affiliated with 1-800-GET-THIN, according to lawsuits, autopsy reports and other public records. The California Department of Insurance is investigating the surgery centers for alleged insurance fraud, said David Althausen, a spokesman for the state agency.

Allergan spokeswoman Caroline Van Hove said in a statement that the company has “made the decision to presently discontinue the sale of the Lap-Band AP System … to all entities affiliated with 1-800-GET-THIN.”

– Stuart Pfeifer, Los Angeles Times

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Man suspected of stealing police officer’s gun

Fullerton police Wednesday afternoon were looking for a man suspected of stealing an off-duty police officer’s handgun and then using the officer’s credit card at a Target store.

The suspect broke into a locker at a gym in Santa Ana and fled with the officer’s Glock 9mm handgun and wallet, the Fullerton Police Department said.

About an hour later, the man used the card at a Target store in Fullerton, Sgt. Andrew Goodrich said. He said the officer whose gun was stolen was not a member of the Fullerton Police Department. He declined to identify the officer’s agency.

— Robert J. Lopez, @LAJourno, Los Angeles Times

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St. Louis restaurant drops Albert Pujols’ name, but statue stays

Albert Pujols. ( Robert Gauthier, Los Angeles Times)

The owners of the Pujols 5 Westport Grill in St. Louis, named after former Cardinals star and new Angels first baseman Albert Pujols, are dropping the slugger’s name from the restaurant, but a larger-than-life-sized bronze statue of Pujols pointing to the heavens will remain in front of the establishment.

The statue, which is 10 feet high and weighs 1,100 pounds and was unveiled in November, was a gift to the Pujols Family Foundation from an anonymous donor, and the land it sits on is owned by the surrounding Westport Plaza complex, not the restaurant.

Todd Perry, chief executive of the Pujols Family Foundation, said there were no plans to remove the statue in response to the restaurant name change or Pujols’ decision to leave the Cardinals to sign a 10-year, $240-million deal with the Angels in December.

– Mike DiGiovanna, Sports Now, Los Angeles Times

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Reports link Taco Bells to 2011 multi-state salmonella outbreak

For days, the speculation has been rampant: Which Mexican food chain – only identified as “Restaurant Chain A” by federal investigators earlier this month — was linked to a large salmonella outbreak late last year?

This week, Food Safety News named Irvine-based Taco Bell as the chain in question.

In October and November, at least 68 diners were sickened across 10 states, including 16 in Oklahoma and 43 in Texas. The spate of illnesses eventually petered out and was reported by the Centers for Disease Control on Jan. 19.

But the agency stayed mum on the origin of the salmonella bacteria, saying only that the majority of victims had reported eating at 18 separate locations of “a Mexican-style fast-food restaurant chain” in the Midwest.

– Tiffany Hsu, Los Angeles Times

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