Los Angeles

Sailor survives after 3 months adrift

A 62-year-old man who survived three months adrift at sea by grilling turtles and seabirds returned Tuesday to the United States after what one Coast Guard official called an “amazing story of survival.”

Richard Van Pham was rescued by a Navy warship last week after he was spotted 275 miles southwest of Costa Rica. He had vanished this summer after leaving on a sailboat, pictured above, to Santa Catalina Island.

Officials said Van Pham survived by catching fish, seabirds and turtles for food and collecting rainwater. Despite losing about 40 pounds, Van Pham was said to be in good condition.

Los Angeles

Priest arrested; cardinal knew of sexual abuse

A former priest who was moved from parish to parish after admitting to Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony that he molested young boys was arrested Wednesday.

Former parish priest Michael Baker was charged with 13 counts of child molestation for incidents involving several victims from 1977 to 1985, said Sgt. Dan Scott.

In 1986, Baker told Mahony that he had molested young boys and was reassigned to several parishes after attending a treatment center for pedophile priests.

Mahony has since issued a public apology for allowing the former priest to remain in the ministry after admitting his abuse. Baker has said the cardinal sent him to a treatment center in New Mexico without inquiring about the identity of his victims.

California

HMO to shut down; thousands will need plan

A money-losing Silicon Valley health insurer will be shut down Dec. 31, forcing nearly 165,000 patients to scurry for medical coverage and leaving scores of doctors wondering if they’ll be paid for services they’ve provided.

Lifeguard Inc. was seized by the state Sept. 13 as it struggled with escalating health care claims. The Milpitas-based HMO’s most recent financial report showed a net loss of $3.9 million since the first of the year.

The California Department of Managed Health Care says Lifeguard will be the fourth HMO the state has closed since the department was established in 2000. Some 380 employees will lose their jobs.

Washington, D.C.

FCC no longer requires maps for cellular areas

Federal regulators have eliminated a rule that required cellular phone service providers to inform potential customers about their geographic service areas.

The Federal Communications Commission said that in today’s competitive marketplace, the government mandate is no longer needed. Wireless carriers such as Sprint PCS that were exempt from the 20-year-old rule because they don’t use cellular technology have nevertheless chosen to provide maps that show their coverage areas to compete with carriers that were required to comply, such as Verizon Wireless Inc., AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and Cingular Wireless.

The rule change, which was considered during the past two weeks and approved Tuesday in a nonpublic vote, will become effective at the end of November.

Washington, D.C.

Hispanic caucus to oppose Estrada

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus, composed entirely of House Democrats, plans to announce Wednesday that it opposes the nomination of Miguel Estrada to a federal appeals court, deepening an already wide partisan chasm over the nomination.

The caucus’s 18 members portrayed Estrada as aloof from the everyday concerns of Latinos. Caucus Chairman Silvestre Reyes, D-Tex., said the organization seeks Hispanic judicial nominees who have “demonstrated a commitment to protecting the rights of Latinos” in their professional work and volunteer activities.”

President Bush nominated Estrada, a conservative Hispanic lawyer, to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to consider the nomination today.

Detroit

Murder charge refiled for hot car death

A judge reinstated first-degree murder charges Wednesday against a mother accused of leaving her two children to die inside a sweltering car.

Prosecutors had appealed a judge’s decision to reduce the murder charges against Tarajee Maynor to involuntary manslaughter.

Oakland County Circuit Judge Wendy Potts agreed and restored the original charge. First-degree murder carries an automatic penalty of life in prison without parole on conviction.

Authorities say she left 10-month-old Acacia Maynor and 3-year-old Adonnis Maynor alone in her black compact car June 28 while she was having her hair done at a salon in the Detroit suburb of Southfield.

Michigan

Suspect sentenced for biting neighbor’s ear

A Pontiac man was sentenced to a year in jail for biting off part of his neighbor’s ear in a fight.

John Everett Barbara, 49, got into a brawl with the neighbor after the man flashed his car lights at Barbara to warn him he was driving erratically.

During the fight, Barbara bit off a portion of the neighbor’s left ear.

“This is so barbaric,” Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Kenneth E. Frazee said in court Tuesday. “Many times people recover from stab wounds or other injuries or they’re not visible. But everywhere he goes, people can see he lost half his ear.”

The 43-year-old victim, who was not identified, has had several surgeries, but doctors were unable to reattach the piece that was bitten off, Frazee said.

Pennsylvania

Firefighters investigated for taking truck to show

Volunteer firefighters allegedly commandeered a ladder truck without permission, took it to a Rolling Stones concert and allowed a female concertgoer to climb aboard the rig and display her thong underwear.

The incident was caught on film by free-lance photographers, and seven of the photographs were published in Wednesday editions of the Philadelphia Daily News.

Upper Darby Township has launched an internal investigation, said Thomas Judge Jr., the township’s chief administrative officer.

“We are extremely disappointed,” he said.