GILLIAN FLACCUS

Associated Press Writer
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Gone to the dogs: LA church starts pet service

When the Rev. Tom Eggebeen took over as interim pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church three years ago, he looked around and knew it needed a jump start.

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Arson-related heart attacks murder? DA says yes

Retired accountant James McDermith's mad dash to retrieve a camper and pack it with belongings as a wildfire chewed closer to his home six years ago may have cost him his life. But it wasn't the flames or smoke that got him.

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Murder, arson charged in 2003 California wildfire

Almost six years after a wildfire destroyed nearly 1,000 homes in Southern California, prosecutors say they have enough evidence to charge a prison inmate with arson and murder in connection with the 2003 blaze.

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Former religion reporter now preaches from pulpit

On the first Sunday morning of October, pastor Steve Scott looked far beyond the surroundings of his western Wisconsin congregation to find worthy subjects for their prayers: recent natural disaster victims in Indonesia and the Philippines.

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Polanski would face tougher prosecution today

If Roman Polanski were charged with child rape today, DNA evidence, stiffer penalties, outcry over childhood sexual abuse and tougher scrutiny of celebrity justice would make prosecutors much less willing to cut the plea deal the director received more than 30 years ago, legal experts say.

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Clergy abuse settlements can lead to new suffering

David Guerrero lies curled like a small child in bed, his teeth chattering and his fever spiked at 104 degrees. He has left his room only once since he crawled home from his latest crystal meth binge three days ago, to let his mother drive him to the emergency room for his soaring temperature.

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Cambodians testify for war crimes tribunal

The tiny Cambodian woman trembled slightly and stared blankly ahead as she told the story that has haunted her for half a lifetime: her parents and brother died in Khmer Rouge labor camps. Her baby perished in a refugee camp.

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Cardinal allegedly delayed report of abuse claim

A former high-ranking official with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles testified that Cardinal Roger Mahony ordered a subordinate to delay reporting clergy abuse claims to the police until the priest in question could be defrocked, according to court papers filed Friday.

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Police in Calif. believe financier killed himself

Investigators believe Danny Pang, the international financier who died in Southern California last weekend while facing charges of fraud, committed suicide, a police spokesman said Friday.

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Records: Mass. sergeant cleared in bias complaints

A white police sergeant whose arrest of a black Harvard professor ignited a national furor over race relations was twice before accused of racial bias, but cleared in both cases, according to internal affairs files released Wednesday.

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AP source: Ex-priest called before grand jury

A former Roman Catholic priest imprisoned for sexually molesting children has been called to testify before a federal grand jury investigating how the Archdiocese of Los Angeles handled claims of abuse, a person with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press on Friday.

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San Diego judge delays moving seals from beach

A colony of sleepy harbor seals dozed through the morning Thursday unaware that a nearby emergency court hearing could lead to a very rude awakening indeed: amplified recordings of yapping dogs to chase them off their sunny beach.

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Friends shocked as LA man charged in wife's murder

They were former high school sweethearts who found each other decades later and renewed their love. Robert and Shirley McGill were marking their 55th birthdays just days into their luxurious Mexican cruise when she was found beaten to death in their cabin.

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Man detained in wife's death on cruise to Mexico

The FBI questioned a cruise ship passenger Thursday over the death of his wife, who was killed in their cabin during a trip to Mexico.

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Jumbo squid invade San Diego shores, spook divers

Jumbo flying squid — aggressive 5-foot-long sea monsters with razor-sharp beaks and toothy tentacles — have invaded the shallow waters off San Diego, spooking scuba divers and washing up dead on tourist-packed beaches.

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Chopra: Drug concerns with Jackson since 2005

Spiritual teacher and medical doctor Deepak Chopra says he has been concerned since 2005 that Michael Jackson was abusing prescription painkillers and most recently spoke to the pop star about suspected drug use six months ago.

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Jackson was energetic, upbeat ahead of London tour

The King of Pop seemed driven and upbeat in the weeks, even hours, before his death as he rehearsed rigorously for a series of 50 concerts in London that were to begin a late-career comeback.

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First US economic espionage trial winds down

The fate of a Chinese-born engineer accused of passing critical trade secrets on the U.S. space program to China for decades was in the hands of a federal judge Wednesday after closing arguments ended in the nation's first economic espionage trial.

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Engineer's space secrets trial winds down in Calif

Closing arguments have begun in the Southern California trial of a Chinese-born engineer accused of stealing trade secrets critical to the U.S. space program.

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Schuller daughter aims to heal Crystal Cathedral

Starting at age 4, Sheila Schuller Coleman has held just about every job at her father's Crystal Cathedral, from copying Sunday programs at the kitchen table to launching a private high school on the church grounds.

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Tests: Adenhart driver had alcohol before crash

Alcohol was found in the woman who was driving Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart before they were both killed in a collision in April, according to toxicology tests released Wednesday.

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First economic espionage trial begins in US

A Chinese-born engineer stole trade secrets critical to the U.S. space program and passed them to China for three decades without detection, prosecutors said Tuesday in the first economic espionage case to reach trial in the United States.

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First economic espionage trial set in Calif.

Dongfan "Greg" Chung developed a reputation as an innovator during his three decades as an engineer for Boeing Co. and Rockwell International.

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Crisis spurs spike in 'suburban survivalists'

Six months ago, Jim Wiseman didn't even have a spare nutrition bar in his kitchen cabinet.

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