While you’re out enjoying the fireworks, many of your animals will be thinking it’s WWIII tonight. Fireworks can be heard, scene and smelt by animals far away. Often the 4th of July causes much undo stress for all these little critters. Do NOT be one of those people who brings their poor dog to the fireworks and is then surprised when it starts freaking out. For those of you who need to be hit over the head with some advice, here are some tips to follow:

1. Leave your dogs at home! Do not take them with you. Fireworks are not fun for animals.
2. Make sure that you bring them inside before the fireworks begin. Close as many doors as possible to help hide the noise.
3. If your pet has a safe bed, room, or other place, make sure that they have access to it. If they don’t have one, try and make one. It should be on far from any windows that is comfortable.
4. It is preferable that you stay at home with your animals and give it support. After all you’ll all it has, be a good pet parent.
5. If you do go out, leave the radio or TV on so that they have something else to listen to than “Bam BOOM!!!”

Photo by It’s Greg

• Man shot and killed in Inglewood -The fatally shot by Inglewood police Tuesday night has been identified at Ruben Walton Ortega, a 23 year-old from Inglewood.  He was shot and killed in an alley behind the 11100 block of Crenshaw Blvd. at about 6:20 p.m. Police said Ortega was a documented gang member of the Inglewood Family. Two officers with a uniformed gang task force received a call that men were loitering, when they arrived two men, one identified as Ortega, ran south into an alley while discarding cash and drugs. Ortega confronted an officer, refused to show his hands and kept his left hand concealed in his waistband. The officer, believing Ortega was armed, shot him.
• Mummified body found in home - The coroner’s office is asking for the public’s help in identifying a man whose mummified body was discovered in an abandoned house in Beverly Hills last week. The body was found by some kids skateboarding past that noticed a foul smell. Coroner’s detectives do not believe foul play was involved. They estimate the man was dead for roughly a year. The body was curled in a fetal position and appeared mummified. Based on an assortment of old bags and an old bicycle near the body, officers determined that the deceased was a homeless white man in his 40s or 50s.The cause of his death has not been determined.

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• Mother and daughter use beer to ward off sex offender - Linda Dodson, 45, and her 77-year old mother were able to save themselves with beer. A convicted sex offender broke into the house, attacked Linda in her bed “He had his big hands … on my throat, my mouth and my nose and I’m flopping and I’m thinking oh my God, I’m being murdered right now and I don’t know why.” The mother tried to help but was thrown to the floor. The mother smelled alcohol on his breath and offered him some beer, he said yes. While drinking the daughter said she was going to use the bathroom but instead called the cops. Louie Herrera, a convicted child molester from Norwalk, was arrested. The women were not badly hurt.
• Man in Reseda kidnapped and help for ransom- Seven men and a woman, whose names have not been released, were in custody Wednesday for allegedly kidnapping a man and holding him for ransom in a Reseda home.  During the raid, police located the victim in the home’s cluttered garage, as the captors threated to kill him. The 24-year-old Latino had one eye swollen shut and cuts and bruises covering his face, but was listed in stable condition at a hospital.  “We got a phone call that said ‘Enough’s enough, we’re gonna kill the guy,’” Gannon told the Daily News. “They threatened to cut his fingers off at one point to show they weren’t fooling around.”  Gannon said investigators did not know why the victim was targeted, but that detectives were working through the night to figure out the motive.

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It has been reported by Tom Barnes, a county fire dispatch supervisor, that Tuesday morning people from the Nevada state line all the way to Temecula saw a bright streak in the sky falling near San Bernardino County. People were reporting saying that “the streak was blue, orange and white” and no landing site has been found.

Officials from Vandenberg Air Force Base and Edwards Air Force Base say the streak may have been a meteorite that burned up in the atmosphere. Investigators are still looking into the incident.

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Good old American capitalism tells us that competition is a good thing. For the next few weeks, though, you may be hard-pressed to find a Hollywood actor who will agree with such a sentiment.

That’s because the opposition of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) against the rival, albeit smaller American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) has divided Hollywood and invoked memories of the recent writers strike. The Guild’s contract with the industry expired at midnight Monday night, and members are quickly splitting into two camps about what to do next.

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• Two men charged in Nasa quadruple killing spree - 39-year-old Jae Hwan Shim and 27-year-old Steve Kwon have been charged with murdering a NASA engineer and three others at an Antelope Valley home. LA County prosecutors filed charges Tuesday against the two men who were arrested Saturday in Arizona near the Mexican border. The district attorney’s office alleges Shim threatened to kill his ex-wife. The bodies of the woman, her two children and her cousin’s husband, the NASA engineer, were found in a burned Quartz Hill home on June 23.
• Truck accident sparks brush fire - A truck accident sparked a brush fire on the northbound 14 Freeway Tuesday. All but one lane of traffic was closed. The fire started on one of the vehicle’s rear tires and sent thick plumes of black smoke into the air. The flames engulfed the truck and spread briefly to nearby brush. Fire crews prevented the fire from spreading. There were no reports of any injuries.

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It’s time to put away those cell phones and pick up an ear-piece. I know many of you are panicking over the new cell phone restrictions, so it’s time to know your rights! Starting today, July 1st, talking on your cellphone while driving is illegal. You’ve had nearly two years to prepare for this day people, so go get yourself an ear piece already, hands-free set, whatever.

Here is a rundown of some of the new rules for talking on your cell phone and driving. The new law states that if you’re 18 or older, you are prohibited from holding a phone and talking while driving. If you’re 16 or 17, the only time you can use a cellphone while driving is in an emergency. That means no more teens on their phones, PERIOD. The tickets prices aren’t too bad, at first. The first offense will result in a $20 ticket, and subsequent citations are $50 apiece. But with court costs and penalties, the true costs of those tickets are $76 and $190, respectively.

Also know that 4th of July weekend the new laws go into effect just days before the California Highway Patrol goes on “maximum patrol” for the weekend. That means 80% of CHP officers will have their eyes on you and your cellphone.

So, with this new law, know your rights! Here are some some things you should know about the new law…

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• Three killed in Winchester hit and run - Authorities are looking for the driver of a pick-up truck suspected in a hit-and-run collision Sunday that killed Andres Sanagustin, 48, his wife, Maribeth, 36, and their 4-year-old son, Angelo. The family was heading north on Warren Rd when their 1999 Chevrolet Malibu was struck head-on by a pick-up truck shortly after 8 p.m.. The driver of the 2007 GMC 2500 truck had crossed over the double yellow lines and struck the car. Sanagustin and his wife were pronounced dead at the scene and their son was taken to Rancho Springs Medical Center and died a short time later. Witnesses said the suspect abandoned his car and fled in another vehicle with another driver.
• Toddler killed by drunk driver - A young girl, less than two years old, was killed and her mother, father and year-old brother seriously injured when suspected drunk driver, Jesse Rolando Astorga, 27, struck the family Sunday afternoon in Rialto. Astorga, has been charged with murder. Astorga was fleeing the scene of a nearby hit-and-run crash when he lost control of his SUV, which jumped the sidewalk and hit the victims. The girl was pronounced dead at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton less than an hour after the accident. Her parents, William Dean Dinoso, 28, and Glenda Brooks, 26, and her brother were hospitalized with broken bones and internal injuries.

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• Dad gets 45 years for molesting kid - Gilbert Simental, 50, of Murrieta, has been sentenced to 45 years to life in prison for molesting a 9-year-old girl and her  10-year-old sister at his daughter’s slumber parties in 2005 and 2006. The judge said there was “little doubt” the 50-year-old would molest again if he is released. At trial, he acknowledged twice molesting the younger girl but denied abusing her sister.
• One dead, 3 injured in drive-by shooting - Police are searching for a maroon-colored van in Long Beach believed to be responsible for the death of one person and injuries of three others others in two separate shootings in Long Beach several miles and about 30 minutes apart. One victim was struck in a leg and the other in the abdomen near 14th St and Linden Ave at about 2 a.m. and later pronounced dead at the hospital. A half hour later, two more people were wounded at 57th St and Live Ave - one in a leg and the other in the gut.

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You know the Washington Mutual building at Sunset and Vine? The one with the sculpture of a lady riding the bull in front? The one with Mary Poppins on the side? I bet you didn’t know that in the basement level of that bank is a vast collection of Harry Houdini’s props and secrets. I bet you also didn’t know that those artifacts are currently being held hostage by a high concentration of polychlorinated biphenyls.

On December 13, 2004, a LA Dept. of Water and Power transformer exploded, contaminating the Washington Mutual building with the carcinogenic PCBs. The branch manager who opened that morning said her eyes and nostrils burned for weeks after coming into contact with the toxic chemicals.

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• 4 people stabbed to death and then house set on fire - Four people including a NASA engineer were beaten and stabbed to death in the engineer’s Mojave Desert home, which was then set afire. The badly burned remains of engineer Joseph Ciganek, a woman and two children were discovered Monday in the ashes of his home in an unincorporated area near Lancaster. The fire had been labeled suspicious, and on Thursday confirmed the four had been killed before the fire was set. The names of the other three victims have not been releases but are said they were relatives of Ciganek’s wife. The woman and the older child, a girl of about 13, were stabbed to death, Ciganek and the other child, a boy of about 10, were beaten and slashed.
• USC student gets time from dropping off baby in dumpster - 23-year-old former USC student, Holly Ashcraft, whose newborn son was found dead in a trash bin was sentenced Thursday to 30 days in jail for child endangerment. Ashcraft was sentenced to five years probation, 695 days already served on electronic monitoring, as well as monthly pregnancy tests and take a child abuse prevention program for a year, and if she gets pregnant, to have prenatal care. The body of the newborn was found on Oct. 10, 2005, by a homeless man. Prosecutors have contended that the baby was born alive. Mark Geragos, her attorney asserted there was no evidence Ashcraft knew she was pregnant or that the baby had been born alive.

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• Metrolink jurors give guilt verdict - Thursday a jury convicted 29-year-old Juan Alvarez of 11 counts of first-degree murder for causing a 2005 commuter train derailment as well as, one count of arson but acquitted him of a count called train wrecking. As many of you recall Alvarez said he was only trying to kill himself when he parked his car on the train tracks and that he was sorry that he was not dead but 11 others were and 180 people injured. Prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty.
• 8-year-old killed after being hit by car - An unidentified, 8-year-old girl died this morning after she was struck by a car Wednesday while crossing a street in Pomona while visiting relatives. He was listed in critical condition after she was struck and taken to a local hospital. She had taken a younger cousin to a nearby store and was returning when she ran onto Garey Avenue south of Grand Ave at about 6:15pm and was struck by a 1999 Toyota 4Runner. The unidentified driver was a nurse on his way home from work and attempted to stop before he hit the girl. He got out of his car and administered CPR on the girl. The driver has not been cited and speeding is not being considered a facotr, although the investigation is ongoing. The girl was not crossing in a crosswalk, at a corner or at a traffic signal, he said.

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