Los Angeles County

Now that authorities have found the experimental plane that crashed off the coast of San Pedro and killed its Huntington Beach pilot, investigators are turning their attention to retrieving it from the ocean and determining the cause of the accident. The pilot, David Hermance, was known as “the American father of the Prius,” his colleagues at Toyota told the Los Angeles Times. The executive engineer was said to be instrumental in the development and promotion of the second-generation of the hybrid vehicle.

A Costa Mesa man’s pre-trial hearing for allegedly threatening his ex-wife, possessing explosives and endangering a child has been moved to Los Angeles County because Orange County judges have all recused themselves, prosecutors said Monday. All future hearings for Ronald Turner, 44, will be in Los Angeles County up until the trial, if it goes that far, prosecutors said, because authorities suspect Turner threatened an Orange County judge along with his ex-wife and Huntington Beach police.

Artist Randy Cooper will be creating one of his shadow sculptures live at Absolutely Fabulous in Huntington Beach tonight. Cooper has exhibited around the world from Paris and New York to Jerusalem and Geneva. He is currently being commissioned by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Shadow sculptures are created by twisting wire mesh into figures and using a light to create a shadow onto a canvas. The event is free, and there will be food and refreshments. Absolutely Fabulous will donate 20% of the proceeds of the night to Breast Cancer Angels.

A Huntington Beach man was convicted this week in Los Angeles County of soliciting sex from what he thought was a 13-year-old girl. Yani Leppanen, 35, faces a possible four years in prison after being convicted of arranging a meeting for sex in Redondo Beach with a police officer posing as an underage girl. He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 7. According to authorities, Leppanen had several sexually explicit conversations with the officers in a chat room in spring of 2007 prior to the meeting.

U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s campaign has agreed to debate his challenger, Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook, before they face off in the November elections. But the campaigns spar as they appear to agree in principle. Cook’s campaign challenged Rohrabacher this week to at least three town-hall style debates, with at least one in a Los Angeles County area like Long Beach or the Palos Verdes Peninsula — areas that are in the 46th Congressional District, along with Orange County cities like Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and Costa Mesa.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Dana Rohrabacher’s campaign has agreed in principle to debate his challenger, Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook, before they face off in the November elections. But the campaigns sparred even as they appeared to agree in principle. Cook’s campaign challenged Rohrabacher this week to at least three town-hall style debates, with at least one in a Los Angeles County area like Long Beach or the Palos Verdes Peninsula—areas that are in the 46th Congressional District along with Orange County cities like Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and Costa Mesa.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Dana Rohrabacher’s campaign has agreed in principle to debate his challenger, Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook, before they face off in the November elections. But the campaigns sparred even as they appeared to agree in principle. Cook’s campaign challenged Rohrabacher last week to at least three town-hall style debates, with at least one in a Los Angeles County area like Long Beach or the Palos Verdes Peninsula — areas that are in the 46th Congressional District along with Orange County cities like Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and Costa Mesa.

More than 40 years after the incident, the 8-year-old girl with pigtails is now a woman. On Tuesday, she sat across from her attacker in a Santa Ana courtroom, testified against him and then listened as he apologized for his actions. Newport Beach resident Tali Shapiro, who willingly identified herself and discussed the case with the media after providing her testimony, was lured into Rodney James Alcala’s car and sexually assaulted by him in 1968. Alcala, 66, was found guilty Feb. 25 of the murder and kidnapping of a 12-year-old Huntington Beach girl in 1979 and four Los Angeles women in the 1970s.

More than 40 years after the incident, the 8-year-old girl with pigtails is now a woman. On Tuesday, she sat across from her attacker in a Santa Ana courtroom, testified against him and then listened as he apologized for his actions. Newport Beach resident Tali Shapiro, who willingly identified herself and discussed the case with the media after providing her testimony, was lured into Rodney James Alcala’s car and sexually assaulted by him in 1968. Alcala, 66, was found guilty Thursday of the murder and kidnapping of a 12-year-old Huntington Beach girl in 1979 and four Los Angeles women in the 1970s.

. . FOR THE RECORD: The Feb. 18 story ?New editor named? should have said John Canalis was a reporter for the Daily Pilot in 1996 and a stringer for the Los Angeles Times between 1996 and 1998.. . John Canalis, most recently with the Long Beach Press-Telegram, will begin Monday as the new editor for the Huntington Beach Independent, Daily Pilot and Coastline Pilot, Times Community News executives announced. Canalis, 38, will oversee the production of the three papers in print and online.

Artist Randy Cooper will be creating one of his shadow sculptures live at Absolutely Fabulous in Huntington Beach tonight. Cooper has exhibited around the world from Paris and New York to Jerusalem and Geneva. He is currently being commissioned by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Shadow sculptures are created by twisting wire mesh into figures and using a light to create a shadow onto a canvas. The event is free, and there will be food and refreshments. Absolutely Fabulous will donate 20% of the proceeds of the night to Breast Cancer Angels.

A Huntington Beach man was convicted this week in Los Angeles County of soliciting sex from what he thought was a 13-year-old girl. Yani Leppanen, 35, faces a possible four years in prison after being convicted of arranging a meeting for sex in Redondo Beach with a police officer posing as an underage girl. He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 7. According to authorities, Leppanen had several sexually explicit conversations with the officers in a chat room in spring of 2007 prior to the meeting.

U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s campaign has agreed to debate his challenger, Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook, before they face off in the November elections. But the campaigns spar as they appear to agree in principle. Cook’s campaign challenged Rohrabacher this week to at least three town-hall style debates, with at least one in a Los Angeles County area like Long Beach or the Palos Verdes Peninsula — areas that are in the 46th Congressional District, along with Orange County cities like Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and Costa Mesa.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Dana Rohrabacher’s campaign has agreed in principle to debate his challenger, Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook, before they face off in the November elections. But the campaigns sparred even as they appeared to agree in principle. Cook’s campaign challenged Rohrabacher last week to at least three town-hall style debates, with at least one in a Los Angeles County area like Long Beach or the Palos Verdes Peninsula — areas that are in the 46th Congressional District along with Orange County cities like Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and Costa Mesa.