LOS ANGELES

Cortines to help lead L.A. Unified

Veteran educator Ramon C. Cortines has accepted a job as senior deputy superintendent -- the Los Angeles Unified School District's No. 2 position.

The school board is scheduled to vote Tuesday on the contract, which was hammered out with schools Supt. David L. Brewer. Details of the pact were not released.

Cortines, 75, formerly headed the New York City school system but spent much of his career leading school districts in California, including L.A. Unified on an interim basis eight years ago.

"We are fortunate to have the experience and support of somebody like Ray Cortines, a national expert on education," said school board President Monica Garcia.

Since mid-2006, Cortines has been a deputy mayor and top education advisor to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

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Howard Blume

SACRAMENTO

Lockdown of prisons lifted

California prison officials on Friday afternoon ended a statewide lockdown of inmates, although they kept male Latino gang members from Southern California confined to their cells and dormitories in the wake of an attack on four prison guards Thursday.

Authorities said the lockdown was ordered after the attack by inmates Perry Robert Avila, 47, and Ivan Antonio Manriquez, 36, at the California Correctional Institution at Tehachapi. Authorities are investigating whether the incident was part of a broader plan by a group of Latino inmates from the Southland who belong to gangs. One correctional sergeant remained hospitalized in critical condition Friday.

In an unrelated incident, 12 inmates were injured and five were hospitalized after a fight Friday morning among prisoners in a dormitory at the California Institution for Men in Chino. Guards quelled the fighting, officials said.

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Michael Rothfeld

LONG BEACH

Dockworker hit by forklift, killed

A 73-year-old dockworker was killed Friday after being run over by a forklift as he was helping unhook cargo from a ship at the Port of Long Beach, officials said. Carlos Rivera of Wilmington had worked on the waterfront for more than 40 years.

"This is a man with considerable experience," said John Showalter, spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. "This affirms the fact that the docks are a dangerous place to work."

The California United Terminal, where the 11 a.m. accident occurred, ordered cargo handling halted for 24 hours.

The union, representing dockworkers at 29 West Coast ports, named safety a top priority last month at the start of contract talks with shipping lines. Showalter said dockworkers are under pressure to rapidly load and unload goods.

The Long Beach Police Department, which is investigating the accident along with the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health, did not release the name of the forklift driver, identified as a 67-year-old Long Beach resident.