A 28-year-old man who worked at a call center inside the Los Angeles Times building was being held for a mental health evaluation Saturday after he allegedly made threatening statements and handed his supervisor a pillowcase containing ammunition rounds, authorities said.

The incident prompted a lockdown of The Times building Friday night as police searched the structure. The suspect, Matthew Lowes, is an employee of VXI Global Solutions, which rents space in The Times building.

Lowes was reprimanded by his supervisor Friday afternoon and left the building, according to Norma Eisenman,...

SAN DIEGO -- A 26-year-old San Diego man was arrested Saturday morning on suspicion of drunk driving and vehicular homicide after two passengers in his Nissan Sentra were killed in a high-speed crash.

Mario Alberto Castaneda Carranza was driving at 70 mph on Interstate 8 near Lakeside in eastern San Diego County when he apparently lost control of his car at approximately 7:30 a.m., according to the California Highway Patrol.

The 1997 vehicle crashed through a chain-link fence and smashed into a concrete culvert. Carranza's passengers -- a 20-year-old man from Chula Vista and a 20-year-old...

A 43-year-old female motorcyclist died after she was struck by a suspected drunk driver early Saturday morning in Gramercy Park in South Los Angeles, authorities said.

Lisa McAllister of Long Beach was on a group ride with a local motorcycle group on Western Avenue about 12:50 a.m. when the driver of a 2010 Mitsubishi Galant heading in the opposite direction swerved into her path, said Sgt. Tim Colson of the Los Angeles Police Department.

McAllister suffered serious injuries and died after being transported to a local hospital, Colson said.

Michael Jackson, 51, the driver of the Mitsubishi,...

A Westlake High School softball coach has been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old student athlete, authorities said.

Thousand Oaks police received information about possible “unlawful sexual activities” on Wednesday and arrested Robert Garza, 37, the next afternoon, according to a police statement.

Detectives said they believed the alleged incident involving Garza and a female student occurred off school grounds while students were on spring break.

Garza, of Newbury Park, was booked into the Ventura County Pre-Trial Detention Facility, where his bail was set...

Dozens of customers at a Del Taco restaurant in Santa Paula were mistakenly charged thousands of dollars for their fast-food tacos, drinks and other menu items.

One customer said he was charged $4,050 for one CrunchTada Pizza and two beef tacos, according to the Associated Press. The meal should have cost less than $5.

Michael Cole said he noticed the overcharge when he could not draw cash Friday from an ATM.

A Del Taco spokesman told the Ventura County Star that the glitch involved computers dealing with credit card and ATM transactions at the store and that all charges would be refunded.

Off...

Los Angeles police are asking for the public’s help in finding the gunman responsible for the fatal shooting of a delivery truck driver in South L.A., authorities said.

Police responded to the 4700 block of South Flower Street around 7:30 a.m. Friday and discovered Pedro Antonio Rodriguez bleeding inside the cab of his delivery truck, authorities said.

The truck was parked “askew at the curb,” an LAPD statement said. An investigation revealed that Rodriguez had also been the victim of a robbery, according to the statement.   

Los Angeles Fire Department personnel responded to...

A funeral service for celebrated actor Mickey Rooney will be held Saturday afternoon at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, family members said.

Rooney died at 93 on April 6 at the Los Angeles home of his son and daughter-in-law, leaving a legacy as one of the most enduring performers in show business.

During his career, Rooney embodied the All-American boy in the Andy Hardy films of the 1930s and '40s and became one of the era's top box-office draws. He acted opposite Judy Garland and Elizabeth Taylor, collecting award nominations for performances praised by the likes of Cary Grant, Gore Vidal and...

Hundreds of pet owners are expected to attend Saturday's 84th annual Blessing of the Animals in downtown Los Angeles.

The event is "held in grateful recognition of the tremendous services given to the human race by the animal kingdom," church officials said. The free event takes place from noon to 5 p.m. on Olvera Street.

The ceremony dates back to the 4th century, when San Antonio De Abad was named the patron saint of the animal kingdom and began to bless animals to promote good health. Saturday's event will include musical entertainment, dog training seminars, reptile showcases, arts and...

Authorities said they were running toxicology tests on a 24-year-old woman who died of a possible overdose after being stricken at the Coachella festival.

Results of the tests will be available in about four weeks and coroner's officials will then finalize the autopsy.

The woman, identified as Kimchi Truong of Oakland, died Thursday, four days after possibly suffering a drug or alcohol overdose at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, the Riverside County sheriff-coroner said Friday.

In a statement, Coachella promoter Goldenvoice said it was "saddened" to learn of her death.

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A television broadcast captured Mexico City's early earthquake warning system working successfully Friday, giving TV viewers in the capital more than a minute of warning before major shaking from a magnitude 7.2 earthquake rumbled into the city.

California still lacks an early quake warning system as state and federal lawmakers haven't agreed to pay for the $16 million-a-year system. 

The Mexican warning system could be seen on television (video below), when news announcer Eduardo Salazar calmly tellsviewers that at 9:27 a.m. a seismic alert went off, triggering a shrieking whine on the...

A shallow magnitude 4.3 earthquake was reported Saturday morning eight miles from Bodfish, Calif., near Lake Isabella in Kern County, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The temblor occurred at 5:15 a.m. Pacific time at a depth of 3.1 miles.

According to the USGS, the epicenter was about 25 miles east of Bakersfield.

In the last 10 days, there have been no earthquakes magnitude 3.0 and greater centered nearby.

This information comes from the USGS Earthquake Notification Service and this post was created by an algorithm written by the author.

Read more about Southern California earthquakes...