A shallow magnitude 3.0 earthquake was reported Saturday afternoon 20 miles from Rio Dell, Calif., south of Eureka, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The temblor occurred at 12:07 p.m. PST at a depth of 12.4 miles.

According to the USGS, the epicenter was 24 miles from Fortuna, Calif.; 36 miles from Eureka; 41 miles from Bayside, Calif.; and 194 miles from Sacramento, California.

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...

A funeral service with a special graveside ceremony is scheduled Saturday afternoon to honor Walter Ehlers, a Medal of Honor recipient from World War II.

Ehlers single-handedly took out enemy gun nests during the D-day invasion and drew fire to himself to save other soldiers. He died Feb. 19 at 92 of kidney failure. He will be buried at Riverside National Cemetery with full military honors at 1 p.m., said Jim Ruester, spokesman for the cemetery.

Seating has been set up for 500 people. The Army's 1st Infantry Division will send a three-star general and 32 soldiers from Kansas to provide pall...

A middle-aged man was struck and killed by a freight train in Pacoima early Saturday morning, police said.

The incident happened about 2 a.m. at Van Nuys Boulevard and San Fernando Road, police said. The man, whose identity has not been released, was hit in the pedestrian walkway by a Union Pacific train headed to Portland, Ore.

“It’s still under investigation,” said Lt. David Ferry of the Los Angeles Police Department. “But right now it’s looking like a pedestrian violation because the person wasn’t supposed to be on the tracks.”

Union Pacific...

SAN DIEGO -- A bill by a Santa Monica assemblyman that would ban orca shows at SeaWorld is being blasted in San Diego, home of the marine theme park.

SeaWorld expressed doubt about the legality of the legislation.

"The premise behind this proposed legislation is severely flawed on multiple levels, and its validity is highly questionable under the U.S. and California constitutions," the park said in a statement.

Others said the ban would hurt the local economy.

Perhaps appropriately for this music-mad editor, two of this week’s Great Reads were about dancing. (And no, that’s not why they were chosen. The writing in both happened to be lovely.)

The first, which ran Tuesday, was all about the joy of being silly, about letting go and having fun. Yes, you may be 6 feet tall and weigh 300 pounds, but you can put on tight polyester blue shorts like your high school coach used to wear and dance with abandon in front of thousands of people.

The second story, which ran Thursday, was more spiritual. It told how California’s drought has one...

Authorities are trying to determine why a dump truck slammed into a Los Angeles Police Department patrol car in Beverly Hills on Friday, killing one officer and injuring a second.

California Highway Patrol investigators spent most of the day Friday at the scene, photographing the scattered wreckage and spilled oil, and looking for surveillance cameras that might have caught the crash on tape.

Authorities said they were also trying to determine whether the patrol car's sirens and lights were on and how fast both vehicles were traveling. Officials said the truck and patrol car would be examined...

Four men are in custody and a fifth is still at large after an alleged gang-related shooting that nearly killed a man at a Pomona park last month, police said.

According to police, David Gayles, Dale Colbert, Anthony Wimbley, Robert Wimbley and Darrel Wimbley -- all alleged Pomona gang members -- were at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park in Pomona about 3 p.m. Feb. 3 when they got into a confrontation with a 24-year-old man.

Police say Gayles, 22, shot and critically wounded the man, who was rushed to a  trauma center. He survived.

Officers responding to the shooting pulled over a car...

A minor earthquake near Marina del Rey gave the Westside a mild jolt Friday evening.

The quake measured 3.2, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It struck at 8:16 p.m.

The epicenter was a mile southeast of Marina del Rey.

The quick shake was categorized by the Geological Survey as weak to light across much of the L.A. basin.

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michael.finnegan@latimes.com

An Orange County prosecutor says an effort to dismiss the death penalty against alleged Seal Beach mass killer Scott Dekraai should be denied because the defense failed to show that prosecutors engaged in the type of egregious misconduct that could lead to dismissal.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephan Sauer filed the reply this week to a lengthy motion made by Dekraai’s attorneys in January, which accused county prosecutors and sheriff’s deputies of running an illegal jailhouse informant operation that ensnared multiple inmates, including Dekraai.

On Friday, Superior Court Judge Thomas M....

Friday’s filing deadline for a key Los Angeles school board race also marked the first major dust-up between candidates. The campaign for Alex Johnson has unearthed documentation that opponent Genethia Hudley-Hayes failed to earn a doctorate for which she has been credited.

In 2010, Hudley-Hayes asserted in her resume that she had earned a doctorate in 2000 from American University with a specialization in public policy. The claim was repeated in press releases that year noting the appointment of Hudley-Hayes to important public posts: one as an L.A. city fire commissioner; the other as...

SAN DIEGO -- Mayor Kevin Faulconer on Friday blasted a bill in Sacramento that would ban orca shows at SeaWorld -- saying it "will only serve to hurt San Diego jobs."

"SeaWorld is a critical part of San Diego's economy," said Faulconer, a Republican who made job growth a key part of his recent campaign. "In addition to drawing thousands of tourists to San Diego each year, it is also a leader in maritime and wildlife conservation."

Of the bill sponsored by Assemblyman Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica), Faulconer said, "I think there are much more pressing issues in Sacramento to address."

SeaWorld...