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LOS ANGELES

Wind, rain black out about 5,000 homes

Wind and rain unleashed by a brief storm Sunday morning blacked out about 5,000 homes just as crews finished restoring power to thousands of other customers who lost it days earlier.

A transformer blew and some power lines went down before dawn, killing power to homes in south and central Los Angeles and Hollywood, said Gale Harris, Department of Water and Power spokeswoman.

About 750 customers were without power in "scattered" pockets by late afternoon, but were expected to have electricity restored by nightfall, Harris said.

Before dawn, DWP crews working around-the-clock finished restoring power to about 2,000 customers who lost it Thursday when a windstorm downed power lines and utility poles. Up to 107,000 DWP customers were left in the dark.

In brief

SAN DIEGO

Soldier paralyzed in Iraq bomb blast dies

Army Spc. Curtis R. Spivey, 25, hospitalized with injuries to his brain and spine, died April 2 after his family removed him from life support after a blood vessel burst in his brain.

He joined the Army after serving two combat tours in Iraq with the Marines. He deployed to Iraq again in 2005. He returned home in March 2006, however, to help with the burial of his brother, Joey, 29, who died of a congenital heart defect.

Spivey, a turret gunner, returned overseas and was injured Sept. 16 when his Humvee struck a bomb near Baghdad. He suffered a broken back, bruised brain and shattered legs and was paralyzed from the chest down.

Friends and family said he was bitter and unhappy at first but recently had come to terms with his injuries.

Spivey leaves a wife and 2-year-old daughter.

MOUNTAIN VIEW

Internee receives belated diploma

Decades after her studies were interrupted by World War II and her family was sent to a internment camp, Esther Nozaki Hashimoto returned to Mountain View Academy to pick up her high school diploma.

Hashimoto, 82, of Menlo Park, donned a cap and gown Saturday during a ceremony staged just for her during the school's annual alumni week celebration. Her daughter, grandson and other alumni watched as she received a copy of the diploma she would have gotten in 1943.

The ceremony was a surprise for Hashimoto, who did complete her studies at the high school provided at the Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Wyoming, where she was relocated along with her parents and two siblings.

"I don't think I deserve it," she said of the ceremony.

LOS ANGELES

Suspected gang member fatally shot

A reputed gang member was shot to death in a gunbattle with police in South Los Angeles, authorities said.

Patrolling officers stopped a man on a skateboard for questioning about 8:30 p.m. Saturday in the Jefferson Park area, Officer Norma Eisenman said.

The man, whose identity was not immediately released, got off the board and ran between some houses with officers in pursuit, she said.

As the officers turned a corner, the man began firing a handgun, Eisenman said. The officers fired back, hitting the man. A gun was found near his body, she said.