CAMP PENDLETON

Marine convicted of killing Iraqi soldier

A Marine reservist was found guilty Thursday of killing an Iraqi soldier last year while they stood watch together at a guard post in Fallujah.

Lance Cpl. Delano Holmes was convicted of negligent homicide but acquitted of the greater charge of unpremeditated homicide. He was also convicted of making a false official statement.

A panel of three officers and five enlisted Marines returned the verdict after two days of deliberating over whether the killing of Pvt. Munther Muhammed Hassin was an act of murder or self-defense.

A sentencing hearing began immediately following the verdict but recessed for the evening a few hours later.

It was scheduled to resume this morning.

SACRAMENTO

FPPC tentatively OKs spending rules

California's elections watchdog wants assurances that politicians aren't tapping campaign funds to pay for personal travel, meals and gifts.

The Fair Political Practices Commission tentatively approved regulations Thursday that would require candidates to demonstrate that campaign spending on meals, gifts and out-of-state trips had a legitimate political, legislative or governmental purpose.

The 5-0 vote follows news stories questioning Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez's use of campaign funds for gifts and travel in Europe, although commission officials said the regulations weren't a response to any particular incident.

SACRAMENTO

Senate president tells farmers to back off

Warning the business lobby and farmers to back off, Senate Democrats said Thursday it should be up to the governor and Legislature to decide how to control the state's water supplies next year.

Deadlocked over dams, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers have failed to broker a deal on water this year, making little progress since the governor called a special session in September to craft a water plan.

Frustrated with the inaction, the California Chamber of Commerce and its allies last week announced their own water bond initiatives — a move Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, said exacerbated the political gridlock at the Capitol.

"We're going to negotiate, and we're going to do it the right way," Perata said at a news conference at a Sacramento park overlooking the Sacramento River. "We're not going to have any interruptions, disruptions or alternatives."

MALIBU

Park project gets $2 million grant

Malibu's Legacy Park project designed to help clean the city's famed shoreline is getting a $2 million boost from the Annenberg Foundation.

Susan Shaw Noble, the project's capital campaign coordinator, said they expect to get the grant today.

The idea is to turn the park into an environmental cleaning machine. Storm water will be cleaned at an onsite treatment plant and then used to irrigate the park. The hope is that this will help reduce pollution impacts in Malibu Creek, Malibu Lagoon and Surfrider Beach.

—From wire reports