Top story

SACRAMENTO

2 adults, 2 children die in I-80 collision

Two young children and two adults died Sunday in a collision between a big rig and a pickup truck on Interstate 80 near Sacramento.

California Highway Patrol Officer Liz Dutton said a pickup was towing a car on a trailer when it lost control and jackknifed.

The pickup hit the north side of the Bryte Bend Bridge and was struck from behind by the larger truck.

A 22-year-old man and woman in the pickup died along with their children: a 2-year-old boy and a baby girl. The family was traveling back to Utah.

The CHP says the crash shut down I-80 eastbound for almost five hours.

In brief

LOS ANGELES

DAs target gangsters in the U.S. illegally

Two county deputy district attorneys have been assigned to help their federal counterparts prosecute gang members who returned to the U.S. illegally after being convicted and deported.

Deputy district attorneys Brock Lunsford and Grace Rai will begin working at the U.S. Attorney's Office this month, officials said.

The two prosecutors were assigned to work in the U.S. Attorney's Office after District Attorney Steve Cooley volunteered to help federal officials target gang members in the country illegally, U.S. attorney's office spokesman Thom Mrozek said.

SANTA BARBARA

Vintners race to pick grapes for pinot noir

A year of cool, dry weather has left Central Coast vineyards scrambling for grapes to make the popular pinot noir.

"People are panicked and clamoring for pinot noir grapes on the Central Coast," said Kirby Anderson, winemaker at Gainey Wineries. "Gainey is scrambling to meet our quotas with our low yields."

Some wineries are picking the red grapes prematurely because of shriveled and dehydrated vines.

The shortage could lead to rising prices, but most wineries use nonnegotiable, prearranged contracts that should stem the immediate effect, vintners said.

But some local wine experts say the small crop will bring a better product, because lighter clusters can mean a tastier grape.

LOS ANGELES

Plan for homeless shelters scaled back

An ambitious county program to open regional shelters for the homeless has been scaled back because communities feared the centers would attract people from Skid Row.

Officials in West Covina said this week they feared the county would try to expand the city's homeless center, which already helps several hundred people.

"They were trying to put a homeless center in the center of our downtown that we're trying to revitalize," West Covina Mayor Mike Touhey said.

The $7 million designated for the regional homeless shelters was part of a broader $100 million initiative unveiled by county supervisors last year. It would have created five, 40-bed shelters in each of the supervisors' districts. The shelters would have been staffed by county health and social workers.

Instead, the county has decided to use the money to fund smaller programs and has spent time talking with community leaders about how to customize homeless efforts.

SOLANA BEACH

Wild police chase ends in man's arrest

A car theft suspect led California Highway Patrol officers on a wild chase by car and foot that left traffic snarled for hours, a Mercedes-Benz in flames and the suspect bitten by a sheriff's dog, authorities said.

Officers saw the Mercedes speeding on southbound Interstate 5 Saturday morning in north San Diego County. They gave chase, but the driver refused to pull over, CHP Officer Tom Kerns said.

They learned during the chase that the Mercedes had been reported stolen from Orange County on Thursday. Officers on three motorcycles and in three cars chased the man, who reached speeds of 120 mph and clipped a pickup truck, Kerns said.

Smoke then started coming out of the Mercedes.

Construction workers dove for cover as the suspect ran the car into a building area in the freeway's median.

The car then burst into flames, Kerns said.

The man fled through freeway traffic on foot, jumped a fence and ran into a house in a neighborhood next to the freeway.

The CHP officers ran after him, but one officer confiscated a neighborhood woman's car when he became tired. It was later returned, Kerns said.

The Highway Patrol lost the man once he entered the house, and sheriff's deputies were called in along with dogs, one of which found the suspect and bit him on the shoulder before he was arrested, Kerns said.

— From wire reports