SACRAMENTO

Perata ends attempt to recall Denham

In an abrupt political reversal, Democratic state Senate leader Don Perata said Wednesday he is ending his campaign to recall a Republican senator.

How much good Perata's sudden announcement will do is unclear. The recall against Sen. Jeff Denham of Merced already is on the June 3 ballot and pamphlets have been sent to voters.

In a statement, Perata said he was ending the recall campaign "in the spirit of putting politics aside to solve problems."

Perata had orchestrated the recall because Denham had angered him during last year's budget stalemate, which lasted roughly seven weeks.

Perata thought Denham, a moderate Republican, would provide one of the GOP votes needed to reach the two-thirds threshold required to pass the budget in the Senate. Instead, Denham sided with his Republican colleagues, who were concerned the spending plan would lead to a multibillion dollar budget deficit.

LOS ANGELES

Stem cell agency announces grants

No longer hampered by legal challenges, California's stem cell agency announced $271 million in grants Wednesday to build new research laboratories.

A dozen universities and research centers will receive funding from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, a $3 billion stem cell research agency that Californians approved through Proposition 71 in 2004.

The largest grant to one campus, $43.6 million, will go to Stanford University.

LAKE ARROWHEAD

Coyote grabs toddler in third such incident

A coyote grabbed a 2-year-old girl by the head and tried to drag her from the front yard of her mountain home in the third incident of a coyote threatening a small child in Southern California in five days, authorities said.

The coyote attacked the girl around noon Tuesday when her mother, Melissa Rowley, went inside the home for a moment to put away a camera, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said in an incident report.

Rowley came out of the house and saw the coyote dragging her daughter toward a street. She ran toward her daughter, and the animal released the girl and ran away, said sheriff's spokeswoman Arden Wiltshire.

Rowley took her daughter to a hospital where the toddler was treated for several punctures to the head and neck area, and a laceration on her mouth.

She was then flown to Loma Linda University Hospital for further treatment. Her injuries were not life-threatening. She was released from the hospital Wednesday afternoon and was expected to fully recover.

On Friday, a nanny pulled a 2-year-old girl from the jaws of a coyote at Alterra Park in Chino Hills, a San Bernardino County community about 30 miles east of Los Angeles. A coyote came after another toddler in the same park Sunday. The child's father kicked and chased the coyote away.

SAN DIEGO

Fugitive housewife sent back to prison

A suburban housewife arrested in San Diego 32 years after she escaped from a Detroit prison is on her way back to Michigan to serve out her sentence on drug charges.

Officials at the Las Colinas Detention Facility said Susan Lefevre was released early Wednesday morning and boarded a bus run by a private extradition service.

The 53-year-old mother of three was arrested April 24 outside her home. Authorities said she never told her husband and children of her criminal past. Michigan officials said LeFevre could be eligible for parole in 2013.

—From wire reports