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LOS ANGELES

Hope memorabilia to be auctioned off

A foot-high cowboy hat from the movie "Paleface." An autographed photo of Lucille Ball with some teeth blackened out. A money clip from Jack Benny. These were a few of Bob Hope's favorite things.

Nearly 800 items will be sold to fans and dealers at a mid-October charity auction commissioned by the family of the famed comedian, who died in 2003 at age 100. It will be televised live and online by the Auction Network, allowing viewers worldwide to participate in real time.

"Dad was a pack rat," said daughter Linda Hope, 68. "He loved to collect things. Even when he wasn't conscious of collecting, people would give him things. They would be brought home, listed, photographed and placed in storage. There are 11,000 items in his memorabilia collection."

She made the first public announcement of the Bob Hope Estate Auction at the comedian's longtime compound in North Hollywood. A selection of items to be auctioned were displayed. "A lot of the things will go to the Library of Congress," she said. "Most of the paper goods will be going there, scripts and photographs and other things that Dad donated before he died. The library isn't interested in three-dimensional items."

The sale, which will benefit charities and causes important to Hope, is being organized by Darren Julien, president of Julien's Auctions. The collection will be displayed online and proxy bids taken beginning Sept. 1 at http://www.juliensauctions.com.

IN BRIEF

OCEANO

Woman buried in sand dies; 3 men held

A homeless woman died after being buried by three men on a Central Coast beach — a fate that the victim's family described as her greatest fear.

Three men are being held on involuntary manslaughter charges after they allegedly poured sand over Patricia Ann Kalbskopf while she was passed out drunk Wednesday at Oceano Dunes, causing her to suffocate.

Investigators said they don't believe the men, who were also drinking, intended to kill Kalbskopf, but that their actions resulted in her death.

LOS ANGELES

Squirrel causes outage at airport

A squirrel was zapped by a high-voltage line providing electricity to Los Angeles International Airport, causing air conditioning to fail at several terminals Monday morning, officials said.

The squirrel got into a power distribution center and made contact with the line around 7:30 a.m., causing a 10-second outage, Department of Water and Power spokesman Joe Ramallo said.

Travelers waited in stuffy terminals for at least three hours as electricians rebooted equipment. Other airport operations were not affected.

SAN FRANCISCO

Peregrine falcon chicks found dead

An effort to rescue two peregrine falcon chicks from their nest on the underside of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge had an unhappy ending Monday: The chicks were found dead.

The chicks appeared to have died about two weeks ago, UC Santa Cruz ecologist Alberto Palleroni said. They were a week to 10 days old at the time of death.

SAN BERNARDINO

Habitat cut proposed for kangaroo rat

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed reducing the habitat for the endangered San Bernardino kangaroo rat by two-thirds.

An agency report says the designated critical habitat would be slashed from more than 33,000 acres to 10,500 acres in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

Agency spokeswoman Jane Hendron said the reduction has been suggested because new mapping technology has allowed scientists to pinpoint where the kangaroo rat is found and what areas are crucial to its conservation.

— From wire reports