The News Blog with Eric Spillman

Family of Norma Lopez: "We Won't Rest Until Killer is Caught"


10:07 AM  September 1, 2010

Norma-Lopez-graduation
(Moreno Valley) --  It's been six weeks since the body of 17-year-old Norma Lopez was discovered in a field here.

She'd been walking to a friend's house from summer school when someone kidnapped and murdered her.

That killer is still out there somewhere, but detectives may be closer to cracking the case.

Yesterday, they served a search warrant on a house three blocks away from where Norma was abducted.   And they towed away a green SUV from the driveway.

That SUV may be connected to the crime.  Witnesses reported seeing a green SUV speeding away shortly after Norma disappeared.

Riverside County Sheriff's deputies won't say much about their investigation, but Norma's 18-year-old sister Elizabeth is speaking out.

She says her family learned about developments in the case from the news media.

She's hoping an arrest will come soon.  She says the family won't rest until Norma's killer is behind bars.



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Favorite Photo from Emmy Night


7:44 PM  August 30, 2010

The Governor's Ball had a very cool retro vibe.

IMG00238

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Worst High School Football Play Ever


12:44 PM  August 29, 2010
Not quite sure where this came from, but it truly is a terrible play.

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Video of Great White Shark (?) Near Pacific Palisades


10:01 AM  August 27, 2010

I admit, I was skeptical, but now I'm convinced.

We came out to Sunset Beach in Pacific Palisades, following reports of great white shark sightings off the coast here.

Cameraman Vic Anastasia and I stood here for hours, on the odd chance we might see one.

We did see dolphins and sea lions.  We did not see any sharks.

Then, at around 9:15 AM, we saw what looked to be a 7-foot-long white shark flopping near the surface, maybe 40 feet from the shore.

There were a lot of surfers in the water before the sighting.  Only a few stayed after they heard about the shark.





A group called the Shark Research Committee has confirmed 8 sightings of Great Whites in this area over the last two weeks. Make that 9.

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Greatest Fan Catch of All Time


7:50 PM  August 26, 2010

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Topless Demonstrators Love Aliens


11:13 AM  August 25, 2010

Lots of coverage this weekend of a topless march in Venice Beach, with participants calling for women to have the right to freely bare their breasts.

One thing I didn't see, however, in any of the stories, was specific information on who sponsored the event.

It's an outfit called Go Topless... and if you read their website, you find out they are a group that believes all of us evolved from aliens from outer space:

GoTopless was founded by the Raelian Movement, which recognizes that life on Earth was created by advanced extraterrestrial scientists. These scientists, both male and female, used their mastery of genetic engineering to create humans in their own image (breasts included!).

The group has been described as a "UFO cult".  

Topless
But, hey, it's a great story, so who cares, right?

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My Wife Knows Everything


10:55 AM  August 25, 2010

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Mummified Babies Discovered in Westlake District


11:23 AM  August 18, 2010

(Westlake District of L.A.) -- Two mummified babies that may have been abandoned 80 years ago have turned up in an old steamer trunk discovered in the basement of an apartment building here.

The manager of the Glen Donald building, on Lake near 8th, says she found the trunk in a dusty storeroom late yesterday.

Nobody had claimed it after residents had been told to clear out all their junk.

When she opened the trunk, she found the two dead fetuses wrapped in newspapers from the 1930's. 

Coroner's investigators are trying to identify the bodies.  So far, they see no sign of foul play.

Residents say the building was L.A.'s first co-op.  It was a place where celebrities and actors lived during the Great Depression.

Some speculate the the dead babies were placed in the trunk by a single mother who lived there.  At the time, unwanted pregnancies were scandalous and abortions were illegal.




Also discovered in the trunk were tickets to the 1932 L.A. Olympics. At that time, admission to the closing ceremony at the Coliseum cost 2 bucks.

Olympictix
Documents inside the trunk have the name of Jean Barrie on them, which may or may not be an important clue.

The apartment building is across the street from a home that was once reportedly owned by Charlie Chaplin.

We tried to get photos of the trunk, but the apartment building manager refused to allow it.  She wants money before she lets anyone take a picture of it.

Can you imagine?

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Teachers Object to Being Evaluated by Student Test Scores


11:38 AM  August 16, 2010

How can you evaluate the effectiveness of a teacher?

That is a complicated question.  But it seems reasonable to believe that there might be something to learn from looking at the test scores of a group of students in a particular teacher's class.

If those scores go up, doesn't that tell you about the teacher's ability?   If the scores go down, doesn't that say something else?

A couple of reporters at the L.A. Times believe this kind of data might be valuable for parents, administrators and teachers.

And so the newspaper has collected this sort of information for 6,000 L.A.U.S.D. teachers.  AND, before publishing the data, the paper is giving each teacher the chance to look at the scores and explain any issues they feel might be important.

Still, the head of the teacher's union A.J. Duffy, is protesting.  In fact, he's urging a boycott of the L.A. Times:

"You're leading people in a dangerous direction, making it seem like you can judge the quality of a teacher by … a test," said A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, which has more than 40,000 members.

Duffy said he would urge other labor groups to ask their members to cancel their subscriptions.

I think readers are smart enough to understand that the scores are only one measure of a teacher's ability, not the ONLY measure.

Many of us work in jobs where we are assessed by our sales figures, revenue, or ratings, or by some other numerical formula.

Why shouldn't teachers also be evaluated by their students' test scores?

I want to hear what you think... Leave comments below, please.

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UPDATE: Deaf Man on Video Booked for Robbery


11:26 AM  August 13, 2010

Sometimes things aren't exactly what they seem.

We've learned a little more about what happened in that video that shows a deaf man being manhandled by security after setting off an alarm at the Forever 21 store on Hollywood Boulevard.

Turns out cops believe he WAS a shoplifter.

According to the LAPD,  Hollywood Division detectives say they found store merchandise in his possession that he didn't buy.

And once he got into the altercation with the security guard, it became a robbery.

They say his name is Alejandro Rea.  He's in custody at Twin Towers.  Bail is set at $55,000.

Meanwhile, the video has gone viral on YouTube.

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