ANTELOPE VALLEY: BRIEFLY : PROSECUTORS WON'T SEEK DEATH PENALTY.

LANCASTER - Prosecutors have declined to seek the death penalty against a Palmdale man accused of fatally shooting a man with whom he had argued and an innocent bystander.

Harvey Alexander, 20, is charged with a special-circumstance allegation of multiple murder in the Sept. 17, 1995, slayings of Willie Perkins, 23, of Palmdale and Ladislao Jacobo, 33, of Palmdale.

Prosecutors said Alexander killed Perkins as he drove away after an argument in front of an apartment house on Fifth Street East in Palmdale, where Alexander's girlfriend lived. They say a stray bullet hit Jacobo, who was walking down Fifth Street East with friends. Defense attorneys say Alexander shot Perkins in self-defense after he threatened Alexander with a gun.

SOURCE: - Daily News

Kern Union board OKs small classes

ROSAMOND - First-grade classes will be reduced in size beginning in February at Hamilton and Rosamond elementary schools, Southern Kern Unified School District officials said.

District officials estimate they will need five more teachers and five more classrooms at the two schools.

The school board approved Wednesday night taking advantage of a state plan under which schools that reduce kindergarten through third-grade classes to 20 or fewer students would receive $650 per pupil in additional state funding.

SOURCE: - Daily News

`Frustrated' inmate cracks jail window

LANCASTER - A 35-year-old inmate faces additional charges after he attempted to break a window in the jail of the Lancaster sheriff's station, sheriff's officials said.

Keith Miller, a Palmdale resident arrested Sept. 12 on drug charges, faces additional charges of vandalism after he kicked and damaged one of two small windows on the cell door, a deputy said.

While Miller did not break the 4-square-inch window, he did crack the 1/2-inch-thick pane.

SOURCE: - Daily News