BRIEFLY : CHARGES DISMISSED AGAINST CONTRACTORS.

A judge on Tuesday dismissed criminal charges against two contractors accused of involvement in a bid-rigging scheme in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The District Attorney's Office filed charges in January, accusing Cam Painting owner Priamos Gennaris and T&M Construction owner Terry Tsetseris of conspiring to illegally divide painting contracts in the San Fernando Valley and Harbor area.

Superior Court Judge Stephen O'Neil dismissed charges at the end of a seven-day preliminary hearing, deciding that prosecutors had insufficient evidence to go ahead to trial, according to the defendants' attorney, David Conn.

- Daily News

School gun proposal may target parents

Moving to curtail campus violence, the Los Angeles Board of Education voted 4-1 to seek legislation holding parents accountable when a student brings a gun onto campus.

Board members Jeff Horton and Victoria Castro questioned whether the proposed legislation would have any real effect and said they wanted more input from parents.

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Lake View Terrace gets charter school

To the cheers of about 100 parents, Los Angeles school board members on Tuesday unanimously approved plans to open a new charter school in Lake View Terrace.

The Community Charter Middle School will offer its first classes this fall, serving 100 sixth-grade students. Administrators plan to add grades seven and eight during the following two years.

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Woman fatally hit crossing parking lot

A 78-year-old Sherman Oaks woman was killed Monday when she was hit by a vehicle crossing a preschool parking lot, police said.

Jean Hufford was pronounced dead at the scene after being hit by a van driving through the parking lot of Valley Presbyterian Preschool, 9240 Haskell Ave., said Los Angeles police Officer Gary Weller. The circumstances of the 8:30 a.m. incident were unclear but Weller said the van's driver was not cited.

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After-school plan OK'd by supervisors

Taking a burden off the shoulders of working mothers, nearly 14,000 children in Los Angeles County could enroll in after-school enrichment programs under a $74 million program the county Board of Supervisors approved Tuesday.

The vote for the programs at 225 schools - 100 of them in the Los Angeles Unified School District and the remainder in the rest of the county - was the culmination of more than a year of effort by Every Mother is a Working Mother Network and more than 250 supporting community organizations.

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