BRIEFLY WORKERS SICKENED AFTER GAS RELEASE.

PACOIMA - Six people were taken to the hospital Monday after they were apparently sickened by a release of hydrogen sulfide gas at the Price Pfister plant, officials said.

The six employees were transported to local hospitals with minor respiratory irritation, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Bob Collis.

The gas release was part of the plant's normal operation, Collis said.

``It's a routine procedure, and somehow people smelled it,'' he said.

After the 10:30 a.m. incident, 438 employees were evacuated from the building as fire crews checked it over.

- Daily News

Cop pleads guilty in false conviction

A former police officer has agreed to plead guilty to depriving a man's civil rights in a false conviction case unrelated to the Rampart station scandal that has rocked the Los Angeles Police Department.

Jon Paul Taylor has agreed to plead guilty Friday to violating a federal civil rights law for falsely arresting Jerome Tyson on a misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed weapon, federal prosecutors said.

Taylor's former partner, Edward Patrick Ruiz, pleaded guilty earlier this month to a civil rights offense for the arrest that occurred April 21, 1995 in the LAPD's 77th Street station, which covers South-Central Los Angeles.

- Associated Press

L.A.'s lifeguards win national title

A Los Angeles County lifeguard team won the United States Lifesaving Association's national title for the 14th year running, it was announced Monday.

Team Los Angeles finished the two-day competition at San Diego's Pacific Beach with 592 points.

In the women's individual competition, Los Angeles County lifeguard Diane Graner-Gallas took the top honors for a third time.

``They used to have the women and men compete at the same time and I was always trying to beat the guys,'' she said.

- City News Service

Carjacker arrested after LAX chase

A carjacker led police on a wild chase late Monday from one end of Los Angeles to the other and through Los Angeles International Airport before crashing in Hawthorne.

The pursuit lasted for more than an hour and a half and reached speeds of at least 100 mph, mostly on Interstate 10.

He crashed the car into at least one vehicle, went through numerous red lights and circled the airport several times.

The chase began about 10:43 p.m. Friday near Crenshaw and Jefferson boulevards, where an armed man stole a Geo Prism, police said. It ended just after midnight when the car spun out on a Hawthorne street. The man ran from the car, but was quickly taken into custody.

- Daily News