BRIEFLY.

Crews save horse from local ravine

LAKE VIEW TERRACE - An Arabian horse was rescued from a ravine Tuesday afternoon, the seventh equine to lose its footing after record winter rains, Animal Services Department officials reported.

Hifi, a 30-year-old Arabian mare, lost her footing on a trail near Wheatland Avenue and the 210 Freeway when she decided to investigate some trash, ASD spokeswoman Capt. Karen Knipscheer said.

The agency's Department Air Rescue Team hauled the exhausted horse out of the ravine on a hard plastic sheet known as a glide. Neither Hifi nor her rider were injured.

``These treacherous trails are still wet, muddy and slippery,'' cautioned Knipscheer after rescues in Lake View Terrace, Burbank, Hansen Dam and Griffith Park. ``Wait for (them) to dry out.''

- Daily News

Officials address no-smoking units

A conference set for Thursday in Los Angeles could help pave the way for new laws that would bar California renters from smoking in some apartment units.

Los Angeles City Council President Alex Padilla, representatives of the American Lung Association of California, developers, lawyers, property owners and managers are among those expected at the event, which will focus on the viability and health benefits of creating no-smoking sections in apartment buildings.

The one-day conference - dubbed ``Smoke-Free Choice: A New Amenity in Multi-Unit Housing'' - will be held at USC's Davidson Executive Center.

- City News Service

Four lanes of PCH reopen this week

MALIBU - Four lanes of Pacific Coast Highway in the Topanga Canyon area will be open to traffic by Friday, while work continues to repair a slide on the hillside above the highway, according to Caltrans.

In recent weeks, PCH has been limited to one lane in each direction plus a middle lane open in one direction or the other, depending on the traffic flow, said Judy Gish of Caltrans.

The landslide above PCH, which occurred during the recent rains, affected the highway between Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Coastline Drive, Gish said.

- City News Service

Tall ship ashore for 6-8 months

Needed repairs to the Irving Johnson, a tall ship that ran aground near Oxnard last month, are expected to keep the vessel out of commission for six to eight months, officials said Tuesday.

The total cost of repairs is still unknown, but after insurance payments, the Los Angeles Maritime Institute, which operates the ship for character-building voyages serving local students, expects to pay about $50,000 out of pocket, Capt. Jim Gladson said.

Long-range plans have taken two of the San Pedro nonprofit agency's other vessels out of commission, leaving the institute's popular TopSail program with just one working ship, the Exy Johnson.

- City News Service

MWD OKs work for Simi, Pomona

The Metropolitan Water District board Tuesday authorized two project agreements that together will ultimately provide 800 million-plus gallons of recovered groundwater annually for use in Pomona and Simi Valley.

The Metropolitan Water District will provide as much as $7.1 million in combined incentives over the next 25 years for the two projects, sponsored by Calleguas Municipal Water District and Ventura County Water Works District No. 8, as well as Three Valleys Municipal Water District.

The Calleguas project calls for construction of two wells, a treatment plant in Tapo Canyon and associated pipelines that will pump and desalt brackish groundwater from a Simi Valley basin and deliver up to 1,455 acre-feet of potable water a year for use in the city.

- City News Service

Man found with overturned boat

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued a 47-year-old man found clinging to his capsized 10-foot dingy Tuesday about six miles outside Angels Gate, the entrance to the Port of Los Angeles.

Rick Saunders was not wearing a life jacket when the crew of the George Cobb, a 175-foot Coast Guard cutter that maintains buoys in the ocean off Los Angeles and Orange counties, came across him at 10:13 a.m., Petty Officer Nathan Henise said.

Saunders was given first aid by a crew from the San Pedro-based cutter before being taken by helicopter to Torrance Memorial Hospital, where he was treated for mild hypothermia, Henise said.

- City News Service

Fake bomb threat linked to worker

GLENDALE - A 45-year-old restaurant worker is scheduled to be charged today in connection with a false bomb threat made from a pay phone.

Jose Rangel of Los Angeles was arrested Monday evening after police said he used a pay phone at Central and Wilson avenues to call 911 and say there was a bomb blocks away at Doran Street and Central.

Glendale police Detective Miguel Porras said eight officers were sent to the area to search for the bomb and evacuate nearby businesses.

Porras said Rangel, who is being held at Glendale jail, was arrested after officers questioned him on the street and compared his voice with the recording on the 911 tape.

- Daily News

Woman won't sue over finger in chili

SAN JOSE - The woman who claimed she scooped up a mouthful of finger along with her chili at a Wendy's restaurant last month has decided not to sue the fast-food chain.

Attorney Jeffrey Janoff told the San Jose Mercury News that Anna Ayala was dropping her claim because ``this has caused her great emotional distress and continues to be difficult emotionally.''

Phone calls to Ayala's house went unanswered Tuesday.

Ayala, 39, was at a Wendy's restaurant in San Jose on March 22 when she claimed she scooped up the 1 1/2-long fingertip.

Last Wednesday, investigators searched Ayala's Las Vegas home as part of their investigation into how a finger ended up in the chili.

- Associated Press

Many would pay $3 fee at border

Nearly 60 percent of people who enter the United States in the San Diego area would pay $3 for a speedier trip from Mexico, according a survey released Tuesday.

The poll by the San Diego Association of Governments and California Transportation Department found that 59.4 percent of border crossers would pay $3 at a proposed port of entry in San Diego's Otay Mesa district.

- Associated Press