BRIEFLY.

Car alarm dispute leads to shooting

SIMI VALLEY - A 48-year-old man annoyed by a car alarm was in custody Wednesday after he allegedly fired several rounds into his neighbor's vehicle during the night.

David Owen Rye of Simi Valley was booked on suspicion of discharging a handgun in a grossly negligent manner and vandalism after he told officers he fired the shots because he was upset by the alarm going off, the Simi Valley police reported.

Residents called police about 10 p.m. Tuesday saying a man was firing a handgun from the balcony of an apartment building in the 1700 block of Yosemite Avenue. Simi Valley police, assisted by a Los Angeles Police Department helicopter, determined the shots were fired by Rye, who surrendered peacefully. No one was injured in the shooting, police said, but there were a number of bullet holes in the vehicle.

- Daily News

EPA withheld data on L.A. emissions

WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency withheld data showing that potentially harmful emissions in Los Angeles County and elsewhere could increase with new gasoline regulations, a government audit has found.

In 2003, the EPA found that harmful sulphur emissions could increase in 26 counties - including Los Angeles County - under a proposed gasoline regulation.

The EPA said it did not report the data because refineries and state or local authorities would likely offset the extra emissions in other ways, and the numbers were therefore overstated.

But the report by the Government Accountability Office concluded it is part of an EPA pattern of ignoring a 1994 environmental justice order stipulating agency officials consider the impact of pollution on minority and low-income communities when developing clean-air regulations.

- Daily News

Council confirms Daniels, Sickler

The City Council on Wednesday confirmed two of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's nominees to the Board of Public Works.

The city Ethics Commission decided by a 4-0 vote that Paula Daniels and David Sickler have no financial conflicts of interest that would keep them from serving. The City Council voted 12-0 to approve their selections to the board. Councilman Dennis Zine was absent.

Sickler reported that he worked for the California Building Trades Council, a labor organization that does business in Los Angeles. He also reported a community property salary income interest from the Los Angeles/Orange Counties' Organizing Committee, a labor organization that also does business in the city.

Daniels reported receiving income by representing several businesses that work with the city. She also reported a community property interest in a law firm in Los Angeles. Daniels, a lawyer, is a senior research fellow at UCLA's Institute of the Environment.

- City News Service

LAX package was merely clothing

Explosives experts went to Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday to examine a suspicious package found in the upper level of a parking structure, but the item contained only clothing, officials said.

The package was discovered shortly after 8 a.m. in parking structure 7 at 701 World Way, said Gaby Pacheco of Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that operates LAX.

That parking structure and adjacent parking structure 1 were closed while the investigation was conducted, Pacheco said. The area was reopened shortly before 11 a.m., Pacheco said.

- City News Service

FBI begins probe in Pena shooting

The FBI launched a probe Wednesday into whether Los Angeles Police Department officers violated the civil rights of Jose Raul Pena and his 19-month-old daughter during a shootout in Watts that left both father and daughter dead.

The move follows a call Monday for an independent investigation by an attorney representing the family of Pena and his daughter, Suzie Marie. It was announced just hours after the release of a coroner's report showing that the father had a significant amount of cocaine and methamphetamine in his system when he died, along with alcohol.

- City News Service