BRIEFLY.

Denny's robbers sought by police

SUN VALLEY -- Police searched Friday for two masked gunmen who robbed a Denny's restaurant, officials said.

The gunmen, described only as Latino and wearing ski masks, entered the Vineland Avenue restaurant about 11:30 p.m. Thursday, said Los Angeles Police Department Detective Jim Gerardi.

Earlier reports said the men stole $800, but Gerardi said the amount has not been disclosed.

Investigators are uncertain if the heist was linked to a series of robberies in North Hollywood and Sun Valley.

``We have nothing new on the case,'' he said. ``No getaway car was seen.''

-- Daily News

LAUSD awarded teacher funding

Los Angeles Unified schools will get nearly $11.3 million in state funds to attract and retain good teachers at low-performing schools, state school Superintendent Jack O'Connell said Friday.

In all, the California Department of Education awarded $46.5 million to 338 local education agencies across the state, including 43 in Los Angeles County.

The Teacher Recruitment and Student Support Program grants will be used to aid the 30 percent of schools that ranked worst in terms of the 2004 Academic Performance Index.

-- City News Service

Twins remain in intensive care

Formerly conjoined twin babies were in intensive care cribs Friday as doctors watched closely for signs of any problems in the first critical days following a lengthy separation surgery.

Ten-month-old Regina and Renata Salinas Fierros were in serious but stable condition at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. They were on ventilators and were being sedated for their comfort, spokesman Steve Rutledge said. There was no sign of infection or other problems, he added.

The twins were born facing each other and joined from the lower chest to the pelvis. They were separated in a surgery that began Wednesday morning.

-- Associated Press

Freeway collision kills SUV driver

SUN VALLEY -- A woman was killed Friday morning on the Golden State Freeway when her sport utility vehicle rear-ended a flatbed truck loaded with steel, officials said.

The unidentified woman, believed to be in her mid-20s, was northbound on the freeway near Lankershim Boulevard when the collision occurred about 8:20 a.m., said Los Angeles Fire spokeswoman Melissa Kelley.

The California Highway Patrol shut down the two right lanes of the freeway.

-- Daily News

Probe launched into cop gunfire

NORTH HOLLYWOOD -- A Los Angeles police officer whose gun accidentally discharged while he tried to holster it during a foot chase was under investigation Friday, police said.

Officer William Martin, 29, of the Los Angeles Police Department's North Hollywood Station, and a partner saw Javier Colin, 26, known for prior drug and gang activities and carrying a gun, was spotted loitering in the 12000 block of Runnymede Street, near Laurel Canyon Boulevard, June 9, police said.

As the officers approached, Colin took a handgun from a backpack and threw it into the back of a parked pickup truck, then ran away, police said.

During the chase, Martin tried to holster his sidearm. He heard a gunshot and radioed, ``shots fired.''

Martin then realized that the gunshot he had heard had come from his own gun.

-- City News Service