BRIEFLY.

Reward offered in NoHo killings

NORTH HOLLYWOOD -- City Councilman Tony Cardenas will announce a $75,000 reward today for information about the Sept. 10 slaying of two cousins outside a North Hollywood coin laundry.

Joel Cortez Alonzo and Alejandro Perez Lopez, both 19, were fatally shot while sitting in a BMW outside the facility in the 7500 block of Lankershim Boulevard. Alonzo's pregnant girlfriend, Rocio Calliz, 20, was also in the car but survived shots to her leg and abdomen.

Cardenas will announce the reward at 5 p.m. at the Los Angeles Police Department's North Hollywood Division, 11640 Burbank Blvd.

-- Daily News

Druggies banned from Skid Row

Criminals on probation who enter a particularly crime-ridden swath of Skid Row could face jail or prison time, authorities announced Tuesday.

The city's latest effort to combat open drug sales in the downtown neighborhood, the new policy makes a less than quarter-mile area of Skid Row off-limits to people on probation for drug offenses committed in the area, said District Attorney Steve Cooley and Police Chief William Bratton.

The idea is to clean up a section of Skid Row that Cooley called ``the most significant active drug supermarket in the city and county of Los Angeles.''

-- Associated Press

Owners of dogs sue talent agency

Stage mothers for a Rottweiler and other dogs have sued a company called Hollywood Paws for failing to turn their pooches into stars.

More than a dozen pet owners contend that the company collected tens of thousands of dollars but never delivered on promises to get auditions for their pets.

``I lost a lot of money,'' said Rachel Armstrong, owner of Goliath the Rottweiler.

Armstrong said she believed her dog had the ``cool'' factor that would get him into music videos and paid nearly $2,000 to Hollywood Paws LLC for training.

All she got was a rejection from ``The Tyra Banks Show.''

Attorney Cynthia Mulvihill filed the suit in Superior Court last month.

-- Associated Press

Animal nonprofit to pay for audit

The Los Angeles City Council accepted a $200,000 donation Tuesday from an animal-rights group to complete an audit of the city's Animal Services Department.

The donation from the Kanab, Utah-based Best Friends Animal Society marks the first-ever acceptance of money from a nonprofit to audit a city department, according to City Controller Laura Chick's office.

Ed Boks, head of the Animal Services Department, said he asked for the management and financial audit of his department. He plans to institute a ``no kill'' policy at city animal shelters within five years, a goal shared by the Best Friends Animal Society.

-- City News Service

New LAPD TV ads to target recruits

Commercials targeting women, minorities and military veterans will start airing on television as part of an effort to boost the ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department, a police commander said Tuesday.

The commercials are part of the department's revamped recruiting effort as it seeks to hire 1,000 new officers over the next five years, Cmdr. Kenneth Garner, head of the LAPD's Personnel Group, told the Police Commission.

-- City News Service

Burbank metals firm sued by EPA 

BURBANK -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has filed a complaint against a Burbank-based metals company for hazardous-waste violations, federal officials said Wednesday.

The agency said the All Metals Processing Co., 264 W. Spazier Ave., and the property owner, the Helen L. Powers Revocable Trust, allowed waste to seep outside the facility and within 10 feet of a storm water canal.

The EPA complaint ``will get the company to prevent improper handling of hazardous waste and contaminant migration off-site,'' Jeff Scott, director of Waste Programs for the EPA Pacific Southwest Region, said in a statement.

Company officials did not immediately return calls for comment.

-- Daily News