BRIEFLY.

Hurricane Katrina duo on probation

A 33-year-old female transient and a 37-year-old Canoga Park man were sentenced Friday to three years' probation for pretending to be Hurricane Katrina victims in need of financial and housing support.

Laurette Ollar Karaba and Derrek Orlando Wilkerson were arrested Sept. 26 and have been in jail ever since. However, Airport Branch Superior Court Judge T.K. Herman ordered both released as part of their plea bargains.

Karaba and Wilkerson each pleaded no contest Oct. 5 to one count of burglary and two counts of grand theft.

Karaba applied for and received a hotel voucher worth $665 and additional cash for other expenses from an American Red Cross facility in Santa Monica, said Santa Monica police Lt. Frank Fabrega.

Karaba told Red Cross officials the home she owned in New Orleans was destroyed by the August hurricane, authorities said. However, an investigation showed that neither she nor Wilkerson had ties to Louisiana, authorities said.

- City News Service

Cities say LAUSD is more than L.A.

The California Contract Cities Association board has adopted a resolution stating it believes that voters who live in all 28 cities serviced by the Los Angeles Unified School District should determine who governs and sets policy for the district.

The resolution, adopted Wednesday, states that the 71 member cities ``overwhelmingly believe that the voters who reside in all 28 cities within the school district should select who sets policy for the district.''

- Daily News

Tax cheat gets 16 months in prison

A Los Angeles man who got an $875 state income tax refund by falsely claiming a child-care deduction was sentenced Friday to 16 months in prison.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Richard Rico imposed the term on Raemon Pardue. The judge also ordered Pardue to pay $2,055 in restitution.

Pardue, 29, pleaded guilty to grand theft. He was arrested in November after a $25,000 bench warrant was issued for failing to appear for a court hearing.

Pardue used a fake W-2 form to report wages and claimed a child and dependent-care expenses credit for expenses of more than $8,300 he did not incur, according to the Franchise Tax Board.

The fraud was discovered by the board's fraud prevention and detection unit.

- City News Service

Local firm wins Metro Jail contract

A San Fernando firm was awarded a $74 million contract Friday to build the Los Angeles Police Department's new Metro Jail in the downtown area.

The Board of Public Works voted 3-0 to allow Bernard Bros. Inc. to build the detention center with funds from Proposition Q, the $600 million public safety bond approved by city voters in March 2002.

Board members David Sickler and Paula Daniels were absent from the meeting.

The new Metro Jail will be a short-term holding facility with 512 beds.

The panel also agreed to extend by two years a contract with the Los Angeles-based architectural firm of DMJM Design and Roth+Sheppard Construction of Denver, for its work in designing the new LAPD headquarters in downtown. The board agreed to pay the firms nearly $2 million more for the work, bringing the total to $13.6 million.

In addition, the board agreed to execute its $8 million contract with Sacramento-based Vanir Construction Management Inc. to oversee construction of the LAPD headquarters.

Plans for the LAPD headquarters are expected to come before the Police Commission by February and should be ready for approval by April, said Sam Tanaka of the Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering.

``I got a chance to see renderings of the police station and it's very beautiful, very exciting,'' Board of Public Works President Cynthia Ruiz said.

Projected costs to build the police headquarters - to replace the aging Parker Center - have jumped from $303 million to $340 million due to hikes in construction materials and labor, Tanaka said.

- City News Service