BRIEFLY.

Fake explosives empty terminal

Fake explosives left behind after a bomb-sniffing dog training class led to the evacuation and shutdown of a terminal at Los Angeles International Airport.

A sergeant left a bag containing the mock explosives in a public area of Terminal 6 on Tuesday night and an FBI agent spotted the suspicious computer bag and notified airport police, according to a police report.

- Associated Press 

Abdul pleads no contest to hit-run

VAN NUYS - Paula Abdul pleaded no contest Thursday to a misdemeanor hit-and-run charge stemming from a noninjury accident in Encino and paid nearly $1,100 in fines and restitution.

Attorney Blair Berk, who represented the ``American Idol'' star, said the charge would be ``dismissed and expunged'' at the end of Abdul's 24 months of summary probation.

While making a lane change on the eastbound Ventura Freeway near Balboa Boulevard about 7:40 a.m. on Dec. 20, Abdul's Mercedes-Benz clipped another vehicle, according to the City Attorney's Office. Abdul, according to her legal advisers, was unaware that her car had collided with another vehicle.

- City News Service

GOP adviser died of drug overdose 

A Republican media adviser found dead in the home of actress Carrie Fisher died from an overdose of cocaine and the painkiller oxycodone, the Los Angeles County coroner's office reported Thursday. Robert Gregory Stevens, 42, was found dead Feb. 26 in a guest room of Fisher's Coldwater Canyon home.

- City News Service

Topanga to open longer on Easter

Topanga Canyon Boulevard will be open to motorists for more hours on Easter Sunday, as construction continues on a 180-foot-long retaining wall and repairs to the pavement, Caltrans announced Thursday.

The repairs are being made where rain-related landslides damaged the road between Pacific Coast Highway and Grand View Drive. Until the $1.2 million project is completed in May, the road is closed except for 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. But Sunday it will be open from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m., she said.

- City News Service

Fake drug brings prison sentence

A Glendale resident who admitted selling counterfeit Viagra from China was sentenced Thursday to 18 months in federal prison.

Khoa Twan Do, 32, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, trafficking in counterfeit goods and a felony violation of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act last summer. He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper, who ordered him to pay a $6,000 fine in addition to the prison time.

- City News Service

Crews free ship stuck on sand bar

OXNARD - Salvage crews on Thursday freed a grounded sailing ship that became stuck earlier this week while entering Channel Islands Harbor in stormy seas.

Beachgoers cheered as the crew tugged the San Pedro-based Irving Johnson out of the sand bar. Salvage crew members were inspecting the boat to assess the damage, he said.

Teams emptied the water and dug a temporary berm on the shore side of the boat so that waves breaking on the beach would instead bounce back and push the boat to sea.

Salvagers planned to tug the boat five miles to Ventura Harbor, said Chris Grisafe, a spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard.

Twenty passengers and crew members were aboard the 90-foot brigantine when it hit the sand bar Monday. They were rescued after they fell or jumped into the chilly waters. Three of them were treated for hypothermia.

- Associated Press

Oil spill damage surveyed at lake

ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST - Workers suctioned crude oil out of Pyramid Lake on Thursday as experts tried to gauge environmental damage done by a 126,000-gallon spill from a ruptured pipeline.

Representatives from federal, state and local agencies were assessing damage to the reservoir, to the oil-stained hillside, and to any wildlife in the area. Cleanup could take weeks, officials said.

- Daily News