California Department Of Consumer Affairs

Sears, Roebuck & Co. is expected to announce today that it will reimburse unhappy customers under a settlement of charges that it systematically ripped off consumers at its 70 auto repair centers in California, The Times has learned. The agreement is expected to allow Sears to remain in the auto repair business in California, where it is the largest single operator of repair shops.

If someone comes to your door selling home security systems, be wary: They could be breaking the law and they could be trying to scam you, according to the state Department of Consumer Affairs. Key things to know: • Anyone selling home alarm systems door-to-door in California is required to have passed a criminal background check and have been licensed by the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services. But in reality, warned the consumer agency, many sellers have done neither.

The California Department of Consumer Affairs is seeking to revoke the license of an El Monte beauty college and has informed more than 1,000 of the school's students that they will be denied entrance to manicurist and cosmetologist examinations, officials said. State inspections of Tam's Beauty College campuses in El Monte and Garden Grove in August and October of 1996 found unclean facilities, vermin infestation and a lack of textbooks, officials said.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday conceded that long-standing delays in disciplining errant health professionals were "absolutely unacceptable" and promised broad reforms to better protect patients from dentists, pharmacists, therapists and others accused of misconduct. "The existing model protects licensees," said Brian Stiger, who was appointed by the governor Tuesday as director of the California Department of Consumer Affairs, which oversees the state's licensing agencies.

The firm that audited Orange County's books before its unprecedented bankruptcy sued the state of California on Friday for allegedly conducting a "tainted" investigation aimed at helping the county collect damages from the accountants. The lawsuit was filed in Sacramento Superior Court on behalf of the accounting firm KPMG Peat Marwick LLP and one of its accountants, Margaret J. McBride.

The California Department of Consumer Affairs said Thursday that it has revoked the license of an Orange County television repair shop owner guilty of consumer fraud. Margaret Brown, who operated the TV Shop repair businesses in Garden Grove, Brea and Irvine, lost her license to operate them after investigators with the state Bureau of Electronic and Appliance Repair in Los Angeles determined that there was "a pattern of abuse" in the company's repair practices.

A Reseda man convicted last year of operating a motor home repair shop without a license was charged Tuesday with similar new violations following an undercover investigation by state inspectors, the Los Angeles city attorney's office said.

A Democrat-led Senate panel on Wednesday approved Charlene Zettel as the state's top consumer regulator over the objections of critics who assailed her voting record when she was in the Assembly. Zettel told lawmakers she would be a forceful advocate as director of California's Department of Consumer Affairs, which regulates 230 professions, including contractors and auto-repair shops.

An administrative law judge has overturned the dismissal of Marty Denkin, former state boxing official who was fired 2 1/2 years ago amid charges that he had accepted bribes from boxing managers and promoters. Denkin was the California Athletic Commission's assistant executive officer in charge of the Los Angeles office when he was fired from the $40,000-a-year job. He appealed and was given a four-day hearing by the State Personnel Board last January before Judge Byron Berry.

Wiping tears from her eyes and clutching a post for support, Vonsheena Flannagan leaned over the fence around Woodlawn Cemetery in Compton and tried desperately to spot her mother's grave. "That's where she's supposed to be," Flannagan said Wednesday, pointing to a tidy row of headstones. "But we don't know for sure." The 25-acre cemetery was shut down Tuesday by state inspectors who reported finding pieces of bones and caskets scattered across its grounds.

A Democrat-led Senate panel on Wednesday approved Charlene Zettel as the state's top consumer regulator over the objections of critics who assailed her voting record when she was in the Assembly. Zettel told lawmakers she would be a forceful advocate as director of California's Department of Consumer Affairs, which regulates 230 professions, including contractors and auto-repair shops.

For the third time since taking office last fall, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has ousted a high-ranking state consumer regulator, stirring complaints among advocates that he is stripping a respected consumer protection department of its strongest voices. Activists are mobilizing to block Senate confirmation of the governor's pick to fill the top job at the Consumer Affairs department -- former Assemblywoman Charlene Zettel, who scored poorly on a consumer advocacy group's rating of lawmakers.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has named as head of the state consumer affairs department a former assemblywoman who fared poorly on an advocacy group's scorecard that rated lawmakers by their dedication to consumer interests. Charlene Zettel, 56, will lead an agency that fields about 80,000 complaints a year and regulates 230 professions -- from cosmetology to auto repair. The job opened up in early December, when the governor ousted an appointee of former Gov. Gray Davis.

"Shot" is how the caller from Burbank described the fuel system in her 20-year-old car. "I was curious about this program because the car's pretty much dying." The program is two weeks old and works like this: Abandon your pollution-spewing car or truck, and get a check from the state for $1,000. "That would be wonderful," said the woman, whose car failed a smog check, something that happens roughly 1 million times a year in California, or once per 10 vehicles checked.

Wiping tears from her eyes and clutching a post for support, Vonsheena Flannagan leaned over the fence around Woodlawn Cemetery in Compton and tried desperately to spot her mother's grave. "That's where she's supposed to be," Flannagan said Wednesday, pointing to a tidy row of headstones. "But we don't know for sure." The 25-acre cemetery was shut down Tuesday by state inspectors who reported finding pieces of bones and caskets scattered across its grounds.

State inspectors shut down Woodlawn Cemetery in Compton after they found human bone fragments and casket pieces scattered about the grounds, the Department of Consumer Affairs said Tuesday. The inspectors also discovered that the 120-year-old cemetery "had unlawfully converted single burial graves to multiple graves, disturbed previously interred remains and then failed to properly reinter all of the remains. . . ," according to a Department of Consumer Affairs statement.

Rhonda Bolden has a good idea of what bugs California consumers. They're worried about failing an auto smog check. They wonder if the roofer who submitted the ridiculously low bid can be trusted. They bought a hearing aid that squawks, but the dealer won't take it back. And they're tired of being bounced from one department to the next in the labyrinth of state regulatory agencies as they seek help. "Some people really feel like they've hit a brick wall.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday conceded that long-standing delays in disciplining errant health professionals were "absolutely unacceptable" and promised broad reforms to better protect patients from dentists, pharmacists, therapists and others accused of misconduct. "The existing model protects licensees," said Brian Stiger, who was appointed by the governor Tuesday as director of the California Department of Consumer Affairs, which oversees the state's licensing agencies.

As his gubernatorial appointments begin to pick up pace, Gov.-elect Gray Davis on Wednesday selected two Angelenos for top state positions. Davis named Westside attorney Aileen Adams, a former director of the U.S. Justice Department's office for crime victims, as secretary of State and Consumer Services. It is a cabinet-level post that oversees 12 departments ranging from Consumer Affairs to the Franchise Tax Board.

The firm that audited Orange County's books before its unprecedented bankruptcy sued the state of California on Friday for allegedly conducting a "tainted" investigation aimed at helping the county collect damages from the accountants. The lawsuit was filed in Sacramento Superior Court on behalf of the accounting firm KPMG Peat Marwick LLP and one of its accountants, Margaret J. McBride.