California Highway Patrol

Beware of the $16,000 cocktail. Just in time for St. Patrick's Day partying, the Automobile Club of Southern California has calculated that a first-offense misdemeanor DUI conviction can now cost up to $15,649 in California. That's up 29% from 2011. The penalties are even higher for teenagers. The expense of an under- age-21 first-offense misdemeanor DUI is up to $22,492.  “It only takes one or two drinks to slow physical and mental skills that affect vision, steering, braking judgment and reaction time,” said the Auto Club's Senior Researcher Steven A. Bloch.

Students at 99th Street Elementary School near Watts caught a glimpse of what for most is a rare sight: fathers reading to them. Sitting in chairs built for bodies much smaller than their own, about 150 men participated in the school's fifth annual Donuts With Dads event Thursday. But they do more than tell stories, school officials said. "Having the men come in is motivating to the students," said Erica Jones, a third-grade teacher. "To have a dad feel it's important to be here and read translates the same message to the child.

A pregnant woman who was pulled over for talking on her cellphone - and then hurled to the ground and hogtied by CHP officers on the shoulder of the busy Harbor Freeway - has been paid $250,000 in damages. The 30-year-old woman was charged with resisting arrest and driving with a suspended license, but the charges were dropped after a judge was shown a video of the incident, captured on a camera mounted on the dashboard of a California Highway Patrol cruiser. "The conduct here is outrageous.

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill that would allow self-driving cars on California roads. Brown signed the bill Tuesday at a ceremony at Google's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. "We are looking at science fiction becoming reality in a self-driving car," Brown said. Tech giant Google Inc., Caltech and other organizations have been working to develop vehicles that use radar, video cameras and lasers to navigate roads and stay safe in traffic without human assistance. Google has said computer-controlled cars should eventually drive more safely than humans.

Marshawn Lynch has been charged with driving under the influence following his arrest early Saturday morning in Emeryville, Calif. Alameda County district attorney director of communications Teresa Drenick said in an email Wednesday that the decision had been made to charge the Seattle Seahawks running back, who is due in court on Aug. 14. Lynch was arrested on suspicion of DUI after being seen allegedly weaving on Interstate 880 near Oakland....

How well do you know traffic laws? Can you wear headphones while driving? Can you drive barefoot? Must you turn your headlights on when your windshield wipers are on? Here's a look at five laws you might not know: • Earplugs: It's illegal in California to drive or bicycle while wearing "a headset covering, or earplugs in, both ears. " Exceptions are made for drivers of emergency vehicles and trash trucks, or anyone using "earplugs or molds that are specifically designed to attenuate injurious noise levels.

A series of armed robberies of distressed motorists along Inland Empire freeways earlier this month has prompted the California Highway Patrol to form a special task force and increase early morning patrols. The robberies all occurred in the early hours of Sept. 18 and 19. In two incidents, the robbers fired shots, though no one was hurt, authorities said. The suspects, who remain at large, are described only as three or four men wearing hooded sweat shirts. "There are isolated incidents where things like this happen," said CHP Officer Daniel Hesser, a spokesman for the department's Inland Division.

An Alhambra officer was killed early Sunday when two police vehicles collided while responding to an emergency call. Officer Ryan Stringer, 26, was responding to a call of a possible robbery at 2:30 a.m. in the rear parking lot of 100 N. 1st Street when his vehicle and another police cruiser crashed at the intersection of Garfield Avenue and Main Street, police said. The officer in the other vehicle was also seriously injured. The two officers were taken to Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, where Stringer later died.

On a Saturday night nearly two years ago, California Highway Patrol Officer Tomiekia Johnson pulled out a handgun and fatally shot her husband in the head on an offramp of the 91 Freeway in Compton. She then drove less than a mile to the home of her parents, who called authorities to report the killing. Johnson told detectives she acted in self-defense after her husband, barber Marcus Lemons, physically abused her during a heated argument. Lemons' family and colleagues at the Compton barbershop where he worked were immediately skeptical of Johnson's story, describing Lemons as a peaceful man who would never hit his wife.

The deaths of five officers in the line of duty — including two who died in separate accidents Sunday — have shaken the California Highway Patrol and again raised questions about safety procedures when officers stop cars on the highway. Officials said they can't recall this many officers dying in such a time. Three of the officers were killed in accidents on freeway or highway shoulders, where they were struck by cars. CHP officials and traffic experts said the deaths are the latest reminders of how dangerous the job of a CHP officer is — particularly when they are on the side of a freeway with no barriers or protection against fast-moving cars.