Debra Santos

Los Angeles County officials approved settlements Wednesday in five cases of alleged misconduct by sheriff's deputies, agreeing to pay a total of $232,500 in out-of-court settlements. The county Claims Board also recommended that the Board of Supervisors award a total of $450,000 to two Latino men who suffered head injuries in what officials said was a scuffle with baton-wielding deputies at a Norwalk home.

Los Angeles County officials approved settlements Wednesday in five cases of alleged misconduct by sheriff's deputies, agreeing to pay a total of $232,500 in out-of-court settlements. The county Claims Board also recommended that the Board of Supervisors award a total of $450,000 to two Latino men who suffered head injuries in what officials said was a scuffle with baton-wielding deputies at a Norwalk home.

As the owner of a small nonprofit youth agency, Bee Hall knows firsthand how difficult it is to locate and obtain grants. When she got started in business two years ago, searching for grants was a time-consuming and confusing process, she says. That was before Hall learned how to tap into Internet, a computerized information network allowing people from all walks of life to communicate by computer.

Resume-writing classes began Tuesday morning at Keeping the World at Peace Inc. as employees of the nonprofit agency prepared to look for other work in the face of the agency's financial and managerial difficulties. Debra J. Santos, executive director of the agency, told her 10 employees Friday that she could no longer pay them because funding from CTSI Corp., the company that administers a water conservation program for the city of Los Angeles, has been cut back.

Their hammer-wielding employees have donned surgical masks and goggles and smashed apart toilets for recycling, distributing thousands of free ultra-low-flush toilets to replace the old water hoggers. They've also provided computer training--including how to use the Internet--to community members and taught teen-agers valuable job skills. But Friday, Debra J. Santos, executive director of Keeping the World at Peace Inc.

Muhammad Nassardeen pumps his gas at a black-owned gas station, has his teeth cleaned by a black dentist and drops his clothes off at a black-owned cleaners. On the back of his car is a license plate frame bearing the slogan: "Respect and Protect the Black Dollar." When Nassardeen does stray into a white-owned business, such as a recent trip to Circuit City to purchase stereo equipment, he seeks out a black salesman.