Gardena Ca

One of the best-loved murals on the campus of 186th Street Elementary School in Gardena depicts some of the world's most inspirational figures -- Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez -- underlined by a question, "Are you a peacemaker?"

While most Americans step into Manolos and Nikes that were stitched together thousands of miles away, J&A Shoe Co. cranks out 50,000 pairs of heels, wedges and thongs every month at a factory 15 miles south of downtown Los Angeles. Gardena-based J&A is a part of a dying breed of shoemakers that manufactures all its products domestically, battling formidable competition from corporations that make shoes overseas for pennies a pair.

Over the last four years, trash has brought only trouble to the Los Angeles County city of Gardena. Officials have been hit with lawsuits and a record $70,000 state fine for failing to recycle enough. And there have been allegations of political favoritism, poor service and unfair rate hikes. The two companies that hold city contracts include one hauler who used to run a business that was at the center of a bribery scandal.

A robbery suspect was shot and killed by Gardena police early Sunday outside a Yoshinoya restaurant on Redondo Beach Boulevard, authorities said. The suspect struck an employee twice in the head with a replica handgun and took a bag of money about 6 a.m., Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Lt. Larry Lincoln said. Two officers confronted the unidentified man outside the 24-hour eatery. The officers said they shot him multiple times after he produced the replica, Lincoln said.

After years of fretting under a $26-million debt, the city of Gardena has reached a settlement with two creditors. Under the agreement, the city will refinance $20-million worth of debt and pay $19 million by June 14 to Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co. and Union Bank of California. The city will make an additional payment of $2.6 million by the end of the year, and with that, Gardena's obligation to the banks will be over. "It'll be done.

Nissan Motor Co. said Tuesday that about 42% of its 1,300-employee headquarters staff would make the move when the automaker relocates its North American headquarters from Gardena to Nashville in July. The relocation figure is less than the 50% goal that Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn had hoped to achieve but is considerably higher than the 35% to 39% figure that relocation specialists said was typical in such long-distance corporate moves.

Gardena leaders, whose city faces possible bankruptcy because of a money-losing insurance company it formed 12 years ago, often speak of the debacle as a mistake from the past. But the company that left Gardena in debt is still operating -- in the black -- out of a small office in the Bay Area town of Benicia. Municipal Mutual Insurance Co.

A Gardena woman who had been granted guardianship of two children was arrested after California Highway Patrol officers found that she had driven 70 miles with seven children packed into her Toyota compact, including two locked in the trunk. The incident occurred Friday evening when a motorist noticed the car parked on the side of the San Diego Freeway in West Los Angeles and then saw a woman checking on two children in the trunk before closing the trunk and driving north on the freeway.

A deadline is looming for Gardena: Pay $26 million in loans by the end of August -- or face possible bankruptcy. The city, however, is hoping for its third loan extension, and in a bid to show its creditors that it is serious about fiscal prudence, the City Council today will consider about 100 fee increases for city services. The proposed increases would hit new card club employees, fortunetellers, junk collectors and junk dealers -- among others looking for first-time permits -- hardest.

Gardena police were pursuing leads Tuesday in the search for a 12-year-old girl who vanished after leaving for school Friday morning. Investigators said they got an important break in the case Monday when search dogs traced Erica Seeney's path to a hotel on Western Avenue. Detectives reviewed the hotel's surveillance tapes and said the girl entered one of the rooms about 8:15 a.m. Friday with three other people. Nothing on the surveillance footage suggested she had been abducted, said Lt.