Granada Hills Ca

Five children who were injured or traumatized when a parolee opened fire at a Granada Hills Jewish community center in 1999 will receive $2.25 million from the Washington State Department of Corrections for its failure to adequately monitor the gunman before his rampage. Buford Furrow Jr., 46, is serving a life sentence in prison after pleading guilty in 2001 to the shootings at the North Valley Jewish Community Center.

The charred remains of two adults were discovered by firefighters battling a house fire Tuesday morning in Granada Hills, and authorities said there is evidence that they were homicide victims. Battalion Chief Michael Bowman of Los Angeles Fire Department said the man and woman, both apparently about 20, were in a bedroom of the house, in the 10400 block of Danube Avenue. Bowman said the fire appeared to have begun in the bedroom before spreading. It destroyed about 60% of the residence.

A Northridge man was arrested Friday evening on suspicion of killing his parents and 16-year-old sister earlier in the day at the family's upscale Northridge home. Brandon Menard, 21, who told police he found the bodies of his parents and sister early Friday, was arrested several hours later in connection with the three deaths, said Gary Brennan, deputy chief of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Moments before succumbing to multiple stab wounds on Aug. 3, Ashley Menard frantically called 911 for help from the backyard of her parents' Northridge home, police said. The 16-year-old's bloodied body was found by investigators later that morning in the yard next to a koi pond where she apparently had fled from her attacker, who police said was wielding "a large knife." In the foyer of the house were the bodies of her parents, David and Toni Menard, both of whom had been repeatedly stabbed.

Not a day goes by that Mindy Finkelstein doesn't pause to remember the terrifying morning 10 years ago when a self-professed white supremacist went on a calculated rampage against Jews and ethnic minorities, killing a man and wounding others. "Every day, it crosses my mind," said Finkelstein, 26, who was shot in the right calf and thigh while working as a day-camp counselor at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills. But speaking on Monday, 10 years after the incident, Finkelstein said she wanted this anniversary to be different.

One woman was killed and three other people were injured Tuesday when a van careened out of the parking lot of the Odyssey Restaurant, rolled down an embankment and struck a pickup on the 405 Freeway, authorities said. Police did not identify the woman, a passenger in the van, who died at the scene. The van's female driver and a man riding in the pickup were listed in critical condition at area hospitals, while the man driving the pickup was listed as stable, police said.

Sunshine Canyon Landfill's operators, as well as its opponents, have filed petitions challenging a regional water board's decision to allow the dump to expand into Granada Hills, officials said Friday. The filings could extend a decadelong battle among residents, politicians and landfill owner Browning-Ferris Industries over a plan to develop a 450-acre landfill within the Los Angeles city limits in the north San Fernando Valley.

Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn has asked state water regulators to reject a request by Browning-Ferris Industries to remove two provisions in its permit to expand the Sunshine Canyon Landfill into Granada Hills. The provisions provide some added protection to the health and safety of residents near the landfill, Hahn wrote in a letter to Arthur Baggett Jr., chairman of the California State Water Resources Control Board, which will hear the petition.

The Los Angeles City Council unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday calling for state water regulators to reject a request by Browning-Ferris Industries to remove two provisions from its permit to expand Sunshine Canyon Landfill into Granada Hills. The resolution was introduced by Councilman Greig Smith, who represents that area, and was forwarded to Mayor James K. Hahn's office. The two provisions were included in a permit approved by a regional water board Dec. 4.

The Los Angeles Board of Public Works on Wednesday approved a landfill operator's request to cut down 940 mature oak trees to make room to expand the Sunshine Canyon Landfill in Granada Hills. The approval was one of the last hurdles to develop a 450-acre landfill operated by Browning-Ferris Industries within Los Angeles city limits. The existing landfill occupies 1,100 acres in unincorporated territory in the north San Fernando Valley.