Lakes

Sean Combs' Toluca Lake home was the latest target of "swatting" after a prankster reported a fake assault with deadly weapon Wednesday at the $5-million mansion. Lt. Andy Neiman said Combs' residence was targeted by a swatting prankster who made a call to authorities. The department will pursue those responsible for criminal charges, he said. Multiple police cruisers responded to the large home shortly after 11 a.m. but found nothing unusual at the location. Sources said Combs was not home at the time of the response.

MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. - Howard Sheckter was a painfully shy 10-year-old when he found his calling in a Glendora hailstorm. As lightning and thunder crackled all around him, he looked up and felt chunks of ice bounce off his cheeks. The experience ignited an obsession. FOR THE RECORD: An earlier version of this article misspelled Sheckter's name as Schecter. "My mother's telephone bills were huge because I was calling the weather service 10 times a day," said Sheckter, now 62. "One day, my mother called the operator and asked, 'What number is this?

A shallow magnitude 3.8 earthquake was reported Friday evening nine miles from Mammoth Lakes, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The temblor occurred at 8:19 p.m. Pacific time at a depth of 5.6 miles. According to the USGS, the epicenter was 72 miles from Clovis, Calif., 73 miles from Sanger, Calif., and 119 miles from Carson City, Nevada. In the past 10 days, there has been one earthquake magnitude 3.0 or greater centered nearby. Read more about Southern California earthquakes .

A 57-year-old Lake Forest City Council member has pleaded no contest to driving under the influence of alcohol after he was spotted driving on the wrong side of the road, authorities said. Peter Alan Herzog pleaded to a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence after he was suspected of driving with a blood alcohol content of more than twice the legal limit. On Nov. 17 around 8:15 p.m., Herzog made a left turn from Portola Parkway onto Lake Forest Drive onto the wrong side of the road, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

A longtime Westside activist Wednesday filed a lawsuit accusing Los Angeles city attorney candidate Mike Feuer and his political consultant of improperly obtaining taxpayer matching funds by hiding the true cost of his campaign. Working with the nonprofit group Fix the City, former City Council candidate Laura Lake alleged that Feuer and his consultant, John Shallman, failed to comply with laws governing campaign contribution limits and disclosure of election spending. The lawsuit mirrors complaints filed with the Ethics Commission earlier this year.

SALT LAKE CITY - Top collegiate athletic directors need many things but should not live without a back-door office exit or a secret list of coaching candidates in advance of their next football and basketball openings. It doesn't matter if your coach just won a national title. He could leave for the pros. Your coach could appear to be upstanding one day and the next day fall off a motorcycle with his mistress. It doesn't matter if Coach X just led his school to the regular-season Pac-12 championship.

Blackstone Group is weighing a bid for Dell Inc., the computer maker seeking offers to rival the proposed $24.4-billion buyout by its founder and Silver Lake Management, said people with knowledge of the matter. Blackstone may bid as part of a group including other investors, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the process is confidential. The New York private-equity firm hasn't made a decision, said another person. Under the go-shop provision of the Silver Lake merger agreement, Dell's board has through March 22 to seek superior proposals, and can negotiate beyond that date if it receives an offer it deems serious.

"Top of the Lake" is the first miniseries from filmmaker Jane Campion of New Zealand ("The Piano," "Bright Star"). I have seen only the first three of its seven parts, which begin Monday with two episodes on Sundance Channel, and though I suppose there is some chance it all will go off the rails, early signs suggest it will bend toward something even more mysterious, beautiful, unsettling and satisfying than the mysterious, beautiful, unsettling, satisfying...

This post has been corrected. See the note below for details. Lake Powell Resorts & Marinas in Tuweep, Ariz., offers a weekend course about the ins and outs of piloting a houseboat and learning some of the basics of boating. The weekend class and stay starts at $299, which includes practice sessions and some meals. The deal: Houseboating 101 is offered on six weekends between April and October. It's a great instructional opportunity for first-timers who might be intimidated about how to handle houseboats and powerboats on the massive reservoir that straddles Arizona and Utah.

It's a sun-soaked afternoon in Los Angeles, but Elisabeth Moss is shivering. Sitting in the back room at the Pikey on Sunset Boulevard, Moss recalls how cold the water was in New Zealand, where she filmed "Top of the Lake," a miniseries created by Jane Campion that premieres Monday on the Sundance Channel. "The lake is the same temperature all year round: freezing," says Moss, wearing a loose white cotton dress, her short brown hair tucked neatly behind one ear. "My makeup artist had this black plastic bucket and they would fill it with hot water and I would go sit in it fully clothed to warm up. " It's an odd detail, but it's in keeping with the making of the moody crime drama, filmed over a five-month period against a staggeringly beautiful natural backdrop of soaring mountains, rugged bush and the omnipresent lake.