Lynwood Ca

A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy shot and killed a man suspected of breaking into a Lynwood-area business, officials said Saturday. An informant flagged down two deputies from Century Station about 11 p.m. Friday, saying someone was breaking into the business in the 11600 block of Atlantic Avenue, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Art Spencer. The deputies split up, one approaching from the front of the business and the other from the back, Spencer said.

For a city in a political slump, the idea was like a Hail Mary pass geared toward a game-winning comeback. Lynwood's former mayor had been hauled to federal prison, and the FBI and district attorney's office continued to poke around town. The city was growing but revenues were not. Some leaders saw a measure of redemption from an unlikely source: the National Football League.

When Paris Hilton checks into her temporary quarters at the Century Regional Detention Center in Lynwood next month, she will surrender more than just the freedom to roam Los Angeles' boutiques and clubs.

For years, the battle for control of the city of Lynwood has been shrouded in accusations of political corruption and cronyism. A former mayor is serving a 16-year sentence in federal prison for embezzlement. Five current and former City Council members have been charged with padding their salaries with public funds. And an effort is underway to recall four of the five current City Council members.

A Los Angeles man was indicted Monday on 26 counts of animal cruelty and practicing veterinary medicine without a license for allegedly abusing cats, dogs and other animals, some of which were smothered to death or left to die in trash bins, authorities said. Young Sam Park, 52, pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles County Superior Court to 23 felony counts and three misdemeanor counts that were outlined in the grand jury indictment.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday signed a state Senate bill authorizing Los Angeles County officials to take over the recall election targeting four Lynwood City Council members. The county registrar-recorder's office will now run the Sept. 25 special election. The council members had resisted moving forward with the recall, even after county election officials had verified petitions signed by thousands of Lynwood residents.

They call themselves the Regulators. They wear tattoos of a skull-faced man holding a shotgun, fire screaming from its barrels. They refuse to testify against their buddies. They've been accused of extorting and intimidating those outside their ranks. No, they're not members of a street gang. They're Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies at the Century station in Lynwood. And their "club" is part of a culture that's dogged the nation's largest sheriff's department for years.

Lennox International Inc., a maker of heating and cooling equipment, plans to close its hearth-products plant in Lynwood and consolidate U.S. factory-built fireplace manufacturing operations at its Union City, Tenn., facility. The consolidation will be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2008 at a projected cost of about $5 million, the company said Friday.

Lynwood city leaders thought they had a winner when they proposed a 70,000-seat NFL football stadium in their working-class city. This week, voters punted the mayor and three council members out of office -- capping years of investigations, allegations of corruption and grandiose ambitions for the city. Mayor Louis Byrd and council members Fernando Pedroza, Alfreddie Johnson Jr.

By all appearances, there was going to be a historic changing of the guard Tuesday night at Lynwood City Hall. Four council members recalled from office were to step down and their newly elected replacements were to be sworn in. An overflow crowd filled the council chambers as the city manager prepared for the new council members to take over. But the ousted council members didn't budge.