Ontario

Los Angeles airport officials unveiled a list of options Monday for cutting costs and improving management of L.A./Ontario International Airport, which has lost about a third of its passengers since 2008. The options range from reductions in operating expenses to bringing in a private company or a local government, such as the city of Ontario, to manage some or all of the facility in an attempt to encourage airlines to restore service. One thing not on the table, however, is the sale of the airport to a private company or a local government.

Los Angeles airport commissioners took additional steps Tuesday to halt a dramatic decline in passengers at LA/Ontario International Airport, including potential cost reductions for airlines and incentives that might encourage them to add service. Inland Empire officials, who are trying to wrest control of Ontario from Los Angeles, immediately criticized the measures, saying that they were too little and too late to lure flights back to what used to be one of the fastest-growing regional airports in the nation.

Deandre Perry drove by Moreno Valley High School on Monday night but could not bring himself to walk in. Out on the pavement, hundreds of students stood sobbing. Candles were lighted and a poster read: "God only takes the best." On Saturday, Ryan Villalpando, 32, the school's offensive-line football coach, was killed in a fiery freeway wreck along with his 29-year-old wife, Veronica, and their two children, 4-year-old Mateo and 7-month-old Bella Rose. "It's heartbreaking," said Perry, who graduated from the school in 2006.

Chris Arreola is a boxer who would wear his emotions on his sleeve. That is, if there were any room. The massive arms that the Riverside boxer hopes will carry him back into the heavyweight title picture are covered with tattoos. The muscles ripple and the tattoos jiggle. For lovers of tattoos and boxing, Arreola is an art form. He is also among the more interesting people in a sport that often filters out real personalities in exchange for orchestrated hype. There is nothing orchestrated about Arreola.

Construction is expected to begin this week on Haven Gateway Centre, a $55-million industrial and distribution center in Ontario. The 1.5-million-square-foot complex will rise on an 88-acre parcel adjacent to the Pomona Freeway at Haven Avenue. It is scheduled to open in October.

The city has agreed to pay $2.75 million to 125 of its police officers over charges that the Police Department illegally planted a surveillance camera in officers' locker room in 1996. In announcing the settlement, which will be paid partly by insurance, the city Tuesday said it was avoiding an expensive trial set to start this week. "Ontario officials denounce what occurred 13 years ago and current city officials would not allow such behavior to be repeated," they said in a prepared statement.

New Kids still rule and will always rule. SUNDAY PARK, Ontario

What a great show Oprah Winfrey has. She's a very compassionate interviewer. Sue Guariglia, Ontario

Rangers on Friday morning discovered the body of a young Ontario man who fell into the Merced River below Vernal Falls the previous afternoon, the National Park Service announced. Macario Muniz of Ontario apparently slipped into the water while taking a photograph, said friends and witnesses.

I am surprised that people were complaining about CBS' coverage of the Winter Olympics. I thought everyone knew that CBS stands for Commercials Before Sports. DON PHIPPS, Ontario

Los Angeles City Administrative Officer Miguel A. Santana said Thursday he was shocked by a legal claim filed by an Inland Empire group attempting to gain control of L.A./Ontario International Airport. Santana, who has been moderating talks over a possible airport transfer, said he thought the parties were having productive discussions. The legal action, he said, could undermine further efforts to reach a deal. “It violates the spirit of the negotiations,” Santana said. “We've spent a lot of time and resources to set up a fair process.

Inland Empire officials on Thursday morning lodged a legal claim against Los Angeles in an attempt to force the city to hand them control of L.A./Ontario International Airport, which has been in serious decline. The city of Ontario filed the claim -- the first step toward bringing a lawsuit -- a day after rejecting Los Angeles World Airports' offer to sell the once popular aviation hub for almost $475 million. Negotiations have been underway for several months. In addition to the transfer of ownership,  the action seeks to terminate a 1967 joint powers agreement in which the Los Angeles airport department became the operator of Ontario on the condition that it improve the facility.

Inland Empire officials seeking control of LA/Ontario International Airport are balking at an unprecedented demand by Los Angeles that they buy the struggling operation for hundreds of millions of dollars. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the agency that operates Ontario have insisted that the once-thriving aviation hub be sold at a price that helps recover the cost of improvements made over the years. Their studies estimate Ontario's fair market value at $243 million to $605 million.

The county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday sought to determine whether Los Angeles airport officials have complied with a 2006 court settlement requiring them to spread the growth in flights at busy Los Angeles International Airport to others in the region. Supervisors directed the county counsel's office and William T Fujioka, the county's chief executive officer, to assess how well Los Angeles World Airports has implemented the agreement that ended a legal challenge to the plans of former Mayor James K. Hahn to modernize LAX. They must report to the board in 30 days.

As the nation debates the idea of new gun laws, the decades-old Crossroads of the West Gun Show at the Orange County Fairgrounds this weekend will be business as usual, organizers said - with the exception of increased security. The fairgrounds, whose relationship with the Utah-based Crossroads company spans nearly 25 years, receives about $600,000 from parking, rent, food and beverages from the shows, which are held several times a year, said Jerome Hoban, chief executive of the O.C. Fair & Event Center.

Women pushing strollers stopped to peer at handguns in glass cases. Men squinted through scopes. The "clack-clack" of stun guns crackled overhead. A man meandered through the crowd, a black rifle slung over his back with a cardboard sign: "For sale: $1,700. " Less than a month after a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school, business was brisk at one of the nation's largest gun shows, held this weekend at the Ontario Convention Center, where vendors and patrons alike expressed fear of possible new federal restrictions on guns.

Maney Aircraft Inc. in Ontario won a $264,750 contract from the Air Force to supply 55 ground alert panels for use in B-1B aircraft.

The Sickels Group of La Jolla has completed construction of the $8-million Haven Pointe, a 60,000-square-foot office building at 701 N. Haven Ave., Ontario.

Without getting into the arcane details, here's what's happened to the NHL: There's a big honking wad of money, more money than you can imagine, more money than in Brentwood or Beverly Hills or Dubai. The owners, who already have big honking wads of money, want even more of it (that's why they're owners). The players, who are ridiculously overpaid, don't want to give up too much. Hence, there is no hockey so far this season. The hoped-for nudge that the holidays often bring to these kinds of proceedings - a kindness of spirit, a recognition of Visa bill balances and late mortgages - seems not to have materialized.

A controversial plan to separate the two northern runways at Los Angeles International Airport by 260 feet advanced last week when airport staff recommended the proposal for further environmental review over other runway options. The recommendation, if approved by L.A.'s Board of Airport Commissioners, could set the stage for more battles over the modernization of LAX, which has been delayed for decades by lawsuits, community opposition and the changing visions of mayoral administrations.