Orange County

Olympic sprint champion Florence Griffith Joyner died after suffering an epileptic seizure, according to autopsy results released Thursday, and her family and friends say they hope the findings will put to rest rumors that drug use contributed to her death. Griffith Joyner died last month in her sleep at age 38. Her husband, Al Joyner, bitterly criticized those who suggested that she took performance-enhancing drugs.

A man charged last year in a "serial thrill-kill" rampage in Orange County that left six people dead, including four homeless men and a woman and her son, died Thursday after being found sick in his jail cell, a sheriff's spokesman said. Deputies found Itzcoatl "Izzy" Ocampo, 25, ill in his single-man cell about 6:35 p.m. Wednesday at Central Jail in Santa Ana, said Lt. Jeff Hallock. Medical staff at the jail attended to him, and paramedics transported him to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, Hallock said.

In addition to Constitution Week, Cyber Security Awareness Month and Wear Red for Women Day, Harvey Milk Day will now be officially recognized in Orange County. The decision marks a reversal for Orange County supervisors, who twice previously refused to set aside a day to honor the birthday of the slain gay rights activist, who was a supervisor in San Francisco when he was gunned down in 1978. Supervisors voted Tuesday to adopt a yearly list of proclamations that included Harvey Milk Day. Supervisor Shawn Nelson, who helped activists get the day on the list of more than 90 proclamations, said he understands that the recognition is symbolic.

A developer will be allowed to build a scaled-down version of Great Park in exchange for the right to construct thousands of homes in a deal that would appear to extinguish Irvine's long-running promise to give residents a municipal green space rivaling Balboa Park or even New York City's Central Park. In a split vote, City Council members cleared the way early Wednesday for FivePoint Communities to build an extra 4,606 homes in the south Orange County city in return for constructing 688 acres of Great Park.

The FBI has been brought in to help investigate a cache of explosives — grenades, blasting caps and fuse igniters — found in a backpack under a bridge in Placentia on Monday. Orange County bomb squad officials were brought in after the backpack was discovered about 8:50 a.m. Monday by people working in a drainage ditch, Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said. After cordoning off the area, bomb technicians detonated the contents of the backpack, including six grenades, blasting caps, fuse igniters and blasting powder.

In a conservative Orange County town, where the strawberry fields were still plentiful and the population solidly white, Danh's Pharmacy stood out when it opened its doors after the Vietnam War came to an end. Yet the business was just the beginning in a small Orange County city that would quickly balloon into a bustling immigrant community. When Danh N. Quach chose to set up shop in 1978 in Westminster, he knew just one Vietnamese doctor - the same man who agreed to co-sign a loan for him. PHOTOS: Little Saigon turns 25 Now, as Little Saigon celebrates its 25th anniversary - a date marked not by the arrival of refugees, but by the state erecting a freeway offramp sign - Quach's shop stands as a landmark in the largest Vietnamese cultural district outside the country itself.

The organization that tracks hate crimes and racial intolerance in Orange County is at risk of having its county funding gutted, a money-saving move that some say could unravel 41 years of hard work in a county that has grown increasingly diverse. A county supervisor is proposing a two-thirds reduction in the money given to the Orange County Human Relations Commission, which leaders say could cripple the group's effectiveness in handling potentially volatile situations. It was the commission, supporters say, that stepped in to calm an angry city when a homeless man died after a violent confrontation with police at a downtown Fullerton transit center.

Orange County's top official resigned Thursday amid criticism of how government leaders handled allegations that a public works executive sexually assaulted multiple women over an eight-year span. After an hours-long closed session, Supervisor John Moorlach emerged to announce Chief Executive Tom Mauk's resignation, effective Aug. 3. It's the latest in a series of departures from county government since Santa Ana City Councilman Carlos Bustamante was charged with 12 felonies and four misdemeanors in connection with the alleged battery and sexual assault of seven of his subordinates.

A man and a woman who allegedly forced a 14-year-old runaway to walk the streets near Knott's Berry Farm as a prostitute have been charged under a recently approved law that toughens penalties for human trafficking. Under the new law, Chuncey Tarae Garcia, 33, could face life in prison if convicted of human trafficking of a minor by force or fear. He and Cierra Melissa Robinson, 27, Garcia's alleged accomplice, are in the first wave of people in California and the first in Orange County to be charged with human trafficking since the state's adoption of Proposition 35. Garcia is accused of being a pimp and teaming with Robinson, who prosecutors say worked for him as his highest-ranking prostitute.

A panel of Superior Court judges has challenged a controversial 2011 Orange County law that bans sex offenders from parks, beaches and even some roadways and asked the state Court of Appeal to review the measure. On Friday, the district attorney's office, which has pushed cities across the county to join in adopting a version of the sex offender ban, vowed to continue enforcing it. "I believe that protecting children from sex offenders is one of the highest priorities in law enforcement," Dist.

Perhaps the two best teams in Orange County square off tonight when Mater Dei hosts Mission Viejo in a highly-anticipated Pac-5 Division quarterfinal game at Santa Ana Stadium.  It's no surprise that two of the top programs in Southern California are piloted by two of the top coaches in Mater Dei's Bruce Rollinson and Mission Viejo's Bob Johnson. Mater Dei (9-2) finished runner-up in the Trinity League to St. John Bosco and is led by quarterback Chase Forrest, who has thrown for 1,619 yards and nine touchdowns, and running back Justin Allen, who averages almost seven yards per carry and has 10 touchdowns.

The idea was splendid: Turn the flat, featureless Marine Corps Air Station El Toro into a vast, bucolic landscape of forests, lawns, a man-made canyon and lake, alongside sports fields, botanical gardens and museums. There would be something for everyone, an oasis of nature surrounded by suburbia and also a center to gather for concerts and museums. It was to be the Great Park, Orange County's answer to Balboa Park in San Diego and twice as big as New York's Central Park. But more than a decade later, about 230 acres of the 1,347-acre parcel are in use, and nearly half of that is leased for commercial farming.

The "Lexus lane" was born in Orange County nearly two decades ago: Pay a toll and avoid the crushing rush hour traffic. The first of the toll lanes offered commuters an easier ride between Orange and Riverside counties. From there, Orange County added a network of toll roads around its booming southern end, 51 miles in all. The idea has caught on across the nation, including in San Diego and Los Angeles counties, which recently placed toll lanes on the 110 and 10 freeways. But in Orange County, the concept may be losing its luster.

 Restaurants in Westlake Village might be smart to offer promotions for any Orange County fans who come to the area on Friday night for Southern Section Pac-5 Division playoff action. There should be plenty. Santa Ana Mater Dei is playing at Oaks Christian and Anaheim Servite is playing at Westlake. Mater Dei quarterback Chase Forrest is the nephew of Oaks Christian volleyball Coach Chris Forrest, so he can offer some suggestions.   Eric.sondheimer@latimes.com  

The Orange County Crime Lab produced inaccurate blood alcohol test results in 2,200 driving-under-the-influence cases filed by prosecutors this year - mistakes that could affect outcomes in dozens of cases. Prosecutors in recent days sent letters to people charged with driving under the influence, including 900 whose cases resulted in convictions. The letters advised them that their cases were among those with miscalculations. Crime lab officials said the "human error" occurred over nearly five months and led to mistakes in the forensic examination of blood alcohol content.

The Orange County coroner has identified the man who jumped 500 feet to his death from a helicopter as it flew over the Newport Beach shoreline Tuesday afternoon. Gregory McFadden, 61, of West Covina, was pronounced dead at a local hospital after opening the helicopter door and leaping out, falling about 500 feet to the ocean. Newport Beach police are investigating McFadden's death as a possible suicide. The Orange County coroner's office reported that McFadden “jumped from a helicopter in-flight” and the Federal Aviation Administration is reviewing the incident.

Orange County officials illegally diverted $73.5 million from local schools and colleges and used the money to balance their budget and cover day-to-day expenses, state officials alleged in a lawsuit filed Thursday. The lawsuit, filed in Orange County Superior Court, contends that it was unconstitutional for the county to grab the funds, which should be spent on cash-strapped local schools and state community colleges. The money fight erupted last year, when Orange County lost $48 million in vehicle license fees and redirected tax funds to the county that were supposed to go to schools.

DNA technology has helped link a Washington state man to the slaying of his estranged wife 25 years ago in Orange County, prosecutors said Thursday. William Gregory Mordick, 62, of Spokane is scheduled to be arraigned today on a count of murder with the special circumstance of murder for financial gain. If convicted, he faces life without the possibility of parole. Mordick is accused of driving to the Anaheim Hills home of his estranged wife, Katherine, on Jan. 22, 1983, and slashing her throat.

Dunkin' Donuts, a coffee and sweets staple on the East Coast, is landing in Barstow on Monday with the only California outlet readily accessible to civilian customers. Last year, a branch of the chain opened on the Camp Pendleton military base in San Diego County, selling to the roughly 64,000 people who live, work and train at the site. But the Barstow Station stop in San Bernardino County will cater to locals, road-trippers and anyone else who wants to haul themselves more than 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

A father and son from  Orange County  have both died after their hunting trip to New Mexico went tragically awry last month. The son, Steve Lockhart, 43, of Costa Mesa was separated from the hunting party in Gila National Forest about midnight Oct. 20, according to New Mexico law enforcement officials. Lockhart died Sunday, shortly after he was found alive a week after he disappeared, according to the Daily Pilot . Officials had suspended rescue efforts for Lockhart days earlier, calling off the air and ground searches, which involved dozens of personnel, according to New Mexico State Police.