Quarries

A federal judge approved plans Monday for a mine that would extract 56.1 million tons of sand and gravel from a canyon near Santa Clarita, despite the objections of environmental groups and local governments. Opponents say the project would adversely affect air quality, traffic and water supplies in north Los Angeles County. The decision was hailed as a victory by Brian Mastin, spokesman for the Mexican concrete company Cemex, which holds the federal mineral rights for the project.

A decision by a federal judge in Los Angeles is expected today on a consent decree that would allow a Mexican concrete company to build a gravel mine near Santa Clarita. Long opposed to the project, the city of Santa Clarita recently won the right to intervene in a lawsuit that the company, Cemex Inc., brought against Los Angeles County after the Board of Supervisors blocked the project in February 2002. City officials are planning a protest outside the Roybal Federal Building at 10 a.m.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to settle a lawsuit challenging the county's rejection of a massive gravel quarry near Santa Clarita. A lawyer for Cemex Inc., which hopes to create the mine, called the settlement a victory. But its effect on the project remained unclear: The settlement must still be approved by a federal judge, and no details will be made public until then.

Seventy-four boys ranging in age from 4 to 15 were rescued from Nigerian granite quarries where they had been forced to work, officials said. Their torsos scarred from beatings, they were receiving medical treatment in the Beninese city of Cotonou. The children told authorities that over the previous three months at least 13 other boys had died, succumbing to exhaustion, disease, hunger and abuse.

The Shasta Lake City Council said it won't hire a lawyer to fight a proposed asphalt plant and quarry -- at least for now. Dozens of residents complained about the project at a council meeting Tuesday, saying that they want city officials to challenge the environmental impact report of the Goat Ranch Quarry. Council members agreed that the report is flawed but said they would wait to see if Shasta County supervisors approve the plan before they fight it. City Atty.

Authorities identified a man fatally shot at an abandoned rock quarry in western Ventura County this week as Vincent David Gutierrez, 24, of Ventura, and urged anyone with information about the shooting to contact law enforcement. On Wednesday, a coroner's investigator said Gutierrez died as a result of a gunshot wound to the chest. According to authorities, Gutierrez was shot about 2 p.m. Tuesday at the end of Rocklite Road in an unincorporated area.

A man was found shot Tuesday afternoon at an abandoned rock quarry in western Ventura County, and law enforcement officials are treating the incident as a homicide. Ventura Police Department officers responded to an emergency call about 1:50 p.m. and found the victim at the east end of Rocklite Road, not far from De Anza Middle School. Law enforcement officials declined to release the victim's name, age or residence.

Not everyone can find it. But everybody's probably seen it. That's Bronson Canyon for you, the hidden Hollywood landmark that has a rock-solid reputation as one of the city's most reliable movie backdrops. For generations everything from blockbuster hits to lead-bottomed duds have been filmed there. Old-fashioned Saturday matinee serials, high-tech sci-fi adventures and rough-and-tumble westerns all have unfolded against its jagged backdrop.

When South Gate Treasurer Albert Robles was recalled last month, Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley issued a statement calling it "a victory for good government." Cooley had reason to celebrate -- his office's prosecution of Robles was cited as one of the key reasons to remove the 37-year-old political boss. But at the same time, Robles is a free man because Cooley's office could not convict him on charges of making terrorist threats against politicians.

A dynamite charge exploded prematurely at a limestone quarry, injuring two workers, one critically. The men, employees of Dyno Nobel Northeastern Region of Middlefield, Conn., had been preparing a controlled blast to break nearly 40,000 tons of limestone off a wall at the Hansen Aggregates East quarry in Jamesville, south of Syracuse. Kevin Deline, 44, who had been lowering explosives into the blast shaft, was in critical condition with head injuries.