Riverside County

The lights from the plane were heading right at Steve Kiser, and there was no time to run. "I was standing out there with my buddies, and I'm saying, 'That just don't look right, dude,' " said the 46-year-old Riverside trucker. Kiser was drinking a beer on his front lawn, about to call it a night. Instead, he was caught, by his own account, like a deer in the headlights. The plane was losing altitude.

An off-duty Costa Mesa police officer who fatally shot one man and wounded another during an altercation outside a Temecula restaurant was recovering at home Monday from serious head injuries, a department spokesman said. Authorities did not release the officer's name, citing an impending internal affairs investigation into the weekend shootings. "We consider him the victim of a crime," Costa Mesa Police Department spokesman Lt. Clay Epperson said. The incident occurred about 7:20 p.m.

Former rodeo rider and jockey Kim Terry has been around all sorts of animals his whole life, but it's the wild burros that have snorted and kicked their way into his heart. He loves their moxie, respects their survival skills and is smitten with what he calls their "fantastic personalities." "Just don't get behind them," he advised recently as he prepared to flush a dozen or so from a holding pen. Terry let rip with a sharp "heyaaaah!" and charged them, swinging a long blue stick.

Investigators say an off-duty Costa Mesa police officer acted in self-defense when he shot and killed one man and wounded another after he was attacked last month outside a restaurant in Old Town Temecula. Riverside County sheriff's detectives interviewed more than 20 people in the area where the incident took place, including eyewitnesses, before concluding that Officer Scott Dibble, 31, a nine-year veteran, was the victim in the assault. Shaun Vilan, 30, of Temecula was killed in the shooting.

Southern California air regulators on Friday charged a Riverside County cement plant with violating dust-control statutes, days after revelations that the site was believed to be emitting high levels of carcinogenic hexavalent chromium. The South Coast Air Quality Management District also demanded that officials from TXI Riverside Cement Co. in Rubidoux hand over up to two years' worth of maintenance and equipment records and perform an updated health-risk assessment within 150 days.

State narcotics agents arrested a doctor at his Lake Elsinore hotel room Tuesday for illegally writing numerous painkiller prescriptions that led to the death of a 28-year-old man in November, the California attorney general's office said. Dr. Wesley Albert, 78, is being held for investigation of second-degree murder in the overdose of Jason Morgan of Riverside, who had 30 bottles of narcotics prescribed by Albert when he died, officials said.

Few of the primary contests that voters will decide Tuesday are as rancorous as the one between two Republicans who once served together in the Legislature. The fight between John Benoit and Russ Bogh, who once sat a few feet apart in the Assembly and rarely differed on issues, has grown so acrimonious that they are practically accusing one another of criminal acts.

For almost 20 years, they've been painting the town red in Temecula. Atop onion fields and grazing pastures, they've built a parade of 4,000- and 5,000-square-foot houses -- palaces, many of them, with turrets and faux backyard grottoes, with six-car garages and children's playrooms larger than the average Manhattan apartment. Today, they're painting the dirt green.

A self-described polygamist has been convicted of charges that he tortured and abused some of his wives and 19 children and stepchildren. A Riverside County jury found 55-year-old Mansa Muhummed guilty on 25 counts Wednesday, including torturing seven of the children, abusing 12 of them and falsely imprisoning two wives. He could face seven life sentences. Muhummed told authorities that his Muslim faith gave him the right to take multiple wives.

Note: Yardage and par are from the back tees. Green fees are the regular daily and weekend rates, but check with courses for twilight, senior and discount rates. An asterisk denotes cart fees included. Pro indicates whether there is a teaching professional on-site. BLYTHE GC 4708 Wells Road, Blythe 92225. (760) 922-7272. 6,866 yards, par 73. GF: $15-$36. Pro: yes. cityofblythe.gov CALIFORNIA GOLF & ART CC 26583 Cherry Hills Blvd., Sun City 92586. (951) 679-1182. 7,137 yards, par 72. GF: $30-$40.