Santa Cruz County Ca

Hundreds of homes remained threatened late Friday by two out-of-control wildfires in mountain areas near Santa Cruz and Santa Maria that cast black plumes of smoke for miles along the Central Coast. A state of emergency was declared Friday in Santa Cruz County, where the Lockheed fire has damaged two structures and blackened more than 4,000 acres since Wednesday. Mandatory evacuations were ordered for about 2,400 people in Bonny Doon and Swanton, communities in the Santa Cruz Mountains where the last major fire occurred in 1948, authorities said.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday delayed plans to conduct aerial spraying against the light brown apple moth over 12 Northern California counties until safety tests are completed. In a separate decision, a Santa Cruz County judge ordered that spraying for the agricultural pest be stopped there pending a full environmental review. The decisions pose additional obstacles for state and federal farm officials, who have cast the battle against the voracious bug as an emergency, allowing them to sidestep normal review procedures.

Despite a little firefighting help from Mother Nature and the governor's office, a wind-blown blaze in Butte County spread to more than 8,000 acres Thursday, destroying about 30 homes and forcing more than 9,000 residents in a rural enclave to flee the flames. Fire leaped up canyons toward Paradise, a heavily wooded town of nearly 30,000 residents 15 miles northeast of Chico, despite improving conditions during a day that saw winds in Northern California ease for the first time in three days.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by Charter Communications Inc. and its chairman, billionaire Paul Allen, in a dispute over its franchise in Santa Cruz County. Charter, the third-largest U.S. cable TV operator, said the county unlawfully barred Allen from taking control of its local franchise. It said the county set excessive requirements that violated its free-speech rights and a federal cable TV law.

These are get-tough times for juvenile crime. All over the nation, youth detention centers are full to brimming. But jailers in this beach town with a liberal bent think they've found a cheaper and better way. They're sending home all but the worst kids. Instead of languishing in juvenile hall, budding criminals in Santa Cruz County are placed under house arrest, made to deal with their parents -- and face their victims. They're given a job, tutoring and counseling.

A man undressing for bed at his summer home stumbled as he wrestled to remove his pants and fell out of a plate-glass window to his death, Santa Cruz County authorities said. Brent Stone, 47, a land developer from Stockton, fell 10 feet onto his concrete driveway early Sunday. He died of head injuries, authorities said. Stone's three children were also in the house, but he was alone in his second-floor bedroom at the time of the fatal accident, said Sheriff's Department spokesman Kim Allyn.

A tree-sitter protesting logging fell from his redwood perch and onto a stump Tuesday near this Santa Cruz County community. The unidentified man was believed to have fractured an arm and leg. Steep terrain and gravel roads forced rescue workers to hike more than half an hour to get to the scene, said Dave Sumner, a senior emergency dispatcher.

County supervisors will decide Tuesday how to deal with a utility-tax repeal measure whose supporters submitted enough signatures to place it on the ballot. A coalition of tax opponents turned in 6,392 signatures, more than the 4,270 signatures required. The county instituted a 7% utility tax in 1991. The tax annually raises $9 million, which goes into the county's general fund. County Administrative Officer Susan Mauriello said the measure could qualify for the March 2002 ballot.