Truck

Even before dawn breaks, workers at the lumberyard in Lynwood were bustling around, getting a move on the day. Men in yellow safety vests drove flatbed trucks stacked to the brim with planks of wood. Others were buzzing around in forklifts, ferrying more boards. It's a scene that had John Cencak smiling in satisfaction and relief. After years of anxiously waiting for the economy to rebound, the vice president of Jones Wholesale Lumber Cos. was seeing an upswing. "You see this new truck?"

Re "Bullets came fast, new truck hasn't," March 12 After reading that the Los Angeles Police Department has yet to come through on Chief Charlie Beck's promise to give a new truck to the two women who were shot last month in the hunt for Christopher Dorner, my first thought was that this is insane. These women were shot, their truck was destroyed and they haven't worked since the incident because the LAPD and Beck can't follow through. And yet the officers who shot these women are still collecting paychecks.

Two women whose truck was riddled with bullets fired by Los Angeles police officers in a case of mistaken identity during the pursuit of fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner will receive a $40,000 cash settlement to replace their vehicle. Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich announced the deal reached between city officials and the women's attorney, Glen Jonas, at a Thursday afternoon news conference. Officials stressed that the money was to compensate the women for the loss of the truck and is separate from any discussions regarding potential litigation involving the Los Angeles Police Department shooting incident.

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck hasn't come through on a promise to provide a new truck for two women injured by officers in pursuit of fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner, an attorney for the women said Monday. Beck pledged to provide the truck to Margie Carranza, 47, and her mother, Emma Hernandez, 71, who were delivering newspapers in Torrance last month when LAPD officers riddled their blue Toyota Tacoma with bullets. Dorner was believed to be driving a gray Nissan Titan.

SAN FRANCISCO - The California Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously overturned the first-degree murder conviction of a man who stole appliances and caused a fatal accident an hour later when a stove fell off his truck. Cole Allen Wilkins of Long Beach was convicted under the "felony-murder rule," which says a defendant may be convicted of first-degree murder if someone dies while the suspect is committing a felony, such as a burglary or rape. Intention to kill is not required for conviction.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Her neighborhood on the outskirts of this capital city is a dangerous, gang-infested barrio where homes are often made of corrugated tin and other collected refuse. It is by no means the ideal place to raise a family. But Taina Carrillo, a 35-year-old homemaker, said the slum of Petare was even worse before Hugo Chavez took over Venezuela. "Now we have a three-story medical clinic in the middle of the barrio," said Carrillo, one of hundreds of thousands of mourners who packed Caracas on Wednesday, crying and chanting as the coffin containing their fallen leader was pulled through the streets.

Ford Motor Co. is boosting the number of trucks and vans its offers that run on compressed natural gas and propane as sales rise and demand grows for cleaner fuel fleets. “Since 2009, we've seen the number of Built Ford Tough commercial vehicles sold with factory-prepped engines for CNG/LPG [propane] upfit increase by more than 350%,” said Jon Coleman, Ford Fleet Sustainability and Technology manager. “To expand power of choice for our commercial customers, we are offering CNG/LPG prepped engines in additional vehicle nameplates -- from the Transit Connect compact van up to medium-duty F-650 models.” Since 2010, according to Mike Levine, truck communications manager for Ford, the company has seen its sales of compressed natural gas-fueled trucks and vans rise to 11,623 last year from 3,277 in 2010.

The hand that once wrote about daily NBA schedules on a greaseboard in the Lakers' locker room now composes daily specials on a surfboard propped against a sunset-colored truck. Kona Sunset Shrimp Tacos, two for $7. The distinctive voice that once boomed through the halls of Staples Center now is heard from underneath a tiny window; instead of ordering Lakers players into their uniforms, it is now taking office workers' orders for lunch. Welcome to Sam Choy's Pineapple Express, may I help you?

General Motors said Monday it will roll out cars and trucks in the U.S. and Canada with embedded 4G LTE mobile broadband in 2014. The automaker said that the first GM cars, trucks and crossovers to get 4G LTE, delivered through AT&T, will be most 2015 Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac models available in 2014 in the U.S. and Canada. GM said the deployment will enable advances in a wide range of communications and entertainment capabilities, such as streaming video entertainment in the back seat, real-time updates and faster application downloads.

The prepared food vendors at local farmers markets cater to a world of tastes and ethnicities, from Filipino balut to halal shawarma , but until recently none served observant Jews who follow kosher dietary laws. It fell to a secular Jew, Michele Grant, fresh off the success of her Grilled Cheese Truck, to fill that niche, offering a flavorful, healthy twist on traditional kosher cooking, strictly supervised by the Rabbinical Council of California . "The idea is to encourage the Orthodox community to come to farmers markets," says Grant, 46. "When they buy produce, they can have a little nosh at the same time.