Van Nuys Ca

With the number of green card renewal applicants expected to reach 750,000 this year, the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service this week expanded its services at the Van Nuys office, officials said Wednesday. Beginning this week, Valley residents can renew green cards, which allow noncitizens to live and work in the United States, at the application and support center, 14515 Hamlin St., said Marybel Loeches, INS acting public information officer.

The Los Angeles City Council agreed Tuesday to redraw neighborhood boundaries to allow an area of about 1,800 homes in Van Nuys to join the more upscale community of Sherman Oaks. The 10-2 vote, which was met with the boisterous cheers of proponents, was the latest in a series of name changes in the San Fernando Valley over the last few decades.

More than a week after he bought his golden ticket, the winner of the $110-million Super Lotto Plus jackpot has come forward. Richard F. Roberts visited the California State Lottery's district office in Van Nuys on Thursday to claim the second-highest payout for a single ticket owner in the history of the lottery, spokeswoman Cathy Doyle Johnston said. The record for the highest single winner jackpot belongs to Al Castellano, who won $141 million on June 23, 2001, in San Jose.

On the evening of Feb. 24, 1986, LAPD homicide detectives found Sherri Rae Rasmussen's badly beaten body on the living room floor of her Van Nuys town house with wounds from three .38-caliber bullets to her chest. Weeks later, Stephanie Lazarus, a young Los Angeles police officer, called the Santa Monica Police Department to report that someone had broken into her car on 2nd Street, blocks from the pier. A gym bag had been stolen, she said.

Security guard Johnny Franklin was prepared for a big crowd, but not the horde that descended on Fedco Wednesday for its last day in business. "It was awful busy," said Franklin, who was manning the front entrance. "People were grabbing the baskets, and ramming them into the back of one another. I told them all to slow down. I haven't seen people act like that, except at a concert." By late morning, the good stuff was gone.

An internal study of General Motors Corp.'s North American car assembly plants reportedly showed that the auto maker's Van Nuys facility had the worst production quality among the 21 plants surveyed in late 1989. The Van Nuys plant, which builds the Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird sports cars, had 676 problems per 100 cars produced, according to the GM study. Comparatively, the top-ranking plant was GM's Buick City, Mich.

In an effort to stave off more violence, Los Angeles police announced Monday that they have boosted patrols in Van Nuys following a gang-related double slaying, although they see no danger that the truce among San Fernando Valley gangs is deteriorating. The killings of Armando Estrada, 18, and Miguel Angel Limon, 21, on Friday were among three gang shootings in the San Fernando Valley over the Easter weekend.

A Los Angeles jury Wednesday deliberated murder charges against the alleged gunman in the 2003 shooting death of a man whose decaying body was found in a trash can at a Van Nuys storage shed. Jeffrey Lawrence Weaver, 37, is accused of firing the fatal shot into the head of Christopher Walsh, also 37.

On the evening of Feb. 24, 1986, LAPD homicide detectives found Sherri Rae Rasmussen's badly beaten body on the living room floor of her Van Nuys town house with wounds from three .38-caliber bullets to her chest. Weeks later, Stephanie Lazarus, a young Los Angeles police officer, called the Santa Monica Police Department to report that someone had broken into her car on 2nd Street, blocks from the pier. A gym bag had been stolen, she said.

A 10-year-old boy was killed and a woman suspected of drunk driving was seriously injured in a two-car collision in Van Nuys, police said Thursday. Neither the boy nor the woman, who were in separate cars, was wearing a seat belt, said Officer Phil Kirby of the Los Angeles Police Department's Valley Traffic Division.

Nothing, it seems, gets between David Grigorian and his marmoset monkey. On Wednesday, the 43-year-old Van Nuys resident found himself in court once again for harboring an undocumented primate. Grigorian has told authorities that he considers Cheeta to be a member of his family, but state Department of Fish and Game officials say the animal has got to go. In January, police arrested Grigorian for allegedly shouting criminal threats in front of a house in Van Nuys.

A Van Nuys jury Wednesday ordered the death penalty for a handyman convicted of sexually assaulting three women, including a grandmother whom he killed and whose body he dumped in a desolate area of Palm Springs. The decision comes less than a week after Paul Wesley Baker, 47, disrupted the death penalty portion of his trial when he smeared his feces over his face and had to be temporarily removed from the courtroom, authorities said. Deputy Dist. Atty.

A Los Angeles police officer shot and killed a man carrying an object later identified as a microphone stand after a traffic stop and chase Wednesday night in Van Nuys. Capt. Kris Pitcher of the Los Angeles Police Department's Force Investigation Division said Thursday that it was "far too early" to make any judgments about the incident that left Byron San Jose, 25, dead at the scene. Pitcher declined to say whether the officer thought the stand and its tripod were a weapon.

The Los Angeles City Council voted 10 to 1 Friday to approve mandatory sterilization of most dogs and cats at the age of 4 months or older, and city officials pledged low-key enforcement driven by complaints. The ordinance must get a second reading in a week, but it is expected to pass. The measure, initiated by Councilman Richard Alarcon, offers exemptions for animals of licensed breeders, show animals and service animals.

A Van Nuys man faces 40 years to life in prison after pleading guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder in the 2006 strangulation of his girlfriend, authorities said. Jonathon Arthur Hendler was on parole for theft when he killed Beverly Ann Kass-Lucitt, 38, sometime between March 30 and April 2, according to the district attorney's office. Her body was found in the Sherman Way apartment they shared. Hendler, also 38, was arrested shortly afterward on suspicion of attempted bank robbery.

A small airplane made a rough landing Sunday morning at the Van Nuys airport, but no one was injured, officials said. Just after 11 a.m., the plane's brakes locked as it landed, causing moderate damage but no injuries to the two people aboard, said public information officer Treva Miller. Fire officials and paramedics arrived and shut down the runway for about 30 minutes to investigate, said Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey. -- Tiffany Hsu

For criminal prosecutor Terry Siegel, the new Van Nuys Municipal Court is "the prettiest place I've ever worked." The building is so open and cheerful, said Siegel, that "it lightens even the often unpleasant business of prosecution." Designed by the local firm of Dworsky Associates, the $50-million, award-winning facility demonstrates how a functional building can be made graceful by the dignity of its architecture.

A Van Nuys woman has sued the city of Los Angeles and a former police officer, alleging the officer raped her in January after driving her home from a nightclub in his patrol car. The Los Angeles County district attorney's office reviewed Reyna Royball's allegations and declined to file charges against the former officer, in part because she has a history of making false allegations, according to documents summarizing the investigation.

A San Fernando Valley man was convicted Thursday of helping to murder a man whose decomposing body was found in a trash bin in a Van Nuys storage shed in 2003. A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury found Jeffrey Lawrence Weaver, 37, guilty of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Chatsworth resident Christopher Walsh, also 37. Weaver could get 56 years to life in prison when he is sentenced Jan. 7, prosecutors said. Defense attorney Seymour Amster said Weaver would appeal.

A Los Angeles jury Wednesday deliberated murder charges against the alleged gunman in the 2003 shooting death of a man whose decaying body was found in a trash can at a Van Nuys storage shed. Jeffrey Lawrence Weaver, 37, is accused of firing the fatal shot into the head of Christopher Walsh, also 37.