Violations

After a violent parole violator allegedly raped and killed his grandmother shortly after being released from jail, two California lawmakers asked San Joaquin County officials to explain their policies behind such early releases. Sidney Jerome DeAvila was arrested Feb. 26, charged with killing his 76-year-old grandmother and leaving her body in a backyard wheelbarrow. Law enforcement records show he was on state parole and required to wear a GPS monitor because of 2011 conviction for molesting children.

Former USC basketball coach Tim Floyd said Monday night he has had a meeting with Athletic Director Pat Haden in which they discussed the Trojans basketball job opening. Floyd said Haden had contacted him, and the three-hour meeting "went well. " Haden, through a spokesman, said he would have no comment until the coaching search is complete. Floyd was hired by USC in 2006 and resigned after the 2009 season when the school was deeply involved in allegations of improper conduct involving both the football and basketball team.

San Fernando's former police chief may have violated the law when he successfully sought to dismiss a congressional aide's traffic ticket last year, prosecutors concluded. The Los Angeles County district attorney ultimately decided not to charge the police official, Jeff Eley. But revelations in a district attorney's memo obtained by The Times add another chapter to the political soap opera in the small San Fernando Valley town that has been buffeted by scandal. County prosecutors said Eley, then the department's acting police chief, received a call on his cellphone from the aide within minutes of an officer issuing the ticket in November 2011.

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig called for tougher penalties for major leaguers who violate the sport's drug agreement, a move the players' union is willing to consider but not for the 2013 season. Speaking at a news conference Saturday at the Arizona Diamondbacks' spring training ballpark in Scottsdale, Ariz., Selig said last year's positive drug test for All-Star game most valuable player Melky Cabrera and allegations players received banned substances from a now-closed Florida anti-aging clinic helped lead him to seek stiffer penalties as quickly as possible.

The Las Vegas casino company headed by high-profile Republican donor and billionaire Sheldon Adelson said it probably violated a federal law that prohibits the bribery of foreign government officials. Las Vegas Sands Corp. said its auditors found that "there were likely violations" of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars Americans from bribing foreign officials to secure an advantage. The disclosure was made in a filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The state's ethics watchdog agency on Thursday levied $10,000 in fines against two former state officials over conflict of interest violations. The state Fair Political Practices Commission fined former state parks department administrator Manuel Thomas Lopez $7,000 for acting as an administrator to approve the illegal cashing out of more than 500 hours of his own vacation time, worth more than $28,000. The commission also levied a $3,000 fine against a former state Department of Water Resources employee who violated conflict of interest rules by recommending government purchases from a firm that plied him with gifts.

SACRAMENTO - A paroled sex offender who has been in and out of the San Joaquin County jail repeatedly for disarming his GPS monitor is back behind bars, charged with killing his 76-year-old grandmother and leaving her body in a backyard wheelbarrow. Police reports and confidential law enforcement files show Sidney Jerome DeAvila, 39, was arrested and released at least 10 times in the last nine months, charged with parole violations over using drugs and public drunkenness as well as disabling his tracking device.

The U.S. Coast Guard has found evidence of multiple safety and environmental violations in Shell Alaska's Noble Discoverer Arctic drilling rig and forwarded it to the U.S. Justice Department for a decision about possible civil or criminal penalties, authorities confirmed Friday. The news is the latest setback for Shell's troubled Arctic drilling program, launched last summer off the coast of Alaska to tap one of the world's biggest remaining oil and gas deposits. It has been plagued with logistical and mechanical troubles that raise questions about the company's ability to continue this year.

Miami has finally received its notice of allegations from the NCAA. A long-awaited document accuses the Hurricanes of a "lack of institutional control" within its athletic department. The allegations arrived on Tuesday. The institutional-control charge is typically one of the most severe the NCAA can bring after an investigation of rules violations. The governing body for college athletics declined to comment Tuesday, one day after revealing that it was erasing some elements of its case against Miami because the information was obtained in impermissible ways.

USC fired baseball coach Frank Cruz for knowingly violating NCAA rules that limit the number of hours athletes can spend in activities directed or supervised by the coaching staff, Athletic Director Pat Haden said. Dan Hubbs, in his second season as the Trojans' associate head coach and pitching coach, was named head coach for a team that opens its season Friday against Cal State Fullerton. USC, which is on NCAA probation for violations related to former football player Reggie Bush and former basketball player O.J. Mayo, also announced that it had self-imposed a reduction in the number of baseball practice hours for this season and next year.