Oviatt Library.

Update: Following a fruitless police search for the man the library will reopen on-schedule tomorrow morning, a CSUN official tells the Weekly. Also, check out a photo of the person of interest after the jump. First posted at 12:39 p.m.

Oviatt Library at Cal State Northridge was evacuated this morning and students were told they could skip class following a scary report of a man with a gun, a suspect who was said to appear to be of Middle Eastern descent. (The campus has him as "white").

He was reportedly wearing a t-shirt on that reads "human rights violation." The report came in shortly before 10:30 a.m., according to a campus press release.

But so far, no gunman has been found.

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SDG&E announced early this morning that power was fully restored "sooner than anticipated." And, at the bottom, California electricity officials issue a "flex-alert" for the entire state.

A power outage affecting all of San Diego County has been reported today, and now we're seeing tweets that the lights have gone out in Dana Point, Laguna Niguel and Mission Viejo. [Added]: The San Diego Union-Tribune now says this thing goes from Arizona to Baja Califorina to South Orange County. We're estimating that if all of San Diego and TJ are out this could potentially affect 5 million people.

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune San Diego Gas & Electric is working on the outage.

South Orange County is covered by that utility and others, we believe, namely Southern California Edison.

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Google Maps

21st and Navy.

Updated at the bottom, and crazy cellphone video of the rescue added (warning -- not for the weak of stomach). First posted at 4:22 p.m.

Another year month another plane crash near Santa Monica Airport.

This one happened about 2:30 p.m. after a plane piloted by a student flyer nose dived into a house near 21st and Navy streets in Santa Monica, according to KNX 1070 Newsradio.

Amazingly, nobody was seriously hurt:

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Bryan Stow.

A man who escaped the fate of Dodgers' opening-day beating victim and friend Bryan Stow succumbed yesterday to ... nuts.

That's according to TMZ, which reported that Matthew Lee, a witness to the infamous beating who himself was allegedly punched before suspects turned on Stow and ended up assaulting him into a coma, died Sunday.

The cause, it seems, was a salad, or rather ...

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@amieringo

Patrons of Art Walk Thursday.

See our piece about a movement to close the streets downtown for Art Walk here. First posted at 11:04 p.m. Thursday.

An accident during downtown L.A.'s monthly Art Walk Thursday night took the life of a 2-month-old infant boy and appeared to have put his mom in a hospital, according to authorities and reports.

It happened about 9:15 p.m. at Spring and Fourth streets, police said. Reports vary about how it happened, with City News Service stating that two cars collided and one of those vehicles hit the victims and CBS2 reporting that the driver of a Cadillac lost control during a parallel parking maneuver.

That station says ...

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The site of the Yellowstone bear attack.

A mama grizzly bear that was looking after her cubs in Yellowstone National Park was startled by a husband-and-wife pair of L.A.-area hikers and mauled the man to death this week.

The Torrance victim was ID'd today as 57-year-old Brian Matayoshi of Torrance. His wife, Marylin, was nearly killed as well as the bear picked her up by her daypack and let her go before heading for her husband. She yelled for help, and nearby hikers called 911.

But when rangers showed up about 11:30 a.m. yesterday, Matayoshi was gone. He suffered ...

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LAPD

The scene of the rescue.

Here's a little tip for you: If flames erupt beneath you as you're driving your car, try not to lock the doors. In fact, the opposite action would be apropos: Unlock them. Take your seatbelt off. Get out. Stuff like that. Basic.

Cops indicate a woman locked her doors and froze up as her Dodge Caravan started to burn this morning in Hollywood. Luckily for her officers were nearby.

It happened ...

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The last time.

As if Japan needs any more shaking or waves, a 6.7 earthquake hit the east coast of Honshu, Japan today, prompting a tsunami warning for that area, but not for us.

According to Associated Press:

The U.S. Pacific Tsunami warning center said that it did not expect a destructive Pacific-wide tsunami from the quake.

Torrance PD

Updated at the bottom: Witnesses described the scene before crash as "chaotic." The death of Garton is reported in an update on the next page.

Two motorcycle police officers were "badly hurt" when they collided during a funeral procession for a late Manhattan Beach cop in Torrance today, reports KNX 1070 Newsradio.

The afternoon accident happened at Sepulveda 227th Street and Hawthorne Boulevard boulevards, possibly when one of the riders turned in front of the other, the station reported.

The accident was so bad, it seems, that ...

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Metro

So you're driving down Westwood Boulevard and boom, the ground explodes beneath. A heavy, solid mahole cover careens into the bottom of your vehicle. Startled, you look around for the terrorist or, at least, frat boy who did this.

Nothing.

No, it was an electrical explosion below the street. And it sent the driver -- a bus driver -- to the hospital. It happened ...

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Unfortunately Olivia Munn won't be there. We don't think.

Updated after the jump with photos of hot, vegan action thanks to hollyhoodian.com: You still have a chance to perv out support animal rights and check out these beauties tomorrow. Details after the jump.

Breaking nudity: Two sexy women will be nude on Sunset Boulevard and Ivar Avenue at noon today. What's the cause? Who cares! Grab your cameras and get down there. But seriously, here's the strange but it'll-have-to-do connection to the news:

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MuscleNerd

Tree down in L.A.

Update: PCH was reopened, and so was the Grapevine. Record rainfall was recorded around Southern California, with downtown Los Angeles seeing 2.42 inches Sunday compared with 1.48 inches on the date in 1943. See more records after the jump.

The first week of spring came in like a lion in L.A. as a rain-triggered small flood advisory covered Tujunga, Sunland, Sierra Madre, Lake View Terrace, La Crescenta, La Canada/Flintridge, Monterey Park, Long Beach, Lancaster, Diamond Bar and even downtown L.A. overnight.

Power outages were reported all over the region, with Southern California Edison and the L.A. Department of Water and Power reporting nearly 100,000 customers without power late Sunday.

Trees were knocked down all over, prompting Weho Daily to call the episode #treepocalypse.

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aircraftsnl via Twitpic

The aftermath of today's Long Beach plane crash.

Update: Another of the deceased was identified, after the jump.

Mark Bixby, a scion of the family for which Long Beach's upper-middle-class Bixby Knolls neighborhood is named, was one of four people who died when a private plane crashed just after takeoff from Long Beach Air Port, City News Service reports.

Bixby was vice president of Bixby Land Company and had a wife and three children.

Other area developers perished in the 10:37 a.m. crash:

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Google Maps

The area of the crash.

Updated after the jump: The deceased has been identified; the CHP states that the bus veered into oncoming traffic.

Two people died when what appeared to be a church bus loaded with teenagers went over a mountain road in Crestline in the San Bernardino Mountains Monday afternoon.

The crash at highway 189 at Lake Gregory Drive was reported about 11:51 a.m. just after 1 p.m., according to Calfire. Two fatalities were confirmed at 1:40 p.m. Fire officials said about 25 "children" were on-board, but the ages of the deceased were as yet unknown.

The Riverside Press-Enterprise reported that the bus appeared to be operated by a Korean church.

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Carpet cleaner, liar, corporate swashbuckler, Barry Minkow

By Beth Barrett

The president of conman Barry Minkow's Fraud Discovery Institute (FDI) has apologized to "friends" and other followers, saying the company had "fallen away from our mission and our credibility and our sweat equity that we worked so hard to earn."

The statement by FDI President Juan Lopez, transmitted via Twitter, came after LA Weekly reported that a Florida judge had found that Minkow lied, withheld or destroyed important documents and concealed key witnesses in a libel and extortion lawsuit filed by Lennar Corp., a giant home-building company headquartered in Florida. Lopez linked the Weekly article to his Twitter account.

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Ted Soqui

L.A. storm channels worked overtime.

This rain, rain won't go away. And how authorities are ordering 147 homes in La Canada Flintridge and 85 homes in La Crescenta evacuated.

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Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner.

Updated throughout. Third man confirmed dead. First posted at 11:02 p.m. Monday.

Three males were dead after an Amtrak Pacific Surfliner train struck them in Commerce Monday night, according to reports.

The pair might have been suspected taggers, and the area where they were hit shortly after 8:30 p.m. -- in the 6500 block of East 26th Street -- has a lot of graffiti, reported Fox 11 News' Tony Valdez.

He said the conductor reported seeing a third "man" on the track, and later Jeff Gordon of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department confirmed a third fatality.

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NBCLA via Twitpic

One person died in a Boyle Heights collision involving a school bus.

Updated after the jump with information about a third suspect. First posted at 3:29 p.m.

One person was killed and 50 about 21 38 18 others sustained minor to moderate injuries in a three-vehicle collision involving an overturned, occupied school bus outside First Street Elementary School in Boyle Heights, fire officials said.

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Associated Press

Take your time, it's no big deal

Los Angeles drivers aren't the only ones being screwed over by President Obama this Friday afternoon.

The president's journey to the USC campus will also be cushioned by a blockade of air traffic within eight miles of LAX and downtown Los Angeles -- and within 10 miles of Burbank Airport -- from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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James Lee's mug shot.

Updated at 3:05 p.m. with authorities saying the suspect is dead.

The man suspected of taking three hostages at the Discovery Channel headquarters outside of Washington, D.C. has a Southern California connection: He lost a job in his hometown of San Diego before going full-on environmentalist, according to the Gazette newspaper.

Authorities in Silver Spring, Maryland said in a live news conference this afternoon that James Lee, who is about 43, was shot by police and was "in custody," with his condition unknown, following a standoff at the Discovery Communications building. [Update: Authorities later said he died following the shooting]. The hostages were said to be okay, but the building was off limits as police checked out backpacks and other suspicious items they fear could been used to conceal bombs by the suspect.

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