There's been no increase in radiation levels in Southern California's air since last week's earthquake and tsunami in Japan, local air quality control officials say.

Monitoring at several sites has not picked up any radiation above typical background levels, said Tina Cherry, a spokeswoman for the Air Quality Management District. AQMD is continuing to assess radiation levels on an hourly basis across Southern California.

Health officials in other parts of the state, and across the United States, are doing the same thing, she said. Updates can be found at www.aqmd.gov.

A minuscule amount of radiation from the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor in Japan was detected in Sacramento but at such a low level that it posed no threat to human health, the environmental protection agency said Friday afternoon.

One station in Sacramento detected "minuscule quantities" of a radioactive isotope, xenon-133, that scientists said they believed came from the reactors at the Japanese plant.

But the level detected would result in a "dose rate approximately one-millionth of the dose rate that a person normally receives from rocks, bricks, the sun and other natural sources," according to an EPA statement.

Xenon-133 is a radioactive gas created during nuclear fission.

The detection of the xenon-133 came from a radiation monitoring system run by the U.S. Department of Energy able to "detect tiny quantities of radioisotopes that might indicate an underground nuclear test on the other side of the world," the statement said. "These detectors are extremely sensitive and can detect minute amounts of radioactive materials."

A separate detection system run by the EPA, known as RadNet, has also shown no harmful levels of radiation coming to the United States. The system was developed in the 1950s during the Cold War.

-- Catherine Saillant and Rong-Gong Lin II

An Orange County hospital worker on Friday was charged with rape, sodomy and other crimes against a female patient who was anesthetized, prosecutors said.

Francisco Ayala, 27, of Anaheim was working as a patient care technician at St. Joseph Hospital's emergency room and was assigned to monitor the female patient on the March 8 night shift, authorities said. Sometime during his shift, he sexually assaulted the 33-year-old woman, who was sedated, the Orange County district attorney's office said.

The woman, who was not identified, reported the attack to hospital officials. After interviewing Ayala and other employees, the hospital worker was taken into custody Wednesday night, prosecutors said.

Ayala is being held in Central Jail in Santa Ana on $100,000 bail. If convicted as charged, he faces up to 24 years in prison.

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-- Catherine Saillant

Photo: Francisco Ayala. Credit: Orange Police Department

Two Orange County men were sentenced to six years in prison each on Friday for racing their motorcycles, triggering a 100 mph crash that killed a motorist.

Blaise Meadows, 22, of Orange and Daniel Burkett, 27, of Santa Ana each pleaded guilty in January to a felony count of vehicular manslaughter in connection with an April 2008 crash that killed motorist Andrew Parker, 46.

Meadows and Burkett were racing their motorcycles side by side after midnight on April 25, 2008, on the 241 tollway in Lake Forest when Meadows plowed into the rear of Parker's Alpha Romeo. The impact forced Parker's car off the road, where it hit a light pole, flipped and landed upside down in a parking lot.

Parker was declared dead at the scene. Meadows, who was injured in the crash, had three previous speeding tickets and was driving on a suspended license. He texted friends 30 minutes before the crash, discussing the impending race and his plan to evade police.

Burkett fled the scene but was later taken into custody. At Friday's sentencing hearing, Parker's widow described her husband of 22 years as a "Renaissance man."

"He spent time working with his hands, which had thick skin and scars,'' Mary Ann Parker said. "But they were the most beautiful hands I had ever seen."

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Costa Mesa in mourning after employee jumps off City Hall roof

Orange County father-son team charged in fraud scheme

-- Catherine Saillant

Costa Mesa was in mourning Friday after a city employee who faced possible layoff apparently jumped off the roof of City Hall.

The suspected suicide occurred as Costa Mesa was garnering national headlines for its plan to lay off nearly half its employees as part of a cost-cutting effort. City officials said the cuts were the first step in a plan to outsource many services to the private sector and significantly reduce the number of workers at City Hall.

The six-month termination notices affect 213 of the city's 472 full-time employees. Costa Mesa is among hundreds of local governments around the country facing massive future shortfalls in what they owe retirees. This year's tab -- $15 million out of the city's $93-million budget -- is estimated to grow to more than $25 million within five years.

Huy Pham, of Fountain Valley, hadn't yet received a layoff notice but was on the city's list to get one, police said. Pham had worked for the city for about four years, those who knew him said.

The two fishermen who hauled a massive black sea bass to shore at the Balboa Pier have pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 120 hours of community service.

They had faced up to six months in jail for catching the endangered species. Prosecutors had charged the two with misdemeanor possession of a black sea bass after they were videotaped with the fish, and their images landed on YouTube.

Orange County Commissioner Richard E. Pacheco agreed to the plea bargain, which reduced their violation to an infraction. Prosecutors objected to the plea bargain, according to Orange County district attorney's office spokeswoman Farrah Emami.

Jon Apothaker of Valley Village was fishing on the pier while John Brady of Huntington Beach was fishing below the pier in a small boat in January 2010 when Apothaker got a bite. It was a giant black sea bass, more than 5 feet long and weighing between 140 and 200 pounds.

Anglers plead guilty in endangered fish death

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UC and Cal State pull students from Japan

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--Mike Reicher, Daily Pilot / Times Community News

California's two public university systems, the University of California and Cal State, are pulling their  students out of Japan because of tsunami-related problems and fears about radiation dangers from the country's damaged nuclear reactors. All students from the two systems are accounted for and unharmed, officials said.

UC officials said Thursday the university was suspending its study abroad programs in the quake-affected country and telling 49 UC students still there to leave Japan and 31 others not to return to their programs from spring break travels elsewhere or set out for Japan from California.

UC administrators cited a U.S. State Department advisory that all Americans should defer travel to Japan and those in the country should consider leaving. "This decision was not taken lightly and it is based on the need to ensure your safety, our first and foremost concern," Jean-Xavier Guinard, executive director of UC’s education abroad programs, said in a letter to the students.

UC spokeswoman Lynn Tierney said the university is preparing to fly students out of the area over the next day or two on commercial flights that would be paid for by emergency-related insurance policies. Some of the students are already out of Japan and traveling on spring break to places including Thailand, Europe or home to California and have been told not to return to Japan, she said.

UC's action follows steps taken by Cal State on Tuesday when system Chancellor Charles B. Reed asked that all students in Japan return home. A Cal State spokesman said Thursday that 45 students were in study-abroad programs in Japan and that about 50 others were either preparing to go there for spring quarter or enrolled in programs in Japan but temporarily outside the country. 

Cal State has agreements with several Japanese universities to enroll U.S. students in classes. "Leaving our students in this situation is not a risk I am willing to take," Reed said in a memo sent to all campuses.

Many other American universities with study-abroad programs in Japan are taking similar evacuation steps, as those with projects in Egypt did during recent political turmoil there.

UC has study-abroad programs based at half a dozen Japanese universities in a wide array of scientific and cultural topics. In addition, some graduate students and faculty are there on independent research, Tierney said. She added that efforts will be made to get all enrolled students back to UC classes in California quickly, since most campuses are on the quarter calendar and the spring quarter is about to begin. Some students may switch to study-abroad programs in other countries.

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-- Larry Gordon

Federal postal inspectors were asking for the public's help Thursday in locating a father and son charged in connection with a $20-million mail fraud scheme, authorities said.

Robert Louis Carver, 56, previously of Irvine, and his son, Robert Louis Carver II, 36, formerly of Mission Viejo, were indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Santa Ana, according to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

The 14-count indictment alleges that the Carvers carried out a scheme using the names of several businesses based in Costa Mesa and purporting to provide, among other services, investment opportunities and long-term capital appreciation, postal officials said in a statement.

Sales agents for the companies -- Brookstone Capital, Brookstone Biotech Ventures II and Lincoln Funds International -- solicited more than 300 investors with various claims and promises, the statement said.

For example, they claimed that the elder Carver had significant business experience and that investors’ money would be used to purchase stocks.

But the Carvers neglected to tell potential investors that the elder Carver had a criminal history and had been sued by California regulators, postal service officials said.

The Carvers also allegedly failed to file business taxes and misappropriated investors’ funds, officials said.

Inspectors urge anyone with information about the whereabouts of the Carvers to call (877) 876-2455. Callers may remain anonymous and should refer to Case No. 1730332-MF.

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-- Ann M. Simmons

One man was in custody Thursday and another was being sought for allegedly robbing a Vietnam veteran in a wheelchair of his Social Security income, Santa Ana police said.

Michael Neal Shaurette, 62, was going to McDonalds about 8:15 p.m. Tuesday when he was confronted by two men in the 300 block of East 1st Street, said Cpl. Anthony Bertagna of the Santa Ana Police Department.

One of the suspects, identified as Robert Dean Joyce, 41, allegedly grabbed Shaurette’s arms and pinned them down on the wheelchair, Bertagna said.

“[Joyce’s] statement to Mr. Shaurette was ‘give me your money’,” Bertagna said.

Another suspect rifled through Shaurette’s bag and found a wallet with $80 inside, Bertagna said. A further search of the bag turned up a white U.S. bank envelope with $800 inside.

Shaurette, who recently moved back to Orange County from Colorado, told police he had cashed his government disability check earlier that day, and it was all the cash he had.

The suspects took the money and fled, Bertagna said. Authorities launched an aggressive search that included the use of bloodhounds from the Orange County Sheriff's Department, Bertagna said.

Hours later, Joyce was located at a local hotel, where he was positively identified by Shaurette and later arrested. He was being held on suspicion of robbery, authorities said.

Joyce’s accomplice, described by police as a 20- to 25-year-old man, about 5-foot-10 and 175 pounds with a dark complexion, remained at large, Bertagna said.

Bertagna said people who want to help Shaurette may donate assistance through the Santa Ana Police Department Foundation.

“They are working on getting him a place to stay and trying to keep him going until his gets his next check,” Bertagna said.

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Is Crystal Cathedral’s sex covenant anti-gay?

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-- Ann M. Simmons

The Crystal Cathedral has asked choir members to sign a controversial "covenant" stating that God intends sex to be between married heterosexuals.

That covenant has angered some current and former choir members who have viewed the document as "anti-gay," though church officials told Times reporter Nicole Santa Cruz that "is not the full intent" of the document.

"It's anyone who has a promiscuous lifestyle," church spokesman John Charles said.

"Crystal Cathedral ministries believes that it is important to teach and model the biblical view," reads the paragraph in the Crystal Cathedral Worship Choir and Worship Team Covenant. "I understand that Crystal Cathedral Ministries teaches that sexual intimacy is intended by God to only be within the bonds of marriage, between one man and one woman."

Document: Read the covenant here.

Senior Pastor Sheila Schuller offered a "sincere" apology Tuesday and noted that the church is "grappling with the challenge of reconciling love and adherence to God's word, even those passages that challenge us." But her father, church founder Robert H. Schuller, told the Orange County Register, which first reported the covenant, that he disagrees with the document because it goes against the principles upon which his church was built.

"I have a reputation worldwide of being tolerant of all people and their views," the senior Schuller said. "I'm too well-educated to criticize a certain religion or group of people for what they believe in. It's called freedom."

What do you think of the church's covenant? Should choir members be asked to sign it? What are your views of Crystal Cathedral, which has filed for bankruptcy and has come under recent criticism for giving hefty payouts and tax allowances for Schuller relatives and church insiders?

About 213 Costa Mesa employees -- nearly half of the city's workforce -- can expect layoff notices on Thursday, officials said.

More than 90 firefighters, 50 city maintenance workers, 30 dispatchers and a dozen city jail staff are among those being notified that their jobs will be outsourced in six months.

"Basically, the morale is in an all-time bottom," said Helen Nenadal, president of the Costa Mesa City Employees Assn., which will bear the brunt of cuts. "I've been with the city for 30 years and morale has never been this low."

In a 4-to-1 vote March 1, the City Council approved outsourcing 18 city services, with Councilwoman Wendy Leece dissenting. Leece tried to reopen the issue for discussion at Tuesday's council meeting but fell short when no other council members supported the move.

"I've said this before and I'll say it again, the world runs on a clock and a calendar," Councilman Jim Righeimer said at Tuesday's council session. "We have to have a budget ready by July 1. We have a $10-million to $15-million hole to fix."

Read the full report here.

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-- Joseph Serna, Daily Pilot / Times Community News

Photo: A view of Costa Mesa's arts district. Credit: Los Angeles TImes