Torrance

May 17 2013

Featured in BET's "First In"

COMPTON, Calif. — Former Compton Fire Department Deputy Chief Marcel Melanson is scheduled to be arraigned Friday on grand theft and arson charges related to a fire at the department’s headquarters.

Melanson is suspected of stealing thousands of dollars worth of Motorola radios, selling them online and intentionally setting the Dec. 11, 2011 fire to destroy evidence of the thefts, Steve Whitmore of the sheriff’s department said.

May 3 2013

Targets school children

TORRANCE, Calif. — Torrance police today announced they are seeking a man in his 20s suspected of exposing himself near schools twice in a seven-day span.

Two students were walking home from Bert Lynn Middle School Tuesday when they saw a man seated in the driver seat of a small blue or gray four door sedan, possibly a Honda. His passenger window was down and he chuckled at them.

He was holding his exposed penis with both hands, laughing. He said nothing and the victims turned away and quickly went home, police said.

Apr 23 2013

Victimized individuals from San Diego to Simi Valley

TORRANCE, Calif. — The Torrance Police Department announced today that it has three suspects in custody who are believed to have been involved in credit card fraud victimizing 37 people from San Diego to Simi Valley.

The investigation began on Sept. 17, after a Torrance resident living in the 17500 block of Emanita Avenue was fraudulently billed for a delivery  to a FedEx office at 21023 Hawthorne Boulevard.

Surveillance video allegedly showed a suspect picking up a package.

Dec 4 2012

Husband and wife

TORRANCE, Calif.—A coroner's official today released the names of a husband and wife, both in their 70s, who died in a murder-suicide inside the woman's room at a Torrance hospital.

They were Marlow Hugo Galbraith, 75, and Joanna Sue Galbraith, 74, both of Torrance, said Los Angeles County coroner's Lt. Joe Bale.

Nov 29 2012

Third-striker suspect could face life in prison

A substance abuse counselor was charged with murder and other counts for allegedly driving drunk, running into a pedestrian and driving two miles with him embedded in her car’s windshield before other motorists stopped her.

Sherri Lynn Wilkins, 51, of Torrance, was arraigned Tuesday in Torrance Superior Court on one count each of murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, DUI causing injury, driving with a .08 percent or higher blood-alcohol content causing injury and leaving the scene of an accident, according to the district attorney’s office.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.