The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 19

LAT XTRA LATIMES.COM/LANOW AA Since taking office in 2005, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has sat courtside next to movie mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg at three Lakers games at Staples Center. He has cheered alongside Tommy Lasorda and Dodgers owner Frank McCourt in the box at Dodger Stadium. Rarely has he missed an awards show: the Academy Awards, the Grammys, the Emmys and the BET Awards anywhere there was a red carpet in Los Angeles, odds were Villaraigosa was photographed standing on it. no surprise that the mayor attends many of the premier sporting and cultural events. But Villarai- gosa acknowledged this week that he goes to some of them free of charge.

He said he considers those appearances to be part of his official duty to promote and represent Los Angeles. State and city laws require politicians to report gifts they receive and say who gave them and limit the value of tickets they can accept to $420 from any one source in a year. Elected officials are exempt from those requirements, however, if they conduct official busi- MAYOR MELDS WORK, PLAY Villaraigosa takes a broader view of gift disclosure rules than his predecessors did. Phil Willon Mayor, Atransient with a long criminal history pleaded guilty to murder Friday and was sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping and killing a17-year-old girl after she failed to withdraw cash from an automated teller machine with a credit card. The plea agreement with prosecutors spared Charlie Samuel a possible death sentence for the killing of Lily Burk, whose body was found last year inside her car in a downtown Los Angeles parking lot.

Her neck had been slashed and her head beaten. Wearing orange jail scrubs and shackled to a waist chain, Samuel, 50, stood in courtand said he hoped family would forgive him. Friends and family of the including her parents sat quietly in the front row. like to deeply, truly apologize to the family for the grief caused them for the loss of their Samuel said. pray to God that you may forgive me one Gina Ferazzi Los Angeles Times AT SENTENCING: Charlie Samuel pleaded guilty to murder for kidnapping and killing the 17-year-old.

Lily killer gets life in prison Jack Leonard Burk, Atanker truck explosion closed one of the busiest freeways for more than eight hours Friday, creating havoc for hundreds of thousands of commuters and motorists trying to get a start on the Memorial Day weekend. Traffic backed up for miles in Riverside, Orange and San Bernardino counties starting about 10:30 a.m. after the truck, loaded with 8,800 gallons of gasoline, overturned and burned in the eastbound lanes of the 91 Freeway in Corona. California Highway Patrol officers said three people were taken to hospitals for minor to moderate injuries. The truck driver was not injured.

The wreck prompted the CHP to close the eastbound lanes of the freeway at Green River Road. The westbound lanes were closed at the 71 Freewayfor safety reasons, as was the southbound 71at Euclid Avenue. All of the lanes, which head to Orange County, were reopened about 2:45 p.m. Three eastbound lanes were reopened about 7 p.m. But the carpool lane and two other lanes will remain closed until the California Department of Transportation can inspect the pavement for damage and make repairs if necessary.

The 91is one of the most congested highways in Southern California and the only major corridor between Orange and Riverside counties. During the typical workweek, motorists often make more than 300,000 trips a day on the freeway Photographs by Irfan Khan Los Angeles Times GOING NOWHERE: Traffic is diverted from the 91Freeway on Friday after the California Highway Patrol shut down lanes in Corona. WRECKAGE: The truck, reduced to charred debris by the blaze, was loaded with 8,800 gallons of gasoline. Three people were injured in the morning crash. The 91Freeway is closed for hours after a truck overturns and bursts into a fireball.

Dan Weikel Tanker blaze ties up 3 counties Freeway, ary Coleman, who soared to fame in the late 1970s as the child star of the hit sitcom and whose post-TV-series life included a stint as a shopping mall security guard and an unlikely run for California governor, died Friday. He was 42. The diminutiveColeman, whose adult height was 4 feet 8 inches, died at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo after suffering a brainhemorrhage this week, according to a statement from hospital spokeswoman Janet Frank. Aresident of Santaquin, Utah, Coleman had been hospitalized Wednesday and lost consciousness the next day. He was taken off life support Friday, the hospital said.

Born with failed kidneys, Coleman had undergone two transplants by age 14 and his growth was permanently stunted by the side effects of dialysis medications. He was a precocious, chubby-cheeked elementary school student living in Zion, when a scout for TV producerNorman Lear spotted him in a Chicago bank commercial. The exceptionally bright, talented and self-confident Coleman was 10 when debuted on NBC in 1978. As the lovably outspoken 8-year-old Arnold Jackson, he was the comedic centerpiece of GARY COLEMAN, 1968-2010 Child TV star in 1970s After soaring to fame in he became a security guard and made an unlikely run for governor. POP-CULTURE ICON Gary recurring line, became a national catchphrase.

Dennis McLellan Coleman, Case closed for Broadcom duo Prosecutors appeal the dismissal of options charges. AA2 GOP rivals back in Silicon Valley Poizner and Whitman return to their roots, if not politically. AA3 Complete Index AA2 Lottery AA2 California AA3 Obituaries AA6 Weather Page: Mostly sunny and warmer. Downtown L.A.: AA7 Alarmed that he been answering his calls over the weekend, Steve Herr drove to his Costa Mesa apartment last Saturday night and opened the door, calling his name. In the bedroom he found the body of Juri Kibuishi, a 23-year- old Irvine woman he said had been tutoring his son in anthropology.

She had been shot in the head, and the circumstances in whichthe body was partly clothed and hanging off the bed suggested that she had been raped. Police quickly turned their attention to the son, a 26-year-old Army veteran who served in Afghanistan and was attending Orange Coast College. Not only was Samuel E. apartment acrime scene, but he was nowhere to be found, and police uncovered text exchanges between his cell- phone and that showed she had gone to his apartment in response to one of the messages. The elder Herr said he knew his son was no killer or ACTOR IS HELD IN DOUBLE SLAYING Police say he killed a Costa Mesa man and a tutor in an elaborate scheme for cash.

Paloma Esquivel and Christopher Goffard Slayings, CMYK.