The Fresno Bee from Fresno, California • 19

THE FRESNO BEE SUNDAY AUGUST 26 2001 A19 WANT California online? lresiiolieecom Has Wilteks media Saturday Investigators said they also were hopeful that a segment scheduled to air nationally on "America's Most Wanted" Saturday night would help in the search Sacramento County Sheriffs Capt John McGinness said Saturday that authorities still had no solid leads Soltys now tops the FBI's Most Wanted list and the reward for his capture has grown to $70000 Soltys last was seen in the Sacramento area in an emerald-green Ford Explorer with the rear hatch painted a lighter shade of green Police suspect he may have owned it without registering it and may have access to other unregistered since Monday That's when he allegedly slashed the throats of his pregnant wife aunt uncle and two young cousins Authorities later found his 3-year-old slashed body at a rural trash heap Soltys' mother Varvara Soltys pleaded with her son to turn himself in during a videotaped message Friday night Appearing distraught she spoke in Russian and stood behind an interpreter "Nikolay your family loves you very much and we are asking you to please turn yourself in she said during the short message which aired on a Sacramento-area religious cable television station and was distributed to local "Anybody who's going to have a few cocktails and drive over the weekend don't do it in a green Ford McGinness said "They are all being stopped" Meanwhile preparations were under way for a funeral today for the slain family members McGinness said police planned security for the service akin to protection for visiting dignitaries At least a dozen of relatives are under police protection Hundreds of members of Sacramento's Russian and Ukrainian communities are expected to attend the two-hour service to be delivered in Russian with an English translation His mother tapes a plea for him to surrender By Alexa Haussler ASSOCIATED PRESS SACRAMENTO Police combed through hundreds of tips Saturday in their search for the Ukrainian immigrant wanted in the killing of six family members as his mother pleaded for him to surrender The national manhunt had police stopping people on streets and detaining airport passengers who looked like 27-year-old Nikolay Soltys been on the run Fight to Excel No court penalty for utility official sioners can lose their jobs if they inadvertently buy stock in a regulated company and don't quickly sell their holdings However Judge James Robertson said lawmakers failed to create a penalty for purposefully buying shares of a regulated company leaving him with no course of action Duque's lawyers said the commissioner's stockbroker bought Nextel shares for him in May 1999 and did not tell him until several days later Duque said he did not realize Nextel could be considered a regulated company until 1 5 months later when a reporter asked him about the investment He sold the stock several days later Pamela Pressley lawyer for the Santa Monca-based consumer advocacy group Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights which filed the lawsuit said Duque should have sold his shares as soon as he learned of the purchase Pressley said the foundation may still try to oust Duque by arguing he did not sell the stock within a reasonable time Law on buying stock of regulated firms lacked punishment ASSOCIATED PRESS SAN FRANCISCO California courts cannot punish a utility commissioner for ignoring state rules and buying stock in the same companies he is appointed to regulate a judge has ruled The ruling follows revelations that several of Gov advisers and energy traders held stock in the power companies from which they bought and sold electricity Critics say the employees could have a conflict of interest that could harm California ratepayers Friday's ruling in San Francisco Superior Court came in a lawsuit seeking to oust Henry Duque a member of the Public Utilities Commission for investing $27000 in Nextel Communications a wireless telephone company that is subject to commission regulation California law says commis- Davis may find middle a risky spot SACRAMENTO Gray Davis often proclaims to be a "pro-business Democrat" and cites his actions as governor to bolster his case such as vetoing expansions of worker benefit programs that labor unions supported and employers opposL actions and attitudes have paid off as business executives have poured millions into his political treasury The final weeks of the 2001 legislative session will be a major test of how for Davis will go to maintain friendly relations with business executives Unions environmentalists personal-injury lawyers consumer advocates and other groups with Democratic Party ties are pushing an agenda A business-backed group called the "Coalition for California Jobs" has identified 1 0 measures it calls "job killer that would if alleged impose many billions of dollars of new costs on private employers making the state less attractive to investment "These bills mean higher taxes more regulations and more frivolous lawsuits" says Allen Zaremberg president of the California Chamber of Commerce and a leader in organizing business political and financial support for Davis Implicit in the campaign is a concern that the alliance between traditionally Republican-oriented business groups and Davis may be deteriorating Davis may be forced to cater to demands of traditional Democratic factions by his weakened political position The energy crisis has cut into approval ratings and he faces the possibility of a stiff re-election challenge next year from former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan The pivotal battle in the final weeks will be over a drive by unions and lawyers to raise workers compensation benefits by as much as $24 billion a year Davis had vetoed similar measures in the past after reaching agreement with Zaremberg on a $400 million-per-year boost in benefits but Senate President Pro Tem John Burton the most powerful Democrat in the Legislature is ready to put the more expensive version on Davis' desk again Davis in short is being squeezed between business and the Democratic constituent groups And Burton may tighten the vise even more There are indications that the Senate leader may tell Davis that the price for the measure to bail out Southern California Edison is Davis' signature on the workers compensation bilL Davis likes being a middle-of-the-road politician but when the bullets start flying ifs dangerous to be caught in the middle Dan Walters writes for The Bee's Capitol bureau E-mail: dwalters9sacbeecom mail: PO Box 15779 Sacramento CA 95852 ASSOCIATED PRESS Mariana Mendoza center meets with classmates Tuesday in Richmond Mendoza's school Kennedy High offers nine Advanced Placement courses while Lowell High in San Francisco offers more than 40 Availability of Advanced Placement courses varies across the state maker hid addiction evidence suit says ment subjects known as AP courses The study found that overall there were fewer AP courses in schools with predominantly African-American and Hispanic students as well as rural schools The disparity has prompted the American Civil Liberties Union to file suit on behalf of students asking for a court order directing the state to develop a plan guaranteeing all students equal access to AP courses The advantage of AP is that a student who does well can get a higher grade-point average the University of California for instance gives five points for an advanced placement compared to four points for a regular course Students who score well on an optional post-course test may get college credit saving time and money The Legislature at the instigation of Gov Davis has authorized giving more schools more money to give more students access to AP classes But money is just one factor in advanced placement Schools-still have to find qualified teachers and prepared students For instance a student who wants to take advanced calculus as a senior will need to have taken Algebra I as an eighth-grader In Richmond Kennedy High Principal Quen Huntingdon--Lumb supports the efforts of her student activists AP classes are a priority last year she hung on to an advanced calculus class even though there were only 1 0 students in it and the school applied for and got some of the new state funding Still there are other problems at Kennedy Last year 90 of the ninth-graders were performing at or below the 20th percentile Teachers had to be reoriented to teach the basics of reading writing and grammar Huntingdon-Lumb points out that last year her first year on the job Kennedy regained its accreditation improved state test scores ami increased attendance By Michelle Locke ASSOCIATED PRESS RICHMOND As school begins this foil senior Mariana Mendoza will try to get into one of the nine or so Advanced Placement classes offered by Kennedy High a struggling school in a largely blue-collar suburb Across the bay elite Lowell High in San Francisco offers more than 40 classes Statewide about 1 5 of California high schools offer no Advanced Placement courses Among the rest availability of the courses which give students a competitive edge on getting into college varies widely with some schools serving up a bounty and others a handful "I see disadvantage in all this" Mendoza says A study by the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute a Southern California think tank found that about 10X of state high school students attend schools that offer one or no Advanced Place drawal symptoms from the drug It alleges fraud deceit negligence liability and breach of warranty There was no immediate comment from the Britain-based company Calls to its US offices after business hours Friday were not returned Introduced on the US market in 1 992 Paxil is the counties second-largest selling anti-depressant Paul Domb 42 of Miami said that after he stopped taking Paxil last year he suffered from convulsions night sweats and suicidal thoughts for about six weeks ASSOCl ATED PRESS LOS ANGELES A lawsuit contends the manufacturer of the popular anti-depressant Paxil concealed evidence that the drug can be addictive The lawsuit was filed Friday on behalf of 35 people from across the country who say they suffered symptoms ranging from electriclike shocks to suicidal thoughts after discontinuing use of the drug The lawsuit which seeks class-action status and unspecified damages says GlaxoSmithldine PLC concealed the possibility of physical and psychological with- miBIUEFS Crash leads to arrest SAN MARCOS One of four people involved in an early-morning off-roading accident was arrested Saturday on suspicion of drunken driving after a sport utility vehicle veered from a dirt road and tumbled down a steep hillside authorities said Rescuers found two men a woman and a teen-age girl Saturday after a it with a Winnie the Pooh attraction The 29-year-old attraction where mechanical bears sing and play musical instruments is scheduled to dose Sept 9 Disney announced Friday The attraction could be replaced by a Winnie the Pooh ride expected to open in 2003 said A1 Lutz creator of the Mouseplanetcom an unofficial Disney Web site Disneyland had no comment Bee news services three-hour ground search complicated by fog and the inability of one of the people to describe their location during a 91 1 call by cell phone The driver Michael Wolf 28 was arrested Hayden Improving LOS ANGELES Tom Hayden the veteran lawmaker and 1960s student radical is recovering at home from a heart attack he suffered while on vacation with his family in New Mexico last weekend an aide said Hayden 61 was "up and and in good spirits Friday spokeswoman Sandy Brown said Disneyland cuts bears ANAHEIM Disneyland will dump its Country Bear Playhouse and may replace rnTnl mm j-tnji llEBc Palace Indian Gaming Center jsjgl Invites you to uwe Gome to the Palace mWK Ity Breathing Trouble getting enough air Dizziness Fainting bpeiis Lhest Fain Strong throbbing heart palpitations Fatigue Weakness Swollen ankles A legaSI 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