A dog that belongs to a relative of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords attacked and killed a sea lion along the Laguna Beach shoreline, police said Monday.

A video of the violent encounter shows Giffords’ stepdaughter and husband trying to pull the canine from the limp mammal as the surf rolls in. A copy of the video was sent to The Los Angeles Times.

Laguna Beach police received a call at 2 p.m. Saturday and arrived to find that the 65-pound American bulldog mix had broken free from its 18-year-old owner and attacked a beached sea lion on a public beach near the exclusive Montage Laguna Beach, Capt. Jason Kravetz said in an email.

The video taken by a local resident shows Giffords’ stepdaughter struggling to free the sea lion. Giffords’ husband, Mark Kelly, appears later in the video, running down and pulling the dog off the sea lion, both police and a senior advisor to Giffords confirmed.

(Warning: Explicit language)

Kelly and Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, are vacationing in Laguna Beach.

Kelly brought the dog back to the house where the family is staying and crated it in the basement before meeting with police, said Jen Bluestein, senior advisor for Americans for Responsible Solutions, a political action committee started by Giffords and Kelly, in an email.

Giffords was not at the scene of the incident and has no connection to the dog, she added.

The dog lives with the stepdaughter in Houston; Giffords and Kelly live in Tucson.

Police did not cite the owner “because it was legal for her to have the dog on the beach this time of year, and she did have it leashed. It was so strong that it pulled free of her when it saw the (sea lion),” Kravetz said.

It’s illegal for an owner to encourage a dog to attack marine life. “That wasn’t the case in this situation,” Kravetz said.

The sea lion died.

(Los Angeles Times)

Two men who were caught on a cellphone video kicking a motionless motorist on a Los Angeles freeway have pleaded no contest and been sentenced.

City News Service reports 22-year-old David Mendez and 27-year-old Edras Ramirez were sentenced Tuesday to three years of probation, 45 days of freeway cleanup service and 36 anger management sessions.

Cellphone video footage showed the two fighting the beaten motorist, Jerry Patterson, and leaving him lying on the freeway. That same footage captured the license plate, allowing authorities to find the driver.

The men turned themselves in after this (violent) footage circulated in local media.

(Associated Press)

Find out what kind of insect is being blamed for killing large oak trees in Southern California and what, if anything, can be done about it:

SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, CA – Two dogs in California share an inseparable bond. One is blind – the other is his guide.

Animal welfare workers said they found Isaac and Isabella found together wondering the streets of San Bernardino County Monday.

Isaac is a blind Husky and Isabella, his small Terrier mix friend who also serves as his Seeing Eye dog.

“It’s just really remarkable how she’s always trying to be aware of where Isaac’s at and you know if he’s not right behind her, she’ll stop and wait for him to catch up with her,” Hermosa Animal Hospital’s Lindsey Riggins said. “It’s really funny and just like I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

Animal rescue group STAND is looking to place the pair into a good home.

“She keeps her eye on him at all times like a little pilot fish.” STAND Foundation’s Dan Guss said. “There’s a work relationship between these two, and there’s a love relationship between these two and how they know what the other needs or what the other is saying is amazing. It’s like an old couple that’s been married for 60 years and they just know what’s going on with the other person.”

(News 10 Sacramento)

STOCKTON, CA – Craig Stapleton is 51 with more than 7,000 jumps in his experience. What happened last weekend near Lodi nearly ended that passion and his life.

Stapleton was involved in a flag-unfurling stunt with a partner when things went wrong.

“As we separated a lanyard out to get the flag out, I got to the end too fast. There was so much momentum it flipped me around. I snapped back, like a dog at the end of a leash,” said Stapleton.

His main parachute began wrapping around his arms. At 1,700 feet, and falling fast, Stapleton opened his backup chute but that got tangled with the main device.

“I was convinced I was going to die. I looked at the ground and was still spiraling and thought ‘this is where I’m going to die,'” said Stapleton.

The fall was caught on home video by someone on the ground near the Lodi Parachute Center. Stapleton figures he was traveling about 30 miles per hour when he landed among grapevines.

“I landed between the grapes. It was the only field they’d plowed already.

Reporter: “What grape?”

Stapleton: “I think it was zin.”

Reporter: “Do you like zin?”

Stapleton: “I do now!”

(News 10 Sacramento)

This weekend is the final weekend of Winter. Residents can probably tell that Spring is rapidly approaching by the increasing amount of events to choose from during the weekends. From live theater to 5k run/walks, fundraising dinners to parades, snow skiiing to water sports, no one can legitimately claim that there is nothing to do in the Mother Lode. For an entire calander listing of events, go to http://wwww.mymotherlode.com/events

Four men were arrested for a Jan. 27 stunt where up to 250 motorcyclists shut down part of the eastbound 10 Freeway in West Covina so one of them could propose to his girlfriend, officials said Monday.

According to California Highway Patrol Sgt. Kurt Stormes, the CHP served arrest warrants Thursday morning on three residences. A fourth man turned himself in later that morning at the Baldwin Park CHP office.

Hector Martinez, 24, of Covina, Mike John David Gutierrez, 38, of Lynwood, Giovanni Mendez, 19, of La Puente and Rudy Cadena, 24, of Long Beach were booked at the sheriff’s Industry station on suspicion of misdemeanor public nuisance and participation in an unlawful assembly. Martinez, who made the proposal, was also booked on suspicion of exhibition of speed. Booking records show Martinez, Mendez and Cadena were released Thursday.

Martinez couldn’t be reached for comment Monday night.

The proposal which halted traffic took place on the eastbound 10, west of Barranca Avenue at 1:25 p.m. Jan. 27.

Stormes said approximately 200 to 250 motorcyclists stopped simultaneously, blocking all lanes.

After his girlfriend got off his motorcycle, Martinez then allegedly “performed a burn out for several seconds “, the sergeant said.

“Several of the riders also dismounted their bikes. Mr. Martinez then proposed to his passenger. Several of the motorcyclists on scene applauded, videotaped and photographed the incident.”

Afterward, he said the group got off at Barranca Avenue and attended a motorcycle event at the Hooters restaurant on South Garvey Avenue. He said the four men were identified during the investigation.

Martinez had been named by media earlier.

Authorities have taken a dim view of people pulling stunts on the freeway.

(San Gabriel Valley Tribune)

Watch nearly every student at Sonora High School in 2011 participate in this one-shot music video. If you know some of these faces, then you’ll find that it has already turned into a fun time-capsule.

The music choice is odd, but the first person ski-camera is amazing!

Tioga High School students try their own version of the Harlem Shake! We’re told that this is the drama class: