David Bowie, Prince, and Merle Haggard were more than icons, because they taught us about what it is to be human, says Lynn Stuart Parramore

BANKSY ART HIT BY CRUDE VANDALISM

Don and Maxine Simpson, who were married for more than 60 years, died while holding each other’s hand.

USA:

Crews have cleaned up most of the 10,000 gallons of crude oil that sprayed on to Los Angeles streets after a high-pressure pipe burst.

ENGLAND:

One student has been injured in a shooting at a rural high school in California today and another has been taken into custody, US officials said.

A student has been shot at a California high school.

Keith Costigan is still on Dublin time, having just returned to Los Angeles from a trip home.

IT is time to chill out about the potholes and spare a thought for commuters in Los Angeles who are bracing themselves for this weekend’s 53-hour closure of one of the world’s busiest motorways.

Dozens of reporters and photographers have descended on a quiet suburban street in California after reports it is the home of the mother of Arnoldc’s love child.

A pensioner is being hunted by police in the US after he pulled off his 13th bank robbery.

A DOCTOR involved in an ‘on-again, off-again’ relationship apparently tried to force her way into her boyfriend’s home by sliding down the chimney, police in California said. Her decomposing body was found there three days later.

Actor Tom Sizemore has been arrested in the Hollywood Hills on a warrant issued in a drug case.

The number of US homes heading towards repossession more than doubled in the first quarter from a year earlier, as weakening property values and tighter lending left many owners powerless to prevent them from being auctioned to the highest bidder, a research firm said today.

US actor Tom Sizemore’s 16-month prison sentence for violating probation in a drug case has been dramatically reduced.

American actor Tom Sizemore has surrendered to face a Los Angeles hearing on whether he violated probation when he was arrested for drug possession.

Filmmaker Michael Moore has vowed to protect the Ground Zero workers he brought to Cuba for medical treatment from U.S. authorities.

Veteran American character actor Tom Sizemore pleaded not guilty to drug charges in California, authorities said.

FORTY-NINE people have been indicted in a scheme that bilked thousands of dollars from a Red Cross fund designated for Hurricane Katrina victims, federal authorities said.

The number of people indicted in a scheme that defrauded the Red Cross of thousands of pounds designated for Hurricane Katrina victims has risen to 49, federal authorities in California said.

A man was killed when an argument at a busy shopping centre erupted into gunfire.

The dilapidated little bungalow that briefly housed two future US presidents named Bush in California more than a half-century ago will be turned into a museum.

Disposals by oil giant Shell are likely to top $4bn (€3.21bn) this year – twice as much as first forecast, the company said today.

Shell/Royal Dutch Group said it will close its Bakersfield refinery in California in October next year due to the fall in the heavy crude supply at its main source in San Joaquin Valley.

THE deputy head of a California elementary school has been released by police who said they did not have enough evidence to charge him with the murder of his estranged wife, mother-in-law and three children.

A junior school vice-principal wanted for questioning in connection with the murder of his estranged wife, mother-in-law and three young children turned himself in to police in North Carolina.

The FBI are hunting the deputy head of a California elementary school in connection with the murder of five people, including three children.

POLICE in California are searching for the parents of a two-year-old boy found wandering alone.

A CAMPER was arrested for allegedly starting a 55,000-acre fire that has gobbled swaths of Sequoia National Park and threatened some of the most treasured trees in the American forest system.

A California primary school has 13 sets of twins.