Here are some of the stories in the Southland on Monday...
CSUN STUDENT RELEASED FROM TEHRAN PRISON ON BAIL
A Cal State Northridge graduate student arrested in Iran has been freed on bail, but can't leave the country. Esha Momeni, who holds U.S. and Iranian citizenship, was doing research for her master's thesis when she was arrested on Oct. 15. Her work has focused on a group advocating for improved rights for women in Iran. (LATimes)
FACIAL SKETCH RELEASED IN SKELETAL REMAINS CASE
Authorities hope a facial sketch based on the skeletal remains of a woman will lead to her identification. A hiker found the remains 11 months ago under a grove of trees in the Angeles National Forest. (NBCLosAngeles)
JEREMY MARK SINGH ARRESTED
An attempted-murder suspect is behind bars along with a woman accused of harboring him. Authorities say 20-year-old Jeremy Mark Singh was hiding in a closet in a Canyon Country apartment when deputies came for him. The 24-year-old woman who lives in the apartment was booked on suspicion of harboring a fugitive. Singh allegedly was involved in a non-fatal stabbing in September. (KHTS)
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PHOENIX MARS LANDER DIES
The JPL-managed Phoenix Mars Lander has stopped calling home. The NASA robot, which thrilled scientists when it verified the presence of water ice in Martian subsoil stopped signaling controllers after five months in operation. (NBCLosAngeles)
GIANT KELP REEF
Southern California Edison has completed a 175-acre artificial giant kelp reef just north of San Diego County. The utility calls the reef the first environmental restoration project of its kind. The reef was designed to compensate for environmental damage caused by the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. The cost of constructing and monitoring the reef for the next four decades will be shared by Edison and other nuclear plant owners, including San Diego Gas and Electric Company. (SoCal Edison)
GAS PRICES DROP
The average price of a gallon of self-serve unleaded gasoline continues to fall. The Oil Price Information Service reports that the average fell in Los Angeles County today by 2.4 cents -- the 55th consecutive day of declining gasoline prices. Unleaded regular now averages just under $2.60 in LA County and $2.56 in Orange County. For both counties, that's a drop of nearly 25 cents per gallon in one week. (NBCLosAngeles)
MAYOR GOES TO THE RESTROOM
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa makes a trip to a man's restroom in a Century City high-rise Monday morning to promote water conservation measures by the city's business community. The mayor will be showcasing waterless urinals -- which can get you a rebate of up to $200 per unit from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. (NBCLosAngeles)
DEPUTY, HORSE TRAINER INJURED IN COVINA CRASH
An LA County sheriff's deputy and a well-known horse trainer were seriously injured over the weekend in a crash in Covina. The squad car driven by 39-year-old Deputy Brian Harper of the sheriff's San Dimas Station collided with a 1989 Cadillac Seville driven by 72-year-old horse trainer Arthur Lerille before dawn Saturday morning . The San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported that the collision occurred when the black-and-white went through a red light on Arrow Highway at Sunflower Avenue while responding to an emergency call. (San Gabriel Valley Tribune)
SECURITY PACIFIC BANK BRANCHES REOPEN AS PACIFIC WESTERN
LA-based Security Pacific Bank re-opens Monday as Pacific Western Bank. State regulators closed the bank Friday, saying it was perilously under-capitalized. Pacific Western is to assume all deposits of Security Pacific, which had four branches in Los Angeles. Customers of the failed bank will automatically become depositors of Pacific Western. (NBCLosAngeles)
NORTH HILLS SHOOTING DEATH
An investigation is under way into the shooting death of a 40-year-old man near a middle school in North Hills. The Los Angeles Police Department says the man's body was found on a sidewalk in front of Sepulveda Middle School at Columbus Avenue and Plummer Street at around 9:45 p.m. Sunday. There's no known motive, and the victim's name was withheld.
TEMPS TO WARM UP AS WEEK GOES ON
Mostly sunny skies on Monday morning will become partly cloudy by afternoon. We should experience a fair bit of gusty winds in mountain and valley areas through Wednesday. Highs on Monday will be in the 60s, and then we'll see a warming trend that will produce temperatures in the 90s by the end of the week. (NBCLosAngeles)
