People in Baltimore street despite curfew...LA sheriff's department settles over civil rights abuses

BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore police have been firing pepper balls toward crowds of people still on the streets despite the start of a curfew. Some people have been throwing bottles, smoke bombs and fireworks, which have sent smoke wafting across an intersection where police have established lines. There have been no signs of arrests being made yet. Riots and looting erupted in Baltimore yesterday after the funeral of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died of an unexplained spinal-cord injury suffered while in police custody.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The nation's largest sheriff's department has agreed to a sweeping settlement with the U.S. Justice Department over long-standing civil rights abuses by deputies in the Mojave Desert. The deal approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors comes less than two years after federal prosecutors found a pattern of discrimination that included unconstitutional stops, searches, seizures and excessive force against blacks and Hispanics in Palmdale and Lancaster.

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria's army says it has rescued nearly 300 girls and women during an offensive against Boko Haram militants in the Sambisa Forest of northeastern Nigeria. That's where the Islamic extremist group took nearly 300 schoolgirls after kidnapping them a year ago from the town of Chibok. However, an army says the girls and women rescued today did not include any of the Chibok girls.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Hundreds of people have protested outside the Japanese Consulate in San Francisco, calling on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (shin-zoh ah-bay) to apologize for his country's treatment of people from other Asian countries during World War II. The protest comes days before the prime minister is scheduled to visit California as part of weeklong trip to the United States that includes tonight's state dinner at the White House.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California water regulators say they are not overhauling a contentious plan that orders California communities to reduce water use because of the drought. Water control board officials say the plan still demands cutting water use by as much as 36 percent compared with 2013. The conservation targets are based on how much water residents used last summer, but some local water departments say they're unfair and unrealistic.

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