CALIFORNIA BRIEFS
LONG BEACH
Authorities say a drunken man made his way onto a California freeway while atop a horse.
KABC-TV reports California Highway Patrol responded around 1 a.m. Saturday to a report of a man riding a white horse on the eastbound California State Route 91.
Officers stopped the man and administered field sobriety tests, with the man registering a blood-alcohol level of.21 and .19 percent — or more than double the legal limit.
The man was arrested and booked for riding a horse while under the influence.
The horse, Guera, was unharmed and released to the man’s mother.
California Highway Patrol offered a message to the public on Twitter: “No, you may not ride your horse on the freeway, and certainly not while intoxicated.”
SAN BERNARDINO
Southern California authorities have arrested a suspect in an unprovoked car-to-car shooting that left a woman in critical condition.
San Bernardino police Lt. Mike Madden says the victim was struck twice by gunfire Friday while sitting in a car driven by her husband.
Madden says the woman’s husband flagged down a police officer, who stopped the suspect vehicle and arrested an unidentified man.
YOSEMITE
A well-prepared California hiker missing for six days in the icy backcountry of Yosemite National Park was found in good health after an extensive search, officials said.
A helicopter crew spotted Alan Chow on Friday above Wapama Falls near the center of the park, where overnight temperatures dipped below freezing, the National Park Service said.
Park Ranger Scott Gediman told San Francisco Bay Area news station KTVU-TV that the 36-year-old Oakland resident got lost because usually well-marked trails were covered in snow.
Chow had done everything right to survive — he was prepared and didn’t “try to walk around and get even more lost,” Gediman said.
He “did the right thing by setting up his tent, using melted snow for drinking water, had some food, had warm clothing and was able to stay put,” the ranger said.
Chow, an avid outdoorsman, planned an overnight backpacking trip alone and was last seen Feb. 17. He wasn’t officially noticed as missing until three days later when Chow didn’t show up for his job at the Alameda County Social Services Agency and a co-worker became concerned. CAMARILLO
The average price of a gallon of regular-grade gasoline dropped about 6 cents nationally over the past two weeks, to $2.59.
Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg Survey said Sunday that it’s the first decline since December. She says prices are expected to rise again as crude oil costs go up.
The current gas price is 26 cents above where it was a year ago.
Gas in San Francisco was the highest in the contiguous United States at an average of $3.38 a gallon. The lowest was in Jackson, Mississippi, at $2.23 a gallon.
Authorities in Northern California say they’ve made an arrest in a cold case involving alleged sex crimes committed two decades ago.
Placer County sheriff’s Lt. Andrew Scott says investigators re-interviewed the victim in recent weeks and were able to build a case against Jeffrey Eugene Brown.
The 49-year-old Gridley resident was arrested Feb. 22 and held in lieu of $2.52 million bail. It wasn’t known Sunday if Brown has an attorney.
The Sacramento Bee reports the crimes took place in the 1990s and involved a single victim younger than 14.
— The Associated Press