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Ex-cop accused of sex crime accepts plea deal

MODESTO, CA - A former Modesto police officer accused of sexually assaulting a woman walked out of court a free man on Friday after accepting a plea deal.

Lee Freddie Gaines II was arrested in March 2012 after a woman accused of him of handcuffing her and forcible oral copulation, Modesto police said.

RELATED STORY: Modesto cop accused of forcible sex crimes on duty

The investigation into Gaines began on Jan. 8, 2012 after the department received a report of the alleged crime. The victim said the alleged crimes were committed while Gaines, a uniformed officer, was on the job. Police said Gaines was placed on administrative leave after the report was filed and then terminated in February 2012.

Calif. snowpack just 17 percent of normal

ECHO SUMMIT, Calif. (AP) - California's last snow survey of the season is bad news for the millions of state residents who rely on the snowpack for their water.  

The state Department of Water Resources found the water content in the snowpack on Thursday was 17 percent of normal, an ominous situation for a state that depends on a steady stream of snowmelt to replenish reservoirs throughout the summer.  

In some places, there was no snow at all.  

State officials are projecting they will deliver just 35 percent of the water that has been requested from the 29 agencies that rely on the snowmelt, which supplies more than 25 million Californians.  

This year has been one of the driest rainy seasons on record in some parts of California.

Fugitives accused of child abuse, manslaughter

SACRAMENTO, CA - A couple from Mississippi wanted for felony child abuse, child endangerment and manslaughter may be in Central or Northern California, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

This isn't the first time Marshals have sought the public's help in finding Janet and Ramon Barreto. The pair are wanted in connection to the 2008 death of their toddler Enna Barreto in Mississippi. During a search of the Barretos' Mississippi home, law enforcement reported finding multiple children bound with duct tape and living in a trailer filled with feces. Some of the children were found to have food stored in their cheeks, because, they told investigators, they didn't know when they would next get food.

Also on the Barretos' property: malnourished puppies in a puppy mill the couple operated, according to investigators.

Ramon Barreto is believed to have a connection in Guatamala that involves child trafficking, the Marshal's news release said.

Sacramento Kings should stay, recommends NBA panel

SACRAMENTO, CA - It's not the final decision but Monday, the NBA committee tasked with examining two competing bids for the Sacramento Kings recommended to the league's Board of Governors to deny the team's application to move to the Seattle.

The committee's vote was unanimous, 7-0 (some of the 12 members serve on both the relocation and finance committees which worked together on the reviewing the offers).

With the "all-in" vote, News10 Sports anchor Bryan May says that gives Sacramento at least 12 votes, more than the eight needed (to block a Seattle move) when the full vote by the Board of Governors (the 30 team owners or their representatives) is taken.

The owners have at least seven days to review the committee's recommendation before calling a meeting to vote. The NBA said Monday the owners would convene the week of May 13 to vote.

Pending US home sales reach 3-year high in March

WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes rose in March to the highest level in three years.

The National Association of Realtors says that its seasonally adjusted index for pending home sales rose 1.5 percent to 105.7. That's the highest since April 2010, when a homebuyer's tax credit boosted sales. It's also above February's reading of 104.1.

Signed contracts are 7 percent higher than they were a year earlier. There is generally a one- to two-month lag between a signed contract and a completed sale. Still, sales are being held back by limited supply.

Sales of previously occupied homes dipped in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.92 million, down from 4.95 million in February.

Small business growth stifled amid improving job market

SACRAMENTO - Recent statistics are showing a decline in the number of new, small businesses in the United States. 

Some economists believe one reason fewer small businesses are opening up shop comes down to the fact that potential entrepreneurs are capitalizing on an improving job market, choosing to join the general workforce rather than venturing out on their own.

According to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, there were an estimated 514,000 new business owners per month in the U.S in 2012. That number is down from 543,000 per month in 2011, and 565,000 in 2010 which was the peak of the recession.

In regards to Sacramento specifically, the city recently made a list of the most unfriendly cities for small businesses, due in part to high tax rates.

Bills would expand Yosemite National Park

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Two members of California's Congressional delegation have introduced bills that would expand the boundaries of Yosemite National Park for the first time in 70 years.  

Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Jim Costa introduced the companion bills on Tuesday.  

They would add 1,600 acres on the park's western border to its existing 761,000-acre territory, fulfilling the vision of famed naturalist John Muir. He had argued for the land's inclusion more than a century ago, but lost out to timber interests.  

The land offers stunning views of the Merced River. Pacific Forest Trust has agreed with a group of private landowners to sell it to the National Park Service. The value still has to be appraised.  

Costa and Feinstein, both Democrats, say the money would come from fees from offshore oil drilling.