Free Republic

Los Angeles (CNN) -- A man charged with breaking into LL Cool J's home Wednesday morning faces a long prison sentence if convicted because of his previous convictions, the prosecutor's spokeswoman said Thursday. Jonathan Kirby, 56, suffered a broken nose, jaw and ribs when he encountered the muscular rapper-actor inside his Sherman Oaks, Caklifornia, home, according to Los Angeles County District Attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons.

Thousands of hapless travelers were trapped Wednesday on the Long Beach Freeway, and a possibly related accident resulted in the death of one man, as police waited out a kidnapping suspect whose getaway car had stalled on the highway. SNIP One hour turned to another, and the stretch of freeway that carries 215,000 vehicles a day remained gridlocked as morning turned to afternoon. More than four hours later, a man in a white T-shirt wanted in the reported kidnapping of a young woman late last year emerged from a maroon Ford minivan in South Gate and gave himself up. SNIP...