In brief: Schwarzenegger eases sentences

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday commuted the manslaughter sentence of the son of California’s former Assembly speaker and also granted clemency to a woman who killed her former pimp in a motel room when she was 16.

The moves come just before Schwarzenegger is scheduled to leave office today.

Schwarzenegger said he believed the 16-year prison sentence that Esteban Nunez was serving was “excessive” in reducing his sentence from 16 years to seven years.

Nunez is the son of Fabian Nunez, a Democrat who served as Assembly speaker from 2004 to 2008.

Nunez pleaded guilty in May to voluntary manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon for his role in a fight that killed a 22-year-old man near San Diego State University in 2008.

Prosecutors said Nunez and friends went looking for a fight after they were refused entry to a fraternity party. Defense attorney Brad Patton said the men acted in self-defense.

The governor also granted clemency to Sara Kruzan, who was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole for the 1994 shooting death of George Gilbert Howard. Schwarzenegger reduced her sentence to 25 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors said Kruzan was no longer working for Howard when she killed him. Her clemency petition cited years of abuse.

2011 starts with glitch for iPhoners

CUPERTINO, Calif. – Many iPhone customers had some explaining to do after they overslept to start the new year, due to a glitch in the gadget’s alarm clock feature.

Users who set their iPhone alarm for a single wake-up rather than recurring use found the alarm didn’t go off with the year’s arrival, Apple spokeswoman Natalie Harrison said Sunday.

A fix is in the works, and all iPhone alarms will work properly starting today, she said.

The glitch affects iPhones using Apple’s latest iOS 4.0 operating system.

Gabor to have part of leg amputated

LOS ANGELES – Zsa Zsa Gabor was hospitalized Sunday to undergo surgery to have part of her right leg amputated because gangrene was setting in, a representative said.

Doctors examined a lesion on Gabor’s leg that had gone from just over an inch to about a foot and was growing gangrenous, publicist John Blanchette said.

He said the amputation would be just above the knee.

Gabor, 93, was taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center for surgery.