In brief: Water main burst near UCLA lost 20 million gallons

LOS ANGELES – The rupture of a nearly century-old water main that ripped a 15-foot hole through Sunset Boulevard and turned a swath of the University of California, Los Angeles into a mucky mess sent more than 20 million gallons of water cascading from a water main.

The flooding comes in the midst of California’s worst drought in decades and as tough new state fines took effect for residents who waste water by hosing down driveways or using a hose without a nozzle to wash their car.

The 30-inch pipe that burst Tuesday near UCLA shot a 30-foot geyser into the air that sent water down storm drains and onto campus. The pipe was still gushing 1,000 gallons a minute Wednesday, and officials said repairs could take another two days. At its peak, water was gushing out of the break in the riveted steep pipe at a rate of 75,000 gallons a minute. The amount of water spilled could serve more than 100,000 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers for a day.

War College to rule in plagiarism case

HELENA – The U.S. Army War College will have the final say over whether any punishment is warranted in a plagiarism investigation of Sen. John Walsh of Montana.

Spokeswoman Carol Kerr said Wednesday that the Department of Defense and U.S. Army inspectors general will be notified before the release of the findings, but the authority to take disciplinary action remains with the college.

Provost Lance Betros previously said the Defense Department had asserted jurisdiction over the investigation because it involved a member of Congress, and the department would decide any sanctions.

A New York Times story showed Walsh used others’ work without attribution in a 2007 research paper.

Sleeping boy, 8, killed by gunfire

DETROIT – Numerous shots were fired at an apartment building in Detroit on Wednesday morning, with one piercing a wall and hitting an 8-year-old boy who was sleeping. The child died 45 minutes later.

No arrests were made, but police were speaking with a “person of interest” in the case, Detroit police Officer Adam Madera said.

Police given leeway at abortion clinics

BOSTON – Police now have increased authority to break up crowds gathering around Massachusetts abortion clinic entrances under a bill the governor signed on Wednesday.

Gov. Deval Patrick’s signing comes a little more than one month after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a 2007 Massachusetts law that established a protest-free 35-foot “buffer zone” around clinic entrances.

The new law allows police to disperse protesters who are substantially impeding access to a clinic. Those individuals must stay at least 25 feet from the clinic’s entrances for up to eight hours.