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California declares power emergency

In an unprecedented electricity emergency, California avoided blackouts by tapping power from enormous water pumps. But worried authorities awaited a new threat – an expected blast of arctic air that could send energy demands soaring.

California declared an electricity alert Thursday after the state’s overwhelmed power grid, crippled by idled power plants and scant supplies, struggled to meet evening demands.

The Stage Three alert lasted about two hours in the evening and followed hours of increasing stress on California’s electricity grid, which has been strapped by cold weather, power plants idled for maintenance and repairs, and dwindling imports.

But a cold snap expected to hit the West on Sunday, coupled with scarce resources elsewhere in the region, means California will face the same threat next week, said officials with the California Independent System Operator. ISO controls the power grid for much of the western United States.

“The Northwest is also expecting cold weather and a lot of power we use is from there and won’t be coming down here,” said Jim McIntosh, director of scheduling for the ISO. “Monday is going to be a really big challenge.”

If enough power can’t be found when the demand peaks, it means the ISO could order rotating blackouts, where blocks of up to 100,000 customers could be without power for up to an hour. In the winter months, that’s especially dangerous, because the evening peak is about 6 p.m., said Jim Detmers, managing director of operations at ISO.

Ninth graders to take practice exam

Gov. Davis wants the ninth graders who volunteer to try his new high school graduation test in March to take only a practice test that won’t really count for them.

Davis is worried that allowing the ninth graders who do well to actually pass the test, as required by current law, would jeopardize the legality of the test, his interim education secretary told the state Board of Education on Thursday.

“That one part of the law would make our test development illegal on its face,” interim secretary John Mockler said.

Davis plans to ask the legislature next month to pass an emergency bill to change the law and make the March test only a practice exam.

Audit sheds light on Irvine cadaver scandal

An internal audit by the University of California at Irvine, alleges that the former director of its cadaver program misappropriated money and tried to cover it up.

The report portrays the university’s Willed Body Program in disarray under the direction of Christopher Brown, who was fired after allegations were leveled by officials that he sold body parts, mishandled human remains and held anatomy courses in secret.

The report’s findings also shed more light on the details of the scandal that rocked one of the nation’s top medical schools last year and forced the temporary closure of its donated body program.

“The initial investigation ... revealed issues regarding the misuse of university assets, conflicts of interest and lack of internal controls,” Thomas C. Cesario, dean of the UCI College of Medicine, said in a letter accompanying the audit. The “audit found no evidence that donated bodies were used for anything other than scientific research or academic purposes.”

But the 29-page report, released this week, alleged Brown performed an unauthorized autopsy at the university for his sister-in-law’s sociology class, improperly solicited cash donations and overcharged the university for travel expenses. It also detailed steps the university has taken to change oversight of the donated body program.

Compiled from Daily Bruin wire reports.