Extra, Extra: Gift Cards, Not Guns.

• Don't know what to get for the gun toting rifleman who has everything? In San Francisco, turning that rifle in to authorities will net you a cool $100 gift card. Eh, you say? OK, how about $200 for AK-47s? I wonder how that conversation might go at home: Honey, where is my gun? Oh, I turned it in sweety, for $100 worth of movie rentals. You did what? Guns don't kill people, gift cards do.
  
• Perhaps Baja California might want to consider a similar program. Officials there say gunman are targeting tourists in a variety of ways that range from simple muggings to sexual assaults. Even if Baja were to adopt San Fran's program, I don't suppose being held up by a gift card has the same effect as a gun in your face does.
  
• Think before you spark. That's the message officials are trying to get across as California prosecutors are going after those who start wildfires, regardless of intent. So before you get that bonfire going on the beach, make sure that blaze is small, contained and put out before you leave. They ain't shittin around.
  
• A new study shows that most California voters will vote via absentee for the upcoming presidential election. A slight majority are Republican and conservative, but candidates from both sides will be actively pursuing potential voters well before the Feb. 5 primary. Get ready for a lot of robotron calls (Hi, this is Bill Clinton, even though many think my wife is the spawn of Satan, she deserves your vote) and election commercials (My name is Fred Thompson and even though I have no personality I should be President). Ah, the election season: it's like the gift that keeps on giving.
  
• Two people died this morning in the Riverside community of Moreno Valley when their mobile home caught fire.
  
• Well, it's closer to his southern California roots than Philadelphia, which must make new San Diego Padre pitcher Randy Wolf happy. The former El Camino Real High pitcher, Philly and Dodger for a year signed an incentive laden $9 million deal with the Pads. Counting Greg Maddux, this now makes two the number of former Dodger pitchers in the Padres starting rotation.
  
• Jay Leno, man of the people he is, will pay the salary of laid off Tonight Show workers who were let go during the writer's strike. First donuts, now this? Conan will have some big, philanthropic shoes to fill.
  
• And finally, you can paddle again! The Dept. of Parks and Recreation found money in their budget to get the paddle boats in Echo Park moving again. The boats, which costs $500 a day, had been idle since Labor Day when officials thought they had no money to keep the program afloat. It will just run on holidays for now, but it's a start!
  

Photo by pigeonexterminato via Flickr