National: President Obama delivered a vigorous defense of the government’s electronic snooping into Internet traffic and telephone calls. “Nobody’s listening to the content of anyone’s phone calls,” the President said. Mr. Obama and some Congressional leaders say the surveillance is legal under the Patriot Act and approved by Congress. Responding to outrage over what had been a secret program revealed this week, the President said, “You can’t have 100 percent security and then also have 100 percent privacy and zero inconvenience.”

➢Five people died yesterday in a multiple-location shooting that ended at Santa Monica College in the beachfront city. The gunman was armed with several weapons including an assault rifle. It is believed he killed his father and brother at home, set the house on fire, and hijacked a car to be driven to the college. On the way he shot at cars, a city bus, and buildings, fatally wounding two more people before police shot him dead near the college library.

➢The FBI arrested the Texas woman who had accused her husband of sending ricin letters to President Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Investigators now believe it was Shannon Richardson herself who sent the letters and tried to make it look like her husband did it. She is the mother of five and an actress who’s had small parts in movies and television under the stage name Shannon Guess.

World: Former South African President Nelson Mandela is in the hospital again in serious condition with a lung infection.

➢Two American soldiers and a civilian were killed when a man in Afghan uniform shot them after an argument. The assailant was shot dead by other soldiers.

➢A man on a jammed Chinese commuter bus committed suicide by setting the bus on fire and killing 47 people. He left a note at home.

No Nuke: Edison International announced the permanent closing of the troubled San Onofre nuclear power plant on the edge of the Pacific between Los Angeles and San Diego. The plant had already been closed more than a year since a small leak of radioactivity.

Good Night: Richard Ramirez, the Satanic serial killer who terrorized Los Angeles as “The Night Stalker” in 1984-85 has died at 53 of liver failure. He murdered 13 victims before being captured by an angry mob on a residential street who recognized him from a police sketch. In his first court appearance he said “Hail, Satan” and revealed a pentagram drawn on his palm. He’d been on death row since his conviction.

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