Around the state

BRAINERD, Minn. — Leo Mustonen’s closest surviving relatives grew up knowing little about their uncle, other than that he died in a military plane crash. That changed only with the improbable discovery of the World War II airman’s body, frozen in a California glacier for more than six decades.

A full military funeral followed at a cemetery overlooking the Mississippi River. Mustonen was 22 when his AT-7 navigational plane disappeared after takeoff from a Sacramento, Calif., airfield on Nov. 18, 1942. But Mustonen’s remains were not found until last year, when two mountain climbers in California spotted an arm jutting out of the ice. Forensic scientists at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii analyzed bones, DNA samples and the airman’s teeth before declaring in February that the body was Mustonen’s.

Man arrested after bomb found in car

SOUTH EL MONTE — A driver who ran a stop sign Friday was arrested after authorities found what they described as a homemade gunpowder bomb in his car.

Several industrial businesses were evacuated and a main boulevard in this suburb about 15 miles east of downtown Los Angeles was closed for about four hours while a bomb squad removed the device, which was not connected to a detonator.

Judge: Domestic partners same as spouses when inheriting property

SACRAMENTO — Registered domestic partners will continue to get the same tax benefits as married couples who transfer property under a recent court ruling that upheld a 2003 decision granting that right.

The ruling last week by the Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Jack Sapunor upheld the California Board of Equalization decision to extend to domestic partners a property tax exemption originally written for spouses.

Under tax code dating back to 1979, people who inherit property after the death of their spouses are exempt from the category of "change in ownership,” which would subject them to reassessment of the property’s value.

The board’s rule change was inspired by several cases in which surviving partners were forced to sell their homes because they couldn’t afford to pay the higher taxes once the property was reassessed.<