“Argo” and “Life of Pi” are big winners in the 85th Academy Awards.  ”Argo” collected the Best Picture Oscar for its intense telling of the rescue of six American diplomats from revolutionary Iran in 1980.  Best Director winner Ang Lee’s shipwreck fantasy “Life of Pi” won the most Oscars with four.

Police continue searching for the suspect in last week’s deadly shooting on the Las Vegas Strip.  Investigators found a black Range Rover apparently driven by 26-year-old Ammar Harris in a gated community near where aspiring rap artist Kenneth Cherry  Junior was shot and killed.  Cherry’s Maserati crashed into a taxicab, killing two people.

The Fontana School Board will meet in a special session Wednesday to discuss the purchase of 14 military-style rifles.  Interim school district police Chief Bill Green decided to buy the semi-automatic weapons in case of “imminent danger.”  It infuriated some school board members who say that arming police officers with rifles is a huge departure from policy.

President Obama will make the case against sequestration cuts when he meets with governors later today. The sequester will chop about 85 million dollars off the federal budget this year, and much of that will hit states’ budgets.

Oil giant BP is scheduled to go on trial today for the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The Justice Department and five Gulf Coast states accuse BP of deliberately paying little attention to normal safety procedures in operating offshore rig.

Jimmie Johnson rallied to win his second Daytona 500 yesterday.  The five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion held off Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the final lap.  Pole sitter Danica Patrick finished in eighth place.