The U.S. Coast Guard has called off the search for a boater who went missing near Santa Catalina Island, authorities said this morning.

Lawrence Nash, of Redondo Beach, was last seen early Sunday morning leaving a bait barge near Cabrillo Beach Marina. He called an emergency tow service from a mobile phone at about 3:30 a.m. Monday and said he was aboard a 12-foot skiff that was disabled and adrift half a mile north of the island, said Lt. j.g. Stephanie Young, a spokeswoman for the Coast Guard.

A helicopter, an airplane and rescue and patrol boats searched a total of 1,596 nautical miles north of Arrow Point, Catalina Island, the Coast Guard said in a statement this morning. Searchers found an oil can, a water cooler and seat cushions, but did not find the boat or Nash. Authorities suspended the search late Monday night.

-- Alexandra Zavis

A woman who falsely reported to Los Angeles airport officials that a man was plotting to hijack a plane was sentenced today to six months' house arrest and three years' probation, her attorney said.

Susan Monica Kriss, 24, pleaded guilty last July to one count of providing false information of a threat. Kriss was ordered today by U.S. District Court Judge Florence-Marie Cooper to undergo psychological counseling.

[Updated at 4:05 p.m.: A previous version of this post incorrectly said Kriss believed the man to be her boyfriend.]

Prosecutors said Kriss called police dispatchers at LAX in August 2007 and said Essam Beshara was planning to use chemicals to hijack a flight to Egypt. In fact, Beshara, whom Kriss had allegedly been harassing and stalking for years, was traveling to Egypt for his wedding. Beshara and his family were barred from the flight and had to buy last-minute tickets for about $14,000.

Authorities are searching today for a boater who went missing early this morning near Santa Catalina Island.

Lawrence Nash called an emergency tow service at about 3:30 a.m. from a mobile phone and said he was aboard a 12-foot skiff that was disabled and adrift half a mile north of the island, said Lt. j.g. Stephanie Young, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Coast Guard in San Pedro.

“If your boat isn’t moored onshore, you would take a skiff to get to it,” Young said. “It’s not very substantial.”

Search crews have since found an oil can, a water cooler and seat cushions in the area, but they continue to look for Nash. They have not been contacted by Nash’s family or friends.

“If people know who Mr. Nash is, we ask that they call,” Young said. “Or if they have any more amplified information, like where he was going or where he came from. With cases like this, it’s incredibly helpful.”

The Coast Guard command center can be reached at (310) 521-3801, and rescuers can be contacted at VHF radio channel 16.

-- Corina Knoll

Public health officials today reopened the Inner and Outer Cabrillo Beach after determining that 3 million gallons of treated wastewater discharged into L.A. Harbor from a nearby treatment plant did not contain harmful chemicals or bacteria.

Public health officials closed the beach Tuesday after the Los Angeles City Terminal Treatment Plant accidentally discharged wastewater -- which had already been treated for harmful waste products -- into the Los Angeles Harbor. Officials were concerned some of the water may have flowed to the beach.

"Our first priority is to protect the health and safety of the people who visit the beach and water areas," said Jonathan Fielding, director of the public health department for Los Angeles County. He said the wastewater that was discharged is used for irrigation purposes.

"The water has already been treated and it has no chemicals or bacteria," Fielding said.

-- Ruben Vives

Updated at 3:12 p.m.: Another whale washed ashore in San Diego County this morning at 6:30 in Del Mar. Authorities towed it out to sea.

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Original post: Marine researchers are trying to determine how a 62-foot fin whale that washed up in the Los Angeles Harbor this morning died, a U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman said.

A merchant vessel flying under the Hong Kong flag, the OOCL Japan, was sailing into the harbor about 6:30 a.m. when it spotted the dead whale, said Lt. j.g. Stephanie Young of the U.S. Coast Guard. The whale had been seen earlier near the Cerritos Channel, Young said. [An earlier version of this post said the OOCL Japan had been spotted.]

A federal marine biologist and a scientist from the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History were performing a necropsy to determine the cause of death. Chris Yates of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries division, said the whale may have been struck by a ship.

-- Ruben Vives

A man who police said shot and killed another man in San Pedro before barricading himself inside a home  was identified today as 48-year-old Rufus Atchley. (Note: An earlier version of this post said he barricaded himself inside a home for nearly 12 hours.)

Atchley was taken into custody about 9:10 p.m. Monday by a SWAT team, hours after the 10:30 a.m. shooting near the intersection of West 11th Street and South Grand Avenue, said Officer Sam Park of the Los Angeles Police Department.

The victim, who has not been identified, died at a hospital. Police set up a perimeter in the area and tracked Atchley to a house in the 300 block of West 19th Street, less than a mile from the site of the shooting.

Updated, 9:45 a.m.: Atchley refused to come out but other people in the home surrendered, said LAPD Officer Ana Aguirre. Atchley was later taken into custody at a different home under construction nearby that was within the police perimeter, she said.

He was booked this morning, and bail was initially set at $1 million.

-- Ari B. Bloomekatz

Photo: Los Angeles police officers aim at a house in San Pedro where a suspected gunman was thought to be hiding Monday during a search for him. Credit: Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times

Over at L.A. Now's sister blog, Greenspace, The Times' Margot Roosevelt writes about a new federal report criticizing the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to regulate emissions from foreign-flagged vessels in U.S. ports. The information has implications locally because more than 40% of all marine freight imported into the U.S. moves through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Read more about what the report found regarding emissions regulations at U.S. ports.

A Princess Cruise Line staff member arrested in Los Angeles on suspicion of sexually assaulting a female passenger was identified today by federal authorities as Jorge Manuel Teixeira, 38, a Portuguese national.

Teixeira was taken into custody after investigators and an evidence response team received a complaint about the assault and boarded the Coral Princess, which docked Monday morning in Los Angeles, authorities said. The ship was on 14-day cruise through the Panama Canal, between Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Los Angeles, said Federal Bureau of Investigation spokesperson Laura Eimiller.