LOS ANGELES -- Two huge wildfires driven by strong Santa Ana winds burned into neighborhoods near Los Angeles yesterday, forcing frantic evacuations on smoke- and traffic-choked highways, destroying homes and causing at least two deaths.

More than 1,000 firefighters and nine water-dropping aircraft battled the 5,300-acre Marek Fire at the northeast end of the San Fernando Valley, and the 3,000-acre Sesnon Fire in the Porter Ranch area at the west end. Winds blew up to 45 mph with gusts reaching 70 mph.

One person was killed in a fiery head-on collision around midday when police closed the 118 Freeway because of flames. Earlier, a fatality was discovered at the Marek Fire. The man appeared to have been a transient living in a makeshift shelter, officials said.

About 1,200 people evacuated due to the Marek Fire, which was just 5 percent contained.

OMAHA, Neb. -- A Michigan mother drove roughly 12 hours to Omaha, so she could abandon her 13-year-old son at a hospital under the state's unique safe-haven law, Nebraska officials said yesterday.

The boy from the Detroit area is the second teenager from outside Nebraska and 18th child overall abandoned in the state since the law took effect in July. He has been placed in an emergency shelter.

Nebraska's safe-haven law allows anyone, not just a parent, to drop off a child, of any age, at any state-licensed hospital without fear of prosecution for abandonment. The law doesn't absolve anyone of charges like abuse or neglect.

State officials have stressed that the safe-haven law should be used only for children in immediate danger; some worry the broadly written law could make the state a dumping ground for unwanted children.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Gay couples from around California and the nation are feverishly tying the knot ahead of Election Day to avoid missing out if voters approve a ballot initiative banning same-sex marriage.

Proposition 8 would amend the state constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman. If approved, it would overturn a California Supreme Court ruling that made the state only the second, after Massachusetts, to legalize same-sex marriage. On Friday in Connecticut, the state Supreme Court ruled the state would be the third to allow gay marriage.

Since same-sex marriage became legal in California in mid-June, at least 11,000 couples have exchanged vows statewide.

U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt just discovered that she broke ribs and vertebrae when hit by a car while jogging last week. The injuries were discovered when she fainted during a recent trip. ...General Motors Corp. will close a Michigan metal stamping plant and stop making sport utility vehicles in Wisconsin by the end of the year. The plant employs about 1,340 hourly and 180 salaried workers.