Los Angeles Times

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  • Egypt presidential candidates clash in TV debate

    L.A. Times - Middle East
    11 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    The exchange between former diplomat Amr Moussa and Islamist favorite Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh would have been unthinkable under President Hosni Mubarak.CAIRO — Egyptians gathered in living rooms and cafes Thursday night to mark another first in their troubled political odyssey toward a new democracy: a televised presidential debate that was as captivating as it was surreal.

  • Defense rests its case in John Edwards trial, without Rielle Hunter

    Los Angeles Times - Top News
    16 May 2012 | 1:27 pm
    The defense in ex-Sen. John Edwards’ campaign finance trial rested its case Wednesday without the former presidential candidate or his former mistress taking the stand.

  • Assisted suicide or a show of love?

    L.A. Times - Most E-mailed Stories
    16 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Alan Purdy, 88, sat by while his beloved Margaret, 84 and in unrelieved pain, killed herself. San Diego County authorities arrested him, but the issue is tough for everyone involved.SAN MARCOS, Calif. —When paramedics arrived at the Purdy home March 20, Margaret was seated in her favorite chair in the living room. The morning sunshine streamed in through a picture window that overlooked a valley. A plastic bag was over her head, tied securely at the neck.

  • Manny Pacquiao banned from L.A. mall over gay comments

    L.A. Times - California | Local News
    16 May 2012 | 12:39 pm
    Boxer Manny Pacquiao has been banned from the Grove shopping mall because of comments he made about gay marriage.

  • Brown stymied by same budget dysfunction that plagued predecessors

    L.A. Times - California Politics
    16 May 2012 | 2:43 am
    California's governor is stuck between Republicans who refuse tax hikes, Democrats who resist cuts and a tangle of special interests and voter-mandated requirements on where money can be spent.SACRAMENTO — Jerry Brown told voters he was different — that only he, a septuagenarian government veteran with no aspirations to higher office, could fix the cycle of swelling budget deficits that has plagued California for more than a decade.
 
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    L.A. Times - Most E-mailed Stories

  • Assisted suicide or a show of love?

    16 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Alan Purdy, 88, sat by while his beloved Margaret, 84 and in unrelieved pain, killed herself. San Diego County authorities arrested him, but the issue is tough for everyone involved.SAN MARCOS, Calif. —When paramedics arrived at the Purdy home March 20, Margaret was seated in her favorite chair in the living room. The morning sunshine streamed in through a picture window that overlooked a valley. A plastic bag was over her head, tied securely at the neck.

  • Mexican novelist, essayist Carlos Fuentes dies

    15 May 2012 | 2:28 pm
    Author Carlos Fuentes, who played a dominant role in Latin America's novel-writing boom by delving into the failed ideals of the Mexican revolution, died Tuesday in a Mexico City hospital. He was 83.Author Carlos Fuentes, who played a dominant role in Latin America's novel-writing boom by delving into the failed ideals of the Mexican revolution, died Tuesday in a Mexico City hospital. He was 83.

  • Snakes on Aisle 3: Man bitten by rattlesnake at Wal-Mart

    15 May 2012 | 2:24 pm
    SEATTLE -- A weekend shopping trip to Wal-Mart is usually guaranteed to produce an intriguing cast of characters, but a rattlesnake? Really? Ask Mica Craig, a Clarkston, Wash., man who was apparently bitten by a rattlesnake when he reached down to check the price on a bag of garden mulch.

  • Analysis: Gay marriage decision not working in Obama's favor so far

    15 May 2012 | 10:18 am
    WASHINGTON -- It’s been one week since President Obama, prodded into action by Vice President Joe Biden’s remarks on a Sunday talk show, granted Robin Roberts of ABC News an interview in which he revealed his personal policy shift on gay marriage. Whether or not Obama’s decision, and the way it was handled politically, will make a difference on election day is still anyone’s guess — and may always be. Parsing reactions by millions of individual voters, particularly on an issue that ranks far below other concerns for most Americans, obviously involves a measure of…

  • As India's old ways change, senior-care homes are on the rise

    15 May 2012 | 7:00 am
    More of India's urban families are rejecting traditional extended-family households, so older relatives are increasingly moving into elder-care facilities, an idea long stigmatized in the country.TRIVANDRUM, India — R. Padmanathan Nair sits on a plastic chair in the entryway of the Heritage senior home talking about the fellow residents who treat him like family, which is helpful seeing as his own rarely visits.
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    L.A. Times - California | Local News

  • Manny Pacquiao banned from L.A. mall over gay comments

    16 May 2012 | 12:39 pm
    Boxer Manny Pacquiao has been banned from the Grove shopping mall because of comments he made about gay marriage.

  • Pro wrestler sexually assaulted girl, 12, jury finds

    16 May 2012 | 9:00 am
    A parolee was convicted Monday of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old Santa Ana girl he met on MySpace.

  • Brown stymied by same budget dysfunction that plagued predecessors

    16 May 2012 | 2:43 am
    California's governor is stuck between Republicans who refuse tax hikes, Democrats who resist cuts and a tangle of special interests and voter-mandated requirements on where money can be spent.SACRAMENTO — Jerry Brown told voters he was different — that only he, a septuagenarian government veteran with no aspirations to higher office, could fix the cycle of swelling budget deficits that has plagued California for more than a decade.

  • Assessor corruption probe widening, indictments expected, D.A. says

    16 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    L.A. County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley also accuses the union representing assessor's office workers of interfering with the investigation.Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said Tuesday that the corruption investigation of Assessor John Noguez has grown to include multiple targets and that he intends to seek grand jury indictments in the near future.

  • Ready to blaze a trail for tax hike

    16 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Molly Munger says her plan to raise $10 billion a year through income taxes is better than the 'tiny Band-Aid' proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown. She's prepared to fight for children and schools.In March, when I wrote that the tax increase proposals by Gov. Jerry Brown and civil rights attorney Molly Munger were unimaginative if not doomed, I got an email from Munger.
 
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    L.A. Times - California Politics

  • Brown stymied by same budget dysfunction that plagued predecessors

    16 May 2012 | 2:43 am
    California's governor is stuck between Republicans who refuse tax hikes, Democrats who resist cuts and a tangle of special interests and voter-mandated requirements on where money can be spent.SACRAMENTO — Jerry Brown told voters he was different — that only he, a septuagenarian government veteran with no aspirations to higher office, could fix the cycle of swelling budget deficits that has plagued California for more than a decade.

  • Jerry Brown's plea to voters: 'Please increase taxes temporarily'

    15 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Gov. Jerry Brown's proposal for closing California's $16-billion funding gap includes 4-day state workweeks and Medi-Cal cuts. He warns that cuts will be even more severe if voters reject tax hikes on the November ballot.SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown released a plan to close California's rapidly growing deficit by switching state offices to a four-day week, slashing welfare benefits and healthcare for the poor and relying on a variety of short-term fixes — all in the hopes that voters will give the state some breathing room by raising taxes in November.

  • California offered piece of the action from Internet poker

    15 May 2012 | 12:34 am
    Casino operators lobby hard for legalization by the state. Co-sponsors of a state legalization bill hope it could raise hundreds of millions for the budget-battered state.SACRAMENTO — As state leaders sweat over another possible round of cuts from schools and social services, casino operators are offering officials a cut of the action if they will legalize Internet poker in California.

  • Cigarette tax is a lifesaver

    14 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Tobacco companies are taking aim at Proposition 29, which would raise cigarette taxes $1 a pack. But they're blowing smoke.SACRAMENTO — Cigarette makers have a certified history of deception, distortion and lying. And let's not forget fraud and racketeering.

  • June primary is key test for state's top-two election system

    14 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Candidates are campaigning earlier, spending more money and trying to broaden their appeal as only those who come in first and second will advance to the November ballot.In the first broad test of California's new "top-two" election system, many candidates in heated races for Congress and the state Legislature have been campaigning earlier, spending more money and downplaying their party affiliation as they try to widen their appeal.
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    L.A. Times - Orange County News

  • Homeless man's mother settles with Fullerton over his death

    16 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Cathy Thomas will receive $1 million from the city. Her son Kelly died after a violent confrontation with six police officers. The agreement does not resolve a claim filed by the victim's father, Ron.The mother of a mentally ill homeless man who died after he was beaten by Fullerton police has reached a settlement with the city that will pay her $1 million, officials announced Tuesday evening.

  • Mailer with George Wallace image backs O.C. supervisor hopeful

    16 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    The letter to American Independent Party members supports Villa Park Councilwoman Deborah Pauly's campaign. It was written by a man who says he was chairman of Wallace's bid for president in 1967.The political mailer that arrived recently in Orange County mailboxes seemed from a different era, embossed with a tiny portrait of former Alabama Gov. George Wallace's face and the campaign slogan "Wallace for President, Stand up for America."

  • New Trestles bridge opens

    15 May 2012 | 12:10 am
    Much of the original, 1941 wooden structure near the famed San Diego County surf spot has been replaced — under budget and six months ahead of schedule — with reinforced concrete.With an Amtrak Pacific Surfliner crossing over the new Trestles bridge on Monday morning, local transportation officials marked the completion of a multimillion-dollar project to replace the storied, but worn-down, wooden structure that has served as the gateway to a San Diego County beach regarded as a birthplace of Southern California's surf culture.

  • Bringing back San Juan Capistrano's swallows is one tough mission

    13 May 2012 | 6:41 pm
    The tiny bird that put San Juan Capistrano on the map has snubbed the mission in recent years. A recording of a mating call is a last-ditch effort to lure them back.A bird's call rings endlessly inside the adobe walls at Mission San Juan Capistrano as tourists wander through the courtyard —ablaze with flowers in full bloom — and a handful of fourth-graders snap pictures and take notes for class projects.

  • Contingency plan for Southern California power back on track

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Two retired generators at a Huntington Beach power plant are back online, ready to kick in this summer to replace electricity from the shuttered San Onofre plant.California's energy grid operator announced that two mothballed generators at a natural-gas-powered plant on the Huntington Beach coastline are back in service, a critical piece of the plan to replace power from the shuttered San Onofre nuclear power plant this summer.
 
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    L.A. Times - National News

  • Trayvon Martin case: Details on Zimmerman injuries, but no answers

    16 May 2012 | 10:43 am
    An autopsy of Trayvon Martin, the black unarmed teenager who was fatally shot by a Florida neighborhood watch volunteer, shows that his body had injuries to the knuckles, while a medical report on the shooter, George Zimmerman, shows that he suffered a broken nose, two black eyes, and cuts on the back of his head, according to a Florida TV news channel and ABC News .

  • A terminally ill uncle, a Reddit post -- then the 'extraordinary'

    16 May 2012 | 9:19 am
    It started about a month ago with a single post on Reddit.com:

  • Novel alternative presidential ticket falls short

    16 May 2012 | 7:31 am
    Americans Elect, which promised an alternative ticket based on an online nominating process, says that none of its potential candidates has garnered the support needed to qualify for its primary.WASHINGTON — An ambitious effort to launch a third-party presidential ticket this fall has foundered, done in by its inability to attract a top-tier candidate and the grass-roots support necessary to power its novel online nominating process.

  • Obama hosting bipartisan talks on economy

    16 May 2012 | 5:00 am
    After months of trading blame and criticism from afar, President Obama and GOP congressional leaders will meet Wednesday to discuss the economy.After months of trading blame and criticism from afar, President Obama and GOPcongressional leaders will meet Wednesday to discuss the economy — and, presumably, trade blame and criticism in person, more politely.

  • Upstart state lawmaker wins Nebraska's GOP Senate primary

    16 May 2012 | 1:03 am
    In a battle among three tea party-backed Republicans, little-known state Sen. Deb Fischer wins the contest to face Democrat Bob Kerrey for Nebraska's open U.S. Senate seat.WASHINGTON — Upstart state Sen. Deb Fischer triumphed in Nebraska's bitterly contested Republican primary for U.S. Senate on Tuesday night, winning the right to face Democrat Bob Kerrey in November.
 
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    L.A. Times - Education

  • Lawsuit takes aim at California's legal protections for teachers

    16 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    A Bay Area nonprofit targets teacher tenure rules, seniority protections and the dismissal process. Foes say it wants to weaken public sector unions.A Bay Area nonprofit backed partly by groups known for battling teachers unions has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn five California laws that, they say, make it too difficult to dismiss ineffective teachers.

  • Students at charter-run Locke do better than nearby peers

    14 May 2012 | 2:01 am
    Locke students were more likely to graduate and to have taken courses needed for a state college, a study says. Still, overall achievement remains low.Students at Locke High School are faring better than their peers in nearby traditional schools, but achievement overall remains low at the charter-managed campus near Watts, according to a new study.

  • UC Santa Barbara gets $50-million gift from Oracle chairman

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    The donation from Jeffrey and Judy Henley is the biggest in UC Santa Barbara's history. It will support energy efficiency research and engineering programs.UC Santa Barbara, according to old stereotypes, may still conjure up the image of a lush campus by the beach, where students can squeeze in a few hours of surfing after class and live in a nearby neighborhood that is one of the nation's best-known party zones. But in reality, UC Santa Barbara over the last three decades increasingly has become a center of scientific research, and its move in that direction was strengthened Saturday with…

  • 13% in U.S. foreign-born, a level last seen in 1920

    11 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Of 40 million born abroad, the greatest number lives in California, with large populations in New York, Texas and Florida, Census Bureau report says.The U.S. foreign-born population has risen to its highest level since 1920, with 13% of all those living in the nation in 2010 having been born elsewhere, a new report from the Census Bureau shows.

  • USC to award degrees to Japanese interned during WWII

    11 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    USC is awarding degrees to Japanese students who were forced out during World War II, but some say the school hasn't corrected all past wrongs.Friday morning, the USC campus will be filled with smiling students posing for pictures next to the most important people in their lives. For Hitoshi Sameshima, however, graduation comes a little too late.
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    L.A. Times - Environment

  • An electrifying freight solution on the 710? Siemens working on it

    15 May 2012 | 6:12 pm
    Los Angeles may be one of the first global cities to adopt a new electric freight trucking system, unveiled by electrical engineering giant Siemens Corp. last week at the 26th Electric Vehicle Symposium, or EVS26.

  • Elusive California wolf OR7 is photographed

    11 May 2012 | 4:36 pm
    The first color photo of California’s celebrity gray wolf, OR7, was taken this week as he loped across a sagebrush-covered hill in Modoc County.

  • Unabomber billboard continues to hurt Heartland Institute

    9 May 2012 | 2:26 pm
    With a simple statement on Tuesday, State Farm Insurance became the latest company to withdraw its support from the Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based think-tank which claims a “realist” position questioning that humans are responsible for climate change.

  • EV confab this weekend is about more than cars

    3 May 2012 | 4:49 pm
    The electric car might not be enjoying a good moment as the Electric Vehicle Symposium, EVS26, powers up for its run this weekend at the Los Angeles Convention Center. GM stopped production for five weeks on the Chevy Volt, and sales of new all-electric cars such as the Volt or the Nissan Leaf are dismal. It's further evidence that transitioning American drivers to electric vehicles (EV) is simply a hard sell.

  • Settlement may bring EV infrastructure to California

    30 Apr 2012 | 12:14 pm
    In an unforeseen upside to the electric-power market crisis of 2001, a new proposed legal settlement between utility NRG and the California Public Utilities Commission would bring more than $100 million in new electric-vehicle charging infrastructure to the state.
 
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    L.A. Times - Religious News

  • California presbytery defies church, backs minister in gay weddings

    16 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Northern California Presbyterian governing body makes history by rejecting church's official denunciation of minister who performed same-sex marriages.SAN ANSELMO, Calif. — Days after President Obama announced his support for same-sex marriage, the Presbyterian Church's Northern California governing body refused to rebuke a retired minister for marrying gays and lesbians when it was legal in California.

  • Homeless man's mother settles with Fullerton over his death

    16 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Cathy Thomas will receive $1 million from the city. Her son Kelly died after a violent confrontation with six police officers. The agreement does not resolve a claim filed by the victim's father, Ron.The mother of a mentally ill homeless man who died after he was beaten by Fullerton police has reached a settlement with the city that will pay her $1 million, officials announced Tuesday evening.

  • North Hollywood congregants worry about fate of ashes buried at church

    9 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    The ashes of 17 people are buried in the rose garden at St. David's Anglican Church. But the church is in a legal battle with the Episcopal diocese over ownership of the property.The congregation was quiet — teary-eyed but smiling — as Bill Coburn, in a eulogy to his wife of 62 years, spoke of the passions of his beloved Marian.

  • Dynamic pragmatist becomes top Islamist contender in Egypt

    5 May 2012 | 10:53 pm
    Egyptian crowds roar for presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, who has called for unity, protection of civil liberties and separation of religion and politics.ALEXANDRIA, Egypt — The stage along the sea was a politically crafted advertisement for Egypt's diversity: An unveiled woman chatted with a bearded Islamist and a retired soccer star shared the spotlight with a young hero from last year's revolution.

  • Hero to Arab Israelis returns

    30 Apr 2012 | 2:00 am
    Sheik Raed Saleh plans to organize Arab Israelis against what he sees as systematic discrimination. Israel considers him extremely dangerous.UMM AL FAHM, Israel — He's an Israeli-born Islamist whom the government considers so dangerous he's been banned from stepping foot in Jerusalem.
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    L.A. Times - Science

  • Company wants to tap Mojave's public lands for Southland water

    16 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Cadiz Inc. could realize $1 billion to $2 billion in revenue over the plan's 50-year life. Opponents say public resources are being used for private profit.CADIZ, Calif. – Three decades ago a group of businessmen pored over NASA satellite imagery as part of a worldwide hunt for large groundwater reserves they could tap to grow desert crops. They found the signs they were looking for here in the sun-blasted mountain ranges and creosote-freckled valleys of the Mojave Desert, 200 miles east of Los Angeles.

  • California bullet train chief seeks environmental exemptions

    16 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    The chairman of the California High-Speed Rail Authority says in a state Senate hearing that he hopes the initial phase of the construction project through the Central Valley can avoid legal delays.The chief of the state bullet train authority said Tuesday that he hopes to obtain some type of relief from environmental laws that would eliminate a risk that the 130-mile initial construction project could be stopped by an injunction, a potentially growing prospect as agriculture interests in the Central Valley gear up for a legal fight.

  • A new frontier for space travel

    15 May 2012 | 7:00 am
    Hawthorne firm SpaceX will soon attempt to launch a craft into orbit and dock it with the International Space Station, a first for a private company. Success could alter how the U.S. runs missions.For the last half-century, space flight has been the domain of the world's superpowers.

  • Bringing back San Juan Capistrano's swallows is tough

    14 May 2012 | 11:21 pm
    The tiny bird that put San Juan Capistrano on the map has snubbed the mission in recent years. A recording of a mating call is a last-ditch effort to lure them back.

  • Penguin love in Long Beach

    14 May 2012 | 11:20 pm
    The 13 Magellanic marine birds, in an Aquarium of the Pacific exhibit opening this week, have been busy courting, with one chick and a clutch of eggs added to the colony.The signs of penguins in love were unmistakable at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach on Monday: puffing their chests, standing on tiptoes while clicking their beaks together, belting out donkey-like brays.
 
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    L.A. Times - World News

  • Africa's economic boom points up the need for managers

    16 May 2012 | 7:01 am
    A nonprofit plans to offer training and networking to boost the continent's business development. JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Africa's rapid economic growth has helped change the stereotype of a hopeless continent of starving people waiting to be rescued, but it has also created an intense need for strong managers, according to a report released Tuesday.

  • France's Francois Hollande, Germany's Merkel hold cordial meeting

    15 May 2012 | 7:09 pm
    The newly inaugurated French president visited the German chancellor. There were no fireworks despite differences over Europe's debt crisis, but there was a lightning strike.PARIS — France's new president, Francois Hollande, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have opposing ideas of how to solve Europe's crippling public debt crisis — she austerity, he spending and growth — so a clash was in the cards Tuesday.

  • Murdoch exec Rebekah Brooks and husband charged in hacking case

    15 May 2012 | 5:23 pm
    Rebekah Brooks, former head of Rupert Murdoch's News International, was charged with three counts of trying to obstruct justice in Britain's phone-hacking and media corruption scandal.LONDON — She once had the ear of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and Prime Minister David Cameron. Through newspapers such as the Times of London and the Sun, she exerted a powerful influence on British society.

  • Dominique Strauss-Kahn countersues hotel maid for $1 million

    15 May 2012 | 11:23 am
    Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the man who might well have become president of France, is suing the woman whose allegations of sexual assault cost him his reputation as a global financier and his roles as diplomat and political figure.

  • A novel idea in Egypt: Presidential candidates

    15 May 2012 | 7:00 am
    The public, which for decades had only one real choice, is fascinated by the carnival-like spectacle of a contender's arrival, speeches and mishaps.AGA, Egypt — After an unfriendly journalist was tossed off, Amr Moussa's campaign bus headed north to the Nile Delta, where barefoot boys and peasants greeted him with horns, drums and two dancing horses.
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    L.A. Times - Africa

  • Africa's economic boom points up the need for managers

    16 May 2012 | 7:01 am
    A nonprofit plans to offer training and networking to boost the continent's business development.JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Africa's rapid economic growth has helped change the stereotype of a hopeless continent of starving people waiting to be rescued, but it has also created an intense need for strong managers, according to a report released Tuesday.

  • A novel idea in Egypt: Presidential candidates

    15 May 2012 | 7:00 am
    The public, which for decades had only one real choice, is fascinated by the carnival-like spectacle of a contender's arrival, speeches and mishaps.AGA, Egypt — After an unfriendly journalist was tossed off, Amr Moussa's campaign bus headed north to the Nile Delta, where barefoot boys and peasants greeted him with horns, drums and two dancing horses.

  • Sudan's conflict with South Sudan cuts both ways

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    The nations' failure to resolve a border dispute and a row over oil revenue has hit both economies hard, with businesses facing collapse and prices soaring.KHARTOUM, Sudan — It has come to this: The Sudanese government is sending out text messages to the population begging for donations to help the cash-strapped military.

  • Egypt presidential candidates clash in TV debate

    11 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    The exchange between former diplomat Amr Moussa and Islamist favorite Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh would have been unthinkable under President Hosni Mubarak.CAIRO — Egyptians gathered in living rooms and cafes Thursday night to mark another first in their troubled political odyssey toward a new democracy: a televised presidential debate that was as captivating as it was surreal.

  • South Africa sneaker maker laces up for a hard run at success

    10 May 2012 | 7:49 pm
    The South African market is tough for start-ups, with support and funding scarce. But Sifiso Dlamini is determined to beat the odds with his Eish Hade sneakers.JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — For a Soweto boy, he had a lot of sneakers.
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    L.A. Times - Asia

  • As India's old ways change, senior-care homes are on the rise

    15 May 2012 | 7:00 am
    More of India's urban families are rejecting traditional extended-family households, so older relatives are increasingly moving into elder-care facilities, an idea long stigmatized in the country.TRIVANDRUM, India — R. Padmanathan Nair sits on a plastic chair in the entryway of the Heritage senior home talking about the fellow residents who treat him like family, which is helpful seeing as his own rarely visits.

  • After slamming brakes on growth, China reaches for stimulus

    15 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Industrial production, imports and exports show signs of a slowdown. The deceleration is being felt in the U.S., especially Southern California.BEIJING — After months of careful tinkering aimed at slowing China's supercharged economy, Chinese officials may have gotten more than they bargained for: The nation's economic engine is decelerating with alarming speed.

  • Afghan police units tangled in criminal activity

    14 May 2012 | 7:57 am
    A U.S.-backed program to recruit police has failed to significantly stem the insurgency, with some units becoming deeply entangled in criminal activity, including bribe-taking and extortion, a Pentagon-funded study finds.WASHINGTON — A U.S.-backed program to recruit police in rural Afghanistan has failed to significantly stem the insurgency, with some units becoming deeply entangled in criminal activity, including bribe-taking and extortion, according to a Pentagon-funded study.

  • Afghan assassination casts more gloom over peace efforts

    13 May 2012 | 9:10 pm
    Arsala Rahmani, a member of the High Peace Council, is gunned down in Kabul. His position as an ex-minister in the Taliban government made him a valuable asset.KABUL, Afghanistan — A brazen daytime assassination on Sunday offered a grim reminder of stymied progress in a key part of NATO's effort to wind down the Afghan war: peace talks with the Taliban.

  • Asia Society's 'Revolutionary Ink' reflects on Wu Guanzhong

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    The New York exhibition highlights the influential modern artist's career arc amid a turbulent 20th century China.NEW YORK — "A snake swallowing an elephant" is how the Chinese artist Wu Guanzhong described himself. The snake was the Chinese artist in him, and the elephant was Western art. The stylistic fusion that made him one of China'sleading modern artists is on view at the Asia Society Museum here in "Revolutionary Ink: The Paintings of Wu Guanzhong," which also reflects the artist's long life amid the turmoil of China's 20th century.
 
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    L.A. Times - Europe

  • France's Francois Hollande, Germany's Merkel hold cordial meeting

    15 May 2012 | 7:09 pm
    The newly inaugurated French president visited the German chancellor. There were no fireworks despite differences over Europe's debt crisis, but there was a lightning strike.PARIS — France's new president, Francois Hollande, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have opposing ideas of how to solve Europe's crippling public debt crisis — she austerity, he spending and growth — so a clash was in the cards Tuesday.

  • Murdoch exec Rebekah Brooks and husband charged in hacking case

    15 May 2012 | 5:23 pm
    Rebekah Brooks, former head of Rupert Murdoch's News International, was charged with three counts of trying to obstruct justice in Britain's phone-hacking and media corruption scandal.LONDON — She once had the ear of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and Prime Minister David Cameron. Through newspapers such as the Times of London and the Sun, she exerted a powerful influence on British society.

  • Greece political crisis becoming a war of wills

    14 May 2012 | 9:12 pm
    The impasse pits Greek politicians opposed to more austerity cuts against officials in other European nations who say the Eurozone can do without Greece.ATHENS — As Greece lurches along without a government, its deepening political crisis is fast turning into a war of wills in which Europe's economy potentially hangs in the balance.

  • German state election deals blow to Angela Merkel's party

    14 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Voters in North Rhine-Westphalia give opposition parties enough support to form a governing coalition. The chancellor's Christian Democrats receive about 26%.DUESSELDORF, Germany — Voters in Germany's most populous state dealt a decisive blow to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union on Sunday, preliminary results show, a potentially ominous preview of things to come for the chancellor in next year's federal elections.

  • Portugal's sick economy triggers health crisis

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    To cut costs, Portugal has increased the rates it charges for public health services. For many cash-strapped residents, the fee scheme has had a grim effect, potentially putting lives at risk. LISBON — For Francisco Reposo, the 30% pay cut he was forced to take this year amid government austerity measures is the least of his worries. The high school science teacher is also on dialysis, awaiting a kidney operation, and Portugal's financial bailout means he's saddled with hundreds of dollars in monthly medical bills.
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    L.A. Times - Latin America

  • Carlos Fuentes dies at 83; Mexican novelist

    16 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    A towering literary figure at home and abroad, he was pivotal in raising the profile of the hemisphere's Spanish-language writing in the second half of the 20th century.If Carlos Fuentes could have invented the perfect character to star in one of his novels, he might have come up with a protagonist named Carlos Fuentes.

  • Dozens of bodies, many mutilated, dumped in Mexico

    14 May 2012 | 12:05 am
    The remains of at least 43 men and half a dozen women are found along a highway outside Monterrey, officials say. Police suspect drug cartel ties.MEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities responding to an anonymous tip discovered about 50 mostly mutilated bodies dumped on the side of a highway between Monterrey and the U.S. border, a region where rival gangs are battling for control over a lucrative drug-trafficking corridor.

  • Corruption flows freely along U.S.-Mexico border

    13 May 2012 | 7:12 am
    In one New Mexico town alone, the mayor, police chief and a city trustee were guilty of gun smuggling — and it's probably not an isolated case.COLUMBUS, N.M. — From a small hill at a state park here, the border town of Palomas, Mexico, can be made out through the desert haze. It lies four miles to the south, but the corruption that roils Palomas and the rest of Northern Mexico may as well be a block away.

  • Disenchantment may keep Mexico's young voters on sidelines

    12 May 2012 | 7:00 am
    Many feel alienated and disgusted by the lack of democratic progress in the nation and say they may boycott the presidential election.MEXICO CITY — They areMexico's "democracy babies" — a generation that grew up just as the nation broke free of decades of all-encompassing one-party rule.

  • Oldest known Maya calendar found in Guatemala

    10 May 2012 | 5:53 pm
    The artwork at the Xultun site is unusually well preserved, archaeologists say, and one calendar projects 4,000 years beyond now.In the remote northeastern corner of Guatemala, archaeologists have found what appears to be the 9th century workplace of a city scribe, an unusual dwelling adorned with magnificent pictures of the king and other royals and the oldest known Maya calendar.
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    L.A. Times - Middle East

  • A novel idea in Egypt: Presidential candidates

    15 May 2012 | 7:00 am
    The public, which for decades had only one real choice, is fascinated by the carnival-like spectacle of a contender's arrival, speeches and mishaps.AGA, Egypt — After an unfriendly journalist was tossed off, Amr Moussa's campaign bus headed north to the Nile Delta, where barefoot boys and peasants greeted him with horns, drums and two dancing horses.

  • Israel's military looks to the sea

    11 May 2012 | 6:27 pm
    Israel buys a sixth German-made submarine. A navy officer explains why Israel's military is looking increasingly to the seas.TEL AVIV — With the acquisition this month of a sixth German-made submarine, Israel is seeking to position itself as the region's undisputed naval powerhouse.

  • Egypt presidential candidates clash in TV debate

    11 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    The exchange between former diplomat Amr Moussa and Islamist favorite Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh would have been unthinkable under President Hosni Mubarak.CAIRO — Egyptians gathered in living rooms and cafes Thursday night to mark another first in their troubled political odyssey toward a new democracy: a televised presidential debate that was as captivating as it was surreal.

  • Al Qaeda bomb plot was foiled by double agent

    9 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Saudi Arabia's intelligence agency and the CIA used an informant to infiltrate an Al Qaeda cell in Yemen and take its upgraded bomb, officials say.WASHINGTON — The CIA takedown of an Al Qaeda plot to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner involved an international sting operation with a double agent tricking terrorists into handing over a prized possession: a new bomb purportedly designed to slip through airport security.

  • Israel's unity deal fuels talk of moderate shift

    9 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    With the Kadima party in his coalition, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can pursue a more moderate path on issues such as peace talks and Iran, analysts say.JERUSALEM — The surprise unity government announced Tuesday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has many observers predicting that the reformed coalition will embark on a more moderate path, including reopening talks with Palestinians and softening rhetoric on attacking Iran.
 
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    L.A. Times - Commentary

  • Payback for a Facebook tax refugee

    16 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Renouncing U.S. citizenship, as Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin did, should come with tough restrictions on returning to the land that nurtured the wealth.Is citizenship a commodity, to be bought and sold when the price is right?

  • Abu Zubaydah, the man justice has forgotten

    16 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Arrested in 2002 and tortured repeatedly, he was never charged, and the U.S. no longer believes he was even a member of Al Qaeda. But he remains in prison.Last week, my colleagues and I did something defense attorneys rarely do: We asked the government to file charges against our client. And because it seems unlikely the case will ever make it to an American courtroom, we have asked that it be heard in the nation's flawed military commission system.

  • The National Teacher of the Year on what makes a great teacher

    16 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Luther Burbank Middle School's National Teacher of the Year talks about what makes a great teacher -- and it's not teaching to the test.The class clown from Mr. Gadberry's high school art class has made good — and how. Rebecca Mieliwocki teaches seventh-grade English at Luther Burbank Middle School in Burbank — but not next year. Instead, she'll be on the road as the National Teacher of the Year. It took her a long time to get to the classroom — she once worked as a floral designer, doing the flowers for Elizabeth Taylor's private jet — and eventually to the White…

  • Goldberg: Romney's media handicap

    15 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    The time is coming for Mitt Romney to get angry, very angry, with what is increasingly, quaintly called 'the mainstream media.'Perhaps Mitt Romney played it right when he was meek and contrite in response to the Washington Post's front-page allegations that he bullied a kid half a century ago in high school.

  • Beware a gay rights backlash

    15 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    We should look to Congress, not the Supreme Court, to change the laws.President Obama did the right thing last week by (finally) coming out in favor of marriage equality for all people. Gays and lesbians should have the same rights as heterosexuals to marry, and the president's explicit support should further that goal. But if the Supreme Court forces that change on the American people (through litigation over California's Proposition 8 or other cases), the probable backlash would be substantial and might well do more damage than good to the future of gay rights and other important causes.
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    Sandy Banks - latimes.com

  • For Koreans, damage from the L.A. riots went deep

    1 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    The 1992 upheaval has a name in their community: sa-i-gu, Korean for 4/29, the same sort of shorthand as 9/11. Most of the victims were immigrants, and many lost their bearings. They didn't know whom to blame in the messy tableau of racial violence and class warfare.Twenty years ago, they came to Dr. Man Chul Cho suffering from symptoms of hwa-byung , the "anger sickness" of Korean folklore: They couldn't sleep, felt anxious and depressed, had muscle aches and stomach pains.

  • Riots claimed 200 liquor stores, but South L.A. still suffers

    27 Apr 2012 | 2:00 am
    Three days of violence accomplished what years of protests could not against the pockets of intoxication and crime. Some lots remain vacant and others have been reborn as businesses, but problems linger.There used to be a liquor store next to Frances Fikes' church on Normandie Avenue in South Los Angeles.

  • LAPD goes from longtime oppressor to community partner

    22 Apr 2012 | 2:00 am
    In 1992, the LAPD was regarded with suspicion and downright hostility by many in South Los Angeles. Now, two decades after the riots, the 'siege mentality' is gone, crime is down significantly and 70% of city residents approve of the department.What LAPD Sgt. Rick Arteaga remembers most about the first night of the riots is a curbside history lesson at the intersection of Manchester and Vermont.

  • The secret of the cardboard arcade

    21 Apr 2012 | 2:00 am
    What did the dad of Caine Monroy, the boy whose homemade games became a viral video, do to get such a great son? Summer camps? Tutors? Nah. He just let his boy be a kid.There's no sign of Caine Monroy's game arcade when I pull up to his father's Boyle Heights auto parts shop. The 9-year-old is taking his show on the road, enjoying the perks of becoming a viral video star.

  • Plenty of advice for L.A. Unified's boss

    14 Apr 2012 | 2:00 am
    Teachers, substitutes and the columnist offer some words of wisdom for Supt. John Deasy regarding a classroom confrontation with a sub who was following the regular instructor's lesson plan.Any day now, I expect to see a crowd of substitute teachers marching around Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters, wearing signs that say "I AM PATRENA SHANKLING" and waving lists of dumb things that substitutes have been asked to do.
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    L.A. Times - Meghan Daum

  • Daum: Too brainy to be president?

    10 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Obama's intellect doesn't have much currency in the political climate of extreme partisanship and pandering to a very low common denominator.As devotees of Barack Obama know all too well, qualities that made him so attractive as a candidate — an affinity for subtle arguments, a tendency to carefully weigh his options — have at times proved less useful in his role as president. That carefulness has been read as indecisiveness. The subtle arguments have sounded, to some ears, like hedging. In response, the president has simplified his rhetoric. The nuances of the 2009 Cairo speech…

  • Daum: Beauty in the eye of the app

    3 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    The urge to judge -- someone's face or their way of life -- has become less a transitory impulse than a way of life. And TV shows and apps are there to help us along.If you're one of those people who says, "There should be an app for that!" every time you're confronted with one of life's little quandaries (recent entrepreneurial brainstorms in my household include What's the Dog Thinking? and some form of gaydar), you've probably already imagined this: an app that will tell you how ugly you are.

  • Daum: The Ann Romney trap

    19 Apr 2012 | 2:00 am
    Let's stop pretending: Presidential campaign rhetoric aside, motherhood is not necessarily the toughest job.President Obama displayed quick damage-control reflexes last week when he called out Democratic pundit Hilary Rosen for claiming that Ann Romney, mother of five, had "never worked a day in her life." It was "the wrong thing to say" and "not something I subscribe to," the president said. He also rolled out the old chestnut that almost always gets invoked amid ugly battles over motherhood and women's career choices. "There is no tougher job than being a mom," he said.

  • Daum: The radical message of 'Girls'

    12 Apr 2012 | 2:00 am
    The HBO show is being touted as a watershed in its refusal to objectify women. But what's arguably more important is its refusal to romanticize youth.When I was 24 and living in a funky New York City apartment with roommates, roaches and ambitions that were both utterly consuming and utterly unfocused, I was convinced my generation was cursed. It was the early 1990s, and between a recession, the AIDS crisis and the last vestiges of the crack-and-crime epidemic, daily life had a certain apocalyptic quality.

  • Daum: We're weary of 'being Trayvon'

    5 Apr 2012 | 2:00 am
    When dissent is just a click away, Indignation Fatigue follows quickly.In the wake of the media blackout imposed last week by Angela Corey, the newly appointed special prosecutor investigating February's fatal shooting of black Florida teen Trayvon Martin, the media has had no choice but to cover the story surrounding the story. This would include the widespread public demonstrations, the evolution of the "hoodie" as a symbolic rallying point, and the emergence of protest T-shirts adorned with phrases like "I Am Trayvon" and "Justice for Trayvon," both of which Martin's mother is trying to…
 
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    L.A. Times - Jonah Goldberg

  • Goldberg: Romney's media handicap

    15 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    The time is coming for Mitt Romney to get angry, very angry, with what is increasingly, quaintly called 'the mainstream media.'Perhaps Mitt Romney played it right when he was meek and contrite in response to the Washington Post's front-page allegations that he bullied a kid half a century ago in high school.

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    15 May 2012 | 2:00 am
     

  • Goldberg: Romney feeds the crocs

    8 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Muzzling a spokesman because he's gay wasn't the way to quell criticism from the religious right."If Mitt Romney can be pushed around, intimidated, coerced, co-opted by a conservative radio talk show host in Middle America, then how is he going to stand up to the Chinese? How is he going to stand up to Putin?" So asked Bryan Fischer, a radio host with the American Family Assn., after claiming credit for Richard Grenell's scalp.

  • Goldberg: The false modesty of 'nerds'

    1 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    We've never had a nerd president. White House correspondents call their gala the 'nerd prom' because it sounds self-deprecating around celebrities and bigwigs. Washington is full of nerds. I know. I speak nerd, not fluently mind you, at least not anymore. But I certainly know more than a few phrases memorized from a Berlitz nerd-to-English phrase book. I can talk Dungeons & Dragons (both D&D and AD&D). I know about the Golden Age of Comics (as in comic books -- if you thought that was a reference to Bob Newhart's heyday, subtract 20 nerd points right there).

  • Goldberg: Obama's tainted bundler

    24 Apr 2012 | 2:00 am
    Jon Corzine, the former Goldman Sachs executive, senator and New Jersey governor, seems to embody everything the 99 percenters hate about Wall Street.Jon Corzine left Goldman Sachs with a net worth far exceeding even that of Mitt Romney's today. Many accounts of his tenure at Goldman suggest he "failed up" the corporate ladder.
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    L.A. Times - Patrick Goldstein

  • Will 'Think Like a Man' put director Tim Story on Hollywood A-list?

    LAT Blogs
    15 May 2012 | 12:47 am
    A year ago, Tim Story’s filmmaking career was in deep freeze. Even though the director had enjoyed a groundbreaking hit in 2002 with “Barbershop” and had a pair of successful “Fantastic Four” superhero movies, he ran aground in 2008 when he directed “Hurricane Season,” an inspirational drama about a high-school basketball coach whose ragtag team wins the state championship. The film’s backer, the Weinstein Co., never released it in theaters and sent it straight to video.But Story now has a ragtag success story of his own. His latest film, “Think Like a Man,” made on a…

  • The Summer Movie Posse: Tough grades for the season's films

    LAT Blogs
    8 May 2012 | 3:14 pm
    With the Summer Movie Posse, it’s the numbers that count. All you really want to know is which film’s trailers got the highest grades — and, of course, which ones totally tanked. I can only offer this word of caution: Asking a group of teenagers to give a grade to a movie trailer is definitely not an exact science. Sometimes the posse’s assessments are right on the mark. Other times — not so much. In 2010, for example, the posse’s favorite films were “Inception” and “Iron Man 2,” which went on to be big hits. The posse loathed the trailers for “Knight and Day” and…

  • Summer Movie Posse: Movie stars don't cut it with these kids

    LAT Blogs
    8 May 2012 | 12:55 am
    I’ve heard lots of talk in the past few years that movie stars don’t really matter anymore. But nothing made the point in such dramatic fashion as the reaction I got from 11 teenagers after they watched the trailer for “Total Recall,” Sony’s upcoming remake of Paul Verhoeven’s classic 1990 sci-fi thriller. This marks the 11th year that I’ve tried to make sense of the summer movies by showing their trailers to a group of teens, known as the Summer Movie Posse. This year’s group, assembled by 15-year-old Mica Nafshun-Bone from friends who attend New Roads School and Santa Monica…

  • Bob Iger's studio chief hunt: Why would anyone want the job?

    LAT Blogs
    4 May 2012 | 7:02 pm
    In days gone by, running a movie studio was a glamour job, the pinnacle of success in show business. Today? Not so much.Movies rarely move the needle, either when it comes to shaping the country’s cultural conversation or affecting media conglomerates’ bottom lines. This is especially true at the Walt Disney Co. Two weeks after Disney czar Bob Iger fired studio chief Rich Ross, the media have tossed all sorts of prominent names into the hopper as potential successors.Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like any of these high-profile candidates wants the job. And for good reason: The way…

  • Texting in movie theaters: An idea whose time has come?

    LAT Blogs
    1 May 2012 | 12:14 pm
    When it comes to people texting in movie theaters, I’m not just a crank. I’m a vigilante. When a couple of young women sitting near me starting texting at a screening the other night, sending bright shafts of light from their phones into my eyeline, I growled, “Hey, cut it out or I’m gonna throw your phones away.” My 13-year-old son has heard so many anti-texting sermons that when I was recently touting Clint Eastwood’s performance as a take-the-law-in-his-own-hands cop in “Dirty Harry,” hoping he’d want to watch the film, my kid immediately asked, “Does he shoot people…
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    David Lazarus - latimes.com

  • It's time to serve up some big incentives to curb obesity

    14 May 2012 | 11:33 pm
    To combat the alarming obesity rate, the Institute of Medicine says the U.S. needs to overhaul everything from farm policies to zoning laws. Clearly, doing nothing isn't an option.Americans eat too damn much. And we all pay a rising cost for this gluttony in the form of higher insurance premiums and lost productivity.

  • Itemized medical bills should be standard operating procedure

    11 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Most bills from L.A. County healthcare providers are short on details, but patients deserve a full accounting of what treatment was provided and at what price.It's tough enough to be without health insurance. But do healthcare providers have to make it even worse by treating you like a moron?

  • BofA provides example of mortgage-modification foot-dragging

    7 May 2012 | 11:35 pm
    Banks have been slow to lower borrowers' interest rates or forgive a portion of the money owed. A Bank of America customer's two-year struggle is just one example.This is a story of persistence.

  • Insurers limit consumers' choices for getting prescribed drugs

    4 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Pharmacy benefit managers used to let people fill their prescriptions almost anywhere. Then the PBMs decided to limit people's choices to a single drugstore — their own.Here's looking at you, Medco.

  • Consumer bureau may have final say on arbitration clauses

    1 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    The Dodd-Frank Act gives the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau explicit authority to study use of arbitration clauses related to financial products and services.Does the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have the power to trump theU.S. Supreme Court?
 
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    L.A. Times - Points West | Steve Lopez

  • Ready to blaze a trail for tax hike

    16 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Molly Munger says her plan to raise $10 billion a year through income taxes is better than the 'tiny Band-Aid' proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown. She's prepared to fight for children and schools.In March, when I wrote that the tax increase proposals by Gov. Jerry Brown and civil rights attorney Molly Munger were unimaginative if not doomed, I got an email from Munger.

  • A Mother's Day thank you for the care given a father in decline

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    He had become a child again, and she fed him, clothed him, cleaned him and soothed him, holding his hand until the end.Dear Mom:

  • Thomas beating a reminder of how quickly things can go awry

    11 May 2012 | 8:55 pm
    In the wake of the death of Kelly Thomas, a mentally ill homeless man, a columnist realizes that no one medication or treatment plan or philosophy works for everyone.I began worrying more than seven years ago, when I first brought him the violins donated by readers.

  • L.A. Unified's annual dance of death

    8 May 2012 | 11:35 pm
    The district has notified 11,500 employees of the possibility that they will be laid off due to budget cuts, although nowhere near that many will actually be fired. There has to be a saner way.They're doing the dance again — the soul-sapping, time-wasting annual ritual of figuring out how many of society's most important public servants to push off a cliff.

  • The forgotten victim from Florence and Normandie

    6 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Fidel Lopez's skull was smashed that fateful day in 1992. Yet it was Reginald Denny, beaten just minutes before, who entered the collective consciousness.When I knocked on a door in Torrance on Tuesday afternoon, I had just about given up on finding Fidel Lopez.
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    L.A. Times - Bill Plaschke

  • Thunder's energy is just too much for the Lakers

    15 May 2012 | 1:05 am
    Pounding for pounding, Game 1 isn't close to a fair fight for the overmatched Lakers, who lose, 119-90. Is the rest of the series really necessary, as the aging Lakers can't keep up?OKLAHOMA CITY — Is it over?

  • Lakers never make it easy, but they escape Game 7

    13 May 2012 | 1:55 am
    They show some heart down the stretch to oust the Nuggets, but the Thunder will be even tougher.Whew. Gasp. Arrgh.

  • It's a sick joke, but Lakers are forced into a Game 7

    11 May 2012 | 2:15 am
    The Lakers are dominated by the Nuggets for the second game in a row and shockingly face an elimination game Saturday at Staples Center. But history will be on their side for the final game.DENVER -- And now it comes down to two words, two desperate words, the two danged words the Lakers never thought they would have to utter while toying with these Rocky Mountain munchkins and misfits.

  • Lakers' effort in Game 5 loss to Nuggets is 'kinda' embarrassing

    9 May 2012 | 1:29 am
    With a chance to eliminate the Nuggets and get some rest before series with the Thunder, the Lakers instead get badly outplayed in a 102-99 loss.Who's folding now?

  • Lakers' Pau Gasol picks a good time to show his toughness

    7 May 2012 | 1:20 am
    Gasol's hard screen in the final minute on the Nuggets' Danilo Gallinari sets up the winning shot in Game 4. In a season in which he was nearly traded and has become a third option on offense, Gasol has never complained.DENVER — For a year he's taken the high road, staying above the mess that had become his Lakers career, refusing to indulge in the finger-pointing and pity that collected around his feet like piling garbage.
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    L.A. Times - George Skelton

  • Cigarette tax is a lifesaver

    14 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Tobacco companies are taking aim at Proposition 29, which would raise cigarette taxes $1 a pack. But they're blowing smoke.SACRAMENTO — Cigarette makers have a certified history of deception, distortion and lying. And let's not forget fraud and racketeering.

  • Proposed tweak to term limits makes eminent sense

    10 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    By allowing California legislators to serve 12 years in one house, Prop. 28 would instill some adult supervision and dampen political ambition, especially in the Assembly.Proposition 28 proposes a tiny tweak in legislative term limits. But it could have a huge impact on legislative quality.

  • Think of the tobacco tax as user fee

    7 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Prop. 29 on the June ballot would raise cigarette taxes and generate money for research on cancer and related illnesses.SACRAMENTO — Let's begin with the basics: Tobacco companies are inherently evil.

  • California's truly loopy tax loophole

    2 May 2012 | 8:20 pm
    Giving companies doing business in California a tax incentive not to hire or invest here is costing the state $1 billion a year. It's time to change the law.SACRAMENTO — You might think a tax law that rewards companies for killing California jobs and resurrecting them in another state would be dumped. Very quickly.

  • Water bond is circling the drain

    30 Apr 2012 | 3:12 am
    The ballot measure, written in 2009, has some good ingredients but also some pork. It's not right for these times.SACRAMENTO — Might as well scratch one measure from the likely crowded November ballot: a pork-filled $11.1-billion water bond that is dying of its own weight.
 
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    The Envelope - Ultimate Awards Site

  • Cannes 2012: Festival turns 65 with a lineup heavy on U.S. titles

    16 May 2012 | 10:30 am
    Opening Wednesday night with Wes Anderson's oddly endearing "Moonrise Kingdom," Cannes is celebrating its 65th anniversary this year and marking that milestone by embracing all kinds of opposites.Opening Wednesday night with Wes Anderson's oddly endearing "Moonrise Kingdom," Cannes is celebrating its 65th anniversary this year and marking that milestone by embracing all kinds of opposites.

  • L.A. Film Fest to show premiere of Aaron Sorkin's 'The Newsroom'

    15 May 2012 | 1:37 pm
    The L.A. Film Festival is dabbling in television this year, showcasing two programs: AMC's "Breaking Bad" and HBO's "The Newsroom."The L.A. Film Festival is dabbling in television this year, showcasing two programs: AMC's "Breaking Bad" and HBO's "The Newsroom."

  • William Friedkin to serve as L.A. Film Fest's guest director

    15 May 2012 | 1:33 pm
    "The French Connection" director William Friedkin will serve as guest director of the Los Angeles Film Festival and will screen his new NC-17 movie, "Killer Joe.""The French Connection" director William Friedkin will serve as guest director of the Los Angeles Film Festival and will screen his new NC-17 movie, "Killer Joe."

  • L.A. Asian Pacific Film Festival expands to Long Beach

    9 May 2012 | 8:34 pm
    "Sunset Stories" diretor Ernesto Foronda was happy to give actor Sung Kang the opportunity to be something other than the "sexy ninja.""Sunset Stories" diretor Ernesto Foronda was happy to give actor Sung Kang the opportunity to be something other than the "sexy ninja."

  • Met Gala 2012: Gwyneth, Kanye, Rihanna rock museum glam

    7 May 2012 | 9:49 pm
    Monday evening saw another year of major celeb presence for the annual fete, this year showcasing "Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations," the museum's new exhibition.Monday evening saw another year of major celeb presence for the annual fete, this year showcasing "Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations," the museum's new exhibition.
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    L.A. Times - Movie News

  • Cannes 2012: Festival turns 65 with a lineup heavy on U.S. titles

    16 May 2012 | 10:30 am
    Opening Wednesday night with Wes Anderson's oddly endearing "Moonrise Kingdom," Cannes is celebrating its 65th anniversary this year and marking that milestone by embracing all kinds of opposites.

  • Movie review: 'The Dictator' rules with crudeness and smarts

    16 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    'The Dictator' review: The genius and folly Sacha Baron Cohen displayed in 'Borat' are on display, as are the talents of Anna Faris.Like its creator and star Sacha Baron Cohen, the comedy of "The Dictator" is mercurial to the extreme and as crude as the massive oil reserves of Wadiya, the fictional North African nation where his latest movie prank begins. By turns hysterical, heretical, guilty, innocent, silly, sophisticated, teasing and tedious, the film follows the power-mad leader Admiral General Haffaz Aladeen as he loses his bearings, his beard and his heart in New York City.

  • 'Avengers': Joss Whedon talks sequel, 'Buffy' and 'X-Men' parallels

    15 May 2012 | 9:42 pm
    Whether he gets his hands on the sequel, Whedon's fingerprints are all over "The Avengers." Whether he gets his hands on the sequel, Whedon's fingerprints are all over "The Avengers."

  • Aaron Sorkin set to adapt 'Steve Jobs' for Sony

    15 May 2012 | 9:42 pm
    The film will be based on the bestselling biography written by former Time magazine managing editor Walter Isaacson.The film will be based on the bestselling biography written by former Time magazine managing editor Walter Isaacson.

  • Obama on 'The Avengers,' Kardashians, 'Fifty Shades of Grey'

    15 May 2012 | 9:42 pm
    Obama has made entertainment programs an increasingly important venue for his public appearances. Obama has made entertainment programs an increasingly important venue for his public appearances.
 
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    FindLocal - latimes.com

  • Beer Notes: Los Angeles Brewing Co. opens downtown

    11 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Entrepreneur Ralph Verdugo has moved on from the club scene to open a dog-friendly place with 100 taps and a relatively well-priced menu. Also, El Segundo Brewing Co. marks its first anniversary.Entrepreneur Ralph Verdugo once ran downtown L.A.'s Club 740, but he left that world after having a revelation. Or maybe just a few pints.

  • Swoon with Rufus Wainwright @ The Orpheum

    8 May 2012 | 6:55 pm

  • Street art inspired by 'Sesame Street' in show

    27 Apr 2012 | 2:00 am
    The Seventh Letter street art collective interprets 'Sesame Street' characters, and the results are at an exhibition at the Known Gallery this weekend to raise money for City of Hope's pediatric department.At first glance, street art collective the Seventh Letter seems an unlikely partner for a show about "Sesame Street." Known for its graffiti murals and irreverent take on urban living, the artists in the Seventh Letter crew would be more likely to get in trouble for tagging the show's famous urban set.

  • Dita Von Teese's 'Strip Strip Hooray' teases the House of Blues

    12 Apr 2012 | 9:05 pm

  • At the Huntington, a Japanese Garden of new delights

    9 Apr 2012 | 2:00 am
    One of the San Marino estate's most popular destinations stands to attract new admirers with $6.8 million in improvements, including a ceremonial teahouse and tea garden.Gloria Cox may be a grandmother, but she's grinning like a little kid as she slips into a shady nook formed by twining juniper branches in the Japanese Garden at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens. Cox, a veteran Huntington docent, says she has missed visiting "my favorite spot" — which she discovered with her grandsons — and the rest of the garden, which closed for renovation last April…
 
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    Arts&Culture - latimes.com

  • LACMA's next big project: L.A. hip-hop

    16 May 2012 | 10:22 am
    This week, Murs and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art will launch a six-month exploration of L.A.'s hip-hop culture with the series Through the Mic.This week, Murs and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art will launch a six-month exploration of L.A.'s hip-hop culture with the series Through the Mic.

  • 'Bring It On' musical opening on Broadway this summer

    16 May 2012 | 9:05 am
    "Bring It On: The Musical" is taking something of a reverse route -- touring first and then booking a Broadway engagement."Bring It On: The Musical" is taking something of a reverse route -- touring first and then booking a Broadway engagement.

  • 'Visions of Empire' at the Huntington Library looks at U.S. railroad

    16 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    The exhibition puts the construction of railroad tracks and its connection of the coasts in context.Culture Monster will occasionally visit museum exhibits dealing with history, anthropology, science or sociology.

  • Influences: Call them inspirations for Elaine Stritch

    15 May 2012 | 5:46 pm
    Actress and singer Elaine Stritch, who'll be performing Sondheim classics at Disney Hall on Saturday, counts Bette Davis and John Gielgud among the most stirring of performers.While getting started for her debut in Culture Monster's Influences column, brassy Broadway veteran Elaine Stritch, 87, wanted to make one thing clear: She's never been influenced by anyone.

  • Skirball Center announces lineup for free summer concert series

    15 May 2012 | 3:21 pm
    Now entering its 16th year, the Skirball Cultural Center's Sunset Concert series has been a reliable source for intriguing sounds from around the globe (and a pretty great way to wait out the Thursday evening 405 commute).
 
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    L.A. Times - Sports

  • Lakers' Andrew Bynum, Devin Ebanks fined by NBA

    16 May 2012 | 1:14 pm
    Bynum is docked $15,000 for skipping an interview session with reporters after Tuesday's practice. Ebanks is fined $25,000 for his actions after getting ejected late in Game 1.Bynum is docked $15,000 for skipping an interview session with reporters after Tuesday's practice. Ebanks is fined $25,000 for his actions after getting ejected late in Game 1.

  • Vinny Del Negro back on hot seat after Clippers' loss

    16 May 2012 | 11:58 am
    Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro, no stranger to criticism this season, must steer his team back on track after loss to San Antonio in Game 1.SAN ANTONIO — For at least a day or two, Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro was free of criticism and gaining credibility. His team had just pulled off an unlikely Game 7 upset of the Memphis Grizzles on the road, and praise for the coach flew in from all directions.

  • U.S. archer Brady Ellison in the hunt for Olympic medal

    16 May 2012 | 7:00 am
    A good bet to win gold at the 2012 London Games, the 23-year-old has a deep dedication and unique combination of skills to go with an 'aw shucks' personality.DALLAS -- Rarely do the Olympics, javelinas and chewing tobacco wind up in the same story.

  • J. Paul Reddam is no longer just horsing around

    16 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    After getting into horse racing 'only to have some fun,' the owner of Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another is now all in. He believes his horse can win the next leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes.J. Paul Reddam might not be the type of businessman for whom people suffering through the recession can bring themselves to root.

  • Clippers' Eric Bledsoe a bright spot, with 23 points against Spurs

    16 May 2012 | 1:38 am
    The second-year guard matches his career high with scoring punch off the bench.SAN ANTONIO — With Chris Paul clearly slowed by injury, another little point guard stepped in Tuesday to lead the way.
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    L.A. Times - Auto Racing

  • Jimmie Johnson gets a special win for Hendrick

    12 May 2012 | 11:59 pm
    Driver's late charge in Southern 500 earns his team its 200th Sprint Cup victory.DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Jimmie Johnson broke free on a restart three laps from the end in the Southern 500 and held on Saturday night to give Hendrick Motorsports its 200th Sprint Cup victory.

  • Carroll Shelby dies at 89; cult classic car designer

    12 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    He retired from racing and built the Cobra, which married Ford V-8 engines with a lightweight British chassis. He later worked with Ford on the Mustang.Carroll Shelby, the charismatic Texan who parlayed a short-lived racing career into a specialized business building high-performance, street-legal cars, died Thursday. He was 89.

  • Brad Keselowski wins Sprint Cup race at Talladega

    7 May 2012 | 1:11 am
    He edges Kyle Busch in a two-lap overtime sprint. Matt Kenseth finishes third.Brad Keselowski got a huge push from Kyle Busch to take the lead with a lap to go Sunday, then used a calculated move to prevent Busch from taking the win away from him at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

  • Kyle Busch a winner again at Richmond

    28 Apr 2012 | 11:49 pm
    He snaps a 22-race winless streak by capturing his fourth consecutive Sprint Cup Series win at Richmond.Kyle Busch capped a perfect weekend in Virginia on Saturday night by winning the spring NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Richmond for the fourth consecutive year.

  • Big-name NASCAR drivers need to pick up speed in Sprint Cup Series

    26 Apr 2012 | 7:17 pm
    Jeff Gordon, Jamie McMurray, Jeff Burton, AJ Allmendinger and Kasey Kahne are among drivers who have to start posting strong finishes if they hope to make the Chase for the Cup playoff this fall.For some big-name NASCAR drivers, it's time to get moving.
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    L.A. Times - Baseball News

  • Shuffled Dodgers lineup struggles in 5-1 loss to Arizona

    16 May 2012 | 1:10 am
    Without Matt Kemp and others who are nursing injuries, L.A. can't counter Diamondbacks left-hander Wade Miley."It's different, I know," Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly said of his unusual lineup Tuesday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

  • Angels beat A's, 4-0, then fire hitting coach Mickey Hatcher

    16 May 2012 | 12:27 am
    Mickey Hatcher is dismissed in the wake of a 16-21 start during which the Angels have scored only 134 runs and been shut out a major league-high eight times. Triple-A coach Jim Eppard replaces him.The first major repercussion from the Angels' disappointing 16-21 start occurred Tuesday night when the team announced that hitting coach Mickey Hatcher had been fired.

  • Bobby Abreu finds his place with the Dodgers

    15 May 2012 | 11:04 pm
    The 38-year-old outfielder goes into Tuesday batting .296 since joining the Dodgers from the Angels on May 4, with four doubles and four runs batted in.Less than two weeks after being released by the Angels, Bobby Abreu is making his presence felt with the Dodgers.

  • Yankees put closer David Robertson on disabled list

    15 May 2012 | 9:41 pm
    Twins will activate Justin Morneau for Wednesday's game.First Mariano Rivera , now David Robertson . The New York Yankees are running out of healthy pitchers to put in the closer's role.

  • Key witness at Roger Clemens' trial: Evidence saved as insurance

    15 May 2012 | 8:52 pm
    Brian McNamee testifies his wife's dire warnings spurred him to keep used needle, syringe and steroid ampule he took from ex-pitcher's trash. They now are critical pieces in government's perjury case.WASHINGTON — An anxious wife drove Brian McNamee to hold on to evidence of Roger Clemens' steroid use for self-protection, the former trainer testified at the former pitcher's federal perjury trial.
 
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    L.A. Times - Angels

  • Angels beat A's, 4-0, then fire hitting coach Mickey Hatcher

    16 May 2012 | 12:27 am
    Mickey Hatcher is dismissed in the wake of a 16-21 start during which the Angels have scored only 134 runs and been shut out a major league-high eight times. Triple-A coach Jim Eppard replaces him.The first major repercussion from the Angels' disappointing 16-21 start occurred Tuesday night when the team announced that hitting coach Mickey Hatcher had been fired.

  • Angels' Torii Hunter's plight sheds light on little-used rule

    15 May 2012 | 8:15 pm
    Angels right fielder Torii Hunter, whose son was arrested this week, has been placed on the restricted list, a vehicle that provides more flexibility than the more commonly used disabled list.When the Angels placed outfielder Torii Hunter on baseball's restricted list, it focused attention on a rarely used vehicle available to clubs in the major leagues.

  • It gets worse for Angels in 5-0 loss to Oakland

    15 May 2012 | 1:15 am
    The Angels, in last place in the American League West, are shut out for a major league-leading eighth time. Dan Haren has control issues.If Monday didn't represent rock bottom for the Angels, it's going to be a very long summer.

  • Angels' Torii Hunter is put on restricted list

    14 May 2012 | 10:40 pm
    Right fielder isn't at Angel Stadium on Monday after arrest of his son in Texas on suspicion of sexual assault of a child. Mark Trumbo replaces him in the lineup.The Angels put All-Star right fielder Torii Hunter on baseball's restricted list Monday after his 17-year-old son's arrest in Prosper, Texas, on suspicion of felony sexual assault of a child.

  • Rangers hand Angels ace Jered Weaver his first loss

    14 May 2012 | 12:30 am
    Nelson Cruz hits a third-inning grand slam and Josh Hamilton drives in three runs to lead Texas, 13-6. Weaver doesn't make it through the fourth inning.ARLINGTON, Texas — This wasn't what slugger Mark Trumbo meant Saturday when he said the Angels need to "come out a little angry" and play with a "figurative chip on our shoulder."
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    L.A. Times - Basketball

  • Clippers' Eric Bledsoe a bright spot, with 23 points against Spurs

    16 May 2012 | 1:38 am
    The second-year guard matches his career high with scoring punch off the bench.SAN ANTONIO — With Chris Paul clearly slowed by injury, another little point guard stepped in Tuesday to lead the way.

  • Focusing on the positives with Clippers amid the negative

    16 May 2012 | 1:20 am
    Blake Griffin deserves some credit for getting Clippers this far, even as series with Spurs is billed as a foregone conclusion. Is there no patience when it comes to a young guy with so much upside?SAN ANTONIO -- As I travel with our local teams across the country, I'm truly amazed to find so many negative columnists working out there.

  • Clippers already hurting in Game 1 loss

    16 May 2012 | 1:11 am
    Well-rested Spurs are efficient in a 108-92 victory, making 52% of three-pointers. Chris Paul has an off game with six points and five turnovers.SAN ANTONIO — In the end, the Clippers simply got beat in every way by an efficient San Antonio Spurs team.

  • Clippers and Spurs both rely on reserves

    16 May 2012 | 12:45 am
    Bench has been crucial to the success of Clippers and Spurs.SAN ANTONIO -- Chris Paul doesn't want to add any more pressure to the Clippers' bench just because they will be facing a San Antonio Spurs bench that is one of the best in the NBA.

  • Pacers stun Heat, 78-75, in Miami to even NBA playoff series, 1-1

    15 May 2012 | 11:33 pm
    Indiana relies on defense and benefits from Heat forward Chris Bosh's absence to seize home-court edge in East semifinals. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade combine for 52 points but misfire at the finish.MIAMI — This does not sound like a winning formula. Miss 24 of 29 shots in one stretch, on the road. Watch an 11-point second-half lead turn into a deficit. Have your entire team get outscored by two players in the fourth quarter.
 
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    Clippers - latimes.com

  • Clippers' Eric Bledsoe a bright spot, with 23 points against Spurs

    16 May 2012 | 1:38 am
    The second-year guard matches his career high with scoring punch off the bench.SAN ANTONIO — With Chris Paul clearly slowed by injury, another little point guard stepped in Tuesday to lead the way.

  • Focusing on the positives with Clippers amid the negative

    16 May 2012 | 1:20 am
    Blake Griffin deserves some credit for getting Clippers this far, even as series with Spurs is billed as a foregone conclusion. Is there no patience when it comes to a young guy with so much upside?SAN ANTONIO -- As I travel with our local teams across the country, I'm truly amazed to find so many negative columnists working out there.

  • Clippers already hurting in Game 1 loss

    16 May 2012 | 1:11 am
    Well-rested Spurs are efficient in a 108-92 victory, making 52% of three-pointers. Chris Paul has an off game with six points and five turnovers.SAN ANTONIO — In the end, the Clippers simply got beat in every way by an efficient San Antonio Spurs team.

  • Clippers and Spurs both rely on reserves

    16 May 2012 | 12:45 am
    Bench has been crucial to the success of Clippers and Spurs.SAN ANTONIO -- Chris Paul doesn't want to add any more pressure to the Clippers' bench just because they will be facing a San Antonio Spurs bench that is one of the best in the NBA.

  • Clippers vs. Spurs: How they match up

    15 May 2012 | 12:58 am
    Top-seeded San Antonio has experience and depth, but the Clippers have momentum after defeating the Grizzlies in Game 7 of their first-round series.In many ways, the Clippers and San Antonio Spurs are pretty evenly matched — the key word being "pretty."
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    L.A. Times - Lakers

  • Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher keep friendship in check during series

    15 May 2012 | 8:45 pm
    Former longtime teammates with the Lakers, they are not exactly hanging out with each other during L.A.-Oklahoma City semifinal series.OKLAHOMA CITY — Kobe Bryant walked over to Derek Fisher , wrapped an arm around his former teammate's waist and patted him on the rear.

  • Kobe Bryant says Lakers don't get down

    15 May 2012 | 8:07 pm
    However, Game 2 against young Thunder seems like a must win for Lakers, given playoff history.OKLAHOMA CITY — Beyond all the speed, juvenescence and everything rolled into what Kobe Bryant called the "youthful exuberance" of the Oklahoma City Thunder, there's one statistic that should get the Lakers' attention.

  • Metta World Peace weathers Thunder fans' wrath

    15 May 2012 | 1:25 am
    Oklahoma City followers voice displeasure with the Lakers forward who elbowed the Thunder's James Harden in April. That action led to a seven-game suspension for World Peace.OKLAHOMA CITY — The boos cascaded upon him when he walked onto the court for warmups.

  • Oklahoma City's youth, movement are too much for Lakers in Game 1

    15 May 2012 | 1:20 am
    Lakers look weary, slow and, yes, old in Western Conference semifinals opener as speedy, well-rested Thunder blows them out, 119-90. Andrew Bynum, Kobe Bryant each score 20 but little else goes right.OKLAHOMA CITY — Score one for youth. And speed. And rest. And fun.

  • Thunder's energy is just too much for the Lakers

    15 May 2012 | 1:05 am
    Pounding for pounding, Game 1 isn't close to a fair fight for the overmatched Lakers, who lose, 119-90. Is the rest of the series really necessary, as the aging Lakers can't keep up?OKLAHOMA CITY — Is it over?
 
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    L.A. Times - Boxing

  • Manny Pacquiao, trainer say boxer was distracted before last fight

    10 May 2012 | 7:28 pm
    Freddie Roach says Pacquiao, who narrowly defeated Juan Manuel Marquez in November, was served divorce papers before the bout and has been making adjustments to his life.Manny Pacquiao's skyrocketing popularity created chaos that no mere mortal could be expected to balance.

  • Lamont Peterson-Amir Khan fight canceled over failed test

    10 May 2012 | 1:08 am
    The rematch is scrapped in the wake of Peterson's positive test for testosterone.The anticipated world junior-welterweight title rematch between Lamont Peterson and Amir Khan in Las Vegas on May 19 was canceled Wednesday by Golden Boy Promotions because of the fallout from Peterson's positive test for testosterone.

  • Junior welterweight champion Lamont Peterson fails drug test

    9 May 2012 | 1:48 am
    Lamont Peterson, who holds World Boxing Assn. and International Boxing Federation belts, tests positive for synthetic testosterone, jeopardizing May 19 title defense against Amir Khan.World junior welterweight champion Lamont Peterson has tested positive for synthetic testosterone, jeopardizing his May 19 title defense against England's Amir Khan at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

  • Boxer Joseph Diaz Jr.'s biggest motivation is helping his family

    7 May 2012 | 6:22 pm
    At 19, the fighter is the youngest member of the U.S. men's Olympic boxing team. Diaz, coached by his father, hopes to help his family get out of the poverty-stricken city of South El Monte.The mean streets of South El Monte aren't so mean any more as they are tired and sometimes desperate.

  • Floyd Mayweather Jr. says he's considering retirement

    6 May 2012 | 7:20 pm
    The undefeated boxer, who beat Miguel Cotto by unanimous decision Saturday night, says there is no one for him to fight and a bout against Manny Pacquiao is 'not going to happen.'LAS VEGAS — At the end of a tough, long night, Floyd Mayweather Jr. was left staring at a June 1 jail sentence and a boxing landscape that he seems to believe cannot deliver another quality opponent.
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    L.A. Times - College Basketball

  • UCLA adds center Tony Parker to round out stellar recruiting class

    23 Apr 2012 | 11:05 pm
    Tony Parker, a 6-9, 280-pound center from Georgia, commits to UCLA, joining Shabazz Muhammad, Kyle Anderson and Jordan Adams in a basketball recruiting class that Scout.com ranks No. 2 in the nation.Tony Parker, last of the blue-chip high school seniors on UCLA's basketball recruiting wish list, gave three reasons Monday after announcing that he had chosen the Bruins.

  • UCLA recruit Shabazz Muhammad's genes a great fit for basketball

    21 Apr 2012 | 2:10 pm
    Shabazz Muhammad's father Ron Holmes and mother Faye Muhammad were basketball stars at USC and Long Beach State, respectively. The family tree also includes a former NFL receiver and other athletes.Ron Holmes, then a USC basketball player, was with a buddy at a summer league basketball game in 1982 when he saw his future on the court.

  • Tennessee women's basketball Coach Pat Summitt resigns

    18 Apr 2012 | 7:12 pm
    Summitt, who directed the Lady Vols to eight national titles and 1,098 victories, announced last year that she was diagnosed with early-onset dementia.You won't start many arguments by suggesting Pat Summitt will be remembered as one of the greatest coaches of any sport, of any gender, of any generation.

  • Kentucky's starters all declare for NBA draft

    17 Apr 2012 | 8:43 pm
    The three freshmen, including Anthony Davis, and two sophomores led the Wildcats to the national championship.Kentucky's starting lineup of three freshmen and two sophomores did most everything together en route to the school's eighth national title. Now, they will each go their separate ways in the NBA.

  • Man says he made up accusations against Syracuse's Bernie Fine

    14 Apr 2012 | 12:15 am
    Zachary Tomaselli tells the Associated Press that he's a habitual liar and sociopath.A Maine man says he lied when he accused former Syracuse assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine of molesting him.
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    L.A. Times - College Football

  • Pac-12 football coaches know they have no control over playoff system

    8 May 2012 | 8:35 pm
    The coaches say there is no perfect solution to replace the BCS. A four-team playoff figures to happen in 2014, but Oregon's Chip Kelly and Washington's Steve Sarkisian say more teams need to be involved.Many college coaches are control freaks who operate on military time and like to assign stadium steps for anyone arriving five minutes late to a 10 o'clock meeting.

  • UCLA quarterbacks ace test, but it's only a midterm

    6 May 2012 | 12:26 am
    All three excel in spring scrimmage, but final decision on the starter won't be made until August.Brett Hundley is rarely so easily shocked.

  • UCLA still trying to fill holes on offensive line

    4 May 2012 | 5:35 pm
    As the Bruins prepare to close spring football practice Saturday with a scrimmage at the Rose Bowl, line coach Adrian Klemm is working with several players with limited college playing experience.When UCLA closes spring football practice Saturday with a scrimmage at the Rose Bowl, most of the attention will be focused on the quarterbacks, the defense and first-year Coach Jim Mora.

  • UCLA Coach Jim Mora will name starting quarterback ... in August

    3 May 2012 | 11:05 pm
    A scrimmage at the Rose Bowl, however, will give Brett Hundley, Kevin Prince, Richard Brehaut and others a chance to make an impression.Brett Hundley , Kevin Prince , Richard Brehaut and the rest of UCLA's quarterbacks will have to wait. Coach Jim Mora said Thursday that a decision on a starter will come in August, two weeks into fall training camp.

  • Junior Seau's brief, ferocious career at USC is recalled

    3 May 2012 | 8:10 pm
    In his junior year in 1989, Seau went from barely known to a scourge as changes in the defense allowed him 'to be turned loose.' He also was known for an energy and enthusiasm that was rare in those days.Junior Seau's career at USC was like his life: remarkable but too short.
 
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    L.A. Times - Golf

  • Matt Kuchar finds his (golf) game to win Players Championship

    13 May 2012 | 9:15 pm
    Matt Kuchar, known as a terror at the ping-pong table and on the tennis court but a mild disappointment on the golf course, finally plays to his potential and is rewarded with a two-stroke victory.PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — PGA Tour pros know better than to challenge Matt Kuchar to a game of table tennis. Don't get him out on a real tennis court, either — even if you suggest a game of doubles.

  • Kevin Na leads Players by one shot

    12 May 2012 | 8:50 pm
    Despite a nervous habit, Na has a no-bogey 68 to put him one shot up on Matt Kuchar. Rickie Fowler is three back after a 66.— False starts? Kevin Na even drives himself crazy sometimes with the number of times he backs off a shot.

  • Three share lead at Players Championship

    11 May 2012 | 8:49 pm
    Matt Kuchar, Zach Johnson and Kevin Na are at eight under. Tiger Woods makes four birdies in a row to shoot 68 and make the cut.PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The way these first two days have played out, the Players Championship could just as easily have been contested about 90 minutes up the highway.

  • Ian Poulter, Martin Laird share Players lead at 65

    10 May 2012 | 9:01 pm
    Tiger Woods' struggles continue with a 74. Poulter is happy that his new home in Florida is finally finished.PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Ian Poulter wouldn't necessarily recommend the way he got ready for the Players Championship. He certainly wouldn't wish that anyone else go through the tumult of getting his new house built.

  • Some take a pass on the Players Championship

    9 May 2012 | 7:30 pm
    The 'fifth major' is right before the meat of the European tour schedule. Charl Schwartzel and Darren Clarke are skipping it this year. Rory McIlroy is back, however.PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Looking back now, Rory McIlroy is quick to admit that skipping the Players Championship was a mistake last year.
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    L.A. Times - High School Sports

  • Angels beat A's, 4-0, then fire hitting coach Mickey Hatcher

    16 May 2012 | 12:07 am
    Mickey Hatcher is dismissed in the wake of a 16-21 start during which the Angels have scored only 134 runs and been shut out a major league-high eight times. Triple-A coach Jim Eppard replaces him.The first major repercussion from the Angels' disappointing 16-21 start occurred Tuesday night when the team announced that hitting coach Mickey Hatcher had been fired.

  • Southern Section Baseball playoffs: The predictions

    14 May 2012 | 5:25 pm
    Look for Mater Dei, Cypress and Bonita to come out winners in the top three divisions.The Southern Section baseball pairings were released on Monday, and now the fun part begins. People get to imagine which teams might make it through to the championship games set for June 1 at Dodger Stadium (Divisions 1-3) and June 2 at UC Riverside (Divisions 4-7).

  • A second season beckons for high school baseball, softball

    14 May 2012 | 5:00 pm
    CIF Southern Section releases playoff pairings, with wild-card games scheduled to begin Tuesday.It's supposed to be a good thing to be seeded No. 1 for the Southern Section Division 1 baseball playoffs, and Orange Lutheran Coach Eric Borba will gladly accept congratulations. But it doesn't guarantee that the Lancers will make a trip to Dodger Stadium for the championship game June 1.

  • Chris Mallon is Kennedy's next great catcher, and that says a lot

    13 May 2012 | 7:00 pm
    Granada Hills Kennedy High has produced All-City catchers as though it has an assembly line — 10 in all. Chris Mallon, who hit .533 with seven homers and 47 RBIs this year, is sure to make it 11.There have been 10 All-City catchers produced by Granada Hills Kennedy since the high school opened in 1971, raising the question of whether there is some kind of electromagnetic field transforming its catchers into Ninja-like figures.

  • The Times' high school baseball rankings

    13 May 2012 | 5:35 pm
    A look at the top 25 teams in the Southland.Rank, School (Record) Division
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    NHL - latimes.com

  • Coyotes might have lost more than Game 2

    16 May 2012 | 1:36 am
    Will Phoenix be hit by suspensions after frustration-driven fouls in the Kings' 4-0 victory?GLENDALE, Ariz. — As the sun and the Phoenix Coyotes sank slowly in the West, the key question after the Kings' 4-0 conference finals victory Tuesday was whether the NHL, which has operated the Coyotes franchise for three years, will suspend one or more of its players for the frustration-driven fouls they committed.

  • Los Angeles Kings don't miss a trick in rolling to 2-0 series lead

    16 May 2012 | 1:27 am
    Jeff Carter's first playoff hat trick helps Kings continue incredible run with 4-0 win in Phoenix, making them 10-1 in playoffs, 7-0 on road. As Kings stay hot, Coyotes melt down, taking cheap shots.GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Kings' dormant power play stirred to life, as did forward Jeff Carter, and the Phoenix Coyotes picked the second game of the Western Conference finals to look like they had spent too much time in the midday sun.

  • Kings are showing their youth and talent in postseason run

    16 May 2012 | 1:02 am
    GM Dean Lombardi uses a formula that also worked during his days in San Jose.GLENDALE, Ariz. — The blueprint was not original ... well maybe to the Kings, who spent too many seasons chasing success with a checkbook and patchwork trades.

  • Kings' determination was key in Game 1 against Phoenix

    15 May 2012 | 7:00 am
    The Kings outplayed the Coyotes in every aspect of the game yet were tied after two periods in the opener of the Western Conference finals. They stuck to their game and ended up with a 4-2 victory.GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Kings were outshooting and outworking the Phoenix Coyotes in the opener of the Western Conference finals, beating them along the boards, in the faceoff circle and by almost every imaginable measure. But through two periods the score was tied, the only numbers that mattered.

  • Rangers beat Devils, 3-0, in Game 1 of Eastern Conference finals

    14 May 2012 | 11:19 pm
    Henrik Lundqvist makes 21 saves and Chris Kreider and Dan Girardi each have a goal and an assist as New York fights off fatigue to defeat well-rested New Jersey.NEW YORK — Rookie Chris Kreider and defenseman Dan Girardi both had a goal and an assist in the third period, and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 21 shots for his fifth career playoff shutout, as the weary New York Rangers opened the Eastern Conference finals with a 3-0 victory over the well-rested New Jersey Devils on Monday night.
 
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    L.A. Times - Kings

  • Coyotes might have lost more than Game 2

    16 May 2012 | 1:36 am
    Will Phoenix be hit by suspensions after frustration-driven fouls in the Kings' 4-0 victory?GLENDALE, Ariz. — As the sun and the Phoenix Coyotes sank slowly in the West, the key question after the Kings' 4-0 conference finals victory Tuesday was whether the NHL, which has operated the Coyotes franchise for three years, will suspend one or more of its players for the frustration-driven fouls they committed.

  • Los Angeles Kings don't miss a trick in rolling to 2-0 series lead

    16 May 2012 | 1:27 am
    Jeff Carter's first playoff hat trick helps Kings continue incredible run with 4-0 win in Phoenix, making them 10-1 in playoffs, 7-0 on road. As Kings stay hot, Coyotes melt down, taking cheap shots.GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Kings' dormant power play stirred to life, as did forward Jeff Carter, and the Phoenix Coyotes picked the second game of the Western Conference finals to look like they had spent too much time in the midday sun.

  • Kings are showing their youth and talent in postseason run

    16 May 2012 | 1:02 am
    GM Dean Lombardi uses a formula that also worked during his days in San Jose.GLENDALE, Ariz. — The blueprint was not original ... well maybe to the Kings, who spent too many seasons chasing success with a checkbook and patchwork trades.

  • Kings' determination was key in Game 1 against Phoenix

    15 May 2012 | 7:00 am
    The Kings outplayed the Coyotes in every aspect of the game yet were tied after two periods in the opener of the Western Conference finals. They stuck to their game and ended up with a 4-2 victory.GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Kings were outshooting and outworking the Phoenix Coyotes in the opener of the Western Conference finals, beating them along the boards, in the faceoff circle and by almost every imaginable measure. But through two periods the score was tied, the only numbers that mattered.

  • Rangers beat Devils, 3-0, in Game 1 of Eastern Conference finals

    14 May 2012 | 11:19 pm
    Henrik Lundqvist makes 21 saves and Chris Kreider and Dan Girardi each have a goal and an assist as New York fights off fatigue to defeat well-rested New Jersey.NEW YORK — Rookie Chris Kreider and defenseman Dan Girardi both had a goal and an assist in the third period, and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 21 shots for his fifth career playoff shutout, as the weary New York Rangers opened the Eastern Conference finals with a 3-0 victory over the well-rested New Jersey Devils on Monday night.
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    L.A. Times - Horse Racing

  • J. Paul Reddam is no longer just horsing around

    16 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    After getting into horse racing 'only to have some fun,' the owner of Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another is now all in. He believes his horse can win the next leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes.J. Paul Reddam might not be the type of businessman for whom people suffering through the recession can bring themselves to root.

  • Santa Anita promotion nets Pasadena man $16,300

    7 May 2012 | 9:45 pm
    Greg Politano won a drawing to visit the Santa Anita Derby winner in the paddock and the track gave him $1,000 to bet on I'll Have Another in the Kentucky Derby, which he won.Talk about promotional magic.

  • Doug O'Neill is man of the moment after I'll Have Another's Derby win

    7 May 2012 | 8:40 pm
    The trainer returns to barn at Hollywood Park and is surrounded by friends and colleagues. He knows the odds are long but doesn't shy away from the subject of possible Triple Crown.Seldom has a horse been better named for taking the second step in pursuit of racing's Triple Crown than I'll Have Another.

  • Trainer and jockey praise Bodemeister's second-place effort

    5 May 2012 | 9:34 pm
    Trainer Bob Baffert says he's proud of Bodemeister, who finished second in the Kentucky Derby: 'It's the only time I've run second where I've been happy,' Baffert says, 'because he ran his race.'Despite a second-place finish for Bodemeister, both his trainer and jockey were very happy with his effort.

  • I'll Have Another comes from behind to win Kentucky Derby

    5 May 2012 | 9:33 pm
    I'll Have Another chases down a tiring Bodemeister in the stretch to win the 138th running of the Kentucky Derby.A horse few believed in. A jockey with little big-time experience. A very accomplished trainer who had never won a Triple Crown race.
 
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    L.A. Times - Pro Football

  • New stadium for Vikings is approved

    11 May 2012 | 12:43 am
    The Minnesota state Senate approves a measure to help finance the building of a new stadium for the team.The Minnesota Vikings moved to within a governor's signature of getting a new $975-million stadium on Thursday after the state Senate approved a plan that relies heavily on public financing.

  • Junior Seau's position exacerbated his condition, former NFL player says

    10 May 2012 | 3:28 am
    Riki Ellison, who like Seau played middle linebacker at USC and in the NFL, says players at that position take more direct hits to the head than anyone else. Seau committed suicide on May 2.Riki Ellison was a middle linebacker at USC in 1978, '79, '80 and '82, and played with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Raiders from 1983 to 1992 . The following is a letter he wrote with his feelings on the suicide of Junior Seau:

  • Players in Saints bounty case appeal suspensions

    7 May 2012 | 7:30 pm
    Scott Fujita, Jonathan Vilma, Anthony Hargrove and Will Smith file paperwork with the NFL. Vilma received the stiffest penalty, a full-season suspension.All four players suspended by the NFL for their alleged involvement in the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal appealed their penalties to the league by Monday's deadline.

  • The Junior Seau no one knew

    5 May 2012 | 7:20 pm
    On Monday, former NFL and USC great Junior Seau went surfing and seemed his usual gregarious self at a charity golf event. On Wednesday, he took his own life. Not even those close to him saw it coming.OCEANSIDE, Calif. — Junior Seau spent Monday morning surfing in San Clemente and that afternoon playing in a charity golf tournament in Dana Point. He joked with his playing partners, was the first to offer fist bumps after clutch putts, sought out course workers to pose for pictures with him and seemed like a retired NFL superstar without a care.

  • Union fights NFL players' punishments in Saints scandal

    4 May 2012 | 8:26 pm
    The NFL Players Assn. argues that Roger Goodell lacks the authority to punish four players because the conduct occurred before the current collective bargaining agreement was signed.The NFL Players Assn. is continuing its fight on behalf of two current and two former New Orleans Saints players suspended by the league, challenging NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's authority to sanction them.
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    L.A. Times - Soccer

  • Chivas USA earns 1-1 draw with San Jose

    13 May 2012 | 10:55 pm
    The Earthquakes' Alan Gordon scores in the 89th minute to counter the goal made by Chivas rookie Jose Correa in the fourth minute.SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Alan Gordon's goal in the 89th minute salvaged a 1-1 tie for the San Jose Earthquakes against Chivas USA on Sunday.

  • Manchester City wins English league title in stunning fashion

    13 May 2012 | 7:36 pm
    Team scores twice in injury time to beat Queens Park Rangers, 3-2, and beats out Manchester United, which defeated Sunderland, 1-0, to tie for the league lead but lost the championship on goal difference.Manchester City came out on top on the most dramatic final day in Premier League history, scoring twice in injury time to win its first English league title in 44 years.

  • Galaxy ties Montreal, 1-1, on David Beckham free kick

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Beckham scores in the 62nd minute in front of 60,860 fans, the largest crowd for a professional soccer game in Canada.MONTREAL — David Beckham bent in a free kick in the 62nd minute to help the Galaxy tie the Montreal Impact, 1-1, on Saturday at Olympic Stadium in front of 60,860 fans — the largest crowd for a professional soccer game in Canada.

  • Galaxy and Chivas USA share a personnel connection

    12 May 2012 | 12:30 pm
    Ante Jazic, Juan Pablo Angel and David Junior Lopes are among those who've played for both clubs. Such trades can help the MLS teams as well as the players and their families.James Riley passed through three Major League Soccer franchises in two countries within a matter of minutes last November — all without leaving his living room.

  • Galaxy's stars can't make things happen

    6 May 2012 | 1:05 am
    Joel Lindpere scores in the 19th minute. David Beckham, Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane are unable to counter.Apparently the Angels aren't the only ones who aren't getting what they paid for. Just a few miles down the freeway Major League Soccer's Galaxy has put together the most expensive collection of stars in its sport too. And though that brought them a title last year, the embarrassment of riches has been just that -- an embarrassment -- so far this season.
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    L.A. Times - Tennis

  • Roger Federer and Serena Williams win in Spain

    14 May 2012 | 12:50 am
    Federer defeats Tomas Berdych after dropping the first set while Williams overpowers top-ranked Victoria Azarenka in straight sets.Roger Federer rallied to beat Tomas Berdych , 3-6, 7-5, 7-5, and win the Madrid Open for a third time on Sunday.

  • Roger Federer is in Madrid final again

    12 May 2012 | 11:37 pm
    He has a chance to become the No. 2 player in the world if he beats Tomas Berdych for his third Open title.Roger Federer will play for his third Madrid Open title with a chance to take over the No. 2 spot in the world rankings after cruising past Janko Tipsarevic , 6-2, 6-3, in the tournament semifinals on Saturday.

  • Rafael Nadal gets title No. 7 in Barcelona

    30 Apr 2012 | 12:40 am
    He defeats David Ferrer in straight sets to become the first tennis player to win two tournaments seven times.Rafael Nadal became the first player in the Open Era to win two tournaments seven times after beating David Ferrer , 7-6 (1), 7-5, in Sunday's Barcelona Open final in Spain.

  • USC's Steve Johnson aims to rise to Ojai tradition

    27 Apr 2012 | 11:10 pm
    Steve Johnson of USC will try for his 60th straight singles victory Saturday when he plays UCLA's Nick Meister in the Pac-12 final at the Ojai tournament, a breeding ground for tennis champions.Friday in Ojai was a day best suited for canvas and watercolors. Also, because it was Ojai, for tennis.

  • Rafael Nadal beats Novak Djokovic at Monte Carlo Masters

    23 Apr 2012 | 12:51 am
    The Spaniard picks up his first title since last year's French Open, winning in Monaco for the eighth consecutive year.Rafael Nadal finally managed to beat Novak Djokovic in a final, thrashing the top-ranked Serb, 6-3, 6-1, on Sunday to win the Monte Carlo Masters for the eighth consecutive year and end a run of seven straight defeats to his rival in title matches.
 
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    L.A. Times - USC Trojans

  • USC women lose to Stanford, 6-4, in water polo championship

    13 May 2012 | 11:50 pm
    The Trojans tie the score four times but are unable to prevent a late push by the Cardinal that secured the national title.The USC women's water polo team fell short of a national championship Sunday, losing to Stanford, 6-4, in the title match at San Diego.

  • USC defeats UCLA, 12-10, in water polo semifinal

    12 May 2012 | 11:59 pm
    Trojans advance to face top-seeded Stanford in Sunday's final.Third-seeded USC took a major step forward with a 12-10 victory over second-seeded UCLA in the NCAA women's water polo semifinals Saturday at San Diego.

  • UCLA, USC earn women's water polo rematch

    12 May 2012 | 12:28 am
    Bruins top Iona, Trojans defeat Princeton and will meet Saturday in a semifinal. UC Irvine will play top-seeded Stanford in the other semifinal.Second-seeded UCLA put away Iona, 14-3, and No. 3-seeded USC dominated Princeton, 14-2, on Friday in the opening round of the NCAA women's water polo championship tournament at San Diego State.

  • Junior Seau's position exacerbated his condition, former NFL player says

    10 May 2012 | 3:28 am
    Riki Ellison, who like Seau played middle linebacker at USC and in the NFL, says players at that position take more direct hits to the head than anyone else. Seau committed suicide on May 2.Riki Ellison was a middle linebacker at USC in 1978, '79, '80 and '82, and played with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Raiders from 1983 to 1992 . The following is a letter he wrote with his feelings on the suicide of Junior Seau:

  • Pac-12 football coaches know they have no control over playoff system

    8 May 2012 | 8:35 pm
    The coaches say there is no perfect solution to replace the BCS. A four-team playoff figures to happen in 2014, but Oregon's Chip Kelly and Washington's Steve Sarkisian say more teams need to be involved.Many college coaches are control freaks who operate on military time and like to assign stadium steps for anyone arriving five minutes late to a 10 o'clock meeting.
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    L.A. Times - Auto Industry News

  • Saturday Drive: The story behind 'The Avengers' Acura NSX

    12 May 2012 | 1:06 pm
    Start off your weekend of motoring with a quick take on something fast, fun or rare that's recently grabbed our attention in the automotive world.If you were one of the 18 billion people who went to see "The Avengers"recently, you probably noticed the film concludes with Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark getting into a dark red Acura convertible and driving off with Bruce Banner. (Calm down, that's no spoiler).

  • Recalled cars often go unrepaired

    12 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    The editors of Edmunds.com's online auto forum recently noticed a wave of complaints about engine fires in older-model General Motors vehicles, primarily in vehicles equipped with a 3.8-liter V6 engine produced by the automaker.

  • Carroll Shelby dies at 89; cult classic car designer

    12 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    He retired from racing and built the Cobra, which married Ford V-8 engines with a lightweight British chassis. He later worked with Ford on the Mustang.Carroll Shelby, the charismatic Texan who parlayed a short-lived racing career into a specialized business building high-performance, street-legal cars, died Thursday. He was 89.

  • Investment community gives Tesla Motors vote of confidence

    12 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Despite Tesla's wider first-quarter loss, analysts express optimism about prospects for the Palo Alto electric-car start-up.DeLorean Motor Co. never had a future to get back to. Tucker Corp. got torpedoed. Fisker Automotive doesn't seem to have good karma.

  • A bull market for collector cars

    10 May 2012 | 7:51 pm
    One gauge shows the value of collectible cars has risen 33% since the depth of the recession in 2009. The growth has been fueled by the finding that they have performed well as investment vehicles.The collector car market, which slumped with the economy, is coming back along with the rest of the auto industry.
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    Book - latimes.com

  • Review: 'Engines of Change' by Paul Ingrassia details key cars

    15 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    In 'Engines of Change,' Paul Ingrassia looks at history through 15 iconic cars, including the Ford Model T, Chevrolet Corvette, Volkswagen Beetle, Toyota Prius.It would be impossible to count the number of automotive makes and models that have come and gone since the car was first invented — or the number of books that have been written about them. The inescapable ubiquity of the automobile has made them, for better or worse, a sort of cultural fodder that Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Paul Ingrassia inventively exploits in "Engines of Change."

  • Not Just for Kids: Inside every prince, a bumbling idiot

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    'The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom' by Christopher Healy tells the real story of fairy-tale princes. Prince Charming, for example, is a pampered wimp.The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom

  • Review: 'In One Person' by John Irving

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    The author's 13th novel is a story about AIDS, sexual identity and the loss that comes with growing up, but its general tone of acceptance means that its characters' struggles aren't too difficult.In One Person

  • Review: Albright's 'Prague Winter' mixes the personal, historical

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Madeleine Albright tells a riveting tale of her family's experience in Europe during World War II in 'Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948.'"Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948"

  • Book review: 'At Home on the Range' by Margaret Yardley Potter

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    The cookbook has been republished after an initial run in 1947, and her great-granddaughter Elizabeth Gilbert ('Eat Pray Love') reintroduces Potter in the forward. The cookbook is insightful and funny, weaving together practical advice and recipes.At Home on the Range
 
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    L.A. Times - Food & Dining

  • Wine of the Week: 2007 Rainoldi Valtellina Superiore 'Inferno Riserva'

    19 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    This is an elegant expression of Nebbiolo (here called Chiavennasca) from one ofItaly'ssmallest appellations in the mountains near the Swiss border. Valtellina has several sub-zones, the best known of which is the wonderfully named "Inferno."

  • Wine of the Week: 2010 Calera Viognier 'Mt. Harlan'

    12 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Calera is best known for its compelling Pinot Noirs, but the limestone soils of the Gavilan Mountains east of Monterey Bay work their magic on Viognier too. That's the genius of the site founder Josh Jensen chose for Calera Wine. This Viognier comes from the Mt. Harlan vineyard, first planted with the grape in 1983 and farmed organically.

  • California Cook: The return of the butcher

    12 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    The art of meat cutting is being revived in L.A. It's part of the know-your-food trend.The butcher is back.

  • Spain's flavorful seafood soups

    12 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    — At the village market, my friend Pepa buys a couple of small white fish, a handful of clams, a few shrimp. I ask what she's preparing. " Una sopa marinera, de pescado ," she replies. A fish soup. Nothing fancy, no complications, just a simple home-style fish soup, ready in minutes.

  • Counter Intelligence: Umamicatessen in downtown L.A.

    11 May 2012 | 2:31 pm
    A wealth of imagination is on the menu at the multi-kitchen restaurant: Rethink that pastrami sandwich, a bourbon cocktail, the PB&J.Everyone knows that Langer's serves the best pastrami sandwich in town. Guidebooks say so. National magazines say so. The subway disgorges so many Langer's-bound fressers that it has sometimes been called the Pastrami Express. Many of us think Langer's serves the best pastrami sandwiches in the United States and consider any variance from its formula to be something close to heresy.
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    L.A. Times - Health

  • Assisted suicide or a show of love?

    16 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Alan Purdy, 88, sat by while his beloved Margaret, 84 and in unrelieved pain, killed herself. San Diego County authorities arrested him, but the issue is tough for everyone involved.SAN MARCOS, Calif. —When paramedics arrived at the Purdy home March 20, Margaret was seated in her favorite chair in the living room. The morning sunshine streamed in through a picture window that overlooked a valley. A plastic bag was over her head, tied securely at the neck.

  • It's time to serve up some big incentives to curb obesity

    14 May 2012 | 11:33 pm
    To combat the alarming obesity rate, the Institute of Medicine says the U.S. needs to overhaul everything from farm policies to zoning laws. Clearly, doing nothing isn't an option.Americans eat too damn much. And we all pay a rising cost for this gluttony in the form of higher insurance premiums and lost productivity.

  • Cigarette tax is a lifesaver

    14 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Tobacco companies are taking aim at Proposition 29, which would raise cigarette taxes $1 a pack. But they're blowing smoke.Cigarette makers have a certified history of deception, distortion and lying. And let's not forget fraud and racketeering.

  • Study finds setbacks for young autistic adults

    14 May 2012 | 12:06 am
    One in 3 lack job experience or higher education, researchers say, based on data gathered before unemployment peaked from the recession. About half a million autistic children will reach adulthood in the next decade.One in 3 young adults with autism have no paid job experience or college or technical education nearly seven years after high school graduation, a study finds. That's a poorer showing than those with other disabilities, including the mentally disabled, the researchers said.

  • Healthcare jobs fuel revival in Pittsburgh

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    About 1 in 5 private-sector employees works in health services, which has replaced manufacturing as the region's powerhouse. It's a transformation happening across the U.S., but many worry about long-term side effects.While most of the nation is still trying to claw its way out of the deep economic crater left by the recession, this onetime steel capital is already out — thanks largely to the relentless growth in healthcare jobs.
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    L.A. Times - Home & Garden

  • Man About Town: A few heroic leaps at an 'Avengers' matinee

    12 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Crying babies, knobby-kneed ladies, air-bag lips and endless trailers at the theater."The Avengers," as you may have heard, is the biggest thing to happen to America since World War II but, you know, louder and more troubling. At the end of the matinee I witnessed, audience members actually cheered, believing what they'd just seen was some sort of documentary. Manhattan had been saved, which is almost always a cause for celebration, though I met this one New Yorker the other day at the rent-a-car place: swaggery young Italian guy, you know the type.

  • L.A. Affairs: Some movie experiences have unexpected endings

    12 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Attending a 75-week movie-screening series was a solo experience for a shy former punk rocker. But close proximity to another movie fan slowly built to a dramatic finish.If you want a relationship, the advice goes, do what you like and you'll eventually bump into the love of your life. None of that was on my mind when I opened up the newspaper and read about a film series at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Goldwyn Theater on Wilshire Boulevard. The academy would be screening, every Monday night for 75 weeks, all of the best picture winners from "Wings" (1927) to "Chicago"…

  • Man About Town: At Hollywood Park, playing the ponies is family fun

    5 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    There's food trucks, cheap beer, live music and chances to gamble. The perfect place to bring the little guy.With a caffeine headache and 60 bucks in my britches, I head out to the pony rides on a Friday night — to glittery, improbable Hollywood Park, now officially Betfair Hollywood Park.

  • L.A. Affairs: A glass of wine and a little distortion

    5 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    We met at the Santa Monica outpost of the Bodega wine bar. Though it was fairly dark inside, I recognized his face at the bar. I waved and walked toward him. As he stood up, his body did not match his face, or any of his online pictures. He was not the same guy surfing in the wetsuit, or wearing the tux, or looking all skinny with his bushy brown hair. He must have gained 50 pounds, maybe more. Beneath his beige button-down shirt I could see man boobs.

  • Pocket offices: The latest trend in new homes

    28 Apr 2012 | 1:44 pm
 
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    L.A. Times - Fashion & Style

  • Vidal Sassoon had a style of his own

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    L.A. was an easy fit for Vidal Sassoon, whose modern, geometric haircuts changed the rules.When most people think of Vidal Sassoon, who died Wednesday at age 84, they think Carnaby Street. But he also had a role in shaping Los Angeles as a city of style.

  • Q&A with 'Dark Shadows' costume designer Colleen Atwood

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Colleen Atwood talks about designing costumes for Johnny Depp, Eva Green, Michelle Pfeiffer and other 'Dark Shadows' actors."Dark Shadows,"which hit theaters on Friday, not only revives long-dormant vampire Barnabas Collins, it also brings back some giggle- and cringe-inducing fashions of the early 1970s.

  • Baby planners help parents-to-be navigate a life-changing event

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Ellie & Melissa, the Baby Planners in Studio City and Babytalk LA in Beverly Hills are two of the services that assist and educate parents expecting a child.In Los Angeles, red carpet treatment is not just for celebrities. Here, mere mortals can find specialists — medical concierges, cat whisperers, image consultants — for almost everything.

  • Jewelry designer Alexis Bittar in expansion mode

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    The jewelry maker uses innovative materials such as molten metals and Lucite in his designs. Now he's planning a higher-end line in sterling silver and gold.Fashion jewelry design is in the midst of a renaissance the likes of which we haven't seen since the 1980s. And Alexis Bittar blazed the trail. In the last two decades, the New York-based jewelry designer has gone from selling his signature colorful, hand-carved Lucite pieces on the streets of SoHo to bejeweling leading ladies in Hollywood and beyond, including Lady Gaga, First Lady Michelle Obama, Madonna, Cameron Diaz, Meryl Streep and…

  • Pregnancy's expanding wardrobe options

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Regular garments in stretchy fabrics, maternity jeans and a few designer pieces can round out a maternity wardrobe.When I discovered I was pregnant with our second child, I pulled out the storage bin containing the maternity clothes from my first pregnancy and was instantly depressed. After nine months of wearing a Diane von Furstenberg maternity wrap dress and Lilly Pulitzer maternity shift in heavy rotation — and I mean heavy in every sense — I couldn't face another pregnancy in these same few outfits.
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    L.A. Times - Real Estate News

  • Lenders are using a variety of tools to prevent mortgage fraud

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Websites and other tools can help nab fibbers who just want to buy a house, as well as out-and-out perjurers looking to bilk lenders out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.Don't even think about fudging on your application for a mortgage by inflating your income a tad, checking the box to indicate you're going to live there when you're really not or exaggerating your job description.

  • Julie Andrews' Brentwood house isn't going for a song

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    The home Andrews owned with her late husband, director and screenwriter Blake Edwards, is listed for $2.649 million. It's already in escrow less than a month after going on the market.Singer and actress Julie Andrews has listed the Brentwood house she owned with her late husband, director and screenwriter Blake Edwards , for $2.649 million. Less than a month after coming on the market, the tidy white home with gray shutters is already in escrow.

  • Home of the Week: Sleek contemporary in Beverly Hills

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    The modern four-bedroom, 41/2-bathroom house is designed for entertaining and features a massive concrete fireplace, a glass-walled loft and walls of glass looking out onto the swimming pool and deck.Pocket doors slide away to connect the indoors and outdoors at this sleek contemporary. Designed for entertaining, the modern house features a massive concrete fireplace, a glass-walled loft and walls of glass looking out onto the swimming pool and deck.

  • Can 'absentee owner' be barred from seeking board seat?

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    The board of a homeowners association has repeatedly said a titleholder is not eligible for office because the person is an 'absentee owner.' Is that legal?Question: Shortly after I bought my town home I had to rent it out and move in with my mother because she could no longer live alone. Since I became an owner I've never been late paying my homeowner dues, and my unit is well maintained. Every year the association sends me requests for nominees to serve on the board.

  • Home of the Week Update

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    New life for a California Classic
 
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    L.A. Times - Travel

  • Mother's Day: Carmel Valley Ranch, Cal-a-Vie, more escapes for Mom

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Carmel Valley Ranch, Costa Careyes Resort, Ranch at Rock Creek and Cal-a-Vie are luxurious escapes for Mom.Ask a hard-pressed mom what she wants forMother's Dayand she's apt to say she'd like a break from chores. No cleaning, shopping, cooking, volunteering, driving or organizing. Herewith, a few luxurious getaways where moms will never be asked to do any of the above. (Moms, we suggest you leave this article in a strategic location.)

  • Old California and good grub in San Juan Capistrano

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    The Orange County town boasts a famous mission and the returning swallows (sometimes). It also has great restaurants, a heritage museum and more.What an appealing slice-of-life California town, an easy day trip by car or train. Come for the history, stay for the food. This restaurant-intensive ranch town is the oldest community in Orange County. If San Juan Capistrano — or SJC — had a dating profile it would say: "Self-deprecating, authentic, still likes a good time."

  • In San Francisco's Mission District, touring Clarion Alley murals

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Take one of the mural tours or see them on your own. The Inn, a Victorian B&B, has a hot tub and antiques. Bi-Rite Market and Pizzeria Delfina offer good eats.The fantastical murals of San Francisco's Mission District are an intriguing dialogue between artists and their city that you can easily experience on foot. On any given day in Clarion Alley, tourists from all over the world mingle with field-tripping students (and the homeless). Start at the Mission Street end of Clarion Alley, then exit at Valencia Street and head south (turn left). Check out the murals all the way to 20th Street.

  • MachineGunsVegas, Guns & Ammo Garage: Pull the trigger on a trip

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Las Vegas indoor gun ranges MachineGunsVegas and Guns & Ammo Garage are fun but can be pricey. Consider a cheap but pleasant stay at the Plaza.Two new Las Vegas venues invite guests to — quite literally — have a blast. Letting loose with high-powered firearms may not be everyone's idea of a good time, but my visits to two indoor gun ranges suggested just how popular they are with tourists.

  • Portland, Ore., is a smaller, cleaner, wetter alternative to L.A.

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Pacific Pie Co., Oblation print shop and the Pearl District are part of the town's charms. Hotel Modera has original art and an upscale restaurant, Nel Centro.The Portland Hop. I know, it sounds like a dance craze in 1937. But really, it's what you do when Southern California gets you down and you need to drink small-batch beer, eat Northwestern locavore meals and see bike commuters in the rain. My wife, daughter and I hit Portland, Ore., for a few days last August. Here's the report.
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    Travel - latimes.com

  • The Hotel Sacher in Vienna, Austria, has old-school charms

    29 Apr 2012 | 2:00 am
    At first glance, Hotel Sacher seems removed from its glory days. But then the Blaue Bar and the lavish décor grow on you. And there's also the Sacher torte.VIENNA — The Hotel Sacher will never be mistaken for a hip hotel. The elaborate gilt trim in public rooms, the old-school celebrity photos that adorn the walls and the tourists in line to sample Sacher torte — all evidence that guests are unlikely to think of Philippe Starck or Shawn Hausman as they explore the place.

  • A taste of Hungary's history in Budapest's sumptuous coffeehouses

    29 Apr 2012 | 2:00 am
    A family finds sweet fulfillment on a trip to Hungary that includes stops at ornate Budapest coffeehouses featuring delicious pastries and memories of a flourishing Jewish community.BUDAPEST, Hungary —American coffeehouses are prized for their quick service and fast Internet — ideal for people on the go. But a century ago, European cafes were places to linger amid Gilded Age opulence. Nowhere was this more so than in Budapest, where some of its great historic cafes have survived economic crises, war and Communism.

  • Bratislava, Slovakia: A velvety visit to old city with new touches

    29 Apr 2012 | 2:00 am
    A visitor encounters a centuries-old castle, whimsical street art, a performance of 'Carmen,' Old Town cafes and pop music-loving locals.If your destination is Bratislava, be prepared for a few questions:¶Is that in Eastern Europe? (No, it's in Central Europe.)

  • Finding a bargain in Istanbul, Turkey

    8 Apr 2012 | 2:00 am
    The airfare and hotels were inexpensive. But the city's sights, sounds, tastes and history were priceless. Istanbul, Turkey — For months I had been pining for a trip to Europe, willing to go anywhere a cheap flight would take me. But the elusive bargain I sought didn't materialize until February, and it wasn't completely Europe.

  • Wales: A walk along Offa's Dyke Path with Bill Bryson

    2 Apr 2012 | 2:00 am
    A convivial hike with author Bill Bryson on the Anglo-Welsh border features stops at bookstores and village pubs, plus encounters with shepherds.WELSHPOOL, WalesBill Bryson leans his walking stick outside a tiny, rough-stone church, where a hand-lettered sign invites "Dykers" — that would be us — to step inside for orange juice, barley water, tea and coffee.
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    Travel - latimes.com

  • Hawaii is more than fair at festivals

    22 Apr 2012 | 2:00 am
    Celebrations revolving around music, film, food, wine and more take place throughout the year.Hawaii loves to celebrate. There are festivals celebrating avocados, mangoes, coffee, craft brew, Chinese New Year, falsetto singing, taro, paniolo (Hawaiian cowboys), slack-key guitar playing and just about everything else you can hear, see or taste in the archipelago that Capt. James Cook called the Sandwich Islands. Come to think of it, the only one missing is a Sandwich Isles Sandwich Festival.

  • Agritourism takes off in Hawaii

    22 Apr 2012 | 2:00 am
    Farmers markets with tropical fruits. A cattle ranch. A cacao farm. These are becoming visitor favorites, in addition to the luaus and beach days.HANALEI, Hawaii — It's a warm Tuesday afternoon on Kauai and tourists are lining up — just a few at first, then a dozen or so. Finally more than 100 have gathered, waiting patiently. They're not here to swim with dolphins, snorkel in turquoise waters or even learn to hula at a luau. They're here for a farmers market.

  • Star gazing on Maui in Hana, Hawaii

    22 Apr 2012 | 2:00 am
    At the end of a long, winding road is remote Hana and the Travaasa Hana resort. The area has beautiful beaches, the Seven Sacred Pools and star-filled skies.HANA, Hawaii — I came to play in a jungle, dance under a waterfall and swim with giant turtles in a tranquil sea. But at the end of the long, winding road to Hana, the thing that pleased me most was staring at the star-filled sky.

  • Remembering Pearl Harbor attack 70 years later

    4 Dec 2011 | 2:00 am
    At Oahu's Pearl Harbor, a new visitor center is open for the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack and activities are planned to mark the day.Seventy years ago on Wednesday, one of the world's great paradises became one of the world's most hellish flashpoints.

  • Kauai remains a popular film location

    23 Oct 2011 | 2:00 am
    Movies including this year's 'The Descendants' and 'Just Go With It,' 'Jurassic Park' and 'South Pacific' have been filmed on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.Kauai has been a favorite film location since it stood in for Bali Hai in the 1958 movie version of "South Pacific." It has been Maui in the Adam Sandler-Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy "Just Go With It" (released this year), and it played the Caribbean in "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," the fourth of the Johnny Depp swashbucklers. Sometimes it even plays itself. In "The Descendants," which is to open next month, a father…
 
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    Travel - latimes.com

  • MachineGunsVegas, Guns & Ammo Garage: Pull the trigger on a trip

    13 May 2012 | 2:00 am
    Las Vegas indoor gun ranges MachineGunsVegas and Guns & Ammo Garage are fun but can be pricey. Consider a cheap but pleasant stay at the Plaza.Two new Las Vegas venues invite guests to — quite literally — have a blast. Letting loose with high-powered firearms may not be everyone's idea of a good time, but my visits to two indoor gun ranges suggested just how popular they are with tourists.

  • Las Vegas: Vegans, get ready for a feast

    4 Mar 2012 | 2:00 am
    Hotel restaurants at the Wynn resorts and Encore in Las Vegas have added vegan menus with options that go far beyond the simple salad.There's only a one-letter difference between "Vegas" and "vegan," but until recently the two could not have been further apart. For years, the best herbivore option in Sin City has been a nondescript shop on Spring Mountain Road called Ronald's Donuts that sells vegan doughnuts.

  • Las Vegas: 21 things to do for under $21

    4 Mar 2012 | 2:00 am
    Whether you're up for shopping (Miracle Mile Shops, H&M), art perusing (Bellagio Gallery) or even bird-watching (Flamingo Hotel), Las Vegas has it on the cheap.For those who want to spend more time than money in Las Vegas, here are 21 things to do for less than $21, all aimed at keeping the bottom line low and the fun factor high.

  • Las Vegas: Curtains to open on Smith Center for the Performing Arts

    4 Mar 2012 | 2:00 am
    Downtown Las Vegas' Smith Center for the Performing Arts, set for a March 10 opening, will help fill a community's thirst for culture.Myron Martin was in fourth grade when he attended an opera at Jones Hall for the Performing Arts in Houston.

  • Downtown Las Vegas' El Cortez and Plaza beckon anew

    4 Mar 2012 | 2:00 am
    Two hotels that bookend Fremont Street are spruced up and priced right. Quick quiz: How many Vegas-goers you know prefer staying downtown?
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    All The Rage

  • Fashion news: Lady Gaga, Cameron Silver and dazzling Diane Kruger

    Alice Short
    16 May 2012 | 11:11 am
    Lady Gaga, who, as we all know, really knows how to rock a meat dress, was forced to cancel shows in Indonesia. Why? Her sexy outfits were prompting security concerns. "According to the AP, a fringe group of Muslim extremists has criticized her sexy ensembles and promised to use physical force to prevent her from performing." [The Cut] Decades owner Cameron Silver has started his own style blog. "What he's most known for are his spectacular suits in zany prints, colors and textures," says the Racked website. [Racked] Here's a question for the ages: Do thin models…

  • Frugal Fashion: Justin Timberlake, Jessica Biel at a Lakers game

    Jenn Harris
    16 May 2012 | 9:00 am
    If you're looking for a little celebrity PDA, look no further than courtside at an NBA playoff game. When the Lakers took on the Denver Nuggets during Game 7 of the Western Conference quarterfinals last  weekend, Kanye West was spotted with his arm around Kim Kardashian, whispering and holding hands with the reality TV star, while Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel were seen cuddling and making out between baskets. Timberlake and Biel can really turn up the style dial for red carpet events, however it was refreshing to see the couple still chic but dressed down for a game. Timberlake…

  • New guide ranks safe, effective sunscreens for 2012

    Susan Carpenter
    15 May 2012 | 2:01 pm
    The best sun protection is a broad-brimmed hat and clothing, but it's the rare Angeleno who wants to wear long sleeves and pants in the heat of summer. Most of us use sunscreen, but what are the safest and most effective products? According to the 2012 Sunscreen Guide released Wednesday by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, just 25% of sunscreens are effective and safe to use. That's an improvement from the group's 2011 guide, which recommended just 20% of sunscreens. The Environmental Working Group, in Washington, D.C., analyzed the ingredient lists of more than 800…

  • Fashion News: New Web series helps figure out 'What to Wear, Where'

    Susan Denley
    15 May 2012 | 9:41 am
     A handy new Web series,  "What to Wear, Where," launched on Yahoo on Monday. The  series is hosted byHillary Kerr and Katherine Power, co-founders of the fashion website Who What Wear. The initial offering explained what to wear to a daytime, cocktail hour or formal wedding, then provided links to shop the looks. Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron both wore diaphanous, black gowns to Monday's London premiere of "Snow White and the Huntsman" (due to open in theaters June 1). Stewart's was by Marchesa and Theron's by Chanel, but they were similar enough…

  • Fashion News: Jessica Simpson to design line for Destination Maternity

    Susan Denley
    14 May 2012 | 10:56 am
    Jessica Simpson is designing a line for Destination Maternity, which seems fitting because hers was one of the most watched celebrity pregnancies of the year (culminating in the birth of daughter Maxwell earlier this month). The line is scheduled to launch in the fall. [Racked]  Rosie Pope, host of Bravo's "Pregnant in Heels," gave birth to a daughter on Mother's Day -- and this being modern times, she tweeted through labor. When the going got rough, her husband took over the tweeting so fans didn't have to miss a thing. [People] In L.A., beleaguered pregnant women…
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    Daily Dish

  • Tune in: 'Roadtrip With G. Garvin'

    Irene Virbila
    16 May 2012 | 12:00 pm
    Remember “G. Garvin,” the California eclectic restaurant on West 3rd Street in Los Angeles? Once it closed, I never heard what happened to chef/owner Gerry Garvin (aka G. Garvin). Before opening his own place, he’d done a stint as executive chef at Morton's. He was chef at the late Kass Bah on Melrose Avenue, and was opening chef at Keyshawn Johnson's Reign in Beverly Hills, also long gone and one of the few celebrity haunts where people came more for the food than the scene. Turns out he’s been in plain sight all along, that is, if you watch the Cooking Channel. Now…

  • Food FYI: Man jailed for poaching Laguna Beach lobsters

    Betty Hallock
    16 May 2012 | 11:00 am
    NOT BUTTER-POACHED A Riverside County man caught poaching lobsters in Laguna Beach has been sentenced to jail, fined and banned from the newly established marine reserve. [Los Angeles Times] STOLEN FOOD DONATIONS  Unofficial vehicles drove down streets and took bags of food intended as donations for "Stamp Out Hunger," the National Assn. of Letter Carriers' annual food drive. [LA Weekly] OBESITY BY NUMBER One mathematician takes a look at obesity by equation. "It actually takes about three years for a dieter to reach their new 'steady state.'" [New…

  • Recipe Box: For the serious snackers

    Jenn Harris
    15 May 2012 | 4:32 pm
    It's three-o-clock in the afternoon and you're feeling low on energy. A growling stomach tells you there's no way your 11:30 lunch will keep you sane 'til dinner. Snacktime is a daily dilemma most everyone faces. It's a serious problem that if not treated quickly or properly can result in severe crankiness. In my case, I'm in dire need of munchies no less than three times a day, and most days, chips from a vending machine are too much of a bore for my taste buds to even pay attention. For those times when you're in need of a real snack, here are 10 fun and easy…

  • Live discussion: Lunchtime with Mr. Gold

    LATimes
    15 May 2012 | 4:26 pm
    Join in Wednesday at noon for a live chat with Jonathan Gold. You have questions? Say, where to find hand-pulled Uzbekistan noodles? He'll be here at lunchtime to answer.  <a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=af1ca699b5" _mce_href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=af1ca699b5" >Lunchtime with…

  • A foie gras fest at Wilshire restaurant

    Betty Hallock
    15 May 2012 | 3:41 pm
    As the future of foie gras hangs in the balance, here comes another all-out-foie dinner in opposition to the pending ban on the production and sale of fattened duck liver in California. On June 3, Wilshire restaurant's Foie Festival takes place on its patio with chef Nyesha Arrington and guest chefs Ray Garcia of Fig, Kris Morningstar of Rays & Stark Bar, Vartan Abgaryan of Public Kitchen & Bar, Micah Wexler of Mezze and Jordan Kahn of Red Medicine. Ticket are $110, with part of the proceeds benefiting C.H.E.F.S., the Coalition for Humane and Ethical Farming Standards, which…
 
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    Travel News & Deals - latimes.com

  • National parks from California to New Mexico rev up for eclipse

    16 May 2012 | 8:15 am
    Fade to ... almost dark? An annular solar eclipse will be visible in part of the West on Sunday hours before sunset when the moon will cover up all but a sliver of the sun. Inside what's called the annular path, a "ring of fire" will appear as the moon passes in front of the sun.

  • Riverside: Mission Inn offers package for members of the military

    16 May 2012 | 8:00 am
    The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in Riverside has a special offer for active and veteran members of the U.S. military this month: $159 a night for a room that includes dinner for two and valet parking. It's a good discount off the usual rates -- and might make for a nice Memorial Day getaway.

  • Yosemite: Insider tour presents the stories behind the landscape

    16 May 2012 | 7:30 am
    You may think you know Yosemite National Park ,  but you can get to know it  intimately through the Yosemite Insider Experience , a two-night, three-day adventure. Even better, new dates have been added for fall.

  • Tanzania: REI offers 20% off a trek up Mount Kilimanjaro

    15 May 2012 | 8:00 am
    Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania rises 19,340 feet above sea level, the high point on the African continent and one of the "seven summit" high points of the world that's special to climbers. Outdoors retailer and travel operator REI will offer 20% off a six-day trek to the top of the peak for those fit enough -- and motivated enough -- to make it to the summit.

  • Tuesday Travel Ticker: Pirate ship sails San Diego

    15 May 2012 | 7:00 am
    Did you know that strawberries, though considered a fruit, are technically a member of the rose family? Then you are ripe for the California Strawberry Festival this weekend in Oxnard. On 50 acres, the event features two concert stages and an array of strawberry treats, including strawberry beer. There’s also Strawberryland for the kids. Info: (888) 288-9242 or www.strawberry-fest.org . . . . Speaking of kids, here’s yet another summer activity in family friendly San Diego: Pirate Ship Adventures offers daily cruises aboard an 83-foot sailing ship , including a special July 4…
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    Company Town

  • Company Town is getting a face-lift

    Scott Sandell
    15 May 2012 | 12:40 pm
    Company Town has a new look and a new Web address. Soon, this URL will automatically switch you to the new blog, but you can find it now at http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/. Please update your bookmarks and favorites, and thank you for reading Company Town. — The Company Town team

  • Morning Fix: Britney, Demi on Fox! Rebekah Brooks to be charged.

    Joe Flint
    15 May 2012 | 9:05 am
    After the coffee. Before seeing how many people watched Howard Stern on "America's Got Talent." The Skinny: Company Town, home of the Morning Fix and all the other entertainment news you need is moving to a new neighborhood. Soon -- perhaps even later today -- we will have a new URL. For now, this address will take you to the new home when it is up and running, but if you want to bookmark the new address (you know you do), here it is: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/. Tuesday's headlines include a recap of Fox's schedule announcement, including…

  • Activision pays $42 million to Call of Duty plaintiffs

    Alex Pham
    14 May 2012 | 7:56 pm
    Days before it is expected to go to trial for a $1-billion lawsuit on its Call of Duty franchise, Activision Blizzard Inc. cut a $42-million check to several dozen game developers who are suing the company. The 40 developers, led by Todd Alderman, alleged that Activision failed to pay them royalties for their work on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which launched in November 2009 and has garnered more than $1 billion in revenue for the Santa Monica game publisher. The payment, intended to compensate the developers for royalties accumulated through the first three months of the game's…

  • Assembly committee supports extending California film tax credit

    Richard Verrier
    14 May 2012 | 6:42 pm
    California lawmakers moved a step closer to approving a five-year extension of the state's popular film tax credit program. The Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee unanimously voted to support a bill that would give funding to California' s film tax credit -- which expires next year -- through July 1, 2018. “I’m pleased my bill to extend the Film and Television Tax Credit Program has continued to move through the Assembly with another unanimous vote today,” said Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes (D-Sylmar), author of the bill, known as AB 2026.  “With our state facing a…

  • Upfronts 2012: NBC's Harbert calls for better measurement tools

    Joe Flint
    14 May 2012 | 3:07 pm
    NEW YORK -- NBC Broadcasting Chairman Ted Harbert told advertisers Monday that as more viewers watch programs on platforms other than television, the industry needs to come up with a better measurement system. "The gifts technology gives us also presents several challenges," Harbert said during NBC's presentation of its fall schedule to media buyers at Radio City Music Hall. "If we're going to spend all this money on content, it has to be measured and monetized with a demonstrable return on investment for you folks paying the bills." Harbert said it is crucial…
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    L.A. NOW

  • Student protesters disrupt UC regents meeting

    Amanda Covarrubias
    16 May 2012 | 2:40 pm
    Student protesters angry about another possible tuition hike disrupted the meeting of the University of California regents Wednesday in Sacramento, with some demonstrators dressed in orange prisoner uniforms and singing about “working on the chain gang.” The regents were about to discuss a recent report about the treatment of protesters on campuses and then analyze the impact of the governor’s May revision of the state budget on tuition. Officials have said a 6% percent tuition hike may be in the works for July’s regent meeting if state funding does not increase. After 15 or so…

  • Manny Pacquiao will do 'Extra' show despite gay marriage comments

    Shelby Grad
    16 May 2012 | 2:27 pm
    Despite the Grove shopping mall's decision to ban Manny Pacquiao over comments he made about gay marriage, the boxer still plans to do an interview with the show "Extra." Pacquiao spokesman Fred Sternburg told The Times that the boxer will be interviewed by "Extra" host Mario Lopez at another location. The show is usually taped at The Grove. Sternburg also said the controversy has been blown out of proportion by inaccurate comment's about his position. "[Manny's] not supportive of gay marriage, but he has nothing against gay people," he said. The…

  • Woman buried in other person's funeral in body mix-up, suit says

    Steve Marble
    16 May 2012 | 1:56 pm
    When Adilia Rodriguez died, her children said she left them with specific wishes: She wanted a closed casket during her funeral, and refused to be buried in the ground of a Southern California cemetery. Instead, she asked to be interred above ground in her hometown in Nicaragua, as is tradition there. It didn’t happen that way. Now, months after her death, Rodriguez’s family filed suit Wednesday against Rose Hills Memorial Park and Mortuary, alleging that the funeral home confused her with another woman. The family claims that the funeral home failed to realize that Rodriguez went through…

  • Manny Pacquiao: 'I'm not against gay people'

    Shelby Grad
    16 May 2012 | 1:50 pm
    The Grove shopping mall in Los Angeles has banned boxer Manny Pacquiao over comments he made about gay marriage, but the boxer said he was misquoted. "Based on news reports of statements made by Mr. Pacquiao, we have made it be known that he is not welcome at The Grove and will not be interviewed here now or in the future. The Grove is a gathering place for all Angelenos and not a place for intolerance," the Grove said in a statement. Officials from the Grove did not return immediate calls seeking additional comment. In an interview with National Conservative Examiner, Pacquiao…

  • Burglar steals bike from Junior Seau's home

    Tony Perry
    16 May 2012 | 1:28 pm
      A burglar broke into the garage of Junior Seau's oceanfront home in Oceanside and stole a bicycle, officials said Wednesday. The theft occurred about five days after the football star was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The burglar entered the garage through a doggie-door and rummaged through cabinets but did not enter the house, police said. The gray bike with a black seat is valued at $500. Seau, 43, was found dead May 2. For days after his death, well-wishers left flowers and other signs of appreciation outside of the home and kept a…
 
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    Jacket Copy

  • The New Yorker reboots online books coverage

    Carolyn Kellogg
    16 May 2012 | 2:00 pm
    The New Yorker magazine, which has always provided top-notch literary content and coverage, relaunched its online books offerings Tuesday (or, for those of us who stumbled across the change, Monday night). It's got a spiffy books landing page, and its active book blog, the Book Bench, has been renamed Page-Turner. The blog has a new pink-and-red logo, of a reader surrounded by books, that appears on its rebranded Twitter feed. Page-Turner editor Sasha Weiss explains what to expect of the blog: We'll debate about books under-noticed or too much noticed, and celebrate writers…

  • Sarajevo with tears: Another walk down Logavina Street

    Jon Thurber
    16 May 2012 | 11:15 am
    Twenty years ago, war raged across the former Yugoslavia, killing 100,000 people. The Bosnian war was the first in Europe in nearly half a century and, coming after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, was a shock to those who expected those events to yield a lasting peace. What they got instead was the horror of ethnic cleansing at a level not seen in Europe since World War II. Sarajavo, a relatively modern European city, was the subject of the longest siege of a capital city in modern warfare, lasting from 1992 to 1995. The city that had hosted the Winter…

  • Carlos Fuentes, 83, has died

    Carolyn Kellogg
    15 May 2012 | 8:40 pm
    Renowned Spanish-language novelist Carlos Fuentes died Tuesday in Mexico City at age 83, authorities announced. Fuentes was a prolific, politically engaged writer, best known in the U.S. for books including “The Death of Artemio Cruz,” “Aura,” “Terra Nostra,” “The Good Conscience” and “The Old Gringo,” which was made into a film starring Gregory Peck. In an interview published Monday in the Spanish newspaper El Pais, Fuentes said he had just completed a new novel, titled "Federico on His Balcony." In that interview, Fuentes said, "My system of youth is to…

  • Stay e-gold, Ponyboy: 'The Outsiders' becomes an e-book

    Carolyn Kellogg
    15 May 2012 | 2:00 pm
    This year marks the 45th anniversary of the publication of S.E. Hinton's book "The Outsiders." To celebrate, Penguin is releasing the story of the boys from the wrong side of the tracks for the first time as an e-book. Hinton began writing the book while she was still a high school student in Tulsa, Okla."It was the year I was 16 and a junior in high school that I did the majority of the work (that was the year I made a D in creative writing)," she said in an interview on a website dedicated to "The Outsiders" book and film. "One day, a friend of mine…

  • Mike McGrady, the man behind sexy, '60s literary hoax, has died

    Carolyn Kellogg
    15 May 2012 | 11:20 am
    Mike McGrady, a cigar-smoking, hard-drinking reporter who rallied his Newsday colleagues to write 1969's suburban sexcapade "Naked Came the Stranger" under a pseudonym, has died. He was 78. Published as the supposedly true-life tales of a highly sexed suburban housewife, the book was attributed to Penelope Ashe, who turned out to be a wholly invented character. Like J.T. Leroy after her, Ashe was represented publicly by an actual human -- Billie Young, McGrady's sister-in-law -- who had nothing to do with the text. That book had been written by McGrady and others on the…
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    L.A. NOW

  • Student protesters disrupt UC regents meeting

    Amanda Covarrubias
    16 May 2012 | 2:40 pm
    Student protesters angry about another possible tuition hike disrupted the meeting of the University of California regents Wednesday in Sacramento, with some demonstrators dressed in orange prisoner uniforms and singing about “working on the chain gang.” The regents were about to discuss a recent report about the treatment of protesters on campuses and then analyze the impact of the governor’s May revision of the state budget on tuition. Officials have said a 6% percent tuition hike may be in the works for July’s regent meeting if state funding does not increase. After 15 or so…

  • Manny Pacquiao will do 'Extra' show despite gay marriage comments

    Shelby Grad
    16 May 2012 | 2:27 pm
    Despite the Grove shopping mall's decision to ban Manny Pacquiao over comments he made about gay marriage, the boxer still plans to do an interview with the show "Extra." Pacquiao spokesman Fred Sternburg told The Times that the boxer will be interviewed by "Extra" host Mario Lopez at another location. The show is usually taped at The Grove. Sternburg also said the controversy has been blown out of proportion by inaccurate comment's about his position. "[Manny's] not supportive of gay marriage, but he has nothing against gay people," he said. The…

  • Woman buried in other person's funeral in body mix-up, suit says

    Steve Marble
    16 May 2012 | 1:56 pm
    When Adilia Rodriguez died, her children said she left them with specific wishes: She wanted a closed casket during her funeral, and refused to be buried in the ground of a Southern California cemetery. Instead, she asked to be interred above ground in her hometown in Nicaragua, as is tradition there. It didn’t happen that way. Now, months after her death, Rodriguez’s family filed suit Wednesday against Rose Hills Memorial Park and Mortuary, alleging that the funeral home confused her with another woman. The family claims that the funeral home failed to realize that Rodriguez went through…

  • Manny Pacquiao: 'I'm not against gay people'

    Shelby Grad
    16 May 2012 | 1:50 pm
    The Grove shopping mall in Los Angeles has banned boxer Manny Pacquiao over comments he made about gay marriage, but the boxer said he was misquoted. "Based on news reports of statements made by Mr. Pacquiao, we have made it be known that he is not welcome at The Grove and will not be interviewed here now or in the future. The Grove is a gathering place for all Angelenos and not a place for intolerance," the Grove said in a statement. Officials from the Grove did not return immediate calls seeking additional comment. In an interview with National Conservative Examiner, Pacquiao…

  • Burglar steals bike from Junior Seau's home

    Tony Perry
    16 May 2012 | 1:28 pm
    A burglar broke into the garage of Junior Seau's oceanfront home in Oceanside and stole a bicycle, officials said Wednesday. The theft occurred about five days after the football star was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The burglar entered the garage through a doggie-door and rummaged through cabinets but did not enter the house, police said. The gray bike with a black seat is valued at $500. Seau, 43, was found dead May 2. For days after his death, well-wishers left flowers and other signs of appreciation outside of the home and kept a virtual round-the-clock vigil.
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    L.A. Times - Opinion Blog

  • An ailing wife takes her life; a husband is arrested

    16 May 2012 | 1:20 pm
    Is this the best that American justice can do: Handcuff an old man and take him to jail because he kept his beloved wife company as she ended her own painful life?

  • Contrasting the candidates: Same-sex marriage

    15 May 2012 | 3:18 pm
    Who's the bigger flip-flopper on same-sex marriage, Mitt Romney or President Obama? When it comes to hot-button issues like this one, both politicians appear to have tailored their views according to the political winds -- but that doesn't mean they don't have fundamental differences, particularly as each man's position has "evolved."

  • Think it can't get worse for California? Stick around

    15 May 2012 | 2:40 pm
    On Tuesday morning, The Times’ headline on its news story read: "Jerry Brown's plea to voters: 'Please increase taxes temporarily' "

  • The case for more UC autonomy

    14 May 2012 | 7:01 pm
    The Times’ April 30 editorial, " The danger of UC autonomy ," which challenges our proposal for modernizing University of California governance, deserves a response.

  • Is it safe to consume milk?

    14 May 2012 | 4:34 pm
    Last week was all about breast milk -- specifically, a big kid standing on a stool while being nursed by his young, attractive mom on the cover of Time magazine . In all the media hubbub, a story about raw milk infecting 10 people in California with Campylobacter didn't get the attention it deserved.
 
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    Pop & Hiss

  • LACMA's next big project: L.A. hip-hop

    Todd Martens
    16 May 2012 | 8:00 am
    Murs had a revelation while waiting in line to see the Louvre Museum in Paris. A longtime staple of L.A.'s underground hip-hop scene, Murs had a day off while on tour in Paris last year. Spotted by museum workers, Murs and his wife were pulled from the line and told to bypass the crowds. "Some fans came up to me and gave us some free passes," said Murs, who was born Nick Carter. "That's when it hit me that we're old enough to be involved with the arts. I have fans who work at the Louvre? That's crazy." Not, perhaps, as crazy as collaborating with a…

  • Exclusive video: Los Lobos' watershed 1992 'Kiko' album returns

    Randy Lewis
    16 May 2012 | 7:00 am
          Los Lobos is revisiting its watershed 1992 album “Kiko” in a 20th anniversary reissue, adding to the original studio album with previously unreleased early and alternate takes of several songs. Simultaneously, a document of the band’s 2006 performance of “Kiko” in its entirety will be released separately on CD, DVD and Blu-ray, with both “Kiko” projects coming Aug. 21. “Kiko” was hailed in 1992 as a new artistic pinnacle for the widely lauded East L.A. group and appeared on numerous critics’ yearly Top 10 lists. It was the No. 1 choice in The…

  • R. Kelly to release 'Write Me Back' on June 26

    Gerrick D. Kennedy
    15 May 2012 | 6:12 pm
    Grammy-winning R&B king R. Kelly is set to release his new album, “Write Me Back,” on June 26, RCA Records announced Tuesday.“Write Me Back” is led by the bubbly “Share My Love,” which landed at No. 1 on urban adult radio, and his latest single, “Feelin’ Single.” The singer’s 11th disc is the follow-up to 2010’s “Love Letter.” The Grammy-nominated album garnered critical acclaim when Kelly traded in his salacious brand of R&B and knocking hip-hop beats for a disc brimming with retro throwbacks. Gone was the Lothario role that made him famous and infamous.

  • Jay-Z rips anti-gay marriage movement as 'discrimination'

    Todd Martens
    15 May 2012 | 3:32 pm
    Vice President Joe Biden generated headlines -- and inspired a few jokes -- when he credited sitcom "Will & Grace" with educating the American populace on gay rights. Now it's Jay-Z's turn to make headlines. This week, the hip-hop star-entrepreneur and longtime supporter of Barack Obama echoed the president's sentiments on the topic of gay marriage. Denouncing gay rights "is no different than discriminating against blacks," Jay-Z told CNN. "It's discrimination, plain and simple." Jay-Z is one of the most powerful figures in a genre that…

  • Video: Willie Nelson, sons cover Pearl Jam's 'Just Breathe'

    Randy Lewis
    15 May 2012 | 3:23 pm
    Willie Nelson’s latest album, “Heroes,” is out today, May 15, and for the occasion the Red Headed Stranger has been working his Willie's Roadhouse classic-country channel on Sirius XM satellite radio, giving his listeners a sneak listen to the entire CD over the last four days. He also recorded a live rendition of one of the album’s songs, a version of Pearl Jam’s “Just Breathe,” in the studio with sons Lukas and Micah Nelson, along with a couple of his longtime Family Band members,  including his sister, keyboardist Bobbie, and harmonica player Mickey…
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    Readers' Representative Journal

  • Times ending Sunday magazine with June 3 issue

    Deirdre Edgar
    15 May 2012 | 5:03 pm
    A memo from Times President Kathy K. Thomson: Many of you have been involved in the various incarnations of The Times’ Sunday magazine--it has taken on several different titles and wonderful forms over the years. However, the entire magazine industry has been faced with a very challenging environment. We are not immune to the challenges and have made the decision that LA, Los Angeles Times Magazine will publish its final issue on June 3rd. I’d like to acknowledge Nancie Clare, Rip Georges, Mayer Rus and the entire LATM team’s excellent work and dedication these past few years. The…

  • L.A. Times falls for Internet hoax, then sets the record straight

    Deirdre Edgar
    10 May 2012 | 2:55 pm
    On May 1, The Times and a number of other media organizations followed the outrageous story reported in a British newspaper of a vengeful dentist in Poland who pulled out all of her ex-boyfriend’s teeth. The Times’ article on the Tech Now blog focused on the huge response the story had received online: Versions of the story have been tweeted and shared again and again on Facebook and via Google. A version of the story posted on Yahoo News already has 15,000 comments and counting. But the article went on to repeat details of the story in the original Daily Mail article -- which has since…

  • 'Several hundred' vs. 10,000: Debating May Day crowd estimates

    Deirdre Edgar
    4 May 2012 | 9:54 am
    Crowd estimates are notoriously unreliable, with organizers quoting larger numbers and authorities giving more conservative figures. It’s no wonder readers are confused -– or skeptical -– about the numbers reported for events such as this year's May Day protests in Los Angeles. In an article Tuesday, an immigrant and labor-rights march downtown was said to have drawn "only several hundred people," and an Occupy protest was said to have had "about 1,000." Reporters said the numbers came from their own estimates and from police and security officials. But readers…

  • Video: David Horsey explains his creative process

    Deirdre Edgar
    3 May 2012 | 2:39 pm
    Political cartoonist and commentator David Horsey gives readers a peek at his creative process in a new video interview. "I've always called myself a journalist who happens to draw," he says. "If I wasn’t drawing cartoons, I'd be writing stories." On The Times' Top of the Ticket blog, he does both. "I almost literally wake up in the morning starting to think of my next idea. It's almost always driven by what's in the news," he says. "The hard part, really, is getting from knowing what I want to say to figuring out how to say it in an…

  • L.A. riots: Readers respond to 20th anniversary coverage

    Deirdre Edgar
    2 May 2012 | 3:37 pm
    Readers by the dozens have shared their memories of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, which erupted 20 years ago this week. Those contributing their stories include: A former National Guardsman  A retired L.A. County sheriff's sergeant A former LAX traffic controller  And a former LAPD 911 operator Readers also have weighed in on The Times' coverage of the anniversary: "This series captivated me, about something so influential to our city's history, but before my lifetime, yet recent enough that it is engrained in its residents' memory," wrote Michael Smallberg…
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    Show Tracker

  • Upfronts 2012: TNT gets more reality; TBS builds off its reruns

    Yvonne Villarreal
    16 May 2012 | 2:29 pm
    NEW YORK -- Turner Entertainment Networks held its upfront presentation Wednesday at the Hammerstein Ballroom -- squeezing in as one of a couple of cablers in a week of broadcast networks -- and unveiled beefed up slates for TNT and TBS. The "Dallas" remake might be the highest profile of TNT's new shows set to premiere this summer, with more announced in the works, including a medical drama, "Monday Mornings," and two more unscripted series in addition to its soon-to-be-launched "The Great Escape." TBS, meanwhile, seems to be the new network offering life…

  • Upfronts 2012: Adult Swim adds 'Harold & Kumar,' Dan Harmon show

    Patrick Kevin Day
    16 May 2012 | 1:11 pm
    Cartoon Network's Adult Swim announced its new pilots for the upcoming season Wednesday, including an untitled animated Harold & Kumar series and new animated series from "Community" creator Dan Harmon and from "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" writer Seth Grahame-Smith. Harmon has dabbled in animation before, with a stop-motion animated holiday episode of "Community," but "Rick & Morty" is the writer's first animated series. Co-created with Justin Roiland, the half-hour series tells the stories of a genius inventor and his…

  • Late Night: Bill Maher on 'stupid' Mormonism, Mitt Romney bullying

    Meredith Blake
    16 May 2012 | 11:54 am
    If you've ever thought to yourself, "Gee, I wonder if Bill Maher would rather have been bullied as a kid, or molested by Michael Jackson?" well then you, my friend, are in luck. In a Tuesday night appearance on "Conan," the always-incendiary comedian responded to recent allegations Mitt Romney was something of a bully during his prep school days. Initially, Maher expressed indifference to the stories about Romney's adolescent antics. "When this issue first arose I thought, 'Well, you know what, I never hold anybody responsible for things they did as…

  • 'America's Got Talent' recap: San Francisco, land of 'big talent'?

    Amy Reiter
    16 May 2012 | 11:47 am
    Good thing Nick Cannon isn't afraid of heights. The "America's Got Talent" host ushered in the second night of Season 7 auditions from atop the Golden Gate Bridge. Yep, the "America's Got Talent" audition caravan had rolled -- like some kind of unhinged cable car, with Howard Stern, Sharon Osbourne and Howie Mandel waving wildly out the windows -- into San Francisco. There, in the home of Rice-a-Roni and (some naked guy with blurred private parts told us at the outset of the show) "huge talent," the focus shifted ever so slightly away from new…

  • Upfronts 2012: CBS makes bold moves, TBS touts 'Cougar Town'

    Joe Flint
    16 May 2012 | 10:51 am
    NEW YORK -- Coming off a season in which it finished first in viewers and made gains in all key demographics, CBS unveiled a fall schedule that features just four new shows but does take some risks by relocating a couple of established hits. "We have one goal, that is just to continue making hit TV shows," said CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler. In a subtle dig at critics who often praise low-rated shows on other broadcast and cable channels and dismiss CBS' popular shows, Tassler said, "We don't get confused, we don't get sidetracked," and added that…
 
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  • Football: Crespi's Tyler Foreman has 11 scholarship offers

    Eric Sondheimer
    16 May 2012 | 2:32 pm
    California is the latest school to offer a scholarship to Encino Crespi junior defensive back Tyler Foreman, who is up to 11 scholarship offers. -- Eric Sondheimer

  • Baseball: South Gate is No. 1 seed in City Division II

    Eric Sondheimer
    16 May 2012 | 1:23 pm
    South Gate has received the No. 1 seed for the City Section Division II playoffs. Wild-card games are set for Friday: King-Drew at Reseda, RFK at Torres, Hollywood at Franklin, Crenshaw at Los Angeles. First-round games are Tuesday. No. 16 Reseda or King-Drew at No. 1 South Gate No. 9 Wilson at No. 8 Huntington Park No. 12 Locke at No. 5 Maywood No. 13 Torres or RFK at No. 4 Gardena No. 14 Franklin or Hollywood at No. 3 North Hollywood No. 11 Fremont at No. 6 Lincoln No. 10 Van Nuys at No. 7 Dorsey No. 15 Los Angeles or Crenshaw at No. 2 University -- Eric Sondheimer

  • Baseball: El Camino Real receives No. 1 seeding

    Eric Sondheimer
    16 May 2012 | 12:21 pm
    Woodland Hills El Camino Real (18-12) has been selected as the No. 1 seeded team for the City Section Division I baseball playoffs that begin Friday with wild-card games.The Conquistadors shared the West Valley League title with Chatsworth but won a coin flip to be the league's No. 1 representative. Chatsworth is No. 2, San Fernando No. 3 and San Pedro No. 4. First-round games are Tuesday, quarterfinals next Thursday and a semifinal doubleheader will be played at USC on May 31. The championship game is Saturday, June 2, at 1 p.m. at Dodger Stadium. Wild-card games Friday: No. 17 Marshall…

  • Boys' volleyball: Southern Section championship schedule

    Eric Maddy
    16 May 2012 | 11:23 am
    BOYS' VOLLEYBALL SOUTHERN SECTION PLAYOFFS Championships, Saturday at Cypress College Division 5: #4 Viewpoint vs. #2 Chadwick, 1:30 p.m. (Gym I) Division 3: #1 Warren vs. #2 South Torrance, 2 p.m. (Gym II) Division 4: #1 Cathedral vs. #3 Santa Monica, 4 p.m. (Gym I) Division 2: #1 Oak Park vs. #2 Corona del Mar, 4:30 p.m. (Gym II) Division 1: #1 Loyola vs. #3 Mira Costa, 7:30 p.m. (Gym II)

  • Boys' volleyball: Tuesday's City playoff results and championship pairings

    Eric Maddy
    16 May 2012 | 11:22 am
    Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000156 EndHTML:0000003917 StartFragment:0000002359 EndFragment:0000003881 SourceURL:file:///Users/emaddy/Desktop/laxplayoff BOYS' VOLLEYBALL City Section playoffs DIVISION I Semifinals, Tuesday Palisades d. West Adams, 25-16, 26-24, 25-17 Granada Hills d. Taft, 25-15, 25-19, 25-21 DIVISION II Semifinals, Tuesday Los Angeles Jordan d. Maywood, 24-26, 25-10, 25-22, 25-15 Verdugo Hills d. Eagle Rock, 25-18, 25-22, 25-23 SMALL SCHOOLS Semifinals, Tuesday Northridge d. Valley Alternative, 25-23, 25-14, 25-20 Elizabeth d. Los Angeles CES, 25-22, 25-20, 22-25, 13-25,…
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