Police search for Nordstrom Rack robbers who took hostages

Los Angeles police continued to search for armed suspects who took 14 hostages at a Nordstrom Rack store in Westchester this...

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Judge Halts California Internet Sex-Offender Law

A federal judge late Friday blocked enforcement of a California voter-approved measure that would have dramatically curtailed the online, First Amendment rights of registered sex offenders.Proposition 35, which passed with 81 percent of the vote in November, would have required anyone who is a registered sex offender — including people with misdemeanor offenses such...

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“The Middle” will gladly take longevity over awards

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – ABC’s “The Middle” doesn’t get the recognition, ratings or Emmy Awards that “Modern Family” does, but the cast and creators are fine with cruising under the radar if they can continue producing more episodes.“I say slow and steady wins the race,” series star Neil Flynn rationalized at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour.Despite averaging a middling 2.8...

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‘Bodega Clinicas’ Draw Interest of Health Officials

HUNTINGTON PARK, Calif. — The “bodega clinicas” that line the bustling commercial streets of immigrant neighborhoods around Los Angeles are wedged between money order kiosks and pawnshops. These storefront offices, staffed with Spanish-speaking medical providers, treat ailments for cash: a doctor’s visit is $20 to $40; a cardiology exam is $120; and at one bustling clinic, a colonoscopy is advertised...

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Aaron Swartz, Internet Activist, Dies at 26

Michael Francis McElroy for The New York TimesAaron Swartz in 2009. Aaron Swartz, a wizardly programmer who as a teenager helped to develop code that delivered ever-changing Web content to users and later became a steadfast crusader to make that information freely available, was found dead on Friday in his New York apartment, an apparent suicide.  An uncle, Michael Wolf, said that Mr....

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Porn producer sues to overturn L.A. County condom requirement for actors

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ABC Looking at Long-Awaited <em>Star Wars</em> Live-Action TV Show

The idea for a live-action Star Wars show has been in development for years under Star Wars creator George Lucas, and now that Disney’s recent $4 billion acquisition of the massively popular sci-fi franchise is complete, ABC is taking a look at the long-awaited series, said the network’s entertainment president Paul Lee in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.“We’d...

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‘Smash’ season debut sneak peek begins Monday

LOS ANGELES (AP) — NBC is giving viewers a sneak peek at the new season of “Smash.”Starting next week, the first hour of the drama’s two-hour season debut can be seen online and in the air — where it will be screened on American Airlines flights.The “Smash” preview will be available through several outlets, including NBC.com, Hulu, iTunes, Amazon and Xbox and on demand. It will be shown on American’s...

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Well: Calling All Cauliflower

At my house we eat cauliflower like popcorn. Using a simple recipe from Alice Waters, we slice it thin, toss in olive oil and salt, and roast. One head of cauliflower is never enough.This week in Recipes for Health, Martha Rose Shulman takes us on a trip to Sicily, where cauliflower is a favorite food. She writes:Every once in a while I revisit the cuisine of a particular part of the world (usually...

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Your Money: She’ll Tell You, It’s Time to Think Ahead

Stuart Isett for The New York TimesOnce Chanel Reynolds had enough emotional distance from her husband's death, she built the site that attempts to convince others to take a couple of hours now to spare themselves countless hours of hardship later. In the days after Chanel Reynolds’s husband was hit while riding his bicycle near Lake Washington here and the best-case possibilities just kept getting...

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Irvine City Council overhauls oversight, spending on Great Park

Capping a raucous eight-hour-plus meeting, the Irvine City Council early Wednesday voted to overhaul the oversight and spending...

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Wired Oscars: Share Your Picks for the 2013 Academy Award Nominees

The nominees for the 85th Academy Awards were announced this morning, with Argo, Zero Dark Thirty, Lincoln and Les Miserables leading in nominations for the most prestigious golden statues of bald men awarded annually in the world of film.The nominees were selected by members of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – after a delay due to technical difficulties with...

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Timberlake hints return to music in video

NEW YORK (AP) — Is Justin Timberlake bringing his music career back?The superstar has concentrated almost exclusively on his acting career over the last few years. But on Thursday, he posted a video on his website that showed him walking into a studio, putting on headphones and saying: “I’m ready.”Timberlake hasn’t made an album since 2006′s Grammy-winning “FutureSex/LoveSounds.” In the video, Timberlake...

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City Room: How Are You Warding Off the Flu?

Sure, you could go out and get a flu shot like everyone keeps telling you to do. It’s relatively cheap, and available just about everywhere.But the shot is not 100 percent effective. And it takes two weeks to kick in. And needles are scary. (The spray vaccine, on the other hand — up your nose! — is just gross.) Plus, the flu has its upsides.On the bright side, having the flu was a great start to...

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F.D.A. Requires Cuts to Dosages of Ambien and Other Sleep Drugs

WASHINGTON -- The Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday that it is requiring manufacturers of popular pills like Ambien and Zolpimist that help millions of Americans sleep at night to cut the recommended dosage in half for women after laboratory studies showed that the medicines can leave patients drowsy in the morning and at risk for car accidents. The new requirement applies...

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Baseball Hall of Fame: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mike Piazza shut out

No players were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame this year in a polarizing vote that reopened the wounds of the...

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Displair Brings You a Gesture-Enabled, Mist-Powered Display

LAS VEGAS — You won’t be tapping and swiping that boring glass touchscreen much longer if Displair has anything to say. The Russian company is here at CES showing off an interactive display made, as the name suggests, of air. Water mist shoots out of a stand to create a moving, unique display. Your computer or tablet screen is projected onto the display, and you interact...

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Bette Midler returning to Broadway as Super Agent Sue Mengers

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Bette Midler will return to Broadway for the first time in 30 years to play legendary agent Sue Mengers.The Divine Miss M will star in John Logan‘s new play “I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat With Sue Mengers.”For Midler, it is a chance to return to her theatrical roots at a time when her career is experiencing something of a revival. Largely absent from screens for much of the...

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Gaps Seen in Therapy for Suicidal Teenagers

Most adolescents who plan or attempt suicide have already received at least some mental health treatment, raising questions about the effectiveness of current approaches to helping troubled youths, according to the largest in-depth analysis to date of suicidal behaviors in American teenagers. The study, in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, found that 55 percent of suicidal teenagers had received...

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Obama Plans to Name Jacob J. Lew as Treasury Secretary, Officials Say

WASHINGTON – President Obama will announce on Thursday that he intends to elevate his chief of staff and former budget director, Jacob J. Lew, to be his next secretary of Treasury, according to people familiar with the decision. If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Lew, 57, would be Mr. Obama’s second Treasury secretary, replacing Timothy F. Geithner, the last remaining principal on Mr. Obama’s...

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Testimony about Colorado massacre resumes in James Holmes hearing

More emotional testimony was expected at a hearing on the Aurora movie theater massacre, as prosecutors continued to lay out their case against the defendant, James Holmes. ...

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