Featured Articles From the Los Angeles Times

New guidelines for prostate cancer screening issued Wednesday emphasize that physicians should better educate men about both the risks and benefits of using the PSA test for screening. They also call for cutbacks in the use of digital rectal exams to find tumors and recommend the end of mass prostate-screening programs at health fairs and other sites. The revised guidelines issued by the influential American Cancer Society come on the heels of several studies suggesting that large numbers of tumors identified by PSA screening are inconsequential and that biopsies and treatment produce more harm than those tumors would.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is moving ahead with a plan requiring customers of the Department of Water and Power to pay higher bills to help the utility tap more sources of renewable energy. While Villaraigosa has been talking publicly about the need for the city to tighten its belt, his advisors have been working behind the scenes to gauge public support for a monthly DWP "carbon surcharge" of $2.50 -- one that would move the utility away from coal and toward wind, solar and geothermal sources of energy.

For centuries, historians, political theorists, anthropologists and the public have tended to think about the political process in seasonal, cyclical terms. From Polybius to Paul Kennedy, from ancient Rome to imperial Britain, we discern a rhythm to history. Great powers, like great men, are born, rise, reign and then gradually wane. No matter whether civilizations decline culturally, economically or ecologically, their downfalls are protracted. In the same way, the challenges that face the United States are often represented as slow-burning.

Resorting to an old-fashioned one-man filibuster, Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) is blocking an extension of unemployment benefits and health insurance payments for hundreds of thousands of out-of-work Americans because of his concerns over the federal budget deficit. The programs are set to expire at midnight Sunday, and the Senate's inaction could delay payments. Democratic and Republican leaders had agreed to pass a one-month extension through a process known as unanimous consent, in which no formal vote was required.

Many film critics -- and awards voters -- have praised "The Hurt Locker's" depiction of the U.S. military in Iraq, often singling out the bomb disposal drama for its authenticity. But as the film emerges as a favorite to win the best picture Oscar, a number of active soldiers and veterans say the film is Hollywood hokum, portraying soldiers as renegades while failing to represent details about combat accurately. The criticism, coming just before Oscar ballots are due Tuesday, highlights the delicate relationship between "The Hurt Locker" and the nation's armed forces.

Paying for college? You may be able to claim a big tax break, even if you've never before qualified. That's because the Obama administration replaced an old break with a new and improved one -- but only for a limited time. To take advantage of it, you'll have to negotiate the often wacky world of tuition tax write-offs. "There is a smorgasbord of education credits available now," said Bob Meighan, vice president of Turbo Tax in San Diego. "It's mind-boggling." What are the breaks?

For Tuesday, March 2, 2010 Mega Millions Mega number is bold 9-12-47-48-56-- Mega 25 Jackpot: $112 million California winners per category: No. of winners Amount of prize(s) 5 + Mega 0 -- 5 2 $144,868 4 + Mega 5 $15,803 4 304 $173 3 + Mega 311 $193 3 16,150 $7 2 + Mega 6,196 $10 1 + Mega 38,347 $3 Mega only 71,526 $2 Winning jackpot ticket(s)

The beasts had long lain extinct and forgotten, embedded deep in the frozen turf, bodies swaddled in Earth's layers for thousands of years before Christ. Now, the Russian permafrost is offering up the bones and tusks of the woolly mammoths that once lumbered over the tundra. They are shaped into picture frames, chess sets, pendants. They are gathered and piled, carved and whittled, bought and sold on the Internet. The once-obscure scientists who specialize in the wastelands of Siberia have opened lucrative sidelines as bone hunters, spending the summer months trawling the northern river banks and working networks of locals to gather stockpiles of bones.

Gatorade officially ended its relationship with Tiger Woods , saying the company no longer sees a role for the world's top-ranked golfer, who one week ago apologized for the sex scandal that has enveloped him. Gatorade, which dropped its Tiger Focus sports drink before the scandal broke, issued this statement: "We no longer see a role for Tiger in our marketing efforts. . . . However, our partnership with the Tiger Woods Foundation will continue. We wish him all the best." This is the third sponsor to cut marketing ties with Woods, who is in rehabilitation and remains on a self-imposed break from the game.

Tiger Woods, who recently admitted to multiple extramarital affairs, said he is receiving treatment. David Duchovny, who plays a sex-obsessed professor on the TV show "Californication," underwent rehab in 2008. Dr. Drew Pinsky has launched a reality series dealing with the subject. Sex addiction talk seems to be everywhere. But mental health experts are split on what underlies such behavior. The American Psychiatric Assn. has proposed that out-of-control sexual appetites be included as a diagnosis in the next edition of the psychiatrists' bible, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, to be published in 2013.

Not long ago, people who wanted to generate their own green energy at home had to content themselves with rooftop solar panels. But new technologies -- and hefty government subsidies -- are now allowing homeowners to tap the wind, the Earth and other renewable sources in their own backyards. Call it the green evolution. The cost of heating and cooling with fossil fuels has nowhere to go but up, thanks to rising global demand and increased regulation of carbon emissions.

The women's giant slalom was finally put to bed Thursday as Julia Mancuso tried to put a few rumors, and her emotional Olympic experience, to rest. Mancuso had no real shot at Whistler to defend her gold medal. Hope ended Wednesday when she finished 18th in her first run. Mancuso was flagged off course during her run and forced to restart after teammate Lindsey Vonn crashed in front of her. Poor weather postponed the second run to Thursday morning, which gave Mancuso time to transition from fuming to philosophical.