1989

Will Irish eyes be smiling when a crop of Irish-American-themed pictures arrive at movie theaters in the next year or so? A handful of titles that touch on NYC dockside gangs and Irish Republican Army gun-running are currently in development or preproduction, not necessarily casting those of Irish ancestry in the most positive light. First up is Orion's "State of Grace," to film in June, with Sean Penn as an undercover cop infiltrating Irish gangs of NYC's Hell's Kitchen. Dennis McIntire wrote the script, which Phil Joanou directs.

When it comes to trendsetters, Thomas Hudnut will go down in history as the high school educator who proved students could excel in academics and athletics at the same time. As the headmaster when Studio City Harvard High School merged with the Westlake School for Girls in 1989 to become Harvard-Westlake, he decided to launch an all-out effort "to be as much like Stanford as we possibly could. " Sports was used to gain exposure and inspire a whole different element of students to consider Harvard-Westlake, known for its academic excellence.

Casey Kasem, who gained a national radio audience after "American Top 40" launched in 1970, and his wife, Jean, are listing their Westside estate for sale at $42 million. With 12,000 square feet of living space, seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms, the home has been the site of intimate interviews and sleepovers for as many as 20 youngsters a night. The yard has served as the site of elaborate celebrity-studded gatherings and paintball battles. The syndicated radio host bought the property for Jean Kasem in 1989 as a gift.

The San Francisco 49ers are among the NFL's crown-jewel franchises. They have won 19 division titles and five NFC championships, and are 5-0 in Super Bowl appearances. But they also have a sore-thumb statistic. They haven't won a road playoff game in 24 years. That's right, other than neutral-site Super Bowls, their last postseason victory away from home was a 28-3 win over Chicago in the NFC title game at Soldier Field in January 1989. Joe Montana threw three touchdown passes, Jerry Rice caught two of them, and the Bears could generate no offensive heat on a 17-degree day. Chicago's backup quarterback at the time?

Marc Christian MacGinnis, who won a multimillion-dollar settlement in 1991 from the estate of his ex-lover, actor Rock Hudson, after convincing a jury Hudson had knowingly exposed him to AIDS, has died. He was 56. Known as Marc Christian, he died of pulmonary problems June 2 at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank. The details were confirmed Friday by his sister, Susan Dahl, who said she did not publicly announce his death earlier because of her brother's wish for privacy.

Ray Lucia calls his investment strategy "Buckets of Money" on his nationally syndicated radio talk show. Federal regulators call it something else. The Securities and Exchange Commission accused the San Diego radio personality of misleading investors to think that his strategy helps retirees "generate inflation-adjusted income for life. " They are seeking an order that would prevent the wealth manager from making such claims. Lucia, whose radio program is broadcast daily in most of the nation's top markets, promotes his fee-based investment program at seminars held at upscale resorts throughout the country.

OAKLAND - State and regional transportation officials announced plans Wednesday for a retrofit to the new eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge that will cost up to $10 million and effectively do the job of nearly 100 massive bolts that failed earlier this year. Questions remain, however, about whether the world's largest single-tower, self-anchored suspension span will open on Labor Day weekend as planned. The new span will replace the one that partially collapsed in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

A man from the bank was calling with what he presumed was good news: Chuck Muncie's $1-million home loan had been approved. At the other end of the line, Muncie had no idea what he was talking about. The former California and San Diego Chargers running back had neither applied for a loan nor was looking to buy a house. He had been scammed. A victim of identity theft, he was by turns frightened and agitated.

Emerging from the chaos at the start of the Olympic marathon, Polin Belisle of Burbank sprinted to the front of the pack, running shoulder to shoulder with some of the world's best distance runners for nearly a mile. An improbable achievement for Belisle, it all seemed too good to be true. It was. Belisle was not supposed to be in the marathon. He wasn't even supposed to be in the Olympics.

If I had a spare $29.5 million or so lying around, I'd definitely be in the market for the Moraga Vineyards estate in Bel Air, which is now up for sale. You know those rows of vines you see across the 405 as you ride the tram up to the Getty Museum ? That's it. According to the winery's website, Moraga is the first commercial winery to be bonded in the city of Los Angeles since Prohibition ended in 1933. I was there once, and it really is Shangri-La, the vineyards as meticulously groomed as the romantic Provençal-style garden.

The cherry-red 1989 Corvette convertible that Corky Rice has is in cherry condition. It ought to be. It still has its original new car invoice sticker on its windshield and a mere 67 miles on its odometer. The shiny two-seater was stolen in 1989 from the new car sales lot at what was then called C & M Chevrolet in San Diego and driven straight to a nearby self-storage facility, where it was locked in a garage-size unit and left there - for 23 years. The rent on the unit started at $50 a month.

David Courtney, the long-time public address announcer for the Angels and Kings and the PA voice for the Clippers since 2008, has died from pulmonary embolism, the Angels announced on Thursday. He was 56. Courtney began announcing for the Kings in 1989 and for the Angels in 1994, and he also served as the Los Angeles Rams PA announcer for three years before the NFL team moved to St. Louis in 1995. “The Angels family is deeply saddened to hear of David's passing,” the team said in a statement.

Campanile, the seminal Los Angeles restaurant founded in 1989 by Mark Peel and his then-wife Nancy Silverton, is closing. Prolific restaurateur Bill Chait and critically acclaimed chef Walter Manzke sealed a deal late Wednesday night to take over the space with plans to install Manzke's envisioned bistro and bakery, Republique, in its place. The storied restaurant, with its distinctly American approach using top-quality farmers' market ingredients, helped set the tone for Los Angeles dining in the 1990s.

Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons thought they were going to change the energy world forever. On March 23, 1989, they announced at a news conference at the University of Utah that they had discovered a tabletop process for producing nuclear fusion at room temperatures. This so-called cold fusion, they said, would provide a clean, renewable, limitless source of cheap energy that could free the United States from its dependence on foreign oil. The pair garnered headlines around the world, and literally hundreds of scientists, both professional and amateur, tried to replicate what appeared to be a simple process.

The demise of the Hearst newspaper empire in Los Angeles began in 1962 when publisher George Randolph Hearst Jr. abandoned the morning newspaper market. Hearst and the company that owned the Los Angeles Times made what some viewed as a back-room deal: At almost the same time, they folded editions that directly competed with each other. A sister paper of The Times, the afternoon daily Mirror, stopped publishing while the Hearst Corp. "merged" the morning Examiner with the afternoon Herald-Express.

They grabbed, pushed and bumped. It was just another day in the life of sophomore receiver Trent Irwin of Newhall Hart. During summer seven-on-seven passing competitions, it becomes clear how impressive the 6-foot-1 Irwin really is catching passes and finding ways to get open against cornerbacks. His pursuers try to get physical and intimidate, but Irwin answers with moves, maneuvers and tricks of the trade rarely seen from a 16-year-old. It's a primary reason Hart Coach Mike Herrington believes Irwin could be the best receiver he's had since taking over the Hart program in 1989.

The Menendez family estate, once valued at up to $14 million, is virtually depleted, it was disclosed Tuesday at Lyle and Erik Menendez's murder trial. Shrunken by taxes, legal fees and other costs, Jose and Kitty Menendez's estate is worth no more than $800,000--and has debts at least that high, defense lawyer Leslie Abramson said in court. Probate records are sealed and the defense had kept financial figures secret throughout the trial.

Nearly 20 years after the death of River Phoenix, the actor's final film, "Dark Blood," screened before an international audience last week at the Berlin International Film Festival. Perhaps the only thing more surprising than the film's tumultuous two-decade journey to completion is the fact that Dutch director George Sluizer, now 80, was able to finish it at all. "Dark Blood," which began production in 1993, survived not only the loss of its leading actor, who died of an accidental drug overdose at age 23 outside a West Hollywood nightclub, but also the near-destruction of the original footage and a life-threatening ailment that struck its director.

WASHINGTON - More than 2,000 people have been freed from prison since 1989 after they were found to have been wrongly convicted of serious crimes, according to a new National Registry of Exonerations compiled by University of Michigan Law School and Northwestern University. Its sponsors say it is by far the largest database of such cases, and they hope it will help reveal why the criminal justice system sometimes misfires, prosecuting and convicting the innocent. "The more we learn about false convictions, the better we'll be at preventing them," said Samuel Gross, a University of Michigan law professor.

A convicted killer who died on death row while his appeal languished before the California Supreme Court should have his case decided posthumously, his attorney told the state high court. Scott F. Kauffman, who represented Dennis Lawley for 19 years, contends that his client was innocent of a 1989 murder for hire that sent him to San Quentin. Lawley, he said, deserves a ruling on his claims, even if the outcome will have no practical consequence. "Mr. Lawley's death does not erase the injustice of his conviction and sentence," Kauffman told the court in a written motion.