1994 Year

This list of 1994's best jazz shows is admittedly incomplete, missing such talked-about events as the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra with Lew Tabackin concert at the Robert B. Moore Theatre and the Dewey Erney-Stephanie Haynes tributes to George Gershwin and Cole Porter at DeMario's. We were elsewhere those nights. And for each of these omissions, there probably are at least half a dozen other nights we missed when musicians made magic.

Affording police more protection from civil lawsuits, the Supreme Court ruled Monday that an officer protecting the vice president acted reasonably when he pushed a demonstrator into a van. Sued by the uninjured demonstrator, the officer should have been granted immunity and the case dismissed because the policeman suspected a threat, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote. Seven justices concurred with Kennedy's conclusion, while Justice David H. Souter concurred in part and dissented in part.

Our pop critics' favorite albums of the year run from Jann Browne's "Count Me In," Johnny Cash's "American Recordings" and Neil Young and Crazy Horse's "Sleeps With Angels," which all tied for the most votes, to relatively obscure releases by country singer Bob Woodruff and Cameroonian saxophonist Manu Dibango. Favorite concerts, meanwhile, included Buck Owens at the Crazy Horse, Love at the Coach House and the Offspring and the Pretenders at Irvine Meadows.

Thousands of homeowners who suffered property damage in the 1994 Northridge earthquake will be able to file revised claims with their insurance companies under legislation signed by Gov. Gray Davis, attorneys and insurance industry officials said Monday. SB 1899, signed late Saturday, allows most earthquake insurance policyholders to submit claims by Jan. 1, 2002, even if they had previously missed their filing deadline.

Much can be said for having kids five or more years apart. Only toting one set of baby gear at a time is easier on your back. And, because pricey little necessities such as orthodontics, prom dates and college tuition come at more widely spaced intervals, it's also a bit easier on your wallet. Finding entertainment to span the age gap, however, especially live theater, can be a problem.

Sit back, if you will; watch us resist any cheap and easy jokes linking "bankruptcy" and "Orange County theater" in the same sentence, and take in a few critics' views of the distinctive (both good and bad) moments of 1994. Some things stayed the same: lots and lots of mediocre-to-paltry revivals, lots and lots of community and college groups way over their collective heads, lots and lots of warhorses and very few new plays. Some things, however, were not the same.

Van Nuys Democrat David Roberti and Glendale Republican Pat Nolan began 1994 as members of the state's political elite. Now, Roberti is holding down a job as an appointee to an obscure state panel and Nolan is in state prison. * Meanwhile, 1994 saw San Fernando Valley voters help elect the state Legislature's first openly gay member to a local Assembly seat, give Zev Yaroslavsky a long-delayed political promotion and defy the GOP juggernaut to hand Rep. Anthony C.

Looking for the silver lining department? Sorry, better skip this space. With a few brave exceptions, the Orange County art scene accelerated its slide into safety, dullness and sparser offerings in 1994. For more than a decade--up until this past spring--strong artistic leadership from either the Newport Harbor Art Museum or the Laguna Art Museum could be counted on to invigorate the scene.

Who says history doesn't repeat? The Federal Reserve today is expected to raise the target for its benchmark short-term interest rate by half a percentage point--six years to the day of the first half-point hike in the Fed's last major credit-tightening round. But whether financial markets' reaction to the Fed's more aggressive stance in 1994 can tell us anything about what might occur this time around is questionable.

A product that stops runs in pantyhose is among the best new products of the year, while chocolate-flavored salsa is among the biggest duds, according to a study by AcuPoll, a product idea screening company. The annual survey, which looks at more than 500 products, is designed to highlight the best and worst new products of the year based on initial interest by those surveyed, not by performance or sales potential.

Former Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush acted without legal authority when he made settlements after the Northridge earthquake that required insurers to contribute to foundations whose activities were not related to the disaster, an opinion by state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer said Wednesday.

Who says history doesn't repeat? The Federal Reserve today is expected to raise the target for its benchmark short-term interest rate by half a percentage point--six years to the day of the first half-point hike in the Fed's last major credit-tightening round. But whether financial markets' reaction to the Fed's more aggressive stance in 1994 can tell us anything about what might occur this time around is questionable.

Former Simi Valley Councilwoman Sandi Webb has launched a campaign to recall state Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush, saying his handling of disputed insurance claims has made him unfit for office. "He has misused his office for personal gain," Webb said. "Money has disappeared down so many different holes, and none of it is going to the victims."

It's such a simple word, a modest, wholesome-sounding little thing. "Outreach." As in reach out. As in help. Picture armies of heroic souls in the trenches, outreaching away. Hospital workers comforting lonely cancer victims. Churches tending the needy. Cops getting kids off drugs. But in Sacramento these days, the word "outreach" is a tad besmirched, given the juicy role it plays in the unfolding drama starring Chuck Quackenbush.

The most puzzling piece of the Chuck Quackenbush scandal--Quackquake--is simply this: What was the insurance commissioner thinking when he blew off his natural political base in the earthquake-devastated L.A. suburbs? The San Fernando and Simi valleys. Canyon Country . . . Republican country. And toward downtown, huge pockets of swing voters. Much of this region voted overwhelmingly for Republican Quackenbush's reelection two years ago.

A Superior Court judge on Friday froze the assets of a foundation created by Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush after hearing it described as a "sham" operation whose monies were improperly diverted by one of the commissioner's key deputies. Sacramento Superior Court Judge John R. Lewis ruled that funds deposited with the foundation for Northridge earthquake victims will be frozen until he can conduct a hearing May 22. On that date, the court will consider state Atty. Gen.

A record 218 gang killings occurred in 1994 in areas patrolled by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, erasing the record of 207 set in 1991, Sheriff Sherman Block said Wednesday. Latino gang killings were up and constituted about 75% of all such killings, Block said. Gang murders among black youths dropped to 50, he said.

Weighty matters will transpire in 1994, statistics and experience insist. Many will be important, some genuinely interesting; a few truly readable. It is the challenge of a good newspaper to chronicle them: Dogs bark at strangers, don't they? As your life hurtles along in tandem with momentous events in the new year, though, it's probably not a bad idea to keep news in perspective. Mites often affect the way you live and what you think more than Mighties.

Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush signed a confidential agreement absolving Farmers Insurance of any wrongdoing in its handling of Northridge earthquake claims without ever completing an investigation of the company's settlement actions. In the agreement, obtained by The Times, Quackenbush pledged to stop a Department of Insurance examination of the company's Northridge claims actions and not to levy fines or penalties for its performance after the earthquake.