2011 Year

Shepard Fairey, the Los Angeles street artist, has received a sentence of two years' probation and a $25,000 fine in his criminal contempt case involving his "Hope" poster of Barack Obama. The sentence was handed down Friday morning in a New York court. The sentence included 300 hours of community service. Fairey will not have to serve jail time.  In February, Fairey pleaded guilty to one count of criminal contempt for destroying documents, manufacturing evidence and other misconduct.

WASHINGTON - Although the housing market is rebounding in many local markets, one important segment is not: First-time buyers are missing in action and represent a smaller proportion of overall sales activity than their historical norm. Whereas first-timers typically account for roughly 40% of sales, lately they've been involved in about 30% to 35%, depending on the source of the data. Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Assn. of Realtors, estimates that there were 2.2 million fewer first-time buyers in the United States between 2008 and 2012 - a deficit of about 450,000 a year.

The jobs of the nation's citizen soldiers are supposed to be safe while they are serving their country: Federal law does not allow employers to penalize service members because of their military duties. Yet every year, thousands of National Guard and Reserve troops coming home from Afghanistan and elsewhere find they have been replaced, demoted, denied benefits or seniority. Government agencies are among the most frequent offenders, accounting for about a third of the more than 15,000 complaints filed with federal authorities since the end of September 2001, records show.

Los Angeles enjoyed another banner year for tourism in 2012, when it welcomed 41.4 million visitors, surpassing the record set in 2011. Last year's tourist total represents a 2.5% increase over the 40.4 million visitors in 2011 -- good news for the city's $16.5-billion tourism industry, according to the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board. Tourism is one of the region's largest industries, supporting 372,000 jobs in Los Angeles County. "Los Angeles County's leisure and hospitality industry is one of the few that has regained all of the jobs and surpassed those positions lost in the recession," said Kimberly Ritter-Martinez, an associate economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

The co-chief executive and public face of upscale home decor chain Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc. has resigned, reportedly amid an internal inquiry into his relationship with a 26-year-old female employee. Gary Friedman, 54, who has served as chief executive since 2001, is widely credited with turning around a company once teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. The Marin County retailer is now readying for an initial public stock offering. A black-and-white photo of Friedman, with a 5 o'clock shadow and wearing a leather jacket, is still prominently featured on the retailer's website, next to a letter from the San Francisco native quoting the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right.

After years of devastating losses, the newspaper industry has a glimmer of good news. Circulation revenue for daily newspapers grew in 2012 for the first time in a decade as more people paid to subscribe to digital editions, according to data compiled by the Newspaper Assn. of America. The finding is noteworthy because it demonstrates that the newspaper industry, which has been hammered in recent years as consumers and advertisers migrated to the Internet, has begun to adapt its business model to a new era. Newspapers generated $10.4 billion in circulation revenue in 2012, a 5% increase over the previous year.

The Tony Awards on CBS has solidified its position as the lowest-rated broadcast of the major entertainment awards shows. Sunday's broadcast of Broadway's biggest night brought in just 6 million television viewers, according to preliminary figures from Nielsen. That's down from 6.9 million viewers in 2011. Last year's telecast was hurt by the NBA finals, but Sunday's ceremony didn't face any such competition for viewers. The Associated Press reported that Sunday's telecast was the second-lowest-viewed Tony Awards since 1988.

The whispers started right away: Was Patrick Soon- Shiong , a Los Angeles billionaire-doctor-philanthropist-businessman, on the shortlist of potential buyers for entertainment giant AEG ? Soon after the company put itself on the block Tuesday, Soon- Shiong representative Chuck Kenworthy confirmed that the mogul “is keenly aware that AEG is in play” and is “interested.” Here, a look into the life of the founder of Abraxis BioScience Inc. who, as of Wednesday, was the 47th- richest person in America and the wealthiest in Los Angeles . Soon- Shiong was raised in apartheid Sou th Africa by his Chinese immigrant parents; his father fled China during World War II and practiced traditional Asian medicine.

At 16 years old, San Diego County's Stone Brewing Co. is ancient compared to the still-fledging L.A. craft beer scene. Along with Sierra Nevada Brewing and Lagunitas Brewing, Stone Brewing has become a nationally known California brand and is now the 11th largest craft brewery in America, according to 2011 year-end statistics from the Brewers Assn. Yet Stone Brewing's next target for expansion isn't some far-flung locale. It's cozy Pasadena. Perhaps as early as August, Pasadena will have its very own Stone Company Store on South Raymond Avenue, where, in addition to buying all things Stone, drinking-age patrons can sample beers and get glass jugs - called growlers - to go. But don't confuse it with a bar. "It won't feel like a bar. It will feel like a store," said chief executive and co-founder Greg Koch.