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Apple Inc. will spend an unprecedented $100 billion to buy back shares and increase its dividend - a not-so-subtle attempt to appease jittery investors who have seen the company's stock plunge by nearly half in recent months. Although the announcement was intended to send a signal of how strongly executives believe in Apple's future, it came on the heels of an earnings report that included the company's first profit drop in a decade. The mixed messages about Apple's prospects left investors torn about how to feel about everything they learned Tuesday.

The percentage of U.S. students graduating from high school within four years rose to its highest level in decades in 2010, while the rate of those who dropped out fell to one of its lowest in years. The latest federal report on public school graduates and dropouts, released Tuesday, paints an improving picture of high school education, but the results vary by location, a reflection of the reality that education policy remains a local issue. Contributing to the improvement was a poor economy, with fewer jobs of any kind available, especially less of the poorer-paying, entry-level posts that can tempt students to leave school.

Let's begin with what we know. They don't come more likable or approachable than Mark Gubicza, Gooby to his friends, the Angels broadcaster and former pitcher for the Kansas City Royals. As carefree as anyone might appear, he was bubbling over with excitement Tuesday night at Angel Stadium. Big game with Texas, all right, but Gooby is already looking forward to Monday, every mom and dad in the place probably jumping for joy as well if they only knew. "Off the medication Monday," he says, and Gooby's beaming.

Free parking at all locations. Shuttle costs $2 per person roundtrip. * Ventura Lot, Line 668 10801 Ventura Blvd., near Lankershim. From the 101, exit Lankershim, to Ventura, turn right into parking lot. Runs every 10 minutes from 6 to 8:30 p.m. * Barham Lot, Line 670 3700 Barham Blvd., at Forest Lawn Drive. Runs every 15 minutes from 6 to 8:30 p.m. * Hollywood-La Brea Lot, Line 671 1611 N. La Brea Ave., between Sunset and Hollywood boulevards. Runs every 20 minutes from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

No, wait, don't turn the page. Yes, I'll admit it. This is yet another column on Tuesday's election in Los Angeles, the race half the city doesn't care about and the other half hasn't heard about, but DO NOT turn the page. OK, I'll give you $5 to read this. All right, make it $10. Would you stay with me for $20 if I promise Randy Newman's going to make a cameo? Sure, you've got your reasons for tuning out. Some of you think Wendy Garcetti and Eric Greuel are the same person, so it doesn't matter which of them is the next mayor.

Al Wilson, who played for UCLA in the Rose Bowl game last January, was killed early Wednesday when he walked or ran into traffic on the San Diego Freeway. L.A. County Sheriff's investigators called it an apparent suicide. Wilson, 23, apparently despondent because he was not signed by a pro football team this fall, had disappeared from his home in Carson for several days earlier this month. When he returned, he told a Times reporter, "I just needed time to be alone."

Suspected killer Christopher Dorner spent his final hours barricaded inside a mountain cabin splattered with blood, presumably his own, and no chance for escape before a single gunshot echoed from inside the vacation home near Big Bear. The blood-splattered walls inside the cabin were revealed during the Feb. 12 standoff when a robotic police tractor started tearing down the cabin walls to give officers a clean view inside and were seen more than half an hour before the cabin caught fire after police fired seven "pyrotechnic" tear gas canisters into the cabin.

Re "405 stuck in slow lane," April 25 The Times was kind enough to print a letter I wrote nearly six years ago, on June 23, 2007, on the 405 Freeway widening project. I will take the opportunity to say "I told you so. " To recap, I wrote: "Everybody will lose with this freeway expansion, because 10 minutes after it opens, the 405 Freeway will look exactly like it does today, only wider. "People will have suffered through the construction mess, traffic congestion and inconvenience, some losing their homes, all to give Caltrans more to do and a bunch of contractors cost overruns that we will be paying for as we sit in the bumper-to-bumper traffic a week after the expanded carpool lane opens.

I don't know anyone at USC who wasn't pleased when pitcher Randy Flores broke the school record for victories, which he did Friday when he won his 41st game. By all accounts, he's an exceptional person as well as an exceptional college pitcher--a minister's son from Pico Rivera who operates a charity baseball clinic out of his father's church, a smart left-hander drafted by St.

Eight-foot waves from the Japan tsunami destroyed much of Crescent City harbor, battered boats, closed the 101 Freeway and left one person missing. KDRV-TV reported that four people were washed out to sea Friday. Three were hurt and one is feared dead. Photos: Scenes from the earthquake Local residents reported that about three dozen boats were "crushed" in the harbor and that surging waters significantly damaged or destroyed most of the docks. Ocean water surging up Elk Creek north of the harbor reportedly lapped up to front doors of the community's cultural center.