Alcohol

Two 17-year-old girls have been sentenced for torturing and butchering an elderly woman, less than three weeks after a pair of 10-year-olds were charged with murdering a toddler. Again, a troubled nation is asking, how could this happen? Edna Phillips, 70, was throttled with her dog's leash and stabbed or slashed 86 times. The mental images of the crime have shocked the nation just as the video pictures of little James Bulger being led to his death did last month.

Galaxy goalkeeper Josh Saunders, who left the team a month ago to enroll in Major League Soccer's substance abuse and behavioral health program, was back on the training field Tuesday. But it's unclear how long it will be before he can play again. Saunders, who held the Houston Dynamo scoreless in last November's MLS Cup final, said he was not being treated for drug or alcohol abuse, attributing his absence to personal issues. "I was under some stress," said Saunders, 31, who started this season as a starting keeper for the first time in his eight-year MLS career.

Pop star Andy Gibb died of natural causes--an inflammation of the heart probably caused by a virus--and not from a drug overdose or alcohol abuse, a hospital announced Friday. Gibb died at Oxford's John Ratcliffe Hospital on Thursday, five days after his 30th birthday. He entered the hospital Monday complaining of stomach pains.

There's an unflashy clarity to the documentary "Bill W. " that suits its subject. William G. Wilson, the "stinking rotten drunk" who had an epiphany and co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous in 1935, was a Vermont Yankee whose life's work was predicated on humility and service. Today's celebrity rehab news cycle would likely displease him; a true believer in the value of anonymity, he turned down an honorary degree from Yale and a cover story in Time (which later placed him in the top 20 "Heroes and Icons" of the 20th century)

BEIJING - "Beijing power struggle heralds end of China Communist Party," screams one headline. More sensational headlines purport to reveal how the wife of recently sacked Politburo member Bo Xilai poisoned an Englishman, who may have been her lover. And if that weren't enough, other stories claim that "Bo planned airline crash" and "slept with more than 100 women. " It's payback time for Chinese exiles, especially those with a printing press, television station or just a computer at their disposal.

In a study suggesting that red wine might be the next big thing in breast cancer prevention, a study has found that women who drank just under two servings of red wine daily experienced hormonal changes that mimic the effects of a drug used to prevent malignant breast tumors from coming back. The study, published Friday in the Journal of Women's Health, found that consuming the same amount of white wine did not have the same effect in premenopausal women participating in the study.

A nightly dance party created as a last-minute diversion to entertain idle hordes waiting for a wildly popular attraction at Disney California Adventure has turned into an ever-evolving mainstay that might just become an accidental institution. PHOTOS: Mad T Party at Disney California Adventure The new Mad T Party scheduled to debut this summer at the Anaheim theme park replaces ElecTRONica, which replaced Glow Fest, which was designed to give visitors something to do back in the summer of 2010 while waiting hours upon hours to watch the instant hit "World of Color" water show.

As California contemplates legalizing the sale of marijuana, the real war over intoxicants in this country is, as always, over alcohol. Since Prohibition ended in 1933 with the 21st Amendment to the Constitution — which repealed the 18th Amendment authorizing the ban on alcohol — states, counties and municipalities have see-sawed back and forth over alcohol sales. States are still passing laws on the sale of alcohol on Sundays, and municipalities and counties are still voting on whether to permit local alcohol purchases.

Gordie BAILEY JR. had been in college only one month before he overdosed on alcohol. Urged on by members of a frat house he was intent on joining, the 18-year-old drank until he passed out, was dumped onto a couch and was found dead the next morning. The 2004 incident at the University of Colorado was one of the approximately 1,700 alcohol-related deaths that occur among college students each year in the United States. They include traffic accidents, falls, suffocation, drowning and alcohol poisoning.

In response to your editorial ("It's What You Do That Counts," Oct. 31) I commend state Sen. Art Torres and Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre for their courage in accepting their disease (alcoholism) and doing something about it. Now more than ever they remain my heroes of politics. They will serve as good role models for young Chicanos in the barrios and wherever alcohol is prevalent. If Chicanos win the war on drugs and alcohol then nothing can stop them from achieving success in life.

Greg Oden, the former No. 1 overall pick whose career was derailed by injuries, says he basically became an alcoholic by his second season in the NBA, during an interview with Mark Titus , Oden's former teammate at Ohio State. Oden, who was drafted by Portland with the first overall pick of the 2007 draft, puts some of the blame for his alcoholism on one of his cousins, who came to live with him during his second season with the Trail Blazers. His cousin was in the Air Force.

Six teenagers have shown up in two San Fernando Valley emergency rooms in the last few months with alcohol poisoning after drinking hand sanitizer, worrying public health officials who say the cases could signal a dangerous trend. Some of the teenagers used salt to separate the alcohol from the sanitizer, making a potent drink that is similar to a shot of hard liquor. "All it takes is just a few swallows and you have a drunk teenager," said Cyrus Rangan, director of the toxicology bureau for the county public health department and a medical toxicology consultant for Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

Is it possible that frat boys could be so vile and disgusting, so drunk and disorderly, so utterly contemptuous of civility and good taste -- so egregiously out of control -- that their fraternity big brothers would shut down their frat house? For the rowdy lads at Miami University's Sigma Chi International chapter, thumbing their noses at society has finally had consequences. They got the ax this week from the fraternity's national executive committee, which ordered the Miami chapter shut down.

Dennis Rodman is in desperate need of a rebound. An Orange County court commissioner Tuesday told the NBA Hall of Famer he faces a possible 20-day jail stint for contempt of court unless he comes up with $860,376 in child and spousal support he owes his ex-wife by May 29, though it's likely he could get community service time instead. Either way, Rodman's attorney and his financial advisor say, their client's broke. "In all honesty, Dennis, although a very sweet person, is an alcoholic," said Peggy Williams, his financial advisor.

As Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales was charged Friday with the murder of 17 Afghan civilians, one of the key questions in the case will be whether Bales -   as reported by a U.S. official familiar with the case - was drinking before the middle-of-the-night rampage. Scrutiny is also likely to be focused on Bales' past brushes with the law, which show that he more than once had been drinking when ran into trouble with the police. Court records show a citation in Florida for having alcohol on a beach in 1998, a charge involving a drunken assault at a casino in 2002, a reported drunk driving arrest in 2005, an alcohol-infused brawl outside a bowling alley in 2008 and another case that same year - not specifically charged as drunk driving -- in which Bales rolled his car and was seen fleeing into the woods.

Late nights in Silver Lake belong to Los Globos. Once a rough-and-tumble haunt of gangs and local toughs, the beat-up-looking spot on Sunset Boulevard has been under new management for eight months that hopes to transform the space into a concert venue on par with the Echo and some of the area's other taste-making music joints. Since late 2011, however, it's been pulling in crowds for a different reason: Friday through Sunday, the dancing goes on until the break of dawn. There's no alcohol served between 2 and 6 a.m., but that hasn't stopped throngs from hanging out all night, as masses of people mostly in their 20s have adopted the club's downstairs room as their domain.

Is having a bad habit ever a good thing? It kind of can be if your aim is to lower your blood pressure, since one way to do that is to reduce your alcohol consumption significantly. It's a winning strategy -- but only, of course, if you were drinking a lot in the first place. Many studies have documented the link between alcohol and blood pressure. A 2001 review of 15 alcohol-reduction trials with 2,234 participants concluded that cutting back on alcohol led to reductions in systolic and diastolic blood pressures.

Alcoholism can cause gait and balance problems, but a study finds that abstinence may bring about some improvements. The study looked at the effects of short-term and long-term abstinence by giving gait and standing balance tests to three groups: 70 alcoholics who had abstained from alcohol for six to 15 weeks 82 alcoholics who had abstained for approximately 18 months to 22 years, or an average of about seven years 52 non-alcoholics serving...

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are on the brink of a season to remember. This summer should be a game-changer, a franchise-maker, a preview of rosy things to come. All things considered, the Big A should become the Huge A. The second-fiddle role, the little-brother-to-the-Dodgers stuff that has plagued the Angels for so long, should begin to change with this springboard season. Years ago, in his TV commercials for a camera, a long-haired tennis star, Andre Agassi, confirmed a societal axiom: Image is everything.

Chris Carpenter pitches for a team once owned by America's largest brewery in a stadium that shares its name with a brand of beer. But should Carpenter wish to toast any of his victories this season he'll have to wait until he leaves the ballpark. That's because the St. Louis Cardinals don't allow beer or other alcoholic beverages in their clubhouse. Same for the Colorado Rockies, who play at Coors Field, and the Milwaukee Brewers, who are not only named after beer makers but play in a stadium (Miller Park)