Ames

The best restaurant in Ames, Iowa, is the Café. It has excellent service, sensible portion sizes and an amazing selection of desserts. I had squash lasagna that was exquisite, then a fabulous apple tart. The Café, 2616 Northridge Parkway, Ames; (515) 292-0100, http://www.thecafeames.com . Open 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays, 7 a.m-10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Main courses from $13.95. Cheryl Kohr Redondo Beach

The Rev. John J. Hunter, who last fall was abruptly reassigned from First African Methodist Episcopal Church, the oldest black church in Los Angeles, has been fired from his post at a San Francisco church. "I hereby immediately relieve you of the pastoral charge of Bethel AME Church," Bishop Larry T. Kirkland wrote in a letter to Hunter dated Friday. "You will have no further contact with that congregation in an official capacity. " Hunter could not immediately be reached for comment.

Six contenders for the Republican presidential nomination made their pitches to die-hard conservative voters Saturday, and while the messages may have been different, they shared a common theme. “Get the government off our backs!” Tim Pawlenty told a packed arena on the campus of Iowa State University. Pawlenty was fighting to keep his campaign afloat - and needed a strong showing in the traditional Ames straw poll. As he and the other candidates spoke, thousands of voters lined up to vote, with the results expected late Saturday afternoon.

The judicial body of the African Methodist Episcopal church has denied the petition of the Rev. John J. Hunter, former leader of First AME in Los Angeles, to return to the helm of the storied black church. Hunter, who was abruptly moved from First AME in October, challenged his reassignment to Bethel AME in San Francisco after that congregation rejected him. He maintains that his rights as a minister were violated, saying Bishop Larry T. Kirkland moved him to a smaller church without the proper 90-day notice and without reason.

Levin White, 21, a former Iowa State football player from Alta Loma, Calif., was sentenced to 25 years in prison in Ames, Iowa, for robbing a fast-food restaurant at gunpoint in March.

The film's promoters probably alienated many by published remarks to the effect that the film's original title, "License Revoked," was changed because the marketing people decided Americans wouldn't understand the meaning of revoked . MRS. CHARLES R. AMES Santa Monica

The Saddleback Valley school board at its March 12 meeting will consider a proposal to require that students have a minimum C-minus cumulative grade average to graduate from high school. At the same meeting, board members also will consider a proposal to increase course requirements in mathematics, foreign language, fine arts, and social and physical sciences, Deputy Supt. Donald A. Ames said.

A 13-year-old cat has been infected with swine flu, veterinary and federal officials said. It is believed to be the first case of the H1N1 virus in a feline. The cat was treated last week at Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine in Ames and has recovered, officials said. The veterinarian said two of the three people in the cat's home had flu-like symptoms before the cat became ill.

Planet-hunting scientists were dealt a major blow Wednesday when NASA officials announced that a crucial wheel on the Kepler space telescope had ceased to function and that the craft had been placed in safe mode. Even as NASA officials raised the possibility that they could get the telescope back up and running, scientists began mourning the potential loss of a spacecraft that they said had fundamentally altered our understanding of alien planets in the Milky Way - and Earth's place in an increasingly crowded galaxy.

When filmmaker Sofia Coppola set out to tell the story of the "bling ring," she wanted the movie to have an authentic, docudrama sensibility. So the daughter of Francis Ford Coppola reached out to the Los Angeles Police Department investigator who cracked the case of the starry-eyed youths from the San Fernando Valley. Four years ago, their lust for stardom and money led them to raid the homes of young Hollywood, making off with Paris Hilton's designer clothes and Lindsay Lohan's artwork.

The Rev. John J. Hunter, who was abruptly reassigned from the oldest black church in Los Angeles last fall, scored a small but significant victory in his petition to reclaim the helm of First African Methodist Episcopal Church. A nine-member church judicial panel partly sided with Hunter and found that his new church, Bethel San Francisco, was out of line when congregants physically blocked him from taking the pulpit. The committee - the African Methodist Episcopal denomination's equivalent of a Supreme Court - has not yet issued a decision on the most contentious charge made by Hunter: that Bishop T. Larry Kirkland violated the Minister's Bill of Rights by abruptly transferring him without the proper 90-day notice.

Re "At a crossroads," Dec. 6 As a former First African Methodist Episcopal Church member, my heart goes out to the current membership and new pastor Rev. J. Edgar Boyd. I found this article to be an accurate description of the Rev. John J. and Denise Hunter. Our family left the church when we could no longer stomach Hunter's behavior. Of course he's fighting to keep his church-owned house and his wife is fighting to maintain control of FAME Renaissance, the nonprofit founded by our former pastor, Rev. Cecil Murray.

As the pastor of the oldest black church in Los Angeles, the Rev. John J. Hunter earned a generous salary, lived in a $2-million home and drove a Mercedes-Benz paid for by the church. His wife earned $147,000 a year running nonprofit organizations connected to the 19,000-member congregation. But over the last few years, the hilltop church in the West Adams district has fallen into debt. The First African Methodist Episcopal Church owes nearly $500,000 to creditors. Some vendors say they have not been paid in more than a year.

Right-handed pitchers Steven Ames and Matt Magill were promoted to the Dodgers' 40-man roster, making them ineligible to be selected by other teams in the Rule 5 draft next month. The Dodgers now have 38 players on their 40-man roster. Ames, a 24-year-old reliever, saved 18 games and posted a 1.54 earned-run average for double-A Chattanooga this year. He struck out 72 batters in 63 1/3 innings. Magill, 23, was 11-8 with a 3.75 ERA in 26 starts for Chattanooga. He struck out 168 batters in 146 1/3 innings.

SAN FRANCISCO - In an unprecedented move, officials of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the oldest black pulpit in the city, have rejected the troubled Los Angeles pastor assigned to lead its flock. The Rev. John J. Hunter was recently transferred from First AME, one of the nation's most prominent black churches, after an eight-year tenure marred by a sexual harassment lawsuit, a federal tax investigation and the questionable use of church credit cards. Hunter was slated to make his pastoral debut at Bethel AME this month, but church officials drafted an emergency resolution barring him from taking control.

The Rev. J. Edgar Boyd delivered his inaugural sermon Sunday as the new pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church in L.A., seeking to unite and heal a congregation that had become fractured over the troubles of its former leader. Addressing worshipers, a seemingly nervous Boyd used parables to talk about forgiveness. But to the thousands in the packed room, the message was clear: A new leader was at the helm to restore the image of the oldest black pulpit in Los Angeles.

The judicial body of the African Methodist Episcopal church has denied the petition of the Rev. John J. Hunter, former leader of First AME in Los Angeles, to return to the helm of the storied black church. Hunter, who was abruptly moved from First AME in October, challenged his reassignment to Bethel AME in San Francisco after that congregation rejected him. He maintains that his rights as a minister were violated, saying Bishop Larry T. Kirkland moved him to a smaller church without the proper 90-day notice and without reason.

EVERYBODY IN LA JOLLA knew the Brodericks. Daniel T. Broderick III and his wife, Betty, seemed to have a classic society-page marriage. Dan was a celebrity in local legal circles. Armed with degrees from both Harvard Law School and Cornell School of Medicine, the prominent malpractice attorney was aggressive, persuasive and cunning--a $1-million-a-year lawyer at the top of his game.

The four candidates for mayor sat in the pews at a historic black church in South Los Angeles on Saturday morning, their heads bowed in prayer. They had come to Brookins Community AME Church to debate a range of issues - from how to shrink the area's high unemployment rate to whether the new Crenshaw Line should be partially below ground. At stake was a slice of the city's significant African American electorate, which in local elections typically makes up about 13% of the vote. After the Rev. C. Dennis Williams finished his invocation, the candidates introduced themselves to the audience, each stressing their connections to the community.

The best restaurant in Ames, Iowa, is the Café. It has excellent service, sensible portion sizes and an amazing selection of desserts. I had squash lasagna that was exquisite, then a fabulous apple tart. The Café, 2616 Northridge Parkway, Ames; (515) 292-0100, http://www.thecafeames.com . Open 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays, 7 a.m-10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Main courses from $13.95. Cheryl Kohr Redondo Beach