Announcer

Jeanne Cooper Emmy winner starred in 'The Young and the Restless' Jeanne Cooper, 84, the enduring soap opera star who played grande dame Katherine Chancellor for nearly four decades on CBS' "The Young and the Restless," died Wednesday in her sleep, according to the network. Cooper's son, actor Corbin Bernsen, said last month in Twitter messages that she had been suffering from an undisclosed illness. A Los Angeles resident, Cooper joined the daytime serial six months after its March 1973 debut, staking claim to the title of longest-tenured cast member.

The winning numbers of Saturday's Powerball drawing - with a jackpot estimated at $600 million - are 10, 13, 14, 22, 52 and Powerball 11. Lottery officials have not announced whether there were any winners, but they said about 80% of possible combinations were purchased. The drawing took place in Tallahassee, Fla., with the largest jackpot since California entered the lottery. Powerball is played in 43 states as well as in the Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia. People lined up across California to purchase tickets, with lottery officials estimating that tickets were selling at a rate of about 1.5 million tickets per hour.

It was an innocent question. All Paul Olden wanted to know was, what did then-Dodgers manager Tom Lasorda think of Dave Kingman's performance against the Dodgers that afternoon in Dodger Stadium. More specifically, what was Lasorda's opinion of it? The towering Kingman had just hit three home runs in a 10-7 Chicago Cubs victory on May 14, 1978, the last a three-run shot against Rick Rhoden in the top of the 15th inning.

Google Inc. upended the Internet with its search engine. It launched its own email service, made roads and highways easier to navigate, developed the world's most popular operating system for mobile devices and took a shot at Apple Inc.'s iTunes with its own Google Play store. Now the technology giant is cranking up the volume with the debut of a subscription music service that provides access to millions of songs for a monthly fee, taking on the likes of Spotify and Pandora and going after the next big wave in digital music: streaming on mobile devices.

The hiring of Ken Wilson and Ken Brett as the Angels announcers for KTLA and the SportsChannel follows a season and off-season of many changes for both outlets. When the 1990 season began, Joe Torre and Reggie Jackson handled the KTLA telecasts, with Joe Garagiola and Torre working for SportsChannel. When Garagiola rejoined NBC's "Today" as a co-host in May, NBC's Charlie Jones stepped in on SportsChannel. In August, Torre returned to baseball as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Bob LeMond Jr., 94, a familiar voice in radio and television as the announcer for "Leave It to Beaver," "Ozzie and Harriet," "Our Miss Brooks" and Lucille Ball's first radio sitcom, "My Favorite Husband," died Jan. 6 at his home in Bonsall, Calif., according to his family. The cause of death was not announced. Born in Hale Center, Texas, on April 11, 1913, LeMond grew up in Southern California and began his broadcasting career in the mid-1930s. He would spend most of his career working for CBS. During World War II, he was a special services officer with Armed Forces Radio serving in the South Pacific.

The Lakers would not comment on media reports that team television play-by-play announcer Joel Meyers will be replaced by radio play-by-play announcer Spero Dedes at the end of the season. Dedes would become the third Lakers television announcer since the death of Hall of Famer Chick Hearn. Paul Sunderland took over for Hearn after Hearn's death in August 2002. "All of our announcers are under contract and we're not going to discuss that situation until the end of the season," said Lakers vice president of public relations John Black.

Ernie Harwell , the Hall of Fame voice of the Detroit Tigers whose decision to leave the Brooklyn Dodgers' radio booth played a role in the hiring of Vin Scully , died Tuesday. He was 92. Harwell died at his home in Novi, Mich., the Tigers said. He had been diagnosed with cancer of the bile duct last year. "All of Major League Baseball is in mourning tonight upon learning of the loss of a giant of our game, Ernie Harwell," Commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement.

Ernie Harwell , the Hall of Fame voice of the Detroit Tigers whose decision to leave the Brooklyn Dodgers' radio booth played a role in the hiring of Vin Scully , died Tuesday. He was 92. Harwell died at his home in Novi, Mich., the Tigers said. He had been diagnosed with cancer of the bile duct last year. "All of Major League Baseball is in mourning tonight upon learning of the loss of a giant of our game, Ernie Harwell," Commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement.

Dick Tufeld, a longtime radio and TV announcer who intoned "Danger, Will Robinson!" as the voice of the Robot in the 1960s science-fiction TV series "Lost in Space," has died. He was 85. Tufeld died Sunday at his home in Studio City while watching the NFL playoffs, his family said. He had heart disease and had been in declining health since sustaining a fall last year. In "Lost in Space," producer Irwin Allen's futuristic retelling of the "Swiss Family Robinson" story that aired on CBS from 1965 to 1968, actor Bob May wore the Robot costume and Tufeld provided the voice.

Covered California, the state's health insurance exchange, announced $37 million in grants Tuesday to begin the massive task of educating millions of Californians about the new healthcare law. The grants will go to 48 organizations, including universities, nonprofit groups, health foundations and unions. They will help state officials explain the new benefits, show people how to access insurance, and encourage small businesses to enroll. Covered California's executive director, Peter Lee, said Tuesday that getting the word out will require collaboration and partnership across the state.

With its announcement Thursday, Hollywood Park did little to refute the theory that horse racing is a sport in need of hospice. They raced at the Inglewood track Friday, but it wasn't business as usual. Nor will it be the rest of this meeting and the track's final one, which ends Dec. 22. For people in the business, and fans of the sport, the next six months of racing at the place universally known as Hollypark will be an emotional saddle sore. The bulldozers are at the gate.

Everyone knew the day was coming and now it's a reality. After 75 years of horse racing, Betfair Hollywood Park will end its operations following the final race of its autumn meeting Dec. 22. The words "sad day" were repeated often Thursday afternoon at the Inglewood track, where owners, trainers, jockeys and fans reacted somberly to the news. The official announcement came in a letter from track President Jack Liebau sent to the California Horse Racing Board on Wednesday informing them that Hollywood Park Land Co. would not be requesting any 2014 racing dates.

Jeanne Cooper Emmy winner starred in 'The Young and the Restless' Jeanne Cooper, 84, the enduring soap opera star who played grande dame Katherine Chancellor for nearly four decades on CBS' "The Young and the Restless," died Wednesday in her sleep, according to the network. Cooper's son, actor Corbin Bernsen, said last month in Twitter messages that she had been suffering from an undisclosed illness. A Los Angeles resident, Cooper joined the daytime serial six months after its March 1973 debut, staking claim to the title of longest-tenured cast member.

Hoping to reduce the number of infant deaths, Los Angeles County officials unveiled a campaign Wednesday to educate parents about how to safely put their babies to bed. Over the last four years, 278 babies in the county have died from suffocating while they were sleeping - more than all other accidental deaths of children under age 14, officials said. The deaths are more common among Latino and black babies, officials said. "Accidental suffocation poses the greatest risk for babies from 1 day to the age of 1," said Deanne Tilton Durfee, executive director of the county Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect.

Los Angeles County supervisors met behind closed doors Tuesday to consider terminating their decades-long relationship with Teens Happy Homes, a private foster care provider found by officials to have repeatedly misused funds and placed children in homes where they were abused. "The contractor should lose any contract it has," Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich said in an interview Tuesday. "They are an irresponsible, unsafe provider. We'll discuss it in executive session. " No action was announced publicly after the session, but one source familiar with the discussion said Department of Children and Family Services Director Philip Browning was instructed to prepare options to correct the problems.

David Courtney, the long-time public address announcer for the Angels and Kings and the PA voice for the Clippers since 2008, has died from pulmonary embolism, the Angels announced on Thursday. He was 56. Courtney began announcing for the Kings in 1989 and for the Angels in 1994, and he also served as the Los Angeles Rams PA announcer for three years before the NFL team moved to St. Louis in 1995. “The Angels family is deeply saddened to hear of David's passing,” the team said in a statement.

The punishment, of course, should fit the crime, so we're probably all in agreement it should be something cruel and inhumane like making Andy Rooney sit in Pacific Bell Park and listen to the only female public-address announcer in Major League Baseball take us from World Series batter to batter.

KABUL, Afghanistan - At a pivotal moment when U.S. forces are winding down combat operations in Afghanistan and handing over the lead security role to the Afghan government, Taliban insurgents announced Saturday the launch of their annual spring offensive. In an elaborately worded statement, the Taliban proclaimed that a "monumental spring operation" would begin Sunday with the goal of "defeating this era's Western invaders. " The Islamist insurgent group, tossed from power by U.S.-led forces in late 2001, is threatening a new round of mass suicide bombings and "insider" attacks on American and coalition forces.

WASHINGTON - House Republicans announced the first in a series of immigration-related bills that would attempt to reshape the system one piece at a time, a contrast with the comprehensive approach the Senate is pursuing. The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte of Virginia, was careful Thursday to say the two bills he would unveil this week - and "several" more after that - were simply starting points for debate. The effort does not preclude the broader overhauls being drafted by bipartisan groups in both chambers, he said.