CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
April 26, 2013 | By Ben Welsh, Kate Linthicum and Robert J. Lopez, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Fire Chief Brian Cummings said Thursday he was pressing ahead with a controversial plan to move dozens of city firefighters from fire engines to ambulances, despite warnings from labor groups that the change would put lives at risk. In the coming days, the chief plans to deploy 11 new ambulances by reassigning one firefighter per shift from 22 firetrucks across the city. Cummings says the department must adjust to fewer fires and a growing number of medical emergencies, and has limited funding to make the change.
NATIONAL
April 23, 2013 | By Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times
Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, who sometimes crossed his party in the powerful role of Finance Committee chairman, announced Tuesday he would retire at the end of his term - complicating Democrats' efforts to keep control of the Senate in the 2014 midterm election. The move caught many in Washington by surprise. Baucus had stockpiled $5 million - a fortune by Montana standards - and voted last week to oppose compromise gun control legislation, which some viewed as a calculation aimed at winning reelection in his libertarian-leaning state.
SPORTS
April 20, 2013 | By Bill Shaikin
Brian Cashman , the New York Yankees' general manager, said this in spring training: "The story that we're too old gets written so much that at some point they'll be right. " This appears to be that point. The Yankees learned last week that Derek Jeter's left ankle had fractured once again, and he'll be 39 when he returns after the All-Star break. Then again, the Yankees thought he might be ready for opening day. Mariano Rivera is 43, and he says this season is his last.
ENTERTAINMENT
April 18, 2013 | By August Brown
Brian Eno fans might have to suffer a bit before they get to hear his new body of work. According to the Independent , the producer-composer's latest project is two ambient soundtrack and light installations designed to soothe patients in hospitals. The works will make their debut at the new Montefiore Hospital in Hove, England. "77 Million Paintings for Montefiore” is a sound-and-light installation in the hospital's reception area, while "The Quiet Room for Montefiore" is a custom separate space for patients, staff and guests to escape the sonic and emotional tumult of life in a hospital.
ENTERTAINMENT
April 17, 2013 | By Steven Zeitchik
For some directors, it's a bolt of inspiration that prompts them to make their movie. For others, it's a serendipitous phone call outside the Lincoln Tunnel. It went down pretty much the second way for Brian Helgeland, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of “L.A Confidential” who wrote, and was behind the camera for, the surprise baseball hit of the season, Jackie Robinson biopic “42.” The Massachusetts native was riding a bus on a roots trip of sorts to Brooklyn, where his father had grown up, when he received a call from the financier Thomas Tull.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
April 12, 2013 | By Ruben Vives
The Long Beach Unified School District is suing a former female student who admitted to falsely accusing ex-Poly High football star Brian Banks of rape in 2002. The lawsuit against former Polytechnic High School student Wanetta Gibson was filed last November, just months after Banks' rape conviction was dismissed. Banks had spent five years in prison and another five on parole. He recently signed an NFL contract with the Atlanta Falcons. The school district said it is trying to recoup about $1.9 million that was spent defending itself after Gibson sued the district and collected a $750,000 settlement.