Brush

LAS VEGAS -- No question about it, getting arrested and charged with a felony has been a sobering experience for video provocateur James O'Keefe, the 27-year-old “citizen journalist” best known for exposing abominable advice dispensed by staffers at a handful of outposts of the community organizing group ACORN. Over the weekend, O'Keefe discussed his work and gave pointers to a gathering of conservative bloggers. At Americans for Prosperity's Right Online, he showed videos of some of his past and current projects and when asked by one blogger for his best advice, he offered, “Don't get caught.” O'Keefe does not suffer from a lack of confidence, but in a brief interview after his Saturday afternoon session, he seemed slightly humbled by his serious brush with the law in 2010.

Since Morgan Spurlock is known for fully immersing himself in his movies - famously subsisting onMcDonald's menu items for "Super Size Me" and pounding the pavement for every last product placement dollar in "The Greatest Story Ever Sold" - it seemed only appropriate to ask the man behind"Mansome" about his go-to grooming products and tools, most of which happen to come from boutique shaving brand the Art of Shaving, which signed on to sponsor the...

A brush fire burning in the Acton area Tuesday afternoon disrupted Metrolink service and forced the closure of Soledad Canyon Road, officials said. The blaze had burned at least one structure and scorched about 20 acres near the 4700 block of West Crown Valley Road. The blaze has burned at least 40 acres, officials said. Fire crews were battling to protect structures threatened by flames as four helicopters dropped water on the blaze. Metrolink said lines were closed north of the Via Princess station.

NEW YORK -- A massive brush fire driven by high winds and low humidity was burning out of control on Long Island east of New York City on Tuesday. Two more fires broke out in New Jersey, but firefighters managed to contain a third one that erupted at a landfill on Staten Island. The blazes broke out Monday as winds gusted at more than 40 mph across New York, New Jersey and the rest of the region. The winds, combined with low humidity and extra-dry conditions caused by a nearly snow-free winter, fed the flames, which forced some evacuations, closed roads and destroyed at least two homes.

WASHINGTON — The Senate blocked an effort to end billions of dollars in tax breaks for the oil industry, brushing aside President Obama's argument that the five big oil companies were doing "just fine" while consumers were struggling with painfully high gasoline prices. The measure to kill the industry tax preferences failed on a 51-47 procedural vote Thursday. It needed 60 votes to overcome a Republican-led filibuster that was supported by some Democrats from oil-rich states.

UC San Diego researchers say they have found tantalizing clues to a mystery that has puzzled the art world for five centuries: the fate of a lost masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci. Samples taken from a stone wall hidden behind a fresco that adorns the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy, appear to contain a black pigment similar to the one Leonardo used on his masterpiece "Mona Lisa," the researchers announced Monday. Other samples contained a red lacquer-like substance and a beige material apparently applied with brush strokes - both consistent with the presence of a painting.

A large brush fire raging in a rural valley between Carson City and Reno has consumed more than 3,000 acres, destroyed at least three homes and is nowhere near containment, Nevada officials announced Thursday afternoon. Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval declared a state of emergency shortly before 5 p.m., following similar moves by Washoe County and Reno city officials. ????Stoked by 80-mph winds, the fast-moving fire triggered the evacuation of more than 4,000 residents and cut short a scheduled speech by Vice President Joe Biden at a Reno high school.

Los Angeles police detectives are investigating the slaying of a man believed to be of Armenian descent whose head was discovered Tuesday afternoon by two dogs off a hiking trail below the Hollywood sign. Two women were hiking with nine dogs in the rugged hills near the 3200 block of Canyon Drive when two of the dogs found a plastic bag in the brush containing the head, according to law enforcement sources with knowledge of the investigation, who asked not to be identified because the probe was still unfolding.

Rupert was an ordinary child who wore glasses with black Croakies attached to prevent their slipping off. He was a wizard at Super Mario Brothers, yet his poor marks at school were a constant topic of discussion at the family dinner table. He was pudgy and wheezed if he became excited, petted a cat, or he ran too much. Soccer was out. He was, however, a very good flag-football center as centers run very little. One snowy winter's morning Rupert's mother, Mrs. Begonia, a stern woman with a shape resembling two doughnuts donuts stacked one atop the other, walked upstairs to his room to awaken him for school.

Protesters associated with the Occupy Wall Street movement disrupted a campaign event held by Mitt Romney, a frequent occurrence at several candidates' appearances in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses. Romney was several minutes into his standard stump speech when a protestor yelled, "Mic Check!" It was difficult to hear the man, but he yelled something about Romney's corporate ties. Romney's supporters, several hundred people packed into a manufacturing plant, yelled, "Mitt is it!