Carmen

Rise Stevens, an American mezzo soprano celebrated for her earthy interpretation of "Carmen," whose career also encompassed television and movie appearances alongside matinee idols Bing Crosby and Nelson Eddy, died Wednesdayof natural causes at her home in New York. She was 99. Her death was confirmed by her son, Nicolas Surovy. Stevens sang for the Metropolitan Opera for more than two decades beginning in 1938. She was known for her sensuous voice, described by the International Dictionary of Opera as "pure velvet.

Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich has a steep hill to climb to keep his job in next month's election, a new USC Price/L.A. Times poll has found. Challenger Mike Feuer, a former city and state lawmaker, held a lead of more than 11 percentage points over Trutanich, drawing support from 36.8% of voters, compared with 25.5% favoring the incumbent. With about a month to go before election day, nearly 38% of the voters surveyed had not made up their minds. The USC Sol Price School of Public Policy/L.A.

BIRDS OF PARADISE a novel collaboration -- Where we left off: What's on the coveted flash drive? That's been the $64,000 question from Day One, as a TV producer, a congressman and a pole dancer lead a cast of characters on a wild and mysterious chase across Southern California. Well, today's installment clears up a bit of the confusion, and makes one wonder if the venue might soon change from Beverly Hills to the glittering, desert city of sin, where the real-life mayor happens to be a former mob attorney.

Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich offers an explanation for why his reelection challenger has racked up the lion's share of endorsements as the May 21 runoff approaches: "He's part of the old-boys club; he's a career politician and I'm independent. " But former lawmaker Mike Feuer points to the backing he's received from hundreds of elected officials - including both of California's U.S. senators - civic and other groups, environmental organizations, labor, law and community leaders as evidence of "a clear desire for change" in the city's top legal post.

Ever since the dark hour when Twyla Tharp went classical, Swedish choreographer Mats Ek has been the unchallenged Wizard of Twitch: the master of eccentric, high-speed body squiggles that link up in complex choreographic mosaics but always look spontaneous, intuitive and unpredictable.

Producers are making a $15-million bet that Carmen, one of the world's favorite opera heroines, will seduce fresh fans with an extravagant new production on the streets of her hometown. A world-famous conductor, an Oscar-nominated director and a cast of international stars are working to bring the fiery, cigar-rolling star of Georges Bizet's opera "Carmen" back to her native Spanish city of Seville in September.

With opportunities for flamboyant local color, intense duets and a great ballerina role, dance adaptations of Georges Bizet's opera "Carmen" almost always make exciting movement theater. The flamenco version that the reconstituted Antonio Gades company performed in Madrid last summer may be the best anywhere, but a whole constellation of choreographers have created their own distinctive interpretations in many different styles.

Workers have removed five supergraphics from a pair of buildings on Hollywood Boulevard that are at the center of the latest criminal sign case filed by City Atty. Carmen Trutanich. A judge issued arrest warrants Tuesday for four people accused by Trutanich of putting up five illegal signs at 6800 Hollywood Blvd. and 6810-6820 Hollywood Blvd. The city's sign law bans the installation of new supergraphics, or vinyl images draped across the side of a building. Deputy City Atty.

City Atty. Carmen Trutanich was released Thursday from Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center San Pedro after being admitted Saturday suffering from abdominal pains. He is now resting at home. John Franklin, a spokesman for the city attorney, said that doctors diagnosed Trutanich with upper abdominal problems and that he had undergone a series of tests. Doctors believe his condition is related to stress, diet and exhaustion, officials said. "He's working himself to death," Chief Deputy City Atty.

From the age of 3, Olivia grew up inside a gated community, sleeping next to her Mexican immigrant mother in the maid's quarters of an affluent Westside home. In the beginning, Olivia's mother lived in fear that her little girl might break something belonging to her boss, a Hollywood agent. Later the agent and his family all but adopted Olivia as their own. She became a curiosity in that gated community, the only "Mexican" girl at many a neighborhood birthday party, and in games kids played on the street.

The candidates vying in the May 21 election to be Los Angeles' top lawyer are questioning each other's ethics in increasingly harsh ways, dueling complaints made to authorities last week showed. Supporters of City Atty. Carmen Trutanich, widely considered the underdog in the runoff contest, filed a lawsuit against former lawmaker Mike Feuer, accusing him of improperly obtaining $300,000 in taxpayer funds by hiding the true cost of the campaign. Feuer responded by lodging a pair of complaints with the city Ethics Commission, including one that alleged that Trutanich violated rules by sending an e-mail newsletter during a special campaign blackout period for incumbents.

Rise Stevens, an American mezzo soprano celebrated for her earthy interpretation of "Carmen," whose career also encompassed television and movie appearances alongside matinee idols Bing Crosby and Nelson Eddy, died Wednesdayof natural causes at her home in New York. She was 99. Her death was confirmed by her son, Nicolas Surovy. Stevens sang for the Metropolitan Opera for more than two decades beginning in 1938. She was known for her sensuous voice, described by the International Dictionary of Opera as "pure velvet.

With a legal filing and a sidewalk news conference on the Westside, Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich on Thursday called on two major billboard companies to turn off more than 100 digital signs, citing a court order and exhausted appeals. "The courts have spoken," Trutanich told reporters near a Clear Channel Outdoor digital sign at Santa Monica and Sepulveda boulevards. Trutanich said he was seeking court direction on "unwinding" a controversial city agreement that previously permitted some digital signs.

On the morning after he became the top vote-getter in a bruising, four-candidate contest for Los Angeles city attorney, former lawmaker Mike Feuer got up early Wednesday and hit the phones, already campaigning for the May runoff against incumbent Carmen Trutanich. "This is the time to seize this momentum and carry it forward," Feuer said after unofficial returns from Tuesday's municipal primary showed him with almost 44% of the vote to Trutanich's 30%. Two other candidates, private attorneys Greg Smith and Noel Weiss, finished with 17% and nearly 7%, respectively.

As the race for city attorney winds down, insiders are poring over poll data and other indicators with one question in mind: Will incumbent Carmen Trutanich make the runoff? Most observers consider former Assemblyman Mike Feuer the front-runner, likely to finish first in a field of four candidates -- himself, Trutanich and private lawyers Greg Smith and Noel Weiss. Feuer is endorsed by a host of leading officials, including Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (he also was endorsed by the Los Angeles Times )

Carmen Electra has slipped into her iconic "Baywatch" swimsuit a decade and a half after wearing it on the busty lifeguard drama. How's that for #throwbackthursday? The actress and former Playboy model last donned the red one-piece when she was 25, but now, at 40, she's wearing it again and showing off her gams for InTouch magazine. She admits, though, she was hesitant to put it on. "Once I got it on, I felt amazing," Electra told the mag. "It was a million times better than I thought it would be. " PHOTOS: Elton John Oscars viewing party Electra, born Tara Leigh Patrick , posed for the beach shoot wearing nude heels and toting a bright red rescue can that we so often saw on the series, which also starred David Hasselhoff , Jeremy Jackson and Electra's pal Pamela Anderson.

Set in a South Bronx slum in the mid-1970s, Migdalia Cruz's "The Have-Little," at the Strasberg Center's Marilyn Monroe Theatre, is an unsettling reminder that, for many, poverty is destiny. Just hanging onto the bottom rung of the socioeconomic ladder is an exhausting endeavor. Any upward momentum requires determination, smarts and a supportive family--or a combination of the three.

In "Carmen's Bold Role Reversal" (Nov. 7), Jordan Levin did not tell us if, like in his "Giselle," Mats Ek's "Carmen" will subject us to ugly decor, minimal choreography and absurd costuming--and, let us not forget, to a totally naked man prancing about to close the show? I would love to revisit the dancers from Lyon, but Mats Ek gives me the heebie-jeebies. G.J. DESSORNES Thousand Oaks

In a sign of how bitter the race for Los Angeles city attorney has become, two of the three main candidates on the March 5 ballot continued to hammer each other Monday, while the campaign of a largely self-funded, dark horse candidate appeared to pick up steam. City Atty. Carmen Trutanich, former lawmaker Mike Feuer and private lawyer Greg Smith mixed it up during a radio debate on KCRW-FM (89.9)'s "Which Way, L.A.?" Trutanich and Feuer reserved their sharpest barbs for one another, with Feuer calling Trutanich's tenure a failure and Trutanich continuing to deride Feuer's lack of courtroom experience.

Shortly after Carmen Trutanich took office as Los Angeles city attorney in 2009, he caused a big splash by taking on illegal billboards. And he's highlighted his crusade against unpermitted signs as he faces a tough reelection battle. So what's with the splashy Trutanich election banner splayed across a building along a busy stretch of freeway? The colorful sign, visible to drivers on southbound Interstate 5 near the Glendale Boulevard exit in northeast Los Angeles, features a picture of Trutanich, his campaign's website address and a message urging his reelection.