Carrying

CARACAS, Venezuela - Her neighborhood on the outskirts of this capital city is a dangerous, gang-infested barrio where homes are often made of corrugated tin and other collected refuse. It is by no means the ideal place to raise a family. But Taina Carrillo, a 35-year-old homemaker, said the slum of Petare was even worse before Hugo Chavez took over Venezuela. "Now we have a three-story medical clinic in the middle of the barrio," said Carrillo, one of hundreds of thousands of mourners who packed Caracas on Wednesday, crying and chanting as the coffin containing their fallen leader was pulled through the streets.

It's no surprise that a conversation with Alice Schoenfeld would go deep into the traditions and legacies of classical music. She has been teaching the violin at USC's Thornton School of Music since 1960, having played her first recital more than 30 years earlier, at age 5. What's astonishing, as one sits in the large studio of her home in La Canada Flintridge, listening to her talk about her life in music in a clear, lilting, German-accented speaking...

INDIANAPOLIS - Determined to curtail the fumbling problem that plagued him earlier in his career, UCLA running back Johnathan Franklin carried a football with him everywhere he went before his senior season, taking it to dinner, the movies … even when he went to bed. All the while, people on campus - teammates and others - would try to poke, jab and rip it from his grasp. "Just random people would come up and try to hit my ball," Franklin said Friday at the NFL scouting combine.

The Lakers (26-29) inched closer to .500 with a 113-99 win over the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night.  That's quite a turnaround after the Lakers were beaten soundly, 116-95, in Boston on Feb. 7. "It was definitely on my mind," Kobe Bryant said of the recent defeat. "They beat us pretty good up there. We certainly wanted to return the favor. " Bryant is expected to speak at the memorial service for Jerry Buss on Thursday. The Lakers owner died on Monday after a battle with an undisclosed form of cancer.

A deeply satisfying feat of storytelling, "Bless Me, Ultima" makes a difficult task look easy. It combines innocence and experience, the darkness and wonder of life, in a way that is not easy to categorize but a rich pleasure to watch. Taken from Rudolfo Anaya's landmark book, perhaps the bestselling Chicano novel of all time, "Bless Me, Ultima" presented certain obstacles. Though its protagonist is a very young boy, what he observes of life is not exclusively kindhearted. The story has the honesty of emotion you'd associate with having a 6-year-old as protagonist, but likely material for a Disney film this is not. More than that, "Bless Me, Ultima," set in the New Mexico of 1944, posits an age of wonders and miracles where magic realism informs young Antonio Marez's sense of how strange and unfathomable the world can seem.

Victor Oladipo "wasn't even close" to 100% healthy, Indiana Coach Tom Crean said of his star player Tuesday night. He was referring to the junior guard's sprained left ankle, which had kept him out of the second half of the Hoosiers' previous game three days earlier. But mentally Oladipo was all there, and that was enough to help No. 1 Indiana get past No. 4 Michigan State, 72-68, to take sole possession of first place in the Big Ten. “There's no doubt his foot hurt,” Crean said of Oladipo.

MEXICO CITY - Security forces have taken part in many kidnappings and disappearances in Mexico, and the government's failure to investigate most cases only compounds the anguish of their families, according to a scathing new human rights report. The report released Wednesday serves as an indictment of the administration of former President Felipe Calderon, who left office Dec. 1, and poses urgent challenges for his successor, Enrique Peña Nieto. Against the backdrop of a military-led offensive against powerful drug cartels, an estimated 70,000 people were killed during Calderon's six-year term, according to authorities and media tallies.

The next time an iPhone or iPad comes out, you might be able to pick it up at a Staples store. The news was announced over Twitter by a couple of Staples employees, but they may have shared it prematurely. Neither Apple nor Staples have put out a press release, and two of the employees have now removed their tweets from public view. "After Canada, #Apple products are coming to #Staples in US. Great news!" said Regis Mulot , Staples' senior vice president of global human resources, in a tweet that now appears to have been deleted.

Carrie Underwood was in fine voice performing "Blown Away" and "Two Black Cadillacs" at the 55th Grammy Awards on Sunday. But what really blew us away was her stunning custom couture gown by Theia. The icy platinum gown was gorgeous all on its own, but it became part of the show as changing images of all kinds were projected on it -- stars, roses,  kind of a monarch butterfly pattern and more. It all seemed magical. Perhaps even more magical was what went into making it. Theia reports that they had less than a week from the time Underwood's stylist called to ask them to design and make the gown until they had to ship it for the final fitting.

Carrie Underwood was a show-stopper at Sunday night's Grammy Awards for a number of reasons. One of those numbers? Try $31 million, the value of the diamond necklace she wore on the red carpet and into the show, where she picked up the award for country solo performance for "Blown Away. " The Johnathon Arndt piece featured 381 carats of oval, pear, marquise and round brilliant white diamonds, People reported. She paired it with a black strapless gown by Roberto Cavalli.  GRAMMYS 2013: Full coverage | Winners and nominees | Ballot | Nomination snubs & surprises Now, as beautiful as that dress was, it was nothing compared with the shiny ivory Theia number she wore to perform "Blown Away" and "Two Black Cadillacs" later in the show.