Cellular

White House administrative chief David Watkins, a longtime aide to President Clinton who hails from his hometown of Hope, Ark., resigned Thursday after officials learned that he had taken a military helicopter to play golf in rural Maryland earlier this week. Clinton, saying that he was "very upset" when he learned about Watkins' trip, revealed his aide's resignation during a press conference called to announce a decision on most-favored-nation trading status for China.

The sentencing of six Florencia 13 gang members to life in prison appears to bring to a close a prolonged and terrifying spate of violence in the Florence-Firestone district allegedly brought on by orders from a prison gang member in solitary confinement 700 miles away. Beginning in 2004, the unincorporated Los Angeles County area north of Watts was the site of one of the region's worst gang sieges since the early 1990s, evolving into what some residents felt was a race war. The violence left dozens of people dead, including many with no gang affiliation, and required enormous county resources to combat.

The products: Age-defying products that target wrinkles or gray hairs are missing one of the real driving forces behind aging. Over the years, cells throughout the body lose mitochondria, tiny powerhouses that provide energy for all sorts of vital functions. This cellular power-outage is one reason older people limp along with a fraction of the zip and pep that they enjoyed in earlier days. Aging mitochondria may do more than sap energy. In recent years, some scientists have speculated that worn-out power factories in the cells may contribute to a host of age-related problems including memory loss, Parkinson's disease and Type 2 diabetes.

We all know what aging looks like from the outside: wrinkled skin, gray hair, a growing need to turn up the volume on "Jeopardy. " But in recent years, scientists have made some breakthrough discoveries about how we age on the inside, right down to our genes. The science of aging has created a glimmer of hope that we could someday slow the process ? a dream that has already spread beyond the lab to the marketplace. Anti-aging research used to be mainly about finding new ways to get lab mice to take their vitamins.

EVERYBODY IN LA JOLLA knew the Brodericks. Daniel T. Broderick III and his wife, Betty, seemed to have a classic society-page marriage. Dan was a celebrity in local legal circles. Armed with degrees from both Harvard Law School and Cornell School of Medicine, the prominent malpractice attorney was aggressive, persuasive and cunning--a $1-million-a-year lawyer at the top of his game.

Airline travel fees - including charges to check a bag and to board early - have become so prevalent that travelers almost need an advanced degree in mathematics to calculate overall trip costs. Last year at least 36 airline fees increased, and 16 others were redefined, bundled or unbundled with other services, according to a recent study by the consumer travel website Travelnerd. One bright spot in the Travelnerd study of 14 U.S. airlines is that most fee increases were only $5 to $10 each.

SACRAMENTO - A prepaid cellular company controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim is taking fire as it moves to expand in the lucrative California market. TracFone Wireless Inc., which has more than 21 million users in the United States, is the country's biggest player in the fast-growing business of selling low-cost cellphones and prepaid minutes - often to low-income customers. These phones, typically costing users as little as $20 for a phone and 60 minutes of use, appeal to many customers who don't want or can't afford to sign yearlong or multiyear contracts.

Dr. Jay Goldstein of Anaheim Hills has spent the last five years researching and treating patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, a debilitating disease characterized by incapacitating exhaustion and a range of other perplexing symptoms. Explaining his theory of an unknown retrovirus invading the immune system, inducing cells to produce a chemical transmitter affecting the entire body, Goldstein pauses. "You know," the family practitioner says, "some very respected physicians will tell you I am crazy."

CHICAGO - Mike Trout spared the Angels the indignity of being on the wrong end of a perfect game or no-hitter Sunday night, grounding a single to center field with one out in the top of the seventh inning after Chicago White Sox starter Chris Sale retired the first 19 batters. That was it as far as offensive highlights for the Angels, who were one-hit by Sale in a 3-0 loss in U.S. Cellular Field that ended their win streak at three and dropped them to 14-23 and 10 games behind Texas in the American League West.

The call came on the eve of his Los Angeles concert, just as he was leaving his home in Mexico. We have your son. Follow our instructions. Don't make trouble. It was a year ago, and Vicente Fernandez was about to headline four sold-out shows at the Pico Rivera Sports Arena, his annual Memorial Day pilgrimage to the Eastside suburbs of L.A. Now this voice, saying his 33-year-old son, his namesake, was being held for a ransom of millions.