Closings

The parent company of the Albertsons supermarket chain announced that 18 stores in Southern California are to be shut down. A store in Culver City closed earlier. Anaheim: Brookhurst & Katella Buena Park: Dale & La Palma Covina: Azusa & Cypress Fullerton: Harbor Blvd. & Imperial Hwy. Garden Grove: Harbor & Garden Grove Blvd. Glendale: Central & Chevy Chase Hacienda Heights: Colima Rd & S. Azusa Ave Long Beach: 7 t h & Redondo Los Angeles: South La Brea & Rodeo Rd. Moreno Valley: Pigeon Pass & Ironwood Norco: Hamner Ave & Hidden Valley Pkw. Northridge: Devonshire & Reseda Ontario: Grove Ave & Walnut Street Riverside: Limonite & Clay Rowland Heights: Colima & Fairway Drive Van Nuys: Van Nuys & Sherman Victorville: Bear Valley & Amethyst Roads Walnut: Amar & Nogales Source: Supervalu Inc.

SAN FRANCISCO - The U.S. Interior Department violated federal law by failing to conduct an environmental review before ordering a Northern California oyster farmer to shutter his operation, attorneys for the farmer told a federal appeals court panel here Tuesday. In a case that has become a cause celebre across the political spectrum, oysterman Kevin Lunny had been ordered to close the farm late last year when his lease to operate within Point Reyes National Seashore expired. Closing Lunny's Drakes Bay Oyster Co. would make way for the first marine wilderness area on the West Coast at Drakes Estero, an environmentally sensitive area home to a large population of harbor seals.

Starbucks released the complete list Thursday of about 600 coffee shops nationwide that will be closing through the middle of next year. For an interactive map of all closings in California, go to latimes.com/starbucksmap. -- Sources: Starbucks, ESRI, TeleAtlas -- Los Angeles Times

California has proved to be a land of opportunity where hard work delivers prosperity and nurtures innovation. Its human capital has helped the state develop into the world's ninth-largest economy, which attracts nearly half of the venture capital in the nation. But this opportunity and success have not reached everyone, and the California dream is in danger of slipping away. Today, California ranks first in the country in the number of working low-income families. "Working Hard, Left Behind," a new study conducted by the Campaign for College Opportunity, found that millions in the state are working hard but are increasingly left behind.

Flying in the face of a spate of closings, a contemporary art gallery opened its first exhibition Saturday in spaces once occupied by a gallery that folded this year. "It's silly for me to play it real safe," said owner-director Dietrich Jenny, a painter and former rock musician. Jenny said he will stick with his "ideals and instincts" and show little-known, serious artists rather than exhibit more popular works.

Unions representing about 2,400 employees of Zodys discount department stores were notified Thursday by HRT Industries, the chain's parent, that it intends to close its 32 outlets in California and Nevada. In addition, Three D Departments, an East Hartford, Conn.

Workers at the sprawling General Motors plant in Van Nuys expressed relief Thursday at news that the long-endangered plant got a reprieve from a wave of factory closings announced by the nation's leading auto maker. But the good news was tempered by nagging worries. Both company and United Auto Workers officials said the status of the facility, the last auto plant in Southern California, remains uncertain beyond the next few years.

Pedestrian tunnels built in the 1920s and 1930s as a way across busy streets have become smelly, dangerous lairs for gangs, graffiti artists and drunken slumberers. "It's a rat's nest. I wouldn't go under there if you paid me," Jeanette Owens said the other day as she surveyed the trash-littered entrance to a pedestrian tunnel on Fletcher Drive near Atwater Avenue in Atwater. Because many people feel the same way, the city in recent years has sealed off more and more of Los Angeles' 221 tunnels.

Re "GM Posts Loss of $4.5 Billion, Lists Closings," Feb. 25: May I be so bold as to submit a solution to GM's problems? Go over to Japan and hire the president of Toyota to run GM. And while over there, see if you can entice the president of, say, Nissan to take over Ford and maybe some other auto "proven" executive to run Chrysler. The present auto industry management knows only how to generate losses, layoffs and closings while generously compensating themselves plus millions in bonuses.

Rite Aid Corp. is planning to shut down as many as 117 stores over the next year as it tries to cut costs after the drugstore operator's loss more than doubled in the fiscal fourth quarter. The Camp Hill, Pa., company said the closings would be scattered around the country, targeting stores with weak sales and those that are close to another Rite Aid. Rite Aid said its fourth-quarter results were hurt by the recession, a fairly mild flu season and the introduction of new low-cost generic drugs.

With its announcement Thursday, Hollywood Park did little to refute the theory that horse racing is a sport in need of hospice. They raced at the Inglewood track Friday, but it wasn't business as usual. Nor will it be the rest of this meeting and the track's final one, which ends Dec. 22. For people in the business, and fans of the sport, the next six months of racing at the place universally known as Hollypark will be an emotional saddle sore. The bulldozers are at the gate.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - After a bloody campaign season marred by waves of bombings and candidate assassinations, Pakistanis turned out in large numbers Saturday to elect a new parliament in what is slated to be the first democratic transition of civilian governments  in a country with a history of military coups and forced political ousters. The new national assembly that comes out of Saturday's elections has the responsibility of choosing a new prime minister and charting a course that would lead Pakistan out of economic stagnancy and militancy that has resulted in thousands of deaths in recent years.

The 149 air traffic control towers that were scheduled to close this summer because of federal sequestration will remain open until at least September, government officials said Friday. The Federal Aviation Administration said legislation approved by Congress last month allows the agency to transfer funds from other accounts to keep the towers open until the end of the fiscal year. The towers, run by contract workers, operate at small airports such as Brown Field Municipal Airport in San Diego, Riverside Municipal Airport, Whiteman Airport in Pacoima, Oxnard Airport, Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville and Fullerton Municipal Airport.

Everyone knew the day was coming and now it's a reality. After 75 years of horse racing, Betfair Hollywood Park will end its operations following the final race of its autumn meeting Dec. 22. The words "sad day" were repeated often Thursday afternoon at the Inglewood track, where owners, trainers, jockeys and fans reacted somberly to the news. The official announcement came in a letter from track President Jack Liebau sent to the California Horse Racing Board on Wednesday informing them that Hollywood Park Land Co. would not be requesting any 2014 racing dates.

Budget cuts won't force the closure of air traffic control towers during overnight shifts, the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday. But the federal agency said it is still uncertain whether it will be forced this summer to close towers operated by contractors at 149 small and medium-size airports, including several in Southern California. Budget cuts called for by the federal sequestration forced the FAA in April to furlough air traffic controllers for one day every two weeks.

Raymond Smith Jr. has been trying for nearly two decades to make the movie industry listen to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing. This month, the senior executive at Regal Entertainment Group will come closer to his goal. His company, the nation's largest theater chain, will have nearly 6,000 theater screens equipped with closed-captioning glasses that could transform the theatrical experience for millions of deaf and hard-of-hearing patrons who have shunned going to the cinema because previous aids were too clunky or embarrassing to use. PHOTOS: Hollywood Backlot moments The Knoxville, Tenn., chain has invested more than $10 million in the glasses, which were developed by Sony Electronics Inc. Resembling thick sunglasses, the device uses holographic technology to project closed-caption text that appears inside the lenses, synchronized with the dialogue on the screen . The system also includes headphones connected to a wireless receiver, with separate audio channels, which play dialogue or allow visually impaired users to listen to a narration track of the film.

Borders Group Inc. says it will close 200 Waldenbooks stores and cut 1,500 jobs in January to make the chain smaller and more profitable. Borders, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., said the closings would leave about 130 Waldenbooks stores still in business. The company says the closures will not affect any Borders superstores or any of its mall kiosks, including 500 Day by Day Calendar Co. spots and other mall-based stores.

The closing price Friday was up about $1 from Thursday, incorrectly reported at $16.75 in Friday's editions of The Times because of erroneous information. The issue has been trading over the counter on a "when issued" basis since Tuesday. The stock is expected to be issued Tuesday after the simultaneous closings of Turner Broadcasting's purchase of MGM/UA Entertainment and the sale of the new UA for $9 a share to MGM/UA's controlling shareholder, Kirk Kerkorian.

After a three-week closure to complete safety work, the popular Space Mountain attraction at Disneyland in Anaheim is expected to reopen this weekend. Disneyland voluntarily closed the 36-year-old ride April 13 after state regulators, investigating the injury of a contract worker, found violations related to safety procedures and equipment for maintenance staff. Disney officials said Friday that they could not give an exact date for the reopening of the ride but hope to have it operating this weekend.

At his news conference Tuesday, President Obama made a powerful plea for ending the humanitarian and diplomatic disaster created by the continued detention of more than 160 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, more than 100 of whom are engaged in a hunger strike that necessitated the dispatch of an emergency medical team. The problem is that Obama has contributed to the crisis by acquiescing in congressional obstruction of his promise to close the facility. We hope he is serious when he says he will now "re-engage with Congress that this is not in the best interest of the American people.