BUSINESS
March 28, 2013 | By E. Scott Reckard, Los Angeles Times
Bank of America Corp., which handles customer service on about 15% of U.S. home loans, has accounted for 30% of the mortgage complaints logged by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to a new database made public by the federal watchdog. The level of customer discontent - far greater than at home-lending rivals Wells Fargo & Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. - reflects BofA's struggles since its 2008 acquisition of Countrywide Financial Corp. in Calabasas. Countrywide had become the No. 1 mortgage firm by specializing in subprime and other high-risk loans.
FOOD
August 2, 2000 | EMILY GREEN, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Most of us consume milk. We put it on cereal and add it to coffee. We give it to our children by the glassful to build up their bones. Women are encouraged to drink it throughout adulthood to maintain those bones. We select this milk from an ever-expanding range. Milk comes in whole, reduced-fat, low-fat and no-fat versions. We have organic milk and milk labeled as coming from farms that do not use hormones. But to Northern Californian dairy farmer Ron Garthwaite, these milks aren't milk at all.
BUSINESS
October 26, 1990 | BRUCE HOROVITZ, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Can you say "yanked?" That is what Nike did this week to one of its commercials featuring NBA basketball star David Robinson that parodies "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood." In the TV spot for the company's Force line of basketball shoes, Robinson ties his shoes, then looks at the camera and asks: "Can you say, 'Kick some butt?' " The commercial premiered on CBS during the World Series.
BUSINESS
March 27, 2013 | By E. Scott Reckard
In a push to simplify loan modifications, many borrowers who become 90 days or more past due on mortgages backed by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae will be offered lowered payments without having to prove hardship, the federal regulator of the home-finance giants said. The streamlined modification program, to be put into effect in July, would reduce monthly payments by about 30% on average, officials said in announcing the program Wednesday. Eligible borrowers would receive letters explaining the modification offer and specifying the reduced payment.
HEALTH
July 5, 2010 | By Valerie Ulene, Special to the Los Angeles Times
The other day, my 9-year-old son came in from throwing the football with his dad, sobbing in pain. My husband told me that he'd twisted his neck when he went out for a long pass; he assured me that there'd been no rough tackles or hard falls. I was initially sympathetic, dispensing a hug and comforting words. It was only when my son insisted that he couldn't possibly eat dinner at the table and needed to be served on the couch that I started to laugh. I had no doubts that his neck hurt him; in fact, I was sure that it did. But as a doctor, I was convinced that it was a minor injury, probably a muscle strain that couldn't hurt too badly.
ENTERTAINMENT
November 16, 2002 | Bettijane Levine, Times Staff Writer
Caltech President David Baltimore sent an e-mail to members of his Pasadena campus community on Friday morning to say that the school will not accept artist Richard Serra's hotly debated design for a massive sculpture. "This is not a judgment about the quality of the proposal, but rather a judgment about the needs of the campus," Baltimore wrote. Debate over the proposed 80-ton zigzagging steel wall planned for a lawn in front of the school's biological sciences buildings began months earlier.