Complaints

"The Kite Runner," Khaled Hosseini's million-selling novel about friendship and betrayal between two Afghan boys, a book club favorite that became a feature film, was among the releases most likely to inspire complaints last year from parents, educators and others, the American Library Assn. reported today. "The Kite Runner," which includes a rape scene, has been criticized for offensive language and sexual content. The association listed 513 challenges last year, an increase of 93 from 2007 but well below the 700 and higher annual totals in the 1990s.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic detailed Monday how all 17,400 Hollywood Bowl tickets for Gustavo Dudamel's debut as music director were distributed, responding to complaints by some disappointed fans unable to secure the free tickets after waiting in line for hours Saturday. Most admissions for the Oct. 3 "?Bienvenido Gustavo!" became available at noon Saturday online and over the phone and to people who lined up at the Bowl, but they were snapped up in less than two hours. The tickets went at a pace more common for concerts by pop stars, not classical musicians, and was a testament to the anticipation surrounding the arrival of the charismatic, youthful Dudamel.

If Kaiser Permanente's Fresno hospital had acted on complaints and kept a closer watch over its medical staff, two babies might still be alive, federal health inspectors concluded in a report released this week. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began investigating the hospital in October, two days after the Los Angeles Times reported that doctors and nurses had complained repeatedly to higher-ups about perinatologist Hamid Safari's medical and interpersonal skills.

Sharon Vaughan had been warned that cellphone reception was notoriously bad in this wealthy Central Coast town of art boutiques and touristy shops selling pottery and seashells. But the reality of cellularless living didn't really sink in until she moved to her first apartment in town two years ago. "The only place I could get a call out was on a wooden deck outside my apartment," said Vaughan, a restaurant manager at Cambria Pines Lodge.

U.S. officials have launched a preliminary investigation of reported engine compartment fires in General Motors Corp. full-size Tahoe and GMC Yukon sport utility vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration received two complaints alleging fires in 2007 models. An estimated 423,000 pickups could be affected, General Motors said. Both complaints said the fires occurred when the vehicles were parked in garages with the engine off, and caused significant property damage.

Los Angeles Police Department investigators routinely fail to fully investigate citizens' complaints against allegedly abusive officers, often omitting or altering crucial information in ways that help exonerate the officers, according to a report to be released today. The 34-page report by the Police Commission's inspector general raises questions about the department's ability to police itself, adding to still-unresolved problems highlighted in previous reports.

Public animal shelters will never look like -- or be run like -- the Four Seasons. But according to animal welfare activists, volunteers and private rescuers, the shelters operated by the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care & Control sometimes resemble dog pounds of yore.

In the shadow of the $440-million "bird's nest" Olympic stadium, migrant workers toil for a few dollars a day. A few miles away, bulldozers destroy a neighborhood where petitioners gather to seek justice from the government. Farther afield, foreign journalists endure sporadic harassment despite promised press freedoms, with Chinese reporters, bloggers and activists facing far greater restrictions.

Grover Cleveland High School Principal Bob Marks has his limits. On Thursday, it was the labeled diagram of a vagina splashed across the front page of the student newspaper's Valentine's Day issue. Flustered teachers rushed to confiscate the publication, but with some copies already in circulation and the Reseda campus in an uproar, it quickly became a hot read for the school's roughly 3,700 students. And some of the contraband issues made their way home, getting a quick reaction from parents.

A national autism advocacy group is demanding an apology from CBS over a disparaging remark a contestant on the reality show "Big Brother" made about people with the disorder. On that episode, a contestant named Adam, who claims to work for an autism foundation, said he would spend his winnings on a hair salon for people with developmental disabilities "so retards can get it together and get their hair done." His partner, Sheila, told him: "Don't call them that." Adam responded: "Disabled kids.