Contest

In yet another sign of hard times, officials are looking to a contest sponsored by Coca-Cola for funds to keep a popular coastal park open. Without $500,000 to replace an aging sewer line, McGrath State Beach, a camping spot just down the coast from Ventura Harbor, will shut down after Labor Day . With less than two weeks left and no check in hand, local and state officials on Friday urged people to head for livepositively.com ...

A Florida man who collapsed after winning a bug-eating contest accidentally choked to death on the cockroaches he gobbled down, the Broward County Medical Examiner's Office announced Monday. Edward Archbold, 32, of West Palm Beach won the eating contest at the Ben Siegel Reptile Store in Deerfield Beach on Oct. 6. He then began to retch violently and collapsed, raising questions about how he died and whether he had been poisoned by what he had eaten. In a posting on its website, the medical examiner's office said the death was accidental and ruled out poisoning.

In anticipation of this weekend's indie and punk rock FYF Festival, event promoters Sean Carlson and Phil Hoelting had an idea for a contest. It involved cassette tapes, the anachronistic music medium thought to have died in the late 1990s.  In honor of the creative, personal means in which music obsessives used to share new sounds before the rise of mp3s, iTunes, Spotify and the world of drag-and-drop music mixes, the two decided to offer a...

Got a wine you think loves oysters? The West Coast's premier bivalve/beverage dating service, the 19th annual Pacific Coast Oyster Wine Competition is gearing up and they're looking for entries. As it has for the last 18 years, the competition will be held in three cities -- Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle -- with wine professionals and journalists in each city judging the wines for how well they pair with raw oysters. March 22 is the deadline for wine entries and the winners will be announced April 29. It's always an interesting lineup, because it seems usually the best oyster wines are also the most simply made.

Sculptors Michael Davis, Guy Dilland and Eric Orr have been named finalists in a $40,000 project to design a new outdoor sculpture for the Laguna Beach Museum of Art. The competition attracted 119 entries. Each finalist will receive a $1,000 stipend to cover costs of submitting a design model. The winning sculptor will be announced in the spring by a six-member jury. The sculpture is to be installed after the museum's permanent facility at 307 Cliff Drive is reopened in December.

When California pushed back its presidential primary to June to save money, the declarations came swiftly: The state's 5 million GOP voters would be bystanders to a race that was widely expected to be decided long before then. It was a variation on a complaint made for decades — behemoth California left with no voice while pipsqueak states have all the fun. But now, as the Republican contest to take on President Obama has slogged on far longer than most expected, there is at least an outside chance that California could have a decisive role when voters head to the polls June 5. And the presidential field is starting to notice.

Three Californians are among the 36 pianists representing 18 countries who are performing in the seventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Tex. The contestants--including Thomas Otten, 24, of Daly City, Calif.; Diane Hidy, 26, of Pasadena and Susan Savage, 29, of Los Angeles--drew numbers to determine the order of play. American pianist Ingrid Jacoby, 26, of London, England, drew No. 1.

RUSSIA A vodka-drinking competition in the southern Russian town of Volgodonsk ended in tragedy when the winner died and several runners-up were hospitalized. A prosecutor said the man who organized the contest was charged with manslaughter.

The Chicago Bears punished the Green Bay Packers for their undisciplined play with a 20-17 upset on Monday to join the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers as the NFL's only unbeaten teams. Robbie Gould booted a 19-yard field goal with four seconds left to clinch the victory in front of a soldout crowd at Soldier Field and keep the surprising Bears at the top of the NFC North standings with a perfect 3-0 mark. Devin Hester returned a punt 62 yards for a touchdown while Jay Cutler passed for another but the Packers were the architects of their own demise.

Lamb's Players Theatre has added another distinguishing factor to its reputation as one of the country's best professional, Christian-oriented troupes. Last week artistic director Robert Smyth announced a major national play writing contest, the Fieldstead New Plays Award, to be administered by National City players. First prize will be a $5,000 cash award, two weeks residency at Lamb's Players and production of the winning entry as part of Lamb's 1987 season.