Contract

First of three parts Tiffany Lee wanted a car. She was weary of the two-hour bus ride to her job at a UCLA Health System clinic. She hated having to ask friends to drive her 7-year-old son to his asthma treatments. But as a single mother with three children, bad credit and a $27,000-a-year salary, she couldn't find a bank or dealership willing to give her a loan. Then a friend steered her to Repossess Auto Sales in Hawthorne. Another buyer might have balked at the deal she was offered.

PHOENIX — Andre Ethier said Tuesday he does not plan to impose a deadline on negotiations on the contract extension that could keep him out of free agency. Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti has said he would like to re-sign Ethier and has discussed the idea with Dodgers President Stan Kasten , who took office three weeks ago. Ethier said Tuesday he and his agent have not received a formal contract proposal from the Dodgers. Ethier also said he did not anticipate a point where free agency could be so close that he would put any contract talks on hold before he could test the market.

If you think Bluetooth is a rare dental condition and an app is what you eat before the entree, you might not be a candidate for today's high-tech, whiz-bang smart phones. Instead, you might be happier with a mobile phone geared toward seniors. Those phones typically don't have Web-surfing capability, GPS maps and video games. Instead they have large buttons, oversized digital readouts and hearing-aid compatibility, along with a relatively simple calling plan. Although senior-friendly phones aren't new, their lower prices and variety are. A recent price skirmish among wireless companies means seniors can get an easy-to-use cellphone and cheap service to go with it, said Mac Haddow, senior fellow on public policy for the independent and nonprofit Alliance for Generational Equity.

Facebook shares fell flat on their Nasdaq debut, but another trading venue for the stock will open later this month. The Chicago Board Options Exchange will start listing option contracts on the Menlo Park company May 29, according to specialist firm Susquehanna Investment Group. This is sooner than normal for a company going public. The exchange typically waits a month or more before offering these options, but investor interest in the social media giant accelerated that timetable.

PHOENIX — Andre Ethier said Tuesday he does not plan to impose a deadline on negotiations on the contract extension that could keep him out of free agency. Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti has said he would like to re-sign Ethier and has discussed the idea with Dodgers President Stan Kasten , who took office three weeks ago. Ethier said Tuesday he and his agent have not received a formal contract proposal from the Dodgers. Ethier also said he did not anticipate a point where free agency could be so close that he would put any contract talks on hold before he could test the market.

Los Angeles police will not pursue through the courts scores of motorists with unpaid tickets from the city's defunct red-light camera program. The city Police Commission voted this week to end its contract with the company that operated L.A.'s cameras until they were shut off last summer. And authorities are now planning to reassign a small group of officers who regularly appeared in court to testify in contested photo enforcement cases. With the cancellation of the contract, officers will no longer have easy access to the photo and video evidence that courts require.

A new study showing an estimated 7% of American teens and adults carry the human papillomavirus in their mouths may help health experts finally understand why rates of mouth and throat cancer have been climbing for nearly 25 years. The evidence makes it clear that oral sex practices play a key role in transmission. The new data, published online Thursday by the Journal of the American Medical Assn., are the first to assess the prevalence of oral HPV infection in the U.S. population.

Auto leasing deals abound these days, with offers that often seem too good to be true. How about a well-equipped Honda Accord for $250 a month with no down payment or any other drive-off fees? Or better yet, $199 a month for a Chevrolet Malibu? So, what's the catch? There isn't any if you know what you're getting into. There are always details. You need top-tier credit to qualify. You pay a penalty if you turn that Honda in with more than 36,000 miles. And the payment is not $250 a month because of that little matter of tax. It is more like $275, depending on where you live.

Bob Kahl slips in through a side door of the vast, abandoned hangar and looks at what's left of the assembly plant where he worked for nearly 40 years. He remembers the hum of power tools, the biting aroma of cutting oil, swarms of workers plugging away on a labyrinth of yellow scaffolding. All that's left is a few piles of broken concrete and a sea of colorless dust that coats a Palmdale factory floor the size of two football fields. "Welcome to the birthplace of America's space shuttle fleet," said Kahl, 60, smiling.

Healthcare without insurance is like construction without power tools. It can be done, but it will take longer and require a lot more effort. And at times you'll feel like you're hammering your thumb. "Preventive care is one of the most difficult areas," said John Kim, head of the nonprofit Healthy City project, which has amassed data on medical and social resources in the Los Angeles area. "By the time you get care for the condition you're trying to prevent, you might already have it."

It seemed a star-studded marriage: James Stewart, a three-time champion of off-road motorcycle racing, signed a multiyear contract with the Yamaha motorcycle team of Joe Gibbs Racing of NASCAR fame. The plan also was for Gibbs to provide a path for Stewart to pursue his goal of becoming a NASCAR stock car driver when his motorcycle days were over. But only seven months after announcing their union, Stewart and Gibbs recently parted ways and Stewart has signed with a new team, Yoshimura Suzuki, for both motocross and supercross.

It is in the nature of politicians to keep making the same mistakes over and over again, especially if they're the kind of mistakes favored by the lawmakers' key financial backers. So the award of an important rail car contract Monday by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board to a company that submitted the best bid for the job - but isn't the most politically connected - was a rare and encouraging event. Rail cars are a touchy subject in Los Angeles. That's because in 2009, the MTA board awarded a $300-million contract for 100 cars to AnsaldoBreda, an Italian company with a terrible track record.

In a break with Los Angeles' powerful organized labor movement, county transportation leaders on Monday awarded a crucial $890-million rail car contract to a Japanese firm that unions complained would create fewer jobs than a competitor and might violate federal requirements to use American workers. Officials of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority say the contract with Kinkisharyo International to build 235 cars is critical for opening new light rail lines on time and replacing aging equipment on existing systems.

American Airlines has spent the week trying to persuade a bankruptcy judge to allow it to chuck all its labor contracts and put the squeeze on thousands of union employees. If things go as expected - that is, a victory for management and not for rank-and-file workers - it will be the latest blow to organized labor and yet another indication that, in the workplace of the future, most of us will be fending for ourselves. "Workers in the United States are facing a number of difficulties," said Daniel J.B. Mitchell, a professor emeritus of public policy at UCLA.

Healthcare companies are tripping over themselves to profit from a flood of government contracts for treating the poor and disabled, and a family-run company in Long Beach with nearly $5 billion in revenue is trying to stay ahead of the pack. Amid the growing competition,Molina Healthcare Inc.is facing new hurdles. It has lost two key state contracts in Ohio and Missouri and its shares have tumbled 23% in recent weeks. J. Mario Molina, the company's 53-year-old chief executive, said that these are temporary setbacks and that the company remains in expansion mode.

The Atlanta Falcons gave up only a seventh-round draft pick Wednesday when they acquired four-time Pro Bowl cornerback Asante Samuel from the Philadelphia Eagles. The Falcons announced the trade after Samuel agreed to restructure his contract to a three-year, $18.5-million deal. His contract with Philadelphia called for him to earn $9.9 million in 2012 and $11.4 million in 2013. Samuel, 31, gives Atlanta a strong but high-priced trio at cornerback with Dunta Robinson and Brent Grimes under new defensive coordinator Mike Nolan . Grimes, who signed his franchise tag tender Tuesday, will make $10.262 million this season.

It seemed a star-studded marriage: James Stewart, a three-time champion of off-road motorcycle racing, signed a multiyear contract with the Yamaha motorcycle team of Joe Gibbs Racing of NASCAR fame. The plan also was for Gibbs to provide a path for Stewart to pursue his goal of becoming a NASCAR stock car driver when his motorcycle days were over. But only seven months after announcing their union, Stewart and Gibbs recently parted ways and Stewart has signed with a new team, Yoshimura Suzuki, for both motocross and supercross.

Lamar Odom is done playing for the Dallas Mavericks. Will any other NBA team take a chance on the enigmatic 6-foot-10 forward who is less than a year removed from winning the league's sixth man of the year award? Or perhaps the better question is, should someone give him another shot? Odom was known for his inconsistency during his seven seasons with the Lakers. But, by definition, that means there were good and bad times on the court for Odom in L.A. And particularly in the last few years, there seemed to be more good than bad, with Odom appearing to pull it all together last season by being named the league's best player off the bench.

Eager to move on from the Bobby Petrino scandal, Arkansas announced Monday that popular former assistant John L. Smith will return as head coach of the Razorbacks next season. Smith, who left the Razorbacks after last season to become the head coach at Weber State, will be formally introduced Tuesday. The school said Smith signed a one-year, $850,000 contract and will also be eligible for other incentives. Smith's return caps a whirlwind three weeks for an Arkansas program reeling from revelations of an affair by Petrino with a woman, Jessica Dorrell , he later hired as his assistant.

General Manager Ned Colletti said he wants to explore the possibility of signing Andre Ethier to a contract extension soon after the Dodgers' new owners take over the club next week. "I've always been inclined to keep him," Colletti said. "His start certainly hasn't hurt. " Ethier, who will be eligible for free agency when his one-year, $10.95-million deal expires at the end of the season, drove in 21 runs in the Dodgers' first 16 games. Entering the series against the Atlanta Braves, his runs batted in total was second in the majors behind teammate Matt Kemp's 22. Ethier drove in the Dodgers' first run Monday.