Contracts

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.

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.

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.

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.

Los Angeles County supervisors announced Tuesday that they have agreed to a one-year contract extension with 17,000 public safety employees that involves no cost-of-living or salary increases. The contracts with firefighters, sheriff's deputies and others expired in December and January. The extension allows both sides to avoid negotiating a new three-year agreement during the county's uncertain financial circumstances. "There is nothing hidden in this. There are no side deals," said county Chief Executive William T Fujioka.

Verizon Wireless, the second-largest U.S. mobile-phone company, will offer month-to-month contracts that don't have cancellation fees, a bid to attract customers wary of long-term commitments. Monthly subscribers will pay the same rates as those with long-term contracts, though they won't get discounts on new handsets, a Verizon spokeswoman said. Verizon and larger rival AT&T Inc. faced criticism from lawmakers and consumers who said fees for canceling contracts early were too high.

A ranking official of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission said Friday the commission will urge transit district leaders to look closely at other ways to save money on the troubled Metro Rail subway project before taking the drastic step of terminating contracts. "It is important to sit down with a contractor and resolve an issue before taking a drastic step like this," said Richard Stanger, director of rail development for the county commission, which is providing 14% of the $1.25 billion needed for the first, 4.4-mile segment of the subway.

Lipitor is the most prescribed name-brand drug in America - nearly 3.5 million people take it every day to control their cholesterol. Since the statin entered the market in 1997, it's earned New York-based pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. $81 billion, making it the best-selling prescription drug of all time, according to IMS Health, a Danbury, Conn.-based healthcare information company. So when Lipitor's patent protection came to an end Nov. 30 and a generic alternative became available, an awful lot of patients had a decision to make: Should they stick with the drug they knew or switch to something less expensive?

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 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.

AT&T has sent customers an 8,000-word service agreement that, among other things, says people will be given 30-day notice of price increases only when "commercially reasonable" and that you can't sue the company. Oh, and if you don't like AT&T's terms -- providing you can make your way through the company's 2,500-page "guidebook" -- your only recourse is to cancel service. State regulators aren't happy about this and are looking into whether the AT&T service agreement violates the law and unfairly limits the rights of customers.

Roughly once a month, the NBA cuts 31 checks to NBA teams as revenue from its multibillion-dollar national television contract. There are only 30 NBA franchises, so who gets the extra check? The money goes to brothers Ozzie and Dan Silna, co-owners of the long-forgotten ABA team, the Spirits of St. Louis. Thirty years ago, Ozzie Silna, with attorney Donald Schupak, negotiated a deal that cleared the way for the ABA to merge with the NBA.

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.