Contributions

JUAZEIRO, Brazil - As 6-year-old Ana Jamil skips up to the school gates, she has a simple question for the principal: "Is there class today?" Children here are in the habit of asking, because their teachers often don't show up, as hers didn't the day before. When Jose Pereira da Silva Municipal School does hold class, students spend just a little more than three hours a day with teachers who are woefully unprepared. "Around here, there are teachers who can't even read and write," principal Maria Olivia Andrade says.

Katy Perry wasn't enough to boost revenue for media company Viacom Inc. The New York-based cable television giant Thursday reported 13% higher fiscal fourth-quarter earnings but revenue plummeted 17% because the company, through its Hollywood-based movie studio Paramount Pictures, released only one film during the period: "Katy Perry: Part of Me. " For the quarter ended Sept. 30, Viacom posted net income of $650 million, or $1.26 per share, compared to $576 million, or $1 per share, in the year-earlier period.

After two foreclosures and two bankruptcies, Hermes Maldonado is as surprised as anyone that he's getting a third shot at homeownership. The 61-year-old machine operator at a plastics factory bought a $170,000 house in Moreno Valley this summer that boasts laminate-wood floors and squeaky clean appliances. He got the four-bedroom, two-story house despite a pockmarked credit history. The last time he owned a home, Maldonado refinanced four times and took on a second mortgage. He put a Cadillac and Mercedes-Benz C300W in the driveway and racked up about $45,000 in credit card bills and other debts.

Seven games into the regular season, and Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro still isn't sure what he's going to get from Lamar Odom . "No, not really," Del Negro said. Odom played double-figure minutes in the first two games but hadn't played more than 10 minutes until Sunday against the Hawks, when he played 11 minutes 29 seconds. Odom, who played a season-low four minutes against the Cleveland Cavaliers, played just the last 3:21 of the game after playing about eight minutes in the first half.

Warning that Los Angeles is facing insolvency, mayoral candidate and City Councilwoman Jan Perry outlined her plan Thursday for reforming the city's employee pension and benefits system. "The truth is that we cannot afford to continue to pay our city workforce in its current configuration," Perry said in an address billed as her first major campaign policy speech. Perry stopped short of opposing a controversial plan by former Mayor Richard Riordan to dramatically cut retirement costs by shifting employees to 401(k)

SALT LAKE CITY — Can a bench be benched? Probably not. But the Lakers need to do something about their reserves after having been again pounded by an opponent. Utah won the battle of the backups Wednesday, 36-12, yet another reason the Lakers lost to the Jazz, 95-86. Lakers Coach Mike Brown insisted a day earlier that he still believed in the reserves, saying, "I am confident in the guys. " No reporters asked him about the second unit after Wednesday's game. And if they did, there was no way Brown could have answered with as much conviction.

Anna Nikita Doroshina, described as a Russian Martha Stewart, was the inspiration for Moozfly, an online comedy channel that features Spanish-speaking comedians from around the world. That might seem odd - because it is. But almost everything about Moozfly is unorthodox. Its studios are located in a 3,300-square-foot Rancho Palos Verdes home overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The executive director, a linguist from Colombia, joined the company after answering a Craigslist ad. And the brains behind the venture is Doroshina's 56-year-old husband, a discouraged land developer who was looking for something new. PHOTOS: Celebrities by the Times Serge Doroshin came up with the concept for a Spanish-language video site because of a boom in Latino media and decided to pursue comedy because, he said, "comedy is always relevant.

Supporters of Los Angeles County Assessor John Noguez, who was arrested last month in a sweeping corruption case on suspicion of taking bribes to reduce property assessments, are now being asked to donate money so he can make bail. An email sent Friday afternoon from Noguez's personal account — signed by "Friends of John Noguez" — asked for contributions to the assessor's legal fund. "As you may know, our friend John Noguez is in trouble and needs our support more than ever," the email said.

WASHINGTON - Gay marriage advocates fighting tightly contested ballot initiatives in four states are getting a lift from actor Brad Pitt, who is donating $100,000 to the Human Rights Campaign's National Marriage Fund and calling on others to match his efforts. "It's unbelievable to me that people's lives and relationships are literally being voted on in a matter of days," Pitt wrote in an email going out Wednesday to supporters of the gay rights group. "In Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington, voters will go to the polls to decide if gay and lesbian couples - our friends and neighbors - are worthy of the same protections as everyone else.

Kobe Bryant used his time wisely while recovering from his foot injury, making a padded training table on the sideline a hotbed of shouts and hisses during Lakers practices. He did his best to chastise, er, coach the Lakers' underachieving reserves. "For me, it was just about challenging our second unit," he said Tuesday. "When I'm practicing, I'm normally just trying to beat the crap out of them. When I was on the sideline … I had a chance to have a little chit-chat with them and give them some words of encouragement, kind of get them riled up a little bit. " It worked to some extent in the Lakers' season opener Tuesday, which they lost to the Dallas Mavericks, 99-91.