Courses

Enrollment in California's community colleges has plunged to a 20-year low as budget-strapped campuses have had to slash classes and instructors, according to a report released Monday. Course offerings are at a 15-year low, dropping 21% from 2007-08 to 2011-12, with music and dance, education and business programs particularly hard hit. The report, published by the Public Policy Institute of California, charts a system staggering under the weight of unprecedented funding cuts: $1.5 billion from 2007-08 to 2011-12, considerably larger than those during past economic downturns.

A swarm of bees attacked three workers at a golf course in Costa Mesa, authorities said Sunday. Responding firefighters used foam to disperse the bees that attacked the workers who were suspended in a lift about 40 to 50 feet above the ground to work on a tower, according to the fire department. The incident occurred at about 2:30 p.m. The workers suffered multiple bee stings. They were treated and taken to a hospital.  A bee company crew responded to the scene and was able to spray the hive using a ladder.  ALSO: Hiker killed at Eaton Canyon was 17-year-old girl Pain doctor's office raided in prescription drug abuse probe Bauhaus rocker Peter Murphy denies he was drunk when arrested lauren.williams@latimes.com

WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve officials Wednesday acknowledged the recent pick-up in economic growth, noting in particular “labor market conditions have shown signs of improvement,” but the central bank made no change in its ongoing aggressive stimulus programs. Fed policymakers, after their two-day meeting, voted 11 to 1 to keep buying $85 billion of Treasury and mortgage securities every month. And as expected, they left the short-term interest rate at near zero, where it has been since late 2008.

Lots of good reasons I shouldn't be doing this. I'm not even a little bit Kenyan. I've undertrained. After an hour, we haven't really even left downtown and appear to be circling back to where we started, Dodger Stadium. This is my first marathon. And my last. I was intrigued by the idea of running from the "stadium to the sea," and charmed that it was to happen on St. Patrick's Day, a convergence of pain and pleasure that only the Irish could admire. Ninety minutes in, my legs feel like Roman candles and I still don't have a beer in hand.

- NFL owners will kick off their annual meetings Monday at the Arizona Biltmore and discuss all sorts of issues, including player health and safety, possible rule changes and new business opportunities. And, yes, the ongoing saga of Los Angeles without an NFL team will come up. Eighteen years have passed since the Raiders and Rams pulled up stakes and bid adieu, leaving the nation's second-largest market vacant and triggering dozens of plans - some creative, but all ultimately fruitless - to fix the relationship.

Online courses could open worthwhile classes at California's public colleges to thousands more students, or they could undermine the reputation of our widely admired public higher-education system. As the state embarks on its first foray into offering such courses for credit on a large scale, it's intriguing to think about virtual classrooms and the opportunities they present. Online courses could make a fine education possible even for students who cannot travel to a campus easily or attend class at a specific time.

VATICAN CITY - Two popes? Before Benedict XVI resigned last month, the last pope to do so was Gregory XII in 1415. Gregory acted to end the wrenching and violent Great Schism of the Roman Catholic Church, when more than one man claimed St. Peter's throne. What's happening today is completely different; no one is fighting over the chair. Yet Benedict's decision has resulted in hand-wringing over the unprecedented-in-modern-times specter of two men in white cassocks living, figuratively speaking, under the same Vatican roof: newly appointed Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict.

In a crossing of swords between academics and politicians, the University of California's top two faculty leaders on Friday strongly criticized legislation that would allow students bumped from overcrowded core courses at state schools to instead take online courses from other colleges or private companies. The bill, authored by state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), "raises grave concerns," Robert L. Powell and Bill Jacob, the chairman and vice chairman of the UC system's faculty Senate, wrote in a letter to colleagues.

Students locked out of overcrowded core courses at California's state colleges and universities should instead be able to take those classes online, according to legislation introduced Wednesday in Sacramento - sending shock waves through academia nationwide. The bill by state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) calls for the development of 50 online classes as potential substitutes for the most oversubscribed lower division courses required for graduation at UC, Cal State and community colleges.

The powerful things we expect from "War Witch" are as advertised, but what we don't expect is even better. Given that the subject matter is two violent years in the life of an African child soldier, it's not surprising that the film's events are disturbing and even horrific. But it's the unforeseen way they're told that makes "War Witch" potent enough to have been one of the five nominees for the foreign language Oscar and the big winner, including best picture, at Canada's recent film awards.