David Shaffer

The family of Robert Maxwell, acting just two days after the death of the publishing magnate, said Thursday that it plans to sell its majority stake in language company Berlitz International for $265 million. Maxwell's son, Kevin, now chairman and chief executive of Maxwell Communication Corp., said the holding company will sell its stake to Fukutake Publishing Co. of Japan, which specializes in home study programs. The Maxwell company holds 10.6 million shares of Berlitz, or 55.

The family of Robert Maxwell, acting just two days after the death of the publishing magnate, said Thursday that it plans to sell its majority stake in language company Berlitz International for $265 million. Maxwell's son, Kevin, now chairman and chief executive of Maxwell Communication Corp., said the holding company will sell its stake to Fukutake Publishing Co. of Japan, which specializes in home study programs. The Maxwell company holds 10.6 million shares of Berlitz, or 55.

The final straw for Carolyn Alves came last fall when she tried to help her daughter Cecelia dress for kindergarten. The volatile 6-year-old had worked herself into a frenzy as she tried on outfit after outfit, rejecting each as unacceptable. The tantrum at full bore, she scooped up a pile of clothes and hurled them at the front door of the family's Spanish-style bungalow in Glendale. The clock ticked past the school's 8 a.m. bell. Alves pulled her wailing child into her arms and held her on the couch.

Latino agents of the Customs Service filed suit in federal court Friday alleging that the agency discriminated against them in hiring, promotion, training and assignments. The suit was filed on behalf of more than 400 current and former agents who contend that over the last 28 years they have been denied promotions, gotten unpopular assignments and received inadequate training, said their attorney, David Shaffer. Customs spokesman Dean Boyd declined to comment.

School suicide-prevention programs for teen-agers can do some youngsters more harm than good, researchers said last week. Columbia University researchers said they found little evidence that such programs reduced suicides or suicide attempts, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. "There was some evidence of unwanted effects" on teen-agers who have attempted suicide, researchers from Columbia's medical school said.

* James Barbaresso has been appointed Midwest regional vice president for Odetics ITS in Anaheim. He joined the company in 1997 as regional manager. Before that, he was regional manager for Rockwell's Transportation Systems Group. * Dan Correa has been appointed director of sales for the Woodfin Suite Hotel in Cypress. He succeeds John Labson, who was appointed to Woodfin's new Sorrento Mesa property.

Results of a new study of suicidal teen-agers clash with the popular notion that youths often brood for weeks and give indirect clues before killing themselves, a psychiatrist reported last week. "That was very, very rare" in the teen-agers studied, said Dr. David Shaffer, a teen suicide expert at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, which is affiliated with Columbia University.

Teenagers and adults who cut or physically mutilate themselves have attracted more attention from psychiatrists in the past decade as the prevalence of such behavior has increased. Accumulating experience treating these patients, as well as better research, is altering the way experts view cutting, according to information presented last week at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Assn . Previously, self-mutilation -- which can include cutting, scratching or burning -- was considered a possible sign that a patient may be at higher risk of suicide.

More black agents joined a racial discrimination lawsuit against the Secret Service on Thursday, adding new claims that they frequently endure racial slurs. The 19, who include some former agents, join 38 others in a lawsuit first filed in February. They claim their white colleagues and supervisors regularly use a racial epithet to refer to criminal suspects and black leaders of other countries.

As popular as "1776" has been, the show still seems an odd subject for a musical, based as it is on 13 colonial delegations to the Continental Congress fighting over whether to revolt against King George III. Book writer Peter Stone does bring in John Adams' wife, Abigail, to illustrate the power that women have always had exerted behind the scenes, Thomas Jefferson's wife, Martha, for a little titillation, and a soldier's mother for a heart tug.