Designers

Clayton and Flavie Webster, husband-and-wife designers of the Los Angeles-based Cerre fashion line, are on a roll. In October, they were honored by the L.A. fashion community with the Moss Adams Fashion Innovator Award. In February, they traveled to New York to meet press contacts and show the line to buyers for the first time. And on Wednesday, they had their first review posted on Style.com. All of which is to suggest that the world is really taking notice of Cerre's signature brand of edgy classicism.

Hollywood boulevardier Joshua Wattles was taking his daily constitutional along the Walk of Fame when he stopped to point at a pole bristling with parking signs. "It's predatory signage," said Wattles' companion, whom he called his "ghostwriter. " "It's gotcha signage," Wattles said, turning to his friend. "How's that? Is that better?" "No, predatory signage," the friend corrected him. The two men were talking about the confusing and contradictory parking signs proliferating in our city.

The Eisenhower family told a congressional panel Tuesday that it supports a bill that would do away with architect Frank Gehry's design for the planned Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial in Washington and halt any additional federal funding for the design. Susan Eisenhower, the granddaughter of the former president, spoke to the House Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation. The chairman of the group is Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), who introduced the legislation last week.

PHOENIX - What was an ordinary split-squad spring-training game for most players at Camelback on Sunday was of monumental importance for Carl Crawford. The Dodgers' 11-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers was Crawford's first game with the Dodgers and his first with any team since August, when he underwent a season-ending elbow operation. "The nerves were racing a little bit," Crawford said. "When you have something taken away from you that you like to do and you've been out for so long, you have a different appreciation for it. " Crawford was hitless in three at-bats as the Dodgers' designated hitter.

Architect Frank Gehry 's controversial design for the proposed Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial is once again the object of bickering in Washington. A major architectural organization said it opposes a new congressional initiative to do away with  Gehry 's design for the memorial. Last week, Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah introduced legislation that would mandate an alternative to Gehry 's design and eliminate further federal funding for the project. The American Institute of Architects issued a statement on Sunday voicing opposition to the initiative.

WASHINGTON - Jesus Gonzalez, a Catholic school janitor from Yuma, Ariz., tried to register to vote on the day he became a U.S. citizen. He tried again when he got a driver's license, but he was rejected both times. He became the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit that came before the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, testing whether Arizona and other states can demand extra proof of citizenship before residents can register to vote. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund sued Arizona, contending Gonzalez and 31,000 other eligible voters were wrongly rejected when they tried to register.

Graphic designer Bri Emery, 27, has a passion for typography and images, but when it came to decorating her new duplex in Silver Lake, she was at a loss. "I didn't know how to put it together," she said. "I needed someone to push me to spend money and buy things that would last. "  Enter good friend and interior designer Emily Henderson. After she purchased a vintage pouf on Craigslist for the new pad, Emery suggested a trade: The graphic designer and founder of the site Designlovefest would make over Henderson's blog , and in exchange Henderson would give Emery a new dining and living room working on a budget of $12,500.  The two women hit the ground electronically.

I got a clue even before my column ran this week that its subject - what "Negro" means these days - might make some folks uncomfortable. I'd pulled up to the valet stand at the Hilton and waited while the young man fumbled through the standard question about the evening's event. "You're here for the United … uh, United … uh, the College Fund dinner?" he asked. Yes. The United Negro College Fund. He'd managed to leave that word out. I understand why it flummoxed him. By the time he was born, we'd moved past that to "black" and on to "African American.

GQ magazine announced its 2013 best new menswear designers in America on Thursday, a list  that includes Venice, Calif.-based Paige Mycoskie (sister of Toms Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie ) for her après-surf, Southern California-inspired  Aviator Nation label. The rest of the list includes Kansas City's Matt Baldwin for his eponymous Baldwin label, a casual collection that includes denim, button-fronts, T-shirts and camouflage chinos, New York designers and brothers Liam and Sam Fayed (whose father owns the Turnbull & Asser brand)

Washington has for three decades kept Cuba on a list of countries that sponsor terrorism, even though it has long since changed the behavior that earned it that distinction. By all accounts, Cuba remains on the list - alongside Iran, Sudan and Syria - because it disagrees with the United States' approach to fighting international terrorism, not because it supports terrorism. That's hardly a sensible standard. The State Department says it has no plans to remove Cuba from the list.