Discipline

For seven years, the Los Angeles Unified School District has paid Matthew Kim a teaching salary of up to $68,000 per year, plus benefits. His job is to do nothing. Every school day, Kim's shift begins at 7:50 a.m., with 30 minutes for lunch, and ends when the bell at his old campus rings at 3:20 p.m. He is to take off all breaks, school vacations and holidays, per a district agreement with the teacher's union. At no time is he to be given any work by the district or show up at school.

After moving swiftly to replace the leadership of the Board of Registered Nursing, California officials are revamping practices that had allowed errant nurses to work for years after complaints were filed against them. For the first time, the board is prioritizing complaints, moving first to investigate nurses who pose the greatest threat to the public. In addition, top officials will this month get subpoena power to gather documents about nurses accused of wrongdoing. Before, some cases sat for months until outside investigators issued such orders.

Credit card users with money smarts and discipline can protect themselves better than any legislation can. Initial provisions of the federal Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act took effect in August. They require banks to give cardholders longer notice before increasing the interest rates on their plastic. And cardholders can opt out as long as they stop making charges and pay the balance under existing rates within five years. That's all good, of course.

None of the Los Angeles police officers accused of using excessive force on demonstrators and journalists at a 2007 May Day gathering at MacArthur Park will be fired, officials said Tuesday. Police Chief William J. Bratton had sought to punish 11 officers and called for the termination of four others by sending them to disciplinary panels for their involvement in the melee, which has cost the city $13 million in legal settlements.

Seven workers at the San Onofre nuclear power plant near San Clemente have been disciplined or fired in connection with a rash of safety and security problems uncovered by federal regulators last year, Southern California Edison officials said Tuesday. "Where the acts were deliberate misconduct, employees were discharged and contract workers were no longer permitted on the property," said Gil Alexander, an Edison spokesman.

Another member of the media is in trouble for making inappropriate comments. Only this time, the subject was religion. ESPN personality Dana Jacobson has been disciplined for remarks she made Jan. 11 at a roast in Atlantic City, N.J., for colleagues Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic. According to various reports, Jacobson appeared inebriated when she used an expletive in connection with Notre Dame, Touchdown Jesus and Jesus.

Kaiser Permanente has suspended a physician who handled high-risk pregnancies at its Fresno hospital, more than four months after the Los Angeles Times reported that doctors and nurses there had repeatedly questioned his competence. In a statement released late Friday, interim hospital Administrator Linda Monte said that, effective immediately, perinatologist Hamid Safari would not be able to provide care to any Kaiser member in a hospital or outpatient setting.

When penalties were handed out for snooping in UCLA's medical records, it paid to have an M.D. after your name. As a group, doctors at UCLA hospitals who wrongly peeked at the records of pop star Britney Spears got off lighter than other staffers, according to reports released Friday by state health inspectors.

Fewer doctors were disciplined in California in 2007 than the previous year, causing the state to fall in a nationwide ranking a consumer group released Tuesday. California ranked 36th in the nation in disciplinary actions against doctors, which include the revocation, surrender and suspension of medical licenses, according to a report released by Public Citizen, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit consumer advocacy group. The previous year, Public Citizen ranked California 27th in the nation.

David Stern, here's a suggestion for the $25,000 soon to flow your way from the bank account of Paul Pierce, the Boston Celtic accused by your league of making a "menacing gesture" -- interpretation: gang sign -- at an opponent in a recent playoff game. Take that cash and earmark it for the L.A. park Pierce has helped rescue from gangs. Or for the construction of a Boys and Girls Club in Inglewood that he's helping build.