Disclosure Of Information

A new law aimed at exposing child deaths to public scrutiny has given Californians their most complete view yet of the toll of abuse and neglect but falls short of legislators' intent and leaves many fatalities uncounted, according to interviews and The Times' review of previously confidential records. Known as Senate Bill 39, the 2008 law was largely intended to highlight systemic flaws in hopes of preventing other children's deaths. More than a year after it took effect, however, it has shed limited light on how -- and how many -- children die of abuse and neglect.

A court employee married to the main judge in the Madrid bombings trial was fired Wednesday for writing a book that divulged confidential information about the case. The General Council of the Judiciary dismissed Elisa Beni from her job as spokeswoman for a Madrid regional court. The panel lost confidence in Beni because she used information obtained from her husband, said a council official.

Doctors who abuse alcohol or drugs should no longer be allowed to enroll in a confidential, state-monitored rehabilitation program, the president of the Medical Board of California said at a summit Thursday. In remarks to a group of 100 people, Dr. Richard Fantozzi signaled that he was in no mood to compromise with the California Medical Assn. and other physicians' groups, which have urged that substance-abusing doctors continue to be allowed to enroll in such a program.

California's political watchdog agency is drafting tougher disclosure rules for gifts accepted by elected officials and could ban many of them altogether for statewide office-holders. If the Fair Political Practices Commission adopts the proposals, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could be in jeopardy of losing free overseas trips on luxury jets leased by a taxpayer-subsidized nonprofit, which is linked to the California Chamber of Commerce.

Looking back, Joseph Cosgrove said he was naive to think that Sen. Barack Obama could require that nuclear power plant operators publicly disclose any radioactive releases. Cosgrove and others who live and work in the hamlet of Godley, Ill., sought help after discovering years after the fact that there had been releases from the nearby Braidwood Generating Station. Two years later, Obama's legislation, lobbied by one of his largest corporate backers, has stalled.

The state's largest for-profit health insurer is asking California physicians to look for conditions it can use to cancel their new patients' medical coverage. Blue Cross of California is sending physicians copies of health insurance applications filled out by new patients, along with a letter advising them that the company has a right to drop members who fail to disclose "material medical history," including "pre-existing pregnancies."

Three-quarters of California's elected district attorneys refused to disclose how they choose defendants to face the death penalty, according to a report slated for presentation at a public hearing in Los Angeles today. In a report to the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice, which is examining how the death penalty is applied in California, Pepperdine law school professors Harry M.

Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom said he will open to the public army files on massacres and torture by soldiers during the country's 36-year civil war. Almost 250,000 people were killed or disappeared during the 1960-96 conflict between leftist guerrillas and the government. The army committed more than 80% of the slayings, according to a United Nations-backed truth commission. The commission, which compiled thousands of interviews with victims after the 1996 peace accords, identified no officials, in part because the army files were not open to the public.

If anyone has been the public face of the Las Lomas housing project, a controversial plan to build 5,500 homes in north Los Angeles County, it is Hillary Norton Orozco. A seasoned political operative who worked at Los Angeles City Hall a decade ago, Orozco has spent the last year drumming up support for the project by testifying at hearings, chatting up civic groups and meeting privately with members of the Los Angeles City Council.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and the sovereign wealth funds of Abu Dhabi and Singapore agreed Wednesday to adopt rules for greater disclosure and to ensure the funds' investments are for economic, not "geopolitical," purposes. Paulson and officials from the two countries said there was a "common interest in an open and stable international financial system," according to a joint statement after talks in Washington. A set of "best practices will create strong incentive among SWFs and investment-recipient countries to hold themselves to high standards," the statement said.