Dismissals

After days of silence during which long-held resentment toward Abercrombie & Fitch Co. began to boil over, Chief Executive Michael S. Jeffries tried to stem a backlash against the teen-focused retailer. Jeffries, in a statement Thursday, discussed criticism that the company lacks women's XL and XXL sizes in favor of catering toward young, good-looking customers. "A&F is an aspirational brand that, like most specialty apparel brands, targets its marketing at a particular segment of customers," he said in the statement.

— Indiana Pacers Coach Frank Vogel stressed Monday he meant no disrespect to the Miami Heat in his postgame comments Saturday night and took to South Florida radio to clear the air. After the Pacers eliminated the New York Knicks in Saturday's Game 6 of that Eastern Conference semifinal series, Vogel said: "This is not about getting back at Miami. You're in the final four, you're competing for a championship, you're competing for a championship. And they're just the next team that's in our way. And that's how we're approaching it. " Vogel said Monday he was not minimizing the Heat's accomplishments as defending NBA champions, with the teams to open the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals Wednesday at AmericanAirlines Arena.

Los Angeles police will not pursue through the courts scores of motorists with unpaid tickets from the city's defunct red-light camera program. The city Police Commission voted this week to end its contract with the company that operated L.A.'s cameras until they were shut off last summer. And authorities are now planning to reassign a small group of officers who regularly appeared in court to testify in contested photo enforcement cases. With the cancellation of the contract, officers will no longer have easy access to the photo and video evidence that courts require.

Why mess with success when you have known only defeat previously? The Clippers sold out 94 straight games with Vinny Del Negro as coach, won the franchise's first Pacific Division title and then decided to not bring back the winningest coach in Los Angeles Clippers history. I called the Clippers, asked for PR, got transferred to a machine, and when I called back and asked for a live person, I got transferred to another machine. Four more times. Maybe they fired the PR guys as well as the coach.

The University of Minnesota women's gymnastics coach was fired Tuesday after she accidentally gave members of her team a videotape that included sex scenes involving her and her husband, an assistant coach, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Katalin Deli was fired by Chris Voelz, women's athletic director, who said Deli's contract will end effective June 30. Gabor Deli resigned, effective June 15.

The Rev. Robert H. Schuller removed his son Saturday as preacher on the syndicated "Hour of Power" television show less than three years after handing over to him the ministry he began more than 50 years ago. Schuller announced the removal of his son, Robert A. Schuller, in a statement read to some 450 Crystal Cathedral congregants by Jim Coleman, the church's president.

The North Hollywood Project Area Committee has submitted a request to the City Council asking for the removal and investigation of two of the Community Redevelopment Agency's project managers on the North Hollywood street-scape plan. The group alleges that the two managers, Lillian Burkenheim-Silver and Walter Beaumont, failed to keep a promise that the committee could help select a consultant to design street-scape improvements. Both managers deny the charges.

A top PolyGram executive has been demoted after suggesting in a court deposition that if record companies were prevented from hiring people with criminal records, no African Americans would be working in the music industry. The remark triggered a furor within the Dutch-owned entertainment conglomerate that is expected to continue today with a meeting at PolyGram's New York headquarters between company Chairman Alain Levy and civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

In Mexico's drug war, Gen. Sergio Aponte Polito racked up crime-fighting credentials worthy of the Dark Knight, making record seizures of drugs and weapons and forcing out top Baja California law enforcement officials he accused of corruption and of having links to organized crime.

Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center has fired or accepted resignations from 30 workers following a sixth-month investigation into allegations of misconduct, including on-the-job use of alcohol or drugs, a hospital spokeswoman said Wednesday. Their last day was Friday, said Laura Elek, spokeswoman at the 2,300-employee hospital. Hospital officials will not release the names or departments of those involved, but said they did not work directly with patients and that no doctors were involved.

After days of silence during which long-held resentment toward Abercrombie & Fitch Co. began to boil over, Chief Executive Michael S. Jeffries tried to stem a backlash against the teen-focused retailer. Jeffries, in a statement Thursday, discussed criticism that the company lacks women's XL and XXL sizes in favor of catering toward young, good-looking customers. "A&F is an aspirational brand that, like most specialty apparel brands, targets its marketing at a particular segment of customers," he said in the statement.

WASHINGTON - A defiant President Obama dismissed as a "sideshow" the controversy over his administration's handling of last year's armed assault in Benghazi, Libya, accusing critics of trying to make political hay from the deaths of four Americans. "We dishonor them when we turn things like this into a political circus," Obama told reporters Monday. Obama's angry remarks were his first since House hearings last week about the September 2012 attack on the U.S. facility in Benghazi, and his first public reaction to fresh evidence indicating the White House weighed political calculations as it released information in the days that followed.

A federal court judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power against a state agency it claimed was illegally forcing the city to waste billions of gallons of precious High Sierra water to control dust on dry Owens Lake. U.S. District Court Judge Anthony W. Ishii determined that the issues are for state courts to decide because the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District is a state agency. The DWP has a similar challenge pending in state court.

In the wake of Christopher Dorner's claim that his firing from the Los Angeles Police Department was a result of corruption and bias, more than three dozen other fired LAPD cops want department officials to review their cases. The 40 requests, which were tallied by the union that represents rank-and-file officers, have come in the two months since Dorner sought revenge for his 2009 firing by targeting police officers and their families in a killing rampage that left four dead and others injured.

KABUL, Afghanistan - At a pivotal moment when U.S. forces are winding down combat operations in Afghanistan and handing over the lead security role to the Afghan government, Taliban insurgents announced Saturday the launch of their annual spring offensive. In an elaborately worded statement, the Taliban proclaimed that a "monumental spring operation" would begin Sunday with the goal of "defeating this era's Western invaders. " The Islamist insurgent group, tossed from power by U.S.-led forces in late 2001, is threatening a new round of mass suicide bombings and "insider" attacks on American and coalition forces.

MEXICO CITY - Gen. Tomas Angeles Dauahare, who once held the plum post of military attache to the Mexican Embassy in Washington, was rumored to be the next defense minister of Mexico. Until that day in May last year when he and three other top military men were arrested on suspicion of working on behalf of a notorious drug cartel. It was the largest indictment of army officers on charges of drug-trafficking in recent memory, hailed in many quarters as proof of then-President Felipe Calderon's determination to root out corruption at every level.

Jillian Barberie, who in June said that her departure as co-host of the syndicated "Good Day Live" was a mutual decision between her and the show's producers, said Monday she was actually fired from the talk show. Barberie told nationally syndicated radio host Howard Stern that Dorothy Lucey, the other female co-host of "Good Day Live," was also fired last month from the show, which was designed as a national edition of "Good Day L.

Before the sermon Oct. 9 at the Islamic Center of Irvine, a member of the board got up and informed the congregation that the beloved and charismatic religious director, Sadullah Khan, had been dismissed, citing inappropriate conduct. No further explanation was given. Many in the congregation were stunned; some demanded more information. One called out, "We deserve to know the reason why," according to Khalid Abdurrahman, a college student who attends Friday prayers at the mosque.

Apple probably won't release its next iPhone until this summer or fall, but that isn't stopping tech blogs and news sites from speculating about what we could expect in the next Apple smartphone. There are plenty of rumors on the Web about the next iPhone, which many believe will be called the iPhone 5S, but you should trust only a few of them. Most rumors online turn out to be nothing but wishful thinking, but a few do get it right sometimes. Here is what we think about these rumors.

SACRAMENTO -- A key Assembly committee has approved legislation that would expedite the dismissal process for California teachers accused of misconduct. Under current law, teachers who are fired can appeal their case to a three-member panel consisting of an administrative judge and two educators, a process that can take years to resolve and cost districts hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Assembly Education Committee supported legislation by Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan (D-Alamo)