Distinction

In the end, professional baseball pitcher turned religion talk-show host Frank Pastore probably would have been philosophical about the motorcycle accident that claimed his life. Pastore, 55, died Monday from injuries suffered one month earlier when a car swerved into him on the 210 Freeway in Duarte as he was riding to his Upland home after finishing his daily show on KKLA-FM. His talk show, which aired from 4 to 7 p.m. on the Glendale station, was popular with conservative Christians and sometimes touched on his own baseball background as proof that divine intervention can change people forever.

Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, will christen the new Royal Princess cruise ship in Southampton, Britain, on June 13, sharing a distinction that at one time also went to former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher , who died this week. The duchess, the wife of Prince William, also follows in her late mother-in-law's footsteps by playing the role of godmother of a ship. Princess Diana christened the original Royal Princess in 1984, also at Southampton. Along with Diana and Thatcher, who christened the Regal Princess in 1991, Middleton shares the godmother distinction with actresses Olivia de Havilland, Sophia Loren and Audrey Hepburn, who christened other Princess ships.

Re "Casting a Critical Eye on Church of Castoffs," Feb. 1: Today and every day in 235 cities some 5,000 recovering drug addicts will gather in Victory Outreach inner-city rehabilitation homes, open their Bibles and learn about the challenges of living the Christian life--sober, responsible and grateful to God. They are free to leave the homes at any time--and some do. Many will stay for nearly a year to complete a strenuous regimen of biblical study...

The defense attorney blamed his own bad judgment. The mother blamed her own bad parenting. Thousands of Koreans who petitioned the judge blamed a lack of American understanding for a seemingly peculiar nuance of Korean culture. But after all the blame had been parceled out, Judge Eileen Moore shoved it aside and sentenced 24-year-old Jeen Han to prison for a long, long time.

LONDON, Canada -- For Olympic gold medalists, making a comeback after time away from the sport is as likely to produce disappointment as further distinction. For every Evgeny Plushenko, who took three years off from competition after winning gold in 2006 and barely missed gold again in 2010, there is a Brian Boitano, Viktor Petrenko or Katarina Witt, none of whom could reach the podium in their return engagement. Sometimes even the effort to regain peak form seems too much, as 2010 Olympic men's champion Evan Lysacek has learned, his body having said no twice (groin injury and hernia)

The Americana at Brand, the new mega-project by mega-developer Rick Caruso, was set to open two days ago. Maybe you've already twirled some spaghetti at its branch of the Cheesecake Factory or taken your kids for a ride on its trolley, which runs in a loop around the 15-acre property in the center of Glendale.

You could say that Belgian history is woven in lace. In the 16th Century, lace was included in the notarized property lists of aristocrats. It was considered so valuable that those found guilty of smuggling it or stealing patterns were punished. By the 18th Century, other patterns and techniques--such as rosaline and duchesse--had evolved. In fact, over the centuries, thousands of lace maker's variations have been invented, some using as many as 1,200 threads woven into complex patterns.

In 1951, New York City designer Cynthia Sargent moved to Mexico City and with her husband, Wendell Riggs, founded the weekly Bazar Sabado craft market in San Angel and opened a factory to make hooked rugs and woven textiles. Mixing the vibrant palette and Moorish motifs of Mexican design with a midcentury modernist flair, Sargent's rugs were a hit with designers such as Jack Lenor Larsen as well as tourists and remained in production even after her death in 2006.

Bill Monroe, the man widely acknowledged as the father of bluegrass music, was in search of a new banjo player for his famed Blue Grass Boys when a young musician turned up backstage at Nashville's celebrated Ryman Auditorium during a 1945 Grand Ole Opry radio broadcast, hoping to audition. Once Monroe and his guitarist, Lester Flatt, heard the sparks fly from 21-year-old Earl Scruggs' instrument, the bandleader asked Flatt what he thought. "If you can, hire him," Flatt told Monroe, "whatever the cost.

The TV career of Edgar Allan Jones Jr. began with a phone call in early 1958 from a producer who needed to cast someone knowledgeable about the law. Although Jones taught law full time at UCLA, he was nervous at the prospect of auditioning: His only acting experience had been a walk-on part in a high school production of "Julius Caesar. " Several professional actors also vied for the job, but the role went to the amateur. Jones was cast as the judge on KABC-TV's "Traffic Court," one of the medium's earliest nonfiction courtroom shows.