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Reese Witherspoon is a brunet! The Academy Award-winning actress has gone to the dark side and dyed her signature legally blond tresses brown. Witherspoon was spotted in Nashville over the weekend with the new 'do pulled back in a messy bun and sported her signature wispy bangs. She was photographed with husband Jim Toth, toting around their 6-month old son, Tennessee, according to E! News. The actress most notably went for a darker shade as part of her award-winning role in 2005's "Walk the Line," in which she played Johnny Cash love interest June Carter.

WASHINGTON - Top career officials in the Internal Revenue Service withheld information from Congress for months about the tax agency's targeting of conservative organizations for extra scrutiny, according to documents released Monday as a controversy involving alleged political bias in tax enforcement gathered strength. Members of Congress called for firing the agency's acting commissioner, one of the senior officials involved, and President Obama said he would "not tolerate" any such abuse of power by the IRS. "If you've got the IRS operating in anything less than a neutral and nonpartisan way, then that is outrageous; it's contrary to our traditions.

Most of us are curious about our family lineage. For Vanessa Williams, who recently took part in the show "Who Do You Think You Are" and explored her family's history, the task was both surprising and informative. Here, she talks about what she learned and how she plans to use that information. How did you become interested in finding out about your lineage? I've always been interested, but I was introduced to Ancestry.com [one of the websites that help people research their family backgrounds]

At probation camps and juvenile halls, where delinquent minors are often held, officials sometimes have no choice but to temporarily isolate disruptive juveniles for the safety of other youths and camp personnel. But as an hour turns into a day or more - and reports from some camps and halls suggest it can turn into a week or a month - temporary isolation turns into solitary confinement, a brutal practice when employed against anyone, and an especially cruel way to treat a juvenile who is still developing and does not yet have the emotional skills to bounce back from such treatment.

Vietnam veteran John Otte did his best to forget the war. He got married, raised two sons and made a career working at credit unions. But as Otte neared retirement, memories of combat flooded back. Starting in 2005, he filed a series of claims with Veterans Affairs for disability compensation, contending that many of his health problems stemmed from the war. The VA agreed, and now the 65-year-old with two Purple Hearts receives $1,900 a month for post-traumatic stress disorder and diabetes - and for having shrapnel scars on his arms.

Michele and Russell Poland's credit was shot, but they managed to buy their suburban dream home anyway. After a business bankruptcy and a home foreclosure, they turned to a rare option in this era of tightfisted banking - a subprime loan. The Polands paid nearly $10,000 in upfront fees for the privilege of securing a mortgage at 10.9% interest. And they had to raid their retirement account for a 35% down payment. Most borrowers would balk at such stiff terms. But with prices rising, the Polands wanted to snag a four-bedroom home in Temecula near top-rated schools for their 5-year-old son. By later this year, they figure, they'll be able to refinance into a standard loan.

In these troubled economic times, it's not hard to understand why people might want to protect their life savings by purchasing a hard asset like gold or silver. At least, that's the pitch of Monex, the big Newport Beach investment firm, which bills itself as "America's trusted name in precious metals investments" and assures clients that it's "committed to customer service. " So let's take a look at the experiences of some customers who say their trust in Monex was misplaced.

Emma Watson will strip down to raise environmental awareness, even though she won't do it for the "Fifty Shades of Grey" movie. "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" star tweeted her support for James Houston's book of celebrities posing nude to raise environmental awareness. The book's proceeds will go to Global Green USA, a nonprofit focused on sustainability. PHOTOS: Hermione Granger through the years "My friend is supporting GlobalGreenUSA with his book Natural Beauty.

Question: My girlfriend lost her passport on March 17 on a United Airlines flight. Someone in United's customer service team called on April 10 and left me a voicemail saying they had it. I accidentally deleted the voicemail. Since then she has called multiple times and sent emails to the customer service team. Is there any way you can help? David Sudolsky Huntington Beach Answer: Help find out what happened, yes. Help get the passport back? Probably not. When you lose a passport - and about 325,000 were reported lost or stolen last year, according to the U.S. State Department - an airline will try to find the owner, and United did. United rep Charles Hobart said it contacted Sudolsky's girlfriend (the ill-starred phone call)

Shaky performances by replacement officials were a hot topic in the NFL over the weekend, with several prominent players calling for the return of the locked-out regulars. However, there are no meetings scheduled between the NFL and the NFL Referees Assn. The Times has obtained a memo sent Friday to the locked-out officials from their union, detailing - from the officials' perspective - the negotiating positions of both sides. The two-page document urges the officials to "remain calm even in the face of adversity" and reminds them they are "committed to doing what's right and fair.

WASHINGTON - Email traffic exchanged during the drafting of talking points about the deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, last year shows that the State Department and White House were more involved in shaping the document than they previously let on. The newly released emails highlight the political concerns expressed in those discussions as President Obama's administration wrestled with what to tell the public in...

Guitarist and ethnomusicologist Bob Brozman, who progressed from an early fascination with the delta blues of the South to a consuming passion for the traditional music of Hawaii and became a leading authority on the National steel guitar, has died. He was 59. Brozman was found dead April 23 at his home in Santa Cruz. His death was ruled a suicide, according to the coroner's office of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Department. Brozman emerged in Santa Cruz in the 1970s as a street musician, playing a decidedly uncontemporary American roots style of music ranging from obscure jazz tunes to Hawaiian chanties.

BOSTON - In an extraordinary proceeding in a hospital room Monday, federal authorities charged Dzhokhar Tsarnaev with using a weapon of mass destruction in the bombings that killed three people and injured more than 200 others at last week's Boston Marathon. Appearing at the bedside of the grievously wounded 19-year-old, a federal magistrate read the criminal charges against him and advised him of his legal rights. If convicted, Tsarnaev, a Russian immigrant who became a U.S. citizen last year, could face the death penalty.

Suspected killer Christopher Dorner spent his final hours barricaded inside a mountain cabin splattered with blood, presumably his own, and no chance for escape before a single gunshot echoed from inside the vacation home near Big Bear. The blood-splattered walls inside the cabin were revealed during the Feb. 12 standoff when a robotic police tractor started tearing down the cabin walls to give officers a clean view inside and were seen more than half an hour before the cabin caught fire after police fired seven "pyrotechnic" tear gas canisters into the cabin.

The NCAA's ongoing investigation into the Oregon football program appears to be crawling toward conclusion. It may still be months before a final verdict is rendered, but documents released Monday reveal the NCAA and the school concluded “major” violations were committed. The parties do not agree on the severity of the violations, which will necessitate Oregon appearing before the Committee on Infractions sometime this spring or summer. Oregon has proposed two years probation with a reduction of one scholarship each of the next three seasons.

WASHINGTON - The man who shot Ronald Reagan and three other men in 1981 has been behaving normally when he leaves the mental hospital in Washington, D.C., where he is being treated, according to Secret Service observations in newly released court documents. John Hinckley Jr., 57, shops at Wal-Mart, Target and PetSmart during visits to his mother's home in Williamsburg, Va. One of his first stops is often a Wendy's. At home with his mother, he performs lots of chores, plays guitar and makes art. He shows few of the symptoms that led to the 1982 finding that he was insane, and therefore not guilty of attempted murder and other charges in the assassination attempt.

Five directors break down their shortlisted documentaries: " 'If a Tree Falls' is a cautionary tale for our times: What happens when people feel like the system isn't working or listening to them? What happens when nonviolent civil disobedience is met with police wielding pepper spray canisters? Some of the footage in the news last month looks like it could have been pulled from our film, and if the past is any indication, those kinds of actions radicalize people and push them out of the democratic process — and towards things like the Earth Liberation Front.

Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives have launched a probe into what appears to be a secret deputy clique within the department's elite gang unit, an investigation triggered by the discovery of a document suggesting the group embraces shootings as a badge of honor. The document described a code of conduct for the Jump Out Boys, a clique of hard-charging, aggressive deputies who gain more respect after being involved in a shooting, according to sources with knowledge of the investigation.

Syrian government forces have bombed bakeries and hospitals and indiscriminately carried out air attacks against civilians, Human Rights Watch said in a newly released report . Such strikes violate the laws of war and should be prosecuted as war crimes, it stated. Scores of interviews with witnesses and victims of government airstrikes revealed that the Syrian air force had frequently and sometimes deliberately attacked ordinary people, the rights group said. The air attacks “clearly and irrefutably implicate the senior leadership,” Human Rights Watch researcher Ole Solvang told The Times via email.

When Les Blank arrived in the lush, untamed Amazon in 1981 to make a documentary about Werner Herzog's film, "Fitzcarraldo," he knew the German's reputation as a daredevil director. Herzog had chosen the remote jungle locale, plagued by tribal skirmishes and the perils of nature, for authenticity. On the first day of shooting, seeking a dramatic shot, Herzog sent a 300-ton steamboat careening into a rocky riverbank. Caught unaware, Blank went flying across the boat deck, camera in tow. "I realized … if I could get back alive and sane, I would have an interesting film, no matter what happened," Blank said last year.