Dog

LAS VEGAS -- Consider it a time capsule of what was and was not politically correct in Nevada this year -- a document that might be unearthed by future inhabitants as a clue to what this often-outlandish desert culture was thinking, or not, in the year 2013. This is the legislation that didn't make it -- the dead bills. The legislative corpses include efforts to legalize marijuana, make motorcyclists wear helmets, tax junk food, outlaw new ownership of dangerous pets and, yes, even choose a state dog. “In 20,000 years when people from the planet Zork arrive here and go into our archives, they're going to look at this list and say one of two things,” said Michael Green, a historian at the College of Southern Nevada.

Father Gregory Boyle is many things to many people, but he's perhaps best known as the founder of L.A.'s own Homeboy Industries, the largest gang-intervention program in the country. Over the last two decades, the Jesuit priest and native Angeleno has worked to provide former gang members and at-risk youths a way out, according to his motto, "Jobs not jails. " Freida Lee Mock's new documentary portrait of Boyle, "G-Dog," takes its title from Boyle's local nickname and follows him and as he tries to keep Homeboy afloat during a period of economic hardship.

If you liked the Sahara tent at Coachella , you're going to love the lineup at this year's HARD Summer. Several of the fest's major dance headliners, including neo-dubsteppers Knife Party, the Skrillex/Boys Noize project Dog Blood and the hirsute low-end wrangler Bassnectar, will make return Southern California appearances at the annual summer electronica festival. It hits Los Angeles State Historic Park on Aug. 3-4, and tickets are currently on sale. Some other notable Coachella crossovers?

Some brought their children. Some brought their friends. Alden Delos Santos brought his Chihuahuas. Delos Santos was among thousands Sunday participating in the sixth CicLAvia, the car-free event that opened 15 miles of city streets, from downtown to Venice, to cyclists and pedestrians. Delos Santos, 41, embarked on the ride accompanied by two 4-month-old Chihuahua/Maltese rescue dogs named Sriracha and Bianco in a front pack. He planned to do the whole route with the puppies in tow. Delos Santos said he rides regularly and had participated in CicLAvia a number of times before, enjoying the atmosphere.

Anyone who's ever laid eyes on Beth Chapman, the costar of former hit reality show "Dog the Bounty Hunter," might think she's one of a kind, with her lacquered nails, stiletto heels and pink handcuffs. It turns out she has imitators, and she's none too pleased with her flashy doppelgangers. She and her husband, Duane "Dog" Chapman, found several impractically outfitted bounty hunters while playing mentor to mom-and-pop bail bond agencies across the country for an upcoming series on CMT. “I asked them to change their clothes and put on sensible shoes,” Beth Chapman said recently by phone during a break in filming in Oklahoma City.

People who live with canine companions - dog owners, some would call us - have certain common quirks: a fondness for wet kisses, for instance, and a compulsion to grab a fistful of fur and ask, "Who's a good boy (or girl)?" with no expectation of an answer. A new study finds these dog owners are united, both with their dogs and each other, by similar microbiomes as well. Researchers rounded up 50 families, half of them with one or more dogs living under the same roof, to see how living together was reflected in the cohabitants' shared "microbiota": the distinctive colonies of bacteria that live on our skin, in our mouths and in our guts.

Sochi officials have announced that they hope to make their city safer and more appealing by killing more than 2,000 stray cats and dogs before the 2014 Winter Olympics, according to the RBC Daily newspaper. "It's obvious that there should be no animals on the streets," Sergei Krivonosov, a government official, told the paper. "We have responsibilities to the international community. Killing [strays] is just a faster way to solve this task. " Russian press has reported public protests in response to the announcement.

Shabazz Muhammad, the centerpiece of UCLA's 2012 basketball recruiting class, will try his hand at the next level in 2013. Muhammad said Tuesday he would enter the NBA draft in June, a decision that came as no surprise. Muhammad, one of the top players in the nation as a senior at Las Vegas Bishop Gorman High, was considered a sure-fire one-and-done college player even before he signed a letter of intent. His departure leaves the Bruins with six players who came to UCLA on scholarship, including the three remaining members of the 2012 recruiting class, which was ranked second nationally.

Jennifer Hudson has two Oscars at home. One is the Academy Award she won for her supporting role as Effie in "Dreamgirls. " The other is a dog. During her appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," Hudson said she names her dogs after awards she has won. In addition to the male Pomeranian named Oscar, she has a female Pomeranian named Grammy, which she named right before she received her first Grammy Award. Oscar and Grammy's baby is named "Dreamgirl. " She told Kimmel she wants two other dogs: "I want to name them Emmy and Tony.

When John Galardi saw a man hosing down the parking lot of a modest Mexican restaurant in Pasadena, he asked for work. Galardi was young and broke, a college student freshly arrived from Missouri and looking for anything to help him scrape by. It turned out that he asked the right man. Glen Bell Jr. was a young up-and-comer who liked the spark he saw in Galardi and mentored him for a few years while starting his eponymous chain, Taco Bell....