Draw

In an odd yet understandable marketing strategy, the folks behind E!'s new reality show "Mrs. Eastwood & Company" have spent a lot of pre-premiere publicity time explaining what the show isn't. Which is to say, Clint Eastwood. The legendary actor and director will appear in but a few episodes and then only briefly. He will not, for instance, be slamming doors or engaging in filmed therapy sessions with his wife, Dina, around whom the show revolves (see title.) That doesn't mean the show is not about Clint Eastwood; it is. If the principal characters -- Dina, her 15-year-old daughter Morgan and 19-year old stepdaughter Francesca -- were not related to him, there would be Absolutely No Reason to watch this, which, by reality show standards, promises to be tame to the point of sedation.

It's called Lot 160, a 5-inch glass tube that's unremarkable in every way - except that it purportedly held blood drawn from President Ronald Reagan as he lay struggling for life after an assassination attempt. The vial, partially coated with a ring of a residue, is being offered for sale by a British online auction house where bids Tuesday reached nearly $15,000. A label and an accompanying document identify it as having contained a blood sample taken from Reagan at George Washington University Hospital on March 30, 1981, the day he was shot outside aWashington, D.C., hotel.

Distancing himself from Republicans on housing issues, President Obama pitched a $5-billion to $10-billion plan to help a key segment of struggling homeowners — those still making monthly payments, but on underwater mortgages. Obama proposed Wednesday to help about 3.5 million people with good credit who are unable to refinance at historically low rates because their homes are worth less than their mortgages. He argued that those homeowners — and the country — couldn't afford to let the housing market bottom out, as many Republicans, including presidential candidate Mitt Romney, have advocated.

Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group's landmark deal to buy AMC Entertainment Inc. for $2.6 billion could be a catalyst for similar acquisitions of American theater chains and other U.S. entertainment properties, industry analysts said. The deal announced Sunday — which pairs China's biggest theater operator with the second-largest chain in the U.S. — marks the largest investment to date by a Chinese company in the U.S. entertainment industry. Most of the deal making has been Hollywood companies striking business deals in China.

Often film sequels are slam dunks at the box office, a seamless continuation from where a previous hit left off. But as the new installment of the 15-year-old franchise "Men in Black" proves, getting to the big screen isn't always a cakewalk. One of the most troubled productions in recent Hollywood memory, Sony Pictures' latest movie in the Will Smith-Tommy Lee Jones sci-fi-comedy franchise encountered multiple script rewrites, a discontented star and a three-month production shutdown as writers and studio executives scrambled to fix a project that nearly fell apart . By the time it was over, the studio had run up a tab of nearly $250 million - making "Men in Black 3" one of the most expensive releases of the summer.

On summer nights in the mid-1960s, while black-and-white television crackled elsewhere in his Staten Island home with news of Southern violence and Vietnam, Bobby Lasnik would stretch out in his bedroom to let the righteous soundtrack of the civil rights movement waft into his impressionable teenage soul. Tuned in to WBAI-FM, coming across the water from Manhattan, he heard baleful laments about injustice that he would carry with him for a lifetime. "Suddenly there was someone speaking a certain kind of truth to you. You'd say, 'Wow!

The aroma of deep-fried chicken and funnel cakes drifted across the Los Angeles County fairgrounds. The gleeful shouts of teenagers on carnival rides filled the air. But Kyle De La Cruz and his sister Jenny did not come to the fair for high-cholesterol treats or carnival thrills. They came to shop. The siblings arrived early on a recent weekend to find a deal on a barbecue island they would share at their adjoining homes in Glendale. And they got it. The salesman, selling spas, hot tubs and outdoor kitchens under a tall awning, cut $1,000 off the price of a $5,000 barbecue and even offered free shipping.

World Cup draw Friday, 9 a.m., ESPN2

Want to fool merchants with a fake ID? Hack someone's text messages? Or how about tracking where your co-workers are, without their knowing it? There's an app for that. The explosion in smartphone and tablet applications that enable people to check the weather, follow their stocks and play Words With Friends has a dark side: apps that facilitate questionable if not outright illegal behavior. Apple's App Store, for example, offers Drivers License software that promises "unlimited access to realistic-looking licenses" for all 50 states.

As Facebook shares continued their slide, regulators launched inquiries into whether privileged Wall Street insiders were alerted to the company's weakening financial projections, leading them to shun the stock or dump shares just as buying was opened to the public. Morgan Stanley, which led the Wall Street effort to bring the social network public, came under fire following reports that the bank had told some favored clients that the bank was cutting its revenue estimates for Facebook.

People generally don't think of the elderly as nuisance neighbors. They rarely throw loud late-night parties, play loud music or have loud sex. Nevertheless, the issue of elderly group homes is a controversial one in single-family neighborhoods. On a stretch of leafy Sierra Bonita Avenue near Hollywood, an operator of board-and-care facilities wants to tear down a duplex and construct an 11-bed facility for elderly residents suffering from dementia. In theory, that's fine: According to state law, a city cannot prohibit licensed care facilities that meet the zoning requirements.

The pace is picking up on the massive conservation project in process at the Southwest Museum in Mount Washington. The end is almost in sight: Only 36,000 objects to go! In 2003, when the poverty-stricken institution merged with the more affluent Museum of the American West under the umbrella of the Autry National Center in Griffith Park, the first priority was to save the Southwest's collection of about 250,000 Native American artworks and artifacts. Second only to the holdings of the National Museum of the American Indian inWashington, D.C., the collection had been inadequately housed for decades and further damaged by earthquakes, water and insects.

Earlier this week, long-languishing NBC ordered a fall sitcom with an apt title: "Save Me. " As they get ready to roll out their fall lineups next week in New York, rival networks know the feeling. TV executives are scrambling to counter steep drop-offs among young-adult viewers and some record-low series ratings this spring. Fox's once-dominant singing show"American Idol" has seen ratings tumble by nearly 30% to its lowest totals since summer 2002, according to Nielsen. Of the Top 10 programs this season among total viewers, not a single freshman series makes the cut. And for viewers ages 18 to 49 - the category most advertisers care about - the only first-season shows to attain genuine hit status areCBS' raunchy sitcom"2 Broke Girls" and Fox's over-the-top singing contest"The X Factor" - both barely scraping under the wire at Nos. 9 and 10 respectively.

WASHINGTON - President Obama's decision to endorse same-sex marriage staked out a stance that carries uncertain political risks but one he said was rooted in the biblical admonition "to treat others the way you would want to be treated. " Obama's endorsement Wednesday, a milestone for the gay rights movement, was the first from a sitting president and a potentially powerful tail wind for a cause still struggling for electoral approval. It comes as the country remains divided over whether same-sex marriages should have the same recognition and legal standing as traditional ones, and six months before an election expected to be so tight it may hinge on small slices of votes in a handful of key states.

BRISTOL, Conn. - In the bid to build the perfect sports talk show, competition abounds - from the Web, talk radio and, most important, from established ESPN shows such as "Pardon the Interruption. " And yet within this crowded field, ESPN2's sports-debate show "First Take" - a daily two-hour program that alternates between rancor and depth - has flourished. Featuring the commentator Skip Bayless and a rotation of guests that includes pundit Stephen A. Smith, the show with a mix of hectoring and (sometimes)

I quit. I'm really done with boxing this time. Don King and WBC President Jose Sulaiman have murdered it. Everyone, including Julio Cesar Chavez's mother, knows Chavez lost to Pernell Whitaker--in a landslide. No more of my dollars will fund corrupt pay-per-view events or any of the other nonsense that tries to pass for legitimate sports. I'm switching my loyalty to something with more validity--like, say, pro wrestling. Let me know when Don King is in jail again. TIM BARTELL Hollywood If the Whitaker-Chavez fight at the Alamodome was a draw, then the Davy Crockett-Santa Anna fight at the Alamo was also a draw.

When Thomas Hearns awoke Tuesday morning, he knew he had been in a fight. His body ached. His face was cut. But he still was able to crack a smile. After years of agonizing over his 1981 loss to Sugar Ray Leonard on a 14th-round knockout, Hearns believes he was exonerated by Monday night's 12-round super-middleweight bout that ended in a draw with Leonard. "Nobody knows what it means to go through life thinking things like I have," Hearns said at a news conference. "It's tough.

Robert Miles Parker, a free-spirited artist who sparked an architectural preservation movement in San Diego and translated the personalities of Los Angeles and New York into distinctive pen-and-ink drawings of their buildings, has died. He was 72. His partner, David Van Leer, said that the cause was unknown, but that Parker, who died April 17 at his home in New York City, had numerous health problems since being diagnosed with AIDS 20 years ago. Parker published three collections of his drawings, which include "Images of American Architecture" (1981)

Talk about promotional magic. Mark Verge, the new head man at Santa Anita, hit the jackpot with one of his brainstorms and took 32-year-old Greg Politano of Pasadena along with him. Verge came up with the idea of a "Derby Owner for a Day" for the Santa Anita Derby. Politano entered (entries were free), had his name drawn and got to go to the paddock and the winner's circle when I'll have Another won the race. Verge's promotion was that, not only did Politano get to act and feel like an owner for a day, but Santa Anita gave him $1,000 to bet on the Santa Anita Derby winner in the Kentucky Derby.