Easter Bunny

If you stay up very late--or get up very early--Easter morning, you'll have a chance to see one of the most sought-after rabbits around. No, not the cotton-tailed fellow with the basket full of eggs, but Rabbit in the Moon, a Florida-based electronic dance-music combine that may be the act most coveted by record labels hoping to get hopping in that much-discussed genre.

LA MESA -- It's not every day a California Highway Patrol officer pulls over an "Easter Bunny. " But that's what happened on a San Diego County freeway over the weekend when Officer Adam Griffiths pulled over a motorcyclist who was dressed as a giant rabbit. "Griffiths stopped the motorcyclist on westbound Interstate 8 at Jackson Drive for not wearing a helmet," CHP spokesman Brian Pennings said, according to City News Service. Pennings said Griffiths radioed in: "I'm stopping the Easter Bunny.

LA MESA -- It's not every day a California Highway Patrol officer pulls over an "Easter Bunny. " But that's what happened on a San Diego County freeway over the weekend when Officer Adam Griffiths pulled over a motorcyclist who was dressed as a giant rabbit. "Griffiths stopped the motorcyclist on westbound Interstate 8 at Jackson Drive for not wearing a helmet," CHP spokesman Brian Pennings said, according to City News Service. Pennings said Griffiths radioed in: "I'm stopping the Easter Bunny.

LA MESA, Calif. -- And there he was: the Easter Bunny riding a shiny red motorcycle westbound on Interstate 8 along this San Diego suburb. California Highway Patrol Officer Adam Griffiths spotted the bunny on Saturday. White furry suit: good. Pink ears: good. Floppy white feet: good. White gloves: good. No helmet: not good. Griffiths flicked on his red light and ordered the motorcyle rider to pull over. The bunny had an explanation: I'm on my way to an Easter charitable event and this is my costume, he said.

Chocolate is what everyone looks for in their Easter baskets, so perhaps a visit to a chocolate factory this weekend is in order. Ethel M Chocolates in Henderson, Nev., hosts three days of kid-centric activities that include a visit from the Easter bunny. The deal: The Spring Spectacular features free activities good for families with children. Photos with the Easter bunny, face-painting and balloon creations are planned at the company's factory near Las Vegas . The Saturday lineup adds a jazz band and a show of artwork created by people with disabilities who are affiliated with Opportunity Village ; sales benefit the charity.

The National Rifle Assn. has been so successful at pushing back gun-control laws that it has run out of laws to push back on. Once you can buy all the weapons you want at unrestricted gun shows and pack a pistol in a national park, it is harder to feel your 2nd Amendment rights are being infringed. And this is not good for the NRA because if folks are no longer scared of losing their guns, they might stop sending money to the gun lobby. To stifle any incipient sense of security, gun-rights advocates have been busy inventing new laws to solve problems that do not exist.

It's a delicate matter, this Easter Bunny business. Oh, I know. You think it's a long way off and you don't have to think about it yet. That you still have plenty of time to come up with an answer to all your kids' questions. Like, how does the Easter Bunny know that you recently moved? Or how does the Easter Bunny get admitted to security-gated apartments, especially since he can't reach the intercom button? Or why do we celebrate Easter, anyway? Wasn't it because the bunny was crucified or something like that?

A dozen teenagers learned Friday that a bit of work and a little time can make a big difference. The teens, who belong to a youth ministry group at St. Hedwig's Catholic Church in Los Alamitos, spent the afternoon boiling and decorating eggs to fill Easter baskets that they will give to homeless children today at Southwest Community Center in Santa Ana. "I can't give millions of dollars or anything, but I can give some of my time," said 15-year-old Sarah Erb of Los Alamitos.

I believe! Any GP in the same predicament would tell you the same thing. I took a few days this week to visit the grandkids in Arizona, finding the daughter upset when I arrived. She had just taken the 7-Eleven Kid and the twins to see the movie "We Bought a Zoo. " I remember as a parent how upset I was when I had to sit through dumb kid movies just because I was a father. But she was angry because Matt Damon , the father in the movie, was saying he had a 7-year-old daughter who still thinks the Easter Bunny exists.

A man-sized Easter Bunny visited more than 200 children Thursday at child care centers from downtown Los Angeles to the Westside. Bearing candy and other goodies, he stopped at the downtown Para Los Ninos child care center, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and, finally, the Santa Monica YMCA. In Santa Monica, the kids decorated sugar cookies in the shape of bunnies and chicks. The Easter Bunny's mission was commissioned by the Park Hyatt Los Angeles at Century City.

Amid stirring surroundings and breathtaking views, the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu will hold its annual Easter sunrise service March 31. It's one of a variety of Easter weekend activities -   religious and secular - on Oahu. The military park, located on 116 acres inside the crater of the now extinct Punchbowl volcano, is the final resting place of more than 13,000 American soldiers and sailors who died during World War II. Roughly 5 million visitors a year come to the cemetery to pay their respects and to enjoy the inspiring views from the rim of the crater.

In DreamWorks' new animation adventure "Rise of the Guardians," Santa has tats, he goes by the name North and he sounds like Alec Baldwin. Jack Frost is a renegade kid, a snowboarding/ice skating ace brought to life by Chris Pine, who brings all of his "Star Trek" swagger. The movie's total nightmare of a boogeyman is Pitch, who lurks around in the dark and drips with sinister sarcasm courtesy of Jude Law. It's as if hip-hop has come to Candyland, bringing an urban edginess to the traditional storybook rap. But that's only the tip of the 3-D iceberg.

Do Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny know each other? That logical question came, of course, from the mind of a child, specifically, Mary Katherine Joyce, the then-5-year-old daughter of writer and filmmaker William Joyce. Twenty years later, Mary Katherine's dad has answered that question, not just with the animated movie "Rise of the Guardians," but also a series of books that explores and expands the mythology behind some of the legendary figures of our childhoods. DreamWorks Animation held a special screening for the film Tuesday night at the ArcLight Hollywood as it positions "Guardians" as an animated feature Oscar contender.

Chocolate is what everyone looks for in their Easter baskets, so perhaps a visit to a chocolate factory this weekend is in order. Ethel M Chocolates in Henderson, Nev., hosts three days of kid-centric activities that include a visit from the Easter bunny. The deal: The Spring Spectacular features free activities good for families with children. Photos with the Easter bunny, face-painting and balloon creations are planned at the company's factory near Las Vegas . The Saturday lineup adds a jazz band and a show of artwork created by people with disabilities who are affiliated with Opportunity Village ; sales benefit the charity.

That Bo is one lucky dog: He's going into the record books as the first White House pet to have his very own commemorative Easter egg. Look closely at the White House's 2012 set of collector's Easter eggs, above. You can make out the black-and-white Portuguese water dog's image -- the red one, center -- alongside the Easter bunny emblems that decorate the rest of the eggs in the souvenir set. The wooden Easter eggs are sold through the National Park Foundation , which raises money to preserve and maintain America's open spaces.

The National Rifle Assn. has been so successful at pushing back gun-control laws that it has run out of laws to push back on. Once you can buy all the weapons you want at unrestricted gun shows and pack a pistol in a national park, it is harder to feel your 2nd Amendment rights are being infringed. And this is not good for the NRA because if folks are no longer scared of losing their guns, they might stop sending money to the gun lobby. To stifle any incipient sense of security, gun-rights advocates have been busy inventing new laws to solve problems that do not exist.

The city's Cottontail Harbor Day celebration will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 12 at Ventura Harbor Village, 1583 Spinnaker Drive. The Easter bunny and other costumed friends will arrive by boat at 10 a.m. Children ages 2 to 7 may bring their own Easter baskets and join in a free egg hunt from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. while supplies last. Entertainment is scheduled throughout the day. More information is available on the city's Web site at www.ci.ventura.ca.us or by calling 654-7749.

The Easter bunny wreaked havoc with Sunday television ratings last week, as Americans stayed away from the tube and programming on all three networks laid a giant egg, according to Nielsen ratings released today. Hardest hit was CBS. "60 Minutes" and "Murder, She Wrote" were knocked out of their usual top 10 spots, leaving the network with no top 10 winners. At NBC, "Family Ties" sank to 64th place and the network's Andy Williams special from Rome was the lowest-rated show of the week.

Easter is still a great day for worship, candy in baskets, pagan equinox rituals and running around the yard finding eggs, but every year it gets quite a bit worse for bunnies. And no, not because the kids like to pull their ears. The culprit is climate change, and the folks at Climate Nexus found that rising temperatures are having adverse effects on at least five species of rabbit in the U.S. Take the Lower Keys Marsh rabbit, for instance. An endangered species that lives in the Lower Florida Keys, this breed of cottontail is a great swimmer - it lives on the islands!

A marathon of the first three "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies, plus a Q&A with cast members and members of the production team, will be part of the ParkFilm Fest May 5 at Paramount Studios. Proceeds to help offset cuts to California state parks . . . . Looking for a reasonable Easter brunch in a festive setting? W Los Angeles-Westwood is offering a $20.12 meal that includes lots of choices, including lobster and brie sliders . Three egg hunts are also on the schedule for the 10 a.m.- to-3 p.m. brunch.