Erik

Erik Barnouw, considered the dean of media historians for a definitive, three-volume history of broadcasting, died Thursday in Fair Haven, Vt. He was 93. Barnouw was both a participant in and an astute analyst of much of the history of radio and television in the 20th century.

LAS VEGAS — After the 10th round of what would be Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.'s first loss, boxing's power brokers briefly huddled. The big question for the honchos: How are we going to rehabilitate this guy's reputation? Chavez took care of that himself. By producing a stirring, promising rally that revealed his fighting heart like never before, Chavez knocked down Sergio Martinez in the 12th round and appeared one more big blow away from victory when the bell rang, clinching Martinez's unanimous-decision triumph in the World Boxing Council middleweight championship bout.

If C.B. Johnson ever wins the Super Lotto, he knows exactly what he'll do. He'll buy himself a customized, million-dollar Prevost motor home and take to America's highways. But short of receiving such a glorious windfall, the 54-year-old Upland resident is willing to pursue a more modest dream: He'd like to earn more than the $40,000 a year in commissions he's making now as a recreational vehicle salesman. The question is, how? "I like sales. I like helping people get the right RV.

For almost two weeks, jurors in the retrial of the Menendez brothers have been focusing on the bloody details of parricide, replayed shot by shot and larger than life. It has been grim work. They have heard the chilling, metallic clicks of a 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun similar to the alleged murder weapons; they have seen the blood-encrusted polo shirt Jose Menendez wore when he died. And countless autopsy photos have been projected on a courtroom screen.

With one of the two juries in the Menendez brothers murder trial listening again to snatches of testimony, another day passed without a verdict. Lyle Menendez's jury, in a 10th day of deliberations, requested the rereading of testimony about his hairpiece and about the origins of a tape-recorded session between the brothers and their Beverly Hills psychologist, L. Jerome Oziel, on Dec. 11, 1989.

Update: Professional skateboarder Erik Ellington has sold his Hollywood Hills contemporary for $1.4 million. The renovated single-story house, built in 1953, sits on three-quarters of an acre landscaped with tropical plants and mature trees. Ellington remodeled the inside in an old-world Spanish style with cathedral and beamed ceilings and dark hardwood floors. The reconfigured master bedroom suite includes a sitting area, a hot tub and two walk-in closets. The open-plan house has four bedrooms, 3 1/2 bathrooms and 2,712 square feet of living space.

One of two brothers accused in the 1989 killing of their parents in Beverly Hills confessed the crimes to a high school friend, according to Los Angeles County Grand Jury transcripts released Friday. Craig Cignarelli said Erik Menendez told him a few days after the murders that his brother, Lyle Menendez, "looked at his father, shot his father who was sitting on the end of the couch. . . . He looked at Erik and said: 'Shoot mom.'

Marking their first public split, Erik Menendez has asserted that he was afraid of his brother, Lyle, the night they killed their wealthy parents, and the younger brother's lawyer wants the two tried separately, according to legal papers filed by prosecutors Monday.

FACES "I respect artists who make work that's intellectually challenging," says New York-based sculptor Erik Levine, a 1989 winner of the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art's prestigious Awards in the Visual Arts, who has his first Los Angeles solo show at Santa Monica's Meyers/Bloom Gallery through Nov. 27. "I like to emphasize the mathematical, analytical, conceptual, philosophical approach to art making; the intellectual substructure, I think, is critical.

As his older brother, Lyle, watched intently from the defense table, Erik Menendez admitted Wednesday at the brothers' retrial that the two shot their wealthy parents to death six years ago "because we were afraid." "What was it you were afraid of?" defense attorney Barry Levin asked as his client grimaced and fought back tears. "I was afraid of dying," Erik Menendez said during his first moments of testimony in his retrial.