Evaluation

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday cautioned consumers against using quinine for leg cramps, warning that the drug could cause severe side effects, including death. Quinine, sold in this country under the brand name Qualaquin, is approved for treatment of uncomplicated malaria, but has a long history of use as a remedy for leg cramps, especially at night. In many countries, it is sold over the counter. Studies have shown that it can reduce the incidence of cramps by one-third to one-half but that as many as one in every 25 users can suffer serious side effects.

For the first time, L.A. Unified and other individual school districts can apply for federal Race to the Top grants, bypassing California officials, including the governor, who had objected to the rules for receiving the education-reform incentives. The draft rules, announced Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Education, will allow school systems to vie for funds that had been unavailable to any state that was unable or unwilling to compete for the grants. "We're wide open to new strategies, new approaches," said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in a conference call.

The Obama administration's new plan to stimulate refinancings of FHA mortgages is likely to help large numbers of homeowners — even those who are deeply underwater — cut their monthly costs by switching to a loan with a rate below 4%. Here's a quick overview of the "streamline refi" program and what it will take for you to qualify. First, the baseline criteria: Your current home loan must be FHA-insured and must have been put on the Federal Housing Administration's books no later than May 31, 2009.

Dear Liz: Our mother just turned 64, and our father is divorcing her. She hasn't worked in years because of significant physical and mental health issues. My sister and I have been trying to figure out how she's going to survive on $750 a month, which is the equivalent of half his Social Security. She has always had serious issues with money management, which is why there are no retirement savings or a house. We are now about to embark on the maze of social service benefits that an older woman below the poverty line can receive, partly so we can decide whether she's better off staying put where she is in Arkansas, moving to my sister's in Texas, moving to be near me in Maryland, or moving to her childhood home of Chicago, where most of her friends are. For a lot of complicated reasons (mostly related to the mental health issues)

A court-appointed psychiatrist Thursday added his name to the list of people who say Donna Jean Fleming, the young mother accused of throwing her two young sons and herself off a Long Beach bridge in February, is mentally ill and unfit to stand trial. Part of the letter from Dr. Kaushal Sharma was read at what was to be Fleming's arraignment in Long Beach Superior Court on charges of murder and attempted murder. Despite agreeing with the physician's conclusion that Fleming, 24, was psychotic, paranoid and prone to hallucinations, her attorney, Stephen Pace, requested a second mental evaluation.

A 10-year-old boy accused of stabbing a 12-year-old friend to death will be evaluated to determine whether he is competent to stand trial on murder and felony assault charges, a judge said Thursday. The boy, whose name was not released by authorities, fidgeted and cracked his knuckles throughout the hearing, which was his first appearance in court since he allegedly killed Ryan Carter on Monday after the victim had tried to break up a fight. The younger boy, neighbors said, suffered from emotional issues and was prone to bouts of anger, but they expressed shock that he was capable of such violence.

A new report from the state's legislative analyst castigates California's system for evaluating and improving schools. In particular the report, released Tuesday, cited confusion and conflict between state and federal reforms. According to the analysis, "the state and federal systems form a labyrinth of duplicative and disconnected program requirements that send mixed messages to teachers, parents, schools and districts." The authors also noted that since 1999, officials have invested $2.5 billion in school improvement programs, and yet "more schools in California are deemed in need of improvement today than a decade ago."

Thanks very much for Edwin Chen's excellent article on the re-evaluation of Big Science projects, which is currently going on across the country ("Big Science Faces Big Troubles," Column One, June 5). Such a re-evaluation is long overdue. Although scientific research is invariably portrayed and justified as serving the cause of mankind, bettering the human race or whatever, two facts are very much in evidence: a) the vast majority of the problems afflicting the human race and the planet are ones which can be solved by applying what we know right now, and b)

Re "Run the Race to the Top?: California must act to ensure it gets needed federal school funds," and "The initiative uses the wrong means to achieve education reform," Opinion, Sept. 15 In responding to Walt Gardner's Op-Ed article, I believe that test scores are one of the valid measures of a teacher's effectiveness. I just retired after 37 years as a teacher in the public schools. I taught in schools with students whose "bleak situation" was described by Gardner. The fact is, within those schools are good and bad teachers.

The whole point of establishing a new anti-gang program in Los Angeles two years ago was to finally be able to identify which strategies worked and which didn't. The longstanding L.A. Bridges and the newer Bridges II programs were jettisoned precisely because no one had any way to determine whether they, and the millions of dollars paid to their gang-diversion and intervention contractors, were doing any good. The centerpiece of the new Gang Reduction and Youth Development program was to be a commitment to rigorous, transparent, scientific and verifiable evaluation.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Perhaps it's wishful thinking on the part of Clippers small forward Caron Butler , but he said, "If there's a will, there's a way," regarding the possibility of his playing before the first-round series with Memphis is over. Butler will see a hand specialist Thursday in Los Angeles after the Clippers return home to determine how bad his fractured left hand is. The diagnosis said Butler would be out four to six weeks with the injury, meaning the earliest he could return would be the end of May. Butler, who was replaced in the starting lineup for Game 2 Wednesday night by Bobby Simmons , was injured in the third quarter of Sunday's night's game when his hand got caught in Rudy Gay's jersey.

The playoff series between the eighth-seeded Kings and top-seeded Vancouver Canucks hasn't started, but both teams were in full playoff gamesmanship mode Monday. Shortly after Kings forward Jeff Carter said his bruised ankle felt good and he expects to play Wednesday at Vancouver "for sure," Coach Darryl Sutter sounded less positive about Carter's imminent return. Maybe Carter isn't ready, though center Mike Richards said Carter "could have played the last couple games if we needed him to, the last game for sure.

Kobe Bryant sat out because of a sore left shin. His teammates were painful to watch Saturday. The Lakers lost to the Phoenix Suns, 125-105, giving up a season high in points while forcing a season-low three turnovers at US Airways Center. Bryant was sidelined because of a condition called tenosynovitis. There is no timetable for his return, though he will be re-evaluated Monday in New Orleans before the Lakers play the Hornets that night. Bryant was kicked in the shin last Saturday against New Orleans and the sensitivity in the area became progressively worse.

Should teachers have the freedom to lead private lives we may not all agree with? And should they be able to post controversial tidbits on social networking sites? Jonathan Turley, a professor of public interest law at George Washington University, believes that they should. He took his argument to our Opinion pages Monday in “ Teachers under the morality microscope ,” writing that teachers shouldn't be disciplined or fired for activities they pursue outside of work so long as those activities are lawful.

UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero stopped short of guaranteeing that Bruins' basketball coach Ben Howland will return next season in the wake of allegations made by a Sports Illustrated story. The article painted a picture of a program where players used drugs and fought with each other in practice, as well as Howland giving preferential treatment that led to abuse by one player, Reeves Nelson. Nelson was kicked off the team in December. “Ben has been with me nine years.

Kobe Bryant might have set the NBA All-Star game career scoring record on Sunday but it was Kevin Durant who was the difference-maker as the West won the annual showcase, 152-149, over the East. The East crawled back from a  huge deficit and got within a point with less than a minute to play but a put-back slam by Blake Griffin gave the West a three0point lead. Dwyane Wade followed by making a pair of free throws with 22.8 seconds left. Bryant was fouled on the inbounds and made one of two free throws.

WASHINGTON -- Roxanne Brummell has thrived in what many consider the toughest new testing ground for teachers in the nation. The fifth-grade teacher in Washington, D.C., earned a "highly effective" rating under the district's controversial system that rewards -- and sometimes fires -- teachers based in part on their students' progress on standardized tests. In just seven months, she helped boost her students' reading scores by an average of 24%. Brummell's reward: a $20,000 bonus and recognition at district award ceremonies.

U.S. military officials Wednesday damped expectations for quick results from offensives in Afghanistan and played down a year-end review that the Obama administration had portrayed as a major evaluation of the U.S.-led war. "I would not want to overplay the significance of this review," Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, who oversees U.S. forces in the Mideast and Afghanistan, told members of the House Armed Services Committee, referring to plans...

NBA All-Star selections can seem as predictable as upbeat endings in Disney movies. In a shocker, Yao Ming wasn't voted in this year even though he has retired. LeBron James could be 84 and fans would probably still nudge him and his wheelchair into the midseason showcase if he were on the ballot. Familiarity resonates, even if talent doesn't always. Which makes this season's selections all the more remarkable: Fans and coaches mostly got it right. Yes, the picks could use a nip here and a tuck there, but nothing that would require the handiwork of a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon.