Executives

After struggling for months with wobbly finances and internal dissension, the director of UCLA Medical Center announced Tuesday that he will leave his job to take a top post at the University of Kentucky's medical center. Dr. Michael Karpf, 58, has been with UCLA since 1995 and oversaw the school's three hospitals and 18 primary-care clinics.

SACRAMENTO - Senate leader Darrell Steinberg says he has seen enough. He wants to rid California of incessant special elections to fill vacancies in the Legislature. The elections interrupt the legislative process, he asserts, and they bleed local taxpayers - roughly $1 million each time some lawmaker jumps ship, which has been increasingly often. Let the governor fill vacant seats and be done with it, the Sacramento Democrat contends. Amen. If it were possible, I'd order lawmakers to stop the music, grab a seat and stay put. This musical chairs game is too expensive for the adults, the taxpayers.

A Superior Court jury in Los Angeles has awarded $2.5 million to a former executive of bankrupt Newport Beach home builder Baldwin Co. after finding that the owners reneged on a promise to make him a partner in the company. The jury found that brothers James and Alfred Baldwin breached their contract with Robert B. Burns, who headed their company's Los Angeles-Ventura division. However, the jury awarded damages only against James Baldwin, who directly supervised Burns' division.

Real estate agent Judy Oroshnik was doing a favor for a client when she offered to call the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's customer service line to resolve a problem. Forty minutes later, her goodwill was gone. That's how long it took for a live customer service representative to answer the call, and after some wrangling, find a solution for Oroshnik's client, the Silver Lake businesswoman said. "I've called New York City's Con Ed and I was able to get through to them at any time.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday that it has charged two executives of American Telephone & Telecommunications Corp. with fraud for selling securities in the firm that purportedly was set up to offer long-distance telephone service via the Internet. The company is not related to telecommunications giant AT&T Corp.

Cleanup and confession were the dominant Olympic themes emanating from here Thursday as the Salt Lake Organizing Committee named a new president and an American member of the International Olympic Committee admitted giving a job to the son of an IOC member who resigned last month because of the bribery scandal.

The late Marvel Comics editor Mark Gruenwald got his wish: His ashes were blended with ink and made into a comic book. "This is something that he really wanted because he really loved comics. He wanted to be part of his work in a very real sense," said Mark Harras, Marvel's editor in chief. The ashes of Marvel's senior executive editor were mixed at a printing plant in Canton, Ohio, for use in "Squadron Supreme," a reprint of a limited edition 1985 comic he wrote, Harras said Thursday.

Creative Artists Agency senior executive Sandy Climan was hired Thursday as an executive vice president of MCA Inc., the first high-level departure from the agency since former Chairman Michael S. Ovitz announced in August that he is leaving to join Walt Disney Co. Climan's exit had been expected in the wake of the Ovitz departure, but the destination was a surprise to Hollywood executives.

Exactly who was Jose Menendez? The Hollywood community and police investigators have been furiously pressing that question since Menendez--a relatively little known entertainment executive whose career nonetheless connected with some of the biggest names in show business--was shot dead with his wife, Mary Louise, in their Beverly Hills home last Sunday night.

Timothy D. Cook Title: Chief executive Age: 50 Education: Bachelor's in industrial engineering, Auburn; MBA, Duke Career: Joined Apple in 1998 and became chief operating officer in 2005. Cook acted as interim CEO during Steve Jobs' leaves in 2004, 2009 and 2011. Scott Forstall Title: Senior vice president of iPhone software Age: 42 Education: Bachelor's in symbolic systems, Stanford; master's in computer science, Stanford Career: Joined Apple in 1997.

The online video site Hulu once had ambitions of ushering in the future of television by shaking up the status quo. But under its new management, the site will throw off its old mantle of TV disrupter as it seeks to work in partnership with cable and satellite companies. Veteran Fox television executive Mike Hopkins took over as chief executive less than a month ago, an appointment that signaled the media companies that control Hulu wanted to turn the popular service into a feature offered through pay-TV distributors.

Donald S. Maxwell, a retired financial executive who helped guide the Los Angeles Times and its former parent company, Times Mirror, through periods of unprecedented expansion, died Wednesday at his home in La Habra Heights. He was 83 and had pancreatic cancer, family members said. Maxwell joined The Times as controller in 1969 and later became the newspaper's vice president of finance. In 1982, he was named a vice president of Times Mirror, where he had a succession of financial responsibilities.

SAN FRANCISCO - Dick Costolo doesn't fit the profile of a typical tech start-up chief executive. He's not a twentysomething college dropout. He didn't start Twitter Inc. in his dorm room. And he doesn't wear a hoodie. At 50, with a balding head and square-rimmed glasses, he's a seasoned executive with a substantial corporate track record - much like Eric Schmidt, the "adult supervision" who helped Google Inc. co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin turn their search start-up into an Internet moneymaker.

A man posing as a studio executive, but apparently actually working as an undercover FBI agent targeting state Sen. Ronald S. Calderon (D-Montebello), contacted Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar's office last year with questions about city permits. Records and interviews indicate the agent represented himself as Rocky Patel, president of Los Angeles-based United Pacific Studios. Sometime last year, the councilman's spokesman said, Patel apparently sought information on securing a conditional use permit for a production studio in Huizar's district.

Tougher days, with tougher opponents, are ahead for UCLA. This, though, was a feel-good moment, like getting a participation trophy. What remains to be seen is whether the Bruins' 45-23 victory over Colorado in the Rose Bowl on Saturday was a re-emergence or placebo. PHOTOS: UCLA defeats Colorado, 45-23 UCLA (6-2 overall, 3-2 in Pac-12) got a much needed victory after taking it on the chin in losing to No. 2 Oregon and No. 6 Stanford the past two weeks.

EDDY W. HARTENSTEIN Publisher and Chief Executive Officer RUSS STANTON Editor Los Angeles Times CHRIS AVETISIAN Chief Financial Officer ROBERT E. BELLACK Executive Vice President, New Ventures JENNIFER BETKA Vice President, Consumer Marketing ANNA MAGZANYAN Vice President, Advertiser Marketing SCOTT McKIBBEN Executive Vice President, Strategic...

The recent death of In-N-Out Burger's chairman and chief executive, H. Guy Snyder, was caused by an accidental overdose of a prescription painkiller, according to an autopsy report from the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office. Snyder, who headed the Irvine-based burger chain for six years, died last month at the age of 48. He was the second brother to run In-N-Out Burger to die unexpectedly.

EDDY W. HARTENSTEIN Publisher and Chief Executive Officer RUSS STANTON Editor Los Angeles Times CHRIS AVETISIAN Chief Financial Officer ROBERT E. BELLACK Executive Vice President, New Ventures JENNIFER BETKA Vice President, Consumer Marketing ANNA MAGZANYAN Vice President, Advertiser Marketing SCOTT McKIBBEN Executive Vice President, Strategic...

In a move straight out of the tech start-up handbook, Machinima co-founder Allen DeBevoise has decided to step down as chief executive of the gamer-focused YouTube channel he helped launch. DeBevoise said he is looking for a professional manager who can help build a long-term, sustainable business, said people with knowledge of the situation who were not authorized to speak publicly. DeBevoise will remain the company's chairman. "Allen is a fantastic visionary and has really led the development of the online space," said Machinima board member Yair Landau.

Karin Higa Expert in Asian American art Karin Higa, 47, a specialist in Asian American art who worked for nearly a decade and a half as a curator at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, died Tuesday at her home in L.A., said Russell Ferguson, her husband. Ferguson, a professor in the art department at UCLA, said his wife had been diagnosed with cancer in February. Higa worked as a curator at the Japanese American National Museum from 1992 to 2006, rising to the rank of senior curator of art. She had recently been named a curator for the Hammer Museum's "Made in L.A. " Biennial for 2014 but was forced to step down because of her illness.