Facilities

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has agreed to expand benefits for gay and lesbian couples serving in the military, but officials continued to withhold equal access to base housing, healthcare and educational services. Leon E. Panetta, the outgoing secretary of Defense, signed an order Monday that permits same-sex partners and their dependents to use numerous family-oriented facilities and services on U.S. military bases, including recreation areas, counseling programs, school buses, child care and shopping exchanges.

Downtown L.A.'s Staples Center may be home to the Grammys, but it's a relatively nondescript industrial complex in Burbank that's attracting some of the awards show's most notable nominees this week. Fender Musical Instruments' new artist showroom has become a hub for well-known musicians of all stripes. And with the Grammy Awards scheduled to air Sunday, business is brisk. Just as dress designers clamor to get their gowns on Oscar contenders, makers of musical equipment such as Fender are doing their best to get their newest products in the hands of Grammy-nominated pop stars.

A flock of birds flew away, as if the avians knew something big was coming. Misty geysers of water were sprayed into the air, to keep down the dust. And then a series of explosions broke the Saturday morning calm and, within seconds, the South Bay Power Plant, an admired and yet also hated fixture on the Chula Vista waterfront since the late 1950s, crumbled into history. Two hundred pounds of charges detonated 300 pounds of dynamite, and the 165-foot structure of concrete and metal folded inward on itself.

It was typically chaotic in the emergency room at Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center that February day in 1993. Richard May was treating patients in the triage area when a disgruntled man started ranting about the long wait. Then, without warning, the man pulled a gun and started shooting, hitting May in the head, chest and arm and seriously wounding two other doctors. The carnage, coming after a series of violent incidents, prompted a wave of safety improvements, including the installation of metal detectors at hospital entrances, bulletproof enclosures in emergency rooms and the addition of more security guards.

SACRAMENTO - California safety officials ordered Chevron Corp. to pay a record-high fine of nearly $1 million for safety violations that led to a massive fire last summer at a refinery in the San Francisco Bay Area. After the Aug. 6 explosion at Chevron's facility in Richmond, Calif., an emergency telephone network advised tens of thousands of people in that city to stay indoors behind closed doors and windows to avoid breathing potentially dangerous sulfuric acid and nitrogen dioxide fumes.

JERUSALEM - Israeli warplanes struck targets outside the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Wednesday, according to Syrian and Western reports, amid rising international fear that President Bashar Assad could lose control of his nation's stockpiles of chemical and advanced weapons. A Western official who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed that the airstrike hit a truck convoy believed to be carrying antiaircraft weapons for Hezbollah militants in neighboring Lebanon. The shipment was thought to have included Russian SA-17 missiles, the official said.

On sunny days, from the right spot in its terraced courtyard, future residents of Glennwood House of Laguna Beach will see two Catalinas. One, of course, will be the island itself, the familiar brown sliver visible on the distant horizon. The other sits atop the aquamarine waters of a seascape mural that artist Robert Wyland helped prospective residents of Glennwood paint. Glennwood Housing Foundation Inc. is converting a senior assisted living facility off South Coast Highway into a house that will provide services to about 50 young adults with developmental disabilities.

Two state lawmakers have moved to crack down on a costly method of finance that hundreds of school districts have been relying on to pay for new construction. Assembly members Ben Hueso (D-San Diego) and Joan Buchanan (D-Alamo) introduced legislation Friday that seeks to check the use of long-term capital appreciation bonds, which can carry debt payments many times the amount borrowed to build schools, classrooms and sports facilities. Fiscal watchdogs, including county treasurers and California Treasurer Bill Lockyer, have warned repeatedly that the bonds are risky and reminiscent of the lending and Wall Street excesses that contributed to the Great Recession.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Suspected insurgents continue to be tortured at numerous Afghan detention facilities, the United Nations reported Sunday. More than half of the 635 detainees questioned by U.N. investigators in the 12 months ending in October were ill-treated or tortured, including being subjected to severe beatings or electric shocks, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said. The allegations, which the Afghan government calls "exaggerated," are likely to complicate discussions about the handling of detainees, a source of debate between the United States and Afghanistan as the countries prepare for the departure of most foreign troops next year.

Amid the splintered drum sticks and empty coffee cups littering his Northridge recording studio, Dave Grohl contemplated the enormous mixing desk before him. The Foo Fighters frontman looked at the seemingly endless rows of faders and dials on the console, admiring it like a car lover might a vintage Aston Martin. "I consider that board to be responsible for the person I am today," said the former drummer of Nirvana. "Had it not been for that board, who knows what 'Nevermind' would've sounded like.