Flores

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores has won the endorsement of U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Long Beach) in her bid to win a South Bay congressional seat. In a press release issued by the Flores campaign, Rohrabacher urged Republicans to support the councilwoman in her bid for the GOP nomination in the newly created 36th Congressional District, which stretches from San Pedro to Venice.

The search for a man who was swept out to sea while helping a Santa Maria pastor during a baptism ceremony  at a coastal park in northern Santa Barbara County was suspended Monday. Crews from multiple agencies including the U.S. Coast Guard had been searching for 43-year-old Benito Flores by sea and air since Sunday morning, when he and a group of people participating in the baptism were reportedly dragged out into the surf by two large waves at Rancho Guadalupe Dunes Preserve.

Los Angeles Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores used her second annual "State of the City" address Thursday to deliver an upbeat message of change to neighborhood and business leaders in Wilmington, a community that for years has been struggling to overcome pollution, blight and the deterioration of its downtown business district. Flores also announced that "the chances are very good" that when the council restructures its standing committees in July, she will head a new committee that oversees the city's three independent departments: the Harbor Department, Airport Department and Department of Water and Power.

SACRAMENTO -- The state's ethics agency is investigating whether political funds that went to the 2010 campaign of Assemblyman Roger Hernandez (D-West Covina) were laundered to disguise their true source, according to court documents filed this week. The state Fair Political Practices Commission said in court papers it is seeking bank records from Aldo A. Flores, an attorney who has represented Hernandez, as it looks at $3,900 provided by Flores' law firm to Hernandez's campaign in 2009.

This island had everything: empty beaches, waves perfect for surfing, coral reefs, smoking volcanoes. A mosaic of cultures, masterful arts. So where were all the tourists? About 500 miles northwest of the tip of Australia, Flores is surely one of the loveliest of the more than 13,500 islands of Indonesia. But in contrast to tourist centers like Bali, Flores remains a tranquil, deeply traditional, little-visited place. Even its name is a puzzle.

A diver who failed to surface off Santa Catalina Island on Sunday has been identified as a 20-year-old La Puente man who was a rescue air crewman with a Navy helicopter unit. Navy authorities in San Diego said Tuesday that Eric A. Flores, an aviation machinist's mate and airman apprentice, was on liberty with other members of a diving club Sunday morning when he sank 120 feet to the ocean floor. His companion failed in an attempt to pull Flores to the surface. Other divers searched for about four hours and the Coast Guard made a surface search by helicopter, but found no trace of Flores.

Stylized insignias. Deft strokes. Youth craze. All words used to describe what is commonly known as graffiti. I like reducing it to its more basic name: vandalism. J. VINCENT FLORES Colton

A 26-year-old employee at a Corona daycare center was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of sexually assaulting two girls, authorities said. Miguel Flores of Corona was booked on suspicion of kidnapping and committing lewd and lascivious acts on a child under the age of 14, according to police and jail records. The records indicate he is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday. lascivioushe was scheduled to appear in court on Thursday. Corona police said their investigation began Monday after a guardian reported a possible "inappropriate sexual touching" of an 11-year-old girl while she was in the care of the Bixby Oaks daycare center where Flores worked.

Los Angeles police arrested a 22-year-old man on suspicion of fatally stabbing his stepfather during a Christmas morning dispute inside the family's Watts apartment. Rudy Flores began arguing with his mother shortly before 11 a.m. when she was unable to help him locate a baseball bat, according to initial accounts provided by police. His stepfather, 54-year-old auto mechanic Nery Puluc Ambrosio, woke up and stepped into the physical fray. Flores pushed Ambrosio to the ground and stabbed him at least once in the back with a nearby tool that police had described as a reciprocating saw blade, but turned out to be a large knife, said Los Angeles Police Department Sgt. Wes Lin. Ambrosio was pronounced dead at a Lynwood hospital.

Capt. David L. Andrews is the new commanding officer of the Coast Guard Air Station and Group in San Diego, replacing Capt. Walter R. Glenning, who stepped down to begin a new job in Long Beach, a Coast Guard spokesman said. Andrews, a 1963 graduate of the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., worked in the Pentagon as a liaison officer for personnel in the office of the Secretary of Defense, said Coast Guard Lt. Gilbert Flores.

Los Angeles police arrested a 22-year-old man on suspicion of fatally stabbing his stepfather during a Christmas morning dispute inside the family's Watts apartment. Rudy Flores began arguing with his mother shortly before 11 a.m. when she was unable to help him locate a baseball bat, according to initial accounts provided by police. His stepfather, 54-year-old auto mechanic Nery Puluc Ambrosio, woke up and stepped into the physical fray. Flores pushed Ambrosio to the ground and stabbed him at least once in the back with a nearby tool that police had described as a reciprocating saw blade, but turned out to be a large knife, said Los Angeles Police Department Sgt. Wes Lin. Ambrosio was pronounced dead at a Lynwood hospital.

Like folk art and fine art, or mezcal and worms, sins and miracles might seem like a very odd couple. But for Demián Flores and Lila Downs, mixing pecados (sins) and milagros (miracles) proved to be a potent combination. Flores is a Oaxacan graphic artist and painter who often creates mash-ups of pop-culture and pre-Columbian imagery. Critics' darling Downs is a Oaxaca-born, Mexican American singer-songwriter. She's known for her theatrical stage persona and a syncretic musical style that cross-stitches elements of jazz, hip-hop, rock and ranchera.

A 26-year-old employee at a Corona daycare center was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of sexually assaulting two girls, authorities said. Miguel Flores of Corona was booked on suspicion of kidnapping and committing lewd and lascivious acts on a child under the age of 14, according to police and jail records. The records indicate he is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday. lascivioushe was scheduled to appear in court on Thursday. Corona police said their investigation began Monday after a guardian reported a possible "inappropriate sexual touching" of an 11-year-old girl while she was in the care of the Bixby Oaks daycare center where Flores worked.

 Pitcher-infielder Eric Flores, who will be a senior at Glendora, has committed to Arizona. Eric.sondheimer@latimes.com  

Former St. John Bosco infielder Dante Flores, who attends USC, has been named a starter for the Cape Cod League all-star game. The game will be played on Saturday. Also named to the team are former Chatsworth outfielder Aaron Brown of Pepperdine, former Crespi outfielder Scott Heineman of Oregon, former Chaminade pitcher Matt Troupe of Arizona and former Beckman pitcher James Kaprielian of UCLA. Eric.sondheimer@latimes.com  

A new juice bar named Clover is set to open on La Brea on Thursday. The shop's main draw is its cold-pressed juices, each of which, it claims, will pack the nutritional equivalent of three pounds of produce. There will also be kombucha on tap, Stumptown coffee, wheatgrass shots and various cleanse programs for detoxification. The refrigerated food will be a mixture of sandwiches and salads made by Flore vegan cafe in Silver Lake as well as by chef Bruce Kalman (of the Churchill).

After reading the article about the raising/sinking of the Princess Louise, I now know why I'll never make it in politics (Part B, May 3). Only a politician would understand spending $1 million to raise a ship so that it can be sunk again. J. VINCENT FLORES Colton

SACRAMENTO -- The state's ethics agency is investigating whether political funds that went to the 2010 campaign of Assemblyman Roger Hernandez (D-West Covina) were laundered to disguise their true source, according to court documents filed this week. The state Fair Political Practices Commission said in court papers it is seeking bank records from Aldo A. Flores, an attorney who has represented Hernandez, as it looks at $3,900 provided by Flores' law firm to Hernandez's campaign in 2009.

While making the 1997 movie "Los Locos," Jean-Marc Vallée was befriended by a Down syndrome actor who was an extra in the production. "I had a special relationship with him," the French-Canadian director ("The Young Victoria") recalled. "Every time on the set he was coming to me. I was like his hero. He was very welcoming every day. I had a very nice connection. " Actor-turned-filmmaker Travis Fine was a regular on the ABC 1989-92 western series "The Young Riders," when he met Chris Burke, the Down syndrome star of the acclaimed drama "Life Goes On," which was also on the network at the time.

In Jean-Marc Vallée's time-shifting question mark of a movie "Café De Flore," love is a force by turns organic, therapeutic, alienating and enough of a connective tissue to bind two seemingly incongruent stories. One of Vallée's parallel tales is set in 1969 and concerns a Parisian single mother (an effective Vanessa Paradis) of less-than-modest means committing herself fully to the developmental needs of her Down syndrome son. The other follows a present-day Montreal DJ (Kevin Parent)