Funeral

Known for her flamboyant hats and dazzling jewelry, Bernice Woods relished being in the public eye. So when the longtime community volunteer and former Compton city councilwoman died last month, her children opted to place her open casket in the drive-thru display window of Robert L. Adams Mortuary in Compton. "My mother was a community person," said Gregory W. Woods, 55, the youngest of the deceased woman's 10 children. "She meant so much to so many people. It is only fitting and proper that she would be viewed this way. " Adams funeral parlor, a fixture in Compton since 1974, brings to the business of death a convenience of the living: drive-thru viewing of the dead.

When the casket that was supposed to hold the earthly remains of Jim Davis was finally lowered into the ground, the only thing missing was the late Mr. Davis. The coffin had been weighed down to simulate the approximate heft of a corpse. And Jim Davis was not inside the box. Federal prosecutors said the phony funeral was among the inventive tricks that Jean Crump - a onetime Long Beach mortician - used to loot insurance companies out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. On Tuesday, she was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison.

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As Margaret Thatcher was laid to rest in London, scattered protests and parties cheering her death were reported around Britain, a sign of the persistent divisions over her legacy. "I ignore people who say it's in bad taste,” Durham Miners Assn. General Secretary David Hopper told the British Press Assn. as dozens of former miners arrived at a club to celebrate. “It was in bad taste what she did in our communities. " A new poll released Wednesday, the day of Thatcher's funeral, found that 47% of British adults thought she helped the country, while 42% thought she hurt it, according to the Ipsos MORI research group.

LONDON -- The funeral of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Britain's longest-serving leader of the 20th century, will be held in St. Paul's Cathedral on April 17, officials said Tuesday. Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, are expected to attend what will be the most elaborate funeral to be staged in London since the death of the queen's mother in 2002. It will be the first funeral of a prime minister that the queen will have attended since Winston Churchill's in 1965.

Tennessee Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn will lead a House delegation to Britain to attend the funeral of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on Wednesday. Announced by House Speaker John Boehner's office Monday, the trip marks a culmination of Republican accolades for Thatcher following her death last week . Thatcher's conservative policies and close relationship with President Reagan won her widespread support within the GOP . “Margaret Thatcher was one of the greatest champions freedom has ever known, and her funeral gives Americans and friends around the world an opportunity to pay final respects,” Boehner said in a statement.

LONDON -- With stately solemnity and military honors, Margaret Thatcher's body was borne through the streets of the British capital Wednesday morning to a funeral service where hundreds of world leaders, colleagues and friends paid their last respects to this country's first and only female prime minister. Inside imposing St. Paul's Cathedral, more than 2,000 mourners gathered for a simple religious service in memory of the woman whose transformative but controversial premiership, from 1979 to 1990, was the longest Britain had seen since the early 19th century.

A funeral for entertainment lawyer Peter Lopez will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at St. Monica Catholic Church in Santa Monica, his family announced. Lopez, 60, was found dead Friday of a gunshot wound outside his home in Encino. Coroner's officials have confirmed the death as a suicide. Lopez was a founding partner of Kleinberg Lopez Lange Cuddy and Klein, and over the years represented artists including Michael Jackson , the Eagles and Julio Iglesias . He had bachelor's and law degrees from UCLA and was a member of the California State Athletic Commission.

As Margaret Thatcher was laid to rest in London, scattered protests and parties cheering her death were reported around Britain, a sign of the persistent divisions over her legacy. "I ignore people who say it's in bad taste,” Durham Miners Assn. General Secretary David Hopper told the British Press Assn. as dozens of former miners arrived at a club to celebrate. “It was in bad taste what she did in our communities. " A new poll released Wednesday, the day of Thatcher's funeral, found that 47% of British adults thought she helped the country, while 42% thought she hurt it, according to the Ipsos MORI research group.

Angel Luis Pantojas was 6 when he saw his slain father's body in a casket and declared: Not me. At my wake, people will see me on my feet. So when he was shot 11 times, twice in the face, and tossed over a bridge in his underwear 18 years later, Pantojas got his wish. Pantojas' family tethered his corpse to the wall, where streams of strangers came from throughout Puerto Rico to see the latest curiosity they dubbed el muerto parao — dead man standing. "You couldn't fit another soul in this room," his aunt Ana Delia Pantojas recalled, showing the holes in the housing project living room wall where the corpse was bound two summers ago. "All sorts of people came here to see him — lawyers, judges.

As former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was laid to rest Wednesday, videos from Britain provide a glimpse of how she was remembered -- both by those who loved and loathed her. The London ceremony was akin to the 1997 rites for Princess Diana. Above, the Associated Press records scenes of world leaders somberly dressed in black at St. Paul's Cathedral. Her coffin, draped in a Union Jack and laid with white roses, is seen being carried away. The Telegraph provides the video below of Richard Chartres, the Church of England's bishop of London, giving a short sermon at the funeral.

LONDON -- With stately solemnity and military honors, Margaret Thatcher's body was borne through the streets of the British capital Wednesday morning to a funeral service where hundreds of world leaders, colleagues and friends paid their last respects to this country's first and only female prime minister. Inside imposing St. Paul's Cathedral, more than 2,000 mourners gathered for a simple religious service in memory of the woman whose transformative but controversial premiership, from 1979 to 1990, was the longest Britain had seen since the early 19th century.

LONDON - Security will be tightened for this weekend's London Marathon, which is to go ahead as planned in spite of the Boston bombings, authorities and organizers said Tuesday. Scotland Yard is also gearing up for the challenge of securing the funeral Wednesday of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, which will entail the deployment of 4,000 officers. London is well acquainted with terrorism, but Britain's minister for sport, Hugh Robertson, said he was "absolutely confident" Sunday's marathon could take place safely in the British capital, which last year successfully hosted the Summer Olympics.

Tennessee Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn will lead a House delegation to Britain to attend the funeral of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on Wednesday. Announced by House Speaker John Boehner's office Monday, the trip marks a culmination of Republican accolades for Thatcher following her death last week . Thatcher's conservative policies and close relationship with President Reagan won her widespread support within the GOP . “Margaret Thatcher was one of the greatest champions freedom has ever known, and her funeral gives Americans and friends around the world an opportunity to pay final respects,” Boehner said in a statement.

LONDON -- The funeral of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Britain's longest-serving leader of the 20th century, will be held in St. Paul's Cathedral on April 17, officials said Tuesday. Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, are expected to attend what will be the most elaborate funeral to be staged in London since the death of the queen's mother in 2002. It will be the first funeral of a prime minister that the queen will have attended since Winston Churchill's in 1965.

LONDON - Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is to be given a ceremonial funeral with military honors. The service will be held in St. Paul's Cathedral, an honor reserved for great figures of state. One of Thatcher's predecessors as leader of the Conservative Party, Winston Churchill, was also given a funeral in the cathedral. Thatcher died Monday at age 87 after several years of failing health. A statement issued by a close friend and former adviser said Britain's first female leader, nicknamed the “Iron Lady,” died after a stroke.

A funeral service for Medal of Honor recipient John Finn, who died Thursday in Chula Vista at age 100, is set for 10 a.m. Thursday at El Cajon-Lakeside-Santee Mortuary and Cremation Service, 684 S. Mollison Ave. in El Cajon. A viewing is scheduled for 3 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the same location. Burial will be in the Campo Indian Reservation cemetery.

In the wake of her death, Margaret Thatcher was mentioned more than 1.5 million times Monday on Twitter, an outpouring of online sorrow, glee and furor over the profoundly polarizing British leader. Although many Twitter users marked her passing with praise or a simple “RIP,” others who loathed the former prime minister joked online about throwing parties to celebrate her death. Many politicians who battled Thatcher during her life chose their words carefully in official statements after her death, but other critics were far less genteel in social media.

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- As Palestinians poured into the streets Thursday for three tension-filled funerals, their leaders issued stern warnings about rising public anger over Israel's treatment of prisoners and protesters. In the southern West Bank city of Hebron, tens of thousands of people took part in the funeral for Maysara abu Hamdieh, 63, who died of throat cancer Tuesday while in Israeli detention. Palestinian officials accused Israel of failing to provide adequate medical treatment and not releasing him sooner when it was clear his condition was terminal.