Gary Friedman

Peter Kovach and Ted Gould disappeared from a Torrance cellular phone shop in October 1994. Their bodies turned up in a San Diego parking lot several days later. Investigators soon traced the deaths to an intricate scheme of drug dealing, extortion and racketeering that led back to a Queens, N.Y., attorney and his brother. Kenneth and Gary Friedman, along with two others, were convicted in federal court in New York of traveling across state lines with intent to commit a violent crime.

The co-chief executive and public face of upscale home decor chain Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc. has resigned, reportedly amid an internal inquiry into his relationship with a 26-year-old female employee. Gary Friedman, 54, who has served as chief executive since 2001, is widely credited with turning around a company once teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. The Marin County retailer is now readying for an initial public stock offering. A black-and-white photo of Friedman, with a 5 o'clock shadow and wearing a leather jacket, is still prominently featured on the retailer's website, next to a letter from the San Francisco native quoting the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right.

Quirky home store chain Restoration Hardware, which during the last two years has gone from market darling to Wall Street dud, is looking to remodel its business by putting former Williams-Sonoma Inc. President Gary Friedman in the top job. The question Thursday was whether Friedman, long known as the brilliant merchandiser behind Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn stores, is the best choice to lead a company that many say has great products but a disappointing financial performance.

Peter Kovach and Ted Gould disappeared from a Torrance cellular phone shop in October 1994. Their bodies turned up in a San Diego parking lot several days later. Investigators soon traced the deaths to an intricate scheme of drug dealing, extortion and racketeering that led back to a Queens, N.Y., attorney and his brother. Kenneth and Gary Friedman, along with two others, were convicted in federal court in New York of traveling across state lines with intent to commit a violent crime.

The co-chief executive and public face of upscale home decor chain Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc. has resigned, reportedly amid an internal inquiry into his relationship with a 26-year-old female employee. Gary Friedman, 54, who has served as chief executive since 2001, is widely credited with turning around a company once teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. The Marin County retailer is now readying for an initial public stock offering. A black-and-white photo of Friedman, with a 5 o'clock shadow and wearing a leather jacket, is still prominently featured on the retailer's website, next to a letter from the San Francisco native quoting the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right.

Our planet at the year 2000 is a kaleidoscope of disparate images: The simple joy of children playing baseball in Cuba. Crowds of Albanian refugees pressed against a torn fence near Kosovo. The anguish of Japanese women remembering the first atomic bomb at Hiroshima, and the similar torment of a Vietnamese woman who lost 15 family members in the massacre at My Lai.

I have just finished reading "Reaching New Heights" (Nov. 16). Bettijane Levine has written a poignant, sensitive article about Zina Bethune and her successful efforts with disabled children. I compliment Ms. Levine for a wonderful portrayal of a remarkable woman. Additionally, photographer Gary Friedman should be honored for that heartwarming photograph. My eyes became teary just looking at it. --RAY FEUER Granada Hills

In an about-face from their much-publicized 1973 study, researchers today said that they have found drinking four or more cups of coffee a day boosts heart attack risk by about 40%. Based on the new research, a team headed by Dr. Arthur Klatzky of Kaiser Permanente Medical Center recommended that people prone to heart attacks limit daily coffee consumption to fewer than four cups. In 1973, the researchers argued that those people need not limit coffee their intake. Co-author Dr.

The longest prison term ever imposed on a woman in California was handed down by Kern County Superior Court Judge Gary Friedman, who sentenced Grace Dill, 50, to 405 years after her conviction with six other Bakersfield residents in a child molestation ring. Friedman broke the record he set last Friday when he sentenced Dill's daughter, Marcella Pitts, 29, to 373 years in the same case.

A Kern County prosecutor said that sentences ranging from 285 to 405 years were appropriate for seven Bakersfield residents convicted of child molestation. "The defendants, by their own acts, subjected the victims to lifetime sentences of traumatization, nightmares and broken homes, and losing the innocence of childhood," Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Vandrasco said.

Quirky home store chain Restoration Hardware, which during the last two years has gone from market darling to Wall Street dud, is looking to remodel its business by putting former Williams-Sonoma Inc. President Gary Friedman in the top job. The question Thursday was whether Friedman, long known as the brilliant merchandiser behind Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn stores, is the best choice to lead a company that many say has great products but a disappointing financial performance.

Our planet at the year 2000 is a kaleidoscope of disparate images: The simple joy of children playing baseball in Cuba. Crowds of Albanian refugees pressed against a torn fence near Kosovo. The anguish of Japanese women remembering the first atomic bomb at Hiroshima, and the similar torment of a Vietnamese woman who lost 15 family members in the massacre at My Lai.

* Stephen Gordon, founder and chairman of Corte Madera, Calif.-based Restoration Hardware Inc., resigned to become chief executive of Sundance Catalog Co. Restoration Hardware Chief Executive Gary Friedman was named interim chairman. * A lawyer specializing in freedom of speech and the Internet said he would defend free of charge a 19-year-old publisher of a website accused in a lawsuit of revealing trade secrets about a new computer from Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple Computer Inc.