Gates

Casey Kasem, who gained a national radio audience after "American Top 40" launched in 1970, and his wife, Jean, are listing their Westside estate for sale at $42 million. With 12,000 square feet of living space, seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms, the home has been the site of intimate interviews and sleepovers for as many as 20 youngsters a night. The yard has served as the site of elaborate celebrity-studded gatherings and paintball battles. The syndicated radio host bought the property for Jean Kasem in 1989 as a gift.

With a nod toward Saturday's Kentucky Derby, these are Times staff writer Kevin Baxter's rankings as the teams come out of the clubhouse turn. (Statistics through Friday's game. Last week's rankings in parentheses): Setting the pace 1; BOSTON Trying to go wire to wire behind Buchholz (6-0, 1.01), Ortiz (.465, 15 RBIs in 11 games) (4) 2; TEXAS Yu Darvish (5-1, MLB-best 58 strikeouts) has Rangers riding high in the saddle (1) 3; ST. LOUIS Cards charges though pack to division lead despite losing two closers (3)

There's an open secret about getting on the subway in Los Angeles — you don't really have to pay the fare. Turnstiles are unlocked, security is lax and commuters often hop over or pass through undetected. Citing millions of dollars in lost revenue, transportation officials have been wrestling with the issue for years. On Thursday, they made their most forceful push yet to lock the gates to anyone without a ticket at a swath of rail stations. The effort is the latest bid by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to fix a disjointed regional ticketing network that allows some a free ride while creating problems for others who choose to pay. "There are a lot of people who have been avoiding their fares," said Zev Yaroslavsky, a county supervisor and Metro board member.

The Oracle of Omaha has taken to Twitter. The notoriously tech-shy billionaire launched his @WarrenBuffett handle Thursday, where he quickly garnered more than 180,000 followers. He is the second-richest person with a verified Twitter account, after tech mogul Bill Gates (@BillGates.) His first tweet: "Warren is in the house. " Twitter might be a perfect medium for Warren Buffett, who has built a reputation for a folksy approach to investing. But it's also a surprising move given that he's not exactly the most tech-savvy person on the planet.

On busy Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, some well-kept facades conceal a secret. Behind the Mediterranean with wooden doors, the white stucco two-story with a red tile roof, the long wall obscuring a three-structure compound, hides a singular, massive wealth fueled by obsession. This is Larry Ellison territory, where a Bay Area billionaire with seemingly endless patience and resources is buying up the best spots along Malibu's 21 miles of coast. PHOTOS: Expensive things Ellison has bought The Oracle Corp.

'Scoundrels' and 'The Gates' Where: ABC When: "Scoundrels" 9 p.m. Sunday Rating: TV-14-LS (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 14 with advisories for coarse language and sex) When: "The Gates" 10 p.m. Sunday Rating: TV-14-LV (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 14 with advisories for coarse language and violence)

About the only thing as disappointing as the frivolous arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. was the loud, almost gleeful chorus of "I told you so's" coming from his defenders. You've heard of schadenfreude -- taking pleasure in the suffering of others? Well, this was the peculiar political version. It's not that commentators were happy that Gates had allegedly been mistreated.

'Faces of America With Henry Louis Gates Jr.' Where: KCET When: 8 p.m. Wednesday Rating: TV-PG (may be unsuitable for young children)

Stepping up pressure on Pakistan to help thwart further terrorist attacks on India, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Wednesday that the Indian government probably would not show the same level of restraint that it did in 2008 if struck again. Gates said at a news conference that Al Qaeda and other Islamic militant organizations are hoping to ignite a regional clash between Pakistan and India, a confrontation he said must be averted. Gates has praised India's "statesmanship" in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack, which left at least 166 people dead and has been attributed to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani-based extremist group aligned with Al Qaeda.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates called the raid against Osama bin Laden a "gutsy call" -- "one of the most courageous" he's seen a president make -- because the U.S. had only circumstantial evidence indicating the Al Qaeda leader was at the compound in Pakistan. "I had real reservations about the intelligence," Gates, who earlier led the Central Intelligence Agency, said. "But it was the best information we had since probably 2001. " Gates, speaking to CBS's "60 Minutes" in a segment airing Sunday night, said he worried about the risk to American lives had the assault gone bad. He said his biggest worry now is a terrorist gaining control of a weapon of mass destruction, especially in this country, because for years the United States has received intelligence that terrorists are trying to acquire such weapons.

Singer Katy Perry 's fortress-like compound in Hollywood Hills West is for sale at $6.925 million. The double-gated Mediterranean-style house, built in 1925, sits on nearly 3 acres with a caretaker's apartment/carriage house and a guesthouse. Called Park Hill, the house features a baronial stone foyer with a sweeping staircase, a two-story living room, stained-glass windows and a carved fireplace mantel in the living room, a pub, a study and a media room. Including a four-room master suite, two guest suites and staff quarters, there are seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms and 8,835 square feet of living space.

A federal appeals court Monday reduced a former South Gate official's corruption convictions. A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals threw out former Treasurer Albert T. Robles' convictions for public corruption and money laundering but let stand five counts of bribery. Robles, who was accused of plundering the small, working-class city, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2006 for illegal conduct involving city contracts. The 9th Circuit ruling could trigger a reduction of his sentence, an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court or even possibly a retrial.

A federal appeals court Monday reduced a former South Gate official's corruption convictions. A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9 th Circuit Court of Appeals threw out former Treasurer Albert T. Robles' convictions for  public corruption and money laundering but let stand five counts of bribery. Robles, who was accused of plundering the small, working-class city of South Gate, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2006 for illegal conduct involving city contracts. The 9 th Circuit ruling could trigger a reduction of his sentence, an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court or even possibly a retrial.

Jodie Gates - a former principal dancer with the Joffrey Ballet who has since become one of Southern California's most prominent dance leaders - will become the director of the new USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance. Gates is a professor of dance at the University of California, Irvine. USC announced the appointment Thursday, saying that the school will admit its first students in fall 2015. "Jodie Gates is the perfect person for the job," Kaufman said in a statement. "She is keenly aware of the unique needs of a dancer and the importance of a first-rate curriculum.

A recent op-ed article in the Washington Post warned against overusing students' standardized test scores in evaluating how well teachers are doing their jobs. There would be no surprise about that - if it had been penned by the leader of a teachers union. But it was written by Bill Gates, arguably the most influential voice over the last few years in pushing for the use of test scores to rate teachers. Gates' warning was based on a study released in January that his foundation funded.

A sign of things to come: The entrance turnstiles to the Red and Purple Metro lines at Union Station were locked ("latched," in Metro-speak) Tuesday morning, forcing would-be riders to actually buy a ticket to get on the train.  What a concept. The latch-down was part of the latest and largest operational test by Metro of the technology it will use to cut down on fare-beaters. Riders have been on the honor system thus far, forced to produce tickets (or more recently, plastic Transit Access Pass cards)

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Thursday that he expected staunch opposition in Congress to the Obama administration's plans to release some of the Chinese Muslims detained at Guantanamo into the United States. Confirming the plans for the first time, Gates said that the administration intended to release some of the 17 Chinese Uighurs into the U.S. as part of the process of closing the prison, although he added that a final decision had not been made.

Top Obama administration officials Sunday continued their campaign to paint a more positive picture of progress in the Afghanistan conflict, even as they declined to predict how many American troops might begin to leave Afghanistan next year. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told "Fox News Sunday" that "we are making progress" in Afghanistan after President Obama ordered 30,000 more troops to the region over the winter, albeit at a rate "somewhat slower than anticipated." "I think that it is a tough pull, and we are suffering significant casualties," Gates said.

Wounded soldiers and veterans can now go through airport screening gates without removing their shoes, hats or light jackets, the Transportation Security Administration announced. The TSA's decision to ease screening for wounded soldiers comes about two weeks after the agency came under harsh criticism over the way it screened a wheelchair-bound U.S. Marine at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. In the March 13 incident, critics of the TSA say that screeners humiliated the Marine by forcing him to remove his prosthetic legs and then put them back on to walk through a full-body scanner.

It's a milestone week at one of California's most famous landmarks: Cash is no longer accepted at the Golden Gate Bridge. The move is expected to save money and speed traffic on the iconic span that opened in 1937. What does that mean to occasional travelers who don't own the FasTrack devices that bill electronically? Well, most car agencies include the devices with rental cars. For those passing over the bridge during a road trip, license plate scans will automatically send bills in the mail.