Growing

Fernando Larios eyes the stand of plantains running along one side of the Francis Avenue Community Garden in Koreatown. A large cluster of fruit, just out of arm's reach, is almost ready. “It'll be two more months,” says Larios, who has been keeping an eye on these plantains since someone poached the last cluster. Once the fruit is harvested, the entire plant will be cut down to the ground, and others will rise up, he says. Most of the plant's energy is underground, and pups will sprout up around the mother plant.

Angels owner Arte Moreno was not thrilled with Houston's move to the American League West because the Astros are two time zones away, they're not a natural rival, and they probably won't be much of a draw at the gate. Moreno's players, coaches and manager probably don't share those sentiments. The Astros will play their first division game in Angel Stadium on Friday night, and the guys in the home dugout, though they'd never admit it publicly, will be ecstatic. Finally, a team the Angels can compete with.

Re "This landscaping is a crime," Column, April 7 As a Los Angeles taxpayer, this irks me no end. A $170-million cost overrun for the Los Angeles Police Department's new headquarters, with $1 million spent on failed landscaping? You have got to be kidding me. This doesn't even include the extra $400,000 on the latest "upgrade" to fix the grounds surrounding the building. Los Angeles should follow the example of many cities in Nevada and Arizona: Plop down some sand, boulders, native plants and cactus and be done with it. It looks great, it's ecologically sound and it's cheaper to maintain.

At 35, Kelly Oxford is Hollywood's latest "It" girl, a Twitter superstar with a following of more than 460,000, who last year sold her first screenplay to Warner Bros. (Drew Barrymore is in talks to direct) and will soon begin work on a television pilot. Now the Canadian-born mother of three has published a book of essays, "Everything is Perfect When You're a Liar" (It Books: 318 pp., $25.99), which chronicles her misadventures growing up in Edmonton. Oxford's writing is marked by the same wry voice that's made her a social media sensation.

MEXICO CITY - Debate is intensifying over armed vigilante patrols that have sprung up in crime-plagued sections of rural Mexico, particularly in the state of Guerrero, where some patrols joined forces this week with a radical teachers union that has been wreaking havoc with massive protests, vandalism and violent confrontations with police. The two groups, on the surface, would appear to have little in common. The vigilante patrols, typically made up of masked campesinos , are among dozens that have emerged in the countryside in recent months, purporting to protect their communities from the depredations of the drug cartels.

NEW YORK - Nick Cave, the moody Australian statesman of majestic post-punk folk rock, was only midway through answering the second question of an early interview in Manhattan when he stopped the conversation to try to clarify a point. Settling in at a corner table in the sumptuous lobby of a boutique hotel downtown, dressed in a striped satin shirt and black sport coat, Cave had been describing the improvisational approach he and his band, the Bad Seeds, took to writing the nine songs featured on their latest studio album, "Push the Sky Away.

WASHINGTON - The commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific reassured Congress on Tuesday that the U.S. military could intercept any missile launched by North Korea and aimed at America's territory or its East Asian allies. Adm. Samuel Locklear's briefing to senators came amid growing concern that North Korea is about to test a missile - some observers suggest as early as Wednesday - after weeks of bellicose threats. "We have a credible ability to defend the homeland, to defend Hawaii, to defend Guam, to defend our forward deployed forces and to defend our allies," Locklear told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

California courts, reeling from years of state budget cuts, are delaying hearings and trials, allowing records to sit unprocessed for months and slashing services at public windows, a judge's committee has reported. The report by the Trial Court Presiding Judges Advisory Committee was based on a survey of all presiding judges and prepared for the Judicial Council, the policy-making body for the courts. All but 10 of the state's counties responded to the survey. The survey represented the most in-depth look yet of how California courts are faring with less money and suggested that the effect of the cuts is growing.

Business travel spending is expected to rise 5.1% in 2013, a sign of a stronger economy and high consumer confidence, according to a trade group for business travel managers. The Global Business Travel Assn.'s latest prediction is an increase from its last prediction of a 4.6% increase in business travel spending over 2012. Travel spending grew by only 1.8% in 2012 over the previous year. The 5.1% increase means business travelers in the U.S. will spend an estimated $268.5 billion in 2013, according to the trade group.

Visitors to Honolulu will be able to mingle with the locals while learning more about Hawaiian culture at the Grow Hawaiian Festival on April 20. The event, the sixth-annual, will be at the Bishop Museum , 1525 Bernice St. From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., the Great Lawn of the museum will play host to a variety of artisans and vendors. Craftspeople will demonstrate a variety of skills. Hawaiian cuisine will be available at various stalls. Musicians and hula dancers will entertain.