Hearings

The most ballyhooed name change of the year became official Friday morning when a Los Angeles County Superior Court commissioner approved the former Ron Artest's request to become Metta World Peace. Amid labor discord that threatens to delay, if not wipe out, the NBA season, there is World Peace. Photos: Famous name-changers He is 6 feet 7, wears No. 15 for the Lakers and once participated in the infamous "Palace brawl. " Anyone now making his acquaintance will be meeting Metta World Peace.

Every fan base needs a villain in a playoff series. Kings fans seem to be befuddled by which Phoenix Coyote to pick. There was Shane Doan , who scored two goals Sunday and continued his seek-and-hit ways in a 2-0 victory Sunday at Staples Center. There was goaltender Mike Smith , who made 36 saves to help the Coyotes avoid elimination in the Western Conference finals. Whom do you hate? "How about Dustin Brown ?" Coyotes backup goaltender Jason LaBarbera said.

If you think Bluetooth is a rare dental condition and an app is what you eat before the entree, you might not be a candidate for today's high-tech, whiz-bang smart phones. Instead, you might be happier with a mobile phone geared toward seniors. Those phones typically don't have Web-surfing capability, GPS maps and video games. Instead they have large buttons, oversized digital readouts and hearing-aid compatibility, along with a relatively simple calling plan. Although senior-friendly phones aren't new, their lower prices and variety are. A recent price skirmish among wireless companies means seniors can get an easy-to-use cellphone and cheap service to go with it, said Mac Haddow, senior fellow on public policy for the independent and nonprofit Alliance for Generational Equity.

Los Angeles County Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey gave conflicting testimony under oath during two union grievance hearings, attributing the contradiction to being confused and having problems with her blood sugar level, according to transcripts reviewed by The Times. Lacey, who is running for district attorney and has won major endorsements from newspapers, including The Times, testified under oath in 2009 and 2010 as part of a county employment dispute in which the union representing prosecutors accused the district attorney's office of retaliating against its officers.

Bob Brickman spent months fighting a ticket he got last fall from a red-light traffic camera at Wilshire and Sepulveda boulevards in West Los Angeles. The 61-year-old from Playa Vista eventually decided to give up the fight and fork over the $476 fine. Now he's regretting paying every penny. City officials this week spotlighted a surprising revelation involving red-light camera tickets: Authorities cannot force violators who simply don't respond to pay them. For a variety of reasons, including the way the law was written, Los Angeles officials say the fines for ticketed motorists are essentially "voluntary" and there are virtually no tangible consequences for those who refuse to pay. The disclosure comes as the city is considering whether to drop the controversial photo enforcement program, with the City Council scheduled to vote on the matter Wednesday.

Only seven federal judges in American history have been impeached and removed from office -- for offenses that include being intoxicated on the bench and waging war against the United States during the Civil War. On Tuesday, a special Senate impeachment committee finished five days of testimony to decide whether to add to the list a judge from New Orleans who ran up gambling debts, filed for bankruptcy under a false name and accepted gifts from...

This week, a federal judge in Washington is presiding over preliminary hearings in a case in which five employees of the Blackwater security firm are accused of killing 14 Iraqi civilians in 2007. A case involving the U.S. presence in Iraq is of obvious public interest, but if you want to get a seat in the courtroom -- or to read about what goes on there -- don't bother. District Judge Ricardo Urbina has closed the hearings to the public and the media. Urbina's action is an extreme and unjustifiable response to fears about pretrial publicity.

Congressional investigators opening hearings this week on Toyota's sudden-acceleration troubles say they will focus on discrepancies in the automaker's explanation of the problem, the role of regulators who oversee the industry -- and ultimately whether federal safety standards are grossly outdated, given the advanced electronics technology at the heart of modern car-making. Two House committee hearings, on Wednesday and on Feb. 25, will take place amid the high political pressures that shape Washington investigations.

Terror and religion Re "America's loyalty dance," Opinion, March 7 When I teach the very controversial subject matter of religion and violence to my UCLA students, I urge them to "analyze, not moralize. " How I wish Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) had enrolled in my course. He would learn that perceived persecution increases any group's extremism, as it did with 19th century Mormons. He would also learn that the first and most frequent victims of religious extremists are their fellow believers.

Soap opera fans were foaming at the mouth Tuesday over congressional hearings into the Iran- contra affair, aired by the three networks between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. They were not bubbling with rage over details of a possible political scandal, however. The hearings had preempted their favorite soaps.

WASHINGTON — JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon has agreed to testify at a hearing about the bank's $2-billion trading loss. The Senate Banking Committee has scheduled hearings with regulators for Tuesday and June 6 to discuss implementation of the 2010 financial reform law. Panel Chairman Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) said this week that JPMorgan's huge trading loss would be looked at during those hearings. But after aides of Johnson and the committee's top Republican, Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, were briefed by regulators and JPMorgan about the trading loss over the last week, Johnson said he decided to invite Dimon to testify.

Patricia McIntosh and her fellow La Puente residents have seen more than their fair share of city turmoil in recent years: Government officials accused of sexual harassment and excessive travel expenses. The threatened loss of municipal insurance. But when McIntosh got wind of a proposal to change the name of her beloved San Gabriel Valley city, the 82-year-old president of the La Puente Valley Historical Society had to speak out. "That's ludicrous," she said. "It'd be like coming in and saying we'd like to change the name of California.

A long memory isn't required to figure out why Metta World Peace became a main story line for the Western Conference semifinals. He was hit with a seven-game suspension for elbowing Oklahoma City guard James Harden in the head three weeks ago. The Lakers begin the semifinals Monday at the home of the Thunder. "It'll be ironic. I assume that the fans won't love it," World Peace told The Times in a quiet moment before Game 7. "People can say what they want, but that's going to the most entertainment Oklahoma City has had since they've been Oklahoma City.

This is how all new beginnings should be. All energy and smiles and positive vibes. Stan Kasten is on the move and taking it all in. He's greeting season-ticket holders as they enter the stadium. He's meeting with ushers, security personnel and ticket takers. He's walking the loge, the reserved and the field levels. He's talking to fans and ushers and complete strangers, and welcoming them all to Dodger Stadium. An attractive woman walks up and hugs the new team president.

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba — Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the boastful self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, sat in a small blue chair for hours at the opening of his capital murder trial — holding his tongue. As Saturday wore on, it became clear that Mohammed and the four other defendants were staging a silent protest, aimed at both confounding the U.S. military court system here and demonstrating to the outside world that they do not acknowledge America's control over them.

California lawmakers and advocates for children with autism assailed the state Department of Developmental Services during a hearing Monday over the deep racial and ethnic disparities in how it spends money on the disorder. "Families that are already the most disadvantaged get the least," Martha Matthews, an attorney for the advocacy group Public Counsel, testified before a panel of legislators in Sacramento. "This is exactly the opposite of what it should be. " State Sen. Darrell Steinberg, who heads a committee on autism, called for legislation to provide greater accountability in the $4-billion-a-year entitlement program for people with developmental disabilities.

In a victory for the Bush administration, the Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a challenge to the use of secret deportation hearings authorized after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Without comment, the justices turned away an appeal brought by news organizations in New Jersey. So far, the high court has shown no interest in taking up legal claims that have arisen recently in the war on terrorism.

Re "Alito Remains Unruffled in Testy Hearings," Jan. 12 It's hard to believe what is happening at the hearings on the nomination of Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court. The fine job that select senators are doing at smearing this judicial servant is appalling to watch or read about. It leaves me wondering how any right-minded young man or woman would ever want to get into the political arena, where such feeding to the lions is practiced routinely. MICHAEL KELLEY Riverside The Times' headline said: "Alito Tells Skeptical Democrats He Would Keep an Open Mind" (Jan.

WASHINGTON - In what is shaping up as Round 2 for the Supreme Court and President Obama, the justices are hearing a highly charged clash over Arizona's planned crackdown on illegal immigrants and the administration's effort to block it. Obama's lawyers won in lower courts in Phoenix and San Francisco, but the high court is considering Arizona's appeal during oral arguments. It is a rematch for the two attorneys who argued in last month's constitutional challenge to Obama's healthcare law. This time, the issue is whether the federal government's traditional control over immigration prevents states such as Arizona from authorizing their police to stop and arrest suspected illegal aliens.

NEW YORK — We won't get fooled again. Unlike a year ago, when an early run on quarterbacks caught most NFL draft prognosticators flat-footed, most have now resigned themselves to the notion that the QB count might reach four before the first round is done Thursday night. And the first two passers are already penned in. Stanford's Andrew Luck will be the No. 1 pick, by Indianapolis, and Washington will take Baylor's Robert Griffin III second. It will be the first time quarterbacks have gone 1-2 in the draft since 1999.