Hearts

Vietnam veteran John Otte did his best to forget the war. He got married, raised two sons and made a career working at credit unions. But as Otte neared retirement, memories of combat flooded back. Starting in 2005, he filed a series of claims with Veterans Affairs for disability compensation, contending that many of his health problems stemmed from the war. The VA agreed, and now the 65-year-old with two Purple Hearts receives $1,900 a month for post-traumatic stress disorder and diabetes - and for having shrapnel scars on his arms.

The Dodgers - and their world-record payroll - have sunk to the bottom of the National League West. The Angels - and their collection of superstar hitters - are flailing in the depths of the American League West. We thought we would be talking about the Dodgers and Angels meeting in a Freeway Series in October, not about whether the Dodgers and Angels would fire their managers before the Freeway Series at the end of May. Josh Hamilton is fighting to keep his batting average above the Mendoza Line.

How can you tell if you or someone you know is having a heart attack? Sometimes the symptoms can be surprisingly subtle. "They can be very different from person to person, between women and men and even within an individual who has more than one heart attack," says Dr. David Rizik, director of Interventional Cardiology for Scottsdale Healthcare Hospitals, in Scottsdale, Ariz. Men and women may experience atypical heart attack symptoms. In contrast to the "classic" chest-splitting, gasping-for-breath symptoms, many heart attacks begin with symptoms that are so mild they are often mistaken for indigestion or muscle ache.

TUPELO, Miss. - Federal agents of all sorts invaded northeast Mississippi several days ago, on a mission: Find the man who sent a poison-laced letter to the president. But the United States government quickly found itself entangled, once again, in a misunderstood land dominated by squabbling tribes and petty vengeances. Agents first arrested an Elvis impersonator, released him, then on Saturday arrested his nemesis, a karate instructor. Gradually investigators concluded that what they had descended upon was probably less about the president - or the U.S. senator and retired state judge who also received letters - than a serious case of indigenous bickering.

Until recently, very few people had ever heard of raspberry ketones, the aromatic compounds that give the berries their distinctive smell. Today, health food stores have trouble keeping the capsules or drops of the stuff on their shelves. Almost overnight, an obscure plant compound became the next big thing in weight loss - and all it took was a few words from Dr. Oz. In a February episode of "The Dr. Oz Show," Mehmet Oz told viewers that raspberry ketones were "the No. 1 miracle in a bottle to burn your fat. " Once Oz calls something a "miracle," it doesn't remain obscure for long.

How do you let Justin Bieber know you're there when you're in a crowd of thousands at the Staples Center? You ditch school early and persuade your mom or dad to leave work to drive you. You wear purple because purple is Justin's favorite color. You write SWAGGY in gold sparkle on your T-shirt because Swaggy is Justin's special, made-up word. On your left sneaker, in Puffy Paint, you draw a fat red heart. On your right sneaker, you put the silver initials JB. You stand in front of the arena's still-locked doors hours before you'll be let in. And you join other true Beliebers singing his songs -   "You are my love, you are my heart, and we will never, ever, ever, be apart" -  only you really mean it, and you know he'll know it as soon as he steps outside long enough to lock eyes with you. PHOTOS: Justin Bieber comes to the Staples Center You are 5 maybe, or 6 or 10 or even 17 - and you carry the sign you spent all weekend making that says that you are his "one less lonely girl.

Hearts of the City The Selected Writings of Herbert Muschamp Herbert Muschamp Alfred A. Knopf: 888 pp., $50 In December 1997, with the Getty Center finally set to open its expansive hilltop campus after more than a decade of frustration, Herbert Muschamp told readers of the New York Times that, at the very least, the museum could "take pride in arousing discontent." If that read like a backhanded compliment, it shouldn't have, given the source. "Conflict is the most important cultural product a city puts out," Muschamp would later write.

Go ahead, wear your heart on your sleeve. That's the dress code of “Where the Great Ones Run,” Mark Roberts' sweet tale of fame and regret. A 99-seat “Crazy Heart,” this tender 80-minute dramedy has the makings of a mellow hit for Rogue Machine Theatre. Country music star Sonny Burl (Jeff Kober) has left a trail of human debris on his way to the top: estranged wife Marylou (Holly Fulger), who runs a truck stop in their Indiana hometown; feisty daughter Julie (Lily Holleman)

I am in search of the King of Hearts. Day after day, I try to trace his meandering trail through the hills. Hansel dropped breadcrumbs to find his way back home. My mystery king scattered hearts to help his queen find him. They are strewn all over Beachwood Canyon in Hollywood, outlined in sunflower yellow and white paint. They're on curbs. They're on lampposts. They're on bus benches. They're on the beige telephone cross-connection boxes in front of quite a few Beachwood Drive apartment buildings.

Friends, family and First Lady Michelle Obama gathered Saturday afternoon to remember Hadiya Pendleton, the 15-year-old Chicago majorette who was fatally shot a week after she performed at President Obama's inauguration. Hadiya -- who was shot in a park near her school in what police believe was a case of mistaken identity involving gangs -- was described by Rev. Michael Pfleger as an “innocent victim of gun violence.” Her killing, he said, raised a question: “When did we lose our soul?

BOSTON -- Officials here are eager to get their city back to normal, though criminal investigators may still be examining the site of the Boston Marathon blasts for another couple of days, Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis said Sunday. Officials on Sunday afternoon began moving the mementos, flowers and flags that have amassed around Boylston Street as Boston awaits the Federal Bureau of Investigation's release of several city blocks that became a crime scene after Monday's blasts.

Aventine , a new Italian restaurant, sits just north of the Hollywood corner of Cahuenga and Selma, in the historic Marion Building. Brothers Gian-Paolo Veronese, chef Adolfo Veronese and restaurateurs Sylvain Bitton (Les Deux), JT Torregiani (Beso) and David Jarrett (the Dolce Group) have brought the second location of the San Francisco restaurant, named after hills in Rome, to the heart of Hollywood.  On Monday evening, the restaurant is full by 9. Actors Hunter Parish and Dan Byrd are among the diners inside, while a pair of hungry paparazzi with cameras trained at the entrance camp out just beyond the door.

We all know that smoking is bad for us, that exercise is good for us, and that we should eat vegetables, whole grains and other nutritious foods. All of this advice is even more true for people who have had serious health scares due to heart disease or stroke. And yet, 14% of people who have had a heart attack, stroke, heart surgery or serious chest pain continue to ignore these common sense recommendations, according to new research in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.

Full Tilt Poker founder Raymond Bitar, accused of using online player funds to finance his company in what prosecutors called a Ponzi scheme, pleaded guilty but was spared from serving time in prison because he needs a heart transplant. U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska on Monday approved a plea agreement between Bitar, 41, and prosecutors, sentencing him to the seven days he served in jail last year, after saying a prison sentence would kill him. Bitar, who participated in a hearing in Manhattan federal court by video link from Los Angeles, near his home, pleaded guilty to two felonies that carry a maximum sentence of 35 years in prison.

Joe Mantello, who was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance as Ned Weeks in the 2011 Broadway production of "The Normal Heart,” has signed on for a different role in Ryan Murphy's film adaptation. Mantello will play Mickey Marcus in the on-screen incarnation of Larry Kramer's autobiographical drama about the early days of the AIDS epidemic in New York City. The previously announced Mark Ruffalo will star as activist Weeks. Emmy-winner Murphy (“Glee”) will direct the “Normal Heart” film, which Kramer adapted from his 1985 landmark play.

Actors' Gang stalwart Brian T. Finney invites us to once again venture deep into the interior of the African Congo in his adaptation of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," now at the Ivy Substation. This stripped-down Actors' Gang production zooms in on Finney's intensely contained performance as Marlow, the seaman who tells the story of his obsessive pursuit of the mysterious Kurtz, an ivory trader who has come to symbolize, among other things, the insatiable greed of imperial conquest.

Fairy tales continue to be woven together in "Once Upon a Time," and the "Queen of Hearts" episode ties those bonds stronger while baiting viewers with the promise of a magical gunfight in the Storybrooke corral as the inevitable Cora versus Regina battle looms. It's as good a place as any to have the midseason intermission. The show will not return until Jan. 6, but for now we'll concern ourselves with this last tale of 2012. We start with the resourceful, yet always manipulated Captain Hook in the past, still going after his "crocodile," Rumpelstiltskin.

And that's how an entire organization suddenly gasps for breath. Not exactly the way Yasiel Puig did Friday, but he was very much at the center of it all. Puig has been something beyond sensational in his first major league camp, but after the outfielder dived for Brandon Phillips' sinking liner in the top of the fifth inning Friday, he remained sprawled on the ground for several minutes. Hearts stopped throughout Camelback Ranch. Puig has been the phenom of phenoms this spring, batting .520, showing power and speed.

The long-established link between red meat consumption and heart disease may have less to do with the fat in the meat than many have assumed, researchers said Sunday.  Writing in the journal Nature Medicine , a team led by Dr. Stanley Hazen of the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland pointed instead to the nutrient L- carnitine -- a substance involved in the digestion of fat and also a popular dietary supplement -- as a key artery-hardening culprit. ...

ARLINGTON, Texas — Among the dozens of framed photos in the offices of the Texas Rangers are action shots of Josh Hamilton, one of the former Rangers slugger, arms thrust skyward and a "Can you believe this?" grin on his face, from that memorable 2008 home run derby in Yankee Stadium. But Jon Daniels' favorite image of Hamilton, one that sits on the desk of the Rangers' general manager, is a plain 3-by-5 print of a shot taken by a friend in Seattle's Safeco Field. In it, Hamilton, who Friday will play his first game in Texas since signing a five-year, $125-million deal with the Angels, has his back to the camera and is leaning down to talk to a boy in a wheelchair next to the dugout.