House Play

Sand has turned into real estate in the Mandalay Beach area in Oxnard, one of the last prime stretches of available beachfront property in Southern California. Three years ago, the California Coastal Commission granted approval to develop the previously untouched sand dune area. As it has shaped up so far, the neighborhood is very quiet, consisting mostly of second homes.

In their frequent visits to Colombia, top U.S. officials couldn't be more supportive of the government, repeatedly describing it as a friend and key ally in the war on drugs. But when Colombia refused to exempt all Americans from the jurisdiction of the newly formed International Criminal Court, U.S. officials took a hard line.

Amid mounting pressure from the nearby White House, negotiators for the baseball owners and players put the central issue of management's proposed luxury tax on hold Thursday while narrowing differences on issues classified as non-economic. Both Donald Fehr, the union leader, and John Harrington, the owners' chief negotiator, said that special mediator William J. Usery has made it clear that President Clinton expects a settlement or significant progress by his deadline of Monday.

Score one more for the White House, which may keep its secrets to the bitter end. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court refused to take up the case of El-Masri vs. United States.

Do your kids groove on ghoulish surprises, repulsive zombies, spidery spectres and bloodied ape-like creatures around Halloween? Then take them to a haunted house and scare the pants off them. And maybe yourself. Ventura County has at least three haunted houses this year that register at varying points on the scare meter. Consider your child's age and fright tolerance before leaving home.

In 1922, at the age of 35, Rudolf M. Schindler designed and built an inexpensive house at 835 N. Kings Road. Made of poured concrete, planks straight from the lumberyard and hardware-store plumbing, the one-story structure combined studio space and living quarters the journeyman architect and his wife shared with another couple. Today, Schindler's Kings Road House is known the world over as a masterpiece of Modern architecture.

For years, Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez), a staunch environmentalist, has battled developers as chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. Now his fight is over. Come January, Miller is expected to be replaced by Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), a strong proponent of development whose peeves include the strict government regulation of millions of acres of federal land in his state. As a member of the minority, the once-powerful Miller will have little sway over the committee agenda.

Just days before U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq, officials claiming to speak for a frantic Iraqi regime made a last-ditch effort to avert war, but U.S. officials rebuffed the overture, the intermediary and U.S. officials said Thursday. An influential advisor to the Defense Department received a secret message from a Lebanese-American businessman indicating that President Saddam Hussein wanted to make a deal, they said.

After President Bush lauded South Korea's troop contribution to Iraq's reconstruction as a "gesture of friendship," White House officials sought to downplay reports today about that country's intention to draw down its forces. Published reports quoted South Korean government sources as saying the country intended to reduce its contingent of about 3,600 troops by one-third. But a U.S. spokesman said Bush administration officials were "unaware of any such formal announcement."

In his new book, "Total Recall," former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger explains why he didn't want to talk to the media when it was discovered that he had fathered a child with the family housekeeper. "I wanted to protect my family's privacy," Schwarzenegger writes, "which remains a priority of mine today. " That being the case, a question comes to mind. If Schwarzenegger wants to protect his family's privacy, what was he doing on "60 Minutes" Sunday night, talking about that affair and admitting to a number of others?