Hunt

I saw the sign, looked away, then back again. Were they kidding? "Two Suits $99." Were they made out of cat hair? Do you wear them once and then compost them? Maybe it was an example of a loss leader, an item priced below cost to lure people into the store for other purchases. I saw that sign on a recent trip to New York and when I got back, I began trolling the fashion district in downtown L.A. to see if anyone could match the offer and explain the economics of clothing that cheap.

DALLAS -- Rarely do the Olympics, javelinas and chewing tobacco wind up in the same story. But then, rarely do the Olympics encounter someone like Brady Ellison. The young man tugs a faded cap down over curls of blond hair and explains that, if it weren't for a steady hand and a sharp eye, he might still be hunting hogs on the ranch. "I'm a country boy at heart," he says. For now, his singular talents have led him in a different direction: Ellison heads into summer as the world's top-ranked archer and a good bet to win gold at the 2012 London Olympics.

The tale told by former Los Angeles Times reporters Terry McDermott and Josh Meyer in "The Hunt for KSM," the story of the pursuit, capture and interrogation of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, mastermind of9/11, at times so resembles something straight out of "24" or the Bourne movies that the authors have to keep reminding the reader that this is for real. On the one hand, "The Hunt for KSM" is a flat-out thriller. On the other, it lays out aspects of our factual contemporary world that are far more ambiguous, internecine and dangerous than anything Hollywood dare contemplate.

The tale told by former Los Angeles Times reporters Terry McDermott and Josh Meyer in "The Hunt for KSM," the story of the pursuit, capture and interrogation of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, mastermind of9/11, at times so resembles something straight out of "24" or the Bourne movies that the authors have to keep reminding the reader that this is for real. On the one hand, "The Hunt for KSM" is a flat-out thriller. On the other, it lays out aspects of our factual contemporary world that are far more ambiguous, internecine and dangerous than anything Hollywood dare contemplate.

One of the lessons most people carry away from the schoolyard is that picking an avoidable quarrel with somebody who really likes to fight generally is a losing proposition. It's too bad nobody reminded the Obama administration of that before it launched into its ill-advised campaign against Fox News. First of all, even though the White House is right on the merits when it describes Fox News as operating mainly as a surrogate for the Republican Party, making an issue of that fact is a tactical mistake.

Whether it's planting a steel-tipped spear between the shoulder blades of an elk or his Minnesota Vikings helmet between the numbers of a quarterback, Jared Allen is all about the hunt. But even the most patient of hunters has his limits, and Allen has pretty much reached his when it comes to Minnesota's months-long pursuit of Brett Favre. "If we get Brett, then that's a bonus," the All-Pro defensive end said in a phone interview.

As a kid growing up in Ormond Beach, Fla., a few miles from Daytona International Speedway, Alan Gustafson idolized NASCAR driver Mark Martin, whose autographed memorabilia cards hung in Gustafson's bedroom. Now, Gustafson is Martin's crew chief as the 50-year-old driver takes one more stab at winning his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship, which would be Gustafson's first as well.

OK, OK, so Andre Ethier has really cemented his reputation now as the Dodgers' walk-off specialist. But his gritty, lefty-against lefty, self-disciplined approach -- resulting in a walk at a time when everyone was expecting something so much more heroic -- is now becoming the Dodgers' trademark for success. And while Ethier might be the ultimate closer when it comes to tough at-bats, as rallies go, the biggest instigator so far this postseason is Casey Blake . Blake's a duck killer too, but I'm so happy to report today on the opening of the hunting season back in the middle of one-stoplight country that Blake's weapon of choice will continue to be a bat. Six sweet little birdies, the daily limit -- four mallards and two hens -- will live another day and maybe a whole lot longer because the killer, camouflaged recently as just another easy out in the Dodgers' lineup, seems more interested in keeping his team alive.

The Hunt for KSM: Inside the Pursuit and Takedown of the Real 9/11 Mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed By Terry McDermott and Josh Meyer Little Brown: 368 pp., $27.99

Re "Hunt for Fugitives Expands to Retirees," Feb. 13: Let me get this straight. The government is using its Fugitive Felon Project to cut off benefits to alleged felons -- who get between $300 to $900 per month -- to save money for Social Security. However, if these same "felons" are incarcerated -- or after losing their benefits, out of desperation they commit another crime just to get food -- it will cost the government about $30,000 per year to house them. This makes sense? How about a little common sense within the government -- or is that too much to ask?

The Hunt for KSM: Inside the Pursuit and Takedown of the Real 9/11 Mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed By Terry McDermott and Josh Meyer Little Brown: 368 pp., $27.99

Mark Walter lives in Chicago. Stan Kasten spent most of his adult life in Atlanta. Peter Guber is an L.A. guy. So, when Guber pitched a nostalgic idea on behalf of L.A. fans, his partners in the new Dodgers ownership group listened. "Curly Coo," Guber told Kasten. "There is nothing like a Curly Coo. " Google that, and you get a bar in Scotland. Kasten had no idea what the heck Guber was talking about. Millions of Dodgers fans could have explained, the ones who cheered on Garvey, Lopes, Russell and Cey, the ones who rooted for Valenzuela, Hershiser and Piazza, all with ice cream dripping down the sides of their faces.

A proposed California Senate bill to outlaw the use of dogs to hunt bears and bobcats in the state gets a hearing Tuesday before the Natural Resources and Water Committee and the dozens of supporters and opponents expected to show. The hunting of bears and bobcats (not mountain lions) is legal but highly regulated in California. There are quotas, seasons and various limitations, such as a ban on killing cubs or mother bears with cubs in tow. The state does allow hunters to deploy dogs, often outfitted with radio telemetry devices on their collars, to track bears or bobcats.

California's labor market continued its slow improvement in March as employers added jobs for the eighth straight month. Payrolls grew by 18,200 jobs last month, according to figures released Friday by the California Employment Development Department. That's on top of a revised gain of 38,600 jobs in February. The unemployment rate increased to 11% in March, up slightly from February's 10.9% rate. Improved employment prospects have encouraged more idled California workers to start job hunting again, driving the unemployment rate higher, said Dennis Meyers, principal economist for the state's Department of Finance.

SEATTLE -- Just when they thought Ted Nugent didn't have any more arrows to unleash, it turns out he did: specifically, an arrow aimed at a bear during a hunting trip in southeastern Alaska that has now landed the rocker-turned-outdoorsman in federal court. In a plea agreement filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, Nugent will plead guilty to one count of transporting an illegally hunted bear - an offense that could result in a $10,000 fine. Nugent, 63, was on Alaska's Sukkwan Island in May 2009 filming an episode of his Outdoor Channel television show, “Ted Nugent Spirit of the Wild,” which is described on his website as the “ultimate hands-on conservation lifestyle television show.” According to court documents, he was bow hunting near a bait station designed to attract black bears when he fired an arrow that wounded a bear, which then ran off. Nugent “failed to locate and harvest the wounded black bear,” the plea agreement said, and then four days later, he shot and killed another black bear at one of the registered bait sites and then transported it off the island.

When Yannick Villanueva of Woodland Hills El Camino Real was seen in a West Valley League baseball game last month, he had bleached his hair blond and there were strange-looking polka dots on the side. "I was going for the cheetah spots, and it didn't turn out as I had thought," he said. On Wednesday, with his hair back to normal, he came off the bench as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the sixth inning in a one-run game against Chatsworth and delivered a two-run single that turned out to be a decisive blow in El Camino Real's 7-5 West Valley League victory.

Former astronaut James Irwin shrugged off recent heart trouble today and said he will fly over Mt. Ararat in eastern Turkey to resume his five-year hunt for Noah's Ark. Irwin, who walked on the moon in 1971 during the U.S. Apollo-15 space mission, said "God does not want me to die. He gave me a chance to find Noah's Ark."

The Nov. 28 article, "Alaska Starts Aerial Wolf Hunt," left out three crucial points. One, Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski ignored the wishes of 70% of Alaska's voters to protect the wolves from aerial hunts. Two, the hunts are carried out in a cruel way in which the wolves are chased down to the point of exhaustion and collapse, then they are shot at point-blank range. And three, the "effort to boost the moose and caribou population" has nothing to do with protecting these species; it's to ensure a large enough population to appease the hunting lobby, which brings millions of dollars.

The mountain lion hunt that put California Fish and Game Commission President Daniel W. Richards in the center of a political firestorm has him in trouble again. The enforcement chief for the state's Fair Political Practices Commission informed Richards on Thursday that he had violated the gift limits of the Political Reform Act when he went on the Idaho hunt but failed to pay the fee that the Flying B Ranch usually imposes. Richards eventually reimbursed the ranch $6,800 on March 5, but he did it after the expiration of the 30-day time period that state officials are given to pay back the value of an illegal gift, and after a complaint had already been filed with the FPPC.

SACRAMENTO — The president of the California Fish and Game Commission violated state gift limits when he accepted a free guided cougar hunt in Idaho, ethics officials alleged Thursday. But Daniel W. Richards belatedly reimbursed the Flying B Ranch for the $6,800 hunt after media outlets reported the Idaho outing, so the enforcement chief of the Fair Political Practices Commission issued a warning letter rather than seek fines. State law bars officials from accepting gifts of more than $420 from certain sources.