Identification

His name might not rank with Amelia Earhart's and Judge Crater's, but the disappearance of Everett Ruess has been an enduring legend of the Southwest for 75 years. Only 20 at the time of his disappearance, the writer, artist and environmentalist who has been compared to a young John Muir was last seen near Utah's Davis Gulch in 1934. Numerous search parties failed to find him, and authors have speculated widely about his demise. Many believed he drowned in the Colorado River.

The federal government's E-Verify program, which seeks to reduce the hiring of illegal immigrants, is becoming increasingly popular, with 1,000 new businesses signing up each week despite concerns about its reliability. More than 124,000 businesses, including nearly 10,000 in California, are signed up for the Web-based identification program that enables employers to check whether an employee is authorized to work, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

In a nondescript manufacturing plant on a quiet San Fernando cul-de-sac, a khaki-green machine the size of a buffet table sucks in bright pink ribbon and spits out one of the hottest features in theme parks. Here, Precision Dynamics Corp., a company that began making plastic hospital wristbands out of a Burbank garage more than 50 years ago, has become the nation's top producer of a new microchip-enhanced wristband for amusement parks, concerts, resorts and gyms.

The Supreme Court gave a skeptical hearing Wednesday to the government's use of a strong new identity theft law against illegal workers who use fake ID cards. Last year, U.S. immigration agents raided a meat-packing plant in Iowa and arrested 389 workers for having false documents. About two-thirds of them were charged with aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory two-year prison term. Lawyers say this charge is used as a bargaining chip.

Mexican officials have confirmed that human remains found in a barrel of chemicals in Rosarito are of a San Diego man, an alleged marijuana smuggler who disappeared after traveling to Mexico in February. Daniel LaPorte's parents, who live in Rhode Island, said they will arrange for remains kept by Mexican authorities for DNA testing to be cremated and sent to them. They expect to hold a memorial service next month.

As owners of one of the oldest ferry services in America, Tom and Judy Bixler steer their craft across the narrow Tred Avon River dozens of times each summer day to link two sleepy Chesapeake Bay towns known for crabs, not jihadists. "The ferry goes pretty slowly," Judy Bixler said of the seasonal service, which dates back to 1683. "It's not like someone could commandeer it and go anywhere." But under a little-known domestic security program, the Bixlers and about 1.

The U.S. and Swiss governments and banking giant UBS indicated Sunday that they were seeking a settlement and asked a federal judge to delay high-stakes hearings on the Internal Revenue Service's effort to identify thousands of suspected U.S. tax evaders. The motion, filed in Miami less than 24 hours before the hearings were to begin today, sought postponement until Aug. 3 "to allow the two governments to continue their discussions seeking a resolution of this matter."

The Los Angeles County coroner's office Wednesday identified Upland resident James Ortega, 52, as the seventh of nine people killed during a Christmas Eve rampage. Coroner's officials already had identified six of the victims, including Ortega's wife, Teresa Ortega, 51, who was shot in the leg but died from smoke inhalation and burns. Also killed were Alicia Ortiz, 46; Charles Ortega, 50, of West Covina and his wife, Cheri Ortega, 45; Joseph Ortega, 80, and his wife, Alicia Ortega, 70.

The remains of Navy Capt. Michael Scott Speicher were found in the Iraqi desert about 1.2 miles from the crash site examined by U.S. investigators in 1995, the Navy said Friday. The Navy also said further DNA testing of bone fragments had confirmed the identity of the remains. On Sunday, the service had announced an initial identification based on dental records. The U.S. military had long searched for the remains of Speicher, whose F/A-18 Hornet warplane was shot down on Jan. 17, 1991, the first night of the Persian Gulf War. The initial tip came from a Bedouin tribesman who was 11 when the plane was shot down, the Navy said Friday.

Many days, Jamal King stands at South Vermont Avenue and West 46th Street in South Los Angeles, his muscled arms covered with tattoos flaunting his membership in the Rolling 40s, a drug-running criminal gang. His former foster father often drives past slowly, wagging his finger. "I know people look at me and just see a gangbanger," King said. "It's not really who I am. It's just temporary." But King's hope for a better life is hobbled by more than poverty and his surroundings -- he lacks a birth certificate.