James

Two 17-year-old girls have been sentenced for torturing and butchering an elderly woman, less than three weeks after a pair of 10-year-olds were charged with murdering a toddler. Again, a troubled nation is asking, how could this happen? Edna Phillips, 70, was throttled with her dog's leash and stabbed or slashed 86 times. The mental images of the crime have shocked the nation just as the video pictures of little James Bulger being led to his death did last month.

LeBron James of the Miami Heat was the leading vote-getter for the All-NBA team, and the Lakers' Kobe Bryant earned his 10th first-team selection, tied for second on the all-time list. Bryant, a first-team pick for the seventh straight season, joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar , Elgin Baylor , Bob Cousy , Michael Jordan , Bob Pettit and Jerry West with 10 selections to the first team. Karl Malone is the leader with 11. James, who won his third most-valuable-player award, received 118 of a possible 120 first-team votes Thursday from a panel of writers and broadcasters.

The wait for tables is getting longer at Buck's, a popular breakfast spot for the tech elite and a weather vane for the Silicon Valley economy. Here, like everywhere else, Facebook is the talk of the town. "Charles Schwab was in the restaurant the other day, and I asked him to hook me up with some Facebook shares," said Jamis MacNiven, owner of Buck's, in the wealthy suburban enclave of Woodside. "He told me even he can't get Facebook shares. " The new tech boom officially gets underway Friday when Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg rings Nasdaq's opening bell remotely from the company's Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters, launching the largest initial public offering of stock in Silicon Valley history.

It seemed a star-studded marriage: James Stewart, a three-time champion of off-road motorcycle racing, signed a multiyear contract with the Yamaha motorcycle team of Joe Gibbs Racing of NASCAR fame. The plan also was for Gibbs to provide a path for Stewart to pursue his goal of becoming a NASCAR stock car driver when his motorcycle days were over. But only seven months after announcing their union, Stewart and Gibbs recently parted ways and Stewart has signed with a new team, Yoshimura Suzuki, for both motocross and supercross.

The biggest home in Los Angeles County is ready for a new nickname: The 56,500-square-foot Manor, dubbed Candyland after owner Candy Spelling, has been sold to another wealthy socialite, British heiress Petra Ecclestone, in an all-cash deal for $85 million. As steep as that price is, it's not a record or even close to what Spelling was asking. The priciest Southland home transaction was the 2000 sale of an 8-acre estate in Bel-Air to financial executive Gary Winnick in a deal that included the trade of other land, for a total value of about $94 million.

There's so much to praise in the blissful Broadway revival of "Follies," which opened Wednesday at the Ahmanson Theatre on the heels of its numerous Tony nominations, but let's pay homage first to the sheer sophistication of the show itself. After experiencing "Follies" again - an adult entertainment if ever there was one - I flat-out refuse to accept any more jukebox substitutes. One doesn't often talk about architecture when writing about musicals, but the most impressive thing about "Follies," beyond Stephen Sondheim's bejeweled score, is the ingenious way it is constructed.

Most voters have by now received their sample ballots, and those who plan to vote by mail are sending in their applications. The June 5 election is underway right now. It is noteworthy for several reasons. Los Angeles County voters will be selecting a new district attorney, and this is the first time since 1964 that there is no incumbent trying to hold onto the seat. The field is wide open. To win outright in this nonpartisan race, a candidate must get more than 50% of the vote.

It seemed a star-studded marriage: James Stewart, a three-time champion of off-road motorcycle racing, signed a multiyear contract with the Yamaha motorcycle team of Joe Gibbs Racing of NASCAR fame. The plan also was for Gibbs to provide a path for Stewart to pursue his goal of becoming a NASCAR stock car driver when his motorcycle days were over. But only seven months after announcing their union, Stewart and Gibbs recently parted ways and Stewart has signed with a new team, Yoshimura Suzuki, for both motocross and supercross.

Today, a century and a half after Charles Darwin published "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection," the overwhelming majority of scientists in the United States accept Darwinian evolution as the basis for understanding how life on Earth developed. But although evolutionary theory is often portrayed as antithetical to religion, it has not destroyed the religious faith of the scientific community. According to a survey of members of the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science, conducted by the Pew Research Center in May and June this year, a majority of scientists (51%)

Their name conjures up the most celebrated moment of America's post-Sept. 11 military campaigns. Now the Navy SEALs belong to a grimmer chapter in history: the most deadly incident for U.S. forces in the 10-year Afghanistan war. Three months after they killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in neighboring Pakistan and cemented their place in military legend, the SEALs suffered a devastating loss when nearly two dozen of the elite troops were among...

Motion picture executive Brad Kembel and his partner Jimmy Ferrareze have bought the landmark James Eads How House in Silver Lake for $1.3 million. Designed by modern architect Rudolph Schindler in 1925, the restored and updated International Modern-style house had been priced at $4.995 million when movie producer and prolific renovator Michael LaFetra first listed it in 2008. The 2,426-square-foot home, a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, is considered a triumph of Schindler's early career and was influenced by his apprenticeship under Frank Lloyd Wright.

NEW YORK - James Corden is in the throes of a New York moment. He's in a hit Broadway show, the London import "One Man, Two Guvnors," and though he's been down this road before with "The History Boys," a more high-minded British comedy that became a smash on the Great White Way, this time he's the star and all eyes are on this generously proportioned funnyman - a cherub posing as Puck, or is it the other way around? Part of the secret of Corden's comic gift is that he combines innocence so naturally with mischief.

James Franco is an actor-turned-artist-turned-author-turned-actor-playing-an-artist-named-Franco in the soap opera "General Hospital" — who has made a movie, "Francophrenia," that documents the experience. He's about as "meta" as it gets. Now Franco has brought his knack for melding pop culture and fine art in unorthodox ways to a new exhibition for Los Angeles' Museum of Contemporary Art. "Rebel," which opens Tuesday, is a high-concept group show that is a loose, interpretive ode to the 1955 James Dean film "Rebel Without a Cause.

OKLAHOMA CITY - The boos cascaded upon him when he walked onto the court for warmups. They intensified when he was introduced before the game. And they continued even when he stepped to the free-throw line with the outcome long decided. "World Peace, we hate you!" a woman sitting courtside bellowed midway through the third quarter. Oklahoma City Thunder fans reserved a special welcome for Metta World Peace on Monday night at Chesapeake Energy Arena in the opener of the team's Western Conference semifinal series against the Lakers.

Derek Fisher has a career's worth of Lakers moments to remember. James Harden has one he'd rather forget. For better or worse, the Oklahoma City duo will confront those memories when the Thunder plays the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals. "It seems that's just the way it's supposed to be," Fisher told reporters in Oklahoma City about a matchup that starts Monday night with Game 1 at Chesapeake Energy Arena. It will be the first time Fisher has faced his former team in the playoffs.

A person familiar with the decision has told the Associated Press that Miami's LeBron James will be announced Saturday as the NBA's most valuable player, the third time he has won the award in the past four seasons. James is expected to be presented with the trophy Sunday by Commissioner David Stern before Miami hosts Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against Indiana. James will become the eighth player to win the award at least three times, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Moses Malone.

Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly said Sunday that the team doctor told him second baseman Mark Ellis was within several hours of possibly having his left leg amputated if Ellis hadn't had emergency surgery. "That was scary," Mattingly said of the injury, which is expected to keep Ellis out of action for six weeks. "I didn't realize how bad that was. " Ellis, 34, suffered the injury Friday when he was upended by the St. Louis Cardinals' Tyler Greene to break up a double play.

  Total time: 20 minutes, plus chilling time Servings: 8 to 10 1 quart of oysters in their liquor 1/2 cup cider vinegar 1 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon mace 10 cloves 10 peppercorns 10 allspice berries 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1. In a medium saucepan, cook the oysters in their liquor over high heat until plump, 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. 2. Strain and reserve the oysters, keeping the liquor in the pan. 3. Stir the vinegar, salt, mace, cloves, peppercorns, allspice berries and cayenne into the liquor and bring to a boil over high heat.

Oklahoma City Thunder guard James Harden won the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year award on Friday, receiving 115 of a possible 119 first-place votes. Harden, who came off the bench in 60 of 62 games, led all reserves in scoring by averaging 16.8 points on 49% shooting. He helped the Thunder finish with the third-best record in the league (47-19). In the playoffs, Harden averaged 18.3 points a game in the Thunder's Western Conference first-round series sweep of the Dallas Mavericks.

The Kaprielians from south Orange County are such loyal fans of USC that when pitcher James Kaprielian of Irvine Beckman was on the mound against the rival University Trojans, who have blue uniforms, his grandmother grumbled, "It's weird seeing Trojans in blue. It isn't right. " Enter UCLA baseball Coach John Savage, who came away with the recruiting coup from the class of 2012 by getting Kaprielian to sign with the evil Bruins. "We made sure he didn't see my room," Kaprielian said.