Jennifer Martinez

"Think fast." In the time it takes to say it, a good softball pitcher--man or woman--can make the best hitters alive look silly. Some top female professionals have proved it during barnstorming tours in the past 30 years: --Kathy Arendsen struck out Reggie Jackson. --Rosie Black struck out Willie Mays. --Joan Joyce struck out Ted Williams. The ball might be the size of a grapefruit, but can be as hard to hit as a pea.

After weeks of public protest over its financial support of an organization that backed a GOP gubernatorial candidate opposed to gay rights, Target Corp. now faces a new form of pressure: demands from institutional shareholders that it revamp its donation process to avoid the chance of additional backfires. The shareholder action follows the disclosure last month that Target had sent corporate funds to an organization backing the Minnesota gubernatorial candidate. Such donations are allowed under a recent Supreme Court decision that lets companies and unions contribute directly to independent election campaigns.

Under their breath, Jennifer Elaine Halferty's younger sisters occasionally chide the 17-year-old for being a "perfect princess," but on Tuesday her adoring siblings could publicly call the Polytechnic School student a "queen." Squinting at first in the garish early morning sunlight, Jennifer's hazel eyes popped wide open as Tournament of Roses President William Johnstone Jr. proclaimed her the 79th rose queen.

When Zachary Berge was diagnosed with autism shortly after his second birthday, he couldn't speak a word. He often threw tantrums because he couldn't express himself. His parents turned to "applied behavioral analysis," widely known as ABA therapy and recognized by the medical community as one of the most effective autism treatments for children. But ABA therapy doesn't come cheap, and it has cost the Berge family of Crestview, Fla., nearly $56,000 — a hefty bill they've had to pay out of pocket because the treatment isn't covered by the family's health plan, a program for active and retired military families known as Tricare.

President Bush's political support may be faltering elsewhere, but at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, students are more than anxious to read his lips. Volunteers with the university's Republican Student Speakers Bureau handed out tickets Thursday that will allow fellow students to see Bush and Republican gubernatorial candidate Pete Wilson at a 9 a.m. rally Saturday at the campus gym. Some students snapped up three or four.

Hilltop High played 13 consecutive innings this week without scoring before two Lancers crossed home in the bottom of the seventh to force Friday's Metro Conference game against Southwest into extra innings. In the ninth, Bobby Lugo drove in Jessie Guzman with a single to right to give Hilltop a 3-2 victory. No. 6 Hilltop (7-2-1, 2-1) was shutout Wednesday by Castle Park's Benji Gil. With one out in the seventh Friday, Hilltop's Rock McGinty walked.

The Clinton presidential library on Friday released more than 75,000 e-mail messages that were sent by and to Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, but they offered little new insight into her personality. The messages showed Kagan — currently the Obama administration's top lawyer to the high court and a former dean of Harvard Law School — to be more administrator than provocateur. Part of that was because of Kagan's role in the Clinton administration. As deputy director of President Clinton's domestic policy shop, she sat atop a pyramid of staffers who largely forwarded their proposals to her. Her job was to synthesize opinions to present to Clinton, not to sound off. There were, however, some flashes of personality.

A car jumped a curb at a busy intersection in downtown Santa Ana on Thursday morning, killing a 3-year-old girl and seriously injuring her 11-month-old brother, authorities said. The accident occurred in a busy area of Santa Ana that has been plagued with pedestrian fatalities in the past few years.

The former head of the division that brought down American International Group Inc. and triggered a huge government bailout broke a two-year public silence Wednesday, defending his actions at the insurance giant and saying he could have saved taxpayers money if he had remained there. "I think I would have negotiated a much better deal for the taxpayer than what the taxpayer got," Joseph Cassano, who ran AIG's financial products unit, told the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.

After a string of online privacy problems this year, legislators grilled Google Inc., Apple Inc., Facebook and AT&T Inc. on Tuesday, seeking assurance that user information will be protected in the future. Senators questioned whether new legislation is needed to protect people's personal information online during a hearing held by the Senate Commerce Committee. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), chairman of the committee, said legislators must ask whether Americans "fully understand and appreciate what information is being collected about them, and whether or not they are empowered to stop certain practices from taking place."