Jobs

You may not have discerned this through the fog and mist of recent weeks, but the Internal Revenue Service is pretty durn good at its job. Some experts would go further. "I think they do an extraordinary job, considering that they're historically underfunded and under-resourced," says Dennis Ventry, a tax expert at UC Davis law school. Last year, he observes, the agency processed 144 million returns for the personal income tax, 2 million for the corporate income tax, and 3 million for the estate and gift tax, with a speed he calls "miraculous.

The gig: Emily Schuman, 30, is the lifestyle maven behind the popular blog Cupcakes and Cashmere, a confectionary collection of stylish outfits, recipes, home decor tips and do-it-yourself projects. Think Martha Stewart meets Carrie Bradshaw. The blog also led to a book deal for the California native. Titled "Cupcakes and Cashmere: A Guide to Defining Your Style, Reinventing Your Space, and Entertaining With Ease," it hit shelves last August and landed on the Publishers Weekly bestseller list.

Coursing through vast reaches of Alaskan tundra, glacial lakes and emerald forests, six major river systems converge along the rim of the Bering Sea to form the crystalline waters of Bristol Bay, the richest wild salmon grounds in the world. Yet if three global mining giants get their way, this region - one of the last truly wild places in our country - could be destroyed. Each year, up to 40 million sockeye salmon make the journey from deep ocean waters into Bristol Bay and, from there, upstream to spawn in the inland shallows of their birth.

As University of California patient care workers returned to the picket lines Wednesday, hospital administrators said they were gratified that so many others chose to come to work. More than three-quarters of union members who had been scheduled to work Tuesday did so, said Dianne Klein, spokeswoman for the UC office of the president. Hospital officials said they expected a similar turnout Wednesday. "The [union] leadership is engaged in this game of brinkmanship," Klein said.

Julie Su doesn't back down from fights when she thinks employers are cheating their workers. In her two years as California's top labor law enforcer, Su has taken on scores of unscrupulous businesses. As state labor commissioner, she inherited an understaffed state agency that she recalled was overwhelmed with complaints of worker abuse, unpaid overtime and management retaliation. "I set out to make the promise of a just day's pay for a hard day's work a reality in every workplace in California," Su said in a status report to Gov. Jerry Brown being released Wednesday.

Last week, I visited a South Los Angeles woman whose story should embarrass us. It's a story that's not uncommon, and deserves the full attention of the next mayor of the city. Alicia, whose full name I'm withholding because she's afraid her boss would fire her, is a maid who started working for a major hotel chain in Hollywood about three years ago. Her hourly pay is $8.65, and her last raise was 5 cents an hour. I kid you not. They threw her an extra nickel. Toward the end of the mayoral campaign, local labor leaders tried to win support for candidate Wendy Greuel by suggesting that she would raise the minimum wage in Los Angeles to $15 an hour.

MILWAUKEE - Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti was evasive when asked Monday about Don Mattingly's job status, refusing to say whether the last-place team could fire its manager this week. Against this backdrop of uncertainty, Clayton Kershaw pitched his second complete game of the season, a 107-pitch masterpiece in a 3-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park that ended the Dodgers' three-game losing streak. "Every time I get in trouble, Kersh saves me for one more day," Mattingly said jokingly.

WASHINGTON - President Obama said Friday he wanted to put more Americans to work by slashing the amount of time it takes to grant federal approval for big job-creating projects. But Obama's choice of venue for his remarks - a Baltimore company that makes mining and pumping equipment - provided fodder for Republicans. They noted that the company president had, just the day before, testified on Capitol Hill in support of the Keystone XL pipeline, which the Obama administration has delayed for years over environmental concerns.

Phil Jackson apparently would like to have another stint in the NBA. The 11-time champion coach said Thursday evening on "The Tonight Show" that he was interested in a front-office job with the Seattle group that failed in an attempt to relocate the Sacramento Kings. "I had communication with the guy that's trying to make this move," Jackson said on the show, referencing Chris Hansen , the leader of the Seattle bid. "It was serious talk. I thought he was a really good guy for the league.

Oscar Goodman, the former mob lawyer-turned-mayor of Las Vegas , will showcase his latest career as an author, during the three-day “Being Oscar Bash” May 23-25 at the Mob Museum  in downtown. The event comes on the heels of the Tuesday release of Goodman's new memoir, “Being Oscar: From Mob Lawyer to Mayor of Las Vegas - Only in America.” The book leads readers on a tour through organized crime's inner sanctum before chronicling Goodman's three terms. The bash kicks off on the evening of May 23, with reduced ($10)