Karen

Confirming speculation about her political plans, state Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) said she would seek the seat of retiring Democratic Rep. Diane Watson, who appeared with Bass at a Los Angeles news conference Wednesday to give the speaker her endorsement. "This is a very, very humbling moment," Bass told community leaders and supporters who joined her outside her Mid-Wilshire-area office. "I am so proud to announce I'm going to throw my hat into the ring." If elected, Bass said, she'll have "very big shoes to fill."

Michael Jackson's diminishing figure - so thin that a costume designer claimed he could see the pop star's heartbeat through his skin - failed to even concern his own manager, according to testimony given Friday. "Get him a bucket of chicken," Frank DiLeo replied when told of the singer's dramatic weight loss, Karen Faye said. "It was such a cold response," said Faye. "I mean, it broke my heart. " Over two days on the witness stand, Jackson's longtime friend and hair and makeup artist offered dramatic and sometimes emotional testimony in a trial that will determine whether the music legend's mother and three children are awarded damages in the millions - even billions - for his death.

It happened late on the night of Dec. 12. It was, my friends explained, a special occasion--Megan's 40th birthday. Now, I don't know Megan. But I do know Mike and Karen. They are, by all appearances, a perfectly respectable, responsible couple. They are raising three usually charming children in a handsome home in Studio City. They are intelligent and personable. You'd like them. Really. But by now they are squirming. By now they are thinking they should have kept their mouths shut.

A makeup artist and longtime friend of Michael Jackson said Thursday that in the days before his death the singer was paranoid, repeated himself continuously and was so cold she bundled him in a blanket, put him in front of a space heater and hugged him to try to stop the shivering. Karen Faye, who had known Jackson for 27 years, said she took her concerns to an AEG executive five days before Jackson died of an overdose of the anesthetic propofol at his rented Holmby Hills mansion.

In one of her last acts as speaker of the state Assembly, Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) quietly doled out 10% pay raises and promotions to 20 of her staff members. The raises, which Bass approved last week on her final day as speaker, come as California continues to grapple with an estimated $20-billion deficit. More than 200,000 rank-and-file state workers have been forced to take three unpaid furlough days each month, the equivalent of a 14% pay cut, to help balance the state's books.

There are few Muslims in the small northeast Ohio town where Karen lives with her Palestinian American husband and their five children. In a region where Amish and Mennonite women cover themselves, Karen and her 20-year-old daughter, Amanda, find the occasional rude remark about their head scarves more puzzling than annoying. But what happened Tuesday to Karen's youngest, 10-year-old Yusef, has her steaming. The fifth-grader came home from school with a note that said he'd earned a punitive "strike" and spent time in detention.

I was sitting at La Scala in Beverly Hills with my friend Karen and indulging in my chopped salad obsession. Once again, we were consumed with a question that dominates the conversation of many women. Why am I still single? We consider ourselves among the smart women of the world - and experienced at relationships. We have dated and dated, and then dated some more, all along keeping our standards and scruples intact, which can be a tough feat in Los Angeles. We have tried to "Dr. Phil" ourselves to death in our attempts to identify personality traits that might be sabotaging our love lives.

Pull up a chair and settle in for our 50 Shades of Food series, where we introduce you to mouthwatering, shiver-inducing, hot, sexy food porn. It's safe-for-work browsing, sure to get your heart racing and your palms a little sweaty, and the only drawback is a possible hunger pang or two after viewing. This week we're featuring a s'mores martini from Karen of the blog Tasty Trials . It's a mixture of two things that are easy to love: booze and s'mores. The cocktail is made with marshmallow vodka, crème de cacao, chocolate syrup and Cool Whip.

"Well-groomed. Nice clothes. Healthy physique." So said Yvette, 34, in response to our questions: What attracts you to a potential dating partner? What makes a favorable first impression? Yvette's list was not unusual. With few exceptions, Orange County women counted grooming, clothes and fitness as qualifying characteristics for prospective partners. Other factors single women evaluate in the men they meet include height, hairline, financial success and aggressiveness.

The girl's name was Karen--I never did catch her last name--and she was resplendent in a white floor-length gown and veil. It was her quinceanera, the coming-of-age ceremony marking a Latina's transition from childhood to adulthood, and Karen clearly was enjoying her night in the spotlight. She could hardly turn around without having someone reach out to touch her, buss her on the cheek or hand her a brightly wrapped gift. Then, suddenly, the power went off.

There are few Muslims in the small northeast Ohio town where Karen lives with her Palestinian American husband and their five children. In a region where Amish and Mennonite women cover themselves, Karen and her 20-year-old daughter, Amanda, find the occasional rude remark about their head scarves more puzzling than annoying. But what happened Tuesday to Karen's youngest, 10-year-old Yusef, has her steaming. The fifth-grader came home from school with a note that said he'd earned a punitive "strike" and spent time in detention.

When Los Angeles mayoral rivals Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti started scrambling last month to line up key supporters for the May runoff, Maxine Waters was near the top of the list for both - well worth any wining, dining or flattery that might be required. On Monday, Greuel reveled in her success in winning over the Democratic congresswoman from South Los Angeles at a joint appearance outside City Hall. It was the latest testament to the power of the black vote in the race to replace Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Actress Karen Black, who's been battling cancer for more than two years, has turned to the public for help to pay for an experimental treatment in Europe - and as of Monday afternoon, the crowdfunding plea was working. The 73-year-old, Oscar-nominated as supporting actress in 1970's "Five Easy Pieces" with Jack Nicholson, has worked steadily for more than 40 years but is best known for her work in 1970s films including "Airport 1975," "The Day of the Locust" and "Nashville. " Diagnosed with ampullary cancer in November 2010, she immediately had a third of her pancreas removed, her husband, Stephen Eckelberry, said on the " Help Karen Beat Cancer " GoFundMe webpage, launched on March 14. After chemo, she was declared disease-free in mid-2011.  It didn't last, he said.

Here's a small and not-remotely-comprehensive list of weird things that happened in Florida last year: A woman was arrested for riding a manatee; a giant blue eyeball washed up on a beach; a mom and daughter started a tandem porn-star team; and a guy died after winning (or perhaps losing) a roach-eating contest in an attempt to win a pet python from a reptile store. When that's a typical Floridian news cycle, who needs fantasy? That's the trouble with Karen Russell's new story collection, "Vampires in the Lemon Grove," her first book since the reputation-sealing novel "Swamplandia!

Fugitive former police officer Christopher Jordan Dorner was apparently holed up inside a Big Bear area condo for as many as five days before the husband and wife who own the property surprised him and then were tied up and gagged, the couple said Wednesday night. Dorner bound the husband's and wife's hands with plastic zip ties, stuffed small towels in their mouths so they couldn't scream and covered their heads with pillowcases that he tied with electrical cords, they said. "I really thought it could be the end," Karen Reynolds, 56, told reporters gathered outside her condominium.

WASHINGTON -- Karen Mills, the former venture capitalist who has headed the Small Business Administration for the past four years, is stepping down, the White House said Monday. In a message to the agency's staff, Mills said she would stay until a successor is confirmed by the Senate. "Four years ago, when I arrived at the SBA, America's small businesses and entrepreneurs were struggling in the face of the worst economic environment since the Great Depression - and a banking sector that was frozen," Mills said.

Sequel to 'The Secret' The author of "The Secret" now wants to share "The Power." Atria Books announced Tuesday that Rhonda Byrne's follow-up to her pop-culture phenomenon that sold millions of copies comes out next month. "The Power," like "The Secret," is a guide to positive thinking, how "everyone is meant to have an amazing life." Atria, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, plans a first printing of 2 million copies. Byrne is an Australian who has worked as a television and film producer.

Magnus Walker steps between the scarred carcasses of Porsche 911s lining his garage wall. He pauses and points to a gaping hole where the car's front hood should be. "Cars in here have to die," he says, "so others can live. " With a chest-length beard and finger-thick dreadlocks, the 45-year-old English immigrant doesn't look like a prototypical buttoned-down Porsche collector. But for more than a decade, Walker has worked in downtown L.A.'s arts district, transforming scrap heaps into one-off custom 911s, earning him the nickname "Urban Outlaw.

Karen E. Bender's second novel, “A Town of Empty Rooms,” (Counterpoint: 292 pp., $25) is a story of divisions, in both a marriage and a community. Revolving around Dan and Serena Shine, a couple who move, with their two young children, from Manhattan to rural North Carolina, it traces a culture clash that takes place as much in the family room as it does in the street. The Shines are, if not estranged, then distant, harboring resentments and old hurts. These play out in unexpected ways after Serena connects with her Jewish roots at a local synagogue while Dan becomes involved with their next door neighbor, an elderly conservative.

MOSCOW - Curious schoolchildren are passing through the deserted cobblestone streets of a late 19th century quarter in the middle of the city when they stop, transfixed by a menacing-looking Nazi tank sitting round the corner as if in ambush. Unlike their moms, dads and grandparents who couldn't even dream of it, the young visitors are privileged to tread the grounds of what used to be the dream factory of the U.S.S.R., the gem of its foray into the motion picture, which the founder of the vanished empire, Vladimir Lenin, once called the most important of all arts for its immense propaganda potential.