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Louis C.K., the star and creative force behind FX's "Louie," feels bad for his unlucky-in-love alter ego. "I don't know what's going to happen to that guy," the actor-comedian said when asked during a Television Critics' Assn. session to promote "Louie"  if the lead character would ever find a soul mate. Said C.K., "I've had so much better luck than him. I'm starting to feel a little bad for him. Maybe in Season 4 I'll park him with a girlfriend, let him fail at having a relationship.: FX announced that it had just renewed the series, which revolves around a hapless stand-up comic, for a fourth season.

A breakthrough in stem cell research has again raised the specter of human cloning. The discovery by a team at Oregon Health and Science University moves the world incrementally closer to that result, but its more immediate effect will be to spur efforts to regenerate healthy tissue for the injured and the ailing. Although it's reasonable to worry about where such a discovery may lead, those concerns shouldn't stop researchers from exploring the restorative properties of stem cells. The promise of stem cells is that they can develop into many different kinds of tissues rather than being locked into a specific cellular fate.

Phil Jackson never liked to compare Kobe Bryant to Michael Jordan. Believe me, I tried everything. Sometimes I'd ask him after random Lakers practices or before games against Charlotte, the team Jordan owned. Or after games in Chicago, where nostalgia hopefully would add to the mix. There would be a little nugget here, a tiny nibble there, but nothing that mattered. It's coming out now, though, in Jackson's 339-page memoir co-written with Hugh Delehanty and available Tuesday: "Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success.

Trevor Lewis, the mellowest of the low-key Kings, is hardly given to outsized statements or outlandish proclamations. You can understand why he was out of sorts after his game-winning goal in the Kings' 4-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks, a blow that completed a dizzying comeback. The Kings scored two late power-play goals within 22 seconds to steal Game 2 on Thursday night at Staples Center and take a 2-0 series lead. "I think I almost passed out in the celebration," Lewis said.

Vietnam veteran John Otte did his best to forget the war. He got married, raised two sons and made a career working at credit unions. But as Otte neared retirement, memories of combat flooded back. Starting in 2005, he filed a series of claims with Veterans Affairs for disability compensation, contending that many of his health problems stemmed from the war. The VA agreed, and now the 65-year-old with two Purple Hearts receives $1,900 a month for post-traumatic stress disorder and diabetes - and for having shrapnel scars on his arms.

In these troubled economic times, it's not hard to understand why people might want to protect their life savings by purchasing a hard asset like gold or silver. At least, that's the pitch of Monex, the big Newport Beach investment firm, which bills itself as "America's trusted name in precious metals investments" and assures clients that it's "committed to customer service. " So let's take a look at the experiences of some customers who say their trust in Monex was misplaced.

You're at the gym working out, confident that you can lift more weight today than yesterday. You bend down to pick up the barbell and, as you come up, you feel a pop in the groin area. Next comes a dull pain and a queasy feeling. Even though the pain continues after you finish your workout, you figure it's just muscle strain. But the bad news is it may be a hernia. A hernia occurs when part of an organ within the body slips through an abnormal opening in the wall that normally contains it.

More than 50 federal lawmakers are demanding that Mattel Inc. stop selling toys that contain any lead, saying the toy maker is not going far enough to address safety concerns. The demand was in a letter released by Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.). El Segundo-based Mattel recalled millions of Chinese-made toys last year because of concerns that lead paint exceeded U.S. standards.

Dozens of vinyl and faux leather women's products from major retailers were found to contain high levels of lead, according to the Center for Environmental Health. Testing by the group found lead in handbags, purses and wallets from Bay Area outlets of chains including Target, Macy's, Wal-Mart, Kohl's, Sears, JCPenney and Ross. Brands with lead traces included Nine West, Xhilaration and Rosetti. Some items had lead levels up to 90 times higher than the federal limit, the group said.

Major baby-food makers such as Dole Food Co., Del Monte Foods Co. and Nestle's Gerber business are going to court Monday to determine whether they need to warn consumers of certain lead levels in their products. In a 2011 lawsuit, the Environmental Law Foundation alleged that some of the companies' foods and juices -- which included ingredients such as carrots, peaches, pears and sweet potatoes -- contained enough lead to warrant a consumer caution label under California's Proposition 65 toxins warning law. A non-jury trial in the case is set to begin Monday in state Superior Court in Oakland.

Josh Hamilton said he was assured by doctors this week that the allergies that lead to occasional sinus and throat discomfort and dizziness were not caused or exacerbated by his heavy cocaine use from 2002-2005. "You have a hallway up the middle of your nose and sinus cavities on each side," said Hamilton, whose addiction to drugs and alcohol led to a ban from baseball from 2003-2005. "When you breathe air, it goes up and down the hallway. "Same thing when you do drugs, it goes up the hallway, not into the sinus cavities.

NEW DELHI - The disaster caused shocking loss of life among young, mostly female garment workers, awoke the conscience of a nation, spotlighted dismal working conditions and spurred loud calls for construction and labor reform. So far, that description could apply equally to the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory complex in Bangladesh three weeks ago and to the Triangle shirtwaist factory fire in New York in 1911. The Triangle fire would prove a turning point in safeguarding American workers after 146 mostly young Jewish and Italian immigrants died, including many who jumped to their deaths because they were trapped behind locked doors.

Former lawmaker Mike Feuer and City Councilman Dennis Zine continue to hold leads in their races for citywide Los Angeles offices, new polling released Monday showed. In polling conducted April 29 through May 7 by the Edmund G. "Pat" Brown Institute of Public Affairs at Cal State L.A., Feuer, a former member of the state Assembly and L.A. City Council, led City Atty. Carmen Trutanich, who is seeking reelection in next week's balloting, 35 to 24%, with 41% of voters still undecided.

Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard was the only unanimous selection for the NBA All-Rookie first team, the league announced Tuesday. Lillard, also a unanimous pick for rookie of the year, was joined on the first team by New Orleans forward Anthony Davis, Cleveland guard Dion Waiters, Washington guard Bradley Beal and Golden State forward Harrison Barnes. Lillard, the sixth overall pick in last June's draft from Weber State, led all rookies with a 19-point scoring average.

SAN FRANCISCO - The U.S. Interior Department violated federal law by failing to conduct an environmental review before ordering a Northern California oyster farmer to shutter his operation, attorneys for the farmer told a federal appeals court panel here Tuesday. In a case that has become a cause celebre across the political spectrum, oysterman Kevin Lunny had been ordered to close the farm late last year when his lease to operate within Point Reyes National Seashore expired. Closing Lunny's Drakes Bay Oyster Co. would make way for the first marine wilderness area on the West Coast at Drakes Estero, an environmentally sensitive area home to a large population of harbor seals.

After the smothering defense and one-goal games the Kings battled through during their first-round playoff series against the St. Louis Blues, holding a two-goal lead over the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night had to feel as liberating as a skate in the park. Almost too liberating. Unaccustomed to that luxury, the Kings sat back and allowed the Sharks to take 16 shots in the third period and 35 overall, saved mainly by the grace and agility of goaltender Jonathan Quick.

Tiger Woods shot another five-under-par 67 in the HSBC Champions at Shanghai, this one giving him a share of the 36-hole lead with Nick Watney in the final World Golf Championship of the year. Woods overcame mild frustration early in his round Friday by making five birdies over his final 10 holes to catch Watney, a fellow American, atop the leaderboard at Sheshan International. They were at 10-under 134. Big-hitting Alvaro Quiros of Spain was the lone intruder in what appeared to be an American leaderboard in China.

Anna Rawson shot a course-record seven-under-par 64 on Thursday to take a one-stroke lead over Suzann Pettersen in the Canadian Women's Open at Priddis. Rawson, the 28-year-old Australian who has missed nine cuts in 13 starts this year, had nine birdies and two bogeys to break Dawn Coe-Jones' course mark by a shot. Top-ranked Lorena Ochoa , the 2007 winner at Royal Mayfair in Edmonton, was two strokes back along with Amanda Blumenherst , and Michelle Wie opened with a 76. Rawson played in ideal morning conditions.

A bill before the California Assembly would outlaw the use of lead ammunition by hunters. There is already a federal prohibition on its use in hunting waterfowl, and in 2007 the state banned it in the range of the endangered California condor. AB 711, written by Assemblymen Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) and Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), would take these restrictions a step further in an effort to safeguard animals as well as the environment. Lead pellets in shotgun shells, typically used to shoot birds, spray across land and water.

Retired Marine Brig. Gen. Gordon Gayle, who received the Navy Cross for leadership and bravery during the assault on Peleliu, one of the bloodiest and most complex and controversial battles fought by Marines during World War II, has died. He was 95. Gayle died April 21 at an assisted-living facility in Farnham, Va., after suffering a stroke, according to the U.S. Marine Corps. As an officer with the 1st Marine Division, Gayle led troops in five key battles in World War II, starting with Guadalcanal in 1942, where Marines, after weeks of fierce jungle fighting, stopped the advance of Japanese troops toward Australia.