Levi

Reading Richard Eder's review of Primo Levi's "The Drowned and the Saved" (The Book Review, Dec. 27) moved me to write concerning my own reactions to Levi's suicide. None of the many articles and reviews I have read touched upon my own immediate conclusion, "Becoming a full-time professional writer and celebrity accomplished what the Nazis failed to do." It seems to me Levi's precarious tightrope walk across the abyss rested on the chemical, as it were, balance between survival, work, family and the need to witness and report.

A simmering trade dispute is highlighting a debate about the kinds of jobs America can sustain in a greening economy. The Obama administration's recent decision to slap import tariffs on Chinese solar cells was hailed by some domestic solar manufacturers as a victory for job creation, leveling the field while also sending a powerful message to Beijing about monopolistic behavior in crucial industries. But a close look at the U.S. solar industry suggests that the tariffs may actually be a job killer because the vast majority of positions in the sector aren't on the assembly line.

Re "Cuban Teen Makes Revolutionary Choice," Aug. 22: Agustin Gurza tells us that Laura Pina is not your average Cuban kid. That is an understatement. Her mother is an American expatriate (a prize for Castro's Cuba) and her father is a member of one of Cuba's most famous musical groups. Laura did not have to go into the country to cut sugar cane as most Cuban youths are forced to do. She can afford to pay dollars to attend nightclubs and buy $70 Levi's. And she says it's getting awkward?

As the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival expands from one weekend to two, so do the fashion and music marketing opportunities in Southern California. Labels such as Levi's, H&M, Lacoste, Armani A|X, Mulberry and Madewell (J. Crew's little sister) not only will be targeting the boho masses with free watches and sunglasses, they will also be courting the performers in the hope that they will attend their high-profile events. The labels are leveraging both festival weekends (April 13-15 and 20-22)

For black marketeers, it was a black day indeed: Levi Strauss & Co. opened its first store in the former Soviet Union on Friday, seeking to button up one of the world's most jeans-starved markets. Hundreds of perfectly legal customers pressed up against the windows and struggled to wriggle into the Levi's store when the doors opened at--what else?--5:01 p.m. An entire generation had scrounged for second-hand Levi 501s in hotels and tourist spots, or paid the high prices of black marketeers.

Among the several compelling elements of the British-made series "Design Classics" is how foreigners observe the mythic dimension in American business. Tonight's edition on Levi jeans (Channel 28, 10:30 p.m.) is a revealing case in point. Levi's brings together three American phenomena--the romantic image of the West, the existential, youthful loner and the turning of a product's name into a generic form, as in Jell-O, Kleenex or Xerox. Though the program misses this last aspect, it amusingly records how the marketing and design of Levi's sought to fuse legendary icons with a longed-for past (Tex Ritter winning a barroom brawl in his clean-pressed denims)

Re "Levi, an American Icon, to Shut Last Plants in U.S.," Sept. 26: Now I finally understand the new economy that lawmakers, at the urging of special business interests, are shoving down our throats: have every single job held in India or China or some Third World country. Encourage Americans to keep on buying with credit until everything is lost to creditors. Then we may join our Third World brothers by happily sewing buttons on jeans, or operating a sneaker assembly line, for 40 cents a week.

Zachary Levi had a simple reason for taking the role as the caretaker for the furry singers in "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel." He wanted to work. The filming of the second season of Levi's NBC series "Chuck" was coming to an end earlier this year, and NBC executives hadn't said if it would be back. We now know the show will return Jan. 10, but at the time Levi wasn't sure. "My agent called and said, ' "Alvin and the Chipmunks 2." What do you think?' I said, 'Let's go!

Cyclists no longer have to arrive at their destination looking like a wet rag and needing a shower. As more people take to commuting and traveling by bike -- for both health and environmental reasons -- some clothing companies are stepping up, offering office-ready clothes that don't have to be wrung out upon arrival. Thank technology for the ability to create or enhance street wear fabrics that not only stretch, but keep perspiration away from the body, resist water and dirt, and retain heat with little insulation.

Reading Richard Eder's review of Primo Levi's "The Drowned and the Saved" (The Book Review, Dec. 27) moved me to write concerning my own reactions to Levi's suicide. None of the many articles and reviews I have read touched upon my own immediate conclusion: "Becoming a full-time professional writer and celebrity accomplished what the Nazi's failed to do." It seems to me that Levi's precarious tightrope walk across the abyss rested on the chemical, as it were, balance between survival, work, family and the need to witness and report.

SACRAMENTO - An elected state tax collector wants to save strapped California motorists money by freezing the sales tax on gasoline whenever the pump price jumps above $4 a gallon. The idea, said George Runner, a Republican member of the State Board of Equalization, is to put a few bucks back in consumers' pockets rather than provide a small windfall to local governments. Gasoline prices in California averaged $4.33 on Wednesday, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

California voters strongly support Gov. Jerry Brown's new proposal to increase the sales tax and raise levies on upper incomes to help raise money for schools and balance the state's budget, according to a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll . Sixty-four percent of those surveyed said they supported the governor's measure, which he hopes to place on the November ballot. It would hike the state sales tax by a quarter-cent per dollar for the next four years and create a graduated surcharge on incomes of more than $250,000 that would last seven years.

Gov. Jerry Brown has agreed to modify his tax initiative, which if approved by voters this fall would temporarily increase levies on upper-income earners and purchases in the state. Below is a comparison of the old Brown plan and the proposal Democrats unveiled Wednesday. ORIGINAL PROPOSAL Would raise the personal income tax rate on individuals reporting income over $250,000 by 1 percentage point. Would hike the personal income tax rate on income over $300,000 by 1.5 percentage points and the personal income tax rate on income over $500,000 by 2 percentage points for five years.

More than 2,000 California Democrats gathered in San Diego this weekend for their state party convention, giving leaders a chance to rally the faithful and rub elbows with powerful, well-heeled interests. While hundreds of activists listened to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) give a noontime address Saturday, Gov. Jerry Brown slipped away to a neighboring hotel to host a $25,000-a-plate lunch for a select group of contributors. The fundraising event, which was closed to the media but had about two dozen guests, according to some who attended, provided an intimate audience with the governor for lobbyists whose clients had opened their wallets to back Brown's proposed tax-increase initiative.

Gov. Jerry Brown has California voters right where he wants them — hating the notion of whacking schools even more than the prospect of paying a higher sales tax. Meanwhile, ingrained American populism is flaring as the inequity gap widens between haves and have-nots. So voters absolutely love the idea of socking the rich with higher income taxes. Total it all up, and the result is 68% support among likely voters for Brown's proposed November ballot initiative to raise taxes on sales and high-end income, and spend the money on K-12 schools and community colleges.

It's not often you get to interview a man who must be close to 200 years old by now. So I made the drive to visit Marv Levy and was shocked to discover he has finally figured out a way to win a Super Bowl and he's not all that pleased about it. Maybe known best to the current generation as one of the football coaches who does beer commercials, Levy's obit probably will begin with the fact he took Buffalo to four straight Super Bowls....

While Dr. Michael Levi volunteered at the Venice Family Clinic, he saw one aspect of the lives of the poor and homeless with a podiatrist's eye: foot problems caused by poverty. "I saw a lot of patients who had poor shoe gear, and some not wearing socks," says Levi, 33, a Santa Monica podiatrist who founded the Venice clinic's foot-care unit in 1988. "They had problems that would easily be solved with the proper gear.

Commuters and tourists passing through the Auber Metro station no longer have to bother with crowded stores, rude salespeople or rumpled cash to buy a pair of blue jeans. Instead, they can pick up any of 10 sizes of jeans from a white vending machine that looks like a souped-up passport photo booth. After the customer pays $45 by credit card, a stiff new pair of Levi's 501 blue jeans tumbles out in a cylindrical carton. The machine contains a conversion chart for European and American sizes.

Reporting from Sacramento -- Public school funds will probably be cut this year even if voters approve Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed tax hikes in November, the state's top budget advisor said Wednesday. That analysis undercuts a central premise of Brown's new budget plan: that his tax hikes would save schools from billions of dollars in reductions. Districts are likely to trim spending anyway, said Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor, rather than wait for voters to decide in November. "Districts have to plan for the worst case," said Taylor, whom lawmakers look to for nonpartisan financial advice.

Los Angeles transportation officials want to ask voters during next fall's presidential election to support at least a 10-year extension of the Measure R sales tax, a move that could raise billions more for transit projects and likely speed construction. When officials convinced the county electorate in 2008 to overwhelmingly approve the half-cent levy for rail and other transportation efforts, it increased the sales tax in Los Angeles County to 9.75% — one of the highest rates in California.