Licenses

The latest public health debate swirling in the quaint beach city of El Segundo is whether to allow the number of ice cream trucks in town to double. For the past decade, El Segundo has had one licensed ice cream truck vendor. But earlier this month, Chekesha Palmer applied to become the second, igniting a debate among city leaders over the pros and cons of ice cream trucks. "I think they create problems," Councilman Don Brann said at last week's council meeting. "I don't see much good about issuing a permit for someone to do this in our town."

Long Beach is going to the dogs. And as they knock on doors around there and in nearby Cerritos, Seal Beach and Signal Hill in an usual hunt for canine scofflaws, about the only excuse authorities haven't heard yet is that Fido ate the license notice. Animal control workers are going house-to-house in search of unlicensed dogs in what is turning into an unusual census of the area's dog population.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment's new licensing deal with Redbox Automated Retail -- operator of those bright-red $1 DVD rental kiosks in grocery and convenience stores -- adds up to some serious coin. Sony stands to collect about $460 million over the term of the five-year agreement, which extends through September 2014, according to regulatory filings.

The state medical board Thursday revoked the license of a Huntington Beach physician, seven weeks after an administrative law judge found he had sexually exploited two female patients. Dr. John Edwin Bohm, who specialized in anesthesiology and pain medicine, pleaded no contest in December 2005 in Los Angeles County Superior Court to sexual misconduct with one of the patients.

Die-hard baseball fan Terry Haney got his wish Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court rebuffed Major League Baseball's argument that fantasy sports leagues be required to pay a license for the right to use player names and plug runs, hits and errors into their popular online games. As a youngster growing up in San Diego during the early 1960s, Haney freely incorporated baseball statistics gleaned from newspaper box scores into a rudimentary board game.

County clerks across the state braced for continued heavy traffic today, some three days after same-sex marriages became legal in California. Although officials had anticipated a slowdown after Tuesday's record-breaking distribution of marriage licenses, many said they continued to see large numbers of couples seeking licenses. Traffic was expected to remain high today, they said, because Friday is a traditionally busy day in the world of marriage licensing.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's decision not to renew the license of his nation's largest and oldest television network, a frequent critic of his policies, drew a rebuke Friday from the Organization of American States. OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza said in a statement that Chavez acted in an arbitrary manner in yanking the license of RCTV, which began operations in 1953 and has the largest viewership of any network in Venezuela.

A small casino company with former Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca as one of its primary investors is seeking a Nevada gaming license. Las Vegas-based Full House Resorts is asking Nevada gaming regulators to approve its $25.5-million purchase of Stockman's Casino and Holiday Inn Express in Fallon, a town about 60 miles east of Reno. The Gaming Control Board is scheduled to take up the matter Wednesday in Las Vegas. Full House operates the Deadwood Gulch Resort in Deadwood, S.D.

Frank Sabatino, one of the last commercial fishermen left in Brooklyn, is generally acknowledged to be a tough customer. He has survived two sinkings in chilly Atlantic waters, one of which put him in the hospital for three days, battling hypothermia. Two years ago, while he was out fishing alone about two hours from shore, he accidentally gouged one of his eyes with a fish pick, blinding himself. Instead of calling the Coast Guard, he sopped up the blood with a rag and steamed home.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. may be eyeing a larger role in banking than it has disclosed, according to lease details made public Thursday by a congressman who accused the world's largest retailer of hiding plans to become a retail bank. Wal-Mart is seeking federal approval to open a limited-purpose bank for processing credit-card transactions and other payments. Its executives have pledged in testimony to regulators that they have no plans to open bank branches or start consumer lending.