Lighting

Like many high school seniors about this time of year, Mareshia Rucker and Stephanie Sinnott ooh and aah over gowns with heart-shaped bodices and jewel-encrusted necklines. Yet the ritual of picking a prom dress is little more than an afterthought for these teens, amid all the pressure of organizing their county's first integrated prom. Rucker is black and Sinnott is white. More than 40 years after the Supreme Court ordered school integration, the two classmates are pushing one of south-central Georgia's slowest-moving counties to overturn a long-standing tradition of segregated proms.

WASHINGTON - The background of the Boston bombing suspects quickly emerged Friday as a potential hurdle to immigration reform, as renewed fears of terrorism gave conservative opponents a fresh argument against a proposed new law. "Given the events of this week, it's important for us to understand the gaps and loopholes in our immigration system," Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said at a...

CARACAS, Venezuela - Voting appeared relatively light and lines moved smoothly in the early hours of Venezuela's presidential election, marking a contrast from the hours-long wait for voting in Hugo Chavez's last election in October, which saw record turnout. On a picture-perfect spring day in the capital, Caracas, voters moved quickly through polling places, where they were choosing between Chavez's hand-picked successor, Nicolas Maduro, and his more conservative challenger, Henrique Capriles.

Springtime may bring thoughts of visiting Paris, but for Southern Californians without the time or means for a transatlantic getaway, there's the City of Lights, City of Angels film festival. Starting Monday, the 17th annual event at the Directors Guild of America will bring 38 French features to L.A., including the North American premiere of Danièle Thompson's new romantic comedy, "It Happened in Saint-Tropez. " Starring Monica Bellucci and Kad Merad in a romp about two cousins who fall in love with the same man, "It Happened in Saint-Tropez" will open in Paris just five days before kicking off the L.A. festival.

Rachel Kushner's house in Angelino Heights feels about a million miles - and a million years - from the tumult embodied in her novels. There are books on shelves and stacks of children's games; in one corner, a music stand holds a beginner's songbook for guitar. And yet, even on a quiet afternoon in early spring, one finds traces, echoes of the broader world. Perhaps most prominent is the large framed map of Cuba, the setting for Kushner's first book, "Telex from Cuba," a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award.

It could have been the Lakers' darkest hour this season, losing at home to the New Orleans Hornets. So Kobe Bryant brought out his flashlight, flicked it on and shined it directly at the Hornets. Twelve chaotic minutes later, Bryant had taken the Lakers to a 104-96 victory Tuesday at Staples Center. Yes, there is light near the end of the regular season. Barely. Bryant entered the fourth quarter with seven points and finished with 30, pushing the Lakers to their most important victory this season, if only because they moved half a game ahead of Utah for eighth place in the Western Conference.

On his own and as a member of Crosby, Stills & Nash (and sometimes Young), two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Stephen Stills has taken part in many a benefit concert over the last four decades, but usually his role has been that of rock singer and guitarist. That changes with the Light Up the Blues benefit concert on Saturday for Autism Speaks, which CSN is headlining and also features Lucinda Williams, Rickie Lee Jones, Don Felder, Ryan Adams and several others at Club Nokia.

The debut feature from writer-director Alonso Mayo, "The Story of Luke" is about a young man who is grappling with autism and the first steps toward independent living. Having long lived with his grandparents, Luke (Lou Taylor Pucci) is abruptly placed with other relatives (Cary Elwes, Kristin Bauer) who don't exactly know what to do with him. Luke is set on a course of self-discovery that he has always been made to feel was beyond him. In the lead role, Pucci, always a thoughtful, compelling actor (he can also be seen in a very different role in the new "Evil Dead")

Since its release in 1980, Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of Stephen King's "The Shining" has firmly embedded itself into the pop consciousness with its shudder-inducing cry of "Here's Johnny!" and its blood-soaked hallways. "Room 237," which opens Friday in Los Angeles, digs into five of the myriad theories of interpretation that have sprung up around what is now a modern horror classic. The proponents of these theories, heard only in voice-over, function as narrators as they rather plausibly lay out "The Shining" as a metaphor for the genocide of Native Americans, for the Holocaust, as an exploration of the mythology of the Minotaur and/or as Kubrick's secret confession that he was involved in faking the Apollo 11 moon landing.

Sea lions can't sing along to music, but they might just dance to the beat. Researchers at UC Santa Cruz have trained Ronan the California sea lion to bob along to a variety of musical genres, making her the first mammal (besides humans) to respond to rhythm. The findings, described in the Journal of Comparative Psychology, may help shed light on the origins of the brain's ability to sync sound and movement.    Other animals have been shown to get their boogie on, but they're typically birds like cockatoos and parrots, well versed in vocal mimicry.