Local Group

The Orange County task force working to keep the Rams in Southern California has begun its final push, launching a letter-writing campaign that will target NFL owners and a season-ticket and luxury-suite pledge drive, which will include a "radio telethon," this morning.

The just-expelled Better Business Bureau of the Southland has no plans to end its mission of fighting for southern California consumers. The former Los Angeles affiliate of Council of Better Business Bureaus has renamed itself the Business Consumer Alliance and is going on the offensive after being booted from the council Tuesday over allegations that it strong-armed businesses into paying cash for inflated ratings. As a result, the new group can no longer use the BBB name or logo.

For generations, Americans turned to the Better Business Bureau to find out if the local grocer was cheating customers or if the neighborhood dry cleaner was mishandling clothes. But this week the 101-year-old consumer watchdog turned its sights on one of its own - ousting the Los Angeles chapter that grades local businesses. BBB of the Southland was expelled after years of internal strife and a slew of audits by the Council of Better Business Bureaus. The chapter, which was the organization's largest and covered Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange and Riverside counties, was accused of demanding that businesses pay membership fees in exchange for good ratings.

For generations, Americans turned to the Better Business Bureau to find out if the local grocer was cheating customers or if the neighborhood dry cleaner was mishandling clothes. But this week the 101-year-old consumer watchdog turned its sights on one of its own - ousting the Los Angeles chapter that grades local businesses. BBB of the Southland was expelled after years of internal strife and a slew of audits by the Council of Better Business Bureaus. The chapter, which was the organization's largest and covered Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange and Riverside counties, was accused of demanding that businesses pay membership fees in exchange for good ratings.

The 220-room Plaza International Hotel at 1550 Hotel Circle South in San Diego's Mission Valley has been sold for $10.92 million to a local group of investors who will turn it into a Travelodge Hotel after extensive renovation. John Burnham & Co. Commercial Real Estate arranged the transaction involving the San Diego Hotel Group, the purchaser, and Unity Savings & Loan of Beverly Hills, the seller.

After a grueling 26-hour trip, breakdowns and torrential rain, more than 800 Vietnamese-Americans from Orange County arrived here Tuesday, glassy-eyed from exhaustion but still excited in anticipation of meeting Pope John Paul II. Despite their fatigue from the nonstop bus ride, the group promptly set up sleeping quarters, which consisted of side-by-side sleeping bags on the concrete floors of two local churches.

The just-expelled Better Business Bureau of the Southland has no plans to end its mission of fighting for southern California consumers. The former Los Angeles affiliate of Council of Better Business Bureaus has renamed itself the Business Consumer Alliance and is going on the offensive after being booted from the council Tuesday over allegations that it strong-armed businesses into paying cash for inflated ratings. As a result, the new group can no longer use the BBB name or logo.

Tesco, the giant British retailer that is about to open a chain of small grocery stores in Southern California, refused to say Thursday whether it would meet with a coalition of community groups concerned about the company's commitment to decent wages, affordable health benefits and greenhouse gas reduction.

Attorneys for two groups of developers in an $11.4-million civil suit over shoddy condominium construction in Glendale agreed on one thing in their opening statements Tuesday: The other guys are to blame. The developers are being sued by an association of those who bought the 95 condos. The association contends that both groups are to blame--the local group that began building the condos and the New York group that bought and resold them.

A pile of long wooden planks stood next to an 11-foot-high plate of dirty glass. Nearby, a beat-up bench didn't look as though it could support a toddler without collapsing. A crude wooden chair on tall legs leaned against a tree. Ropes were everywhere. And torches were scattered about like giant matchsticks. Atop the highest point of Isla Contadora, the debris ruins one of the better views of the Pearl Islands. Located off the Pacific coast of Panama, the Pearl Islands are a string of 190 gems rimmed by powder-white sand and turquoise water and filled with jungle.

Six months after the Boy Scouts of America reaffirmed its long-standing ban on gays, the organization signaled Monday that it might retreat from that prohibition and allow local groups to decide. The proposed policy shift, which the Scouts' national board will discuss next week in Irving, Texas, follows a decades-long effort to exclude homosexual boys and adult leaders. It also coincides with growing public support for gay rights and pressure on the Scouts from corporations, some local governments and even members of its board to eliminate the ban. "The policy change under discussion would allow the religious, civic or educational organizations that oversee and deliver Scouting to determine how to address this issue," spokesman Deron Smith said in a statement.

This spring, opera in Los Angeles has been winning praise for its daring and diversity. A boldly abstract version of "Don Giovanni" staged by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. An edgy multimedia opera, "Crescent City," presented by The Industry. Coming up: Benjamin Britten's "Curlew River," by the innovative music group Jacaranda, and a new chamber opera, "The Face," by two USC scholars. This operatic blossoming has been good for local audiences, but it has raised awkward questions and touched a sensitive nerve in the city's arts community.

The Better Business Bureau of the Southland is getting another shakeup at the top. William Mitchell, who led the organization for 26 years, has quietly resigned — for a second time — after criticism over the group's rating system for businesses and his compensation, which exceeded $400,000 a year. Mitchell previously announced his resignation in December, only to rescind it in February. At the time, Mitchell said he was needed to fend off efforts by the national Council of Better Business Bureaus to take control of the local group.

A pile of long wooden planks stood next to an 11-foot-high plate of dirty glass. Nearby, a beat-up bench didn't look as though it could support a toddler without collapsing. A crude wooden chair on tall legs leaned against a tree. Ropes were everywhere. And torches were scattered about like giant matchsticks. Atop the highest point of Isla Contadora, the debris ruins one of the better views of the Pearl Islands. Located off the Pacific coast of Panama, the Pearl Islands are a string of 190 gems rimmed by powder-white sand and turquoise water and filled with jungle.

Reporting from Sacramento The signs were carefully, almost lovingly, arranged in strategic, TV-friendly positions throughout the arena before the Clippers-Kings game here Monday night. DON'T BE L.A.! BEAT L.A.! The Kings took care of the latter command, beating the Clippers, 105-99, at Arco Arena, ruining the debut of the two newest Clippers, point guard Mo Williams and small forward Jamario Moon. Here, though, the focal points were the three Kings and co-owners, the brothers Maloof, sitting in the front row across from the Sacramento bench, looking happier and more engaged as the game progressed.

As a judge weighs whether to halt Arizona's controversial immigration law, hundreds of Los Angeles union members and activists are planning a bus caravan to Phoenix on Thursday — the day the law is set to take effect. More than 550 people plan to ride on 11 buses to Arizona to stage a protest and launch a partnership with Arizona groups to boost voter registration. During the one-day trip, sponsored by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, participants will meet with Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris, march to the state Capitol and hold a vigil.

The Better Business Bureau of the Southland is getting another shakeup at the top. William Mitchell, who led the organization for 26 years, has quietly resigned — for a second time — after criticism over the group's rating system for businesses and his compensation, which exceeded $400,000 a year. Mitchell previously announced his resignation in December, only to rescind it in February. At the time, Mitchell said he was needed to fend off efforts by the national Council of Better Business Bureaus to take control of the local group.

A local group of Habitat for Humanity volunteers is planning to leave for Nepal late next month to help build a 100-home project. Maya Hamilton, 38, and Ben Powell, 32, Web site designers based in Ventura, are among a group of 20 that will make the trip. The trip will be led by Cynthia Kersey, an Agoura Hills-based motivational author and speaker who is active with the nonprofit group.

About a year ago, Amanda Perez of East Los Angeles called a friend and asked her to come to an old handball court she was trying to save. When Virginia Sandoval parked her car and beheld the red brick facade of the building, she cried. The Maravilla Handball Court on Mednik Avenue was built with bricks from the nearby former Davidson Brick Yard, where Sandoval's father used to work and where she used to play as a girl. Sandoval, 66, soon joined Perez, 54, in her effort to preserve the court, which was completed in 1923.

In Nigeria's oil-rich Niger River Delta, where Royal Dutch Shell has a tense relationship with communities, activists Tuesday welcomed the company's agreement to pay $15.5 million to settle a lawsuit that accused it of complicity in the 1995 executions of environmental and human rights advocates. But the activists saw it as a starting point, not the end of the struggle of the Ogoni people and other communities in the region for compensation over Shell's activities.