Los Angeles Times

Dear Karen: Can a small-business owner collect unemployment? My company has revenue, but not enough to pay me a salary. Answer: It depends on how the business is structured and whether it is paying into California's unemployment insurance fund. Sole proprietors aren't required to contribute to the fund, so they aren't eligible to collect benefits, said Kevin Lilly, an attorney and shareholder at Littler Mendelson in Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Times came under criticism Thursday after it ran a front-page advertisement that resembled a news story. The ad for the NBC drama "Southland" appeared in the left column, starting below the fold and above and beside a banner ad for the television show. The ad, which was labeled "advertisement" and carried the NBC peacock logo, was written from the perspective of a reporter on a ride-along with the show's main character, a Los Angeles police officer.

The Los Angeles Times announced plans Friday to lay off 300 people -- including 70 newsroom workers -- and fold its California section into the main news pages. The moves are the latest efforts by the West's largest paper to cope with the steep loss of advertising revenue caused by the recession and the flight of advertisers to online media outlets. "We're trying to get ahead of what we see as a very tough year ahead of us," Publisher Eddy Hartenstein said.

It's no secret that many children growing up in the grittier areas of Los Angeles are at risk. For most, it is because their neighborhoods may not be safe. But for one boy, it is not having a neighborhood at all that could ultimately jeopardize his future. Quron Brunner, 8, hasn't had a place to call home for nearly two years. His mother, a single parent, lost her job and has been unable to provide them with a permanent residence since.

Dear Reader, As you may already know, the Los Angeles Times' parent company, Tribune, has filed to restructure its debt obligations under the protection of Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. What does all this mean for our readers and advertisers? As a practical matter, very little. Tribune Co. is continuing to operate its media businesses, including its newspapers, television stations and websites. And at the Los Angeles Times and latimes.com, we remain dedicated to providing you with the level of service and 24/7 news coverage you've come to expect from us. The decision to restructure Tribune Co.'s debt was brought on by the dramatic and unexpected operating conditions of this year.

THE Los Angeles Times named David L. Ulin, a veteran literary critic and champion of West Coast writers, as its book editor Wednesday. Ulin's appointment fills a position left vacant since Steve Wasserman resigned in May to take a position with a New York literary agency. Deputy Managing Editor John Montorio said Ulin will be responsible for the newspaper's Sunday Book Review and for book coverage and reviews in other parts of the paper.

The novels and short stories we conveniently pigeonhole as "genre fiction" often are the tripwires of our literature's social consciousness. It's unsurprising, therefore, that the first fictional work to take the newspaper industry's agonizing decline as its backdrop is a mystery, nor that its author, Michael Connelly, is a onetime crime reporter who spent the last years of his print career at the Los Angeles Times.

After 22 years as an integral part of The Times sports department, Mike James was named sports editor Monday. James, 60, replaces Randy Harvey, who recently became the paper's associate editor after three years as sports editor.

Hanging above my desk in my home office is a framed copy of a tattered program for "The Emergence," one of the Company Theater's famous communal shows dating back to the 1970s. I love it because it gives me the names of most of the members of this remarkable company. This ensures I will never forget them. The two went hand in hand -- the company and the 1970s.