Michael

WASHINGTON - Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana said they improved his strength and posture. Celebrity Kim Kardashian boasted they allowed her to ditch her personal trainer. But federal and state officials said the rocker-bottom Shape-ups and other toning shoes made by Skechers USA Inc. don't live up to the hype from the company and its high-profile endorsers. On Wednesday, the Manhattan Beach company agreed to pay $50 million to settle false-advertising allegations by the Federal Trade Commission and the attorneys general of 44 states, including California, as well as the District of Columbia.

In a setback for federal regulators, a federal judge threw out many of the fraud allegations against former IndyMac Bancorp Chief Executive Michael W. Perry in a case stemming from the collapse of the onetime Pasadena mortgage lender. U.S. District Judge Manuel Real tossed five of seven public filings late Monday that had supported civil claims filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. He also ruled that Perry could not be forced to repay allegedly ill-gotten gains. Perry's lead attorney, Jean Veta of Covington & Burling in Washington, said the SEC suit "should never have been filed" and that she would contest the remaining accusations at a non-jury trial scheduled for June 26 before Real.

washington -- Mitt Romney twice emphasized his unique business background when he and eight other Republican presidential candidates faced off in a debate last week in Iowa. "I've spent the last, as I've told you, 25 years in the private sector," former Massachusetts Gov. Romney declared at one point. "I understand why jobs come and why jobs go. I've done business in 20 countries."

"NCIS" star Michael Weatherly has sold his house in the Hollywood Hills for $1.845 million. The redone one-story house sits behind gates and has ocean and mountain views. Features include French doors opening to the swimming pool, beamed ceilings, a fireplace, an updated kitchen with stainless-steel appliances, three en-suite bedrooms and a finished two-car garage used as a music room. There are four bedrooms, 31/2 bathrooms and 2,600 square feet of living space. A covered area outdoors is set up as a gym. Weatherly, 43, has starred as special agent Anthony DiNozzo on the highly rated crime drama, originally titled "NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service," since 2003 and appeared as the same character on "JAG.

The PSA test should be abandoned as a prostate cancer screening tool, a government advisory panel has concluded after determining that the side effects from needless biopsies and treatments hurt many more men than are potentially helped by early detection of cancers. At best, one life will be saved for every 1,000 men screened over a 10-year period, according to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. But 100 to 120 men will have suspicious results when there is no cancer, triggering biopsies that can carry complications such as pain, fever, bleeding, infection and hospitalization.

A federal administrative judge ruled that pomegranate juice maker Pom Wonderful used deceptive advertising when it implied its products could treat or prevent serious diseases and other medical conditions. Judge D. Michael Chappell upheld much of a 2010 Federal Trade Commission complaint against the Los Angeles company owned by Lynda and Stewart Resnick. The judge said in his decision issued Monday that Pom used "insufficient" evidence to back its claims that Pom products "treat, prevent or reduce the risk of heart disease, prostate cancer or erectile dysfunction.

Los Angeles police will not pursue through the courts scores of motorists with unpaid tickets from the city's defunct red-light camera program. The city Police Commission voted this week to end its contract with the company that operated L.A.'s cameras until they were shut off last summer. And authorities are now planning to reassign a small group of officers who regularly appeared in court to testify in contested photo enforcement cases. With the cancellation of the contract, officers will no longer have easy access to the photo and video evidence that courts require.

The Grammy Award-winning singer Glen Campbell announced this week that he is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. And then he said he'd be going on the road for a farewell tour. It's not unusual for a public figure to reveal a diagnosis of the insidious disease. Former President Reagan told the world of his battle with Alzheimer's in a poignant letter in 1994. Actor Charlton Heston disclosed, via a taped statement, that he was suffering from symptoms similar to those of Alzheimer's.

On summer nights in the mid-1960s, while black-and-white television crackled elsewhere in his Staten Island home with news of Southern violence and Vietnam, Bobby Lasnik would stretch out in his bedroom to let the righteous soundtrack of the civil rights movement waft into his impressionable teenage soul. Tuned in to WBAI-FM, coming across the water from Manhattan, he heard baleful laments about injustice that he would carry with him for a lifetime. "Suddenly there was someone speaking a certain kind of truth to you. You'd say, 'Wow!

'Michael' No MPAA rating; in German with English subtitles Running time: 1 hour, 36 minutes Playing: At the Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theatre, Los Angeles

So, Lakers fans, if you are still in shock over what Andre Miller did to your team at Staples Center on Tuesday night and want to know more about him, pull up a chair. Miller seems to fit most fans' image of a journeyman. He is 36, has played for five teams — twice with the Denver Nuggets — and is not generally coveted by NBA fantasy league players. Tuesday night, when the Nuggets beat the Lakers and sent the playoff series back to Denver for Game 6 on Thursday night — a stunning result for Lakers fans — you saw a bit of Michael Jordan, a pinch of Chris Paul and a smidgen of Magic Johnson all in one point guard.

What kind of phone does a turtle have? A shell-ular phone. Lauren Vista Grande Elementary Palos Verdes Estates How do you communicate with a fish? You send him a line. Michael. 9 Tamura Elementary Fountain Valley

It's a Friday afternoon and the movie "Moneyball" is playing in a medical clinic waiting room at 9001 Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills. No one is there to watch it, just rows of vacant chairs. Perhaps it's just an off day, but on two other recent visits, no more than a handful of people could be found in the waiting room. It was a much different scene two years ago, when a visitor to the Beverly Hills clinic found the waiting room packed, every seat filled and patients spilling out into an overflow area.

It is a cool, overcast morning in Irvine and 10 swimmers of varying skills are taking a lesson in one corner of the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center. Some bellies hang over the swimsuits and a woman keeps mumbling about getting water in her ear. These aren't pros or even talented youngsters. They are in their 20s and 30s and are so different from the solitary man in the fifth lane who has arrived carrying a black mesh bag that holds goggles, a pair of fins, a small parachute and a snorkel that looks like one your 10-year-old might take to the beach.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Michael Matz has had his share of life-altering moments. He was a three-time Olympian and carried the flag in the closing ceremony in Atlanta. He saved the lives of four young children after a plane crash in Iowa. And he was the trainer who watched over the life and death of Barbaro, perhaps the most beloved thoroughbred of this century. Saturday he'll send Union Rags from the No. 4 post as the second favorite in the 138th Kentucky Derby. Bob Baffert's Bodemesiter is the top choice at 4-1 odds; Union Rags is 9-2. Union Rags was thought to be the clear Derby favorite before an unfortunate ride led to a third-place finish in the Florida Derby.

He spent his life trying to determine how people died. But now his colleagues are searching for answers after he died under mysterious circumstances. Los Angeles police detectives, with the help of the Los Angeles County coroner's office, are investigating the death of Michael Cormier, a coroner's technician. Officials said he might have died of poisoning, but they have not provided further information. Cormier, 61, died last week after being taken to Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank from his North Hollywood home.

A well-to-do young couple confronts the seven-year itch in "Last Night," a drama so pointed it feels more like a thesis than a story. Writer-director Massy Tadjedin's look at marital angst is not without its well-observed moments, and Keira Knightley, as the questioning wife, and Eva Mendes, as the other woman, lend flesh-and-blood vulnerability to their roles. But with true insights in short supply, the on-the-nose material fails to seduce. Knightley plays Joanna, a British writer who lives in monochromatic Manhattan chic with her Aussie husband, Michael (Sam Worthington)

'The Michael Vick Project' Where: BET When: 10 p.m. Tuesday Rating: TV-14 (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 14)

Michael Voltaggio has no idea how many tattoos he has. The question makes him laugh. The wise-cracking 33-year-old chef is pretty well covered. The name of his restaurant, after all, is Ink. Before dinner service on a recent Friday, Voltaggio plays around with an insulated bucket of liquid nitrogen, dipping his hand in it and tossing the residue on the floor where it morphs, CGI-like, into little rolling marbles of chemistry before dissolving into wisps...

With the No. 23 on his jersey, Michael Jordan became one of the greatest basketball players of all time, winning six NBA championships and five MVP awards. Now that number has taken on a whole new meaning. The Charlotte Bobcats, which are owned by Jordan, lost their 23rd consecutive game Thursday evening against New York, finishing the season with a record of 7-59 and the worst winning percentage in NBA history (.106). The record previously belonged to the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers, who were 9-73 (.110)