Miracles

Until recently, very few people had ever heard of raspberry ketones, the aromatic compounds that give the berries their distinctive smell. Today, health food stores have trouble keeping the capsules or drops of the stuff on their shelves. Almost overnight, an obscure plant compound became the next big thing in weight loss - and all it took was a few words from Dr. Oz. In a February episode of "The Dr. Oz Show," Mehmet Oz told viewers that raspberry ketones were "the No. 1 miracle in a bottle to burn your fat. " Once Oz calls something a "miracle," it doesn't remain obscure for long.

For a fleeting moment in her underdog campaign, Monica Ratliff faltered. The candidate for the Los Angeles school board stood outside her chief fundraiser's home and balked at the task of asking people for money. Then, she said, she thought of three struggling students in her fifth-grade class at San Pedro Street Elementary, located in a gritty downtown Los Angeles neighborhood. She thought of the vocational programs, better training for teachers and other ideas she could push for as a board member to keep her students from falling off track.

Reyes Ruiz cleans his yard with a rosary clenched in his teeth, to keep both hands free for his work. But that's not the only unusual thing that happens around his house. Five years ago, he says, his wife, Estela, told him that she saw a vision of the Virgin Mary, and the visions continue today. On Dec. 3, 1988, the Ruizes were praying before a portrait of the Virgin that Reyes had painted. Suddenly, Estela Ruiz recalls, she saw a mist. "I thought I was going blind.

Twenty-five years is a hunk of time. For an individual and a team. Amazingly, or painfully, it has been 25 years since the Dodgers last won a World Series. Not so coincidentally, former "Dodgers Talk" host Josh Suchon has a new book out that examines that 1988 season, “Miracle Men.” Suchon, who will be signing copies of the book in the right-field store at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday from 5 p.m. until the end of the third inning, has done a marvelous job or recounting that season.

The glowing eyes on statues of Jesus and the Virgin Mary at an Ohio Catholic church probably are not miraculous, church officials said. Thousands of pilgrims have flocked to St. Joseph the Provider Catholic Church in Campbell to glimpse the two statues on the bell tower. Believers say Mary's and Jesus' eyes and the sacred heart of Jesus glow, especially at night. Msgr.

"I believe in miracles," President Clinton said (Nov. 24). Of course. His election alone should have convinced him of that. ROSE MARY DALLMAN Coronado

Rescue workers combing through flattened neighborhoods in tornado-stricken Birmingham, Ala., are finding miracles amid the devastation. Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper told PBS' "NewsHour" on Thursday that officers are searching wrecked homes by hand, pulling people out of the rubble. "We even rescued two babies, one that was trapped in a crib when the house fell down on top," he said. The twister's caprice carried the power to astonish. "We're seeing five houses destroyed, but there is one that was right in the center that is still standing," Roper said.

In a basement at Old Mission Santa Barbara, a filing cabinet is thick with claims of miracles that didn't make the grade. A man falls off his horse and, thanks to Junipero Serra, he gets up unscathed. A woman visits Serra's tomb in Carmel and something stirs her deeply, changing the course of her life. An alcoholic gives up drinking and credits Serra for seeing him through. They all believed their experiences to be miraculous -- but none was deemed the miracle needed to lift Serra into sainthood, a goal church officials announced 75 years ago Thursday, the 225th anniversary of his death.

Bobby Rogers, a singer-songwriter who was a founding member of the Motown group the Miracles, has died at 73. Rogers died early Sunday morning in Detroit after a long illness, according to the Associated Press. As a songwriter, Rogers worked frequently with Smokey Robinson, and the two co-founded the Miracles in 1955 along with three other partners - Claudette Rogers, a cousin of Rogers; Pete Moore; and Ronnie White. The group's hits included "The Tears of a Clown," "I Second That Emotion" and "You've Really Got a Hold on Me. " PHOTOS: Notable deaths of 2013 The Miracles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year, but Rogers was reportedly too ill to attend.

The trek from Fantasyland to Tree City, U.S.A.--by way of The Real World and Bakersfield--has left Bobby Dye remarkably intact. You remember Bobby. Basketball coach. Nice guy. Parts his teeth in the middle. Well, he's hanging out in Idaho these days. Idaho, land of potatoes and . . . potatoes. Oh, it was just a joke. Idaho is a great place. Great people, great outdoors. Bobby will tell you. He'll tell you Idaho is a great place over and over. "This is a great place. I really love it here.

Jaycee Dugardand her mother both spoke of hope in the wake of the kidnapping drama in Ohio. "Another miracle happened yesterday and three girls are alive and I feel the same joy and relief I felt when Jaycee was returned to me after 18 hellish years," Terry Probyn, Jaycee's mother, said, according to the Associated Press. "We must never lose hope. Keeping hope alive is what got me through the 18 years," she added in a speech at a National Center for Missing and Exploited Children event Wednesday.

A "May miracle" of almost perfectly timed, above-average rainfall helped firefighters battling the large Springs fire in Ventura County and guaranteed that Los Angeles would not break a dubious record. The city was on track to having its fourth-driest year since 1877. But with about 0.70 inches of rain falling in downtown L.A. just before noon, that is no longer the case. For firefighters trying to mop up the 28,000-acre wildfire that broke out last week under blistering temperatures, the rain couldn't have come at a better time - even if Southern California's fire season still looks to be an ominous one. PHOTOS: Springs fire Tom Piranio, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said it didn't rain enough in the actual perimeter of the blaze for people to need an umbrella, but it was more than enough to help firefighters slow the Springs fire's momentum.

A “May miracle” of almost perfectly timed, above average rainfall helped firefighters battling the large Springs fire in Ventura County, and guaranteed that Los Angeles would not break a dubious record. The city was on track to having its fourth-driest year since 1877. But with about 0.70 inch of rain falling in downtown L.A. just before noon, that is no longer the case. For firefighters trying to mop up a 28,000-acre wildfire that broke out in the midst of blistering temperatures, the rain that started this weekend couldn't have come at a better time.

The Lakers guard stepped to the foul line and the familiar chant rose from the Staples Center crowd. “M-V-P! M-V-P! M-V-P!” Three wondrous letters symbolized the sorry end of a season. The Lakers fans were chanting for their only MVP still on his feet - Development League MVP Andrew Goudelock. He was purchased from basketball's minor leagues less than two weeks ago to replace injured Kobe Bryant. He had been placed in the starting lineup two hours earlier to replace injured Steve Nash.

The feature film "Big Miracle," Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," the canceled NBC series "Harry's Law" and Discovery Channel's "Ivory Wars" were among the winners Saturday of the Humane Society of the United States' Genesis Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. "Big Miracle," a drama about an effort to save a family of trapped whales, won best feature film. Stephen Colbert's  "The Colbert Report" earned the  Sid Caesar Comedy Award for its satire on a congressman's defense of dog fighting.

On his Tuesday morning snowmobile ride along Maine's Sugarloaf Mountain, a man stumbled upon a teenager who had gone missing from a nearby ski resort and spent two nights huddling for warmth in a makeshift snow cave as rescuers scoured the area. Nicholas Joy, a 17-year-old high school senior from Medford, Mass., got separated from his father on the slopes of the Sugarloaf Mountain Resort on Sunday afternoon. The two rode the ski lift together and then took separate routes down the mountain, planning to meet up at the bottom, Sugarloaf spokesman Ethan Austin told the Los Angeles Times.

John Wooden: "You can't live a perfect day until you do something for someone who will never be able to repay you. " Joseph Frazier is in a coma. Joseph, 28, was a standout basketball player at Pasadena Muir High and Cal State Northridge before working last year as an assistant coach at Calabasas High. A hit-and-run driver, who has yet to be caught, knocked him off his motorcycle Aug. 25. Joseph was wearing a helmet, but when he arrived at Northridge Hospital he was non-responsive, doctors saying his head injuries were so severe nothing could be done.

Bobby Rogers, an original member of the Motown group the Miracles, who collaborated with lead vocalist and songwriter Smokey Robinson and kept the musical franchise going after its biggest name left, died Sunday at his suburban Detroit home. He was 73. His death was confirmed by Motown Museum board member Allen Rawls. The cause of death was not disclosed, but Rogers had been in poor health for several years. The group known for such hits as "Shop Around," "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" and "The Tracks of My Tears" was formed in 1956 by Rogers, Robinson, Claudette Rogers, Pete Moore and Ronnie White.

Bobby Rogers, a singer-songwriter who was a founding member of the Motown group the Miracles, has died at 73. Rogers died early Sunday morning in Detroit after a long illness, according to the Associated Press. As a songwriter, Rogers worked frequently with Smokey Robinson, and the two co-founded the Miracles in 1955 along with three other partners - Claudette Rogers, a cousin of Rogers; Pete Moore; and Ronnie White. The group's hits included "The Tears of a Clown," "I Second That Emotion" and "You've Really Got a Hold on Me. " PHOTOS: Notable deaths of 2013 The Miracles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year, but Rogers was reportedly too ill to attend.