Moratorium

Jolted by the possibility of a syphilis outbreak among its ranks, a Los Angeles-based trade group that represents the adult film industry announced a nationwide moratorium on X-rated productions while more than 1,000 porn performers are tested. The Free Speech Coalition issued the call on its website after reporting that one performer tested positive for syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease, and had begun notifying sexual partners of that information. The moratorium was announced Saturday, a day after Los Angeles County's Public Health Department said it was investigating a cluster of possible syphilis cases within the porn industry.

Many members of the Los Angeles City Council think poorly ofWal-Mart, and with some good reason. They fear the giant retailer's reputation for crowding small businesses out of neighborhoods, and they are sensitive to the charge that the company's commitment to holding down prices comes at the expense of salary and benefits for its nonunion workforce. Egged on by their supporters in organized labor, members of the council will take up a proposal Friday to impose a temporary moratorium on retail development in Chinatown.

Pete and Jack Diehl grew up in the tall clapboard house their German immigrant ancestors built in 1842, on a hillside overlooking a creek in the Catskills. Sharp-featured and lean, the brothers run dairy farms within a couple miles of each other. They own land together, and Pete's grandson works on Jack's farm every day after school. But the Diehls are divided over the fate of their property — like thousands of others along the Pennsylvania border, where rich natural gas deposits underlie forests, pastures and towns.

In an almost unheard-of move, scientists who study the deadly H5N1 bird flu announced a 60-day voluntary moratorium on studying the virus to allow time "to clearly explain the benefits of this important research and the measures taken to minimize its possible risks. " The statement, released Friday by the journals Science and Nature, comes soon after federal officials had asked the journals and two research teams to withhold details of experiments that showed the virus can be coaxed to a form that passes readily through the air from mammal to mammal.

A plan to help secure the future of Hollywood's most famous nursing home has been stalled by gridlock in Washington. After months of negotiations, the board of the Motion Picture & Television Fund is close to finalizing a deal with Kindred Healthcare Inc. of Louisville, Ky., to invest in long-term acute-care services at the Woodland Hills complex that includes the nursing home. Under the proposed agreement, Kindred would invest $10 million to remodel an existing hospital building and would lease hospital and rehabilitation beds from the fund.

Little snoops Re "Opening home skies to drones," Nov. 27 Drones may be inevitable, but why here, and what's the hurry? Wouldn't Iran, Syria and North Korea be more likely markets for this latest "gotta have" law enforcement tool? It's more their style. (And don't say we never arm our enemies.) Yes, we'll probably end up with drones overhead; money and power always get what they want. But I'll bet that the first American citizen who shoots one down in U.S. territory will become a folk hero.

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber angered prosecutors, victims' families and doubtless many voters this week when he granted a reprieve to all 37 of the state's death row inmates for the duration of his term. In doing so, he committed one of the most courageous and conscientious acts we've seen on the national political stage in some time. Kitzhaber made his announcement following a decision by the state Supreme Court clearing the way for the Dec. 6 execution of Gary Haugen, who was convicted of killing Mary Archer in 1981 and stabbing a fellow prison inmate to death in 2004.

Los Angeles is one of the few cities that still impose what is, in effect, a local income tax on business. One result is that startups and established firms seeking greener pastures seldom come here, opting instead for more competitive big cities around the country or smaller but more business-friendly municipalities in the region. Three years ago Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa decided to put up the welcome sign by throwing out the tax altogether — but just for a limited period. And just for new arrivals.

The Los Angeles Community College District has suspended all spending on new construction projects while it studies how to pay for building maintenance once it finishes its vast campus expansion program. State budget cuts have made it hard for the district to cover its growing maintenance costs as it opens scores of new buildings under its $5.7-billion bond program. The moratorium announced Monday by Chancellor Daniel LaVista will postpone or halt 67 projects planned by the district's nine colleges but not yet underway or under contract.

The Citee Golf Club on the outskirts of the capital's smoggy sprawl is a kelly green oasis surrounded by neatly trimmed hedges and rows of luxury villas. At $77,000, a family membership at the club costs about 16 times the annual salary of a typical Beijing resident. The 18-hole course, with its pink-shirted female caddies, had its "soft opening" in 2009, five years after the Chinese government declared a moratorium on golf course construction. The ban, imposed amid concern over the country's dwindling arable land, clearly hasn't stopped the boom in golf course construction in China.