WORLD
December 8, 2009 | By Julian E. Barnes
U.S. military officials clamped down on internal Pentagon security during President Obama's Afghanistan strategy review to prevent leaks and stem an erosion of trust between the White House and Defense establishment, according to military officials. Military leaders limited attendance at Pentagon meetings, excluding nonessential staff, and warned officers and others that no one was to discuss the administration's war council meetings or related assignments, officials said. Crucial to the strategy review was top U.S. commander Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who faces lawmakers on Capitol Hill today for the first time since taking command of allied forces in Afghanistan in June and is likely to face a range of questions, both from Republican critics and from Democrats who oppose an escalation.
NATIONAL
October 31, 2009 | James Oliphant
Nearly half the members of the House subcommittee that oversees more than $600 billion in Pentagon spending have been targeted by ethics investigators who are probing the conduct of a once-influential Washington lobbying firm, according to a confidential document that the House Ethics Committee says was inadvertently exposed. The seven members -- five Democrats and two Republicans -- received campaign donations from clients of the firm while sponsoring federal spending on projects that benefited the clients.
ENTERTAINMENT
October 23, 2009 | JAMES RAINEY
My 1st Amendment hero brings close-up photos of celebrity rear ends to the world, under the witty, witty headline "Beach Bums." My 1st Amendment hero delivers us the news any time someone famous looks fat, drunk or plain gaga. My 1st Amendment hero posts Mini-Me's sex tape and treats the Kardashians as if they were America's first family. And my hero also lands real scoops that the rest of the media, including this newspaper, would love to have. Yes, Harvey Levin is my 1st Amendment hero, and I'm not (that)
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
October 21, 2009 | Richard Winton
The founder of TMZ.com has expressed outrage at revelations that the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department obtained his telephone records as part of its investigation into who leaked information about actor-director Mel Gibson's arrest. Harvey Levin, in his first remarks since a Times article revealed how sheriff's investigators obtained his phone records, said it was a violation of state and federal laws. He also called it an abuse of power by a department embarrassed by TMZ's scoop of Gibson's profane and abusive behavior when he was arrested in Malibu in 2006.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
October 9, 2009 | Jack Leonard and Richard Winton
Media law experts and journalism groups expressed outrage Thursday that Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies obtained phone records from a notable Hollywood gossip journalist during a leak investigation, calling the action a serious violation of the reporter's rights. Several said they believed that sheriff's investigators violated state and federal law when they obtained a search warrant for the records of TMZ founder Harvey Levin as they tried to identify who gave him details about Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic tirade during a 2006 drunk-driving arrest.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
October 8, 2009 | Jack Leonard and Richard Winton
A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy suspected of leaking details about Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic tirade during a 2006 drunk-driving arrest will not face criminal charges, despite records showing that two calls were made from his home on the day of the arrest to a celebrity news website. The Los Angeles County district attorney's office concluded that investigators could not identify who made the brief calls from Deputy James Mee's home to the founder of TMZ.com or who leaked portions of his report about Gibson's arrest to the website.