October

A popular government program enabling underwater borrowers who are current on their mortgages to refinance at lower rates will be extended for two more years.  The Obama administration's Home Affordable Refinance Program had been scheduled to expire at the end of this year. HARP now will run through 2015, regulators announced Thursday . More than 2.2 million borrowers with little or no home equity have refinanced using the 4-year-old HARP, and consumer advocates and lenders welcomed the news of the extension.

The teenage couple drove to the shops in search of supplies for a Halloween party. They visited a Party City store, purchasing glow sticks and knee-high stockings for a costume. They went to a discount store and bought sodas and chips. Cynthia Alvarez, 16, told jurors Tuesday that she and her boyfriend ran the errands in her mother's Jeep Cherokee. But what appeared to be the normal preparations for a teenage soiree was anything but. In the back of the SUV, Alvarez acknowledged, lay her mother's decomposing body.

It has been quite an October in Northern California. The human casualties and severe property damage caused by the devastating Oct. 17 earthquake, which has resulted in billions of dollars in financial losses, made it a "Red October." And the Oakland A's power hitting in the World Series resembled "The Missiles of October." Amazingly enough, the Russians weren't even involved. KENNETH L. ZIMMERMAN Cypress

Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris is determined to make his desert town a hub for Chinese companies specializing in alternative energy. That dream came a little closer at the public unveiling Wednesday of the plug-in electric bus factory owned by Build Your Dreams, or BYD, an electric vehicle manufacturer in Shenzhen, China. BYD is taking over an 110,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Lancaster that formerly produced recreational vehicles. Its initial investment of more than $10 million also includes a nearby plant that will produce energy storage modules and electric batteries for the buses.

EVENTS This year's all-new, 25-minute Haunted Hayride is based on the nightmarish journals of the Clifton twins, daughters of zookeeper Ferdinand Clifton. It makes trepidatious guests prey for 15-foot tall mascots of death, 400-year-old children and terrifying clowns. Additional highlights include the spooky In Between Maze and the Human Menagerie slide show. Griffith Park Old Zoo, 4730 Crystal Spring Ave. 7 p.m.-midnight Fri.-Sat.; 7 p.m.-10:30 p.m. Sun. and Thu. $25-$50. (310)

WASHINGTON -- New home sales dipped 0.3% in October and the government revised down its figures for September in a report that threw some cold water on the recent signs of a strong housing rebound. New single-family homes sold last month at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 368,000, down from a revised 369,000 rate in September, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Quiz: How much do you know about mortgages? The September figure was lowered from the initial 389,000 rate, which had represented a 5.7% jump from August and the highest rate since April 2010.

WASHINGTON -- Fueled by more home building, construction spending increased 1.4% in October from the previous month and rose to its highest annual rate in more than three years, the Commerce Department said Monday. Builders spent at a seasonally adjusted rate of $872.1 billion in October, up from a revised $860.4 billion in September. Year-over-year, spending in October increased 9.6%. The new figures greatly exceeded analysts' expectations. The median projection by economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for spending to rise 0.5% in October.

The Clippers are going international. The NBA announced on Monday that the Clippers and NBA champion Miami Heat will play two exhibition games in China in October. The Clippers and Heat will play Oct. 11 at MasterCard Center in Beijing and Oct. 14 at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai. The games will feature plenty of All-Stars. Chris Paul and Blake Griffin are the Clippers' two All-Stars and LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh are the Heat's All-Stars. ALSO: Clippers' Blake Griffin to have knee surgery today Carmelo Anthony calls Jeremy Lin contract offer 'ridiculous' Knicks' Jason Kidd facing drunk-driving charges after crashing his SUV

WASHINGTON -- Consumer spending dipped in October, the first decline in five months, as Superstorm Sandy took a big bite out of paychecks in the Northeast. Personal consumption expenditures fell by $20.2 billion, or 0.2%, last month compared with September, the Commerce Department said Friday. Income growth was basically flat in October, increasing $800 million, or less than 0.1%. Quiz: How much do you know about the 'fiscal cliff'? Both figures came in below analyst expectations of about a 0.1% rise in spending and a 0.2% increase in personal income.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. might not hit its debt limit until October because of improved economic growth and higher tax revenue this year, according to a new estimate released Friday. The projection by the Bipartisan Policy Center would give Congress and the White House more time to wrestle with the politically volatile issue. The U.S. technically will need to raise the debt limit again next month, but the Treasury Department is expected to take steps to buy additional time.

The increase in fugitive sex offenders in California since the state changed key prison policies is more than double that previously believed, according to data released Wednesday by corrections officials. The data show a 65% rise from October 2011 to Jan. 1 of this year in warrants issued for paroled sex offenders who were tracked by GPS units and went missing. Previous state reports showed about a 30% climb for that period. Almost 5,000 warrants were issued during that time, according to the new figures, far more than the 3,251 the department reported in March.

SAN DIEGO - Kenley Jansen should be able to attend his newborn daughter's graduation and wedding ceremonies. No longer does the Dodgers' hard-throwing setup man have to worry that playing baseball could cost him his life. His heart now functions normally. Nearly six months ago, Jansen underwent a cardiac operation that scared him out of his usual laid-back persona. "It's finally fixed," Jansen, 25, said with a smile. Heading into the Dodgers' series opener against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on Tuesday, Jansen has pitched three times.

The critical darling of this year's Sundance Film Festival will arrive in theaters sooner than expected. "Fruitvale," which won the festival's Grand Jury and Audience awards in January, is set to hit the big screen on July 26 -- three months before it was initially slated to debut at the box office. The Weinstein Co., which purchased the drama for $2 million at Sundance, quietly changed the film's release date last month. Starring newcomer Michael B. Jordan, "Fruitvale" is based on the 2009 shooting of 22-year-old Oscar Grant, an African American who was killed by a BART transit police officer in Oakland.

Brandon Rios says he learned all he needs to know about his opponent Mike Alvarado by battling him through seven vicious rounds in October. "I saw in his eyes after I hurt him with a body shot in the fifth round, I knew I would finish him and that he knew he couldn't hurt me," Rios said, who won their junior-welterweight bout by seventh-round technical knockout. It's why Oxnard's Rios (31-0-1, 23 knockouts) won't change anything about his approach in Saturday's rematch with Alvarado.

The UCLA Film & Television Archive's Festival of Preservation turns its spotlight on the small screen with a tribute Saturday to the television work of an award-winning actress and a celebration March 23 of an acclaimed but short-lived ABC anthology series. Julie Harris has won five Tony Awards and is best known to film fans for her role as James Dean's character's love interest in 1955's "East of Eden. " During the 1950s, she was one of the superstars of live drama anthologies. One of her earliest TV appearances, in the1951 Goodyear Television Playhouse "October Story," screens Saturday afternoon at the Billy Wilder Theater in Westwood.

In 1810 Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria and the Princess Therese von Sachesen-Hildenburghausen threw such a successful wedding party that the festivities became an annual affair--Oktoberfest. The tradition continues at Old World Village in Huntington Beach and the Phoenix Club in Anaheim where German food, drinks, music, dancing and singing are on tap through the end of the month.

What a month, October . . . in like a lamb, out like a Detroit Lion (same thing?). It is gleeful, resonant and far too short. In fact, October should be 60 days. Because October doesn't just arrive, like most months. October jumps out of a cake. In October, basketball and hockey are back. The interminable baseball season ends with a big bang, not a whimper. A home run in October is worth 20 in July. A home run in October is like a Roman candle. It smells of gunpowder. October is "Whoa, Nellie!"

PHOENIX - We might picture Mark Ellis' 2012 Dodgers season as a smooth road, with giant bumps at each end. The statistics mostly reflect the smooth part. The veteran second baseman, as reliable as your garage door opener, hit .258, with 62 runs and 31 RBIs. He also did his usual remarkable defensive job. Among players with at least 750 games at second base, he is second all-time in fielding percentage, with a .991 mark to Placido Polanco's .993, and stayed at that level in 2012 by making only three errors in 9101/3 innings.

Los Angeles County Assessor John Noguez, who has been in jail since his October arrest on two dozen corruption charges, finally made bail on Friday. Noguez is accused of taking $185,000 in bribes from Ramin Salari, a prominent property tax consultant and generous Noguez campaign fundraiser. In return for the cash, Noguez is alleged to have lowered property tax bills for some of Salari's wealthy clients. Both Noguez and Salari pleaded not guilty following their Oct. 17 arrest, and have vigorously denied any wrongdoing.