Organizations

The Knights of Columbus have adopted a highway. So have the Japanese American Citizens League, biker groups, Indian casinos and the International House of Pancakes. Now add the San Diego Minutemen. Caltrans has granted an Adopt-A-Highway stretch of Interstate 5 to the ardent foes of illegal immigration -- and not just any stretch. The two miles of freeway the Minutemen will be charged with beautifying include the U.S. Border Patrol Checkpoint near San Clemente.

The director of the anti-gang organization No Guns, which the city of Los Angeles once paid $1.5 million to steer Latino youths away from a life of crime, pleaded guilty Thursday to illegally selling assault weapons to federal undercover officers. Hector "Big Weasel" Marroquin, 51, was sentenced to eight years in prison, said Eric Harmon, the Los Angeles County prosecutor in the case. Marroquin's accomplice and girlfriend, Sylvia Arellano, 26, pleaded guilty to illegal weapons sales.

More than 150 bearded Santas -- looking relaxed, some clad in Hawaiian shirts, others in red suits -- gathered at a Buena Park hotel Sunday to reminisce about the busy holiday season and network over their next merry career move. The annual founders luncheon of the Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas drew an assortment of oversized gents, an equal number of Mrs. Clauses and a few real-life little people working as elves. They met to promote pride and improve performance.

More than half a dozen Little Leagues and other sports organizations in California are among about 220 groups nationwide facing losses after an online payment company stopped handing over dues and other funds it was collecting. The missing payments, which Washington-based Count Me In Corp. acknowledged Tuesday total $5 million, have left many of the organizations wondering how they will make up the difference, particularly given the tough economic times.

A major source of health insurance for people who work for themselves is disappearing, casting thousands of contractors, freelancers and solo practitioners into the ranks of the uninsured with little hope of obtaining new coverage. Health plans offered by professional associations were once havens for millions of people who couldn't get coverage anywhere else.

The Democratic presidential candidates appeared together Saturday before a major gathering of the "net roots" -- online political activists who hope to remake American politics -- in a debate that produced a sharp exchange over donations from lobbyists.

mexico city -- Fight your way through parts of downtown Mexico City and you'll understand why Mayor Marcelo Ebrard wants to clean up this town. Street vendors selling tacos, bootleg CDs and cut-rate clothing have converted the symbolic heart of Mexico into a gigantic swap meet. His administration plans to relocate thousands of these bootstrap merchants, who block traffic, impede pedestrians, strew trash and evade taxes.

EL CAJON, Calif. -- Clad in black leather vests, jeans, boots and bandannas, the bikers stood at attention as pallbearers carried the casket of Army Staff Sgt. Sean P. Fisher inside St. Kieran Catholic Church. Fisher, 29, who was killed Aug. 14 in a helicopter crash in Iraq, did not know any of these particular mourners, but that did not matter to any of them. They were at the service to show respect, hoist the American flag and support Fisher's family.

The Democratic presidential race heated up Saturday, with Barack Obama charging that rival John Edwards committed campaign hypocrisy by deriding political organizations called 527s at the same time he allegedly will benefit from their spending. Stumping in central Iowa three days before Christmas, Obama described the former North Carolina senator as "a good man," and said both agreed that special interests and lobbyists "have too much influence in Washington."