Packages

It was billed as a "shocking tell-all" and a "world exclusive," but the National Enquirer's March 26 cover story landed with a thud. TMZ, Page Six and other major players in celebrity gossip ignored the article in which a masseur claimed John Travolta offered money for sex. FOR THE RECORD: An earlier version of this article used the term "masseuse"; it should have said "masseur. " Five weeks after the issue left the checkout aisle, a DUI attorney from Pasadena put the anonymous masseur's tawdry tale in a lawsuit and it became an overnight pop culture sensation, topping Google News, trending on Twitter and meriting a segment on "Good Morning America.

SACRAMENTO — A data breach that jeopardized the personal information of more than 700,000 people has spurred California officials to change the way they transport sensitive material. Packages of payroll data, including Social Security numbers, will be delivered by courier rather than dropped in the mail. And officials are examining ways to transmit encrypted data rather than store it on microfiche. "We're looking to improve the process," said Oscar Ramirez, a spokesman for the California Department of Social Services.

Two new Las Vegas venues invite guests to - quite literally - have a blast. Letting loose with high-powered firearms may not be everyone's idea of a good time, but my visits to two indoor gun ranges suggested just how popular they are with tourists. The bed. After you've plunkeddown plenty for a session at a gun range, that credit card may be close to maxing out. Consider staying at the Plaza (1 Main St.; [800] 634-6575, http://www.plazahotelcasino.com ; rooms from $31 weekdays and $80 weekends)

With Coachella 2012 barely in the books, get ready for an early shot at buying tickets and hotel packages for Coachella 2013 . Even though there's no lineup announced yet, advance ticket sales start at 10 a.m. PDT Thursday (today) and continue through 10 p.m. PDT May 24 for what's officially known as the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. Next year's music fest again will take place over two weekends: April 12-14 and April 19-21. [Updated, 8:30 a.m. May 18: General admission and VIP advance purchase tickets for both weekends sold out quickly Thursday.

Cigarette packages in the U.S. are about to be emblazoned with graphic, bordering on gory, images highlighting the dangers of smoking. But what really irks one tobacco giant is the prospect of gory but plain (i.e. brandless) labels, an anti-smoking measure about to be launched in Australia. Philip Morris Asia has threatened to sue the Australian government, saying its plan would hinder the company’s ability to differentiate its products from other brands, according to media reports . The Australian government counters that taking away brand-name appeal would cut down on smoking rates in the country and save money on healthcare.  The proposed laws, which would take effect in January, would require packaging to be a drab, olive green color with standardized font and colors for brand and product names.

I recently wrote about 21 things to do in Las Vegas for less than $21 . Now here's a way to keep your room rates on the cheap side too: MGM hotels' spring break special means staying in Vegas for two nights plus discounts on shopping and spa services for as little as $100 at Excalibur. The chain's pricier digs such as the Signature are on sale too, and all packages come with nice extras. The deal: The Vegas Spring Break Escape 2012 packages vary by hotel; check out the different amenities for the MGM Grand, the Signature, Mandalay Bay, THEhotel, Monte Carlo, New York New York, Luxor and Excalibur.

After a summer of frugal mini-vacations, I've been desperately seeking a room with a view -- preferably overlooking a canal in Venice, Italy That's why this offer from Voyage Prive spoke to me: Packages at the luxury Bauers Hotel start at just $202 a night, views included. The deal: Voyage Prive is a members-only website that is free but requires an "invitation" to join. If you don't know a member, look around for links at DailyCandy and other travel sites.

An incendiary device ignited inside a package at a U.S. Postal Service processing center in Washington on Friday, a day after two similar parcels sent to Maryland officials ignited in mailrooms, prompting authorities to warn that more are possible. Friday's package was addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, according to a department official who spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because of a continuing investigation. It was similar in design and shape to packages received Thursday in Maryland, addressed to the governor in Annapolis and the state's transportation secretary in Hanover.

A terrorist attack apparently aimed at two Jewish centers in Chicago was thwarted when two packages the size of bread boxes containing explosives were intercepted in Europe and the Middle East, President Obama and counterterrorism officials announced Friday. The packages, which had originated from Yemen, were found on cargo planes after a tip from an official in Saudi Arabia. The targets were a synagogue and another Jewish center on the North Side of Chicago, a U.S. official said.

The two makeshift bombs in U.S.-bound packages found on cargo planes Friday in England and Dubai were wired to explode, at least one via a cellphone detonator, U.S. officials said Saturday. In Yemen, where the packages originated, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said in a short news conference late Saturday that authorities had identified a woman who was suspected of involvement in mailing the packages. The Associated Press reported that the woman had been arrested. Saleh said Yemeni forces acted on a tip from U.S. officials, who had passed on a telephone trace.

The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in Riverside has a special offer for active and veteran members of the U.S. military this month: $159 a night for a room that includes dinner for two and valet parking. It's a good discount off the usual rates -- and might make for a nice Memorial Day getaway. The deal: A Salute to Our Heroes package includes a room, dinner for two at the hotel's Bella Trattoria Italian Bistro and free valet parking. A military ID is required for this deal.

Two new Las Vegas venues invite guests to - quite literally - have a blast. Letting loose with high-powered firearms may not be everyone's idea of a good time, but my visits to two indoor gun ranges suggested just how popular they are with tourists. The bed. After you've plunkeddown plenty for a session at a gun range, that credit card may be close to maxing out. Consider staying at the Plaza (1 Main St.; [800] 634-6575, http://www.plazahotelcasino.com ; rooms from $31 weekdays and $80 weekends)

SACRAMENTO - Sensitive personal information for more than 700,000 people who provide or receive home care for the elderly and disabled may have been compromised when payroll data went missing in the mail, state officials revealed Friday night. The breach occurred whenHewlett-Packard, which handles the payroll data for workers in California's In-Home Supportive Services program, was shipping information including Social Security numbers to an office in Riverside last month. The package arrived damaged and incomplete.

WASHINGTON — Without the unprecedented stimulus actions by the federal government triggered by the 2008 financial crisis, the Great Recession might still be going on, according to a study by Fitch Ratings. Those incentives, however, came with a price: accelerated budget deficits and rock-bottom interest rates that hurt savers, according to the credit rating company. Still, the $700-billion bailout fund, the $831-billion stimulus package and the Federal Reserve's near-zero interest rates, among other federal efforts, continue to spur the nation's economy, the study released Wednesday concludes.

WESTERVILLE, Ohio - Europe has long been a pejorative in Mitt Romney's lexicon, a laugh line popular with conservative crowds as he has campaigned for the Republican presidential nomination. So it came as no surprise when he told an Ohio audience Friday that massive government borrowing and spending under President Obama was putting America "on track to becoming Greece. " Describing Obama's "government-dominated society" as a breach of America's tradition of letting free enterprise thrive, Romney said, "In my view, that takes us down a path to becoming more and more like Europe.

SAN FRANCISCO — Wells Fargo & Co. Chief Executive John Stumpf got to keep his pay, but little else went the banker's way during an acrimonious annual shareholder meeting. Demonstrators swarmed the Merchants Exchange Building in San Francisco's financial district to protest the bank's lending and foreclosure policies. Some shareholders couldn't get into the meeting as the crowd, which police estimated exceeded 1,000 people, shut down nearby streets. Inside the meeting, Stumpf was disrupted by protesters who made it into the auditorium: "The time for talk is over," said Richard Smith, an Episcopal priest in the low-income Mission District who urged Wells Fargo executives to show compassion for struggling borrowers.

Sydney S. Stern, designer of the original Ritz Crackers box who also revamped the Animal Crackers package with its brightly colored caged lions, tigers and bears, has died at age 99. The artist died of heart failure June 5 at Palms of Pasadena Hospital in St. Petersburg, where he lived. Stern, who trained as an artist, went to work in 1923 for the National Biscuit Co., where he designed cartoons, wrappers and boxes. He also put the cracker on the Uneeda biscuit box and helped design the Shredded Wheat box. He began painting in water colors as a boy and then studied at the Art Students League, Columbia University and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

Though "modular" packages have become increasingly popular in recent years, some travelers still are surprised by what these offerings do and do not include and how best to employ them. The word "modular" generally is used to describe packages that have a couple of basic components, such as accommodations plus transfers to and from airports and perhaps some sightseeing. These packages allow travelers who want to roam independently to then build extra components according to their wishes.

Comcast Corp.'s highest-paid executives — Chief Executive Brian Roberts and NBCUniversal chief Steve Burke — experienced compensation deflation last year. Roberts' pay package shrank 13.3% in 2011 to $26.9 million. That included a performance-based cash bonus of $5.5 million for the 52-year-old executive. Meanwhile, Burke's compensation dropped a whopping 32% to $23.7 million, which included a performance bonus of $6.7 million. The 53-year-old executive's amount fell dramatically last year, as it was the first time in three years that he did not collect a signing bonus.

"Two Broke Girls" and one rich CEO. CBS Corp. Chief Executive Leslie Moonves vaulted to the top of the media pay ladder in 2011 with a compensation package valued at $69.9 million, according to documents filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The 62-year-old executive's package jumped 21% over the $57.7 million that he reaped in 2010. For the last two years, Moonves has received bonuses of $27.5 million. Moonves' base salary was $3.5 million. Last year, he also received nearly $8.5 million in stock and options awards valued at $27.3 million.