Parties

CINCINNATI - The Rev. Chris Beard is a theological conservative, make no mistake about it. He believes the Bible is the word of God. He believes the Holy Spirit speaks to him directly. He believes, as an article of faith, that abortion and same-sex marriage are wrong. Still, when a group of religious leaders in Ohio held two days of meetings in Cincinnati recently to talk about economic and racial justice, issues usually associated with the political left, there was Beard, a fourth-generation Pentecostal preacher with a disarming smile, a shaved head and a set of convictions that knock holes in the stereotypes about white evangelical Protestants.

Deborah Pauly, the outspoken Villa Park councilwoman who drew community ire when she protested outside an Islamic charity event, was removed this week from a leadership position with the Orange County Republican Party's central committee. Party officials said Pauly, who is running for county supervisor, has been a divisive figure. Her removal comes a month after Orange businessman Bob Walters mailed out letters supporting Pauly's candidacy on a "George Wallace for President" letterhead.

Halloween may still win hands down as the most popular day for masquerading, but many adults are creating other occasions to don costumes. Representatives of several costume-sales and rental companies, citing '50s and mystery-murder parties as the current rage, report an increase in business not only in October but throughout the year. "I can hardly keep the (1950s) poodle skirts clean," says Rosaland Faigle, owner of Carol's Costumes Co. Inc. in Ventura. Charity fund-raisers, parties aboard cruise ships, theme weddings, birthday parties, retirement and anniversary celebrations and "come as 'X' " parties also were cited as popular occasions for dressing up--not to mention the old standards of Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day and Mardi Gras.

Ever want to video chat with a few of your closest friends? How about 11 of them at the same time? That's what video chat service ooVoo offers free through Facebook and a new iPad app. The company, whose name represents two sets of eyes looking at each other, lets users access video chat rooms from the iPhone and Android phone over Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G LTE as well as via Web and desktop apps. The desktop apps allow up to 12-way chat, screen sharing and sharing of files up to 25 megabytes.

BEIJING - "Beijing power struggle heralds end of China Communist Party," screams one headline. More sensational headlines purport to reveal how the wife of recently sacked Politburo member Bo Xilai poisoned an Englishman, who may have been her lover. And if that weren't enough, other stories claim that "Bo planned airline crash" and "slept with more than 100 women. " It's payback time for Chinese exiles, especially those with a printing press, television station or just a computer at their disposal.

Homeowners more deeply underwater on mortgages handled by five major U.S. banking firms are prime candidates for getting help from a $25-billion nationwide settlement over alleged foreclosure abuses. That's because the settlement gives the nation's largest mortgage servicers more incentives to help those who owe 40% to 75% more than the value of their homes, according to details of the settlement filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Washington. In a complex series of formulas designed to maximize the effect of the deal reached last month, banks will get more than six times the credit for reducing loans for severely underwater borrowers than they would for helping those who owe 5% to 15% more than the value of their homes.

Four young men at a Hollywood "rave" party passed around a water container they believed held a drug early Thursday morning and drank what turned out to be pure lye, authorities said. The four, whose ages ranged from 16 to 20, fell unconscious a short time later, and three were in respiratory arrest when they arrived by ambulance at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said Los Angeles Police Lt. Bernie Larralde. The fourth was conscious but incoherent and was taken to Kaiser Permanente hospital.

The bat mitzvah girl was not alone. There were nine of her, dancing like a bat mitzvah-girl chorus line across nine--count 'em, nine--television sets. "This is broadcasting television technology that we're making available to the bar mitzvah market," said Vince Doyle, a bar mitzvah professional, as he hovered before his flashing "video wall" at Los Angeles' first bar mitzvah planning show Sunday. "You can turn it into the 'Arsenio Hall Show.' " Oy. So you want to do a bar mitzvah?

Organizers of block parties from now on will have to show that they have the support of most of the community before they can get a city permit. A petition with signatures from 67% of residents on the block will have to be presented to the Public Works Department before the city will consent to the party. That is up from the 51% previously required for a block party permit. Each property on a block is given one vote. The party organizer must also collect $50 for the permit.

How's this for a sign of a successful remodel: Friends want to throw parties at your home. Sherry Walsh, a former fashion designer, and husband Miguel Nelson, an artist, took those requests and turned them into a business, renting out two spaces for parties, weddings and more -- venues whose unusual designs hold ideas for do-it-yourselfers at home. It all began five years ago. While searching for a work-live studio, the couple found a "lost piece of history" near Chinatown -- one of Los Angeles' first auto showrooms, Nelson says.

ABC's"Revenge"has generated critical and fan support thanks to a healthy mix of soap opera camp and cold, calculated treachery. But there's another ingredient that bowls us over: the serious partying these people do. Party coverage is a staple here at the Ministry, and we're impressed with the social calendar this Hamptons-set potboiler maintains. Need some proof?

WASHINGTON - The prostitution scandal that has embroiled the Secret Service is not evidence of a wider culture of boozing and paying for sex among those who are trained to take a bullet for the president, the director of the agency told skeptical senators. The senators challenged Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan to explain how it was possible, without an atmosphere of permissiveness among the agency's supervisors, that 12 agents could go out in separate groups on April 11 in Cartagena, Colombia, independently decide to bring women back to their hotel rooms, and then sign the women in at the front desk next to the agents' real names.

In the stream of photos on their Facebook pages, Javier Bolden and Bryan Barnes look like the life of the party. The young men hung out with a group that dubbed itself "No Respect Inc.," a "party crew" that followed a local DJ to parties and other events across South Los Angeles. The photos show Bolden and Barnes dancing, shirtless, showing off their tattoos and muscles, and striking poses with young women. Under one photo Barnes took of himself in December, he wrote: "Merry Christmas To All Da Females Dat Didnt Have A Good Christmas :)"

Gloria Romero is a Democrat. She was elected to the California Assembly as a Democrat and later to the state Senate. She served as Democratic leader of the Senate, the first woman to do so. Ben Austin is a Democrat too. He worked in the White House under President Clinton and was an ardent supporter of Barack Obama. Both Austin and Romero support reform of the nation's education system, and when Romero helped found an organization to push that effort, she and her co-founders (fellow Democrats)

Tom Fuentes, whose forceful leadership of the Orange County Republican Party confirmed it as an epicenter of GOP fundraising and political clout, has died. He was 63. Fuentes died late Friday at his home in Lake Forest, family spokeswoman Kathy Tavoularis said. He had liver cancer that had spread to his lungs and lymph system. Fuentes, chairman of the Republican Party of Orange County from 1985 to 2004, helped the party maintain its powerhouse status while boosting several candidates to victory.

Re "Alternative presidential bid falters," May 16 It always seemed quixotic to launch a grass-roots movement from the top. In the unlikely scenario that a candidate was elected president, what sort of clout would she or he have in a Congress that lacked even a single supporter? By contrast, consider the "tea party. " Whether or not you agree with its agenda, it is undeniable that the dozens of representatives it helped elect have made their presence felt. Americans Elect should endorse candidates already running for Congress - whether Democratic or Republican - who meet its criteria, and put up candidates of its own in districts where none do. H.A. Drake Santa Barbara ALSO: Letters: Eugenics in America's past Letters: The media and Mitt Romney Letters: California courts feel the cuts

Trying to keep up with the party scene at Coachella is like trying to keep track of Snoop Dogg's Twitter feed. He's got 7 million followers and more than 9,000 tweets and you've got, like, 10 million parties to go to in the next two weekends. You'll be hopping from pool to pool in your finest gold lame swimsuit from the moment you arrive in the heat of Indio on Friday until the Doggfather and Dr. Dre close down the main stage at the end of the festival on Sunday night 10 days later.

Coachella off-site parties are now as important as the event itself to many L.A. attendees, especially as they shift away from heavy-handed corporate branding and zero in on club culture. Yes, this year we still saw Brent Bolthouse's Armani Exchange Neon Carnival, the crocodile-branded Lacoste party and fetes from Guess and Chevy motors, but other L.A.-area promoters and DJs are bringing a different kind of heat. Coachella's first weekend saw more club-like parties at events by DJ Anthony Giancola (booker at club Harvard & Stone)

CINCINNATI - The Rev. Chris Beard is a theological conservative, make no mistake about it. He believes the Bible is the word of God. He believes the Holy Spirit speaks to him directly. He believes, as an article of faith, that abortion and same-sex marriage are wrong. Still, when a group of religious leaders in Ohio held two days of meetings in Cincinnati recently to talk about economic and racial justice, issues usually associated with the political left, there was Beard, a fourth-generation Pentecostal preacher with a disarming smile, a shaved head and a set of convictions that knock holes in the stereotypes about white evangelical Protestants.

Successful, micro-targeted neighborhood music festivals have been proliferating — including Make Music Pasadena, the Eagle Rock Music Festival, Venice's Abbott Kinney Music Festival and Echo Park's Culture Collide — and now we can now add "The Nice Stretch of West Hollywood That's West of Fairfax Avenue but East of the Sunset Strip Festival. " Sunday's festival is actually called the Hudson Block Party, and for a second year the classy-casual bar and restaurant that throws it has booked an unexpectedly buzzy bill of local and national acts, including White Rabbits, LP and Haim.