Path

WASHINGTON - In the first and only vote Thursday on the immigration bill, senators turned back a Republican measure that would have delayed a path to citizenship for those in the country illegally until after the border with Mexico is fully secure. Republicans still plan to offer several other measures to enhance border security, but this one, from Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, was one of the most hard-line of the proposals. The 57-43 vote to defeat the amendment offered an imprecise test of whether the Senate will find the 60 votes needed to pass the bill.

I can't say, of course, how the U.S. Supreme Court will rule on the same-sex marriage cases before it. But I can talk about how South African courts grappled with the issue in 2005, after a case was brought by a lesbian couple who had been denied the right to marry. As a justice on the Constitutional Court at the time, I was asked to write the judgment in that case, which led to South Africa's becoming the fifth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. The case before the court involved Marié Fourie and Cecelia Bonthuys, two Pretoria women who had lived as a couple for 10 years and wanted to get married.

In a push to simplify mortgage modifications, federal regulators announced a streamlined process that doesn't require borrowers to prove a hardship. "This new option gives delinquent borrowers another path to avoid foreclosure," Edward J. DeMarco, acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said in a statement announcing the modifications Wednesday. The new modifications, however, would not include reducing the loan balance, a move promoted by housing advocates and others but resisted by DeMarco, who says it would end up costing taxpayers money and would encourage defaults.

WASHINGTON - In the first and only vote Thursday on the immigration bill, senators turned back a Republican measure that would have delayed a path to citizenship for those in the country illegally until after the border with Mexico is fully secure. Republicans still plan to offer several other measures to enhance border security, but this one, from Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, was one of the most hard-line of the proposals. The 57-43 vote to defeat the amendment offered an imprecise test of whether the Senate will find the 60 votes needed to pass the bill.

WASHINGTON - Sen. Kelly Ayotte, a conservative Republican, announced her support Sunday for a bipartisan immigration overhaul plan, lending momentum to the comprehensive measure being debated in the Senate. “Our immigration system is completely broken,” the New Hampshire lawmaker said on CBS's “Face the Nation.” “This is a thoughtful, bipartisan solution to a tough problem.” Ayotte, who was elected in 2010, is the first Republican to endorse the measure apart from the four in the Senate's so-called Gang of Eight: Sens.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Good grief, Charlie Brown! The "Peanuts" character and his pals are joining the social network Path. The San Francisco start-up has struck its first brand partnership with the "Peanuts" gang, still one of the most powerful brands in entertainment marketing which, like beloved global icons such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, has remained relevant to new generations. Starting Friday, Path users can attach virtual stickers of Linus, Snoopy, Woodstock, Lucy and, of course, Charlie Brown, to messages they send friends on Path to convey thoughts and feelings more expressively than with a few typed words.

The Troubadour, awash on a recent night in indigo light and chiming guitars, doesn't look all that different than it did in the 1970s, when music history plugged in to the club's stage amps and earned the tiny West Hollywood venue the audacity to relentlessly advertise itself as "the world-famous Troubadour." The description still fits, but, well, the world isn't as big as it used to be, not for the recording industry or the young musicians who come to Los Angeles with dreams of gold and platinum.

Social networking mobile app maker Path said Monday that it raised about $30 million from venture capital firms such as Greylock Partners and Redpoint Ventures and individual investors such as Virgin Group's Richard Branson and DST Global's Yuri Milner. The investment values the San Francisco company at $250 million. Path, which had previously raised $11.2 million, is the brainchild of former senior Facebook executive Dave Morin and Napster co-founder Shawn Fanning. It's riding the new wave of tech companies that are building for mobile, not the Web. Path has been compared to Instagram, which Facebook said last week it would buy for $1 billion.

In addition to his roles as TV host and author, Dr. Mehmet Oz is a highly respected heart surgeon and a professor of surgery at Columbia University in New York City. Much of the health advice he offers on his show - for example, his frequent reminders to get plenty of sleep and exercise - fall well within the medical mainstream. But other suggestions don't have nearly as much scientific footing. •Forskolin, an herbal compound that supposedly helps burn fat. A 2011 report in Obesity Review concluded that there's meager evidence that it works.

Herta Müller appeared overwhelmed as she was escorted Thursday into the headquarters of the Trade Assn. of German Publishing in central Berlin, her first public appearance after winning the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature. Müller, 56, took a few seconds to compose herself before a crowd of journalists, then said, "I didn't expect it. . . . I still can't speak about it, it's still too early and I think I need some time to order it in my mind." An ethnic German born and raised in Romania, Müller has made the trials of life under the brutal Communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu -- which ended with his overthrow and execution 20 years ago -- the focus of her work.

The Powerhouse fire has a dance all its own, and firefighters have struggled to keep up with the flames. When it started Thursday, the fire threatened Green Valley in San Francisquito Canyon. Then it veered west toward Castaic Lake before speeding toward Elizabeth Lake and Lake Hughes, almost overrunning the towns. More recently, it has moved north into the Lancaster area. The fire was pushed by hot winds, but also a potent combination of dense chaparral - some of which hasn't burned since 1929 - and highly flammable grasses.

Need another reminder that last spring was then and this is now and there's no sense comparing the Kings' romp to the Stanley Cup a year ago and the rocky journey they're traveling as they defend their title? Another feeble offensive performance Saturday in another road loss reinforced how remarkably different their path continues to be. Their 2-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in the opener of the Western Conference finals dropped them to 1-6 on the road, a dramatic contrast to the stunning 10-1 road record they compiled last spring.

Re "Bachmann bows out of House race," May 30 Now that Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann's star is waning in Washington, she will do what 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin did and cash in before she becomes politically irrelevant. Watch for the 2012 GOP presidential primary candidate to make millions delivering speeches, becoming a conservative media star with her own television or radio show, writing a book or doing something else lucrative. It is all very predictable these days - national politics as a stepping stone to great wealth in the partisan celebrity-media circus.

Given the failure of previous efforts to find a diplomatic solution to Syria's civil war, it might seem the height of naivete for the United States to join Russia - the protector and arms supplier of President Bashar Assad - in trying to arrange an international peace conference. But, given the alternatives, the Obama administration is right to pursue that possibility and to press Syrian opposition groups to participate, even without a guarantee that Assad would step aside. Prospects for the proposed conference in Geneva, already uncertain, worsened Thursday when opposition leaders said they wouldn't send representatives until Iranian and Hezbollah fighters left the country and "massacres" stopped.

A new smartphone app, debuting next month for iPhones and iPads, will help people locate legal but often hidden access points to Malibu beaches as well as places to plop down on the sand once they get there. The app, called Our Malibu Beaches, is the enterprising idea of Jenny Price, an environmental writer who has made a mission of seeking out beach access through some of the least accessible and most coveted land along the coast of California. If only Los Angeles County and the state could be as ingenious in helping beachgoers use those paths.

Re "Scouts end ban on gay youths," May 24 The basic reason that up until last week the Boy Scouts of America excluded openly gay youth has been overlooked. At its most fundamental level, all policy is decided by the national council, as The Times has reported. But it's important to know that the national council members are appointed by the regional councils, whose members are determined by the local councils. Every organization that sponsors a unit gets to vote at the local council.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Mobile social networking app Path has settled Federal Trade Commission charges that it deceived users by collecting personal information from their mobile address books without their knowledge or permission. The San Francisco company will also pay $800,000 for illegally collecting kids' personal information without parents' consent, the FTC said Friday. Path must also establish a privacy program and obtain independent privacy assessments every other year for the next 20 years, according to the settlement.

"AIDS: 1991" (by Neil R. Schram, Aug. 10) was certainly the most powerful, frank and thought-provoking article I have read regarding this terrible health crisis. Many of the predictions will become reality if we continue down this path of ignorance by not making enough resources available for research, education and health care. In my opinion, AIDS research should be as high a priority as the so-called defense budget. Our real enemy right now is AIDS, not Russia. Andrew Exler Los Angeles

With high school graduations ahead, life is getting easier for seniors and their parents. But for younger high school students, the worries about college are just beginning. What courses should they take now? How many AP courses are necessary? Do they have to take one of those high-priced trips around the country to see colleges? Do they have a shot at their dream school? The L.A. Times 4Moms project will host a live video conversation with two college counselors: Marlene Garza from the public Hamilton High School, and Jennifer Mandel, a private counselor.

MOORE, Okla. - The tornado zigzagged down the two-lane road with heartbreaking imprecision. It mostly bypassed Marlene Moan's house, blowing off part of her roof but failing to topple even one framed picture inside. But when she peered out of her back window Tuesday, she saw sheet metal choking utility poles and ladders dangling from mangled trees. Just down the road, the twister yanked the pink insulation out of the walls of Justin Lemmon's childhood home and caked it to a tree.