Planned

When roasted at 475 degrees, coffee beans are sometimes described as rich and full-bodied. But for the full-bodied person who is not so rich, unroasted coffee beans - green as the day they were picked - may hold the key to cheap and effective weight loss, new research suggests. In a study presented Tuesday at the American Chemical Society's spring national meeting in San Diego, 16 overweight young adults took, by turns, a low dose of green coffee bean extract, a high dose of the supplement, and a placebo.

Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are both smart and accomplished individuals. That's why it is so disappointing that neither candidate has taken a truly responsible position when it comes to the nation's fiscal future. That's not to say that both men haven't advanced some good ideas. Romney, for example, is pushing to limit federal spending, and he's showing political backbone in putting Social Security and Medicare reforms on the table. But Romney also signed the Americans for Tax Reform pledge to "oppose and veto any and all efforts to increase taxes.

Distancing himself from Republicans on housing issues, President Obama pitched a $5-billion to $10-billion plan to help a key segment of struggling homeowners — those still making monthly payments, but on underwater mortgages. Obama proposed Wednesday to help about 3.5 million people with good credit who are unable to refinance at historically low rates because their homes are worth less than their mortgages. He argued that those homeowners — and the country — couldn't afford to let the housing market bottom out, as many Republicans, including presidential candidate Mitt Romney, have advocated.

Hours after accused serial killer Itzcoatl Ocampo allegedly stabbed a homeless man to death in an Anaheim parking lot, he was interviewed by a veteran detective. When Ocampo was asked what sort of consequences he deserved, the 23-year-old answered without hesitation: the death penalty - lethal injection - or "whatever is quickest," the detective, Daron Wyatt, later told a grand jury panel. On Monday, Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas said his office had come to the same conclusion and announced that he would seek the death penalty against the former Marine.

The wait for tables is getting longer at Buck's, a popular breakfast spot for the tech elite and a weather vane for the Silicon Valley economy. Here, like everywhere else, Facebook is the talk of the town. "Charles Schwab was in the restaurant the other day, and I asked him to hook me up with some Facebook shares," said Jamis MacNiven, owner of Buck's, in the wealthy suburban enclave of Woodside. "He told me even he can't get Facebook shares. " The new tech boom officially gets underway Friday when Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg rings Nasdaq's opening bell remotely from the company's Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters, launching the largest initial public offering of stock in Silicon Valley history.

washington -- Mitt Romney twice emphasized his unique business background when he and eight other Republican presidential candidates faced off in a debate last week in Iowa. "I've spent the last, as I've told you, 25 years in the private sector," former Massachusetts Gov. Romney declared at one point. "I understand why jobs come and why jobs go. I've done business in 20 countries."

When the White House sent a last-minute invitation for Asif Ali Zardari to attend the two-day NATO summit, they were taking a highly public gamble. Would sharing the spotlight with President Obama and other global leaders induce the Pakistani president to allow vital supplies to reach alliance troops fighting in Afghanistan? But long before the summit ended Monday, the answer was clear: No deal. Zardari's refusal to reopen the supply routes left a diplomatic blot on a summit that NATO sought to cast as the beginning of the end of the conflict in Afghanistan.

A memorial for Fess Parker will be held at 2 p.m. Friday in the rotunda of the Fess Parker Doubletree Resort, 633 East Cabrillo Blvd., Santa Barbara. Parker, who played Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone on television, at 85. Anyone planning to attend is asked to RSVP to leslie@fessparker.com . news.obits@latimes.com

A celebration of life for actress Zelda Rubinstein, who died Jan. 27 at age 76, will be held at 10:30 a.m. May 15 at the Vista Theatre, 4473 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles.

California will receive about a third of the 4,600 electric vehicle charging stations that Coulomb Technologies plans to install for free around the country. The company, based in Campbell, Calif., will immediately start setting up public and private stations in Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Jose and the San Francisco Bay Area. The stations will also go up in Austin, Texas; Detroit; New York; Orlando, Fla.; Redmond, Wash.; and Washington. More than 1,000 stations are scheduled to be installed by December, with the rest in place by September 2011.

BOSTON - Recognizing that many viewers want to watch key events live, in prime time, rather than tape-delayed, NBCUniversal plans to bolster its coverage of the Summer Olympics in London in August by putting 3,000 hours of programming online. The company, which is paying a record $1.18 billion for the rights to broadcast the London Olympics, is challenged to keep the up with the times. The long time zone difference between Britain and the U.S. means that key events will be broadcast when most Americans are not in front of their TVs. And increasingly, consumers are watching programming online, prompting NBC to make changes to its playbook.

The Los Angeles City Council passed a $7.2-billion budget Monday, voting to cut 400 unfilled city staff positions but putting off difficult decisions on layoffs, park funding and Fire Department resources. On a 15-0 vote, council members agreed to wait until January to determine whether layoffs are necessary, and which positions could be eliminated, saying that more study is needed. They took that step despite a warning from the city's top budget official that some of the revenue being used to balance spending isn't a sure thing.

EUROPE Presentation Experts will help first-time visitors to Europe plan a realistic budget and devise a workable itinerary as well as discuss security and safety issues. When, where: 7:30 p.m. Monday at Distant Lands, 20 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena. Admission, info: Free. RSVP to (626) 449-3220. BICYCLING Presentation Want to tour the California coast or another destination by bike? Experts will offer tips on gear and clothing as well as tours.

College graduation is typically a time to tally accomplishments and to look ahead. But for many graduates, it is also a time to tally student loans and figure out how to repay them. About two-thirds of college graduates have some student loans to pay off, and their average debt is about $25,000 to $28,700, according to estimates by education experts and organizations. (About 10% of those with loans owe more than $50,000 or so.) Many college seniors say they had not thought much about their debt until they received summaries just before graduation.

INDIO, Calif. - In one corner stands a music promoter that made its mark in L.A.'s punk scene, throwing gritty events at warehouses and velodromes, giving voice to songs like "Beat Me Senseless" and "I Kill Children" before birthing an annual desert bacchanal that might be the world's most successful music festival. In the other corner is the master-planned community that put the O.C. in Orange County, where safety, schooling and temperance are hallmarks and a homeowners association can overrule one's choice of house paint.

Frank Edward Ray, the school bus driver hailed as a hero for helping to lead 26 children to safety after a bizarre kidnapping in the San Joaquin Valley town of Chowchilla 36 years ago, has died. He was 91. Ray died Thursday in Chowchilla of complications of cirrhosis of the liver, said his granddaughter, Susan Ray. On the next-to-last day of summer school in July 1976, Ray was driving a busload of children home when he slowed down on tree-lined Avenue 21 for a white van blocking the road.

A celebration of life for Corey Allen, the actor-turned-director who died June 27 at age 75, will be held at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Howard Fine Acting Studio, 1445 N. Las Palmas Ave., Hollywood.

Forget the 200-foot-tall observation wheel. Venice Beach expects to get a zip line this summer. The Venice Neighborhood Council this week approved the installation of a 720-foot zip-line ride to run for a three-month trial period, clearing the way for consideration by the California Coastal Commission. Under the proposal, riders will take off from a 44-foot tower near the skate park and ride to a 24-foot tower at Windward Plaza by the basketball courts. The metal towers will be decorated with local art, and the attraction will bring in much-needed revenue to clean up the boardwalk, said Linda Lucks, president of the council.

GREENSBORO, N.C. - The jurors who will decide the fate of former presidential candidate John Edwards deliberated for more than four hours Friday before breaking for the weekend in a trial focused on complex campaign finance laws and lurid details of Edwards' extramarital affair. The jury of eight men and four women must decide whether Edwards knowingly conspired to violate federal election laws as part of a scheme to cover up his affair with videographer Rielle Hunter during his campaign for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.