BUSINESS
January 20, 2011 | By Don Lee, Los Angeles Times
After three years of brutal recession and tepid recovery, the outlook for the U.S. economy this year may boil down to a tale of three workers and their families ? their hopes, fears and, most of all, their decisions on spending the money they earn. For now, they seem to be getting their spending mojo back. But they are moving forward with a new caution, a hard-earned sense that events could quickly turn for the worse and they'd better be prepared. In an economy that relies on consumer spending for 70% of the nation's gross domestic product, nothing really matters as much as what the 90% of U.S. workers with jobs decide to do with their money ?
NATIONAL
November 30, 2010 | By Lisa Mascaro and Christi Parsons, Tribune Washington Bureau
President Obama's proposal on Monday to freeze federal workers' pay was an unexpected announcement that represented the first in a series of White House moves to seize the initiative from Republicans on the economy. The preemptive move was timed to precede a White House meeting Tuesday with congressional leaders on the subject of expiring George W. Bush-era tax cuts, and came just days before a final report from Obama's fiscal commission on how to shrink the federal deficit. "The hard truth is that getting this deficit under control is going to require broad sacrifice," Obama said from the White House.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
November 2, 2010 | By Victoria Kim, Los Angeles Times
A federal judge on Monday approved a $750,000 settlement for a 13-year-old girl whose father was shot and killed by Inglewood police officers in 2008. The death of 38-year-old Kevin Wicks, a postal worker, sparked protests and criticism of the department at the time because the officer who fired the shots had been involved in a fatal shooting of an unarmed suspect two months earlier and had been allowed to return to duty. That officer, Brian Ragan, is no longer employed by the department, said Lt. Oscar Serrano, a police spokesman.
ENTERTAINMENT
May 21, 2010 | By Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times Film Critic
"Looking for Eric," the wonderfully wry new film from British director Ken Loach, is a melancholy comedy about wins and losses in soccer, life and love, and the power of a few pals, a few pints and the esoteric musings of a French footballing superstar to carry you through. Set in working-class Manchester where the accents are so thick you may long for subtitles, there are two Erics that circumstance has backed into the same contemplative corner — soccer sensation Eric Cantona playing a ruminating, newly retired version of himself, and Eric Bishop (Steve Evets)
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
November 20, 2007 | From Times Staff Reports
The owner of a pit bull faces the possibility of three years in prison after her dog attacked a letter carrier, Orange County prosecutors said Monday. Sheri Moody's dog allegedly jumped into a neighbor's yard on Sept. 4 and knocked the mailman to the ground, causing a large cut to his face and an injury to his left eye, which might require reconstructive surgery. Moody, 54, was charged Monday with one felony count of allowing a vicious animal at large to cause serious bodily injury.
BUSINESS
November 5, 2007 | Marla Dickerson, Times Staff Writer
Pity the poor Costa Rican postman. Sure, he doesn't have to deal with sleet or snow. But consider what passes for an address here: From the Tibas cemetery, 200 meters south, 300 meters west, cross the train tracks, white two-story house. That's actually a pretty easy one. Making his rounds on the outskirts of this capital city one recent morning, carrier Roberto Montero Reyes pulled envelopes from his canvas sack whose addresses read like treasure-hunt clues or lines of haiku.