Products

A bill that would require prisons, schools and other public institutions to give preference to California farm products handily cleared a committee Wednesday. The Choose California Act, sponsored by Assemblyman Chris Holden (D-Pasadena), cleared the Assembly Agriculture Committee on a 7-0 vote. The proposed law, AB 199 , would mandate public institutions to buy California agriculture products if the price is within 5% of the lowest out-of-state competitor. Quiz: How much do you know about California's economy?

Thousands of tests across the European Union revealed that nearly 5% of foods marketed as beef contained horse meat, according to results released Tuesday. However, European officials said health risks from the mislabeled meat were minor. A much smaller fraction of the horse meat run through separate tests -- 0.5% -- contained a veterinary drug banned for humans to eat, the tests found. A day earlier, European food safety officials estimated that the risk of suffering toxic effects from accidentally ingesting horse meat was lower than 1 in 100 million.

Bugatti and Guinness World Records have kissed and made up. After revoking the title of world's fastest production car last week from Bugatti's Veyron Super Sport because the car's speed limiter was deactivated during the tests, Guinness has announced the record will hold. The 1,184-horsepower Veyron Super Sport set the 267.86 mph record in 2010. Guinness recently revoked the record, saying in a statement that it needed to more carefully evaluate the validity of the claims.

USC concluded spring practice Saturday with a Coliseum scrimmage devoid of tackling. This time, however, it was by executive order, not defensive shortcomings. With 20 players sidelined because of injuries, and the Trojans especially thin at tight end and receiver, Coach Lane Kiffin said "there just weren't enough bodies out there. " So fans in the stadium and those watching on television saw the Trojans finish workouts with what amounted to a glorified passing drill designed to avoid injuries.

Pat Haden always seemed like a well-scrubbed character from your mother's favorite musical, so when he showed up last week in USC's big spring production — actors, crew and musicians outnumbering the football team — it wasn't surprise casting. Indeed, it might be yet another new career for the guy who vertically leaps from one thing to the next the way you and I leap from tee box to tee box. If this keeps up, he'll soon be running Paramount. Still, the other night he used the word "fidoodled," in his role as Postman No. 2. As in: "the way he's got this place all fidoodled up for you. " Musical theater may never be the same.

Box office revenues are down, but film crews are having a good year on the streets of Los Angeles. Overall film production activity in Los Angeles jumped 18% in the first quarter, mostly the result of a flurry of low-budget movies, sitcoms and television pilots. Location filming for all categories of production generated 13,361 production days in the first three months of this year, compared with 11,360 days a year earlier. That marks the second consecutive quarter of double-digit gains for location filming in the L.A. region, according to a report from FilmL.A.

Re "Ban super rat poisons," Editorial, April 5 Reckitt Benckiser, the maker of d-CON pesticides, is challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's attempt to stop the sale of second-generation rodenticides because we believe it is the right thing to do for consumers. Rodent infestations are a threat to public health, and if the EPA's actions were to take effect, the alternatives for consumers would include products that contain a powerful neurotoxin with no known antidote (unlike d-CON products)

Second of two parts Phil Richards used to like his job driving a forklift in a produce and meat warehouse. He took pride in steering a case of beef with precision. Now, he says, he has to speed through the warehouse to meet quotas, tracked by bosses each step of the way. Through a headset, a voice tells him what to do and how much time he has to do it. It makes the Unified Grocers warehouse in Santa Fe Springs operate smoothly with fewer employees, but it also makes Richards' work stressful.

HONG KONG - When Mabel Cheung, one of this city's leading directors, shot her historical-political drama "The Soong Sisters" in China in the mid-1990s, the nature of the exchange for the co-production was simple: Beijing provided inexpensive manpower, and professionals from the British colony's highly developed movie industry provided the expertise. Hong Kong cinema, after all, had been enjoying a golden age for close to two decades - celebrated directors such as John Woo and Wong Kar-wai had helped the city's filmmakers garner a global fan base.

Actor Rob Lowe is the face of InsideHook L.A., a free, curated email newsletter announcing special experiences to men too busy to find those experiences themselves. The newsletter, which launched in Los Angeles last week, is the latest effort from capital investment firm Pilot Group, whose founders Bob Pittman and Andy Russell have also had a hand in shaping the successful email newsletters DailyCandy, Thrillist and Tasting Table. Lowe spent a recent afternoon indulging in InsideHook-delivered experiences - hovering high above the ocean off Newport Beach using a water-propelled jet pack, guzzling organic juice from his favorite Santa Monica food truck and dining at Santa Monica's new members-only club 41 Ocean.