BUSINESS
May 10, 2012 | By Kim Geiger, Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON - It's a deal that most businesses would relish: Buy an insurance policy to cover losses or falling prices, and the government will foot most of the bill. Such an arrangement has been enjoyed for more than a decade by the farmers who grow crops such as corn and soybeans, and the companies that insure them. And it's about to get even better. The farm bill now before Congress includes a provision - estimated to cost about $3 billion a year - that would help cover the losses farmers suffer before their crop insurance policies kick in. Those losses, termed deductibles, can run in the tens of thousands of dollars for a typical mid-size farm.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
May 1, 2012 | By Paul Pringle and Rong-Gong Lin II, Los Angeles Times
In the heat of a broader financial scandal, the public officials who run the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum have agreed to give up decades' worth of free Trojan football tickets they negotiated for themselves in a proposed lease that would surrender control of the stadium to USC. The Coliseum Commission has also relinquished access to a VIP hospitality area at the taxpayer-owned stadium for Trojan contests as well as a possible bounty of free tickets...
NATIONAL
April 26, 2012 | By David G. Savage, Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - U.S. Supreme Court justices strongly suggested they would uphold a provision in Arizona's tough immigration law that tells police to check whether people they stop for some other reason are in this country legally. But several justices also suggested they were troubled by parts of the law that would make it a state crime for illegal immigrants to seek work or not to carry immigration documents. The hourlong oral arguments Wednesday pointed toward a possible split decision: a partial victory for Arizona that would revive its first-in-the-nation state crackdown on illegal immigrants but weaken the impact of its law. The Obama administration won lower court rulings that blocked Arizona's law on the grounds that it conflicted with the federal government's control over immigration.
OPINION
April 23, 2012
For nearly two years, Arizona has defended SB 1070, a dangerous law that attempts to turn local law enforcement officers into federal immigration agents. The courts have repeatedly rejected Arizona's arguments that the law isn't an attempt to interfere with federal authority to regulate immigration but rather an effort to work cooperatively with Washington. On Wednesday, state officials will make a final pitch to the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices should strike down the provisions in question as an unconstitutional intrusion into the federal government's exclusive authority to make and enforce immigration laws.
SPORTS
April 15, 2012 | By Mike Bresnahan
Right about now, the Lakers are glad they didn't use their amnesty provision to cut Metta World Peace last December. It was discussed by the front office, as were other players' names, but the Lakers holstered their ability to waive one player without paying luxury taxes on his salary. Turned out to be a good move. Or non-move. World Peace has been a catalyst the last six games, averaging 18 points and shooting 58%. Lakers fans used to groan whenever he hoisted a three-point attempt.
BUSINESS
April 6, 2012 | David Lazarus
Who owns your personal information - you or the business you share it with? It's a fundamental question that gets to the heart of whether existing privacy protections are too strict or not strict enough. It also addresses matters of accountability when data go astray, as was the case this week when a major credit card processing company said as many as 1.5 million card numbers may have been stolen by hackers. I wrote on Tuesday about the lack of adequate disclosure rules when people's privacy is violated.