Provision

In these troubled economic times, it's not hard to understand why people might want to protect their life savings by purchasing a hard asset like gold or silver. At least, that's the pitch of Monex, the big Newport Beach investment firm, which bills itself as "America's trusted name in precious metals investments" and assures clients that it's "committed to customer service. " So let's take a look at the experiences of some customers who say their trust in Monex was misplaced.

SACRAMENTO - Arnold Schwarzenegger persuaded voters nine years ago that if they let him borrow money to cover the budget deficit, California's financial woes would end for good. A key part of his plan was a new rainy-day fund to insulate the state from further crisis. "It will be a whole new ball game," Schwarzenegger said. "Trust me. " But California was roiled by financial turmoil for years afterward, and today the reserve is empty. With more than $5 billion in bonds left to repay, Gov. Jerry Brown apparently plans to leave it that way. The reserve was created without a firm requirement to fill it, and Brown's proposed budget contains no allocation for the fund.

In a stunning turnaround for an act of Congress, a judge ruled Wednesday that a counterterrorism provision of the National Defense Authorization Act, an annual defense appropriations bill, is unconstitutional. Federal district Judge Katherine B. Forrest issued an injunction against use of the provision on behalf of a group of journalists and activists who had filed suit in March, claiming it would chill free speech. In her decision published Wednesday, Forrest, in the Southern District of New York, ruled that Section 1021 of NDAA was facially unconstitutional - a rare finding - because of the potential that it could violate the 1st Amendment.

Two major parts of an Indiana law aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration have been permanently barred from taking effect by a federal judge. The law, approved in 2011, was part of a wave of state crackdowns on unauthorized immigration inspired by Arizona's SB 1070. Indiana's law, known as SEA 590, said police could arrest without a warrant a person who had a removal order from an immigration court, a detainer or notice of action from immigration officials, or who had been previously indicted or convicted of an aggravated felony.

My post Saturday calling for an end to the debt ceiling drew quite a few comments from seething readers who thought I was calling for Washington to pile on an endless amount of debt. Just to be clear, my point isn't that the nation's enormous and growing debt is a good thing. It's that Congress,which controls the federal purse, has better ways to rein in its borrowing than stiffing its creditors. Still, some people aren't willing to count on Washington to restrain itself, so they're not willing to give up the nuclear option of the debt ceiling.

As I signed my California income tax return and began to search for credit cards to finance the five-figure amount due, I pondered the fate of thousands of other small California businesses such as mine. What is the problem? The elimination by the people working in Sacramento of a provision -- otherwise universally allowed -- called the net operating loss carry-forward. The NOL carry-forward allowed a business that lost money in the preceding year or years to offset taxable gains in a subsequent year.

Reporting from Sacramento -- California politicians who want to carry weapons will still have to go through the same permit process as everyone else, at least for now. A bill that would have streamlined the state's gun permit process for them was stripped of that controversial provision Tuesday, before a legislative committee passed the rest of the measure. Sen. Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood), author of the bill, said he hoped to revisit the idea later. State residents who apply for a permit to carry a concealed weapon must show good cause for one. That can include dangerous work or threats of violence.

Brushing aside objections from the White House, the House passed a $690-billion defense spending bill Thursday that would expand the president's authority to pursue terrorists around the world while limiting the government's options for prosecuting detainees. The bill would fund the Pentagon and provide $119 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Senate has yet to pass its own version. The White House supports some parts of the bill, but has threatened a veto over several provisions.

Tucked away in a $690-billion defense spending bill is a little-noticed provision that would expand the president's power to pursue suspected terrorists around the world. The measure builds on legislation passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that allowed President George W. Bush to pursue perpetrators of the attacks and their collaborators without first consulting with Congress. The new provision would no longer require that targets have a connection to Sept. 11, instead granting the president authority to "use all necessary and appropriate force during the current armed conflict with Al Qaeda, the Taliban and associated forces.

The new financial reform law has what some lawyers call a secret weapon against fraud on Wall Street and in corporate America: the promise of a million-dollar jackpot to insiders who reveal an illegal scheme to the government. Tucked in the massive bill is a provision that for the first time extends a concept long applied to government contracts to the private sector. It gives whistle-blowers a mandatory 10% — and as much as 30% — of what the government recoups in fines and settlements in financial fraud cases.

Michael Govan came to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art seven years ago with a mission to make it one of the most prestigious institutions in the country, one worth mentioning alongside New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art. Now he's trying to seize an opportunity to gain ground on them in a single stroke. Govan and LACMA's trustees have proposed a takeover of L.A.'s financially adrift Museum of Contemporary Art and its crown jewels: a 6,000-piece collection that's one of the world's most admired troves of post-World War II art. But Govan has an imposing rival in billionaire Eli Broad, L.A.'s eminence grise of art philanthropy.

DALLAS — Mavericks owner Mark Cuban loves to poke and prod the Lakers. Witness his Kobe Bryant "amnesty" comments a few days ago. But Cuban said it hasn't been as entertaining to zing the Lakers since former coach Phil Jackson and, yes, Shaquille O'Neal left. "It's nowhere near as fun. They would always take the bait," Cuban said Sunday. Of course, that was before Bryant wrote "Amnesty THAT" on Twitter after ripping through Dallas for 38 points in the Lakers' 103-99 victory Sunday.

WASHINGTON - With broad support from the Senate, legislation to renew and expand the Violence Against Women Act is heading to the House, where a previous renewal bid failed over Republican concerns about new services for gay, immigrant and Native American victims of domestic violence. The Senate's 78-22 vote Tuesday reauthorizing the act extends central provisions, such as funding for investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against women, while also expanding services to groups it did not previously serve.

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers is seeking to repeal a Medicare-pricing provision in the recent "fiscal-cliff" deal in Congress that benefits Thousand Oaks biotech giant Amgen Inc. Legislation to eliminate the exemption for a class of drugs, including Amgen's Sensipar, that are used by kidney dialysis patients, was filed this week by U.S. Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.). The fiscal cliff legislation approved this month excluded these oral medications from Medicare price controls for an additional two years.

My post Saturday calling for an end to the debt ceiling drew quite a few comments from seething readers who thought I was calling for Washington to pile on an endless amount of debt. Just to be clear, my point isn't that the nation's enormous and growing debt is a good thing. It's that Congress,which controls the federal purse, has better ways to rein in its borrowing than stiffing its creditors. Still, some people aren't willing to count on Washington to restrain itself, so they're not willing to give up the nuclear option of the debt ceiling.

WASHINGTON - After months of delays, U.S. lawmakers finally passed a trade bill with Russia. And perhaps no one was as deeply moved as investor William Browder. His emotions had nothing to do with the commercial implications of the legislation, which normalizes trade relations with Russia and should give a boost to big American exporters such as Caterpillar Inc. and Deere & Co. Instead, Browder's focus was entirely on a provision that would punish Russians accused of human rights abuses, specifically those involved in the 2009 death of his onetime Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky.

Our Founding Fathers' provision for checks and balances is working. The executive branch is trying to write the big checks and the legislative branch is trying to balance the checkbook. HAZEL BAAR San Diego

Hopefully, the new health-care system will have a provision for gun control. It could fall under the category of "Preventive Medicine." MIKE KAPOWICH Corona del Mar

NASHVILLE - Matt Kemp's contract doesn't include a no-trade clause. Andre Ethier's doesn't either. The Dodgers might be able to outspend their competition, but could their free-agent haul this winter be affected by their reluctance to include this provision in contracts? President Stan Kasten steadfastly refused to include no-trade clauses in contracts when he was with the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals. Kasten wouldn't say if he instituted a similar policy with the Dodgers when he moved into their front office last spring as part of the new ownership group.