Rates

WASHINGTON - Using your home as an ATM no longer is a financial option, but the tools that allowed owners to pull out massive amounts of money during the boom years - equity credit lines and second mortgages - are making a comeback. Banking and credit analysts say the dollar volumes of new originations of home equity loans are rising again, significantly so in areas of the country that are experiencing post-recession rebounds in property values. These include California, Arizona, New Mexico, most of the Atlantic coastal states, the Pacific Northwest, Texas and parts of the Midwest.

CNN might not have gotten all the facts straight, but viewers desperate for information on the Boston bombing manhunt seem willing to overlook some errors. The cable news network has seen huge ratings spikes after Monday's bombing at the Boston marathon and through the dramatic law-enforcement investigation that has followed. CNN drew a 194% ratings boost Monday through Thursday compared to the same period one week earlier, according to Nielsen. Fox News was up 48%, while MSNBC got a 37% lift.

Mortgage rates sank this week toward record lows, with lenders offering 30-year fixed home loans to solid borrowers at an average 3.41%, down from 3.43% a week ago, Freddie Mac's weekly report showed. It was the lowest rate the survey has recorded in three months. The typical rate for a 15-year fixed mortgage edged down from 2.65% last week to 2.64%, according to the report Thursday by the government-backed finance company. Borrowers would have paid lenders 0.7% of the loan amount on average to obtain the rates.

The chances of in-state high school seniors gaining admission to the University of California worsened this year, as more of them applied and the number accepted dropped 2.2%, according to data released Thursday. Meanwhile, the ranks of out-of-staters and international students who were offered a UC spot continued to increase. A record 99,132 Californians sought to become UC freshmen in the fall and 60,089, or 60.6%, were admitted by at least one of the system's nine undergraduate campuses.

The crossbow-toting adventurers on the post-apocalyptic TV drama "Revolution" are fighting to restore power to a blacked-out world. It's a goal NBC executives can identify with. Last fall's top-rated new series, "Revolution" has been looking energy-deprived since late March, when it returned from a four-month hiatus. The two most recent episodes tied for series lows, with 6.3 million tuning in - a 46% slide from the September premiere, according to Nielsen. "Certainly the longer hiatus didn't help," said Helen Giles, director of national broadcast at Detroit-based ad firm Campbell Ewald.

Infant mortality in the U.S. has declined 12% since 2005 after holding steady for many years, according to data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The infant mortality rate in 2011 was 6.05 deaths per every 1,000 live births, down from 6.87 in 2005, according to the report from the National Center for Health Statistics. Some of the biggest gains were seen in Southern states, though the region still has the highest infant mortality rates overall.

ABC's "Splash" keeps piling up a body count -- and belly-flopping in the ratings. The celebrity diving contest has lost another contestant, as swimsuit model Katherine Webb bowed out on Tuesday's show due to an injury. Her doctor "told me I'm out of the competition," Webb told viewers. She was replaced by comic Louie Anderson, who had already been eliminated from the competition. The hazards of diving are taking a toll on the celebs. Kendra Wilkinson was reduced to tears and quit the show because she was afraid to do a high dive.

Chris Dodd, chairman and chief executive of the Motion Picture Assn. of America, announced a new "Check the Box" movie ratings awareness campaign Tuesday morning at CinemaCon, the National Assn. of Theater Owners' annual convention in Las Vegas. The campaign encourages parents to use the rating descriptors that are featured for every film rated PG or higher to make decisions about what films are family friendly and appropriate for their children. PHOTOS: Celebrities by The Times "Throughout its existence, the goal of the rating system has never changed: to inform parents and allow them to make their own decisions, considering the children's sensibilities and unique sensitivities," said Dodd.

WASHINGTON - Sen. Joe Manchin III owns two 12-gauge Beretta shotguns, a semiautomatic Remington 58 Sportsman and a deer rifle. Since he was elected to the Senate two years ago, he has easily maintained an A rating from the National Rifle Assn. That rating might be considered crucial to the survival of a Democrat from a conservative, rural state like West Virginia. So after news broke of the Newtown, Conn., school shootings on a Friday in December, his staff debated what he should do. The consensus was that Manchin should cancel a scheduled appearance the following Monday to talk about fiscal issues on MSNBC's "Morning Joe. " Surely the hosts would press the senator on gun control, and it seemed that almost anything he said could spell trouble so early in the aftermath of the tragedy.

Pop station KIIS-FM (102.7) regained sole possession of first place in the local radio ratings for March, and its Ryan Seacrest-hosted morning show also jumped into the top spot, according to figures released by Arbitron. In February, KIIS had been tied for first with sister station KBIG-FM (104.3), the soft-rock station known as "MyFM. " And even though KBIG improved in March, increasing its share of the Los Angeles-Orange County audience from 5.4% to 5.5%, KIIS jumped even further and claimed 5.8% of all listeners ages 6 and older, Arbitron said Monday.