Reinstatement

On the day the Angels re-signed Bobby Abreu to a multiyear deal, the future of the Dodgers started to take shape on the eighth floor of the Los Angeles Superior Court building. Slowly. While Jamie McCourt was denied her request to be immediately reinstated as the Dodgers' chief executive in an emergency hearing Thursday, the more important issue of whether she is a co-owner of the storied franchise along with soon-to-be ex-husband Frank McCourt did not become any clearer -- and probably won't be for some time.

There is no market these days for horse meat in this country. The last horse slaughterhouses in the U.S. stopped production in 2007, the result of laws in Illinois and Texas banning horse slaughter or the sale of horse meat for human consumption. That same year, a congressional appropriations bill that included a rider banning the funding of U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection of horse meat went into effect. And without inspections, U.S. plants can't sell meat anywhere in the world.

The Lance Armstrong story took another turn on Tuesday when the World Anti-Doping Agency announced that he must confess under oath to using performance enhancing techniques if he wants to seek a reduction in his lifetime ban from sports for doping during his seven Tour de France victories. WADA says it “read with interest media reports suggesting a television 'confession' made by Lance Armstrong” to Oprah Winfrey in an interview that will be televised on Thursday. Armstrong reportedly hopes to return to competition in recognized triathlon events.

A Los Angeles airport police officer who was fired last May has won his job back after a civil service proceeding concluded that his termination for alleged assault with a deadly weapon was based on overwhelming inconsistencies, weak evidence and erroneous statements. The city's Board of Civil Service Commissioners decided Feb. 28 that Officer Rodney J. Rouzan, a 12-year veteran of the Los Angeles Airport Police Department, should be returned to duty without any loss of pay or benefits.

Manny Ramirez , after he learned he will not be able to play winter ball in the Dominican Republic because he's on Major League Baseball's inactive list, told ESPNdeportes.com Thursday that he will formally request reinstatement. Ramirez said that upon reentry, he would serve his 100-game suspension for a second violation of MLB's drug policy. "I would comply with my pending sanction and I would be available for any major league team," Ramirez said via telephone from Miami.

Re "Pork chopped," editorial, Dec. 13 The effort by Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) and Rep. David R. Obey (D-Wis.) to restrict the proliferation of "earmarks" is a welcomed relief from fiscal irresponsibility. Now, how about the reinstatement of the regulation of the Clinton years that prevented members of Congress from adding costs to the budget unless it was shown where the supporting funds were to come from, i.e., either by increased taxes or program reductions. President Bush allowed the rule to sunset; otherwise he would have had to reduce expenditures or raise taxes to go to war in Iraq.

Steve Howe's lifetime suspension was cut short Thursday by arbitrator George Nicolau, and the free-agent pitcher was reinstated. Howe, a left-hander, was suspended by then-commissioner Fay Vincent on June 8 after the pitcher's seventh incident related to drugs or alcohol. Howe, 34, was with the New York Yankees at the time of his eighth suspension, which followed a guilty plea in U.S. District Court in Missoula, Mont., to a misdemeanor charge of attempting to buy a gram of cocaine.

President Ferdinand E. Marcos said today that Gen. Fabian Ver will be reinstated as armed forces chief if he is acquitted in the assassination of Benigno S. Aquino Jr., and that the military will also be revamped. Marcos said Ver, on trial with 24 other soldiers and a civilian in the 1983 slaying of Aquino, will be reinstated as head of the armed forces automatically if he is acquitted. "For how long, we will decide when we get there," Marcos said.

President Ferdinand E. Marcos reinstated Gen. Fabian C. Ver as armed forces chief over U.S. objections today just hours after Ver was acquitted in the 1983 murder of opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr. Ver appeared in Marcos' study shortly after the verdict was handed down by a special three-judge court, saluted Marcos and formally requested reinstatement, the government said.

Saying he had "repented," school board member Ernest Shaw took other members by surprise last week when he cast the crucial third vote needed to rehire former Supt. Rex Fortune, whom he had voted to fire six weeks ago. At a negotiating meeting two days before the Monday vote, Shaw had said he did not favor rehiring the superintendent unless he met a lengthy list of conditions that included forgoing a two-year contract extension approved by a previous board.

Hasan Arat, the head of Istanbul's bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics, not only wants his city to host the Games, he wants wrestling reinstated if it does. “If we are awarded the Games, Turkey wants to have wrestling events in Istanbul,” Arat said Tuesday. The International Olympic Committee executive board voted earlier this month to drop wrestling beginning in 2020. The three finalists to host the 2020 Games are Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo. The IOC meets in September and will make a decision then.

The NFL has reinstated former New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams after suspending him for his role in the New Orleans' bounty scandal, and the Tennessee Titans have added him to their coaching staff as senior assistant coach. "Commissioner Roger Goodell today notified Gregg Williams and the Tennessee Titans that Williams' contract with the Titans has been approved and that he has been reinstated," the league said in a statement. "The commissioner cited several reasons for the reinstatement, including Williams' forthcoming acknowledgment of and acceptance of responsibility for his role in the bounty program at the Saints, his commitment to never again be involved in a pay-for-performance or bounty system, and his pledge to teach safe play and respect for the rules at all levels of the game.

An appeals court has recommended that charges be reinstated for a photographer who allegedly chased singer Justin Bieber on the 101 Freeway in the first case involving a California anti-paparazzi law that was deemed unconstitutional by a Los Angeles County judge. The conclusion of the court's preliminary analysis of the case means that the judge who invalidated the law as a violation of the 1st Amendment must reconsider his decision or stand by it and have the three-judge appeals panel conduct a full hearing.

Sean Payton has been reinstated as coach of the New Orleans Saints, the NFL announced Tuesday morning. Payton was suspended for a year for his role in the Saints' "bountygate" scandal, although the players allegedly involved had their suspensions lifted. Commissioner Roger Goodell reinstated Payton after meeting with him Monday. The coach "pledged to uphold the highest standards of the NFL and ensure that his staff and players do so as well," the league said Tuesday in a news release.

The Lance Armstrong story took another turn on Tuesday when the World Anti-Doping Agency announced that he must confess under oath to using performance enhancing techniques if he wants to seek a reduction in his lifetime ban from sports for doping during his seven Tour de France victories. WADA says it “read with interest media reports suggesting a television 'confession' made by Lance Armstrong” to Oprah Winfrey in an interview that will be televised on Thursday. Armstrong reportedly hopes to return to competition in recognized triathlon events.

Writers from around Tribune Co. discuss what should happen if banned cyclist Lance Armstrong admits to doping, which he is expected to do in an interview with Oprah Winfrey this week. Feel free to join the conversation with a comment of your own. Philip Hersh, Chicago Tribune Before assuming Lance Armstrong comes fully clean, not to Oprah but to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency under oath -- quite an assumption, given his decade of lies -- it is worth noting there is a rule covering reinstatement.

Oklahoma State Coach Mike Gundy said Monday the school is backing the reinstatement of wide receiver Dez Bryant , less than a week after declaring him ineligible for lying to the NCAA. The school put the All-American on the sidelines on Wednesday for lying to the NCAA about his relationship with former NFL star Deion Sanders . Bryant sat out Saturday as No. 16 Oklahoma State won, 36-31, at Texas A&M. Bryant played in Oklahoma State's first three games this season while compliance officials were investigating his meeting with Sanders and another former NFL player, Omar Stoutmire , that Bryant later lied about to the NCAA.

The decision whether to reinstate scandal-plagued Antonio Margarito to boxing in the U.S. became a more interesting issue now that Manny Pacquiao has decided to fight him. "There are a number of states who'd license Margarito," the fighters' promoter, Bob Arum, said Saturday, after determining with Pacquiao's management team Friday that Margarito would be the alternate foe on Nov. 13 following a failed bid to stage the sport's super-fight between...

The Nevada State Athletic Commission reinstated suspended Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight Alistair Overeem on Tuesday following his nine-month suspension for testing positive for elevated levels of testosterone. The decision clears Overeem, 32, for a Feb. 2 fight against Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, and a victory in that fight would likely result in a May title shot against heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, who regained his belt Dec. 30, beating Junior Dos Santos by unanimous decision.

SACRAMENTO - George Deukmejian was not a flashy governor. Wasn't a spellbinder. But he was a bold leader on a perilous front: gun control. In a state that prizes entertainers and celebrities, Deukmejian twice got elected governor anyway. He was the quiet-spoken, strong-willed type. "Iron Duke," they called him. Gary Cooper would have been perfect for the part. Think "High Noon. " We're coming up on the 24th anniversary of Iron Duke's outdrawing the gun lobby to enact the nation's first assault weapons ban - an action hardly anyone could have predicted, given his political past.