Repair

Los Angeles may be the land of the freeway, but it is notorious for its bad sidewalks — buckled, cracked and sometimes impassable. By the city's own estimate, 42% of its 10,750 miles of pedestrian paths are in disrepair. Now a series of civil-rights lawsuits against Los Angeles and other California cities is for the first time focusing attention — and money — on a problem that decades of complaining, heated public hearings and letter-writing campaigns could not. The lawsuits were filed by disabled people who say broken sidewalks make it impossible for them to get around and seek repairs or improvements.

OAKLAND — What seemed like a routine slide into second base turned into a major injury for Vernon Wells , who will undergo surgery Tuesday to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb, a procedure that will sideline the Angels left fielder for eight to 10 weeks. "He thought it popped out and back in — that happens a lot, and guys usually work through it," Manager Mike Scioscia said of Wells, who was injured in the second inning of Sunday's 3-2 loss to San Diego. "But the next inning, there was no chance of him swinging a bat, and we knew it was significant.

Unearthing gorgeous jewelry in Los Angeles is easy. From big-name brands — think Cartier and Tiffany — to independent boutiques such as Roseark and Des Kohan, there's no shortage of retailers dealing in covetable baubles and watches. But selecting a skilled artisan to replace a dislodged ruby or rebuild a fragile engagement ring is a prospect fraught with potential disappointment. Send your grandma's prized diamond-encrusted brooch to the wrong guy, and it could come back greatly altered — beyond repair.

The Los Angeles City Council passed a $7.2-billion budget Monday, voting to cut 400 unfilled city staff positions but putting off difficult decisions on layoffs, park funding and Fire Department resources. On a 15-0 vote, council members agreed to wait until January to determine whether layoffs are necessary, and which positions could be eliminated, saying that more study is needed. They took that step despite a warning from the city's top budget official that some of the revenue being used to balance spending isn't a sure thing.

In a video on a new Citibank blog, the company's chief executive sits against a white backdrop and owns up to the bank's role in the financial crisis. "It's clear that we made some mistakes coming into this environment, and we have to acknowledge that," the Citigroup CEO, Vikram Pandit, intones over fluttering piano notes. "We have to take responsibility for what we didn't do correctly." The simple, almost austere blog, which the Citigroup Inc. unit began promoting last week in magazine and newspaper ads, is part of a strategic shift by the financial services industry.

It was a November evening when darkness comes early, and my husband and I were going to our grandson's birthday party. The entrance to the house was unlit and the walk was bumpy. We had almost reached the gate when I made my grand fall, missing a step and landing on my left hip on the concrete. Many hands helped me up, but I was unable to put weight on my left leg. After a glass of wine, I felt no pain. So it was on with the party. The next morning I had a light breakfast: one tangerine from our tree, one poached egg and a cup of decaf.

Torii Hunter will undergo surgery on Monday in Dallas to repair a sports hernia, an injury the Angels center fielder expects to fully recover from by the start of spring training next February. The nine-time Gold Glove Award winner originally suffered the right groin injury in late May when he crashed into the wall at Dodger Stadium. He aggravated the injury several times in June before going to the disabled list for five weeks from July 10 to Aug. 16. "It was getting better after the season, but it was going so slow, I decided to get it checked out," Hunter said Thursday by phone.

Far from the hue and cry over healthcare legislation that is erupting at town halls across the country, many senior citizens are quietly confused about what an overhaul might mean for them. And the opinions they form in the coming weeks may well prove crucial. Seniors are an influential group of voters who bring a unique perspective to the topic: They already have guaranteed healthcare under Medicare, and they also are the heaviest users of medical services. On a recent afternoon, a group of people in their 80s and 90s at a Denver retirement complex voiced some of the same questions about healthcare that are circulating in living rooms and senior centers throughout the country.

George Parros might be well advised to start wearing a visor — at least in practice — after twice taking pucks in the face on the Ducks' recently completed trip. The second incident required laser surgery to repair a torn retina of the left eye of the Ducks enforcer. He will be out for about a month and is expected to make a full recovery, the team said. His injury happened at practice Friday in Detroit, and Parros posted a picture of his injured eye on his Twitter account, saying: "Groundhog day today at practice ... guess my left [eye]

Please! It's hard enough when our city's elected officials attack Los Angeles public schools, but now a young writer who didn't even graduate from L.A. Unified is criticizing the district for its handling of repair funds ("School Repairs Are Too Little, Too Late," Sept. 13). Hasn't anyone stopped to ask what the impact of all these negative articles is on the students? . . . My classmates at Sylmar High School now have air-conditioning and a new gym floor, thanks to Proposition BB. At our school, no repair is too little or too late.

State safety regulators have ordered stringent inspections of a downtown Los Angeles rail junction for the newly opened Expo Line because of a serious design flaw that poses an increased risk of train derailments. Officials of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority insist the intersection of the region's newest light rail service and the older Long Beach Blue Line at Washington Boulevard and Flower Street is safe for now because of small modifications to the tracks.

A Los Angeles private equity firm might be reconsidering its $1.1-billion buyout of Pep Boys. The Gores Group asked the automotive repair chain to delay a May 30 shareholder meeting where investors were to be asked to approve the $15-a-share deal, according to regulatory filings. The firm told the retailer that it wanted to take a closer look at "serious deterioration in the Pep Boys business. " Pep Boys — which is based in Philadelphia but has 130 shops in California, the most in any state — said Tuesday that it would post disappointing first-quarter results.

Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard told ESPN.com that he will have season-ending back surgery. The All-Star will undergo surgery on Friday morning in Los Angeles to repair a herniated disk. The operation will end his season and keep him from playing in the Olympics in London. Howard told ESPN: "I tried to play through it and it just made my back worse. " Howard has been dealing with back problems since early March, but it wasn't until last week that a doctor discovered the herniated disk.

For-profit private colleges promise to prepare students for employment in fields such as nursing, auto repair, computer technology or cosmetology. Although the programs work for some students, others have complained of paying high tuition to schools that provided inadequate training and gave them unrealistic expectations about future job prospects. Before you enroll, consider these tips from California's Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education: •To see whether the for-profit college you're considering meets California standards, visit the bureau's website at http://www.bppe.ca.gov and search the directory of "approved schools.

It appears the historic blade sign hanging in front of the Rialto Theatre in South Pasadena will survive a safety scare that arose this month, but preservationists and city officials are worried about more than just the sign. They are concerned their efforts to revitalize the moribund 87-year-old theater may crumble like the exterior of the building, which is held together in places by wire mesh. Last week, representatives of leaseholder Landmark Theatres said they have decided to repair the sign and are in the process of hiring a contractor.

Question: I manage an apartment community with 16 units. When one of our residents first moved into her apartment, she requested permission to install grab bars in the bathtub. She was disabled and needed these bars to be able to use the tub. She offered to pay the installation cost. I said yes, and we noted the grab bars on the rental agreement. Two years later, she gave her notice of termination. When we did the pre-departure walk-through, I asked her what she was planning to do about the grab bars.

In response to your article (Times, Dec. 13) on spending $27 million to repair the Pasadena Colorado Street bridge--that is an obscene waste of money. The bridge is pretty and, yes, it was a graceful entry to our city. But in today's world, that kind of money should be given to food for the hungry, medicines for the sick, or even to heads of state for peace proposals. To repair an unneeded bridge, no! HELEN POSTHUMA Pasadena

Backbay Drive will be closed to all traffic for two to three weeks as workers attempt to clear debris from the recent storms and make repairs. The three-mile road along the ecological reserve between Jamboree Road and Eastbluff Drive suffered major flood damage and was the sight of several mudslides, police said. Cars, bicycles, and pedestrians are all banned from the road until further notice.

Out in the desert, the wind never quits. Over its howling one day recently, Roy Howard strained to make himself heard as he explained why its usual accompaniment, the rush of water and the rumble of enormous industrial pumps, had fallen silent. We were at the Metropolitan Water District's Julian Hinds Pumping Plant, situated at the edge of Joshua Tree National Park and about 20 miles north of the Salton Sea. Hinds is one of five pumping plants on the Colorado River Aqueduct. And it's the last point on the 242-mile journey of Colorado River water from Lake Havasu on the California-Arizona border where pumping is needed.

Reporting from Phoenix   Designated hitter Kendrys Morales is scheduled to play with the Angels on Tuesday against the Kansas City Royals, Manager Mike Scioscia said Sunday. It will be Morales' first time in a major league lineup since he fractured his left ankle May 29, 2010, while jumping on the plate to celebrate a game-winning home run. Scioscia is aiming for Morales, who took a rainy Sunday off after playing in minor league games Friday and Saturday, to get 40 to 50 at-bats before the Angels' opener April 6. Morales has nine at-bats.