WORLD
May 20, 2013 | By Don Lee and Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times
DALIAN, China - Among fishermen in this historic seaport city, the danger of steering their boats near North Korean waters is well known. North Koreans took three Chinese ships and their crews hostage a year ago, and Chinese maritime officials have repeatedly warned fishing operators over the last several years that they would be slapped with heavy fines if they got too close. Still, the Korean waters were highly attractive for their abundance of fish. And so it came as little surprise to fishermen like Cao Zhanyuan when he and many others in China learned Monday that a boat off the coast here had been seized by North Koreans this month.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
May 20, 2013 | By Robert Faturechi, Los Angeles Times
When battling street gangs across Los Angeles County, sheriff's deputies rely too heavily on suppression and not enough on gang intervention, according to a study released Monday. By not doing more to connect with the communities they police, the report found, sheriff's deputies are missing an opportunity to gain the public's trust. However, the report - put out by Merrick Bobb, special counsel to the county Board of Supervisors - acknowledged that crime rates inside sheriff's jurisdictions have fallen dramatically, and comparably to the areas patrolled by the LAPD, which more commonly uses gang interventionists.
NATIONAL
May 20, 2013 | By Ken Dilanian, Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - The FBI obtained a sealed search warrant to read a Fox News reporter's personal emails from two days in 2010 after arguing there was probable cause he had violated espionage laws by soliciting classified information from a government official, court papers show. In an affidavit, an FBI agent told a federal magistrate that the reporter had committed a crime when he asked a State Department security contractor, Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, to share secret material about North Korea in June 2009.
NATIONAL
May 18, 2013 | By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times
LAREDO, Texas -- A recent wave of kidnappings in Nuevo Laredo was prominently featured in a recent Sunday edition of El Mañana, one of the largest and most long-standing Spanish-language newspapers on the border. But the story carried no byline, and no residents were quoted or pictured. "People don't want to go out for interviews - they say, 'No, we may get kidnapped,'" said Ninfa Cantú Deándar, who runs the paper with her siblings. Because of threats from Mexican cartels, the paper - published in the twin cities of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and Laredo, Texas - is operating very differently these days.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2013 | By Chad Terhune and Ben Poston, Los Angeles Times
When Medicare disclosed average charges from thousands of U.S. hospitals for 100 common procedures last week, only one hospital was near the top in every category: Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Be it a cardiac stent, a hip replacement or a pacemaker, Cedars-Sinai's list prices for these routine treatments ranked among the top 5% in the country. For example, the average charge at Cedars-Sinai for gallbladder surgery with complications was $153,302 in 2011 compared with the U.S. median charge of $42,380, government data show.
SPORTS
May 17, 2013 | By David Wharton
On the eve of an international wrestling meet at the Sports Arena, American officials remain at a loss to explain why the Iranian team - making its first visit to the U.S. since 2003 - has unexpectedly withdrawn and flown home. Los Angeles was supposed to be the second stop in a two-city tour. The Iranians competed in New York earlier this week. Iranian media reported Friday that team officials had security concerns and that U.S. officials refused to guarantee their safety on the West Coast.