Reporters

washington -- Mitt Romney twice emphasized his unique business background when he and eight other Republican presidential candidates faced off in a debate last week in Iowa. "I've spent the last, as I've told you, 25 years in the private sector," former Massachusetts Gov. Romney declared at one point. "I understand why jobs come and why jobs go. I've done business in 20 countries."

SAN FRANCISCO - The Los Angeles Times and Sacramento Bee filed suit Wednesday against the University of California Board of Regents, demanding the release of police officers' names removed from a critical report on the controversial pepper spraying of UC Davis students. The lawsuit, filed in Sacramento County Superior Court, contends that when university officials agreed in a court settlement last month to redact all but two names, they "failed to represent the interests of the press and public," leaving the newspapers with "no choice but to bring this petition to protect the public's right of access to this important information.

One day in 1967, a fashion model named Kelly Lange got into a line at a Buena Park shopping mall, figuring "they were giving something away." The handouts turned out to be applications for two positions as "Ladybirds" on KABC-AM (790) radio. The lucky duo would become the first female traffic/weather reporters in this area to patrol in helicopters. Lange was chosen for the 6 a.m.-to-9 a.m. segment and re-christened Dawn O'Day. Another applicant, a film studio secretary named Lori Ross, got the afternoon shift as -- surprise -- Eve O'Day.

Shaquille O'Neal, a four-time member of NBA championship teams, may be adding another job to his basketball resume. O'Neal will meet with Orlando Magic officials next week to talk about becoming the team's new general manager, according to ESPN. It's a long shot considering that O'Neal has no front-office experience. But hey, the man is an honorary U.S. marshal who received a doctorate earlier this month from Barry University. He's definitely driven. O'Neal spent four seasons in Orlando after the Magic selected him with the top overall pick in 1992.

Ford Motor Co. will offer about 90,000 U.S. salaried retirees and former employees vested in its pension plan a lump-sum payment to buy them out of monthly benefits. Ford, which also reported lower first-quarter earnings Friday because of losses in Europe and Asia, said the plan was an innovative strategy to reduce its pension obligations. The automaker won't put up any operating cash but rather will make the one-time payments from existing pension plan assets. "We believe this is the first time a program of this type and magnitude has been done in an ongoing pension plan," said Bob Shanks, Ford's chief financial officer.

The Hispanic population in the United States grew by 43% in the last decade, surpassing 50 million and accounting for about 1 out of 6 Americans, the Census Bureau reported Thursday. Analysts seized on data showing that the growth was propelled by a surge in births in the U.S., rather than immigration, pointing to a growing generational shift in which Hispanics continue to gain political clout and, by 2050, could make up a third of the U.S. population. "In the adult population, many immigrants helped the increase, but the child population is increasingly more Hispanic," said D'Vera Cohn, a senior writer at the Pew Research Center.

BALTIMORE — In the midst of the greatest time of his professional life, horse trainer Doug O'Neill is being followed around by an asterisk. Reporters want to know about his Kentucky Derby-winning horse, I'll Have Another. They want to know about O'Neill himself — how he got started, who he is, what he thinks about any number of topics. They want to know about young jockey Mario Gutierrez, who should have been way too green to ride the kind of race he did at Churchill Downs. They want to know about owner J. Paul Reddam, who made his money in the loan business and who named the horse by reprising a scene at home, where he sits on the couch, eats a cookie and requests another one from his wife.

First Lady Barbara Bush offered a strong defense of private lives, including her own, saying Wednesday that she sympathizes with Wellesley College students who raised questions about her speaking at their graduation, but she thinks they don't understand "where I am coming from." "That's all right," Mrs. Bush said. "I chose to live the life I've lived, and I think it has been a fabulously exciting, interesting, involved life. I hope some of them will choose the same. . . .

CBS golf commentator Ben Wright, who escaped unscathed in May after denying he made disparaging comments about lesbians in women's golf hurting the sport, is in hot water again. This week, in a Sports Illustrated Golf Plus article entitled "Living With a Lie," two sources say Wright did make the statements he claimed he didn't say. Also in the article, Wright makes inaccurate statements about the reporter he says misquoted him.

Poor Jeff Zaslow. In high school, some bully stole his favorite sneakers and wouldn't give them back. In college, his dream date confessed that there were only three guys she'd ever been interested in--and he wasn't one of them. He's painfully insecure. "All my life I've wanted to be liked," he confessed. "I'm not Willy Loman but I've always wanted people to think I'm a nice guy." This guy needs some advice. This guy needs Ann Landers. No, wait a minute, this guy is Ann Landers.

With the unofficial start of summer just days away, it's time to stock up on sunscreen. Does it matter which one you buy? Consumer Reports tested some popular brands, and found that it does, but the best choices are not necessarily the most expensive. Of the 18 popular products Consumer Reports tested , none rated excellent in all four categories: UVA and UVB protection, UVB protection after being in the water, and staining fabrics. All Terrain Aqua Sport lotion rated best, scoring 88 of 100 possible points.

Apple is testing two versions of the sixth-generation iPhone, both of which include a longer display that brings the smartphone near a 16:9 screen ratio, according to a report. Both of the phones have a new 3.999-inch display, which has been the hot rumor this month. Apple will keep the current width of the iPhone's screen, but it will add 176 pixels to the height of the screen.

This is the first in a series of posts grading the Lakers on their efforts in the 2012 NBA playoffs Player: Metta World Peace How he performed in the postseason: Averaged 11.7 points per game on 36.7% shooting in 39.3 minutes through six contests.  The Good: When he wasn't arranging fan gatherings to watch the Lakers' playoff games during his seven-game suspension, World Peace did something that he failed to do during the off-season: He stayed in shape.

WASHINGTON — The public won't be protected from the type of risky bets that led to the huge trading loss at JPMorgan Chase & Co. until new rules are approved to allow better monitoring of complicated derivatives transactions, two key federal regulators told a Senate committee. As it was, the heads of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Tuesday that they learned of the unusual trading activity that led to JPMorgan's $2.3-billion trading loss through media reports.

An environmental group that has supported a proposed downtown Los Angeles football stadium and helped the developer secure special treatment in the courts issued a sharply worded critique Tuesday of environmental documents prepared for the project. In a 16-page letter to city officials, the Natural Resources Defense Council called on Anschutz Entertainment Group to rewrite and recirculate a recently released environmental impact report on the proposed stadium, saying it failed to fully analyze health risks created by cars that would travel to and from the 72,000-seat facility.

Fuel economy is the top feature buyers consider when shopping for a new car, according to a recent survey by Consumer Reports. The magazine, an influential force on car buying choices, said that 37% of the respondents in an April telephone survey listed fuel economy as their top consideration when shopping for a new car. Quality was a distant second at 17% followed by safety at 16%, value at 14% and performance at just 6%.

A Los Angeles television reporter is dating Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, about two years after his extramarital affair with another local newscaster led to the breakup of his 20-year marriage. KTLA-TV Channel 5 reporter Lu Parker, a former Miss U.S.A., has been dating Villaraigosa since March, station officials confirmed Monday. On Sunday, while working as a weekend anchor, Parker announced a story about the likelihood of Villaraigosa running for governor in 2010.

An undercover TV journalist reporting on crime and drugs in Rio de Janeiro's shantytowns was tortured and put to death with a sword by a drug lord who runs his territory like a medieval fiefdom, police said. Tim Lopes of Globo television was captured June 2 as he tried to infiltrate a dance party in northern Rio de Janeiro, where gangs sell drugs and stage illicit sex shows.

The newspapers and websites were full Monday morning with stories about Sunday's eclipse: finely done accounts with facts, figures, quotations and on-the-scene reporting. Will any win the Pulitzer Prize? Only time will tell. But if so, there is precedent: The 1924 Pulitzer Prize for reporting went to Magner White, a reporter for the San Diego Sun, for his account of a noontime solar eclipse that occurred Sept. 10, 1923. White's account, in the lean, vivid prose of the day, had weird gusts of wind hitting the city, circus animals pacing and roaring, prostitutes falling to their knees and vowing to change their wicked ways, and San Diego residents exchanging "ghastly smiles, pale lilies they are. " The Sun's story was on the stands within minutes of the eclipse becoming total.

SANA, Yemen -- A suicide bomber targeting soldiers rehearsing for a military parade killed as many as 96 people Monday in a sign that Islamic militants are taking their fight to the capital after intense battles in the provinces with U.S.-backed government forces in recent weeks. The blast appeared to mark a shift in tactics by an Al Qaeda-linked group that for months had been concentrating on towns in the south. It indicated that militants, who have been unnerved by increased U.S. military and drone strikes, are expanding north in a campaign to upend the fragile government of President Abdu Rabbo Mansour Hadi.