BUSINESS
April 28, 2012 | By Jerry Hirsch, Los Angeles Times
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.
NATIONAL
March 24, 2011 | By Stephen Ceasar, Los Angeles Times
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.
SPORTS
May 16, 2012 | Bill Dwyre
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.
NEWS
May 3, 1990 | GERALDINE BAUM, TIMES STAFF WRITER
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. . . .
SPORTS
November 30, 1995 | LARRY STEWART
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.
NEWS
January 16, 1990 | BOB SECTER, TIMES STAFF WRITER
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.