Residency

David Joyce marched his way to the front of the U.S. immigration line using his pocketbook, sinking half a million dollars into a Vermont ski resort. The British citizen had spent years in a futile effort to secure green cards for himself, his wife and their 9-year-old son so they could relocate to sunny Florida. Then, a fellow emigre tipped him off to a little-known federal program that helps foreigners gain permanent U.S. residency by investing in American businesses. Graphic: Number of investors' visas to U.S. "In six months, we had our green cards," said Joyce, 51. "Considering everything we've been through, this was easy.

Surgical residents were more fatigued than expected, especially on night rotations, according to a new study. A quarter of their waking time, they were the equivalent of being legally drunk, the study said. “Our fatigue levels were higher than we thought, but that allows us to focus on where the problems are likely to be,” Frank McCormick, a doctor from the Harvard Combined Orthopedic Residency Program and the lead researcher, said by telephone. The study, published Monday in the journal Archives of Surgery, did not measure actual harm to patients from fatigue, just potential, he said.

Six public school districts near the border have done an inadequate job of verifying the residency of their students, in one case apparently admitting hundreds of youngsters who cross over each day from Mexico, according to a series of audits by state Controller Gray Davis. In releasing the reports this week, Davis stressed that the issue was California residency, not citizenship. State law, he said, requires districts to verify residency of all students and to collect tuition from those residing out of state, whether they come "from Nevada, Oregon--or Mexico."

Pam King's San Marino home has solar panels, a drought-resistant yard and an urban farm. Now she'd like some chickens to go with it. The city known as the wealthiest, quietest suburban enclave in the San Gabriel Valley doesn't allow residents to keep farm animals, but that may soon change. This month King asked the San Marino City Council to allow chickens on residential properties, and council members ordered a staff report. If San Marino goes to the birds, it would join Pasadena, South Pasadena and La Cañada Flintridge, which allow residents to keep fowl under strict guidelines.

Just for a moment, as Carlos Santana was outlining the philosophy underlying his latest business venture, it started to sound as if he might be branching out into the food service industry. "What we do is focus on making everything fresh," the veteran musician and bandleader said. "I remind people: 'Ooh — don't bring last night's leftovers! Make it fresh and new and people will feel it.'" He's not launching a new Subway sandwich franchise but a two-year residency at the House of Blues in Las Vegas, where beginning May 2 he'll be holding court for 80 nights a year with a reimagined show he's calling "Greatest Hits Live: Santana — Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow.

With the number of green card renewal applicants expected to reach 750,000 this year, the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service this week expanded its services at the Van Nuys office, officials said Wednesday. Beginning this week, Valley residents can renew green cards, which allow noncitizens to live and work in the United States, at the application and support center, 14515 Hamlin St., said Marybel Loeches, INS acting public information officer.

WASHINGTON -- The debate over updating a law that protects victims of domestic abuse has become the latest battleground over immigration policy. Republicans in Congress are proposing to strip away existing protections for immigrants who are the victims of domestic violence. The Republican-drafted version of the Violence Against Women Act, originally passed in 1994, is scheduled to be debated on the House floor on Wednesday and could be brought to a vote this week. Currently the law offers anonymity to victims of domestic abuse who are applying for residency visas so that their applications cannot be sabotaged by their abusers.

The California Supreme Court upheld residency restrictions for sex offenders Monday, ruling that thousands may be barred from living near schools and parks even if their sex crimes were committed years before the restrictions became law. The state high court's 5-2 decision permits California to continue enforcing residency restrictions on thousands of sex offenders who were paroled after Proposition 83, known as "Jessica's Law," took effect in...

Re "Residency Questions Prod Hayden to Leave Guest House," March 13. It's apparent that, by moving into his campaign coordinator's home--as opposed to her guest house, which he used to establish his 5th District "residency"--[Tom] Hayden is providing the answer to our city's housing crunch: house-sharing. His wife and child must be proud, wherever they're living. JILLIAN TYSON Los Angeles

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office has notified those who raised residency issues about candidates in an election for a Glendale-area state Assembly seat last year that reviews of their complaints have been closed without further action. Supporters of Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Silver Lake) and also of his opponent, Republican businessman Sunder Ramani, filed complaints alleging that the other candidate had violated state elections requirements for district residency and voting.

People generally don't think of the elderly as nuisance neighbors. They rarely throw loud late-night parties, play loud music or have loud sex. Nevertheless, the issue of elderly group homes is a controversial one in single-family neighborhoods. On a stretch of leafy Sierra Bonita Avenue near Hollywood, an operator of board-and-care facilities wants to tear down a duplex and construct an 11-bed facility for elderly residents suffering from dementia. In theory, that's fine: According to state law, a city cannot prohibit licensed care facilities that meet the zoning requirements.

For a downtown once famous for emptying out with the evening commute, the raucous scene around Staples Center and L.A. Live as the Lakers, Kings and Clippers compete in playoff games stands as a testament to how much the central city's fortunes have changed. Thousands jam sidewalks. Crowded cafes and bars pulsate with music and laughter. The streetscape is so lively that a group of Christian evangelists descends on street corners with free Bible booklets. But travel a block or two in any direction and the crowds begin to thin out considerably.

WASHINGTON -- The debate over updating a law that protects victims of domestic abuse has become the latest battleground over immigration policy. Republicans in Congress are proposing to strip away existing protections for immigrants who are the victims of domestic violence. The Republican-drafted version of the Violence Against Women Act, originally passed in 1994, is scheduled to be debated on the House floor on Wednesday and could be brought to a vote this week. Currently the law offers anonymity to victims of domestic abuse who are applying for residency visas so that their applications cannot be sabotaged by their abusers.

LISBON - For Francisco Reposo, the 30% pay cut he was forced to take this year amid government austerity measures is the least of his worries. The high school science teacher is also on dialysis, awaiting a kidney operation, and Portugal's financial bailout means he's saddled with hundreds of dollars in monthly medical bills. The cost of seeing a doctor in Portugal has more than doubled, from about $12 to $26 a visit. Reposo used to pay nothing for dialysis because he's a blood donor, but that exemption was lifted, and he now pays about $53 for each session.

Patricia McIntosh and her fellow La Puente residents have seen more than their fair share of city turmoil in recent years: Government officials accused of sexual harassment and excessive travel expenses. The threatened loss of municipal insurance. But when McIntosh got wind of a proposal to change the name of her beloved San Gabriel Valley city, the 82-year-old president of the La Puente Valley Historical Society had to speak out. "That's ludicrous," she said. "It'd be like coming in and saying we'd like to change the name of California.

Several violent incidents, including the shooting of a 13-year-old boy, have sparked worries of renewed gang activity in a northeast Los Angeles neighborhood where city authorities have invested many resources to combat a notorious gang. Years after a largely successful effort to clear a subgroup of the Avenues gang from Drew Street in Glassell Park, authorities say it appears that rival gangs are looking to exact revenge on, or humiliate, a once powerful and predatory enemy. "I think there's payback a little bit there," said LAPD Lt. David Kowalski, supervisor of the Northeast Division's gang unit.

For the last 20 years, Josephine Gutierrez, a native of the Philippines, toiled six days a week in the home of a Hong Kong family. On her day off, she attended church and was active in charity work. Her fourth child was born in Hong Kong. But a Hong Kong court has ruled that she doesn't have the right to permanently settle in the city she has called home since 1991. At the heart of the case is Hong Kong's immigration ordinance, which bars domestic workers and contract laborers from being eligible for permanent residence.

After successful residencies in the New York area in December and January, Prince is setting up an extended stay in L.A. — and attempting to upstage Coachella (April 15-17) in the process. The singer dialed into "Lopez Tonight" on Thursday to announce he would be kicking off a 21-night run, beginning at the Forum and continuing on at venues to be announced later. The L.A. residency will kick off April 14 with backing band the New Power Generation and "a whole gang of special guests," Prince teased.

The newly created 44th Congressional District sprawls from San Pedro to Watts and across to South Gate. Its many blue-collar communities have been hard hit by the economic downturn and share a need for jobs, safe and affordable housing, and a representative capable of pushing those priorities in Congress despite the political gridlock that has seized Washington. The two candidates for the job, Janice Hahn and Laura Richardson, are incumbent Democratic members of the House, pitted against each other as a result of redistricting.

People who live along the shimmering coastline of Southern California have found many creative ways over the years to discourage the public from using the parts of the beach they would prefer to consider their own. They have put up gates that block public access and have taken down signs that say "public welcome. " The latest gambit, by residents in Newport Beach, involves planting lawns and hedges, installing sprinkler systems and fire pits, and plopping down furniture and ornaments that spill over from their property onto the public beach.