Restorations

WASHINGTON - President Obama forced out the head of the IRS on Wednesday, seeking to restore the public's faith in the tax agency while asserting a measure of control over a rapidly growing political problem. Making a hastily scheduled statement at the White House, Obama denounced the targeting of conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service as "inexcusable" and pledged to "do everything in my power to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. " "Americans are right to be angry about it, and I am angry about it," he said.

School district officials have reversed a decision that cost a top-performing Los Angeles campus about $300,000 in funding after parents uncovered evidence that a bureaucratic error led to the loss of funds. Five other schools also are likely to get more dollars as well. L.A. Unified Supt. John Deasy acknowledged Friday that internal confusion resulted in several schools failing to qualify for federal Title 1 money. "Services that they had counted on will not be lost," Deasy told The Times.

With the phenomenal success of the Al Jolson musical "The Jazz Singer" in 1927, Hollywood quickly made the transition from silents to talkies. However, injecting color into movies was a much harder sell. In fact, it took the founder of Technicolor more than two decades to convince movie makers about the viability of color. The new Turner Classic Movies documentary "Glorious Technicolor," premiering Monday, examines the tangled history of color movies, as well as the life and career of Herbert T.

WASHINGTON - President Obama forced out the head of the IRS on Wednesday, seeking to restore the public's faith in the tax agency while asserting a measure of control over a rapidly growing political problem. Making a hastily scheduled statement at the White House, Obama denounced the targeting of conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service as "inexcusable" and pledged to "do everything in my power to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. " "Americans are right to be angry about it, and I am angry about it," he said.

When John Cox first visited the internment camp where about 10,000 Japanese-Americans were forcibly relocated during World War II, he was shocked--not by what he saw, but by what he didn't see. "There was nothing," the 16-year-old Northridge Boy Scout said of his trip last year. "There was just these two guard shacks and a few walls still standing. There's really nothing but a memorial plaque to tell you what really happened here."

Several new restorations are either completed or in the works: * "The Guns of Navarone," the 1961 World War II adventure starring Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn and David Niven. Columbia has been funding the restoration for more than two years. As supervised by UCLA Archives preservation chief Bob Gitt, the work has proceeded slowly and has focused on sound and image restoration. "Navarone" will be the opening-night attraction for UCLA's annual Festival of Restoration, to be held in April.

INA BROSSEAU MARX speaks painstakingly about furniture restoration. Make the mistake of using the word "refinishing" instead, and her retort is quick: "In this country I don't know why we have the problem with the word 'restoration.' It is not the same as refinishing." The exacting way she talks about restoration is reflected in the compendium on the subject that she and husband Allen Marx wrote based on their 30 years practicing the craft.

A key stretch of the Santa Clara River could be taken out of private hands and run by the government to promote wildlife and nature parks under an ambitious new environmental recovery plan. The proposal, unveiled Monday, seeks to acquire and restore 6,400 acres of some of the best remaining stream-side habitat in Southern California.

Talks aimed at ending years of legal battles over cleaning up the Florida Everglades collapsed Thursday amid sharp disagreement between U.S officials and the sugar industry. The failure to reach agreement dashed hopes that had been raised last July when Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt announced an accord with sugar growers that was designed to be a framework for ending the dispute.

The Portal of the Folded Wings, built in 1924 next to what is now Burbank Airport, has been selected as one of 20 statewide winners of the annual Preservation Design Awards. The California Preservation Foundation honored the Valhalla Memorial Park monument in its restoration category. The monument is the only San Fernando Valley winner and one of five in Los Angeles.

After its two-year, $45-million makeover, Echo Park Lake will soon shed the green tarp-covered fence that lines its circumference, revealing to the public a similar-but-spruced-up version of the neighborhood's landmark. "Welcome to 29 acres of paradise," L.A. City Engineer Gary Moore said at a news conference Friday, where officials announced the lake would reopen June 15. Before it was refilled and restocked with plants, the lake was completely drained and cleaned. During the cleanup, Moore said, workers found two guns, one toilet, 20 Frisbees and a pay telephone.

This Spanish Colonial Revival estate sits behind gates on nearly an acre in Hancock Park. Restored and updated for entertaining, the 1920s house recalls the gracious living of a bygone era. Location: 620 S. Rossmore Ave., Los Angeles 90005 Asking price: $8.95 million Year built: 1924 Architect: John DeLario House size: Eight bedrooms, seven bathrooms, 8,000 square feet Lot size: 37,520 square feet ...

Before the bulldozers arrived last June, Malibu Lagoon was a fully grown habitat for egrets, voles and tidewater gobies, studded with sycamore trees and clusters of tule reeds. Today, the lagoon's islands appear almost barren, covered by a sea of tiny red and blue plastic flags marking young plants just taking root. Depending on whom you talk to, the lagoon has been restored - or ruined. On Friday, bureaucrats, biologists and birders will descend on the state beach at the mouth of Malibu Creek for the ribbon cutting to mark what state officials are calling "the long and successful journey toward restoration.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa unveiled a $7.7-billion budget Monday that begins to restore funding for tree trimming, sidewalk repairs and other services, offering the most positive financial news for residents since the city was engulfed in a budget crisis five years ago. Buoyed by an extra $111 million in revenue, Villaraigosa's plan closes the budget deficit without layoffs or furloughs and provides money to add 65 firefighters, purchase...

JERUSALEM - Growing up poor and motherless in the slums of Jerusalem's Old City, Amoun Sleem dropped out of school at age 7 after her teacher repeatedly singled her out as a Gypsy, inspecting her hair for lice in front of the class and calling her "Nawar," a derogatory Arabic term that means "dirty. " On the streets, she learned English by selling postcards to tourists, but soon realized that a life of begging was not for her. At 9, she reentered school and stayed until she got a degree in business administration from Ibrahimi College in Jerusalem.

American Airlines announced that it had restored its computer system that had malfunctioned, grounding hundreds of flights for several hours Tuesday. Still, the Fort Worth-based carrier said passengers will continue to face delays and cancellations as the airline rebooks fliers on new flights. Quiz: Test your knowledge about airport security The computer problems began Tuesday morning, with airline officials announcing shortly before noon that it was grounding all flights until at least 2 p.m. Pacific time.

Capping more than 12 years of planning and $18 million worth of improvements, the city this week celebrates the completion of renovation of its two historic train depots and the opening of a pedestrian bridge linking them. The Fullerton station, which serves more than 900 Amtrak and Metrolink passengers a day, has long been a transportation hub, city officials said. And both depots recently were placed on the National Register of Historic Places. "We're a junction here," said Terry M.

If you missed seeing the 1952 "Singin' in the Rain" at the Hollywood Bowl in August, 1990, you'll have another chance to see it in restored form when it begins a one-week run Friday at the Nuart. A fresh viewing only confirms its stature as one of the greatest of all musicals, co-directed and co-choreographed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly.

Azzam Alwash, an Iraqi immigrant and former Fullerton resident who returned to Iraq in 2003 to lead a marshlands restoration project, has received the Goldman Environmental Prize, a $150,000 prize awarded to six environmentalists annually. Alwash led a project to reflood the dessicated marshlands between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, an ecosystem twice the size of the Florida Everglades. The marshlands became a political battleground during Saddam Hussein's 30-year reign in Iraq.

President Obama's budget proposal for the coming fiscal year would boost federal arts spending 10%  above where it stands at the moment, lifting it to $1.58 billion for the 2013-14 budget year that begins Oct. 1 and more than compensating for cuts from the "budget sequestration" bill that went into effect last month. Those reductions sliced 5% across the board from three federal cultural grant-making agencies as well as the Smithsonian Institution, the National Gallery of Art and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, lowering their combined spending from $1.51 billion to about $1.44 billion for fiscal 2012-13.