Richard Foster

When Richard Foster began working at Interstate Electronics Inc. in Anaheim in the 1950s, the military was building its first generation of nuclear submarines and business was good. Now, as he prepares to retire in August, the industry is producing its last Trident submarines. Despite the success of sophisticated weapons in Desert Storm, Foster is troubled by the downward trend in the defense budget.

When Richard Foster began working at Interstate Electronics Inc. in Anaheim in the 1950s, the military was building its first generation of nuclear submarines and business was good. Now, as he prepares to retire in August, the industry is producing its last Trident submarines. Despite the success of sophisticated weapons in Desert Storm, Foster is troubled by the downward trend in the defense budget.

One recent afternoon in Los Alamitos, I watched Marcy Zwelling-Aamot, M.D., pick her way through a government website designed to help elderly patients select the right Medicare drug plan, based on their prescription needs and hometown. The website, created for the launch of Medicare's new prescription drug benefit, identified 48 individual plans available for Southern California residents.

Escondido Councilman Richard Foster was quoted in a Nov. 14 article ("Cold-Weather Shelter Loses in Escondido") that he felt more critical thinking would be necessary before agreeing to open a cold-weather shelter for the homeless. I wonder if two or three nights outside in one of the canyons without a blanket might help clarify his thinking. JANE WITMAN, Carlsbad

Medicare beneficiaries could see their monthly premiums in 2004 rise by 12.3%, or $86.40, over the full year. Richard Foster, Medicare's chief actuary, citing higher costs for doctors' services, wheelchairs and other items, said the monthly premium in the health insurance program for the elderly will rise to $65.90 from $58.70. The agency also predicted that there will be a 4.2% cut in Medicare payments to doctors in January.

Richard A. Foster, president of Interstate Electronics Corp. in Anaheim, a subsidiary of Figgie International Inc., has been elected by Figgie's board of directors to fill a new vice president position with the parent corporation. Foster has been with Interstate since 1957 and has served as its president since 1979. Interstate Electronics manufactures products for the military.

Richard Foster, an attorney in Irvine and the only person to be elected president of U.S. Water Polo for three terms, will be among 14 inducted into the U.S. Water Polo Hall of Fame Saturday at the Doubletree Hotel in Irvine. Foster, a former water polo player at Long Beach State, will also receive the U.S. Water Polo award, which is the highest honor awarded by the sport's national governing body.

A man who gunned down a liquor store owner during a 1986 holdup was put to death by injection Tuesday in the first of three executions scheduled this week in Texas. James Richardson, 32, was the fourth inmate this month and the 16th this year to be executed in Texas, which leads the nation in capital punishment. Two more men, Richard Foster and James Clayton, were set to die today and Thursday, respectively, at the state prison here.

Richard Foster, former chairman of the United Way of Orange County and former president of an Anaheim electronics corporation, will be inducted into Fullerton Union High School's "Wall of Fame" at Friday's homecoming celebration. A lifelong Fullerton resident, Foster graduated from Fullerton Union High School in 1953. A reception for Foster will follow at 6 p.m. School officials will honor him with a plaque inside the school's administration building.

A dog condemned to death by a British court because it was a dangerous breed has been stolen, probably by sympathetic animal lovers, police said Friday. Magnum, a 4-year-old mongrel, was ordered destroyed after tests convinced a court that he was a pit bull terrier--a breed outlawed under legislation passed in 1991 after a series of vicious attacks by dogs. But he disappeared from a kennel in Weatherall, northern England, Wednesday. The padlock was cut.