San Diego

When roasted at 475 degrees, coffee beans are sometimes described as rich and full-bodied. But for the full-bodied person who is not so rich, unroasted coffee beans - green as the day they were picked - may hold the key to cheap and effective weight loss, new research suggests. In a study presented Tuesday at the American Chemical Society's spring national meeting in San Diego, 16 overweight young adults took, by turns, a low dose of green coffee bean extract, a high dose of the supplement, and a placebo.

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.

Asthma sufferers have long relied on inhalers for relief from wheezing or coughing attacks. But as of Dec. 31, Primatene Mist -- the only available over-the-counter asthma inhaler -- was taken off shelves because of its adverse effect on the environment. Other inhalers are available, but these require a doctor's prescription. Some people with asthma aren't happy about the change, but lung doctors and asthma specialists agree that Primatene Mist wasn't the best option for patients anyway.

SAN DIEGO - The $1.3-billion ship is billed as the most technologically advanced of any in its class in the U.S. Navy, with stealth capability and a state-of-the-art communications system. But the commissioning ceremony Saturday that made the San Diego an official ship of the fleet was drawn from rituals more than two centuries old - from the days of John Paul Jones, when the Navy's first commissioned ship was a captured British schooner. And so with the classic order, "Man our ship and bring her to life," sailors and Marines sprinted aboard the 684-foot amphibious transport dock ship.

PHOENIX — Andre Ethier said Tuesday he does not plan to impose a deadline on negotiations on the contract extension that could keep him out of free agency. Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti has said he would like to re-sign Ethier and has discussed the idea with Dodgers President Stan Kasten , who took office three weeks ago. Ethier said Tuesday he and his agent have not received a formal contract proposal from the Dodgers. Ethier also said he did not anticipate a point where free agency could be so close that he would put any contract talks on hold before he could test the market.

The wait for tables is getting longer at Buck's, a popular breakfast spot for the tech elite and a weather vane for the Silicon Valley economy. Here, like everywhere else, Facebook is the talk of the town. "Charles Schwab was in the restaurant the other day, and I asked him to hook me up with some Facebook shares," said Jamis MacNiven, owner of Buck's, in the wealthy suburban enclave of Woodside. "He told me even he can't get Facebook shares. " The new tech boom officially gets underway Friday when Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg rings Nasdaq's opening bell remotely from the company's Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters, launching the largest initial public offering of stock in Silicon Valley history.

Bob Brickman spent months fighting a ticket he got last fall from a red-light traffic camera at Wilshire and Sepulveda boulevards in West Los Angeles. The 61-year-old from Playa Vista eventually decided to give up the fight and fork over the $476 fine. Now he's regretting paying every penny. City officials this week spotlighted a surprising revelation involving red-light camera tickets: Authorities cannot force violators who simply don't respond to pay them. For a variety of reasons, including the way the law was written, Los Angeles officials say the fines for ticketed motorists are essentially "voluntary" and there are virtually no tangible consequences for those who refuse to pay. The disclosure comes as the city is considering whether to drop the controversial photo enforcement program, with the City Council scheduled to vote on the matter Wednesday.

Not everything is bigger in Texas. The new Aquatica water park at SeaWorld San Antonio will be one-third the size and cost half as much as the innovative Aquatica water park at SeaWorld Orlando . PHOTOS: Aquatica water park at SeaWorld San Antonio Debuting May 19, the Aquatica park in Texas will feature 18 water slides on 20 acres at a cost of more than $24 million. That's considerably smaller than Florida's $50-million-plus Aquatica which debuted in 2008 with 36 slides on 60 acres as the new high-water mark for water parks.

Bob Kahl slips in through a side door of the vast, abandoned hangar and looks at what's left of the assembly plant where he worked for nearly 40 years. He remembers the hum of power tools, the biting aroma of cutting oil, swarms of workers plugging away on a labyrinth of yellow scaffolding. All that's left is a few piles of broken concrete and a sea of colorless dust that coats a Palmdale factory floor the size of two football fields. "Welcome to the birthplace of America's space shuttle fleet," said Kahl, 60, smiling.

Hollywood High School keeps its doors open 12 months a year to ease overcrowding. The year-round schedule allows the campus to run hundreds more students through its cramped classrooms. It also chips away at their education. Teachers skip pages of material, assign less homework and give fewer tests because their school year has been slashed by 17 days. Hundreds of pupils take the Stanford 9 exam shortly after returning from an eight-week vacation.

SAN DIEGO - With the Angels scrapping for the run that might have won Sunday's game, Manager Mike Scioscia essentially took the bat out of the hands of his hottest hitter, Mike Trout . Trout had singled twice and homered as he waited on deck in the 11th inning. The Angels had one out, Bobby Wilson on first and Ryan Langerhans at bat. Scioscia called for a sacrifice. Langerhans delivered the bunt, Wilson took second, and the San Diego Padres took advantage of the open base by walking Trout intentionally.

SAN DIEGO - This is not the stuff of which championship teams are made. The Angels had the chance to move within six games of the Texas Rangers for the first time in a month. Their starting pitcher was Dan Haren, a three-time All-Star. The opposing starting pitcher was Eric Stults, who last won a major league game three years ago. The opposing team was the San Diego Padres, with the worst record in the National League. The Angels lost, of course. It was not so much Saturday's final score - Padres 3, Angels 2 - that reflected the problem.

SAN DIEGO — This is baseball in another dimension. It is the Mike Trout dimension. It is fast, too fast for the other men on the field. Trout put major league outfielders on notice Friday, in the Angels' 7-2 victory over the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Play your best, and it will be a challenge to contain him. Play at less than your best, and an extra base will be lost, or two. "I don't believe in singles," Trout said. "I'm just trying to be aggressive and make some things happen.

SAN DIEGO - Eleven more days until Matt Kemp is eligible to return from the disabled list. Kemp's absence was of minimal consequence Thursday, as the first-place Dodgers trampled the last-place San Diego Padres, 8-1, to earn a split of a two-game series at Petco Park. The Dodgers improved to 25-13, including 2-2 since Kemp was placed on the disabled list with a strained hamstring. But the void could be a significant factor in the coming days when the Dodgers host the defending World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals in a three-game series that starts Friday.

University of California regents Wednesday discussed the possibility of a 6% tuition increase for next fall but pledged that they would lobby hard to avoid such a $732-per-student hike. With such money worries rippling through the 10-campus system, the regents approved the hiring of a new chancellor for UC San Diego at a $411,084 salary, which is 4.8% higher than his predecessor, Marye Anne Fox. In addition, Pradeep Khosla, now the engineering dean at Carnegie Mellon University, will receive a relocation bonus of nearly $24,700 annually for his first four years.

SAN DIEGO —Two members of a Mexican organized crime group that terrorized border communities were found guilty Wednesday of taking part in the strangling deaths of two men whose bodies were later dissolved in lye and dumped at a ranch outside San Diego. The mens' ruthless tactics were the trademark of a gang that broke off from the drug cartel waging war in Tijuana nearly a decade ago, according to prosecutors. The Palillos, or Toothpicks, came to the San Diego area in 2003 after splitting from the notorious Arellano Felix drug cartel.

I read with interest the article "Sex on TV: The Children Are Watching" by Rick Du Brow (July 30), and I have a question: Have you watched the 6 p.m. news lately? If you haven't had enough sex and violence by 7 p.m., just stay tuned for "Entertainment Tonight." I checked with my daughter about this. She affirms that it is all she and her husband can do to monitor what the kids watch. They care. How many other parents do? CHARLOTTE C. DUNN San Diego I agree with Du Brow regarding adult fare in prime time.

A diamond-encrusted lining is emerging in Southern California's cloudy real estate market. At least a half-dozen Westside mega-estates have sold for more than $20 million so far this year — creating a deafening buzz in local realty circles. Only a few home sales in other Southland counties have surpassed the $20-million mark. On the horizon is the close of Candy Spelling's larger-than-White-House-sized "Manor," which has reigned supreme from its $150-million listing price perch in Holmby Hills for more than two years and is expected to eclipse last year's record $50-million Bel-Air sale by a wide margin.

Sailing aboard the Californian is a throwback to the era of tall ships and re-creates what 19th-century travel by sea was like. The Martitime Museum of San Diego offers three sailings to Catalina Island aboard the topsail schooner where participants take turns standing watch, setting sail and learning other on-board skills. (Yes, there's a motor so you won't be stuck in the doldrums.) But it's not all work. There'll be time to relax on board and to go kayaking in the waters off Catalina with guides and gear provided.

SAN MARCOS, Calif. —When paramedics arrived at the Purdy home March 20, Margaret was seated in her favorite chair in the living room. The morning sunshine streamed in through a picture window that overlooked a valley. A plastic bag was over her head, tied securely at the neck. A suicide note in her handwriting was in a folder on her desk, beneath a shelf with books about death and dying. She had written that the pain from her various medical conditions had become unbearable. Alan Purdy met the paramedics at the door.