Sand

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. - They never got close, and Mitt Romney may not have even seen them, but protesters - some from Occupy Wall Street - took political theater to a new level Sunday outside the beachfront estate of billionaire David H. Koch, where the Republican candidate was raising money. Some of the 200 protesters marched down mile-long Coopers Beach toward the home in a cloud of sand, bearing banners and signs: "Your $50,000 ticket equals my child's education," "end corporate personhood" and "don't forget to tip the help.

After the coffee. Before waiting for the sun to come out. The Skinny: I was not in love with HBO's "Girls" when I saw the first three episodes but now I find it pretty amusing. Monday's headlines include the surprising success of "Snow White and the Huntsman" and General Motors' decision to draw a line in the sand on what it will pay for television ads. Daily Dose: AMC has launched its campaign against Dish Network, the satellite operator that said it will stop carrying the cable channel at the end of the month.

First published on May 29, 2011. Revised and expanded in early 2012. Hear that? That dull roar, like the sound from inside a shell? That might be the Orange County coastline calling you -- 42 miles of beach and beach towns, give or take, from San Clemente to Seal Beach. This coastline might lull you with surfers on swells, startle you with circus tricks, charm you with old shacks on priceless real estate, offend you with shiny new buildings on equally priceless real estate, or tempt you with $3 corn dogs and $500-a-night hotel rooms.

Over the last 23 years Sheldon Adelson has built Las Vegas Sands Corp. into the world's largest casino company — bigger than the next 10 competitors combined. He's done it without having a single one of his 40,000 workers in Las Vegas, Asia and Bethlehem, Pa., join a labor union. Now a band of security guards making $13 an hour may be on the verge of ending the world's 14th-richest person's winning streak. The National Labor Relations Board has ordered Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem to begin bargaining with its 130 security guards as a labor union.

One day you're bursting with potential, the next you're what? Jerry Sands was supposed to be the Dodgers' next great position player, a big outfielder who earned the organization's Minor League Player of the Year award in 2010. He was called up earlier than expected in April last season, struggled (.200, .294 and .328 on-base and slugging percentages) and by June was sent back down. He showed more promise during a call-up in September (.342, .415, .493), though by then he had been surpassed by Dee Gordon as the top position prospect.

It's a news and notes kinda Tuesday … -- Jerry Sands was the one to go with Matt Kemp being activated. He was optioned back to triple-A Albuquerque. Sands was the system's minor league player of the year in 2010, but has struggled to take the next step. He went four for 20 during this call-up, with a pair of doubles. The Dodgers kept Scott Van Slyke, the minor league player of the year in 2011, who was called up before Sands. Van Slyke had a memorable game-winning homer, but is hitting just .136 (three for 22)

Second in a series on minor league call-ups who have helped fuel the Dodgers' early-season surge. Students have long pegged substitute teachers for saps, powerless figureheads who reign with kid gloves rather than an iron fist. A "sub" means "fun," the tradition goes. Well aware of this perception, Jerry Sands lays out the ground rules before they try to walk all over him. "Hey guys, I might look old, but I was here a few years ago," the 24-year-old will tell students when he fills in as a substitute teacher near his hometown in Smithfield, N.C. "I know a lot of the tricks, so don't even try them.

Want to go to the No. 1 beach in America this Memorial Day weekend ? It's closer than you think. Coronado Beach in Coronado, Calif., snagged the top spot in Dr. Beach's Top 10 List 2012 . It's the first time any California beach has taken top honors since the list began in 1991. The beach doc who makes the annual pronouncements is really Stephen Leatherman, director of Florida International University's Laboratory for Coastal Research. "The beach is popular for swimmers, surfers, sunbathers and beachcombers," Leatherman writes about the San Diego-area spot.

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.

On the tip of Balboa Peninsula, where multimillion-dollar homes sit snug against the sand and the legendary waves draw crowds of bodysurfers, an unlikely battle is taking shape. At the center are the lawns, lounge chairs, hedges and playground equipment - even a rusty metal shark sculpture - that for years have sprawled out from oceanfront homes onto the public sand. It's all illegal, says the state of California, which has ordered homeowners along some of Orange County's most coveted coastline to rip out the landscaping, sprinklers and all the other upgrades that have crept steadily seaward.