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By Kari Howard This week, I came across a website called Six Word Stories . The website, its creators say, was inspired by a bet from Ernest Hemingway's pals that he couldn't write a story in six words. So I thought I'd do six-word versions of this week's five Great Reads. (No, I'm not giving Hemingway's story until afterward. It would be like having the Beatles as your opening band.) “She was done with hate. Freedom.” “Papa. Mama. Why did they leave?” “The big break, with $10 water.” “Pi are squared?

WASHINGTON - Reining back the aggressive counter-terrorism strategy he has embraced for five years, President Obama declared clear, public restrictions for the first time on using unmanned aircraft to kill terrorists, a shift likely to significantly reduce U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan and elsewhere. Obama also lifted a ban on sending scores of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, back to their home countries and renewed his call to move the remaining detainees onto U.S. soil for imprisonment and possible trial in civilian or military courts.

The Los Angeles City Council on Thursday signed off on Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's final $7.7-billion budget, setting the stage, as several members acknowledged, for many city workers to get a 5.5% raise in eight months. Council members did not vote to send city departments the money needed to cover the increase, leaving that decision for sometime between now and Jan. 1, when the raise is scheduled to go into effect. For now, money for the pay hike is sitting in a fund for "economic uncertainties.

Big Bear is combining the sweet cool of its mountain lake with the exploding popularity of stand-up paddleboarding, or SUPs, in a series of distance races and sprints June 29. Entrance fees start at $35 for the annual Big Bear PaddleFest at the Meadow Park swim beach. Races, which also feature kayaks and canoes, include 5K, 10K, 20K, downwind, sprints and relays. To register, go to the Paddlefest registration site . Races begin with a 20K SUP event at 6 a.m. and continue with various sprints and relay races until late afternoon.

This post has been updated, as indicated below. The races for mayor and other top city offices so underwhelmed Angelenos, fewer than one-fifth of registered voters bothered to cast ballots. So, why don't we have another election in a couple of months? Say, July 23? I'm not kidding. Because no candidate for the 6th Council District seat earned more than 50% of the votes Tuesday , residents in the district will have to trudge back to the polls for the fourth time in nine months to choose a replacement for former Councilman Tony Cardenas.

Respiratory therapists, nursing aides, surgical technicians and other patient care workers plan to stage a walkout starting Tuesday morning at five University of California medical centers. More than 12,000 workers from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees are expected to participate in the two-day strike over staffing, pay and pension reform, union officials said. An additional 3,400 workers from the University Professional and Technical Employees union plan a one-day sympathy strike.

A record-setting Burmese python nearly 19 feet in length was captured and killed in a rural part of Miami-Dade County, officials announced this week. Measuring 18 feet 8 inches, it is the longest Burmese python that has ever been found in the area. The snake was discovered by Jason Leon, 23, a marine biology student at Florida International University. Leon was riding all terrain vehicles with friends in Florida City, about 35 miles south of Miami, when he spotted 3 feet of the python poking out of the brush, the Sun Sentinel reports . Having kept Burmese pythons as pets, Leon knew to grab it from behind the head when he tried to pull it out. That's when the snake started to wrap its lengthy body around Leon's.

WASHINGTON - Apple Inc., one of the most successful and valuable companies on the planet, will be tested Tuesday when Chief Executive Tim Cook testifies about the company's controversial tax practices before a hostile Senate subcommittee. Should the company, as Apple and Cook argue, be applauded for creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and paying $6 billion in federal taxes last year, among the most of any U.S. corporation? Or should Apple be reviled for stashing a hoard of cash overseas so it could legally skirt an additional $15 billion in taxes over four years, making it potentially one of the country's biggest tax avoiders?

Spending in the hotly contested two-year race for Los Angeles mayor exceeded $33 million on Saturday, breaking previous records as unlimited outside money continued to play a dominant role in Tuesday's contest. Candidate super PACs and so-called "independent expenditure" donors, which do not have to abide by the city's campaign contribution limits, provided 41% of the $25.6-million total raised just for candidates Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti since the contest began in March 2011, according to campaign reports.

Not all playoff victories are created equal. Nor are losses. But the way the Kings won Game 2 could loom large over this Western Conference semifinal series, with Game 3 on Saturday night at San Jose. The Sharks had rallied from a two-goal deficit and were carrying a lead into the final two minutes of play Thursday night at Staples Center. Normally, if a team scores three times against Kings goalie Jonathan Quick, that is enough to win, a point on which both coaches agreed. "First off, if you score three goals you should win in the playoffs," Kings Coach Darryl Sutter said.