Shopping Spree

The Salvation Army's annual Back to School Childspree will send 480 needy children back to school with new clothing, shoes and supplies. The students will travel to local Mervyn's stores Aug. 9 for their shopping spree. Each child will be paired with a volunteer chaperon and receive $75 to shop for back-to-school clothing and shoes, with an additional $75 provided by Mervyn's.

On busy Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, some well-kept facades conceal a secret. Behind the Mediterranean with wooden doors, the white stucco two-story with a red tile roof, the long wall obscuring a three-structure compound, hides a singular, massive wealth fueled by obsession. This is Larry Ellison territory, where a Bay Area billionaire with seemingly endless patience and resources is buying up the best spots along Malibu's 21 miles of coast. PHOTOS: Expensive things Ellison has bought The Oracle Corp.

Jennifer Bundy, 13, is about to go on a shopping spree at the Buenaventura Mall, compliments of the Ventura Police Department. On Friday, the Anacapa Middle School seventh-grader placed first among about 50 entries in a poster contest for the Police Department's annual block party. Her prize: a $125 gift certificate at the mall. "I'm going to spend it on clothes and shoes," Jennifer said shortly after she was named the winner.

Bombay born and Vienna trained, debonair enough to impress Hollywood and with a swashbuckling podium style, Zubin Mehta conducted his first concert as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic 50 years ago. On Nov. 15, 1962, he was 26, the youngest music director in the orchestra's history, but to observers inside the Philharmonic Auditorium, Mehta came off as unshakably self-confident and strikingly capable. In six more years he would make the cover of Time magazine, an extraordinary feat for a conductor of any age. Thursday night, Mehta and the L.A. Phil will celebrate that anniversary by re-creating the program of Mozart, Hindemith and Dvorák that marked the beginning of his 16 seasons with the orchestra.

Sarahi Hernandez, 11, and Nagham "Music" Neshewat, 10, were comparing their gift wish lists outside a Monrovia toy store when Santa Claus showed up. "There he is!" screamed Music. "See, I told you he was going to come in a fire truck. I saw him yesterday." Beaming from a shiny red Monrovia Fire Department engine, Santa waved at 26 children who were gathered in front of the toy store for a magical shopping spree Wednesday.

More than 700 military officers are among 46,000 Defense Department employees who have walked away from $62 million in debt against their government-issued credit cards, and one civilian employee who charged thousands in personal expenses has been promoted to the office that oversees Army finances. Testifying Wednesday before a House panel, Sen. Charles E.

A Winter Wonderland shopping spree for children will be held at Del Obispo Elementary school on Saturday . The sale, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., will specialize in items priced from 25 cents to $7. Santa Claus will attend from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and prizes will be raffled. The school is at the corner of Del Obispo Street and Camino Del Avion.

Police officers will take 20 needy children on a Christmas shopping spree today at the K mart store here. The "Shop with a Cop" project is part of the national Cops 'n' Jocks program, which matches police officers across the country with youths. K mart has donated 20 gift certificates, each worth $25, and at 9 a.m. Santa Paula police officers will push the carts while the children do the shopping. The store is at 895 Faulkner Road, Santa Paula.

Circling 200 miles above Earth, Russian cosmonauts on the Mir space station went on a holiday shopping spree--in Manhattan. Commander Anatoly Solovev and flight engineer Pavel Vinogradov used credit cards and an Internet service to buy gifts, including Barbie dolls, Chicago Bulls sportswear and computers.

Just when South Coast Plaza shop owners were recovering from a company-sponsored spending spree by Isuzu dealers, along came some Yokohama Tire dealers with their own incentive program. Last Saturday, 10 Yokohama dealers hit the shopping mall armed with a special credit card that allowed them to charge up to $10,000 in goods from participating stores at South Coast Plaza, courtesy of Yokohama Tire Corp. in Fullerton, the U.S. distribution arm of Yokohama Rubber Co. of Tokyo.

Andre Johnson has helped the Houston Texans put together what could end up being a very special season. He's the leading receiver on a squad that has already set a franchise record for regular-season wins and is looking like the team to beat in the AFC with the playoffs not far away. Johnson has also helped a bunch of children enjoy a very special holiday season by hosting his annual Toys "R" Us shopping spree Tuesday in Houston. A group of 12 kids selected by Child Protective Services were given 80 seconds to fill their shopping carts with as many items as they could.

  Syrian First Lady Asma Assad, a glamorous, British-born ex-banker once thought to be at the vanguard of change in her adopted land, was hit by European sanctions Friday after embarrassing reports about shopping sprees as her husband's forces were accused of killing civilians. The latest round of European Union sanctions against President Bashar Assad's inner circle came as demonstrators across the country marched to the slogan "Damascus, here we come. " The rallying cry signaled the opposition's intention to take its campaign to oust the president to the Syrian capital, largely insulated from the unrest sweeping the nation.

They may have wanted breakfast at Tiffany's, but Orange County prosecutors say a Garden Grove paralegal and Cypress elementary school teacher stole the money for their spending spree in New York City. The roommates, Alexa Johzen Polar, 34, and Robin Antonella Pabello, 33, both of Garden Grove, are charged with forging a $285,000 check from the law firm where Polar works and using it to charter a private jet. They flew their friends to New York City, rented five rooms at a hotel overlooking Times Square and went on a shopping spree at Tiffany and Co. and Montblanc, authorities said.

In London this fall, art critics piled on the superlatives. In New York this winter, crowds braved the cold to line up outside Paula Cooper Gallery and get a look. Now Angelenos will have their chance to see Christian Marclay's video-art hit "The Clock," which the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has just purchased as part of an annual fundraising and collecting event. Through this event, known as Collectors Committee Weekend, LACMA acquired eight artworks for roughly $2.7 million.

Back-to-school spending is expected to be robust this year as parents replenish their kids' wardrobes and backpacks after two years of weak demand for school gear. Families are tired of cutting back and sending their children to school in last year's styles, according to reports released Thursday by two major retail organizations. The National Retail Federation said the average U.S. family with students in kindergarten through high school will spend $606.40 on clothes, shoes, supplies and electronics, a 10.5% rise from $548.

The Dodgers made two dramatic trades Monday night to bolster their postseason chances, acquiring slugger Jim Thome from the Chicago White Sox and starting pitcher Jon Garland from the Arizona Diamondbacks. The acquisitions came just before the 9 p.m. PDT trade deadline, so both players are eligible to be on the Dodgers' postseason roster if the team makes the playoffs. As Garland sat in the Diamondbacks' dugout at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers announced the deals not long before Arizona beat the Dodgers, 5-3, with two runs in the 10th inning, denying Dodgers starter Randy Wolf his 100th victory.

The shopping free-for-all began early Friday as 30 disadvantaged children gathered outside Mervyn's in Ventura. Each was armed with a $100 gift certificate and about to be set loose in the store to buy a pile of new school clothes. Within an hour, the children had selected the latest in fashion--new jeans, T-shirts, socks and underwear--from the department store, which promotes ChildSpree every year for schoolchildren from low-income families.

Sir Alex Ferguson and his traveling sideshow head for Asia this week, the pilgrimage to parts East intended to serve as both a jersey-selling venture and a way to knock the rust off last season. Only one month remains before Manchester United begins its quest for a fourth consecutive Premier League title and a record 19th English championship overall. Well, good luck with that.

Breaking a bad habit is a little like breaking up with a spouse with whom you have serious differences but also have a child: The old habit will always be part of your life. So you need to find ways to cope. * Eliminate whatever reward or payoff the habit gives.