Sis

Federal regulators said today that they have filed suit to recover $24 million from the Wall Street brokerage firm of Kidder Peabody & Co. and a California-based investment group over activities related to the failure of a savings and loan association. The civil complaint of the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corp., filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, alleges that the insolvency of Seapointe Savings and Loan in Carlsbad, Calif., was the result of the defendants' violation of laws and regulations governing trading by S&Ls in securities, futures and commodity options, as well as breaches of fiduciary duty.

Jamie Lynn Spears is engaged, and big sis Britney Spears is thrilled. "So excited and happy for my sister, congrats @jamielynnspears - love you," Britney tweeted out Monday morning. Her tweet was in reaction to a couple of Instagram posts from the younger Spears on Sunday, when she shared the fact that boyfriend Jamie Watson had popped the question. "Guesssss what??????" Jamie Lynn wrote to caption an all-smiles shot of herself flaunting a new ring on that finger, with 30-year-old Watson at her side.  Posting a brilliantly clear picture of a brilliant and big rock, the 21-year-old wrote on the second shot, "#hedidgood.

Federal regulators are seeking $24 million in damages from the investment firm of Kidder, Peabody & Co. and from a now defunct Riverside County firm in connection with the May, 1986, failure of a San Diego County savings and loan. The Federal Savings & Loan Insurance Corp., which insures the nation's thrifts, said in a lawsuit that Kidder Peabody and the Riverside County investment adviser failed to properly perform their responsibilities when they allowed Carlsbad-based Seapointe Savings & Loan Assn.

I always thought of myself as the good daughter, the one who would cheerfully pitch in to care for Mom or Dad if their health began to fail. In reality, I wasn't so selfless. Yes, I stepped in to help when dementia began to wither my mom's intellect and spirit, but no one would have described me as cheerful. Her disease cast a pall over my life: I was stressed, depressed, despondent. And I desperately wanted my big sister ? seven years older and my only sibling ? to share my pain and to help me. My situation wasn't unusual: Many caregivers feel that their siblings aren't doing their fair share.

Matthew Bogaard (letter, Sept. 12) states that we miss the big picture about the LAPD's Special Investigations Section. He uses a paragraph to write about their budget, which is not what people complain about. It is the shooting deaths that SIS has been involved in. Some of these deaths have had questionable overtones. Recently, an innocent bystander was wounded in one of these shootings. ARTHUR P. NELSON JR. North Hills

As a retired Los Angeles policeman who has "been there," I would like to comment on The Times "LAPD's Secretive SIS Unit: Citizens Terrorized as Police Look On" (Part I, Sept. 25). The Special Investigations Section of the Los Angeles Police Department was formed in 1965 in response to decisions handed down by courts limiting "probable cause" in arrests and the seizure of admissible evidence. With the limiting of police power to arrest and search, the LAPD, like all other departments, was looking for an answer to the problem of lost cases due to the premature arrest of suspected criminals.

Brody Jenner is joining "Keeping Up With the Kardashians. " The son of Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner, patriarch of the Kardashian/Jenner clan, will be joining the E! series' season along with brother Brandon Jenner and his wife, Leah, according to stepsister Khloe Kardashian. "I'm always excited for each new season of Keeping Up with the Kardashians," Kardashian wrote on her blog Monday. "But I'm especially excited for this upcoming season because you're going to be seeing a lot more of the Kardashian/Jenner clan!

The Special Investigations Section of the Los Angeles Police Department is a secretive, 20-man surveillance unit that targets suspected felons and attempts to gather enough evidence to arrest them. An investigation by The Times in 1988 documented numerous instances in which SIS detectives ignored lesser crimes and other opportunities to arrest the suspected felons they were assigned to shadow.

In "Cloud Over Police Unit" (editorial, Sept. 7), we once again miss the big picture about the LAPD's Special Investigations Section. The most recent statistics show us that a very small percentage of our population commits a great majority of the crime. SIS tracks and investigates the most dangerous, most elusive, most violent criminals--career criminals in the truest sense of the word. The operating budget of the SIS is $2 million. Too high, you say? What about all the crimes and ensuing investigations, the victimization, the damage and loss of property, the tears, the broken families, the broken hearts, the dead police officers and the violence that these criminals cost you and me and our families?

We want to express our admiration and gratitude to the men and women of the Los Angeles Police Department. On Feb. 25, Special Investigations Section officers were involved in a shooting in front of our home while attempting to apprehend four armed robbery suspects. Three of the suspects were killed and our home was hit by two rounds fired by officers. In the hours that followed, the officers and investigators displayed the deepest concern for the safety and well-being of our family and neighbors.

The Florida Marlins are creating an all-male plus-size cheerleading squad to be dubbed the Manatees. Tryouts are scheduled today. The team hopes to recruit seven to 10 tubby-yet-graceful men to dance, cheer and jiggle during Friday and Saturday home games this season. Men selected for the Manatees won't be paid. They will get tickets to games they perform at -- and the honor of dancing.

If you're in Alhambra and ask Shawn Chen what his job is, the 46-year-old Chinese American will probably tell you he runs a 60-room Best Western next to a drugstore and a burger stand on Main Street. But if you pose the same question standing here in China's central Henan province, Chen will say he's building one of this nation's fastest-growing universities on about 400 acres -- almost twice the size of the main USC campus.

The Mary Jane is all grown up. The classically sweet shoe, named after Buster Brown's sister in the popular 1902 comic strip, has gotten a sexy makeover. The toes have gone from prim and round to sexy and pointed, and the heels have grown from low and square to high and spiked. Some of the best new Mary Janes are coming from the likes of Chanel, Manolo Blahnik and Christian Louboutin. So, of course, that means the shoe that you wore in toddlerhood is now deep into three-figure territory.

Tough Tiz's Sis, a filly who began her career with a pair of losses at Hawthorne late last fall, is now a graded stakes winner. Successful for the third time in five starts since joining the barn of Bob Baffert after being privately purchased, the daughter of Tiznow defeated 9-10 favorite Silver Swallow and three others to take the Grade II $126,400 Hollywood Breeders' Cup Oaks on Sunday at Hollywood Park.

Researchers who wanted to find out why it is not only taboo to kiss your sister, but also disgusting, said last week they have discovered why in a find that challenges some basic tenets of Freudian theory. The instinct evolved naturally and cannot be taught, John Tooby and Leda Cosmides of UC Santa Barbara wrote in their report in the journal Nature. They tested 600 volunteers, asking them all sorts of questions jumbled together so they would not know what was being studied.

Kim Fernandez was at her desk when the phone rang with the news that her oldest daughter had been hurt during cheerleading practice. "I just remember hearing the words 'lots of blood,' " Fernandez said. "Becky caught an elbow in the nose. It was broken in five pieces, and she ended up having surgery." Such injuries have become more common in cheerleading, a world that has changed vastly from the days when all one had to do was be perky, peppy and fill out a sweater.

Beauty video blogs have been gaining in popularity. Which are the best to watch? The 10 here have topped YouTube charts in the beauty category in 2012, with the most number of views as of mid-December. The star vloggers (video bloggers) range from Los Angeles YouTube veteran Blair Fowler to a nameless Russian woman dubbed "4Oxygene" to rising personalities Venus Palermo of Britain and Anastasiya Shpagina of the Ukraine, who make themselves up daily to resemble dolls. Two clear trends emerge from the pack: The continuing popularity of braided hairstyles and a new enthusiasm for "living doll" makeup tutorials.

A monster, Jorge Luis Borges says in "The Book of Imaginary Beings," is "nothing but a combination of elements taken from real creatures, and the combinatory possibilities border on the infinite." The lamia, the centaur, the Hydra, the Minotaur -- all taking attributes from two or more creatures -- are here in this rich little bestiary, as well as lesser-known cousins, such as the ichthyocentaur, which lives undersea, and the hippogriff, mingling the lion-eagle of the gryphon with the horse.

Crowds lined up outside the doors Tuesday for the grand opening of Gesine's Confectionary in Montpelier, Vt., where "Miss Congeniality" star Sandra Bullock was working the front counter. The baked goods sold nearly as fast as Bullock's sister, store owner Gesine Prado, could churn them out in the kitchen in the back of the renovated shop. "These are my sister's macaroons," said Bullock, wearing a white apron as she knelt next to two young children and handed out the brightly wrapped confections.