States

Wendy Greuel called on Eric Garcetti on Friday night to stop all negative advertising in the last 11 days of the Los Angeles mayor's race, a challenge that her rival dismissed as "disingenuous" for a candidate whose campaign is effectively "bankrupt. " "OK, my campaign consultants are probably not going to like this, but I say no more negative ads," Greuel told Garcetti in a debate aired live on KABC-TV (Channel 7). Garcetti said he had already endured "eight weeks of pummeling" by Greuel, including an accusation that he was "causing cancer for children" with a lease of oil drilling rights beneath his family's property in Beverly Hills.

Chicago entrepreneurs Jason Lucash and Mike Szymczak managed to launch a line of audio products during the recession. Their folding cardboard speakers made Time magazine's 2009 list of best inventions. National television exposure on the "Today" show and "Shark Tank" soon followed. Then they did something really surprising. They moved to California. The knock on the Golden State is that costs are too high, regulations too plentiful and the attitude toward business is generally unfriendly.

One of the brothers behind the 1-800-GET-THIN ad campaign for weight-loss surgery faces the possible revocation of his medical license in a misconduct case filed by state regulators. The Medical Board of California accused Michael Omidi of "repeated acts of negligence" in treating two women, one who sought corrective breast surgery and a second who sought weight-loss surgery. The board alleged that Omidi provided "substandard care" in the treatment of the first woman and that his staff gave "inaccurate or misleading information" about the second woman's health, saying she had sleep apnea even though she had not been previously diagnosed with the disorder.

WASHINGTON - Email traffic exchanged during the drafting of talking points about the deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, last year shows that the State Department and White House were more involved in shaping the document than they previously let on. The newly released emails highlight the political concerns expressed in those discussions as President Obama's administration wrestled with what to tell the public in...

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center improved slightly from an F to a D in a national hospital safety report released Wednesday, while Cedars-Sinai Medical Center stayed at a C grade. Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit healthcare quality organization, based the scores on an analysis of infections, injuries, medication errors and other problems that cause patient harm or death. The organization publicizes the scores in an effort to inform patients and reduce safety problems, said Leah Binder, its president and chief executive.

Hours after Republican members of Congress sharply questioned Hillary Rodham Clinton and the State Department's handling of the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, the former secretary of State did not explicitly mention the controversy in an appearance Wednesday night. But she did reference partisan bickering in the nation's capital as she accepted an award in Beverly Hills. "We truly, still today - despite all of our partisan wrangling, and the gridlock that sometimes seems to take hold - we stand up for the rights and opportunities of all people," Clinton said in a speech that largely focused on U.S. policy toward Asia.

WASHINGTON - The Senate gave strong bipartisan approval to landmark legislation that could largely lead to the end of the nation's decades-long Internet sales tax holiday. Now the issue shifts to the more skeptical, Republican-controlled House, where the debate will revolve around one fundamental question: Does helping governments collect an existing and owed tax constitute a tax increase? The Marketplace Fairness Act, approved 69-27 Monday by the Senate, gives states the authority to require larger online retailers with no physical presence in those states to collect sales taxes that residents already are obligated to pay. Many states, including California, are expected to jump at the chance to start collecting an estimated $23 billion in total sales tax revenue that is lost to online, catalog and other so-called remote sales each year.

California ports are going green. In a speech at the 28th World Ports Conference on Tuesday, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the city's port is at the forefront of pushing for clean energy alternatives and reducing pollution. The conference, which kicked off Tuesday in Los Angeles, attracted port officials from around the world to discuss issues such as climate change, piracy and other problems affecting ships and the ports where they dock. Greening ports was at the top of many minds.

Proposed legislation to remove junk food and sugar-loaded drinks from vending machines at California state office buildings and on government property is intensifying debate about when the battle against obesity becomes a gateway to "nanny state" tactics. Backers of the Assembly bill, AB 459, said California shouldn't condone the sale of fatty snacks and sodas in the workplace when taxpayers are already shelling out vast amounts to cover the healthcare costs of overweight government employees.

Gov. Jerry Brown has made it clear how unhappy he is about having to produce a plan to reduce the inmate population of California's prisons by another 9,000. Under the 2011 realignment law, the state has already lowered the prisoner count by 43,000 by diverting many would-be new prisoners to county jails and many would-be parole violators to county supervision. Besides, the governor has argued, the whole point of the court-imposed population cap - 137.5% of capacity - is to resolve serious problems with inmate medical and mental health care, and hasn't that already been done with an enormous new commitment of resources and treatment?