Surprise

WASHINGTON - During last week's Supreme Court arguments on gay marriage, Justice Antonin Scalia asserted that "there's considerable disagreement" among experts over whether "raising a child in a single-sex family is harmful or not. " Two other justices agreed that gay parenting was a new and uncertain development. Those comments startled child development experts as well as advocates of gay marriage, because there is considerable research showing children of gay parents do not have more problems than others.

As the latest installment of AMC's zombie apocalypse, "The Walking Dead," airs on a recent Sunday night, Chris Hardwick calmly sits in a slightly tacky living room set in a small studio at CBS Television City. He silently reviews his notes on his iPhone and strategically positions his interview cards as the crew bustles around him and a (human) audience waits quietly in nearby bleachers. The episode ends with a major character in dire straits - Andrea (Laurie Holden) is shackled and bound in a torture chamber devised by her ex-lover, the evil Governor (David Morrissey)

The world's most powerful radio telescope helped show that the universe's star-forming engines were revved up far earlier than once believed - before it was even fully built. That same telescope in the Chilean desert may soon also help scientists understand the detailed structure of dark matter in the universe. Researchers who discovered the early abundance of what are known as starburst galaxies, described earlier this month in Nature, will be chatting about their findings at a Kavli Foundation Google hangout at 12 p.m. Pacific time Friday in the window above. (Ask questions via Twitter #KavliAstro or by emailing info@kavlifoundation.org .)

WASHINGTON -- American consumers are showing remarkable resilience. Despite the weight of higher payroll taxes and pump prices, consumer spending rose a surprisingly strong 0.3% in February from the prior month, after adjusting for inflation, the Commerce Department said Friday. That prompted a number of economists to boost their forecast sharply for personal spending and economic growth for the first quarter. Moreover, a major indicator of consumer confidence edged up in March to its highest level since November, confounding analysts' projections that the University of Michigan survey would slip as consumers also took in the news of the new government spending cuts under sequestration.

The Miami Heat lost to the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday, marking the end of their 27-game win streak. That means the Lakers still hold the record for the most consecutive wins for a major U.S. professional team after winning 33 games in a row over more than two months during the 1971-72 season. Laker great Jerry West, who was a guard on that team, told ESPN on Wednesday that he thought the Heat were going to surpass the Lakers' record. "I really thought they were going to do it," West told the website.

Justice Scalia lays a gay marriage trap for Ted Olson. There was a silly fertility joke about Strom Thurmond , but Scalia Watchers hoping to see the famously acid-tongued justice in action were out of luck Tuesday. The irascible U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who has been outspoken (some think inappropriately so ) on the issue of gay marriage, was pretty tame in his comments and questions during arguments about California's gay marriage ban. FULL COVERAGE: Same-sex marriage ban It's pretty clear Scalia does not find any protection for gays and gay marriage in the country's essential document.  But there was one exchange with Ted Olson, the conservative attorney who has spent the last few years fighting for gay civil rights, that had me scratching my head.

You could say that Carpenter Elementary in Studio City owes its survival to students from other neighborhoods. A generation ago, their presence kept the campus from being shut down, after local families fled to private schools to avoid Los Angeles Unified's mandatory busing program. By the time busing ended in 1981, fewer than 50 of Carpenter's 450 students were children from the neighborhood. Former Principal Joan Marks spent years going door-to-door, luring locals back with the promise of a school they could be proud of. Today Carpenter Community Charter has almost 1,000 students.

Dwight Howard made a surprise visit to LAX on Thursday, working the check-in counter at Delta Air Lines and taking boarding passes at a gate. The Lakers center made all the boarding announcements for Flight 1553 to Honolulu.  He also ran a trivia contest as he and a trio of Laker Girls gave out memorabilia as prizes. "I am part of Delta, the team. They are the official airline for the Laker Girls and the Lakers," said Howard. "This is a great experience for me to come out and enjoy L.A. " But what's his future with Delta in July?

SAN FRANCISCO -- In a surprise shake-up, Google has put Sundar Pichai in charge of its Android division, replacing Andy Rubin, who guided the mobile software to become the world's most popular over Apple. "Going forward, Sundar Pichai will lead Android, in addition to his existing work with Chrome and Apps. Sundar has a talent for creating products that are technically excellent yet easy to use -- and he loves a big bet," Chief Executive Officer Larry Page wrote in a blog post Wednesday.

WASHINGTON -- Consumer spending grew at a surprisingly strong pace last month, another encouraging sign that the economy may be gaining momentum despite the hit from higher taxes and gas prices and fears of government spending cuts. Retail sales rose 1.1% in February from the prior month, seasonally adjusted, thanks in large part to robust gains for cars and building materials and at Internet stores, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. The overall sales rate increase was the biggest in five months and about double what many analysts had forecast.