Surveys

Often film sequels are slam dunks at the box office, a seamless continuation from where a previous hit left off. But as the new installment of the 15-year-old franchise "Men in Black" proves, getting to the big screen isn't always a cakewalk. One of the most troubled productions in recent Hollywood memory, Sony Pictures' latest movie in the Will Smith-Tommy Lee Jones sci-fi-comedy franchise encountered multiple script rewrites, a discontented star and a three-month production shutdown as writers and studio executives scrambled to fix a project that nearly fell apart . By the time it was over, the studio had run up a tab of nearly $250 million - making "Men in Black 3" one of the most expensive releases of the summer.

WASHINGTON - Joan Miró, the great Spanish painter of dreams and symbols, lived through so many harrowing eras of the 20th century that critics believe his masterpieces surely reflect the tensions of political events in one way or another. But Miró's world of art was so special - with stars and moons, biomorphs and delightful dogs and sly monsters and wonderful color - that it has always been difficult to find much politics there. An exhibition that just arrived at the National Gallery of Art - "Joan Miró: The Ladder of Escape" - makes a spirited attempt to find and explore the politics.

Depending on what surveys or rankings you read, Delta Air Lines either is the nation's best domestic carrier or employs the rudest flight attendants and serves the worst food in the industry. While one business travel magazine ranks Los Angeles International Airport as one of the best domestic airports, a survey of regular fliers says it's one of the worst. With the start of the summer travel season, consumer survey companies and travel magazines have released several new rankings of airlines, airports and hotels.

Americans plan to travel in slightly higher numbers this summer, according to surveys, starting with the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. But many will hold the line on spending for items such as hotel stays and entertainment because of high fuel costs and rising airfares. An annual survey by the American Automobile Assn. released Tuesday predicted that 34.8 million Americans will travel by all modes at least 50 miles from home during the holiday weekend, a 1.2% increase over last year.

Osama bin Laden, slain in a U.S. raid Sunday, had been losing support in the Muslim world in recent years, and his terrorist organization, Al Qaeda, had been declining in popularity, according to surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project. The decline came as pro-democracy demonstrations and even, in some cases, revolution swept through the Islamic world. Both trends, the fall in Bin Laden’s standing and the growth of pro-democratic forces, perhaps represent a shift away from the terrorism-based political action of  small, violent groups toward mass movements.

How can relations be improved between City Hall and the business community? What can be done to attract new businesses? How can the city better prepare schoolchildren who will become the work force of the future? The City Council hopes to get answers to these questions through a business survey to be conducted by the San Fernando Chamber of Commerce beginning in September.

In an effort to gauge the transportation priorities of Valley residents before its December summit, the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley will begin widespread distribution of a transit survey, officials said. Results of the 11-question survey, which will be mailed to neighborhood groups, churches, businesses and individual households, will be announced Dec. 8 at the alliance's Valley Transit Summit II, said David Fleming, the group's chairman. "This has never been done before.

A group of residents is criticizing a recent survey about city mobile home parks, contending the study failed to adequately represent opinions about rising rents. The survey, presented this week to the City Council, is aimed at giving the Mobile Home Advisory Committee direction on meeting the needs of about 5,000 mobile home residents. "The survey didn't reach the older population and reflect their views," said Steve Gullage, president of the Huntington Beach Mobilehome Owners Assn.

A survey conducted by the Newport Beach-based Marketing Institute has found that few county businesses have a clear vision of the future or strategies to succeed in a rapidly changing global financial environment. The survey released Wednesday found that while 92% of respondents think innovation is very important, most said their company has no structure in place to encourage it.

Don't be surprised if you get a call inquiring about city services in the coming weeks. In an effort to help next year's budgetary process, the city will survey residents about city services. The City Council on Tuesday approved spending about $24,300 to hire Hawkins Advertising of Newport Beach to conduct the survey. Under the program, residents will be asked which services they want, what levels they need and how they should be funded.

Although the technology is just in its infancy, 1 in 5 drivers expresses interest in cars that drive themselves, reports research firm J.D. Power and Associates. Tech giant Google Inc., Caltech and other organizations have been working to develop such "autonomous" vehicles, which use radar, video cameras and lasers to navigate roads and stay safe in traffic without human assistance. Google has said that computer-controlled cars should eventually drive more safely than humans, who, after all, get sleepy and distracted and can't see in every direction at once.

This post has been updated, as indicated below. A recent telephone poll by the Wall Street Journal and NBC News asked voters to rank President Obama and his presumptive GOP opponent, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, on a number of personal factors, such as likability and concern for the middle class. The findings showed that voters favored Obama on far more of the factors than Romney, although a large percentage of the voters were undecided. The poll was probably done in a statistically defensible fashion, but the questions it posed seemed to leave too much open to interpretation.

WASHINGTON -- With the future of the healthcare law emerging as a major campaign issue this fall, a new survey has found that more than a quarter of adults ages 19 to 64 in the United States lacked health insurance for at least some time in 2011. And the vast majority of those people - nearly 70 percent - had been without coverage for more than a year, according to the study by the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund, a leading authority on health policy. The holes in health insurance were a driving force in President Obama's push for the controversial healthcare overhaul he signed in 2010.

The latest survey on bank satisfaction from  J.D. Power researchers in Westlake Village has new details about how customers think fees stink and also ranks California's best-loved banks. As you might guess, they are not major U.S. financial institutions. In first place for the second year is Raboban k , a Dutch giant that has branched out into many California agricultural centers. Rabobank , a specialist in farm lending (it puts out news releases about nut sales )

Tablets are no longer just for those Pavlovian types who have to have everything first, according to a new study. And yes, it found that iPad is almost everywhere, but Microsoft might just come out of nowhere. Tablet ownership appears to be spreading from the early adopters, with 22% surveyed considered "laggards," those who will try only an established tech product, according to a survey by Javelin Strategy & Research. They are often shared among family members and used for more casual "layback mode" interactions.

Forty percent of surveyed employees at Los Angeles County's troubled child welfare agency improperly received mileage reimbursements from taxpayers on days they did not work, according to a sample of reimbursement reports for 20 employees with high mileage claims examined by the county auditor-controller. Thirteen supervisors responsible for signing off on the reports acknowledged that they routinely did not review them first, the study found. The majority of reviewed reports vastly overstated the distance between travel points, and nearly half the reviewed reimbursement requests lacked basic information.

Teenagers' drug use is leveling off amid growing evidence that America's youth, which once viewed drugs as almost a rite of passage, now views them as uncool, according to the annual survey by the New York-based Partnership for a Drug-Free America. The 12th survey of U.S. teenagers found that 40% of those questioned felt "really cool" teens did not use drugs--an increase of 5 percentage points from last year.

A majority of local voters would support a bond measure to pay for improvements in the Temple City Unified School District's facilities, a recently completed survey has found. According to the survey, commissioned by the district and presented at a board meeting last week, 60% of voters polled said they "definitely" would support a bond measure to fund improvements and 23% said they "probably" would vote for it. The measure would need a two-thirds majority to pass.

Reading habits may be fundamentally changing, but a new survey shows that the printed word remains fundamental. Although many Californians who own Kindles, Nooks and other e-readers love their gadgets, they still prefer books the old-fashioned way - on paper - according to a poll by USC Dornsife and the Los Angeles Times. Even with sales of e-readers surging, only 10% of respondents who have one said they had abandoned traditional books. More than half said most or all of the books they read are in printed form.

With people increasingly banking and shopping online, many are convinced it's just a matter of time before their personal data is stolen, a new survey says. According to mobile security firm Entersekt, 41% of consumers surveyed worry that their online accounts will be breached in the future, while 53% have already fallen victim or know someone who has been targeted for credit card fraud. "Consumers suspect they are playing with fire conducting financial transactions online...comparable to playing Russian roulette," the company said in a statement.