Trouble

Los Angeles County supervisors met behind closed doors Tuesday to consider terminating their decades-long relationship with Teens Happy Homes, a private foster care provider found by officials to have repeatedly misused funds and placed children in homes where they were abused. "The contractor should lose any contract it has," Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich said in an interview Tuesday. "They are an irresponsible, unsafe provider. We'll discuss it in executive session. " No action was announced publicly after the session, but one source familiar with the discussion said Department of Children and Family Services Director Philip Browning was instructed to prepare options to correct the problems.

A federal foreclosure-prevention effort that earmarked nearly $2 billion in taxpayer money to help troubled California homeowners has delivered only about one-sixth of that money in three years. But officials from the Keep Your Home California program say the pace of payouts is finally set to increase. That's because more banks, including the largest mortgage servicers, have agreed to use the funds to slash the loan principal amounts for certain borrowers. Until now, many borrowers seeking aid from the program have been frustrated.

Marcus Bell knows how important Los Angeles County courts are for at-risk youths. Bell, a gang intervention and prevention worker in South Los Angeles, has worked hard with young people, trying to get them not to run from police. He has worked to get them to deal with their legal issues responsibly instead of avoiding court appearances so they don't end up with warrants issued against them at a young age. On Saturday, Bell said he worries about the Los Angeles County Superior Court's cost-cutting plan that includes closing Kenyon Juvenile Justice Center in South L.A. In the coming months, the juvenile court will be one of eight regional courthouses closing as the court system struggles to close an $85-million budget shortfall by July 1, the beginning of the next fiscal year.

Times are tough for KCET-TV. The former PBS outlet announced Friday that it would lay off 22 employees, or nearly one-fifth of its staff, as it completes a merger with the Bay Area satellite provider Link Media. Now called KCETLink, the Burbank-based nonprofit entity is scrambling to reposition itself as a "transmedia" company that provides content to mobile devices and other platforms as well as televisions. The company has hired a well known PR firm, Rogers & Cowan, to help manage its image during the transition.  PHOTOS: Hollywood Backlot moments The harsh belt-tightening has been dictated by poor financial results.

All the playoff combinations and permutations can be reduced to one statement: If the Lakers beat Houston on Wednesday, they finish seventh in the Western Conference. "I know my math," Pau Gasol said Tuesday. It makes total sense, given the way the Lakers' season has tumbled and unfolded, lurched and lolled, only to flip upward in the final week. The Lakers, winners of four consecutive games, want to beat Houston for numerous reasons. Momentum, obviously, could be carried into the postseason, but the Lakers would also match up better against San Antonio than top-seeded Oklahoma City in the first round.

Now here's a problem the Dodgers never saw coming. An uncomfortable standoff with left-hander Ted Lilly. Lilly is on the 15-day disabled list and says he's ready to pitch. The Dodgers think otherwise, or so they say. They want him to make another rehab start, and possibly two. Lilly has already made a pair of rehab starts, throwing 90 pitches in his last one, and doesn't see the need to make more. And as is his right, has refused another rehab assignment. So now what? At one point the Dodgers had three extra, veteran starters.

Pluses Dallas Coach Glen Gulutzan is keeping the Stars in playoff contention in the West - and might have saved his job - with wins over the Ducks, Kings, San Jose Sharks (twice) and Nashville Predators. They're younger and grittier since they traded Brenden Morrow, Derek Roy and Jaromir Jagr and they've banded together. Player to watch: right wing Alex Chiasson, who has six goals and seven points in six games since his post-trade deadline promotion. The New York Islanders' impressive push has them in position to earn their first playoff berth since 2007.

After a federal judge ruled last week that the city of Stockton can reduce its debt through bankruptcy, observers began to frame the battle as one of municipal bondholders against public employees. But it's hard to shed tears for either of them. During the boom years, Stockton promised its future public-sector retirees free lifetime medical coverage. It also adopted rules allowing workers to spike their pensions by letting them include overtime and other payments from their final work year to calculate retirement pay. The city also issued far too many bonds.

SHANGHAI - Gov. Jerry Brown's trade mission to China this week is intersecting with one of the most controversial issues of his governorship: California's $68-billion bullet train. The governor has staked part of his legacy on the rail network, a centerpiece of his vision for California. He is hoping that China, which is enjoying an economic boom and spent $77.6 billion on overseas investments last year, according to official figures, will pump some of its cash into the troubled project.

Conditions have gotten so bad at a New Orleans prison that city officials have asked a judge to appoint a replacement for the sheriff in charge, according to a federal court filing. For years, the Orleans Parish Prison has been criticized by the U.S. Department of Justice as being so dangerous and poorly run that the facility violates inmates' constitutional rights. Those complaints exploded into national view last week as a prison video presented during testimony for a class-action lawsuit showed inmates doing drugs, fiddling with a gun while in a cell and roaming free on the streets in 2009.