ENTERTAINMENT
October 6, 2012 | By Reed Johnson, Los Angeles Times
Every so often, Chon Noriega wakes up in the middle of the night and thinks, "I agreed to do what ?" Maybe he signed on to teach another UCLA graduate seminar in avant-garde cinema. Or curate an exhibition of new Chicano art. Or write a biography. Or lead a walking tour of East L.A.'s historic murals. Or co-host a segment of TCM's "Race and Hollywood: Latino Images in Film. " Or ... well, you get the drift. Noriega's list of cultural IOU's is long and - insomnia be damned - getting longer.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
August 29, 2012 | By Corina Knoll, Los Angeles Times
For two months Stephanie Aldana's son complained of intense pain in his back and tremors in his legs. Doctors visits revealed nothing. She could do little but try to comfort 10-year-old Isaac as his feet swelled and his mobility deteriorated. Then Isaac lost sensation below his waist and an emergency MRI led to stark news: The fourth-grader had Ewing's sarcoma, a rare cancer that can attack the bones. Aldana and her husband were at a loss. How would they combat a grave illness within a vast medical system that had already proved frustrating and confusing?
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
July 13, 2012 | By Ralph Vartabedian, Los Angeles Times
A new UCLA economic analysis ofJapan'sShinkansen bullet train and its impact on the growth of cities along its route calls into question claims by state officials that California's high-speed rail project will create up to 400,000 permanent jobs. Construction ofJapan'svaunted bullet train began in the mid-1960s, and it did not generate higher economic growth or additional jobs, according to the study. Written by Jerry Nickelsburg, senior economist with the UCLA Anderson Forecast, the study said there may be other justifications for bullet train service between Los Angeles and San Francisco, but the $68-billion project as an engine of economic growth "will have only a marginal impact at best.
HEALTH
April 4, 2012 | By Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times
Just before noon on a December morning in 1988, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake shook over 40% of the territory of Armenia, centered in the northern city of Spitak. The temblor leveled entire towns and cities, killed an estimated 25,000 Armenians - two-thirds of them children trapped and crushed in their crumbling schools - and hastened the dissolution of the Soviet Union, of which Armenia was then a part. But the Spitak disaster was more than a geopolitical milestone. The earthquake was, in the words of one researcher, a "psychiatric calamity" that has yielded a trove of knowledge aboutpost-traumatic stress disorder.
BUSINESS
September 20, 2011 | By Walter Hamilton
The national economy is in "far worse" shape than it was just three months ago, but neither the U.S. nor California is expected to slip back into recession, according to UCLA researchers. The U.S. economy has "stalled," the job market is "horrible," and even a "modest shock" could trigger a full-blown recession, according to a quarterly economic forecast released Tuesday by UCLA's Anderson School of Management. But in a nuance that only an economist could appreciate, a recession is unlikely because the forces that normally spur downturns, such as a falloff in home construction, are already so weak that further deterioration won't do that much additional damage.
BUSINESS
March 10, 2011 | By Alana Semuels, Los Angeles Times
Contrary to claims by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the Lone Star State isn't stealing California's jobs, workers or prosperity, according to a UCLA study. The study, part of UCLA's quarterly forecast Wednesday, tries to put the kibosh on a rivalry between the states. Perry, for instance, has boasted about "hunting trips" to California to recruit companies from the state. Texas is one of many Western states trying to capitalize on the perception that California is a difficult place for business.