Vice

Often considered the most popular entertainer of the 20th century--his extravagant performances set still-unchallenged attendance records--Liberace (dubbed "Mr. Showman" in tribute to his flashy theatricality) sued a London columnist in 1956 for implying he was gay. He won.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Bagpipes wailed, law enforcement badges were striped in black, and a squadron of state police helicopters flew by as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and hundreds of officers from around the country paid their respects Wednesday to Sean Collier, one of their own. At an outdoor memorial service for the 27-year-old campus police officer, Vice President Joe Biden called the brothers accused of killing Collier and detonating the...

Michele and Russell Poland's credit was shot, but they managed to buy their suburban dream home anyway. After a business bankruptcy and a home foreclosure, they turned to a rare option in this era of tightfisted banking - a subprime loan. The Polands paid nearly $10,000 in upfront fees for the privilege of securing a mortgage at 10.9% interest. And they had to raid their retirement account for a 35% down payment. Most borrowers would balk at such stiff terms. But with prices rising, the Polands wanted to snag a four-bedroom home in Temecula near top-rated schools for their 5-year-old son. By later this year, they figure, they'll be able to refinance into a standard loan.

The leadership of the Los Angeles teachers union is roiled over whether its officials made a private deal with a Board of Education candidate whom critics view as an ally of anti-labor forces. The dispute centers on an alleged understanding worked out between candidate Antonio Sanchez and Gregg Solkovits, a union vice president. According to people with knowledge of the matter, Solkovits has said that Sanchez, if he wins, would let United Teachers Los Angeles choose his chief of staff.

Nearly a full year after its executive suite was emptied to save money, a revived Eagle Computer Inc. has replenished its management ranks with the appointment of five vice presidents. Richard Sergo, a consultant who negotiated Garden Grove-based Eagle's new manufacturing agreement with a Korean electronics company, was hired as executive vice president and chief operating officer.

In another organizational shake-up at the Irvine Co., Thomas H. Nielsen was stripped of the title of president, three months after losing most of his day-to-day administrative authority. Irvine Co. Chairman and majority shareholder Donald Bren said Tuesday that the Newport Beach land development company has eliminated the position of corporate president, which Nielsen held since 1983. Bren also said that in the latest reorganization approved Monday by the Irvine Co.

Phillip L. Williams, a retired senior executive for Times Mirror Co. who served on its board of directors from 1985 until his retirement in 1993, died Nov. 18 at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica after suffering a heart attack, his family said. The longtime Pacific Palisades resident was 90. Williams joined the parent company of The Times as a vice president in 1969 and held a variety of executive positions, among them senior vice president for newspapers and television, group vice president, vice president for finance, and vice president for corporate programs.

James Taylor has been promoted to vice president of landscape architecture at the Lightfoot Planning Group.

Robert Bersi has a vision. "I've always wanted to spend 10 years at a place where the results would be just startling," he says. "I see that here . " The " here " is California State University, Long Beach, where Bersi assumed duties last week as the university's new vice president of development, a post that had been vacant for more than a year.

Lee N. Rosenbaum has been named senior vice president-business affairs for Columbia Pictures, Burbank. He previously was vice president-business affairs.

Gary Sacks , the Clippers' vice president of basketball operations, wanted to put an end to speculation about Coach Vinny Del Negro's future. Sacks said that the organization supports Del Negro and that officials are happy with how the team has played. "Our head coach and his staff have done a terrific job here," Sacks told The Times on Monday night. "They deserve a huge amount of credit for the way the team has played and the way our roster has developed. " Del Negro is in the final year of his contract, leading to speculation that his future with the Clippers is uncertain.

BALTIMORE - The good staffers of Vice President Selina Meyer's office had been trying to put out a fire all afternoon when their slightly discombobulated leader, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, turned up on the set of HBO's "Veep. " Before she stepped into character, however, Louis-Dreyfus had a question. "Did you talk to the actors about the script changes?" she said to the show's creator and all-around head coach, Armando Iannucci, as he sat behind a monitor watching takes. He nodded.

If you are under 30, male and interested in sex, drugs or anything paired with the word "extreme," you are likely to be familiar with Vice - the magazine, proprietary websites, YouTube channel, ad agency, record label and now TV show. "Vice," which premieres Friday on HBO, is a half-hour, globe-trotting news program from the Brooklyn-based, multi-platform media company of the same name (35 offices in 18 countries). The company has been attacked - "chided" might be a better word - for the way its content is tailored for and sometimes by the companies that sponsor it. The HBO show became controversial, to overstate the case, when a trip to North Korea on the back of three Harlem Globetrotters and Dennis Rodman was seen as unfortunate or incompetent, given Rodman's flattering comments to Kim-Jong Un, just before the Young Leader went war crazy.

After the coffee. Before seeing if I can get Jay-Z as my agent. The Skinny: The video obtained by  ESPN  showing Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice abusing his players is tough to watch. But if you see it, look for an assistant handing Rice another basketball after he hurls the one in his hand at one of his players. Wonder what that job pays. Wednesday's stories include a look at Vice Media, Jimmy Fallon is getting a new deal and Jay-Z wants to play Jerry Maguire.

Big and beefy with a scraggly beard, Shane Smith looks more like an aging roadie than a thrill-seeking foreign correspondent or a budding media mogul. But Smith is both those things. Vice Media Group, the company Smith co-founded and is chief executive of, has gone from a single magazine aimed at tattooed teeny-boppers to a media empire with more than 30 offices around the globe, a large digital presence, a record label, an advertising agency and a book publisher. The closely held Vice is projected to hit nearly $200 million in revenue this year and has a valuation approaching $1 billion, according to people close to the company.

Despite the initial shock over alt-film provocateur Harmony Korine teaming up with squeaky-clean teen actresses Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Benson in "Spring Breakers," their collaboration makes some sense: Korine gets to channel and tweak the trio's mainstream celebrity, and the actresses get a chance to play edgy without hopefully tarnishing their reputations. The resulting film, which tells the story of a group of college girls who turn to robbery to fund their spring break revelry, is garnering mixed to positive reviews.

Marvin Freedland has been named vice president/counsel in the legal division at Great American Bank.

My father always told me to beware a man with no regrets. Even a life lived wisely with the best intentions, he said, is inevitably pocked with mistakes and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. Dick Cheney is a man with no regrets. When the Showtime documentary "The World According to Dick Cheney" had its premiere at this year's Sundance Film Festival, many expressed disappointment that director R.J. Cutler, an Oscar-nominated documentarian whose films include "The War Room" and "A Perfect Candidate," did not take a harder line or produce more damning evidence of the former vice president's role in various national scandals.

First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck were among a high-powered roster of public figures whose personal and financial information was posted on the Internet. The data, which include purported home addresses, Social Security numbers, phone numbers and credit reports, appeared on a website that seemed to originate in Russia. The Secret Service and the FBI said Tuesday that they were opening investigations, and President Obama confirmed the apparent breach.