Vicious Cycle

First of three parts Tiffany Lee wanted a car. She was weary of the two-hour bus ride to her job at a UCLA Health System clinic. She hated having to ask friends to drive her 7-year-old son to his asthma treatments. But as a single mother with three children, bad credit and a $27,000-a-year salary, she couldn't find a bank or dealership willing to give her a loan. Then a friend steered her to Repossess Auto Sales in Hawthorne. Another buyer might have balked at the deal she was offered.

My sisters and I spent the majority of our adolescence as foster kids in Los Angeles County. We entered the system after my parents divorced. My mom, who was both poor and mentally ill, wasn't equipped to be a single parent to six young children. No one told us about the bad odds we faced. Teenage girls living in foster care are 21/2 times more likely than other girls to become pregnant by age 19. Information about sexual development, reproductive health and pregnancy prevention is not readily available, in part because none of the many individuals who interact with youths in foster care has specific responsibility for providing such education.

The toll of a heart attack may be more than just physical. Patients who suffer heart attacks could also suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder -- which could raise the risk of another heart attack, according to a study in the journal PLoS ONE. Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is an anxiety disorder that often develops after a traumatic event involving the threat of injury or death, according to the National Institutes of...

The anti-President Obama documentary "2016: Obama's America," is off to a strong start in its first weekend of national release and could gross more than $6 million between Friday and Sunday, placing it far ahead of the new horror movie "The Apparition" and in a virtual dead heat with the new action comedy "Hit & Run. " Preliminary box office estimates show that "Obama's America," which is based on conservative author  Dinesh D'Souza's book...

Thank goodness the French have no agenda in trying to tear down Lance Armstrong, and that they have never tried to do so before. Because if they had, then I just might be tempted to doubt the veracity of their claims. CHRISTOPHER BATES West Los Angeles

Like many people, filmmaker David Koepp believes most movies are too long. "Premium Rush," a 91-minute look at New York City bicycle messengers, is Koepp's answer to the problem. "I wanted to do something contained, like 'Panic Room,'" said Koepp, who wrote that 2002 Jodie Foster thriller along with the Tobey Maguire "Spider-Man" and "Jurassic Park. " "And I am obsessed with maps, so I wanted to do a movie where a guy has to get from point A to point B in a limited period of time.

Philippine Defense Secretary Rafael Ileto said Friday that the government of President Corazon Aquino is caught in a "vicious cycle" of poverty and war that cannot be broken without the help of private business. "The inescapable fact in our insurgency problem is (that) it is tied to our economy," Ileto said in a speech to a Manila-based association of foreign and Philippine entrepreneurs. "Business must break the cycle simultaneously with our peacekeeping effort.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke delivered a stern warning to Congress on Thursday to address the national debt, saying spiraling government spending could lead to a "vicious cycle" of even bigger federal budget deficits. "The longer we wait, the more severe, the more draconian, the more difficult the objectives are going to be" in responding to the crisis, he said. "The right time to start was about 10 years ago." Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.

On the grimy streets of Bucharest, the first sprouts of capitalism can be seen in the proliferation of shops selling "luxury goods" such as juice and macaroni. In Sofia, the Bulgarian capital that is facing another winter of candlelight and cold, curious strollers often crowd around the few private bars and restaurants to gawk at those rich enough to buy something inside.

The undulating asphalt gave way to a sea of potholes and the bicycle shuddered with each curve and dip. Ahead, the Brooklyn Bridge rose in a long incline toward the camera-ready skyline of Manhattan. But the cinematic quality of the city was lost on an approaching bicyclist, who saw only a tight grid of streets with thin slices of available roadway -- spaces that momentarily widen, then narrow, in the anarchy of Manhattan traffic.

Like many people, filmmaker David Koepp believes most movies are too long. "Premium Rush," a 91-minute look at New York City bicycle messengers, is Koepp's answer to the problem. "I wanted to do something contained, like 'Panic Room,'" said Koepp, who wrote that 2002 Jodie Foster thriller along with the Tobey Maguire "Spider-Man" and "Jurassic Park. " "And I am obsessed with maps, so I wanted to do a movie where a guy has to get from point A to point B in a limited period of time.

Cable news may get the big ratings this election season, but local broadcast news is where politicians should put their advertising money, according to the Television Bureau of Advertising. The TVB, a nonprofit trade association representing broadcast stations, said in a report that the audience for local morning and late-evening local news in the nation's biggest cities more closely mirror the makeup of the electorate. For example, while more than 50% of the prime-time audience for cable news channels is 65 and older, that demographic represents only 19% of voters.

The toll of a heart attack may be more than just physical. Patients who suffer heart attacks could also suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder -- which could raise the risk of another heart attack, according to a study in the journal PLoS ONE. Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is an anxiety disorder that often develops after a traumatic event involving the threat of injury or death, according to the National Institutes of...

Consumer news is big news here at the Los Angeles Times Business section. As the weekend begins, be sure to check out our latest story on the Buy Here Pay Here industry. Many of you read Ken Bensinger's brilliant three-part series last fall on the used-car segment known as Buy Here Pay Here, which caters to working-class people who need a car to get to their jobs - but don't have the income or good credit to get conventional auto financing. Buy Here Pay Here dealers finance the sales themselves, assuming the risk of a default, but they also charge interest rates of up to 30% and are quick to repossess - and resell - the car when payments are late.

First of three parts Tiffany Lee wanted a car. She was weary of the two-hour bus ride to her job at a UCLA Health System clinic. She hated having to ask friends to drive her 7-year-old son to his asthma treatments. But as a single mother with three children, bad credit and a $27,000-a-year salary, she couldn't find a bank or dealership willing to give her a loan. Then a friend steered her to Repossess Auto Sales in Hawthorne. Another buyer might have balked at the deal she was offered.

The roofing supply yard in Long Beach is rumbling with activity these days, thanks in part to a wet winter that has property owners eager to make repairs before fall. Men drive humming forklifts around the site in a cacophony of engine noise, delivering shingles and plywood to flatbed trucks for the next day's deliveries. Supervisor Miguel Murillo pauses in the commotion and wipes his hands, his sweat-spotted shirt showing the day's toil. A year ago, things were so slow he'd often take a day off without pay. Recently he's had to work a few Saturdays.

Admitting you have an eating disorder after living with it for years is no easy task -- but that's exactly what Demi Lovato told Ryan Seacrest in an interview. The 18-year-old Disney Channel alumna, who said her family had known about her eating issues for six years, has had the words "stay" and "strong" tatooed over self-mutilation scars on her wrists. Why does it all too often take so long to recognize and deal with a problem such as an eating disorder? Lovato called her situation the "elephant in the room.

I was mind-boggled by "Bernanke sees 'vicious cycle' of budget gaps" (Jan. 19). Could widely respected Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke (who even acknowledges the heresy that "tax cuts do not pay for themselves") have a discussion with the Senate Budget Committee, headed by a Democrat, about how to reduce spending -- and not even mention the hundreds of billions of dollars being spent in Iraq? Scott S. Smith West Hollywood Finally, there is someone worried about the runaway spending that has put our country deep in debt.

Admitting you have an eating disorder after living with it for years is no easy task -- but that's exactly what Demi Lovato told Ryan Seacrest in an interview. The 18-year-old Disney Channel alumna, who said her family had known about her eating issues for six years, has had the words "stay" and "strong" tatooed over self-mutilation scars on her wrists. Why does it all too often take so long to recognize and deal with a problem such as an eating disorder? Lovato called her situation the "elephant in the room.

The undulating asphalt gave way to a sea of potholes and the bicycle shuddered with each curve and dip. Ahead, the Brooklyn Bridge rose in a long incline toward the camera-ready skyline of Manhattan. But the cinematic quality of the city was lost on an approaching bicyclist, who saw only a tight grid of streets with thin slices of available roadway -- spaces that momentarily widen, then narrow, in the anarchy of Manhattan traffic.