Visiting

There are frequent fliers, and then there are people like Steven Rothstein and Jacques Vroom. Both men bought tickets that gave them unlimited first-class travel for life on American Airlines. It was almost like owning a fleet of private jets. Passes in hand, Rothstein and Vroom flew for business. They flew for pleasure. They flew just because they liked being on planes. They bypassed long lines, booked backup itineraries in case the weather turned, and never worried about cancellation fees.

WASHINGTON - President Obama on Thursday ruled out unilateral U.S. military action in Syria even if proof emerges that Syrian forces have used lethal chemical weapons. "This is … an international problem," Obama said at a White House news conference with visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "It's not going to be something that the United States does by itself. And I don't think anybody in the region would think that U.S. unilateral actions … would bring about a better outcome.

If you're thinking of visiting a Disney park in Anaheim this summer, be warned that the price is about to jump by between $7 and $150 depending on the ticket deal. The annual summer price hike for tickets to Disneyland and the Disney California Adventure Park were announced Friday and take effect Sunday. For example, a ticket for one day at either Disneyland or California Adventure had cost $80 for parkgoers who are 10 or older. The new price, starting Sunday, will be $87, up nearly 9%. The biggest increase will hit people who buy the premium annual pass that includes parking.

There's a star on the stage of the Great Western Forum. Immaculately dressed as always, 6-foot-1, tanned, not a hair out of place, he is a veteran of such very public appearances. In seminar after seminar, convention after convention, he has captivated thousands of people around the world with his charisma, sincerity and enthusiasm. But this appearance, on Feb. 19, 2000, is something special for Mark Reynolds Hughes.

Krupali Tejura wants a frozen banana stand in Newport Beach. No, not Dad's or Sugar 'N Spice or any of the other venerable spots around town. She wants  that  banana stand. Earlier this month, it was announced that  Netflix would promote new episodes of the revived TV comedy "Arrested Development"  by touring the show's fictitious Bluth's Original Frozen Banana stand in the United States and England. Apparently, though, the promotion doesn't include a stop in Newport, where the series takes place.

Editor's Note: The following essays by Sherman Alexie, J.D. McClatchy, Robert Pinsky, Mona Simpson and Ted Kooser are included in a recent anthology published by Milkweed Editions, entitled "The Most Wonderful Books: writers on Discovering the Pleasures of Reading." They are reprinted here with the kind permission of the publisher and the authors. * I learned to read with a Superman comic book. Simple enough, I suppose.

  HOUSTON -- Another Carnival cruise ship has faltered, the third in a week for the troubled fleet that drew national attention last month when the Carnival Triumph broke down in the Gulf  of Mexico , stranding more than 4,200 passengers who had to be towed back to shore. The nation's largest cruise company announced Friday that the Carnival Legend was unable to sail at optimal speed off the coast of Honduras, bringing an early end to the seven-day Caribbean cruise for 2,500 passengers and 930 crew members who set sail from Florida last Sunday.

On Christmas Eve 1955, "champagne music" bandleader Lawrence Welk introduced the Lennon Sisters from Venice - Dianne, Peggy, Kathy and Janet - on his popular ABC musical variety series, "The Lawrence Welk Show. " And before you could say "a-one-and-a-two," the girls, ages 9 to 16, were an overnight phenomenon. Their harmonies were pure, with Peggy singing the high notes, Kathy the low, and Dianne - known as Dee Dee - and Janet, in the middle. They scored their first hit "Tonight, You Belong to Me" in 1956.

The Fontana police chief and San Bernardino County's chief probation officer said a convicted felon who allegedly stabbed a woman to death at a Fontana park-and-ride exposed flaws in Gov. Jerry Brown's controversial plan to give local governments responsibility for nonviolent prisoners. David Mulder, 43, a transient with a long history of drug-related convictions, was shot and killed Sunday night by a California Highway Patrol officer responding to a report of a woman being attacked in a car near the San Bernardino Freeway.  The woman, Elisa VanCleve, 49, of Rialto, was in the car with Mulder and died of multiple stab wounds.

Vivek Wadhwa recently used his iPhone while traveling in India. "I only checked emails a few times, made several calls," Wadhwa, a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley, recalled of the 12-day trip. When he returned home, he received a shock: an AT&T phone bill with international roaming charges for $800. "I was so outraged," the Menlo Park, Calif., resident said. "So for the next trip, I hacked my iPhone — unlocked it — and just plugged in my local [Indian] SIM card. " The charges for the Indian SIM, for voice and data, cost him as little as $2 per trip.