Vouchers

Officials in Lancaster filed a complaint Wednesday against Los Angeles County and its housing authority, charging race-based housing discrimination. The complaint, which officials said was the prelude to a possible class action suit, alleges that the agency unlawfully favors African Americans in granting vouchers under Section 8 of the Federal Housing Act. The authority, officials allege, discriminates against other eligible groups and its actions constitute "unlawful and discriminatory racial steering practices that essentially coerce blacks to move to Lancaster, leaving the city with a disproportionate share of blacks on federal housing assistance.

It's sad indeed when a respectable business organization gets so puffed up by its own reputation that it decides there's no downside to treating its customers like chumps. Here's the latest example of such corporate arrogance in action: the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Advance ticket sales for Angels soared after the team announced its 10-year, $250-million contract with slugging superstar Albert Pujols in December. That's the good news. The bad news is that over the last week, they've squandered considerable fan goodwill through an execrable display of contempt for their paying customers.

The walls are bare and the bedroom is still missing a television, but Thomas Simmons couldn't be prouder of his new home. "It's all mine," the 35-year-old says, looking around. "My couch, my bed, my gas stove. It's finally mine. " For nearly a decade, the veteran of Afghanistan lived in homeless shelters and in his car, wandering from Georgia to Nevada to California, his clothes crammed in his trunk and his life in disarray. He was among the estimated 7,400 veterans who are homeless in Los Angeles County — battling post-traumatic stress, substance abuse, alcoholism and mental issues.

The Angels have figured out how to spend money on big-name players. They signed Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson, after all. They just haven't figured out how to gracefully take money from their fans. There was a chaotic scene outside Angel Stadium on Tuesday as fans who had purchased prepaid discounted ticket voucher plans lined up for as many as eight hours on the first day they could redeem vouchers for tickets and couldn't get to the front of the line. "Due to the increased demand for Angels tickets," said a letter sent to voucher holders Feb. 27, "we anticipate extremely tight availability on many of our games this season and we encourage you to redeem your vouchers early once your opportunity begins on March 6. " The letter was signed by John Carpino, president of Angels baseball, and Robert Alvarado, vice president, marketing and ticket sales.

With his stocky frame, broad face, blue overalls and red helmet, Andrei Smirnov looks as though he just stepped from a Soviet-style postcard of the ideal working-class figure. The 45-year-old factory worker came to the Yaroslavl Engine Plant as a young man, getting a job at the same foundry where his father and mother worked, and where he and his younger sister continue the family tradition today. There was a time when the four of them worked together and he was happy, as he is happy now. But that has not always been the case.

Officials in the Antelope Valley cities of Lancaster and Palmdale have been under fire for months for allegedly harassing minority residents who receive public housing assistance. A civil rights lawsuit filed last June accused authorities of trying to drive blacks and Latinos who hold Section 8 vouchers out of the area through overzealous inspections of homes by housing officials and sheriff's deputies. In many cases, according to the plaintiffs' lawyers, inspectors would search for violations of Section 8 rules or criminal activity even though no complaint had been made.

Here's a deal that's creating some buzz: Buy a $100 Travelocity hotel gift card for $50, but only for the next 12 or so hours. As of Tuesday morning, more than 5,000 people had purchased the vouchers. The deal: While the savings here are obvious, this offer requires some consideration to make sure it will work for you. First, the offer is from Travelocity Incentives , a sister company of Travelocity. Why does that matter? Because you will be using the hotel gift card at Travelocity Incentives, which might have slightly different hotel offers than those on Travelocity.

Apparently, politicians are prone to fibbing when they talk about healthcare. For the last three years, the “Lie of the Year” -- as determined by the fact-checking website PolitiFact -- has had something to do with the way Americans get their medical care. * In 2009 , the award went to the claim popularized by Sarah Palin that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (perhaps better known as “Obamacare”) included “death panels” that would decide whether people were too old or too sick to be worth treating.

People who move from a poor neighborhood to a better-off one could end up thinner and healthier than those who stay behind, according to an urban housing experiment that tracked low-income residents in five major cities for 10 to 15 years. The research, set up by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, shows that health is closely linked to the environments people live in — and that social policies to change those environments or move people away from blighted areas could be a key tactic in fighting the "diabesity" epidemic.