Walker

In these troubled economic times, it's not hard to understand why people might want to protect their life savings by purchasing a hard asset like gold or silver. At least, that's the pitch of Monex, the big Newport Beach investment firm, which bills itself as "America's trusted name in precious metals investments" and assures clients that it's "committed to customer service. " So let's take a look at the experiences of some customers who say their trust in Monex was misplaced.

The marijuana shops evoked health and homeopathic care, with names like Dana Point Safe Harbor Collective, Belmont Shore Natural Care, Alternative Herbal Care and Costa Mesa Patients Assn. Nine dispensaries in all, they appeared to be run by different owners around Orange and Los Angeles counties, little different than any of the hundreds of dispensaries that have popped up in the last five years. But they were secretly owned and operated by a 56-year-old convicted drug dealer from San Clemente, who used the stores to make millions.

Asthma sufferers have long relied on inhalers for relief from wheezing or coughing attacks. But as of Dec. 31, Primatene Mist -- the only available over-the-counter asthma inhaler -- was taken off shelves because of its adverse effect on the environment. Other inhalers are available, but these require a doctor's prescription. Some people with asthma aren't happy about the change, but lung doctors and asthma specialists agree that Primatene Mist wasn't the best option for patients anyway.

Aundrey Walker acknowledges that there is much room for improvement. The junior from Ohio started eight games at left tackle last season, but struggled to block consistently in the running game and provide blind-side protection for quarterbacks. "I'm going to be honest," he said Thursday. "I didn't have the best year. " The 6-foot-6, 300-pound Walker is making strides this spring, Coach Lane Kiffin said. "Aundrey is so gifted, sometimes he tries to just let his ability take over and not do the really little things," Kiffin said, "He's doing better.

Re "Scavengers Show Us Who We Are," March 31. I too am a walker with a plastic bag . . . because I enjoy it. It's my alone time . . . no phones, nothing to distract me from the pleasure of being at one with the outdoors. Except garbage. Instead of just picking up recyclables, I pick up almost everything. Bottles, cans, cups, papers and lots of empty cigarette boxes. When people pass me by, they smile and tell me what a good deed I am doing. I'm always thinking to myself how easy it is. If every caring person picked up something (that some uncaring person threw out of their car windows)

When documentary filmmaker Lucy Walker smiles and says, "I can't complain my life isn't varied," she is not kidding. While most directors would be grateful to have one film in Sundance, Walker has two compelling works and they could not be more different. For "Countdown to Zero," a hair-raising exposé of the dangers of rogue nuclear weapons, she spent considerable time talking with world leaders like Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev, Tony Blair, F.W. de Klerk and Pervez Musharraf, "more presidents than I could keep track of."

Herschel Walker used to tell friends at the University of Georgia that he aspired to be considered one of the greatest athletes in history. "And not just in football," Walker recalled this week. Since running the Bulldogs to the 1980 national championship and winning the Heisman Trophy in 1982, Walker rushed for more than 13,000 yards in the USFL and NFL, then retired in 1997 with the second-most all-purpose yards in NFL history. During his pro football career, he also earned a spot on the 1992 Olympic two-man bobsled team, and won television's "Superstars" event three times.

A Ventura man who was hit by a train was in serious condition Wednesday. Silverio Romero, 66, was crossing the tracks in the 2000 block of Channel Drive about 7 p.m. Tuesday when an Amtrak approached, authorities said. The train sounded its horn, but Romero, who uses a walker, couldn't clear its path.

What a contrast between Walker and Norris--one has a happy nature that makes a physical flaw seem insignificant, while the other reveals the real disability of an unkind heart. JEAN LEE Westminster

John A. Walker Jr. feared that Soviet agents might kill Jerry A. Whitworth and him when Whitworth stopped stealing high-quality naval secrets and was thinking about quitting espionage, Walker testified Thursday. "I explained to him that in the field of espionage one doesn't play games with one's contacts," Walker said.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is drawing heat over his choice of ghostwriter for a forthcoming book. As the National Review online reported, Walker will team up with former George W. Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen on the book, which according to a source will "tell his story. " The book, which is not yet titled, will be published by Sentinel, an imprint of the Penguin Group. Thiessen, a Washington Post op-ed columnist, supports "enhanced interrogation" in the war against terror, as spelled out in his 2010 book "Courting Disaster.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Retired U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker, whose ruling on Proposition 8 led to Tuesday's U.S. Supreme Court hearing,  presided over the first federal trial  on same-sex marriage. The tall, lanky, white-haired former judge is now in private practice in San Francisco doing mediation and private judging. Walker, 69,  retired in February 2011. He was busy mediating a business dispute Tuesday morning but was going to listen to a recording of the arguments and read a transcript later.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Markel Walker has an adventurer's spirit. She was born in Philadelphia and after her second year of high school moved to Pittsburgh so she could live with her sister. From Pittsburgh she chose to cross the country and play college basketball at UCLA. The 6-foot-1 senior had mapped out a plan. "I wanted to get a good degree and then go back to Philadelphia and open up 'Power Centers,'" Walker said Friday before third-seeded UCLA (25-7) practiced for its first-round NCAA women's basketball tournament game against 14th-seeded Stetson (24-8)

HOUSTON -- A man suspected of trading gunfire with North Texas authorities Thursday and who could be linked to the slaying of Colorado's prisons chief is likely to die, Texas officials said. Wise County Sheriff David Walker said the suspect was being kept alive by machines at a Fort Worth hospital and is “basically legally dead.” “If he survives, he will be charged with attempted capital murder of a police officer,” Walker said at a news briefing in Decatur, about 65 miles northwest of Dallas.

Click here to download TV listings for the week of Jan. 27 - Feb. 2, 2013 in PDF format This week's TV Movies     SATURDAY Good Morning America (N) 7 a.m. KABC The Chris Matthews Show Clinton and Biden 2016 prospects; Inaugural address: Chuck Todd, NBC; Kathleen Parker, the Washington Post; Kelly O'Donnell, NBC; Chris Frates, National Journal. (N) 5 p.m. KNBC; Sunday 5:30 a.m. KNBC McLaughlin Group (N) 6:30 p.m. KCET SUNDAY Today Hoda Kotb.

Travelers who enjoy Scotch are raising a glass to celebrate the opening of Johnnie Walker House , a new upscale whiskey center in Beijing.   The four-level club, which the company calls "the world's largest embassy for luxury Scotch whiskey outside of Scotland," offers rare whiskeys, personalized whiskey blends and culinary fusion pairings provided by in-house chef Phoebe Cleland.  The Beijing House is Johnny Walker 's second in China;...

SAN FRANCISCO - John Walker Lindh, the Marin County man imprisoned for fighting with the Taliban, has won the right to have daily communal Muslim prayer in the U.S. prison unit where he is incarcerated. An Indiana judge, ruling in a lawsuit brought by Lindh, ordered a Terre Haute prison warden to end a ban on daily group prayer for Lindh and more than 40 other Muslim inmates. The judge said the ban violated a federal law that protects the religious rights of prison inmates. Lindh, who converted to Islam while living with his family in San Anselmo, is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

When Molly Stanton first looked at the 1,000-square-foot Santa Monica home being sold by actress Noel Neill, best known for playing Lois Lane opposite George Reeves in the 1950s TV series “Adventures of Superman,” Stanton knew the house had some termite damage, some structural steel posts that needed to be repaired and a floor plan with just one bedroom. Stanton, however, instantly fell in love with the hideaway, one of the lesser-known works by noted Case Study designer and builder Rodney Walker.