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BMW has been striving to reconcile its dueling images for years. Best known for its luxurious, sport-oriented cars, the German manufacturer's motorcycles are only beginning to shed their reputation as wheels for safety-conscious old men, thanks to exciting new bikes like the S 1000 RR and K 1600 LT. At this weekend's International Motorcycle Shows event in Long Beach, BMW is likely to confuse its image even further when its first scooters make...

WASHINGTON - The prostitution scandal that has embroiled the Secret Service is not evidence of a wider culture of boozing and paying for sex among those who are trained to take a bullet for the president, the director of the agency told skeptical senators. The senators challenged Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan to explain how it was possible, without an atmosphere of permissiveness among the agency's supervisors, that 12 agents could go out in separate groups on April 11 in Cartagena, Colombia, independently decide to bring women back to their hotel rooms, and then sign the women in at the front desk next to the agents' real names.

Video game publisher THQ Inc. of Agoura Hills reported a wider fiscal first-quarter loss as it spent more to develop games such as Saints Row 2 and lowered its annual sales and profit forecasts. THQ lost $27.2 million, or 41 cents a share, compared with a loss of $9.27 million, or 14 cents, a year earlier. Excluding some costs, the loss was 38 cents a share, beating the 39-cent average of analysts' estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales in the period ended June 30 rose 32% to $137.

Two bills dealing with teacher sexual misconduct are making their way through the Legislature, with each passing a key hurdle last week. One bill passed the state Senate Education Committee, and separate legislation moved through state Assembly Education Committee. The legislation is fallout from the arrest of former Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt, who has pleaded not guilty to 23 counts of lewd conduct with students. Investigators allege that he spoon-fed his semen to blindfolded students as part of what he called a "tasting" game.

Home builder Lennar Corp. posted a bigger-than-expected third-quarter loss as revenue fell and interest costs rose. The net loss widened to $171.6 million, or 97 cents a share, from $89 million, or 56 cents, a year earlier, Lennar said. Revenue fell 42% to $643.6 million.

Donald Glover had things to do. In his trailer on the set of the NBC sitcom "Community" last spring, the up-and-coming young comedian itemized his various pop cultural obligations. There was the screenplay for a movie he had pitched that still needed plenty of work. There was the TV pilot Glover was obligated to deliver (with, of course, a prominent role earmarked for himself) under his contract with NBC. Then there was his day job: performing as Troy, a former prom king and high school jock matriculated in classes at "Community's" titular community college.

There isn't anything religious about the type of system used to relax children in Calabasas. I am a licensed acupuncturist. Acupuncture has been in existence for more than 2,000 years. Our health system would benefit by wider choice and wider access to these kinds of systems. LINDA S. JORDAN, Woodland Hills

I cannot tell you how much I enjoy reading Jim Washburn's columns on popular music. Not being a great fan of pop music, I like to read Washburn because of his acerbic wit, his caustic insights and his perceptive observations. I certainly would read Washburn's comments on a wider range of subjects, such as books, film and television. You should consider expanding this man's talents to a wider field. Again, thank you for carrying such a thoughtful writer. MIKE MANG Corona del Mar

Thanks to Duane Noriyuki for "A Warrior's Game" (June 30). It's about time someone told one of the many stories of our forgotten minority. It's a shame, what with the money being spent on foreign countries, illegal aliens and unwarranted welfare, that some of it cannot be channeled to help our young Native Americans feel proud of themselves. These people have been undergoing a type of holocaust for more than 300 years and deserve better treatment and wider recognition. Barbara R. von Minden La Mirada

More and wider roads and freeways have not been traffic solutions in Boston, Philadelphia, New York City, Miami, Los Angeles or Detroit. They will not be solutions in Newport Beach. On Nov. 25, I am voting "no" on Measure A. P.A. HOLLANDER Newport Beach

Kazuo Hirai had little to celebrate after just being crowned the next chief executive of Sony Corp. Pummeled by a weak global economy, natural disasters and a strong yen that made its products more expensive overseas, Sony said it was on track to lose $2.86 billion in its current fiscal year, one of the Japanese technology and entertainment giant's worst annual results. The projected annual loss was more than double what Sony anticipated just three months ago when it forecast a $1.2-billion loss for its fiscal year ending March 31. Although the lion's share of the additional red ink - about $1.5 billion - would come from one-time charges from the sale of its stake in an LCD panel facility, foreign exchange fluctuations and other write-offs, about $181 million would be attributed to weakness in Sony's performance, analysts said.

Los Angeles County supervisors approved an ordinance Tuesday that requires new developments to have wider sidewalks, bicycle parking and other changes to promote exercise and reduce obesity. The ordinance also would make it easier for communities to start community gardens and hold farmers markets. "We are excited," said Susan Tae, the county's supervising regional planner. "This is the first step to address the healthier-built environment at the countywide level. " The ordinance, which affects unincorporated areas of the county, expands sidewalk widths to five feet, requires bicycle parking within developments and increases shade on sidewalks.

A rash of arson fires in the dark of night set Los Angeles on edge over New Year's Eve, and authorities deployed hundreds of extra firefighters, patrol cars, undercover officers and helicopters to stop the attacks. On Saturday night, firefighters rushed to multiple fires, quickly extinguishing a vehicle fire in a Hollywood carport and responding to another in the massive parking structure at Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue. Those blazes followed at least 38 other suspicious fires between Thursday night and Saturday morning, making it the worst wave of arson since the 1992 riots.

A major expansion of the Panama Canal is raising alarms in Southern California, where business, labor and public officials are warning that the project threatens to dent the region's role in international trade. The $5.25-billion project will make the canal wider and deeper, allowing huge freighters from Asia to bypass West Coast ports and head straight to terminals on the Gulf Coast and East Coast. The neighboring ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which together handle about 40% of the nation's imported Asian goods, could lose as much as a quarter of their cargo business by some estimates after the Panama expansion is completed in 2014.

The Obama administration, in an unexpected move, overruled a Food and Drug Administration decision that would have allowed anyone, regardless of age, to buy emergency contraceptives without a prescription. The pill, called Plan B One-Step, currently is available to women 17 and older without a doctor's order, though it is kept behind the counter. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries asked the FDA to make the drug available to those 16 and younger without a prescription. When taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex, the pill is effective in preventing pregnancy by restricting ovulation or blocking the implantation of a fertilized egg. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement that she was rejecting the company's request because Teva hadn't proved that girls as young as 11 would be able to use Plan B safely.

CBS moved Tuesday to reinvigorate its perennially-third-place morning news program, introducing two familiar personalities to help anchor the show and promising a broadcast with less fluff. The new, yet-to-be-named show, scheduled to debut Jan. 9, will feature PBS late-night oracle Charlie Rose and Gayle King, best known as personal and professional sidekick to Oprah Winfrey. Erica Hill, already host of the network's "The Early Show," will remain in place as the third member of the anchor team.

Your March 7 Opinion article about prosecutorial conduct/misconduct leads one to reflect. The mentioned abuses and questionable procedures can probably be traced to the practice in the past of certain prosecutors, who in their zeal to convict Mafia members, drug traffickers and other undesirables, acted, after obtaining the acquiescence of courts with the same dislike of the undesirables, to bend and obviate the rules of due process and fair play....

Interesting to note that just one day after Calendar ran an article on ageism toward television writers ("An Age-Old Question Persists in Television," Nov. 1, by Brian Lowry), I read of the death of TV writer Larry Rhine. Rhine, who died at age 90, wrote for many television programs, including "All in the Family," for which he won various awards. If my math is correct, that would have made him in his 60s when he churned out scripts for the much-heralded Norman Lear show. What has changed in the last 30 years to have created such a marked change in attitude on the part of network executives where sitcoms are concerned?

The cactus pear is the Rodney Dangerfield of the fruit world, beloved by immigrants from parts of Latin America and the Mediterranean basin but largely ignored by most consumers in the United States. That may be changing, however, as the leading domestic cactus pear producer, Salinas-based D'Arrigo Bros., has introduced four new, greatly improved varieties — orange, red, purple and green — that are firmer, sweeter and juicier than the traditional variety it has marketed for the last 80 years.

Classical musicians and YouTube sensations Igudesman and Joo come to the Broad Stage on Saturday for the L.A.-area debut of "A Little Nightmare Music," their show blending violin and piano virtuosity with humor and invention. The London-based pair Skyped in their interview from Europe. Where are you guys calling me from? Aleksey Igudesman: I am presently in London and Hyung-ki is presently in Vienna. How many languages do you speak? Igudesman: We've done the show in Russian, in Korean, even.