William Kennedy

Alice Frost Kennedy, an authority on trees and gardens who devoted her life to beautification of Pasadena and Los Angeles County, has died. She was 73. Kennedy died Wednesday at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena of complications of surgery, said her son, Eric Douglas. As a director of Pasadena Beautiful, Kennedy instigated a campaign for funds to save or replace many of the older trees lining the city's streets. She also persuaded the city to match the money collected.

Moments after suffering the latest in a series of losing courtroom battles with the prosecution, defense lawyers for former FBI agent Richard W. Miller rested their case Thursday--without calling Miller to testify on his own behalf. The conclusion of the defense case in Miller's espionage retrial came after U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon ruled that a military affairs writer from Mechanicsburg, Pa.

Justice Department officials on Friday denied reports that a White House lawyer had threatened last month to use the Internal Revenue Service to investigate allegations of wrongdoing in the White House travel office. The statements by the justice officials, coupled with a separate denial by the White House on Friday, leaves unanswered the question of what prompted the IRS audit of UltrAir--a Smyrna, Tenn., firm that has handled most of the charter business from the travel office.

As exclusive gatherings go, this one was noteworthy, even by the high local standards set by A-list Hollywood, with attendees including a former acting director of the CIA, at least one prime-time TV star and half of Penn & Teller (the smaller, quieter half). That last guest is perhaps the one clue you need to figure out the subject of their mutual interest: magic. Or more specifically, the history of the art, as long-dead prestidigitators, illusionists and "miracle" workers were resurrected for the 10th Los Angeles Conference on Magic History, held Nov. 8-10 in North Hollywood.

William Kennedy Smith, the nephew of Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy who was found innocent in 1991 of a rape charge, is considering running for Congress, a political consultant said. Smith, 39, a doctor and adjunct instructor at Northwestern University Medical School and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, is exploring a run for Rep. Rod R. Blagojevich's seat, Democratic consultant David Axelrod said Sunday.

Clarence Williams sat down for good with 5:34 left in Kennedy High's game against Dorsey on Friday night. Williams, the Golden Cougars' starting center and three-year varsity player, had just fouled out. And when it was over--when it was finally over--Williams smiled a huge 6-foot, 5-inch, 225-pound smile. Once again, Kennedy's season ended in the first round of the City Section 4-A Division playoffs. This time, it was in an 80-64 loss to Dorsey at home.

A bloodied William Kennedy Smith, who was acquitted two years ago on rape charges in Florida, was arrested and charged with assault and battery early Saturday after a brawl at a suburban Virginia nightclub and restaurant. Smith, the 33-year-old nephew of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), was released on his promise to appear on Dec. 3 in the Arlington County Criminal Court. The incident occurred about 1:30 a.m.

William Alvey Kennedy, 68, president of Sun Features Inc., which distributes features to daily newspapers throughout the country. Born in Vincennes, Ind., Kennedy grew up in St. Louis and Chicago, where he attended Loyola University. He began his career as a big band singer with Les Baxter, and was best remembered for the song "Suddenly." In 1954, Kennedy became a partner in Box Cards, which manufactured humorous black-and-white studio greeting cards.

In a stinging rebuke for discriminating against women, Rotary International was ordered by a state appellate court on Monday to reinstate the Duarte chapter it ousted eight years ago for admitting three women members. A 49-page decision written by 2nd District Court of Appeal Justice Eugene McClosky reversed a 1983 ruling by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Max F. Deutz that had upheld Duarte's ouster and sanctioned the male-only membership of the international organization.

Reading William Kennedy's darkly comic new novel, "Roscoe," makes me suspect that the entire population of Albany, N.Y., once consisted of ward heelers, prostitutes, bagmen and bent cops. It's a town where no vote goes unbought and the police run the rackets themselves; a man's town, in which women matter less than beer or horses.