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'Secrets and Lies' on ABC fails to provide a reason to care

Written By kolimtiga on Sabtu, 28 Februari 2015 | 22.25

In "Secrets and Lies," ABC's new limited series premiering Sunday, the killing of a young boy unhinges an already troubled family and turns an idyllic community into a suspicious mob, further riled by a predatory media and the icy relentlessness of an obsessive cop.

If you think you've seen this before, you absolutely have — most recently in "Gracepoint," Fox's regrettable remake of ITV's "Broadchurch," which ran last year on BBC America.

As luck would have it, "Broadchurch," which was also originally intended to be a limited series, returns to BBC America for a second season on Wednesday. Picking up in the weeks following the original mystery's solution, it strains credibility a bit at first before settling into a promising second story line involving main characters, Det. Inspector Alec Hardy (David Tennant) and Det. Sgt. Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman). There is, too, the added joy of Charlotte Rampling guest-starring as a kick-ass attorney.

It's difficult to imagine "Secrets and Lies" will be following a similar path. It's tough to not care about who would kill a 5-year-old and why, but "Secrets and Lies" doesn't make it easy to be concerned.

Adapted by Barbie Kligman from an Australian series of the same name, the story revolves, not around the family of little Tom Murphy, but the man who finds his body. Ben Crawford, who makes the discovery while out for a run in the woods, is a father himself, also a house painter and a good friend of Tom and his mother Jess (Natalie Martinez)

More important, Ben is played by Ryan Phillippe. According to the ABC website, seeing Phillippe every week is the No. 1 reason to watch "Secrets and Lies."

Although the network may be overestimating the number of people longing for such an opportunity, Phillippe is very much the center of the series, which quickly becomes more man-under-pressure tale than a murder mystery.

Most of that pressure comes from Det. Andrea Cornell, who is played by Juliette Lewis (the second reason to watch, according to ABC.) Cold and controlled to the point of robotic, Cornell does an eye-sweep of the Crawford home — someone has been sleeping on the sofa! — and concludes that Ben is, obviously, the killer.

Or at least so it seems. Perhaps she is a better detective or playing a longer game than appears to be the case in the two-hour premiere, directed by Charles McDougall, in which her treatment of Ben does, indeed, border on harassment. Before you can say "Nancy Grace," the vulpine media are camped out on the Crawford's (lovely) lawn, brandishing microphones, accusations and, eventually, leaked information.

Meanwhile, Ben, who has clearly not watched enough television, refuses to believe that he could be a suspect, ignores everything his family lawyer tells him and doesn't bother to consult a criminal attorney until the media have all but convicted him.

It's all quite ridiculous, clearly designed to make the same sort of point about the fragility of trust and community that "Broadchurch" did but in half the time and with none of that show's nuance, texture or grace. "Broadchurch" had its share of plot absurdities, but its exquisite portraiture of a town's grief and frustration more than made up for them.

Not the case, unfortunately, with "Secrets and Lies." With the exception of Lewis, who seems to embrace the single dimension of her character, the cast does its level best to make something of an overworked conceit. Phillippe is convincing as a man in shock, caused first by the killing and then by the ferocity with which everyone turns on him.

Unfortunately, although the form of "Secrets and Lies" is something relatively new, the execution is not. As with so many adaptations, "Secrets and Lies" suffers from an American tendency to speed up and overplay, to force emotion rather than evoke it.

Just as suspicion takes a little time to grow and spread, so does sophistication. But this series seems to be in a very big hurry to be over, which almost guarantees that audiences will be too.

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'Secrets and Lies'

Where: ABC

When: 9 p.m. Sunday

Rating: TV-14-LV (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 14 with advisories for coarse language and violence)

22.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

In Botswana reserve, Bushmen still being deprived of rights

Late at night in the Kalahari Desert, a little more than a decade ago, the clouds drew together like rippled crocodile skin, and the Bushmen, led by an old man named Kexla Sanao, danced on the cool sand. Sanao shook his body and stamped his feet, rhythmically mimicking the movement of the bush creatures he had lived with all his life.

An old woman named Qoroxloo Duxee laughed at him. She told me she wasn't afraid to live among the lions or hyenas in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve of Botswana.

Sanao's people were fighting for their right to exist after being evicted in 2002 by the Botswanan government from the reserve. Authorities had sealed their wells, leaving them without water, and barred them from hunting.

"They said they were moving us because they wanted to develop us. I don't know what development means," he told me in 2005, explaining his shock, and fear, at the idea of moving far from his land and the graves of his ancestors. "To me, it felt like dying."

The woman, Duxee, died that year of starvation and dehydration, according to a postmortem report, after the government cut off food supplies in a bid to get her and other die-hards to leave. Sanao, who like most Bushmen doesn't know his age, is still clinging on in the park with a few hundred others.

It would be 10 years before I'd again see Jumanda Gakelebone, the Bushman activist who took me to the reserve to meet his people in 2005. Now 40, he said Thursday at a news conference in Johannesburg that despite three court victories since 2006 affirming the right of the Bushmen to live, hunt for survival and have access to water in the reserve, his people are still struggling for the right to pursue their ancient way of life.

He estimates that the number of Bushmen in the reserve is 150 to 300, after about 600 were evicted in 2002. About 50,000 to 60,000 Bushmen live in Botswana, a country of 2 million, and few have access to their traditional lands, according to the U.S. State Department.

Government harassment of the Bushmen, who call themselves Kua, continued even after the 2006 court ruling that the evictions were illegal, Gakelebone and Gordon Bennett, a British lawyer who represented the Bushmen in their landmark legal action, said Thursday.

Several weeks ago, Botswana's government extended a yearlong national hunting ban, which it says is necessary to protect wildlife. Gakelebone said the ban made it almost impossible for Bushmen to survive on their traditional lands.

"A person living in the reserve cannot go to a supermarket and get food. If a person can only get food he has hunted and gathered, so allow him to do that," Gakelebone said.

The ban doesn't affect hunting in registered game ranches catering mainly to affluent foreign tourists and big-game hunters paying large sums for animal trophies.

The government has denied that it carried out forced resettlement and argued that some Bushmen want to leave the reserve to benefit from government schools and clinics. It has said it imposed the hunting ban to halt a decline in wildlife populations.

Diamond mining and some fracking are allowed in the reserve, according to Survival International, a rights group for indigenous people.

"While the government is pushing [Bushmen] off their land, they're allowing trucks and hundreds of workers in the reserve, and that must be much more damaging to the wildlife," Survival International spokeswoman Rebecca Spooner said at the news conference.

Gakelebone believes the government still wants the Bushmen out of the reserve.

"They want us to be modernized. They say that life is primitive," Gakelebone said. "It seems we are not treated like Botswana citizens. The situation keeps getting worse and worse. It's never changed."

Many Bushmen who have moved out of the reserve live in squalid squatter camps around towns. In one desolate settlement named New Xade, they suffer from joblessness, alcohol abuse and other social ills.

When I visited New Xade in 2005, one old man named Molathwe said living there was "like being asleep." A woman named Molawe Belese, beset by a recurring dream about cars coming for her and people hunting her down, told me that living in New Xade felt "just like being sick."

She has since returned to the reserve to be with her brother and other family members.

In November, several members of a police special forces unit accused a Bushman, Nkemetseng Motsoko, of poaching an eland and demanded that he surrender the carcass, according to Bennett, the British lawyer. Terrified, Motsoko denied everything.

Bennett said police tortured Motsoko, suspending him upside down in a hole in the sand and filling in the hole, submerging his head until he passed out. They repeated this twice until he confessed and led them to the carcass.

Gakelebone, a small man with a reticent smile, says he became an activist because of painful feelings he had growing up.

"The people in Botswana look down on us," he told me after the news conference. "They don't respect us."

"If a Botswana child does something wrong, they're told, 'Don't behave like a Bushman.' If I'm dirty, they say, 'You are dirty like a Bushman.' So all the bad things are getting close to us. It makes me sad because it seems I'm not a proper human being.

"I was once listening to a radio announcement. I heard there was an accident that killed four people and one Bushman. So we are not people."

The Botswana government did not respond to phone calls and emails from The Times seeking a response. The U.S. State Department has called the government's treatment of the Bushmen a major human rights concern.

Bennett said the Botswanan government has to accept the Bushmen's right to live and hunt in the reserve and should seek ways to address their needs through negotiations, instead of pressuring them to leave.

"The way of life of the Kua people is theirs," Gakelebone said. "If they choose it, they choose it."

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Union backing influential in all but one L.A. Community College race

In most elections for seats on the Los Angeles Community College District board of trustees, the candidates with the backing of the faculty union typically are the victors.

In three of the four races on Tuesday's ballot, the candidates supported by the union enjoy a huge funding edge over their opponents, as they almost always do.

But in the competition for one seat, the faculty-backed candidate, Francesca Vega, has a relatively slim financial advantage over her closest rival, Andra Hoffman. If Hoffman wins, she would join two other trustees, Nancy Pearlman and Ernest Moreno, who were not endorsed by the faculty union in their most recent elections.

The Vega-Hoffman race has been hard-fought as the two camps have traded accusations over false ballot descriptions, fraudulent mailers and ducked debates.

Observers say there could be an added element of surprise this year because the district for the first time won't hold runoffs, thanks to a bill signed by Gov. Jerry Brown and approved by district trustees.

"Whoever gets the most votes wins," said Jaime Regalado, professor emeritus of political science at Cal State Los Angeles. "There's the potential for a lot of volatility."

It's unclear whether three trustees who were not supported by the union would make a difference on the seven-person board, especially since trustees often don't vote along union lines. "At the very least, it might make for a more contentious board, which isn't necessarily a bad thing," Regalado said.

Hoffman has been endorsed by the district's staff union and the faculty union from Glendale Community College, and has raised nearly $39,000, according to the most recent filings. Vega, a policy director at Cal State Northridge, has about $52,000.

The Hoffman-Vega race began heating up in December, when Vega's political consultant, Mike Shimpock, sent a letter to city election officials saying that Hoffman's ballot designation of "community college professor" was inaccurate because she does not teach enough courses and does not have the proper credentials. City officials dismissed the complaint.

Hoffman's consultant, Larry Levine, filed a complaint this month with the Los Angeles County Democratic Party after Vega appeared on a mailer that said she and three other candidates were endorsed by "Democratic Party & Leaders." The mailer was paid for by a group supporting Vega, Scott Svonkin, Sydney Kamlager and Mike Fong.

The county Democratic party has not backed either Hoffman or Vega and it condemned the mailer, saying that consultants had "crossed a line."

Both candidates said they are focused on helping the district grow after years of cuts made during the recession, and steering resources to students, including increased counselors and instructors. The district lost about 49,000 students between 2008 and 2013 and reduced its budget by about $100 million between 2009 and 2013.

The board oversees nine campuses and a nearly $1.1-billion budget. The district serves about 149,000 students.

"For five years we were bursting at the seams and we had to turn away thousands of students," Hoffman said. "We need to make sure that we are providing the services students need and that students aren't falling through the cracks."

"When you look at the population we serve, we cannot afford to lose a student," Vega said. "We need to see where we've had success and replicate those programs and best practices and restore services."

The two-year community colleges are accredited by a private panel based in Novato.

Vega said she could bring needed perspective to the board by adding another Latino. "To have someone on the board who reflects the students' experience, I look at that as a positive thing," Vega said. Nearly 55% of the district's students are Latino.

Maria "Sokie" Quintero, a community college professor, and Mark Isler, a teacher and radio host, also are running against Vega and Hoffman.

In the other races, Kamlager, an education policy advisor, has emerged as a clear leader in fund-raising, receiving about $600,000. Her opponents are Jozef "Joe" Thomas Essavi, a small business owner; Sam Kbushyan, a college professor; and Glenn Bailey, who serves on the Northridge East Neighborhood Council.

Svonkin, the only incumbent running for office, has nearly $490,000, according to records. His opponent is Steve Schulte, a former West Hollywood City Council member and mayor.

Fong, an educator, has nearly $173,000, according to filings. His opponents are Joyce Burrell Garcia, an educator, and John C. Burke, who teaches at Valley College, one of the district's campuses.

Twitter: @byjsong

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Finding a way to direct her own happy ending

L.A. Affairs is our weekly column about the current dating scene in and around Los Angeles -- and finding romance in a wired world. If you've got a story to tell, we want to hear it. We pay $300 per published column. Past columns and submission guidelines are at latimes.com/laaffairs

My forehead was pressed into the beige wall-to-wall carpet, my right arm was pinned behind me and he pushed his knee into my back. I'd been an actress for two decades, but no one was calling "Cut!" because this was no movie.

How could this be happening? How did I get here? Thoughts pinged in my head as my body melted deeper into the carpet. What would people think if they saw this? Me? Buckling under a man? Me? Who cracked caustic jokes? Me? Who had moved from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast chockablock with bravado as I chased my acting career, and now here, on the floor of a Mount Washington apartment being squashed like a bug?

They say addicts have a chance of breaking free once they hit rock bottom. I wasn't addicted to drugs or alcohol, but I had a magnetic attraction to angry people. I confused on-screen drama with real life. My assailant was only the latest of the not-so-hotso men to whom I'd attached myself.

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Abuse was familiar. Abuse was nurtured. Abuse was home — until that day when I found my rock bottom. This was the end of the line. I had to stand upright and gun it down the mountain. My acting career was no longer a good ride, my neediness was a danger, and here I was on the West Coast like some lost member of the Joad family trying to pluck an orange off someone else's tree. It was time to rewrite this California story.

I slithered out of his grasp and yelled, "Back off!" I packed a bag and gathered the cat, who'd seen it all and accepted being dropped at a kitty-sitter. I drove south. Along the coastline I rolled down the windows and sucked in sea air. In Encinitas, I checked into a silent-meditation retreat, where I stayed for three days. I gobbled up vegetables, studied rolling Pacific waves and reveled in the scent of California cypress. I made a plan.

Back to the therapist's office for a reboot. Find an apartment. Locate a life.

"Your next relationship will be with someone quieter, someone on an even keel, and he'll be the best person for you," my therapist said after a few months of rebooting.

Could I do that? Could I kick my craving for theatrics?

I found a studio apartment in Silver Lake. I needed a small space for my small budget and took comfort in seeing all the walls before I fell asleep and again when I awoke. The cat and I settled in. He adapted to an indoor life, and I adapted to a single life. I worked as a dialogue coach on film and television sets, and during days off wandered through the downtown flower market, ambled along the gardens of the Huntington and pumped iron at the gym. At work I spoke, but off the set I kept silent.

A year later, ready for a bedroom and a dining room, I moved into a light-filled apartment in Los Feliz. I could walk to House of Pies for ... pie. And Skylight Books for ... books. At a theater on Hillhurst Avenue, I could see two movies in an afternoon.

I got stronger. Alone. On my own.

Another year passed, and I was accepted into the American Film Institute's Directing Workshop for Women, where I discovered true confidence and toned down my acidic sense of humor. I crewed up to shoot my short film and met the man who would be my editor.

He was subtle, this editor, with a dry wit and a wholly undramatic demeanor, ensuring that he was not my type, no way, no how. We worked long hours in a tiny cutting room and unexpectedly grew close. He was amused by my dramatic flair. He said he suspected that I'd grown into someone from somewhere else, and he liked that about me. Maybe he was my type, some way, somehow.

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On our first date, we savored pan-seared scallops and crisp flattened chicken at Campanile. On our second, we shared sushi and sake at Yamashiro, atop the Hollywood Hills. Back at my apartment, he mentioned he was allergic to cats. I worried, but after five kisses he was miraculously cured. The cat curled up in his arms on a regular basis. I took my cue from the cat and followed suit.

This editor was my even keel. The cat and I moved in with him and his dog in Mar Vista, closer to the Pacific, for the beginning of the end of the line. Singular, yet partnered. Vulnerable, yet secure. Raucous, yet serene. Like a wave slipping onto Venice Beach, where we ride our bikes laughing, because he's a funny guy, my best friend, my husband.

Mel Ryane is the author of "Teaching Will: What Shakespeare and 10 Kids Gave Me That Hollywood Couldn't"

L.A. Affairs chronicles dating in and around Los Angeles. If you have comments or a true story to tell, write us at home@latimes.com.

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In 'Tyler's Suite,' voices unite against bullying

When Jane Clementi's son Tyler went off to Rutgers University in fall 2010 and began playing violin for a school orchestra composed primarily of upperclassmen and graduate students, she thought the skill he had been perfecting since age 3 — even teaching himself how to play while unicycling — had paid off.

But days later, 18-year-old Tyler jumped to his death off the George Washington Bridge. His roommate had set up a webcam, viewed him being intimate with another man and through Twitter invited others to watch.

"We are hoping to create a kinder, gentler society that embraces differences as opposed to humiliating people because of their differences," Jane Clementi said about her activism since Tyler's death. "I see a lot of great progress and changes. We still really have a lot of work to do."

The Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles will further that work in a concert Saturday titled "Heartstrings" at the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles. The performance will include the Southern California premiere of "Tyler's Suite," a suite of eight songs about Tyler's life written by the likes of Stephen Schwartz ("Wicked"), John Corigliano (the opera "The Ghosts of Versailles"), Jake Heggie (the opera "Dead Man Walking") and singer-songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway. Violin is woven through the songs.

"We wanted to provide a window into who this person was," said Chris Verdugo, executive director of the Gay Men's Chorus. "We hope that this special concert will honor the memory of Tyler Clementi and emphasize the continued need for a dialogue about the damage bullying causes across the country."

In addition to "Tyler's Suite," the concert will feature Well-Strung — violinists Edmund Bagnell and Christopher Marchant, violist Trevor Wadleigh and cellist Daniel Shevlin — performing its mix of pop and classics and the chorus, conducted by Joe Nadeau, singing such songs as "No One Is Alone" from "Into the Woods."

Members of Tyler's family, including his mother, will attend the event. They worked closely with lyricist Pamela Stewart on "Tyler's Suite" to ensure the songs reflect their feelings of both nostalgia and grief.

One movement, "Just a Boy," adapts a poem that Tyler's father, Joseph Clementi, wrote after Tyler's death: "He was just a boy. He was my son. The last of three, my youngest one. He could make me laugh and sometimes cry. Now he's left me here to wonder why."

"I Love You More" recalls a childhood game between Tyler and his mom in which the response to "I love you" was always "I love you more."

Jane Clementi said in an interview that commemorating her son through music "just makes sense."

"Music meant so much to Tyler," she said. Through this music, the audience "will get to love him. Each movement shows the multifacetedness of him."

It conveys a life beyond what landed in the headlines.

Tyler's roommate, Dharun Ravi, was convicted of invasion of privacy and bias intimidation and sentenced to 30 days in jail, three years' probation, 300 hours of community service and a $10,000 fine. The tragedy started a national conversation about bullying that continues nearly five years after Tyler's death.

Tyler's parents founded the Tyler Clementi Foundation in an effort to "end all online and offline bullying," Jane Clementi said.

"I hope it will trigger a resolve that no one else will ever have to struggle [like Tyler]," she said. "Stop bullying online and offline. Create a safe space."

Jane Clementi wants events like the concert Saturday to bring the message home: Stop being bystanders and pledge to be upstanders, "someone who will speak up in a bullying or intimidation or humiliation situation," she said.

"If one of those witnesses had spoken out for Tyler, I think the end result would've been very, very different."

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'Heartstrings'

Who: Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles and Well-Strung

When: 8 p.m. Saturday

Where: First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, 540 S. Commonwealth Ave., Los Angeles

Admission: $35-$100

Info: www.gmcla.org/concerts/heartstrings

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Autopsy report: Denver girl shot by police had four gunshot wounds

A Denver girl who was shot and killed by police while driving a stolen car last month had four gunshot wounds, two on the left side of her chest, according to an autopsy report released Friday by the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner.

According to the autopsy report, Jessica Hernandez, 17, was also wounded in the pelvis and right thigh, and had abrasions and bruises to her face, chest and extremities. She also tested positive for cannabinoids in her system, and had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.047%.

Hernandez was shot and killed on Jan. 26 as she and four other teenage girls took a joyride in a Honda. Her death was ruled a homicide by the coroner.

Officers said Hernandez tried to run them over when they ordered her out of the car, so they opened fire. Some of the car's passengers said the vehicle went out of control only after Hernandez was shot.

Witnesses said Hernandez was dragged out of the car, apparently unconscious, and handcuffed on the ground before she died.

The report says there was "no evidence" that she had been shot at close range. The report did not list the exact number of times she was shot because it was "very likely" that a single bullet caused two wounds, according to the report.

"The report shows that Jessie was shot from the driver's side of the car and not from close range," according to a statement from Qusair Mohamedbhai, attorney for Hernandez's parents. "These facts undermine the Denver Police Department's claim that Jessie was driving at the officers as they shot her."

The teenager's death has sparked protests, and follows other recent police shootings in Ferguson, Mo., New York and Cleveland.

The shooting is being investigated by the Denver district attorney's office. The autopsy report will become part of the investigative case file, said Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for the office.

"It is certainly important to the investigation, certainly a part of the fact-gathering," she said. "There is still work to be done before the legal review can begin."

Kimbrough said she did not have a time line for when the legal investigation would start.

The Hernandez family has called for an independent federal investigation of their daughter's death.

"The family has no confidence that the Denver Police Department or District Attorney will conduct any sort of fair or meaningful investigation," the statement released by their attorney said.

Officer Raquel Lopez, spokeswoman for the Denver Police Department, said the department would not comment until the district attorney came to a decision on the case.

For more national news, follow @smasunaga.

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Saku Koivu's former Irvine estate returns to market at $6.795 million

An Irvine estate formerly owned by retired NHL center Saku Koivu has been listed for sale at $6.795 million.

The longtime Montreal Canadiens and Anaheim Ducks player, who announced his retirement in September, sold the home in mid-October for $6 million. Four months removed and since remodeled, it's back on the market for 13.5% more than the recent sale price.

Set on half an acre in Shady Canyon, the Tuscan-inspired residence is distinguished by fossilized stone and reclaimed brick exterior with antique roof tiles. Elaborate archways, limestone flooring and fireplaces imported from France are among the interior details.

Recent updates to the 7,538-square-foot floor plan includes a new kitchen complete with a long cook's island/breakfast bar and custom cabinetry. Others spaces include grand formal areas, a 1,500-bottle wine cellar and game room. A master wing highlights the seven bedrooms and 6.5 bathrooms.

Telescoping walls of glass open onto a covered loggia of more than 1,000 square feet. A guest casita, an outdoor kitchen and a pool complete the grounds.

Koivu, who played for the Ducks in 2009-14, bought the home in October 2009 for $4.795 million.

Jacqueline Thompson of Surterre Properties is the listing agent.

Twitter: @NJLeitereg

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Five takeaways from the Lakers' 101-93 win over the Milwaukee Bucks

The Lakers (16-41) won their third straight game Friday night, defeating the Milwaukee Bucks (32-26). Here are five takeaways from their 101-93 victory at Staples Center.

1) Wayne Ellington scored 14 points in the fourth quarter on six-of-seven shooting. He was the difference as the Lakers made their push from 11 points down.

"Wayne obviously got hot," said Milwaukee's Khris Middleton after the game.

"At the end of the day, we are competitors," said Ellington. "We're not coming out here trying to lose any games. Obviously we've faced a lot of adversity .... We've had some tough situations and as a result, our record is what it is. But at the time, we're out here fighting."

2) Though Jordan Clarkson was playing well, Coach Byron Scott went with Jeremy Lin down the stretch. Lin finished with 14 points and six assists, along with a team-high plus-minus of plus-18.

The combination of Lin and Ellington was working in the fourth.

"[Lin is] a guy that can get the ball in the paint and cause two guys on the ball," said Bucks Coach Jason Kidd. "He found open guys and also got to the free-throw line. He played a great fourth quarter."

Lin has averaged 16.3 points a game, while shooting 50.0% from the field since the All-Star break.

Clarkson gave the Lakers 16 points, on seven-of-nine shooting, but the Bucks outscored the Lakers by six over the 30 1/2 minutes the rookie was on the floor.

"I think Jordan Clarkson played really well tonight, and he didn't get to finish the game, but he played really well and kept us in the game," said Lin. "Wayne Ellington got hot at the end. That's just the team effort that we need."

3) Jordan Hill added eight points in the fourth quarter off the bench. The only two starters to play in the period were Ryan Kelly (for five minutes) and Ellington.

The Lakers in recent days have been finding ways to close out games, something they've struggled with throughout most of the season.

"We're starting to grow as a basketball team," said Scott. "I hope we just continue to play this way. We've been playing hard all season long, but we just haven't been able to put it together for four quarters."

The Lakers were strong in the first and fourth, enough to offset sizable lulls in the second and third.

4) Is Carlos Boozer the difference-maker? Since Scott put him back into the starting lineup, the Lakers haven't lost. While that's likely coincidental, Clarkson recently gave Boozer some credit for helping the rookie guard develop.

5) The Lakers' positioning in the NBA draft lottery took a hit over the last few games. The Lakers are "behind" the Minnesota Timberwolves (13-44), Philadelphia 76ers (13-45) and New York Knicks (11-46). With the Lakers winning, other teams are "gaining" ground, including the Orlando Magic (19-41), Denver Nuggets (20-38) and Sacramento Kings (20-36). If the Lakers do keep winning, they may find themselves without their first-round pick in June, since anything but a top-five selection will go to the Philadelphia 76ers (via the Steve Nash trade with the Phoenix Suns).

The Lakers still play the Wolves and Sixers twice each, and the Knicks once. The Knicks and Sixers still play each other twice as well. The only way the Lakers would be 100% guaranteed a top-five pick is if they finished with the worst or second-worst record in the third. At third from the bottom, their odds would still be high at 96.0%, but in their current fourth position, it's a less comfortable 83.8%.

Email Eric Pincus at eric.pincus@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @EricPincus.

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U.S. economic growth in fourth quarter revised down to 2.2%

Written By kolimtiga on Jumat, 27 Februari 2015 | 22.25

The U.S. economy slowed more sharply in the final three months of the year than initial estimates, reflecting weaker business stockpiling and a bigger trade deficit.

The Commerce Department said Friday that the economy as measured by the gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 2.2% in the October-December quarter, weaker than the 2.6% first estimated last month. It marked a major slowdown from the third quarter, which had been the strongest growth in 11 years.

Economists, however, remain optimistic that the deceleration was temporary. Many forecast that growth will rise above 3% in 2015, which would give the country the strongest economic growth in a decade. They say the job market has healed enough to generate strong consumer spending going forward.

The economy is "doing just fine," said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics, who noted that although GDP growth slowed in the fourth quarter, the U.S. added an average of 284,000 new jobs from October through December.

For all of 2014, the economy expanded 2.4%, up slightly from 2.2% growth in 2013.

Consumer spending, which accounts for 70% of economic activity, was a bright spot in the fourth quarter. It expanded at an annual rate of 4.2%, down slightly from the first estimate of 4.3% growth but still the best showing since the first quarter of 2006.

Friday's report was the second of three estimates for fourth quarter GDP, the broadest measure of the economy's total output of goods and services.

Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, said that "while the economy ended the year with less momentum than in the summer and fall, average annual growth of 2.9% in the past six quarters still denotes a meaningful upward shift from 2.1% in the first four years of the recovery."

The downward revision stemmed largely from slower stockpiling by businesses. Last month, the rise in inventories was estimated to have added 0.8%age points to fourth quarter growth. But that was lowered to a contribution of just 0.1%age point in the new estimate. The change, however, will likely translate into stronger growth in the current quarter because businesses will not have to work down an overhang of unsold goods.

Trade also weighed more heavily on growth than first thought, subtracting 1.2%age points as imports grew much more strongly than first thought. That could be a reflection of the rising value of the dollar, which makes imported products cheaper for U.S. consumers.

Many analysts believe 2015 will start slowly, in part reflecting the disruptions caused by a rough winter. However, it's unlikely to be as bad as the first quarter of 2014, when heavy snow and cold contributed to a 2.1% plunge in growth in the first quarter of 2014.

That big drop was followed by sizzling growth rates of 4.6% in the second quarter and 5% in the third quarter.

Analysts are looking for less of a roller-coaster ride this year. JPMorgan economists say growth will come in around 2.5% in the current quarter and then hover between 2.5% to 3% for the rest of the year. They are forecasting growth of 3.1% for the entire year, a significant improvement from the 2.4% growth seen in 2014.

If the forecast proves accurate, it would be the best GDP performance since the economy grew by 3.3% in 2005, two years before the beginning of worst economic downturn the country has experienced since the 1930s.

Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisers, is even more optimistic. He's forecasting economic growth of 3.5% this year.

Naroff and other economists believe the key to the economy shifting into a higher gear will be further improvements in the labor market, when stronger job gains leading to rising wage gains.

"I see 2015 as a really good year for consumer spending because of the wage gains," Naroff said.

Even though the recession ended nearly six years ago, wage growth has been weak as businesses were able to pay less with so many unemployed looking for jobs.

Several large companies have already signaled a willingness to pay more to retain workers. Retailers like TJX and The Gap, as well as the health insurer Aetna.

News last week that Wal-Mart, the nation's largest private employer, would also increase its minimum pay could be a sign that a tighter labor market are finally leading to increased wages, some analysts believe.

The unemployment has fallen to 5.7%.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, testifying to Congress this week, listed stronger wage growth as one of the elements the central bank is looking for before deciding to start raising interest rates. She said as long as wage gains remained weak and inflation low, the Fed was prepared to remain "patient" in moving to raise rates.

Many private economists believe the Fed's first move to increase its key rate, which has been near a record low of zero for six years, will not come until June at the earliest.

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Airfare: $297 round trip on United to Baltimore for spring

If Baltimore, a.k.a. Charm City, or the nation's capital figure into your travel plans this spring, here's a $297 round-trip fare, including all taxes and fees, to Baltimore, about 35 miles from downtown Washington. It's on United from LAX and requires a 21-day advance purchase.

Travel is for April 13 through June 5, but you must purchase this fare, which is subject to availability, by March 5.

Info: United, (800) 864-8331.

Source: Airfarewatchdog

Follow us on Twitter at @latimestravel.

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Guelaguetza's Bricia Lopez on the 'overwhelming happiness' of a James Beard award

It's hard for Bricia Lopez to keep from choking up when she talks about Guelaguetza, her family's landmark Oaxacan restaurant in Koreatown, being selected as one of the James Beard Foundation's America's Classics this year.

"I knew about this early on, but I couldn't say anything, but I'm finally able to tell people, and I've been calling and talking and crying all morning," Lopez says.

"It's just an overwhelming feeling of happiness. My dad has worked so hard. I'm starting to cry again right now. I feel very honored, but it's really joy for my dad. He retired a couple of years ago, but his dream continues to live on.

"He came here with a dream and worked so hard and his dream didn't die. His biggest dream all those years was for the restaurant to go on for his children. I just feel this immense sense of pride for being able to carry on for my dad and my mom who worked so hard, so hard."

The America's Classics award is designed to honor regional restaurants that, as the foundation says, are "distinguished by their timeless appeal, they serve quality food that reflects the character of their communities."

Also selected this year are Archie's Waeside in Le Mars, Iowa; the Beaumont Inn in Harrodsburg, Ky.; Sally Bell's Kitchen in Richmond, Va.; and Sevilla Restaurant in New York City. The awards will be presented at the Beard Foundation's annual extravaganza May 4 in Chicago.

In the foundation's citation, Guelaguetza is praised for being "the center of Oaxacan life in Los Angeles, and the setting for countless quinceañeras, weddings, and anniversaries. A sprawling restaurant located in Koreatown, it features live music on a bandstand every night. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, the restaurant draws both homesick Oaxacans and outlanders in search of honest Oaxacan foods.

"Bricia Lopez, one of the four children of Fernando Lopez and Maria de Jesus, now runs the restaurant along with her brother, Fernando Lopez Jr., and her sister Paulina Lopez," the Beard Foundation said. "They have added a mezcal bar and often bring in top producers from Mexico for seminars. The real star, however, remains the soulful Oaxacan food, including enfrijolados, tamales steamed in banana leaves with mole, bowls of goat stew, and big rounds of tlayudas, baked corn tortillas topped with semi-dried beef, Oaxacan cheese, and sometimes even grasshoppers."

The restaurant opened in a little storefront on 8th Street in 1994 – Fernando Lopez had been a street vendor for a year before that – and was an immediate success.

In reviewing the restaurant then, Times restaurant critic Jonathan Gold wrote: "At Guelaguetza you'll find the sort of Oaxacan dishes you've only read about in travel magazines, the dense, banana-leaf wrapped tamales filled with pungent mole, the unstuffed enchiladas sprinkled with cheese and bathed in a musky, red chile sauce …"

Now relocated a few blocks away in Koreatown, the restaurant has been a mainstay on his best restaurant lists ever since.

Lopez says her father, who retired to the little town of Mitla in Oaxaca two years ago, hasn't quite grasped the importance of the award. "I told him, 'Dad, it's like if you were an actor and you won an Oscar, that's how big it is.' But he still doesn't really understand."

But Bricia, who runs the restaurant with her brother Fernando Jr., certainly does. She's expecting her first child on April 4 -- and the Beard Awards will be May 4.

"I told it, 'Baby, you can't be late,'" she says. "I have to be free on May 4th and I'll only have 30 days to lose my baby weight."

Guelaguetza, 3014 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, (213) 427-0608, ilovemole.com

Are you a food geek? Follow me on Twitter @russ_parsons1

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Ronda Rousey headlines UFC 184 at Staples Center

Two years ago this week, Ronda Rousey made her Ultimate Fighting Championship debut, shrugging off opponent Liz Carmouche's early choke attempt and the challenge of making women's mixed martial arts fights relevant.

Rousey delivered her famed armbar submission before the first round was over, and she and the sport were on their way.

In a sign of her immense popularity, Rousey is once again the headliner Saturday night in the UFC 184 fight card at Staples Center. Rousey (10-0) defends her 135-pound women's bantamweight title in a stiff test against No. 1-ranked contender Cat Zingano (9-0)

The co-main event is also a women's fight, with former boxing champion Holly Holm making her UFC bantamweight debut against Raquel Pennington, who called this "a very monumental weekend for women's MMA."

Rousey called the female-heavy card a "wise investment" by the UFC, saying it's "a very reasonable possibility that I'll fight Holly down the line.

"The level of athletes coming to women's MMA provides a lot more interesting matchups than the men," Rousey said. "Holly's the first boxing champion seriously doing MMA. …

"It gets back to the roots of MMA, to see which discipline rules over the other."

Rousey's judo background and fierce drive — she was a 2008 Olympic judo bronze medalist — have served her well.

She has posted nine first-round victories. Her average fight time of 4 minutes, 17 seconds shatters the average length of a UFC bout, which is nearly 10 minutes. Rousey needed only 66 seconds to beat Sara McMann, a former Olympic silver medalist in wrestling, and 16 seconds to whip Alexis Davis in July.

Rousey, 28, admits, "It can't be just me, I need a dance partner," and foresees a far more complicated challenge from Zingano, 32.

"She has a calm I really haven't seen … given everything she's been through in her life outside of fighting. I really feel she's one of those people that is impossible to intimidate, so I don't even try," Rousey said.

Zingano has persevered through personal tragedy.

Her best fight was a third-round technical knockout of former title challenger Miesha Tate in April 2013.

Then her estranged husband, Mauricio Zingano, committed suicide in January 2014 at age 37, leaving Zingano to cope with the heartbreak, her recovery from a torn left knee ligament and the raising of her son.

Zingano returned to the octagon in September, stopping Amanda Nunes by strikes in the third round.

Now, she's close enough to envision a UFC belt being wrapped around her waist.

"It represents so much — a lot more than I can put to words," Zingano said. "It's a big deal. It's been a long road and didn't happen overnight for me. All these things — everything that's gone on — I just feel like there had to be something great that came from it."

Said Rousey: "She's the most well-rounded, strong-minded opponent I've ever faced. I've never gone to the ground with a Brazilian jiujitsu black belt before. Her first discipline is wrestling and everyone knows her for her striking."

Rousey's quick wins contrast with Zingano's tendency to start slow in her bouts. Not surprisingly, the champion is a 9-1 favorite, according to the MGM Resorts sports book in Las Vegas.

"I just want people to be on their feet every single time I'm out there," said Rousey, whose ring walk to Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation" is one of the sport's best moments. "They have no idea what's going to happen, but they know it's going to be great."

Rousey's fight comes at a time when the UFC is reeling after positive drug tests by some of its top fighters. Light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones tested positive for cocaine before his Jan. 3 bout, and former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva twice tested positive for steroids — once before and once after his Jan. 31 fight.

UFC said it will introduce by July a rigorous anti-doping strategy.

Rousey said she was left "heartbroken" by the Silva episode, but has emerged as the most significant UFC fighter pushing for reforms.

"You can't change your honor for the accolades of any accomplishment," Rousey said. "Someone can get hurt, someone can die. There is a limit to what someone can take. I'm so glad the UFC has finally realized … it's about preserving the sport."

Rousey, who is expected to earn more than $1 million for her bout Saturday, is satisfied with her pay. But she insists that other UFC fighters "should get paid more than the ring girls," a jab at model and UFC ring girl Arianny Celeste.

Rousey, though, beat Celeste to Sports Illustrated's swimsuit edition earlier this month in a spread photographed by legendary Walter Iooss Jr.

"I never wore makeup until I turned 21, because I was bartending and needed tips," Rousey said. "The agreement me and my mom came up with was that whatever you're not willing to show in public, you won't show in a magazine."

UFC 184

When: Saturday, pay-per-view card begins at 7 p.m.

Where: Staples Center.

Tickets: $124 and up.

Television: Pay-per-view, $49.95.

Fight card: Ronda Rousey (10-0) vs. Cat Zingano (9-0) for Rousey's bantamweight belt; Holly Holm (7-0) vs. Raquel Pennington, bantamweights; Jake Ellenberger (29-9) vs. Josh Koscheck (19-8), welterweights.

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Eleanor Marx led a revolutionary life with a tragic ending

The idea of Eleanor Marx is terribly attractive. Here was a young woman born in Victorian England, holding her own while living among some of the great intellectuals of her time — and ours. All those history books that depict the march of ideas and politics as the exclusive interests and provinces of men, leaving the Angels in their Houses? They ought to be revised to reckon with the likes of Eleanor Marx.

In a relatively short lifetime she managed to translate Flaubert, introduce literary London to "A Doll's House" and help birth a new union movement. Oh, right, and usher along the publication of her father Karl's masterwork, "Das Kapital." Then, just as Marx hit her 40s, she learned that the man whom she'd lived with for years, Edward Aveling, had gone and secretly married a young actress. Soon after, a devastated Marx committed suicide with chloroform and prussic acid.

All of that sets her up as the perfect subject for a lively, juicy biography. Yet somehow Rachel Holmes, in "Eleanor Marx: A Life," seems to feel the need to argue her subject into the scene. After declaring that "Eleanor Marx changed the world" in the book's opening sentence, Holmes continues on bombastically to bestow titles: "a revolutionary woman writer; a revolutionary woman, and a revolutionary." Possibly just one of those would have done.

To be fair, "revolutionary" is not the wrong word here. Marx (nicknamed Tussy, an endearment that Holmes uses herself to rather irritating effect) shared with her father a conviction that the current economic order had to be reversed. And as regards gender, her politics were not particularly subtle, either. Her most famous tract, published in the 1886 Westminster Review and co-written with the man who'd later betray her, is on "The Woman Question."

It is about as unequivocal as such writing gets: "The life of woman does not coincide with that of man. Their lives do not intersect; in many cases do not even touch. Hence the life of the race is stunted."

Careful and extensive though Holmes' research may be, it is often marshaled in support of pat statements like: "The narrative of Tussy's life begins to take shape like that of a feminist anti-heroine of the great Victorian novels." Perhaps, but rather than force Marx awkwardly into a paradigm, Holmes could have simply presented the facts.

High-flying social connections, direct involvement in politics, extensive self-dramatization: They are all there in the text of Marx's life. Beyond the clear connection to Marx and Engels, George Bernard Shaw and Havelock Ellis were good friends of hers. Her admiration of Flaubert and Ibsen shows how she was well connected to the artistic movements of the time. In politics, she was always found at the head of the socialist organizations, sometimes the only woman there.

On more personal matters Marx was so self-dramatizing that the book might've questioned this tendency rather than piling on more rhetoric. From the start she seems to have had a taste for martyrs; a list of favorite things, drawn up at age 10, lists Lady Jane Grey as a heroine. (Grey, you'll recall, was the intelligent, educated noblewoman who had her head chopped off for trying to usurp Mary Tudor.) Years later during a period of romantic turbulence, she begs writer Olive Schreiner for the salve of female friendship: "Write me a line in case I do not see you tomorrow or the next day. Just one line — say you love me."

Holmes uses these documents to get personal with Eleanor, but it can often be too much. She is of the school of biographers who believe their hours in the library have opened a wormhole right into their subject's head. Deep research is continually interrupted with personal remarks. For example, on Marx's surrender of her virginity to her first love: "She was not the sort of girl to lose it, as if by accident."

Except that in a way she was. What Holmes records here is a woman whose taste in men left something to be desired. From the start, for example, Marx's friends all hated Edward Aveling. He was selfish and boorish; he refused to divorce his first wife and "forgot" to tell Marx that she'd died till long afterward. Yet in a letter to Schreiner, Marx insists, "It was Edward who really brought out the feminine in me. I was irresistibly drawn to him."

This self-destructive approach to love, embedded in a woman of such fine intelligence, is a rich vein to mine in women's biography. It happens, in short, too often.

By the time the chloroform and prussic acid come out in Holmes' narrative there is a creepy, familiar cast to the story. By way of digesting the suicide in the epilogue, Holmes offers, "Death can help people discover who they are." Presumably she doesn't mean that it helps the dead person, but it isn't quite clear. Sadly, Holmes has not managed to help us discover who Eleanor Marx is, either, though it made me eager to read a less lead-footed biography.

Dean is at work on "Sharp," a forthcoming book about female intellectuals.

Eleanor Marx
A Life

Rachel Holmes
Bloomsbury: 528 pp., $35

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Stock market slips after weaker than expected growth in the U.S.

The stock market is opening slightly lower after the U.S. economy slowed more sharply than expected in the final three months of the year.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 15 points, or 0.1%, to 18,199 in early trading Friday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was flat at 2,110 and the Nasdaq slipped less than a point to 4,987.

The Commerce Department said the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 2.2% in the October-December quarter, weaker than the 2.6% first estimated last month. It marked a major slowdown from the third quarter, which had been the strongest growth in 11 years.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.02%.

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What the new net neutrality rules really mean for ISPs

Critics of the Federal Communications Commission's new net neutrality rules contend that they put the government in control of online content while burying Internet service providers under an avalanche of regulations that kill investment, raise prices and slow connection speeds.

"To paraphrase Ronald Reagan," said Commissioner Ajit Pai, who voted against the rules, "President Obama's plan to regulate the Internet isn't the solution to a problem. His plan is the problem."

Pai, one of two Republicans on the five-member commission, could just as accurately have called it "John Oliver's plan," given that Oliver helped pump up the demand from Internet users that the FCC take a tougher approach than Chairman Tom Wheeler initially proposed. But never mind his partisan framing, which is of a piece with Sen. Ted Cruz's "Obamacare for the Internet" formulation. Implicit in Pai's criticism is the notion that the FCC is trying to govern the Internet as a whole, and that's a more damaging bit of hyperbole.

Based on what the agency has said so far, it's clear that the new rules apply only to the on-ramp people use to connect to the Net, not the content flowing over it. They don't regulate the Internet, they regulate the companies that connect you to it.

The comparison to local phone companies is instructive. Over the course of the 20th century, the FCC and state utilities commissions used Title II of the Communications Act to apply a mountain of rules to the Ma Bell family and other local phone monopolies that regulated their prices, service areas and quality. But those rules never affected what people could say on the phone. To the extent that the content of those conversations was regulated -- for example, the "do not call" rules for telemarketers and the strictures on phone sex services -- those regulations stemmed from other laws, not Title II.

Similarly, the FCC is applying Title II only to "broadband Internet access services," not the sites, applications or services that people connect to through their broadband ISP. The agency is regulating the people who operate the communications equivalent of an essential toll road, not the vehicles or people traveling over it.

The caveat is that the commission hasn't released the text of its rules yet, a delay that Wheeler attributed to the need to incorporate and respond to the (stinging) dissents filed by Pai and his fellow Republican commissioner, Michael O'Rielly. Some critics contend that the new rules extend the FCC's regulatory reach to the sites and services that interconnect directly with broadband ISPs, such as Netflix and Akamai. The commission's summary, however, says that the interconnection rules apply to the ISPs' activities, not those of other players.

But what about the aforementioned mountain of Title II rules? Won't they crush ISPs?

In a word, no. The reclassification is prospective, not retrospective. Again, this is based on what the FCC has said about the rules, not the actual text that may still be evolving. But according to the agency, the commission formally waived ("forbearance" in FCC-speak) more than 700 existing Title II regulations so they wouldn't apply to ISPs, leaving in place a handful of procedural rules that apply to the filing of complaints.

The commission also has declared that numerous sections of Title II do not apply to ISPs, such as the ones that gave the commission the power to review a phone company's rates in advance. What it left in place were the fundamental requirements that a service's charges and practices be "just and reasonable" and that it not engage in any "unjust or unreasonable discrimination," along with rules governing the disclosure of personal information, access for the disabled and the ability to use utility poles.

Granted, the FCC could come up with additional rules based on the sections of Title II it did apply to ISPs. And future commissions could try to re-apply sections that this commission waived. But considering how hard-fought the neutrality rules have been (and continue to be), any attempt to impose more regulations would be an exceptionally tough slog.

Harold Feld, a communications law expert at Public Knowledge who supports the new rules, said the FCC's Republican critics argue that regulatory agencies are inherently untrustworthy, so Title II will inevitably be applied in a heavy-handed way. "They have been doing their best to crate an impression that there is something out there that is lurking that, no matter what anyone says or does, is just poison that is waiting to leap" onto ISPs, Feld said. "That's just silly."

Realistically, reclassification will have two main effects going forward. First, it provides a more solid legal foundation for the new net neutrality rules, including the prohibitions on ISPs blocking lawful content, throttling data streams and prioritizing traffic for a fee. And second, it allows consumers and online "edge providers" -- websites, online services and apps -- to bring complaints against ISPs based on the remaining sections of Title II and a new "general conduct standard" created by the commission.

The latter, according to the commission, says ISPs may not "unreasonably interfere with or unreasonably disadvantage" edge providers or consumers as they try to provide or use lawful content, applications, services or devices.

Although the general conduct standard relates to net neutrality, the reclassification exposes ISPs to complaints on other issues as well. In particular, it will make it easier for consumers to challenge their ISPs' prices, data caps, privacy policies and other terms of service. Under the new rule, those complaints can be taken either to the FCC or to federal court.

Of course, ISPs can (and often do) eliminate the threat of such complaints by requiring subscribers to take their beefs to arbitration, not to court. And even if a complaint about an ISP's prices makes it into court, Feld said, Supreme Court precedents require that the prices be presumed to be reasonable because the FCC no longer requires them to be approved in advance. "What constitutes reasonable is extraordinarily broad," he added.

In sum, the FCC isn't "regulating the Internet," and it's not taking a telephone book's worth of dictates from the 20th century and applying them to ISPs. It is exposing ISPs to more complaints, though. How it handles those will determine just how big a change the new regime will be from the old one.

Follow Healey's intermittent Twitter feed: @jcahealey

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After 67 years together, California couple dies while holding hands

A California couple married since 1947 died in Fresno earlier this month on the same day, while holding hands.

After Floyd Hartwig died, his wife Violet died five hours later. Their children told her that her husband was waiting for her, the Fresno Bee reports.

"They were dedicated to each other," daughter Donna Scharton told the news outlet. "It was meant to be this way."

Their children knew the couple were close to death and pushed their hospice beds together, gently putting their dad's hand in their mom's. Floyd died first, and then they told Violet that she could go too, that Floyd was waiting for her.

Floyd, 90, and Violet, 89, knew each other as children, growing up in Easton, on the outskirts of Fresno County. While Floyd, a decorated Navy sailor, was home on leave, he met Violet at a local dance hall. They married on Aug. 16, 1947.

While Floyd was serving overseas, he showered Violet with affection through love letters, his family told the Bee. Once home, Floyd and Violet raised three children and grew cotton and raised turkeys on their farm.

The couple was active until recently, their family said. Then in late January, Floyd's doctor gave him only a few weeks to live because of his failing kidneys.

Hospice beds were brought into their home, and the couple spent their remaining weeks together side by side.

Fox40 is a Tribune Broadcasting property.

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OneWest Bank takeover deal to be debated at hearing

Written By kolimtiga on Kamis, 26 Februari 2015 | 22.25

CIT Group's $3.4-billion takeover of Pasadena's OneWest Bank will come under scrutiny today at a public-benefit hearing called by U.S. bank regulators.

The Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency scheduled the hearing at the Fed's office on Grand Avenue at Olympic Boulevard in downtown Los Angeles.

Joseph Otting, chief executive of OneWest Bank, and John Thain, the CEO of CIT, a large commercial lender based in New York are scheduled to be the first to testify at 8:40 a.m.

Both firms have been controversial. OneWest was created from the remains of IndyMac Bank, a specialist in high-risk mortgages whose failure in 2008 cost the federal deposit insurance fund more than $13 billion.

The collapsed bank was taken over by a group of wealthy private investors, including hedge fund operator George Soros and Dell Computer mogul Michael Dell. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. agreed to shoulder billions of dollars in losses on the bank's soured mortgages to sweeten the deal.

CIT filed for bankruptcy after receiving a federal bailout in 2009 and, thus, avoided repaying nearly $2.3 billion in taxpayer assistance.

The merger would be the first since the financial crisis to create a bank with more than $50 billion in assets, the regulatory definition of a systemically important financial institution -- one whose failure could potentially jeopardize the banking system.

Critics said the merger would create a new "too big to fail" bank subsidized by "corporate welfare." They called on regulators to withold approval of the merger until the banks committed to higher levels of lending and other services for poor neighborhoods.

But supporters said they believed OneWest would fulfill pledges by Otting and Thain to earn an outstanding rating under the Community Reinvestment Act, which mandates that banks provide support for low- and moderate-income areas.

Testimony was scheduled from numerous members of each camp.

Follow @ScottReckard for news of banks and home loans.

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LeBron James upset his 10-year-old son is receiving college offers

LeBron James says he's happy to see his son following in his footsteps, but the Cleveland Cavaliers star isn't pleased that some college coaches are already recruiting the 10-year-old.

LeBron James Jr. has shown great promise at an early age, and garnered plenty of media attention last week when he led his team to victory at a prestigious youth basketball tournament. He also helped his team win the Amateur Athletic Union national championship last summer.

Those performances, coupled with star power that comes with being the son of LeBron James, has made him a recruiting target despite his age.

"Yeah, he's already got some offers from colleges," James told WWJ-TV in Detroit on Tuesday. "It's pretty crazy. It should be a violation. You shouldn't be recruiting 10-year-old kids."

In October, Ohio State Coach Thad Matta said he would be following the progress of LeBron James Jr. in the years ahead, but he didn't mention whether he plans to offer him a scholarship. It seems other coaches have taken their interest in the rising star a little too far.

Still, LeBron James said he's proud of what his son has accomplished.

"It's crazy, he plays just like I did," James said. "He has great awareness and he'd rather pass first and set guys up. Most kids nowadays just want to score."

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What we learned from the Ducks' 3-0 loss to Ottawa

The Ducks' somber tones after Wednesday's 3-0 loss to the average Ottawa Senators have to transform quickly into enthusiasm.

The Kings, who vanquished Anaheim in last season's playoffs, arrive at Honda Center on Friday riding an eight-game winning streak.

"They're playing as good as anybody," Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler said of L.A.

Ducks Coach Bruce Boudreau called his first-place team's showing against Ottawa "maddening" and predicted the same type of effort against the Kings will cause an even uglier outcome.

Yet, that's the conundrum with the Ducks, who are seeking consistency and want to avoid a roller-coaster ride of playing games to their opponents' caliber.

While losing seven of 10 games Jan. 29 through Feb. 18, Anaheim couldn't even do that, getting beat up by the playoff-bound likes of Chicago, Washington and Tampa Bay.

So now what against the archrival?

Takeaway No. 1: Learn the lesson.

Fowler hit the post on one shot in Wednesday's loss, but he hit the net in analyzing the symptom of defeat.

"The evidence is there for us," Fowler said. "When we get pucks to the net, normally there's a rebound, and we get second- and third-chance opportunities. That's how we score goals. We're a meat and potatoes-type of team. The second that we get away from that is when we're in trouble."

Takeaway No. 2: Eight shots in the second period, seven in the third, are uncharacteristic.

"You can't have an emotional game and then come back the next night and not play well," Ducks right wing Corey Perry said after his team-high five shots went for naught following Monday's thrilling comeback, shootout win over former Western Conference rival Detroit.

"It's something in here … you have to go out and perform each and every night. Last game's last game. You have to focus on the next one. Come playoff time, they're all going to be emotional, so you've got to be ready to handle that during the year."

Takeaway No. 3: In addition to increasing shots, the Ducks need to tighten up the precision of their line changes.

One bad switch set up a breakaway by former teammate Bobby Ryan.

"Not changing at the right time, spending too much time in our zone because we're not changing," Boudreau said. "Then, we get it out of our zone, we're dumping it in, so there's no forecheck, no offense. Then, the situation is repeated. We've got to get smarter at this, learn to change at the right times.

"We're playing, it seems, to the level of every team we play.

"It's not saying, 'Come on, please boys, let's do it.' Some guys have got to … it's an 82-game schedule."

Takeaway No. 4: Jiri Sekac's debut … .

It happened. He played 14 minutes, 35 seconds, delivering a hit and shot with some time on the first and second line. There were instances the newly acquired forward from the Montreal Canadiens flashed skill, but Boudreau classified it a transition game.

"Skilled player, it's got to be tough on him. He doesn't know the linemates, he'll be better once he gets a couple practices under his belt," Boudreau said.

Follow Lance Pugmire on Twitter @latimespugmire

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Watch: Discussion on raising moral kids without religion

Cheer up, secular parents: Despite the benefits often associated with being religious -- comfort in knowing there's an afterlife, easily accessible communities that can quickly come to our aid and more -- you can (and many of you do) raise smart, well-adjusted, moral children who contribute to society.

The was the message conveyed Wednesday by Pitzer College sociologist Phil Zuckerman, who stopped by The Times' headquarters to discuss with Patt Morrison his Jan. 14 Times Op-Ed article, "How secular family values stack up." That article, which cited research showing that secular children go on to exhibit positive behaviors and commit less crime than those who identify with a faith, touched a nerve with readers, generating hundreds of online comments and letters to the editor. More than a month after publication, Zuckerman's article continues to draw new readers and comments.

The reaction to the article touched on more than just parents raising nonreligious people -- or "nones," as Zuckerman calls them, who do not identify with particular religion but may in fact be spiritual (or not). Readers raised questions about the origins of morality -- where do atheists or agnostics get their sense of right and wrong if they do not believe in a celestial law-giver? -- and the implications for society of having a rapidly growing population of "nones."

Zuckerman and Morrison also took questions in real time from those who were watching Wednesday morning. Their talk started with the broad question of what it means to be secular -- Zuckerman answers, "At its most simple, 'secular' just means 'nonreligious'" -- and proceeded to address more specific concerns, including how atheist and agnostic parents celebrate religiously themed holidays such as Christmas and Easter.

As a nonreligious person -- and a father -- I found the conversation uplifting, but not just because Zuckerman confidently addressed concerns sometimes expressed by our more faithful friends. Zuckerman acknowledged the tangible benefits of belief, including the built-in support systems that communities of faith provide and the greater tendency of the religious to donate their time and money to charity. In so doing, he promoted a reconciliation between the faithful and nonfaithful, the latter of whom have been regarded as morally suspect in modern history (although less so most recently).

How did this go over with viewers? Were they moved to greater empathy for the other side? That remains to be seen, but early comments on the video (available in full above) indicate that some viewers are doing what people tend to do when it comes to faith and morality: dig in. One viewer, for example, had this to say while watching the video stream on YouTube:

"Even without reference to 'God,' most 'non-religious' parents in our culture still teach the same basic codes of ethics -- for now. But the ethics of a culture take time to erode, and thus any particular contemporary study purporting to demonstrate good outcomes of non-religious childrearing are necessarily short-sighted."

Of course, the conversation is ongoing, and as a secular father, I hope it doesn't stop here.

Follow Paul Thornton on Twitter @PaulMThornton

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One-bedroom condos on Maui starting at $189 for spring, early summer

Guests at six condo resorts in the upscale community of Wailea in south Maui could save as much as 30% on their accommodations in spring and early summer.

Additional specials can even include a free rental car.

Destination Resorts Hawaii is offering its E Komo Mai — Hawaiian for "welcome" — package April 1-June 30.

The least expensive accommodations are offered at Wailea Grand Champions, where one-bedroom villas with a garden view cost $189 a night with the special, down from the usual $270. Two-bedroom units with a golf course view drop to $249 from $356. All condos include full kitchens and private lanais.

At the other end of the spectrum: the luxurious Wailea Beach Villas, which get top marks from both Conde Nast Traveler and TripAdvisor. With the package, three-bedroom villas, each with its own plunge pool, rent for $1,099 a night.

Regardless of property, all guests booking the E Komo Mai package will receive $85 in dining certificates for Wailea restaurants, $70 in spa certificates and a card good for discounts at a local supermarket.

At Destination Hawaii's beachfront resorts, a free compact rental car is included for travel after April 5 for those booking two- or three-bedroom condos.

Info: Info: E Komo Mai, (800) 367-5246.

Follow us on Twitter at @latimestravel

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Americans have more positive view of Democrats, trust GOP on issues

As the two political parties begin to gear up for next year's presidential election, the public has a more positive general image of the Democrats but trust Republicans more on specifics, a newly released survey shows.

The survey released Thursday by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center suggests an important underlying dynamic for the presidential contest:

A Republican nominee may be able to count on a presumption that he or she will be able to handle major issues, but will be challenged on empathy and tolerance, as Mitt Romney was in 2012.

The Democratic nominee may be able to take those attributes for granted, at least to some extent, but will need to reassure the public about his or her abilities on managing issues.

Large segments of the public believe each party has strong principles. Asked if either has "good policy ideas," just over half say the Democrats do and just under half say Republicans do.

But the overall images of the parties differ markedly.

About six in 10 American adults say the Democratic party "cares about the middle class" and "is tolerant and open to all groups of people," the poll found.

By contrast, only about one-third of Americans say Republicans are tolerant and open to all, and just over four in 10 say they care about the middle class.

Half say the Republicans are too extreme, considerably more than the share -- just over one-third -- who say that about the Democrats.

But asked which party could "do a better job" on seven major issues, the public gives Republicans the edge on three and the Democrats on only one, the survey showed.

Republicans run ahead of Democrats on handling terrorism and taxes, two traditional areas of strength for them.

The poll also found a large Republican advantage on "making wise decisions about foreign policy."

That's the first significant advantage for the GOP on that question since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq soured the public more than a decade ago on the GOP's leadership overseas.

The GOP edge on foreign policy developed suddenly after a long period of rough parity between the parties on that subject, apparently reflecting a spate of foreign problems that have troubled the Obama administration in the last few months.

As recently as October, the two parties were even on foreign affairs in Pew's surveys. Now, the public prefers the GOP by 13 points, 48% to 35%.

Much of the shift has involved self-identified independents, who have moved toward the GOP on foreign policy since the October survey, the poll found.

Typically, a large percentage of independents do not follow news as closely as partisans on either side, and their opinions on major issues sometimes shift more slowly than those of more engaged voters.

The only issue on which the Democrats had a significant edge was handling healthcare, the poll found. Democrats have a 7-point margin on that issue, 47% to 40%.

The Democrats' advantage on healthcare persists even though a majority remain unimpressed with their signature achievement on the issue, the Affordable Care Act.

By 53%-45%, the public has a negative view of the law. On the other hand, by 50%-45%, Americans say they believe the law's major provisions are "probably here to stay."

Democrats and independents both say the law is probably permanent. Only among Republicans do a majority say that the law's major provisions "will probably be eliminated."

The public divides roughly evenly between the two parties on the three other issues tested -- handling the economy, immigration, and abortion and contraception, the poll found.

As with other surveys, the new poll found that President Obama's job approval has ticked up since last fall. The Pew survey shows 48% of the public approving the president's job performance and 46% disapproving.

Obama is considerably more popular than the leaders of the Republican Congress, who receive approval from 26%.

But asked who should "take the lead" in solving the nation's problems, the public is far more closely divided, with 40% saying Obama while 38% pick the GOP leaders.

That division has not changed significantly from the period around last November's mid-term election, which led to a Republican takeover of Congress and many statehouses around the country.

Part of the discrepancy between the answers to those two questions – popularity and which should lead -- comes about because the GOP leadership is relatively unpopular even within the GOP.

Only half of Republicans say they approve of the job that their congressional leaders are doing. By contrast, about two thirds of Democrats approve of their party's congressional leadership.

But those same Republicans who disapprove of the GOP leadership disapprove of Obama even more and are inclined to want the GOP to lead on issues.

The Pew survey was conducted last Feb. 18 through Sunday, questioning 1,504 adults by cellphone and landline. The findings have a margin of error of +/- 2.9 percentage points.

For more on politics and policy, follow @DavidLauter on Twitter.

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Kings pay high price for Andrej Sekera, but look for payoff in playoffs

After his players justified his faith in them by launching an eight-game winning streak that turned their season around, Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi felt compelled to reward their efforts.

What could he give them? Flowers wouldn't cut it. He went one better: He acquired mobile defenseman Andrej Sekera from Carolina, paying an admittedly high price but hopeful the trade will lead to a big payoff this spring.

The deal made sense on many levels -- and there were many levels to consider, including the team chemistry Lombardi prizes so highly and the increasing likelihood that suspended defenseman Slava Voynov will not return this season.

Players had dug their way this far out of a hole to get back into a playoff position, so Lombardi gave them a big, shiny shovel to help them reach the next step in their drive to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.

"The one thing about this team, I think from what they've accomplished the last three years and the way they appear to be responding here the last couple weeks, the players, I've always said, dictate a lot of what you do," Lombardi said Wednesday during a conference call with reporters. "Given what they've accomplished and the way they have responded here you say, 'Let's get aggressive and make this better, just as we expect them to make themselves better.'"

Lombardi gave up a first-round draft pick and defense prospect Roland McKeown, the 50th choice in last year's entry draft. The pick will go to Carolina this year if the Kings make the playoffs this season and would go to the Hurricanes next year if the Kings miss the playoffs this season.

Sekera can become an unrestricted free agent this summer and Lombardi said he had not discussed an extension with the Slovakian defenseman.

That means Sekera could be a rental player. But this was a move Lombardi had to make and Sekera, 28, probably was the best option available without surrendering roster players.

"Yes, it's a steep price, factoring through the things we had to analyze with Voynov and things," Lombardi said. "But it comes down to your players. Given how far they've gone the last few years and the way they responded to adversity, I think that lends itself to being more aggressive."

Defense has been a weak spot since Voynov, a top-four defenseman, was suspended by the NHL in October and later charged with a felony count of corporal injury to a spouse with great bodily injury. The absence of Alec Martinez, who suffered a concussion on Feb. 7 and remains out indefinitely, worsened the problem.

Though the Kings were inconsistent through much of the season they've recently righted themselves, finding the emotion, defensive discipline and solid goaltending they displayed during their 2012 and 2014 Cup runs but seemed to have lost in a haze of drudgery and fatigue.

"What they've accomplished and the way they keep fighting through, it's almost like you owe it to them," Lombardi said.

Voynov's trial was scheduled to begin Monday -- the day of the NHL trading deadline --but it might be moved back a week.

Even if he goes to trial and is found not guilty he faces an investigation by the NHL before he could resume his career. His $4.1-million salary cap hit isn't counting against the Kings' cap total but his return would put that amount back into the equation. That limits Lombardi's ability to take on a big salary.

Sekera, who has a cap hit of $2.75 million and was paired with Kings defenseman Robyn Regehr while both played for the Buffalo Sabres, fit the Kings' needs strategically and economically.

"No. 1, he's a competitive guy. We have no issues as far as him fitting in here with this group," Lombardi said. "No question he's going to be hungry. I think whenever you look at your back end, it's a mix-type thing…He's very mobile, and even though he's not big, he certainly competes. He's a smart player."

Lombardi, who recently re-signed Kyle Clifford and Jordan Nolan, said he's likely done dealing. "I don't see a lot," he said of the remaining market. "Certainly I would say at this point, unless there are some surprises, this is one of the better defensemen on the market."

With Sekera on board, with Clifford, Nolan, Dwight King and other young players developing nicely and injured left wing Tanner Pearson progressing well enough to possibly return late in the regular season, Lombardi feels comfortable with the mix he has created. It appears to be a good one.

Good enough for another Stanley Cup parade?

We won't know for a few months. But the cost for Sekera was reasonable enough for Lombardi to take the chance that his team's recent rebound will continue long enough to reward both him and them with a championship.

Follow Helene Elliott on Twitter @helenenothelen

22.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

2 spectators killed, 1 injured at Chatsworth street race, police say

Two spectators were killed and a third seriously injured in Chatsworth early Thursday when a Ford Mustang racing another vehicle lost control and plowed into the crowd, Los Angeles police said.

The collision occurred after 2 a.m. in an area known for street racing near Canoga Avenue and Plummer Street, LAPD Capt. John McMahon told reporters at the scene. According to witnesses, the Mustang was racing a second vehicle when the driver lost control and plowed into three spectators, McMahon said.

The Mustang driver ditched his crumpled car on the south side of Canoga Avenue and hasn't been found. One victim died at the scene and a second died at the hospital, McMahon said. The third victim was listed in serious condition, he said.

The area near the crash remained closed after sunrise Thursday. Investigators were combing the scene for physical evidence, which included two long streaks of skid marks. Video of the area showed other, older skid marks forming circles swirling the streets.

"Street racing is often publicized as glamour entertainment but here it is, it's criminal and unfortunate and this morning … we see all too often it has deadly consequences," McMahon said.

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna.

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Metrolink train crash: Truck driver set to appear in court

Written By kolimtiga on Rabu, 25 Februari 2015 | 22.25

A pickup truck driver under investigation in Tuesday's Metrolink crash in Oxnard will be in court Thursday. He was booked on suspicion of felony hit-and-run in the collision that injured 28 people, four of them critically.

Early reports suggested that Jose Alejandro Sanchez-Ramirez's truck got stuck at a crossing before Tuesday's crash, but a National Transportation Safety Board member said it appeared that the driver had been traveling down the tracks just before the collision.

"It was not stuck, it was not bottomed out on the track or something like that," Robert Sumwalt, the NTSB member, told reporters Tuesday night.

Several hours earlier, Oxnard police had said Sanchez-Ramirez, 54, of Yuma, Ariz., was attempting to turn his 2005 Ford F-450 onto 5th Street when he instead pulled onto the railroad tracks and became stuck. The truck was pulling a trailer carrying equipment including welding tools.

The five-car Metrolink train was bound for downtown Los Angeles when it derailed at 5:42 a.m. There were no fatalities, but 28 of the 50 people involved were taken to hospitals with minor to critical injuries.

Police said they found Sanchez-Ramirez about a mile and a half from the crash scene and arrested him on suspicion of felony hit-and-run involving multiple injuries.

Authorities said they were still trying to figure out why he was on the tracks.

Sanchez-Ramirez is being held in lieu of $150,000 bail.

The collision occurred about 80 feet west of the grade crossing where vehicles pass over the tracks, Sumwalt said, suggesting that the truck driver had driven his vehicle along some length of the tracks.

"We're very concerned about that; we're very interested in it," Sumwalt said.

The impact of the crash sent the truck across the grade crossing, pushing it about 300 feet.

The train was traveling at 79 mph when the engineer saw the truck on the tracks at 5th Street and Rice Avenue, authorities said. He pulled the emergency brake seconds before the collision, they said.

The crash sent three of the Metrolink train's cars spilling onto the nearby gravel and the adjacent street. At least four people were critically injured, including the engineer, officials said.

In recent years, Metrolink has replaced almost its entire fleet of passenger cars with Rotem coaches, considered the state of the art in safety. The cars have crush zones, breakaway tables, improved emergency exits and seating arrangements that can reduce the risk of passengers being thrown into fixtures or each other in an accident.

The new passenger cars performed well in Tuesday's crash, officials said.

"The injuries came from people being tossed around," said Keith Millhouse, mayor pro tem of Moorpark in Ventura County and a Metrolink board member. "The Rotem cars received very minor damage. They performed the way they should in terms of collision absorption. This could have been tremendously worse without them."

Tuesday's crash, however, is the fourth accident involving Metrolink trains that were pushed by locomotives from behind and controlled from the front by a lighter cab car, a passenger coach with an engineer's station.

The practice, which is commonly used by commuter railroads, has been controversial. Some safety experts say that heavier locomotives might have a lower risk of derailment in crashes with motor vehicles on the tracks.

For breaking news in California, follow @Laura_Nelson, @MattHjourno, and @CMaiDuc

7:03 a.m.: This post has been updated with information on truck driver's court date.

This post was originally published at 6:24 a.m.

22.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

As Clippers' general manager, Doc Rivers is a very good coach

Doc Rivers is among the top coaches in the NBA. He also maneuvered the Clippers through the Donald Sterling fiasco so masterfully that he could fetch millions on the crisis management lecture circuit.

That makes him two for three running the basketball side of his team.

His failure has come in his other job — as the Clippers president of basketball operations.

As the front office boss, Rivers has fallen short in his efforts to upgrade at small forward, bolster his bench and draft a rotation player in the first round. His best signing, backup point guard Darren Collison, was a player Rivers couldn't re-sign last summer after committing four years and $23 million to free-agent forward Spencer Hawes, who has made a negligible impact this season.

Rivers did manage to trade for his son Austin last month, which prompted snickers throughout the league.

"I'll let you do all the judging," Rivers said recently when asked to assess the job he had done controlling his team's personnel moves.

OK, here goes: The best grade you could give Rivers for his roster management is an incomplete. Some observers think not enough time has passed to evaluate the work Rivers has done tweaking the margins of a roster that included All-Stars Chris Paul and Blake Griffin in addition to fledgling star DeAndre Jordan and top sub Jamal Crawford before Rivers' arrival in the summer of 2013.

"Three, possibly four years, then we can look back at it," said legendary shooting guard Reggie Miller, now an analyst for TNT. "Let's see what they do in this year's playoffs and what he does in the summer and in the draft and how this team is performing next year."

Sorry to disagree with a Hall of Famer, but Rivers has had two free-agency periods, two drafts and two trade deadlines to make his team better. Has he?

The top four bench players have gone from Crawford, Eric Bledsoe, Lamar Odom and Matt Barnes to Crawford, Austin Rivers, Hawes and Glen Davis. Barnes is now a starter alongside J.J. Redick, the shooting guard Doc Rivers acquired as part of the trade that sent Bledsoe to Phoenix in July 2013.

Redick has unquestionably improved the Clippers with his perpetual movement and three-point shooting, but the other player who came with him in the deal, forward Jared Dudley, was such a dud in one injury-plagued season that Rivers had to package a first-round draft pick with him just to persuade Milwaukee to take Dudley last summer.

And guess what? Dudley is now playing well for the Bucks and the Clippers don't have any first-round draft picks to trade before 2019, one of the primary reasons they were unable to make any moves at the trade deadline last week.

Barnes' presence as a starter is a constant reminder of one nagging deficiency Rivers has been unable to address. His efforts to convince Inglewood High graduate Paul Pierce to come home last summer fell so flat you would have thought Rivers told his former player the Clippers played their home games at the Forum.

"That would have resolved a lot of problems," Miller said of Pierce joining the Clippers instead of the Washington Wizards. "They have to get better at the small forward position."

Instead the Clippers have Barnes and went more than a month without a true backup at the position before the team Tuesday signed former Compton Dominguez High star Jordan Hamilton to a 10-day contract.

Rivers likes to grouse about the Clippers' lack of assets and their proximity to the league's hard salary cap, which limits the amount of salary the team can take back in trades. Those are valid points. The Clippers traded Dudley primarily to clear enough cap space just to complete their roster with minimum-salaried players.

But Rivers signed enough busts last summer to fill a wing of the Smithsonian. Backup point guard Jordan Farmar will finish his season in Turkey after being waived last month, forward Chris Douglas-Roberts was dispatched as part of the Austin Rivers trade, center Ekpe Udoh rarely plays and forward Hedo Turkoglu has made a marginal impact.

The only quality signing has been Davis, whose energy has contributed to several victories

Rivers and longtime lieutenants Dave Wohl and Kevin Eastman, who accompanied him from Boston, need to foster a more creative approach to complementing one of the NBA's best core rosters. They don't have to go all Moneyball like Houston General Manager Daryl Morey, who covets second-round draft picks and flips players like they're pancakes at IHOP, but the Clippers' most recent moves have been uninspired, unless you consider signing a head cheerleader in guard Dahntay Jones to be worthwhile.

Rivers has said he wanted to foster a working relationship with his underlings like San Antonio's Gregg Popovich and R.C. Buford, the coach and general manager who have collaborated to make savvy draft choices and redefine the value of international scouting.

So far under the Rivers regime, the Clippers' first-round draft picks have been Reggie Bullock and C.J. Wilcox. You are forgiven for asking, "Who?" Bullock played sporadically and has already been traded to Phoenix. Wilcox may end up logging more time in the Development League this season than with the Clippers.

If nothing else, Wohl and Eastman don't appear to be yes men. The executives pushed Rivers to make the trade for his son despite his initial hesitancy. Austin Rivers has been serviceable as the backup to Paul, but he's not going to remind anyone of Collison or Bledsoe.

Ultimately, the Clippers will be judged on the moves they make on the court once the playoffs start. Rivers keeps saying he likes his team.

"I'm not a big believer in change unless you need it," he said of keeping his roster intact at the trade deadline. "I would love to have added some players, I think everybody would, but … I like our team."

The thing is, the team worth liking is largely the one that was here before Rivers' arrival.

Follow Ben Bolch on Twitter @latbbolch

22.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

What we learned from the Kings' 1-0 win over Detroit

Indoors and outdoors. Home and road. The Kings are winning low-scoring games and higher-scoring games. It all adds up to an eight-game winning streak, and there were a few takeaways from the Kings' 1-0 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night at Staples Center.

Special teams stayed special

The Red Wings were frustrated by the Kings' penalty-killing prowess, and they are hardly the only ones. The Kings have killed off their last 20 penalties, dating back to the second period against the Calgary Flames on Feb. 12.

Detroit went 0 for 5 against the Kings, whose only goal came on the power play.

"The PK was great," said Kings goalie Jonathan Quick. "They have one of the top power plays in the league and we really cut down their chances. They had about four or five power plays, so that says a lot about our group.

"We took away their time and space."

Said Detroit Coach Mike Babcock: "They were real good. They kept us on the walls. We got a couple of chances but our best one was with Gus [Nyquist], but we were unable to capitalize on it."

Quick, again, is adept at handling heavy workload

Quick recorded his fourth shutout of the season and the 35th of his career. He has been the consistent force during the Kings' eight-game winning streak, in goal for all eight of those victories.

In fact, the last time backup Martin Jones got any playing time at all was more than a month ago, on Jan. 14 against the New Jersey Devils. Jones might reappear on Thursday against Ottawa or against the Ducks on Friday. Quick was named the league's No. 1 star for the week on Monday.

"It just feels like some nights, you look at [Quick], and you look at the saves he makes and you think, he's not letting anyone score tonight," said Kings right wing Justin Williams, who had the only goal on Tuesday.

"He's been a rock certainly throughout this winning streak and he'll continue to be."

Long climb back gets Kings into playoff race

One of the lower points of the season has been the late stumble in a 3-2 loss to Florida on Feb. 5. Heading into that game, the Kings were five points out of a wild-card playoff spot.

They haven't lost since then and are now in third place in the Pacific Division, jumping past the likes of Calgary and San Jose and trail the second-place Vancouver Canucks by three points.

"You win, you win two, you feel a little bit more confident again," Kings center Anze Kopitar said. "We knew just because we were in the position we were before, a streak like this would pull us out of that hole.

"Now we broke even, but now we've got to keep going like this."

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Ex-USC receiver George Farmer participates in NFL regional combine

Former USC receiver George Farmer was not invited to the NFL scouting combine last week in Indianapolis, but he participated in an NFL regional combine at the Denver Broncos facility in Englewood, Colo.

"I'm a competitor," Farmer told the NFL Network. "Of course I wanted to be in Indianapolis, but I'm blessed to be here to showcase my skills."

Farmer, 6-foot-1 and 220 pounds, declared for the NFL draft with a season of eligibility remaining.

The former Gardena Serra High standout caught 25 passes, four for touchdowns, last season at USC.

He was slowed or sidelined by injuries his freshman and sophomore seasons and was sidelined in 2013 after knee surgery.

"I definitely think the adversity I've overcome in the last four years has built me to be who I am now," Farmer said.

USC's Pro Day is March 11.

Question about USC? Email me at LNThiry@gmail.com or tweet @LindseyThiry and I will respond to select messages in a weekly USC Now mailbag

22.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

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