More Saudi Arabians studying in the U.S.

At first glance, the Facebook photo doesn't look like a USC alumni gathering: No cardinal and gold in sight, not a single Tommy Trojan to be found.

But, on closer inspection, it's apparent that half of the smiling men are flashing the Trojan "victory" sign.

"At USC, you quickly develop a sense of pride being a top university," said Bahjat Zayed, the past president of the 120-member USC Alumni Club of Arabia, one of the university's fastest growing graduate groups.

The club is one sign of the rapid rise of Saudi Arabians studying in the United States. Those numbers fell dramatically after the Sept. 11 attacks; the number of Saudi students dropped by almost a quarter in 2002 and continued to fall for the next two years.

But the numbers have grown steadily since 2005 and doubled from the 2010 to 2012 academic years, according to a recent survey. The number of Saudi students in the U.S. last year grew to 44,566 — a nearly 30% increase from 2011.

The country ranked behind only China, India and South Korea in the number of students studying in U.S. colleges and universities.

Experts say the change is largely fueled by a new Saudi Arabian scholarship program that encourages students to study abroad. Other countries have adopted similar programs. Of the four nations that made the biggest percentage gains in the recent survey, Kuwait and Brazil also offered government-sponsored scholarship programs.

"Countries that are trying to leap from their population into a 21st century economy need to do that very rapidly and they don't have the capacity in their own universities," said Peggy Blumenthal, senior counselor to the president of the Institute of International Education, which conducted the recent survey in partnership with the U.S. State Department.

When King Abdullah assumed the Saudi Arabian crown in 2005, he began to emphasize science education and foreign travel as a way to modernize the country. The scholarship program offers qualified students free tuition, travel funding and expenses, according to media reports and students, and has made it possible for middle-class students to go abroad.

Traditionally, only children from wealthy Saudi families moved out of the country for college. Osama bin Laden's father, a billionaire construction magnate, sent more than a quarter of his 54 children to study in America and other foreign countries, according to "The Bin Ladens," a history of the family.

The government requires females to be accompanied by a male relative, although many students say that compliance is not strictly enforced.

Officials with the Saudi Arabian Cultural Ministry, which oversees the scholarship program in the United States, did not return calls for comment.

Several Saudi students studying in the U.S. said it would have been difficult for them to do so without the financial assistance.

Public U.S. colleges prize foreign students, especially during tough economic times, because they pay more in tuition than American citizens.

Reem Alattas grew up in western Saudi Arabia and enjoyed studying cognitive science, which examines brain processes, but knew that no colleges in Saudi Arabia offered programs in it.

The daughter of an aviation engineer, Alattas thought it would be difficult for her family to afford to send her overseas to study and she assumed she would stay in Saudi Arabia.

But she heard of other students who had received financial aid to study abroad. Her parents, who had studied in the United States during college, encouraged her to apply.

She received a scholarship but did not apply to U.S. schools right away. Like many of her classmates, Alattas went to a college prep program at Virginia Tech for a year after high school. She lived in an apartment with other Saudi students while improving her English and also took the SAT and other college admissions tests.

Alattas decided to go to UC Berkeley, where she is now a sophomore and intends on majoring in cognitive science. "I like that it's very diverse and multicultural and that people are not afraid to identify themselves," Alattas said. "It's a very intellectual place."

One of Alattas' Virginia Tech classmates, Noura Islam, chose UC Irvine for its engineering program and because "I'm a beach person," she said.

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Costa Mesa council to revisit rules of public comments at meetings

If you want to address the Costa Mesa City Council about something that's not on the night's agenda, you might have a long wait.

Negative reaction, primarily from City Hall regulars, has grown since the quiet implementation a few weeks ago of Mayor Jim Righeimer's adjusted process for hearing public comments.

Now, instead of an unlimited number of people awaiting a turn at the lectern at the beginning of the council meeting, only 10 randomly chosen speakers will be allowed the standard three minutes to talk.

The remaining members of the public can have their say hours later, after the public hearings and other matters are finished, which at some sessions can be as late as midnight.

The city has also resurrected a policy of having speakers put their names and addresses on cards before they go to the podium.

Although the mayor and his supporters say shortening public comments at the beginning of the council meeting will help speed up decision-making on city business, others contend that the changes are squelching residents' ability to air their views by forcing them to wait for hours for the chance to speak.

After the concerns about the policy were brought up during the Nov. 19 council session, city officials decided to reexamine the issue, possibly as soon as the panel's Dec. 3 meeting. The changes may be made official via a resolution or majority vote of the council.

Righeimer said his policy "will give more balance to make sure things stay on track." He wants to see public hearings and council decisions come earlier in the evening and not be pushed back because of public comments.

He said the council has "to balance out speech for everybody," which includes those talking about general topics and those who are there to speak up on specific items on the agenda.

The latter speakers, Righeimer said, sometimes unfairly have to wait hours before they get their chance.

"We want to make sure that people don't have to wait until 11 or 12 o'clock at night for an item to be voted on," he said, adding that "everyone who comes, who wants to speak, will have a time to speak."

During the Nov. 5 council meeting, Councilwoman Sandy Genis said she was skeptical of the notion that the public comments make the meetings drag on.

She said her calculations showed that the council's own commenting period, more often than not, takes up more time than the public's. She also noted that people are not legally required to give their names or addresses on the cards in order to speak.

"I don't think that the meetings are being delayed by the public," Genis said in a follow-up interview. "After all, who's ultimately in charge here? The people. At least, they're supposed to be."

Robin Leffler, president of Costa Mesans for Responsible Government, said she was appalled by the changes.

"To me, it's a clear-cut effort to minimize input from the public," she said.

During the Nov. 19 council meeting, Councilwoman Wendy Leece read the 1st Amendment and said the changes make it "extremely difficult" for residents to fulfill their constitutional rights of free speech.

In March 2012, then-Mayor Eric Bever suggested moving the entire public comment portion toward the end of the meeting in an effort to improve alleged bad behavior.

The council, Bever included, ended up voting against the idea — a move the audience applauded.

bradley.zint@latimes.com

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Elephant who killed veterinarian settles into San Diego Zoo

SAN DIEGO — Jenny Chung is looking at the elephant that killed her sister, a well-known veterinarian in New Zealand who devoted years to the elephant's care after she was rescued from a touring circus.

Chung has no anger toward Mila, the 7,600-pound African elephant with thoughtful eyes, stubby tusks, and hair on her back that turns reddish from "dirt baths."

"She never meant to hurt Helen, I'm convinced of that," Chung said. "She's lovely and she deserves to live like an elephant."

Helen Schofield, 42, a veterinarian and operator of an eight-acre zoo south of Auckland, was killed by Mila on April 25, 2012. Horrified visitors watched helplessly.

Frightened after brushing against an electric security wire, Mila used her powerful trunk to grab and squeeze Schofield and lift her into the air. Schofield had entered Mila's enclosure to give her some fruit, but tripped on the way out.

A coroner's investigation later branded the death as the result of an accident, not an attack. A witness told reporters that Mila seemed to be trying to protect, not harm, Schofield.

After Schofield's death, trustees at the Franklin Zoo decided to close the facility and disperse its animals. Mila was a problem given her size, notoriety and the rarity of elephants in the zoos of New Zealand and Australia.

With regional options unavailable, and euthanasia being discussed, a deal was struck to airlift Mila from Auckland to Los Angeles, then drive her to the San Diego Zoo. Amid a cloak of secrecy, the truck carrying Mila arrived Nov. 14.

Under standard orders from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Mila was immediately quarantined until tests show she is free of tuberculosis, a common elephant ailment.

Initial indications are that Mila has none of the foot problems that often plague elephants and did not suffer any ill effects from the 12-hour flight or the slow drive down Interstate 5.

Chung and nine other New Zealanders, all wearing "Team Mila" jackets, arrived with the pachyderm and are at the San Diego Zoo's elephant center each day.

"Hello, Mila," Chung said as the elephant lumbered into view behind the thick glass and iron bars of her quarantine enclosure. "We're here for you."

While taking in an elephant that killed its keeper is new for the San Diego Zoo, taking in elephants with medical problems or facing the loss of their home zoo is not. The zoo's Prebys Elephant Care Center, opened in 2009, has served as a rescue location for elephants from Texas and Tucson.

Counting Mila, the 2.5-acre center has seven elephants: three Africans and four Asian. Two other elephants — Jewel and Tina — were rescued from an owner in Texas, nursed back to health and then transferred to the Los Angeles Zoo.

The goal for Mila, once the quarantine is lifted, is to introduce her to the other elephants in the herd and allow her to go on public exhibit. The timing is uncertain, depending on Mila's progress.

"It will be up to Mila," said Scott Morford, the zoo's senior elephant keeper.

Born in Africa nearly 40 years ago, Mila was captured at an early age.

Records indicate she was on display at the London Zoo and the Honolulu Zoo and then for 30 years was the star attraction of a traveling circus in New Zealand, under the name "Jumbo."

When Mila needed a home in 2009, Schofield was eager. Although she had never worked with elephants, she became a self-taught elephant expert. In the early months, after Mila's arrival, Schofield slept just outside the enclosure, to give Mila a sense of security.

In America, the management technique known as "protected contact" is the standard, adopted after a series of deaths, including that of a keeper at the zoo's Wild Animal Park in 1991.

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Vacant seats? Let the governor fill 'em

SACRAMENTO — Senate leader Darrell Steinberg says he has seen enough. He wants to rid California of incessant special elections to fill vacancies in the Legislature.

The elections interrupt the legislative process, he asserts, and they bleed local taxpayers — roughly $1 million each time some lawmaker jumps ship, which has been increasingly often.

Let the governor fill vacant seats and be done with it, the Sacramento Democrat contends.

Amen.

If it were possible, I'd order lawmakers to stop the music, grab a seat and stay put. This musical chairs game is too expensive for the adults, the taxpayers. No more switching offices in midterm.

But forbidding politicians to run for another office is probably unconstitutional. So if they do bail in midterm, just let the governor choose their replacement.

Like the governor is allowed to do when there's a vacancy in a statewide office. Or when there's an opening on a county board of supervisors. Or a U.S. senator quits or dies.

If there's a vacant seat in the U.S. House delegation, the U.S. Constitution decrees that there must be a special election. But there's no such federal mandate for replacing a state legislator. Only a state law.

"The cost of these special elections and the delays for months at a time compels us to look at different ways to fill the vacancies," Steinberg says. "It would be much better to have the governor make the appointment."

Count up the legislative defections in the past year alone: There have been 10.

The latest is Sen. Bill Emmerson (R-Hemet), who's departing Sacramento because his "passion has waned" for legislating.

So there'll be a special election to replace him. Riverside and San Bernardino counties estimate it will cost residents $1.1 million

There was one special election last week in the San Fernando Valley to replace former Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield, who jumped to the Los Angeles City Council.

The heavily favored Democratic candidate, Matt Dababneh, barely beat the underdog Republican, although Dems enjoy a 2-to-1 registration advantage. The close race probably resulted from a very low voter turnout — less than 12% — which usually helps Republicans and is habitual with special elections.

That's another reason to junk them: Few voters even bother to participate.

There'll also be a special election Dec. 3 in Los Angeles to replace former Democratic Assemblywoman Holly Mitchell, who was elected to the Senate in a Sept. 17 special.

That's a common scenario: A senator — such as Democrat Curren Price — wins an L.A. City Council seat, where the $180,000 pay is nearly double the Legislature's. Then there's a special election — won by Mitchell — to fill the Senate vacancy. And that forces the Assembly special.

Another popular move: A state senator captures a U.S. House seat. Then an Assembly member fills the Senate vacancy. And yet another special election is called to plug the Assembly opening.

It's not only costly but also confusing.

A big plus for a politician playing this type of musical chairs is he can run for another seat without giving up his current one, unless he wins. That's called a free ride.

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Rulings on jail terms inconsistent after changes to three-strikes law

After nearly two decades behind bars, Mark Anthony White saw a chance for freedom last year when California voters softened the state's tough three-strikes law.

Within weeks of the election, White asked a judge to reduce his 25-years-to-life sentence under the ballot measure, which allows most inmates serving life terms for relatively minor third strikes to seek more lenient sentences.

White would have walked free if his request had been granted. But a San Diego County judge refused to reduce White's sentence. The judge ruled that the 54-year-old prisoner's last crime, being a felon in possession of a firearm, made him ineligible for a lighter punishment.

A year after state voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 36, judges around the state are handing down conflicting decisions on whether prisoners given life terms for gun possession can qualify for shorter sentences.

The ballot measure specifically excluded prisoners whose third strikes were either violent or serious, or who during the commission of their last crime were armed with a firearm or deadly weapon.

Whether someone convicted of simply possessing a firearm was in fact armed during the commission of a crime is a more complicated legal question than it might appear. The answer could mean the difference between freedom and life in prison for more than 280 third-strikers across the state. In Los Angeles County, about 120 prisoners are waiting for the legal wrangling over the issue to be resolved.

White has appealed the decision denying his request for a shorter sentence, and his case appears to be the first in which an appeals court could address the issue head on.

In Los Angeles, Superior Court Judge William C. Ryan, who is handling all of the county's resentencing requests, said he is waiting to make a decision in his cases until a three-judge panel of the state's fourth appellate district issues an opinion in White's appeal.

"This is a legal issue that will get settled, and we can then move these cases forward," Ryan said.

While possessing a firearm is legal for most people, convicted felons are not allowed to have firearms under California law, and being caught with a gun is a felony.

Mike Reynolds, whose daughter's 1992 murder led him to spearhead the creation of the three-strikes law, said he fears Proposition 36 will allow prisoners with such third strikes to obtain reduced sentences.

"The vast majority of people would agree that [White] is the kind of guy who does not deserve to be on the streets," said Reynolds, who campaigned against last year's reform initiative.

But attorney Michael Romano, who helped write the ballot measure, noted that White will not automatically win release if the courts decide that prisoners like him are eligible to ask for shorter sentences under Proposition 36. The initiative requires judges to evaluate every third-striker who asks to be resentenced and reject requests from anyone who poses an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety.

Romano said the courts should not exclude prisoners based only on the fact that their third strikes were for firearms possession.

"If they're not a threat to public safety, they should be released," said Romano, who heads Stanford Law School's Three Strikes Project.

In Kern County, Deputy Public Defender Amanda Moceri said, two judges rejected requests to resentence prisoners serving life sentences under three-strikes for simple gun possession. But a third judge ruled last month in favor of one of Moceri's clients.

Moceri argued that being in possession of a firearm is not necessarily the same as being armed. Keeping a firearm in storage, for example, or giving a gun to a friend for safekeeping can be considered weapon possession. To be considered legally armed, however, someone must have a weapon readily available while committing another type of crime, such as theft or assault, Moceri said.

The lawyer successfully argued that although a jury found her client Rumaldo Barboza guilty of possessing a firearm, jurors were never asked to decide whether he was legally armed. The judge agreed and, after concluding that Barboza was not a danger to the public, reduced his 25-years-to-life sentence to six years, Moceri said.

A judge in Santa Clara County made a similar ruling in June, concluding that being a felon in possession of a firearm is not enough to disqualify a third-striker from a shorter sentence under Proposition 36.

In White's case, however, San Diego County Superior Court Judge David J. Danielsen concluded that felons caught with firearms were the sort of dangerous offenders Proposition 36 meant to keep behind bars.

Prosecutors described White as a member of the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang. On March 29, 1995, El Cajon police went to his home after an informant reported seeing White transport a large amount of methamphetamine, according to court records.

Police said they saw White holding an object under a cloth as he walked to his truck. After seeing the officers, White ran and threw the object into his truck, police said. They said they recovered a loaded Taurus .357 revolver. White's previous convictions included three separate strikes: robbery, burglary and assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer.

At a special appeals hearing in White's case this month at Brawley Union High School, Deputy Atty. Gen. Warren Williams argued that offenders convicted of gun possession should be excluded from Proposition 36 if judges determine that the weapon was on them or immediately available to them at the time of the crime.

White's lawyer said his client insisted he was no longer a member of the Hell's Angels when he was arrested and had the gun to protect himself from the gang, which had threatened him. Attorney Richard Jay Moller argued that judges should be given the chance to decide whether third-strikers like White — whom he described as a model inmate — pose a danger to the public today and release those who do not.

A decision in White's case is expected within three months.

jack.leonard@latimes.com

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Program aims to get parents on their children's academic team

When Carmina Rosas visited her son's first-grade classroom, she got a lesson of her own.

She learned that her 6-year-old, who attends New Open World Academy in Koreatown, could read 59 of the 96 "high-frequency" words he should have known by that time in the school year.

She found out that to remain at grade level, her boy would need to know nearly three times as many words by the end of the year. To help him stay on track, Rosas was taught reading games they could play together. And, she received a personal homework assignment: to help her son reach 160 words in the next couple of months.

This was no ordinary parent-teacher conference. For one thing, the 20 or so parents met as a group with teacher Bianca Sanchez. For another, Sanchez discussed students' performance data and then taught the parents skills to help their children at home. It's called Academic Parent Teacher Teams, a program aimed at helping parents take a more active role in their children's education.

Rosas listened intently on a recent afternoon as Sanchez explained in Spanish that the success of children relied heavily on their parents' efforts.

"You may think that you can't help — but you can," Sanchez told the mothers and fathers present. "Our goal is to support our children. You can help them succeed."

Developed in 2009 by Maria Paredes of WestEd, a San Francisco education research group, the new approach to the conventional parent-teacher conference attempts to guide parents to work with clear goals to increase achievement. Parents meet with teachers every 60 days to discuss grade-level competency, practice activities to use at home and set specific, data-driven performance goals to be reviewed at the next gathering.

Once a year, parents have individual, in-depth meetings with teachers to review their student's performance and collaborate on a plan to further progress.

"Parents walk away with a sense of commitment and a really clear vision for what their role is that they didn't have before," Paredes said.

Sanchez learned of the Academic Parent Teacher Teams last summer and pitched the idea to administrators — who gave her the go-ahead to try it. She presented the program to other teachers at the school, who were interested. The school is now using it in six classes, one each in kindergarten through fifth grades. New Open World Academy, a Los Angeles Unified campus that has more independence in hiring and evaluating students and teachers, is considered to be the first to employ the program in Los Angeles.

It's also being used at 158 public schools in 14 states and Washington, D.C.

New Open World's students, often from working-class, immigrant families, do not get much help from parents. It isn't because they are unwilling to help, but rather, they do not know how, Sanchez said.

"Our students are already at a disadvantage because they don't have that," she said. "So it's our job as a school, as teachers to do that outreach to bridge that gap."

Paredes developed the program while working to boost parent involvement at Creighton School District in Phoenix — a largely low-income K-8 district. She began studying parent attendance at school events. Her research showed that if the teacher was the leader of the event, parent attendance was consistently about 90%. If the meeting didn't involve the teacher or was not related to student performance, attendance plummeted to about 5%, she said.

Almost none of the events Paredes reviewed was related to student learning or classroom instruction. For parent conferences, teachers met individually with parents for about 15 minutes twice a year — which is typical throughout the country, she said.

Parent-teacher conferences typically revolve around student behavior, Paredes said. "It's usually about letting parents know if their kids are good boys or good girls in school and if they're turning in homework or not," she said.

She designed and implemented the program at several schools across the Phoenix district — monitoring student progress. At the end of the year, students whose parents went through the program progressed at a much higher rate than their peers who did not.

If given the tools, parents "will do the work and give their children that boost," she said.

At New Open World, parents practiced a reading game in which participants roll a die and read a series of words that correspond to the number rolled. Rosas, playing with another parent, went first.

"Mother, before, very, far, make," she read, earning 10 points for reading all the words correctly. She went on to win the game.

Rosas makes sure her four children do their homework each day but has struggled to help them with their assignments, she said.

"I always try to help them, but it can be difficult for me," she said. "But with the information they give us and the games — I have a way to help them myself now."

Her son, she said, is a bit rambunctious and always wants to play.

"I'm going to make it a point to do it each day," she said. "To reach the goal, we have to play every day. So that's what we're going to do."

After two weeks, her son had learned 14 new words. Only 87 words left until the next meeting.

stephen.ceasar@latimes.com

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L.A. Unified's local food push is healthy for area economy too

The savory smell of nutmeg and cinnamon wafts through the Azusa bakery, where dozens of workers in blue gloves and hairnets cook up L.A. Unified's newest star product. The "Glorious Morning" muffin is chewy and moist, packed with whole wheat, raisins and carrots — along with flaxseed for heart health and brain development.

The muffin is good for children but also for the bakery's business. The Los Angeles Unified School District's order with Buena Vista Food Products Inc. to bake 4 million servings of muffins, coffeecake and corn bread every month has doubled the firm's business and created 100 jobs this year. To keep up with the district's orders, the bakery has invested $1 million in four new ovens and other equipment.

"We haven't sold this much in the history of our company," said Buena Vista President Laura Trujillo. "Working with L.A. [schools] has completely changed the way we purchase and produce."

In a groundbreaking effort, the nation's second-largest school district is using its enormous purchasing clout to support local farmers and businesses. In just two years, the district has boosted its local purchases of fruit and vegetables from 9% of its $20-million annual produce budget to 75% today. L.A. Unified now buys locally for at least 50% of its overall $125-million food budget, about double the proportion of two years ago, according to David Binkle, the district's food services director.

L.A. Unified has bailed out struggling orange growers in Riverside County, buying their produce over Florida citrus. Sustainably grown whole wheat comes from Fresno farmers rather than the Midwest. Beef from Chino, distributed by an Inglewood company, largely has replaced a Cincinnati producer.

"It's fresher food from farmers we know," Binkle said.

The preference for products that originate within about 200 miles of Los Angeles was formalized last year by the Board of Education, which also directed the district to purchase 5% of its produce from small-to-medium-sized farmers. The district became Los Angeles' second institution — city government being the first — to pledge to support local purchasing, workers' rights, animal welfare, environmental sustainability and nutrition in a "good food" program developed by the Los Angeles Food Policy Council.

"The leadership LAUSD has shown in this area has resonated not only locally but also nationally," said Paula Daniels, the food policy council's founder and chairwoman. "By expressing support for these values through their purchases, the impact all along the food chain is profound."

The local purchasing program is the latest advance in the district's move toward more healthful foods, which began a decade ago when the school board banned junk food from campus vending machines, then eliminated flavored milk. The momentum accelerated when the district awarded two contracts in 2011 and 2012 worth $35 million for bread, produce and other items to Gold Star Foods Inc., a school food distributor based in Ontario.

Sean Leer, Gold Star's vice president of sales, said the contract was an opportunity to "do business and do good at the same time." The school system previously purchased items based on the lowest bid, usually from more distant suppliers. But Gold Star was able to use the district's enormous volume as leverage to negotiate lower prices from local vendors and also save money through cheaper transportation costs.

"With L.A.'s volume, we were immediately in business in a big way," Leer said. "We think with school meals, we can prop up the food economy of California."

One key partner in the district's effort is Field Fresh Foods Inc., a produce processor in Gardena.

On a recent production day, dozens of workers in rubber boots were operating high-speed machines that cut and washed lettuce heads in chilled chlorinated water, then dried and packaged them. The firm processes 240 kinds of fruit and vegetables for L.A. Unified and other customers; it also has developed, specifically for the school district, individual servings of fruit and vegetables packaged in colorful "Fresh Snacks" bags.

At any given time, the firm obtains 70% or more of its produce from local growers: broccoli and celery from Santa Barbara; tomatoes, romaine lettuce and strawberries from Oxnard. But onions currently are being purchased from the Pacific Northwest until they are ready for spring harvest in the Imperial Valley. And some products, such as bananas, aren't grown locally.

Emelio Castaneda, Field Fresh president, said his firm has worked with L.A. Unified for years, but the district's push for more local produce has doubled its orders from $4 million to $8 million annually and created 25 new jobs. These include entry-level vegetable cutters, skilled machine operators and administrative support staff.

Over at Integrated Food Service in Gardena, a venture to make waffles for L.A. Unified has created 31 jobs. Binkle ordered a potato-and-chive "savory waffle," with no added sugar, to be placed on the district's menu after he sampled one during a trip to Washington, D.C. The firm also makes quesadillas and French toast from whole grain cinnamon swirl bread developed specifically for L.A., which is now being purchased by Texas schools as well.

But Buena Vista is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the local effort.

Under instructions from Binkle — a certified executive chef — the firm has developed three types of muffins, served every Monday. The bakery also produces the district's famous coffeecake for Tuesday breakfasts, although Trujillo revamped the recipe into a more healthful version with whole wheat flour and less sugar and fat. The company's corn bread is on the menu once a month.

To meet the enormous new demand, Trujillo switched to around-the-clock shifts and hired workers. They include Edgar Hernandez, 25, who landed a job as a mixer after having looked for work for a year at fast food restaurants, furniture stores and clothing outlets. With a $13-an-hour wage and health benefits, Hernandez has been able to move out of his brother's apartment into his own place in Rialto.

"I applied for all the jobs you can think of but didn't even get a call back," he said. "Now I'm so happy."

After developing blueberry oatmeal and sweet potato muffins last year, Trujillo and others went to work on Binkle's request for the "Glorious Morning" muffin. They produced several versions, experimenting with pineapple, blueberries and different sizes of apple pieces to make sure they didn't sink to the bottom. They learned to throw in the raisins at the end to keep them from being crushed. They pureed the carrots to give the muffin moisture but also added shreds so students would know what they were eating.

The result: a muffin with no fat; local vegetables, fruit and flour; and omega-3 fatty acids.

"We want students to know that healthy food can also taste good," Trujillo said.

The big test came when the muffins, made and frozen that day, were served to students at Eagle Rock Elementary and other schools participating in the classroom breakfast program. Buying local is important, Binkle said, but the ultimate goal is to please the customer.

As students in Kathleen Wittick's sixth-grade class bit into the muffins, they rendered a range of verdicts. Jacob Hancock said he didn't like the fruit chunks and preferred a smooth texture. Elise Rehder called it "really good and squishy," moister than the drier blueberry oatmeal muffin.

Ally Lopez gave the muffin a big thumbs up. "It tastes like pumpkin pie," she said with a grin. "I just need whipped cream."

teresa.watanabe@latimes.com

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After the typhoon, Filipinos rally around Pacquiao's punches

The ladies of the Filipino ministry of Holy Angels Roman Catholic Church discuss Typhoon Haiyan over a table strewn with grilled fish, ribs, sliced pork belly, chicken wings, chili and a massive platter of mixed rice and flour noodles called pancit.

"The typhoon hit here," says Pinky Santos, pointing to the map in gold thread on her blue polo shirt. "My family is here," she adds, moving her finger north.

For many Filipinos, it's been a somber month of sharing links to donation websites on social media and organizing aid trips to affected areas. More than 5,000 people have died in what some consider the most destructive typhoon to hit land, and Flor Ross, the night's cook, is still waiting to hear from her uncle in Tacloban City. Three of the children in the church group are considering joining aid missions.

It's hardly a time to celebrate. But it's Saturday, and Manny Pacquiao fights tonight. Filipino tradition demands a gathering.

Even in Tacloban City, where the storm hit hardest, cable operators set up TV screens inside a sports stadium to broadcast the fight to survivors. At the Arcadia home of Tom and Flor Ross, the women drape Philippines flags and cook a feast that seems far too large until about 30 people show up. They start a betting pool, with the proceeds going to typhoon survivors.

Agnes Ma begins the dinner with a prayer.

"Let us pray. God is great. Thank you for the food and Tom and Flor and this beautiful house and for hosting the fight, and help the people who have been affected by the typhoon. Give them hope ... and a victory for Manny Pacquiao."

Everyone grabs paper plates sagging with the weight of grilled meats and rice, and the church group divides into two viewing parties: adults and children. Two television screens set up in separate rooms show the pre-fight broadcasts, and the household's allegiances becomes clear.

Brandon Rios, Pacquiao's opponent, is seen warming up, and many remark on how nervous and sweaty he looks. Then HBO shows the clip of Pacquiao toppling face-first to the canvas in his fight with Juan Manuel Marquez, and there is a collective groan. Ma's son, Andrew, clad in a T-shirt from Pacquiao's gym, has to look away.

"Man, I really hate watching that," said Andrew, 23. "I cannot watch that."

Filipinos tend to take Pacquiao's victories and defeats personally, Andrew said. Last year, Mexican and Filipino friends of his gathered to watch the Marquez-Pacquiao fight. He and his Filipino friends left immediately after Marquez knocked out Pacquiao. A Mexican friend even broke up with a Filipino girlfriend that night.

Pacquiao appears on screen warming up, and Ma makes the bracelets on her hand jingle with her pointing. She leaves to find her Pacquiao jacket. Jessica Sanchez, a half-Filipino "American Idol" contestant, sings the U.S. and Filipino national anthems, and the women joke about her nails. Santos hums along. Finally, the announcer lays out the stakes for the fight: "When the dust settles, is it the end or rebirth of an era?"

That gets everyone riled up, and bellows of "Let's go!" and "C'mon, Manny!" fill the house.

When the first round begins, you can keep score by listening to Ma: staccato cries of "Ai! Ai! Ai!" and "Not in the corner, not in the corner!" when Pacquiao is getting hit, and an exultant "Ooh! Yesss, yes, do it, Manny!" when Pacquiao's punches are landing.

Both rooms explode when Pacquiao lands his first big combination. Rios has a habit of shaking his head and smirking at his opponents after they land a punch to show he is unhurt.

In the sixth round, Rios starts to bleed above the eye. In the seventh, announcers remark on how Pacquiao has begun to build momentum. The ninth and 10th rounds are tense. Plastic spoons freeze mid-scoop in bowls of guinataan, coconut milk soup. Plates heaped with cooling pork ribs are ignored.

Pacquiao is landing more punches and winning more rounds than his opponent, but it's becoming clear the fight won't be decided by a knockout. There is some dark muttering about the controversies surrounding recent judging decisions in boxing. The fight ends in the 12th round.

As they await the judge's decision, it is silent in the Ross home for the first time all night. The television shows Pacquiao kneeling in prayer in the corner of the ring.

Then both groups erupt in a hooting crescendo of delight. It's a unanimous decision for Pacquiao.

"He's back, yes! I can bring out my Pacquiao gear again," Andrew Ma says. "Though it would have been good to get a knockout, for the typhoon victims."

Agnes Ma heaves a sigh of relief.

"Thank God," she says. "Thank God he won again."

The younger viewers take out their phones and make Instagram pictures of Pacquiao's victory speech. Everyone heads to the dining room to eat more. Their laughter is a little louder. They go for seconds on dessert. Ma and a few of the women break into Filipino Christmas carols, rolling with laughter. She counts the money they raised: $107. It's not much, but it's a start, she says.

"We're back, baby," Ma says. "Manny is always our Filipino hope."

frank.shyong@latimes.com

22.26 | 0 komentar | Read More

When LAPD officers were accused, union dug up dirt to fight back

As far as news releases go, the one the Los Angeles police union put out was highly unusual.

It dealt with Brian C. Mulligan, a Hollywood executive turned banker, who had been arrested by LAPD officers. In the news release, the union portrayed Mulligan as a drug-abusing liar and accused him of trying to "shake down" the Police Department.

The evidence? A secret recording that a police officer in nearby Glendale had made of Mulligan a few days before his arrest. Sounding agitated and paranoid, Mulligan admitted on the recording to using a potent type of bath salts, a synthetic drug that can cause paranoia. The union embedded in the release a link to the recording, which it had uploaded to its website.

It was a counterattack on Mulligan. The Deutsche Bank executive had gone public with a strange, troubling account of his arrest, in which he was badly injured. Officers, he said through an attorney, had kidnapped him, forced him to go to a motel and then beat him in a brutal, unprovoked attack when he tried to flee. He also denied the officers' claim that he had admitted using bath salts and marijuana, and he accused the officers of lying in their arrest report to cover up the alleged abuse.

How the audio recording made its way into the hands of the Los Angeles Police Protective League and its decision to publish it are at the heart of a lawsuit filed recently by Mulligan. In it, and in a related lawsuit, Mulligan has accused union officials of conspiring with a lawyer in the L.A. city attorney's office and a media consultant to "publicly vilify" Mulligan and pressure him to drop his demands for millions of dollars in damages.

The union has stoutly defended its right to publish the audio recording, saying in a court filing that it was acting "to defend the reputation of the two officers" who arrested Mulligan and was free to release the recording because it was not confidential.

An attorney for Eric Rose, the union media consultant named in the recent lawsuit, echoed that idea, saying Rose and the union had the right to disseminate Mulligan's "very public truthful admission which he finds embarrassing."

The case offers a look into how the union mobilized to defend officers who its officials feel have been wrongly accused.

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The odd events that ended with Mulligan's arrest began late one night in May last year. Officers from the LAPD's Northeast Division were dispatched to a neighborhood near Occidental College after people reported a man trying to get into locked cars, according to police and court records. They came upon Mulligan, who matched the man's description, walking in the street and stopped him.

In Mulligan's car parked nearby, an officer found what appeared to be bath salts, which are not illegal to possess, according to a recounting of events by the Police Commission, which oversees the LAPD. Although they noticed he was "sweating profusely and appeared unsteady," the officers determined Mulligan was not drunk or under the influence of illegal drugs.

Mulligan asked the officers to bring him to a motel, according to accounts given by the officers and a police supervisor who was at the scene. They agreed, dropping him off at one nearby. The officers told investigators they advised Mulligan to stay in the room and left his car key with the motel manager.

About an hour later, the same officers encountered Mulligan again when they saw him "screaming and dragging a metal trash can in the street," police reports show. Mulligan tried to open the doors of several cars and then ran away from the officers, according to the LAPD's official account of the incident. The officers gave chase and said they found Mulligan snarling and thrashing and swiping at them as if he believed his hands were claws. They claimed Mulligan charged at them. The officers said they pushed him to the ground and kicked and struck him in the torso with a baton, according to police records.

When it was over, Mulligan's nose was broken in several places and his shoulder blade fractured. After an internal investigation, the Police Commission found the officers' use of force was justified.

Mulligan's account of the night differs dramatically. He claimed the officers took him to the motel against his will and then attacked him when he fled, beating him in the face and on the head and deliberately breaking his shoulder blade.

After reviewing the case, prosecutors for the district attorney and city attorney chose not to pursue any criminal charges against Mulligan.

That August, Mulligan had hired an attorney, who went to the media with Mulligan's account of the night and claimed the officers had fabricated their report. Rose took note of the news reports on Mulligan's claims. In an email to Tyler Izen, president of the L.A. Police Protective League, Rose warned that "the BS story concocted by Brian Mulligan from Deutsche bank is getting legs," court records show. He ended by asking Izen, "Is there anything we can put out or say to discredit this guy"?

Weeks later, court records show, Rose learned from an acquaintance about the existence of the audio recording the Glendale officer made. In it, Mulligan acknowledged snorting bath salts as many as 20 times. Saying he knew he sounded paranoid, Mulligan told the officer he feared a helicopter was following him.

Rose and Izen set out to get the recording. They turned first to LAPD Chief Charlie Beck and other top LAPD officials for help, but were told the department didn't have a copy. Izen then asked Glendale police directly but was rebuffed.

Later, when he learned Glendale officials had given a copy of the recording to LAPD officers investigating the force used to arrest Mulligan, Izen and Rose once again pressed the LAPD. Beck and other senior officials were aware of the recording and the union's desire to get a copy, but Beck refused to hand it over, emails show.

The union then turned to Cory Brente, a veteran lawyer who handles cases involving LAPD officers for the city attorney's office. That office declined to comment on the case. Brente did not respond to phone calls and emails.

Brente asked a detective who was working on the Mulligan investigation to make him a copy of the recording, according to court records. While at home and using his personal email account, Brente sent the recording to Izen on Oct. 10, 2012, court records show. He followed it up with messages to Izen, advising the union to hold off on releasing the recording and then spring it on Mulligan if he again denied using drugs.

"This would certainly sink his case and his reputation," Brente wrote.

"I will defer to you as the defender of your members to do what you think is in their best interest," Brente concluded.

The news release went out a few days later.

joel.rubin@latimes.com

richard.winton@latimes.com

22.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Gov. Jerry Brown's not saying whether he'll seek fourth term

SACRAMENTO — He has millions of dollars in his campaign account, solid approval ratings and a small number of potential challengers who are virtually unknown, but Gov. Jerry Brown still won't say whether he'll run for reelection next year.

As recently as Tuesday, the governor deflected the question at a public event. "I am aware that in November of next year there will be an election," he said, "and I will make some decisions regarding that."

Two days later, he joined deep-pocketed Hollywood luminaries in a campaign fundraiser at the Bel-Air home of Disney studio chief Alan Horn.

Although Brown stays mostly out of the spotlight, his aggressive fundraising — and his preference for biding his time — put the safe money on a run for an unprecedented fourth term as governor, a race he would enter as a strong front-runner. And experts say that despite an already respectable war chest, it behooves him to wait.

Brown had more than $13 million in campaign accounts as of July 1, according to reports on file with the state. Since then, he has raised more than $4.2 million from more than 120 donors, not including money he collected in Bel-Air, where more than 100 people gathered under a backyard tent for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres.

Expenditures since July 1 have not yet been reported, so it is unclear how much Brown has on hand now. But the notoriously tight-fisted governor spent relatively little in the first half of the year.

Unlike most statewide officeholders, Brown does not keep political consultants on his campaign payroll. He spent $31,526 from January to the end of June.

By comparison, Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, who is also expected to run for reelection next year with minimal opposition, spent more than $458,000 in that period. Polling, consultant fees and campaign workers soaked up $250,000 of that sum.

Brown typically relies heavily on volunteers and old friends to help him campaign. Inquiries about a 2014 candidacy were referred by Brown's office to a San Francisco consultant, Dan Newman, who says he has no formal role in any potential reelection effort and is not being paid.

"I know nothing," Newman said. "There's just two people and a Corgi to talk to about that," a reference to Brown, his wife, Anne, and their dog, Sutter.

Newman described himself as merely "a citizen-activist, a supporter, a proud Californian who thinks [Brown's] a tremendous governor."

While other high-profile campaigns pay consultants millions to make and place ads, Brown calls on friends such as Francis Ford Coppola. The filmmaker volunteered to produce television commercials for Brown when he ran in 2010.

Candidates for governor in 2014 must file their paperwork with the secretary of state by March 7. Brown's only declared challenger so far is Republican Assemblyman Tim Donnelly of Twin Peaks, in San Bernardino County.

Donnelly, a tea party sympathizer running in a heavily Democratic state, had just over $27,000 in his campaign account as of July 1.

Experts say Brown has little to gain by declaring his candidacy now, that an incumbent typically benefits from focusing on governing rather than campaigning for as long as possible.

"To be an active candidate at this point simply lowers him down into the fray with his potential opponents," said Dan Schnur, director of USC's Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics, who advised Republican Gov. Pete Wilson before and during his 1994 reelection bid.

Even in 2010, Brown didn't put on a forceful campaign until relatively late. He didn't start advertising until the final two months of his race against billionaire Meg Whitman.

But Brown's surrogates, led by some of California's most powerful labor unions, had spent more than $30 million during the summer on ads attacking Whitman's record..

Those supporters say they are ready again.

"We're certainly not getting any signals that he's thinking about not running," said Steve Smith, spokesman for the California Labor Federation. "Had he not wanted to run for another term, I think he would have said something by now."

anthony.york@latimes.com

Times staff writer Seema Mehta in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

22.25 | 0 komentar | Read More