Local News - Los Angeles Times

Rep. Henry Waxman grills Richard Fuld about compensation he received as the 158-year-old investment bank foundered. Just days before Lehman Bros. Holding Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection last month, the company sought $23.2 million in "special payments" for three outgoing executives, according to internal documents released by a congressional committee Monday.

At a summit on the issue, the Los Angeles mayor says both groups must 'face up to' the racial strains and address the poverty that causes them. Tense relations are not 'endemic to our DNA,' he said. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday said Latinos and African Americans must "face up to" existing racial strains over jobs, language differences and violent crime by addressing the ...

Alan Hubbard, 49, gets three years' probation, community service and fines for his alleged cover-up in assistant principal Steve Thomas Rooney's molestation case. A former Los Angeles school dean pleaded no contest Monday to a charge of failing to turn over evidence related to an alleged unlawful sexual relationship between an underage student and a teacher.

In welcome news for the sluggish local film production economy, Marvel Studios has reached an agreement to film four of its superhero movies at Raleigh Studios in Manhattan Beach.

U.S. colleges send students to Britain for literature or Italy for art -- so why not to Hollywood? Forget about Paris and a semester at the Sorbonne. Who needs to study in Florence or struggle with Mandarin for just months in Beijing?

Two women distraught by the turmoil that ensued after the country's presidential election have founded Helping Hands International to provide quality healthcare there. Debra Akello watched in horror as television news reports flashed images of her Kenyan countrymen engaged in bloody ethnic battles.

Officials acknowledge abuses in program in which people work for years with low pay and no benefits. Like others classified by the Los Angeles County bureaucracy as a temporary student worker, Patricia Lopez, 51, was not temporary and not a student.

A Los Angeles woman with unwanted embryos searches for someone to adopt them. But the process is fraught with legal, emotional and health issues. DONATING embryos for adoption may seem a logical choice for people with leftover embryos, but few choose to do so. Leanna Wolfe, 55, now understands some of the obstacles.

The district abandons its preferred site for a new high school, citing heavy contamination that would cost at least $22 million to clean up. Los Angeles school officials are starting over on a high school project in Maywood because the preferred site is so contaminated by industrial chemicals that it would cost at least $22 million to clean up, which would delay construction by as much as six ...

It was no 'trial of the century' in Las Vegas, but the outcome provokes strong emotions through Los Angeles, a city indelibly marked by Simpson's murder trial 13 years ago. The verdict in the most recent O.J. Simpson trial came and went in the dark of night in a Las Vegas courtroom. The proceedings may not have been breathlessly awaited, but the outcome still provoked strong emotions through ...

Officials wonder if the 600-bed facility, whose opening has been delayed until next month, will face a shortage of space and if there will be enough doctors to staff the expanded emergency room. For months, officials at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center have been buzzing with excitement about the anticipated opening of their new home.

The Los Angeles landmark will celebrate its centennial Monday with dignitaries, the founder's grandson and slashed prices. Philippe's, home of the French dip sandwich, turns 100 this year, and for much of the last century local historians and foodies have been arguing over one question: How was the dish created?

East Los Angeles nonprofit serving people with disabilities provides manicures, haircuts and fresh makeup. 'It gives everyone a great sense of dignity,' one recipient says. Maria Hernandez guided her electric wheelchair along Dangler Avenue's gum-stained sidewalks, carefully going over bumps in the concrete and easing down the sidewalk's ramps.

Pico Youth & Family Center's facility next to Santa Monica High School offers more services to help teens avoid the grip of gangs and drugs. Julian Ayala tells anyone who will listen that the Pico Youth & Family Center pulled him from the grip of substance abuse and street gangs.

An exhibit at the cultural center in Los Angeles demonstrates how his acceptance of outsiders as a young boy shaped much of his legacy as head of the Roman Catholic Church. As a young boy in Poland before World War II, Karol Jozef Wojtyla possessed an uncommon warmth for an often reviled group of outsiders -- Jews.

L.A. officials say she told multiple parents in Hancock Park and Larchmont that she was taking their children to outside activities. Instead, she left them at a Hollywood apartment. Kim Lewis remembers feeling lucky when Patricia Villamarin agreed to become the nanny for her 3-month-old twins six years ago.

Two high school teams have each lost a player to gun violence. As they face off, the pain of their losses is still deeply felt. Washington Preparatory and Los Angeles High schools played a football game Friday, each a man short.

A certain Pennsylvania Avenue address has spawned imitators across the continent, including Beverly Hills' once-grand Rosewall estate. JOHN McCAIN doesn't know how many houses he owns, but he wants 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Ever since the "presidential palace" was completed in 1800, the White House has been the ultimate American address. For a century it was our largest house, more than double ...

He tells department heads to prepare for job and service cuts as the city confronts turmoil on Wall Street and the state government's dire financial situation. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Friday warned that the city could face a $400-million budget shortfall this year, predicting a severe drop in tax revenue because of the nationwide economic downturn. As a result, he told city ...