Surgeon infected patients during heart procedure, Cedars-Sinai admits

A heart surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center unwittingly infected five patients during valve replacement surgeries earlier...

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New Crowdfunding Site Seeks to Protect Backers of Industrial Design

Entrepreneur Jamie Siminoff wants to build more credibility into crowdfunding — so he’s launching a new platform that takes responsibility for ensuring the viability of new projects.The crowdfunding process, pioneered by sites like Kickstarter, has had its share of huge successes, as well as failures. The problem, says Siminoff, is that when a venture fails, the funders are left holding the...

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TNT’s “Leverage” could end this month, producer warns

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – This could end up being a very un-merry Christmas for “Leverage” fans.Dean Devlin, executive producer of the TNT drama, penned an open letter to the show’s viewers on Thursday, telling them that he and fellow “Leverage” executive producer John Rogers crafted the show’s Season 5 finale – airing December 25 – as a series finale, because it just might be.TNT has not yet decided...

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New Taxes to Take Effect to Fund Health Care Law

WASHINGTON — For more than a year, politicians have been fighting over whether to raise taxes on high-income people. They rarely mention that affluent Americans will soon be hit with new taxes adopted as part of the 2010 health care law. The new levies, which take effect in January, include an increase in the payroll tax on wages and a tax on investment income, including interest, dividends...

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You for Sale: Company Envisions ‘Vaults’ for Personal Data

Peter DaSilva for The New York TimesMichael Fertik, the founder and chief executive of Reputation.com, at its offices in Redwood City, Calif., where he has amassed a database of information collected on millions of consumers. “YOU are walking around naked on the Internet and you need some clothes,” says Michael Fertik. “I am going to sell you some.” Naked? Not exactly, but close. Mr....

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Supreme Court to rule on California's Prop. 8 ban on gay marriage

Justices will rule for the first time on same-sex marriage by deciding the constitutionality of Prop. 8. The Supreme Court announced...

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Video: A Magical Nighttime Journey Through a Fluorescent Reef

A coral reef is a world of kaleidoscopic shape and color. To see one at night, illuminated by its own fluorescence, is even more marvelous still. This luminous parade was filmed off the coast of Egypt by Lynn Miner and Steffen Beyer, the founders of FireDiveGear, who custom-build photographic equipment for marine biologists and other undersea explorers. Miner and Beyer dive in the blackness...

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Nurse who took prank call about royal Kate found dead

LONDON (Reuters) – A nurse who answered a prank call at the London hospital that was treating Prince William‘s pregnant wife Kate for morning sickness has been found dead, the hospital said on Friday, in a suspected suicide.The death comes days after the King Edward VII hospital apologized for being duped by an Australian radio station and relaying details about Kate’s condition which made headlines...

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The New Old Age Blog: A Son Lost, a Mother Found

My friend Yvonne was already at the front door when I woke, so at first I didn’t realize that my mother was missing.It was less than a week after my son Spencer died. Since that day, a constant stream of friends had been coming and going, bringing casseroles and soup, love, support and chatter. Mom hated it.My 94-year-old mother, who has vascular dementia, has been living in my home in upstate New...

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Wealth Matters: Protect Yourself from Investment Fraud This Madoff Day

From left, Marc S. Drier, Bernard L. Madoff and R. Allen Stanford. Their fraudulent schemes collapsed in late 2008 and early 2009. THIS is the time of year when most people think of gifts and holiday gatherings. I couldn’t help thinking of frauds past. Four years ago this week, Marc S. Dreier, a high-flying lawyer, was arrested and later charged with defrauding his clients of $700 million....

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18 arrested in federal crackdown on gang that operated near USC

Federal authorities on Thursday announced a sweeping racketeering indictment against a Mexican Mafia-controlled gang that operated in an L.A. neighborhood just north of USC and was allegedly involved in at least one slaying, drug sales, extortion and robberies.Eighteen members of the Harpys gang, also known as the Harpys-Dead End gang, were arrested Thursday morning on charges in three federal indictments...

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Watch Syrian Rebels Make Rockets Out of Assad's Cluster Bombs

When Bashar Assad attacks his own people with cluster munitions, enterprising Syrian rebels don’t just run for cover. They harvest unexploded cluster bombs for parts they can use in homemade rockets to turn back on regime forces. Do not try this at home. In the video above, shot by the Syrian rebel al-Farouq Battalions, the fuses from cluster bombs get recycled in makeshift weapons foundries...

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Kristen Wiig may join “Anchorman: The Legend Continues”

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Kristen Wiig is being eyed for a role in “Anchorman: The Legend Continues” for Paramount Pictures, a person familiar with the negotiations has told TheWrap.Wiig would play opposite Steve Carell, as a love interest in the sequel. The script is still being written, and no cast beyond the principals has been set.Adam McKay is directing the feature, which is being produced...

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Well: Running in Reverse

This column appears in the Dec. 9 issue of The New York Times Magazine.Backward running, also known as reverse or retro running, is not as celebrated as barefoot running and will never be mistaken for the natural way to run. But a small body of science suggests that backward running enables people to avoid or recover from common injuries, burn extra calories, sharpen balance and, not least, mix up...

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Obama’s Tax Plan Would Spare Many Affluent Families

President Obama’s insistence that marginal tax rates rise for families making more than $250,000 has convinced millions of affluent Americans that they are likely to be writing larger checks to the government next year. But many of those families have no reason to fret. A close look at the president’s plan shows that a large majority of families making up to $300,000 – as well as hundreds...

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Dispute over computer tied to killing of 4 at home, sources say

Detectives believe the quadruple homicide at a Northridge house over the weekend stemmed from a dispute over a computer and...

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Skiing Needs a Surfline for Mountain Conditions

The snow industry needs help.This has nothing to do with the hardware you strap to your feet. On the contrary — the hard goods scene in snowboarding and skiing is incredibly vibrant and exciting. No, the problem with the snow industry is its lousy relationship with the internet, and the world of surfing could hold the answer.We’re in sore need of a single service that accurately and consistently...

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Kathie Lee Gifford’s “Scandalous” musical to close after three weeks

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – So much for Kathie Lee Gifford‘s career as a playwright. The former “Live!” co-host’s Broadway musical “Scandalous: The Life and Times of Aimee Semple McPherson,” is shuttering a little after three weeks after it opened.The musical, which opened November 15, will have its final performance December 9 at the Neil Simon Theatre in New York.Gifford wrote the book and lyrics...

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Study Raises Questions on Coating of Aspirin

While aspirin may prevent heart attacks and strokes, a commonly used coating to protect the stomach may obscure the benefits, leading doctors to prescribe more expensive prescription drugs, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Circulation. The conclusion about coated aspirin was only one finding in the study, whose main goal was to test the hotly disputed idea that aspirin...

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Report Bolsters Case for Large U.S. Natural Gas Exports

HOUSTON — In a victory for the oil and gas industry, a federal Energy Department study released Wednesday concluded that the national economic benefits of significant natural gas exports far outweighed the potential for higher consumer energy prices. The Obama administration has been cautious on whether to embrace large exports of gas out of concern that consumers who rely on gas for heating...

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Villaraigosa says ports, union to use federal mediator to try to end strike

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