L.A. City Council drops $3-billion bond measure for this year

The Los Angeles City Council scrapped plans Tuesday for placing a $3-billion bond measure on the May 21 ballot, opting instead...

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Curiosity Rover Prepares to Drill Into Rocks That Were Once Saturated With Water

A veined rock in Yellowknife Bay nicknamed "John Klein" will be the first drill site for the Curiosity rover. The area contains a wide diversity of rock types. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSSNASA’s Curiosity rover has explored a new area on Mars called Yellowknife Bay, which shows plenty of evidence of flowing water. The rover is preparing to drill into a rock nicknamed “John Klein” in the location...

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Justice Sonia Sotomayor writes of life’s struggles

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In a memoir to be published on Tuesday, Sonia Sotomayor writes of the chronic disease, troubled family relationships and failed marriage that accompanied her rise from a housing project in the Bronx to a seat on America’s highest court.The first Hispanic and the third woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, the 58-year-old justice, appointed by President Barack Obama in 2009,...

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Well: How to Go Vegan

When I first heard former President Bill Clinton talk about his vegan diet, I was inspired to make the switch myself. After all, if a man with a penchant for fast-food burgers and Southern cooking could go vegan, surely I could too.At the grocery store, I stocked up on vegan foods, including almond milk (that was the presidential recommendation), and faux turkey and cheese to replicate my daughter’s...

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The Caucus: Credit Rating Agency Warns of Downgrade if Debt Limit Is Not Raised

Fitch Ratings Ltd. warned on Tuesday that Congress’s failure to raise the federal government’s statutory borrowing limit would “very likely” prompt a downgrading of the United States Government’s credit rating, and the agency seemed to suggest that Congress should simply do away with the debt ceiling altogether.In a pointed statement, Fitch dismissed the assurances of some Republicans that the Treasury...

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An Anaheim woman demands respect for her neighborhood

Yesenia Rojas, vibrant in her purple shawl, sang with a voice so powerful it rose above the rest of the procession as they shuffled...

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Fed Gets Chatty: Bernanke Will Answer Your Tweets

Chairmen of the Federal Reserve are expected to speak rarely and obliquely. Which is why it’s interesting to see Ben Bernanke taking Twitter questions for an hour and a half this afternoon.In addition to answering questions that are labeled with the Twitter hashtag #fordschoolbernanke, the Fed chairman will take questions from the public in an auditorium on the University...

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Coroner releases new report on Natalie Wood death

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Some of the bruises found on Natalie Wood‘s body may have occurred before the actress drowned in the waters off Southern California more than 30 years ago, according to a newly released coroner’s report on one of Hollywood’s most mysterious deaths.The case took another twist Monday when officials released a 10-page addendum to Wood’s 1981 autopsy that cites unexplained bruises and...

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Mining Electronic Records for Revealing Health Data

Over the past decade, nudged by new federal regulations, hospitals and medical offices around the country have been converting scribbled doctors’ notes to electronic records. Although the chief goal has been to improve efficiency and cut costs, a disappointing report published last week by the RAND Corp. found that electronic health records actually may be raising the nation’s medical bills. ...

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DealBook: Swatch to Buy Watch and Jewelry Business of Harry Winston

2:31 p.m. | Updated The Swatch Group agreed Monday to make its largest acquisition to date, taking over the watch and jewelry business of Harry Winston, which plans to shift its focus to its diamond mining activities.Swatch, the world’s largest maker of watches, said it would pay $750 million in cash for Harry Winston and assume $250 million of debt. The publicly traded Harry Winston Diamond Corporation,...

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