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Football: Sterling Salguero finds silver lining at Birmingham

Written By kolimtiga on Jumat, 31 Oktober 2014 | 16.38

Sterling Salguero has played with a heavy heart for a majority of the season. Based on the results thus far, however, you might not have known there was an underlying issue that the junior from Lake Balboa Birmingham deals with on a daily basis.

Three former players were involved in a serious car accident toward the end of August. Ever since, the season was dedicated to them, and Salguero & Co. again honored the one-time Patriots with Thursday's 53-20 West Valley League victory over rival Woodland Hills Taft. 

Birmingham alumni Alex Manu, 18, and Isaiah Hastings, 19, were killed during the tragic accident in Sylmar. Salguero's brother, 18-year-old Eldridge Salguero, was seriously injured in the collision. The road to recovery, albeit difficult at times, continues for the siblings.

The game has essentially been an escape for Sterling. That was certainly the case against Taft (5-4, 3-1). The junior rushed for 239 yards and five touchdowns in 26 carries as Birmingham (4-5, 4-0) clinched at least a share of its fourth consecutive league title.

"Not a day goes by without me thinking about Alex and Isaiah, they are always on my mind. Also, my brother. I play for them. We all play for them, everyone on this team," Salguero said. "The accident has been tough, but also brought us together. We're a family."

The 5-foot-10, 170-pounder has appeared to be as focused as they come this year. He's rushed for 1,140 yards and 17 touchdowns. Credit is given where it's due and Salguero has done an admirable job despite the unfavorable circumstances. 

Sean Ceglinsky has covered sports in the Southland for the better part of the past 15-plus years. Follow him on Twitter: @SeanCeglinsky

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Football: Sterling Salguero finds silver lining at Birmingham

Sterling Salguero has played with a heavy heart for a majority of the season. Based on the results thus far, however, you might not have known there was an underlying issue that the junior from Lake Balboa Birmingham deals with on a daily basis.

Three former players were involved in a serious car accident toward the end of August. Ever since, the season was dedicated to them, and Salguero & Co. again honored the one-time Patriots with Thursday's 53-20 West Valley League victory over rival Woodland Hills Taft. 

Birmingham alumni Alex Manu, 18, and Isaiah Hastings, 19, were killed during the tragic accident in Sylmar. Salguero's brother, 18-year-old Eldridge Salguero, was seriously injured in the collision. The road to recovery, albeit difficult at times, continues for the siblings.

The game has essentially been an escape for Sterling. That was certainly the case against Taft (5-4, 3-1). The junior rushed for 239 yards and five touchdowns in 26 carries as Birmingham (4-5, 4-0) clinched at least a share of its fourth consecutive league title.

"Not a day goes by without me thinking about Alex and Isaiah, they are always on my mind. Also, my brother. I play for them. We all play for them, everyone on this team," Salguero said. "The accident has been tough, but also brought us together. We're a family."

The 5-foot-10, 170-pounder has appeared to be as focused as they come this year. He's rushed for 1,140 yards and 17 touchdowns. Credit is given where it's due and Salguero has done an admirable job despite the unfavorable circumstances. 

Sean Ceglinsky has covered sports in the Southland for the better part of the past 15-plus years. Follow him on Twitter: @SeanCeglinsky

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Football: Sterling Salguero finds silver lining at Birmingham

Sterling Salguero has played with a heavy heart for a majority of the season. Based on the results thus far, however, you might not have known there was an underlying issue that the junior from Lake Balboa Birmingham deals with on a daily basis.

Three former players were involved in a serious car accident toward the end of August. Ever since, the season was dedicated to them, and Salguero & Co. again honored the one-time Patriots with Thursday's 53-20 West Valley League victory over rival Woodland Hills Taft. 

Birmingham alumni Alex Manu, 18, and Isaiah Hastings, 19, were killed during the tragic accident in Sylmar. Salguero's brother, 18-year-old Eldridge Salguero, was seriously injured in the collision. The road to recovery, albeit difficult at times, continues for the siblings.

The game has essentially been an escape for Sterling. That was certainly the case against Taft (5-4, 3-1). The junior rushed for 239 yards and five touchdowns in 26 carries as Birmingham (4-5, 4-0) clinched at least a share of its fourth consecutive league title.

"Not a day goes by without me thinking about Alex and Isaiah, they are always on my mind. Also, my brother. I play for them. We all play for them, everyone on this team," Salguero said. "The accident has been tough, but also brought us together. We're a family."

The 5-foot-10, 170-pounder has appeared to be as focused as they come this year. He's rushed for 1,140 yards and 17 touchdowns. Credit is given where it's due and Salguero has done an admirable job despite the unfavorable circumstances. 

Sean Ceglinsky has covered sports in the Southland for the better part of the past 15-plus years. Follow him on Twitter: @SeanCeglinsky

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Mexico president, missing students' relatives at odds after meeting

Written By kolimtiga on Kamis, 30 Oktober 2014 | 16.38

More than a month after 43 college students were led away by police and never seen again, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on Wednesday met with relatives of the missing men in a bid to shore up flagging public faith in the search.

But the families apparently turned the tables on the normally well-choreographed president, rejecting his proposed approach and refusing to leave his headquarters in Mexico City for more than six hours. 

Peña Nieto went on TV to promise a 10-point plan to find the students and address other grievances, while the families angrily denounced what they saw as official negligence. "All the powers of state, and they cannot find our children," a father said at a chaotic news conference after the meeting.

Here in the region where the students vanished after a deadly clash Sept. 26 with police in Iguala, in Guerrero state, there were few words of optimism. Many dismissed the government's efforts as halfhearted at best. 

With pressure mounting on authorities to produce the students -- or, more likely, their bodies -- and bring to justice a web of potential culprits including police and politicians, the government's investigation has shown itself sluggish, misdirected and often bungled, critics say.

Families of those detained as suspects, on whom authorities have relied for clues in the search, told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday that their relatives were tortured by police to extract confessions and other information.

The students attended a rural college steeped in revolutionary rhetoric that gave opportunity to the disadvantaged.

Peña Nieto's meeting Wednesday with the relatives "is a weak gesture to try to calm people down," said Feliciano Rosas, 70, one of the hundreds of villagers who have gathered daily in downtown Iguala to support the students' families.

Many are members of community police forces and have led or joined searches of the mountainous countryside for mass graves. Many burial sites have been found, they say, but none producing the students.

Mexican Atty. Gen. Jesus Murillo Karam raised expectations this week that the students had been located in a trash dump outside Cocula, which is next to Iguala. Hundreds of federal investigators descended on the site, and Murillo invited journalists to observe.

But 48 hours later, no bodies had been found in the dump, and the search shifted to the nearby Cocula River, where soldiers were seen cordoning off the area with yellow tape. 

Murillo said the information that led his investigators to Cocula came from detained suspects, but relatives told The Times that the suspects were tortured into making the statements. In one case, suspects were captured at a roadblock near Cocula; in others, detainees were picked up arbitrarily, the relatives said. 

"He didn't want to say he was tortured -- I saw it," teacher and lawyer Melina Canto said, describing her brother's broken nose and bruised face. 

The community police officers who have sought to aid in the search say a generalized fear in the city, where local drug gangs in recent years have taken control -- in complicity with the mayor, some allege -- has left citizens reluctant to speak about what is happening.

 "There is a very grave problem here -- I didn't believe it until I saw it with my own eyes -- where the people live in fear, controlled by their terror," said Napoleon Hernandez, a member of the group. "They listen, fall quiet and return home.  In the middle of the 21st century, you cannot believe such behavior by people … a collective psychosis."

Peña Nieto, in his televised comments after the meeting, said he shared the "indignation and great impatience" of the relatives of the missing students.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Mexico president, missing students' relatives at odds after meeting

More than a month after 43 college students were led away by police and never seen again, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on Wednesday met with relatives of the missing men in a bid to shore up flagging public faith in the search.

But the families apparently turned the tables on the normally well-choreographed president, rejecting his proposed approach and refusing to leave his headquarters in Mexico City for more than six hours. 

Peña Nieto went on TV to promise a 10-point plan to find the students and address other grievances, while the families angrily denounced what they saw as official negligence. "All the powers of state, and they cannot find our children," a father said at a chaotic news conference after the meeting.

Here in the region where the students vanished after a deadly clash Sept. 26 with police in Iguala, in Guerrero state, there were few words of optimism. Many dismissed the government's efforts as halfhearted at best. 

With pressure mounting on authorities to produce the students -- or, more likely, their bodies -- and bring to justice a web of potential culprits including police and politicians, the government's investigation has shown itself sluggish, misdirected and often bungled, critics say.

Families of those detained as suspects, on whom authorities have relied for clues in the search, told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday that their relatives were tortured by police to extract confessions and other information.

The students attended a rural college steeped in revolutionary rhetoric that gave opportunity to the disadvantaged.

Peña Nieto's meeting Wednesday with the relatives "is a weak gesture to try to calm people down," said Feliciano Rosas, 70, one of the hundreds of villagers who have gathered daily in downtown Iguala to support the students' families.

Many are members of community police forces and have led or joined searches of the mountainous countryside for mass graves. Many burial sites have been found, they say, but none producing the students.

Mexican Atty. Gen. Jesus Murillo Karam raised expectations this week that the students had been located in a trash dump outside Cocula, which is next to Iguala. Hundreds of federal investigators descended on the site, and Murillo invited journalists to observe.

But 48 hours later, no bodies had been found in the dump, and the search shifted to the nearby Cocula River, where soldiers were seen cordoning off the area with yellow tape. 

Murillo said the information that led his investigators to Cocula came from detained suspects, but relatives told The Times that the suspects were tortured into making the statements. In one case, suspects were captured at a roadblock near Cocula; in others, detainees were picked up arbitrarily, the relatives said. 

"He didn't want to say he was tortured -- I saw it," teacher and lawyer Melina Canto said, describing her brother's broken nose and bruised face. 

The community police officers who have sought to aid in the search say a generalized fear in the city, where local drug gangs in recent years have taken control -- in complicity with the mayor, some allege -- has left citizens reluctant to speak about what is happening.

 "There is a very grave problem here -- I didn't believe it until I saw it with my own eyes -- where the people live in fear, controlled by their terror," said Napoleon Hernandez, a member of the group. "They listen, fall quiet and return home.  In the middle of the 21st century, you cannot believe such behavior by people … a collective psychosis."

Peña Nieto, in his televised comments after the meeting, said he shared the "indignation and great impatience" of the relatives of the missing students.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Mexico president, missing students' relatives at odds after meeting

More than a month after 43 college students were led away by police and never seen again, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on Wednesday met with relatives of the missing men in a bid to shore up flagging public faith in the search.

But the families apparently turned the tables on the normally well-choreographed president, rejecting his proposed approach and refusing to leave his headquarters in Mexico City for more than six hours. 

Peña Nieto went on TV to promise a 10-point plan to find the students and address other grievances, while the families angrily denounced what they saw as official negligence. "All the powers of state, and they cannot find our children," a father said at a chaotic news conference after the meeting.

Here in the region where the students vanished after a deadly clash Sept. 26 with police in Iguala, in Guerrero state, there were few words of optimism. Many dismissed the government's efforts as halfhearted at best. 

With pressure mounting on authorities to produce the students -- or, more likely, their bodies -- and bring to justice a web of potential culprits including police and politicians, the government's investigation has shown itself sluggish, misdirected and often bungled, critics say.

Families of those detained as suspects, on whom authorities have relied for clues in the search, told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday that their relatives were tortured by police to extract confessions and other information.

The students attended a rural college steeped in revolutionary rhetoric that gave opportunity to the disadvantaged.

Peña Nieto's meeting Wednesday with the relatives "is a weak gesture to try to calm people down," said Feliciano Rosas, 70, one of the hundreds of villagers who have gathered daily in downtown Iguala to support the students' families.

Many are members of community police forces and have led or joined searches of the mountainous countryside for mass graves. Many burial sites have been found, they say, but none producing the students.

Mexican Atty. Gen. Jesus Murillo Karam raised expectations this week that the students had been located in a trash dump outside Cocula, which is next to Iguala. Hundreds of federal investigators descended on the site, and Murillo invited journalists to observe.

But 48 hours later, no bodies had been found in the dump, and the search shifted to the nearby Cocula River, where soldiers were seen cordoning off the area with yellow tape. 

Murillo said the information that led his investigators to Cocula came from detained suspects, but relatives told The Times that the suspects were tortured into making the statements. In one case, suspects were captured at a roadblock near Cocula; in others, detainees were picked up arbitrarily, the relatives said. 

"He didn't want to say he was tortured -- I saw it," teacher and lawyer Melina Canto said, describing her brother's broken nose and bruised face. 

The community police officers who have sought to aid in the search say a generalized fear in the city, where local drug gangs in recent years have taken control -- in complicity with the mayor, some allege -- has left citizens reluctant to speak about what is happening.

 "There is a very grave problem here -- I didn't believe it until I saw it with my own eyes -- where the people live in fear, controlled by their terror," said Napoleon Hernandez, a member of the group. "They listen, fall quiet and return home.  In the middle of the 21st century, you cannot believe such behavior by people … a collective psychosis."

Peña Nieto, in his televised comments after the meeting, said he shared the "indignation and great impatience" of the relatives of the missing students.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Kurdish fighters arrive in Turkey bound for Kobani

Written By kolimtiga on Rabu, 29 Oktober 2014 | 16.38

Iraqi Kurdish fighters bound for the embattled Syrian town of Kobani crossed into Turkey on Wednesday, poised to provide much-needed reinforcement for fellow Kurds trying to fight off Islamic State militants.

A contingent of 150 peshmerga soldiers landed at Ruha airport in the southern Turkish city of Urfa, 30 miles northeast of Kobani, before making their way with Turkish army and police escorts toward the Turkish-Syrian border, according to Turkey's official Anatolia news agency. Reports from the Turkish side of the frontier said large crowds had gathered to cheer them on.

Kobani has been the site of intense clashes since September between the Sunni Muslim extremists of the Islamic State and Kurdish fighters affiliated with the dominant Kurdish militia in the area, known as the YPG.

Kobani's defenders are backed by a campaign of U.S.-led airstrikes, lending the city heavy symbolic weight in the West's confrontation with the Islamic State. The group holds sway over large swaths of Iraq and Syria and has enforced its rule with atrocities including beheadings, crucifixions and sexual slavery.

In addition to the peshmerga fighters who flew in from Iraqi Kurdistan, another 40-vehicle convoy carrying fighters and weaponry traveled overland via the Habur border crossing in southeast Turkey. Local Kurdish news outlets showed footage of hundreds of Kurds cheering the convoy as it passed through Kurdish-majority towns between Iraq and Turkey.

Halgurd Hekmat, spokesman for the Iraqi Kurdish ministry responsibe for the peshmerga fighters, told French news agency Agence France Presse that the fighters would serve as support forces. They were armed with automatic weapons, mortars and rocket launchers, Hekmat said.

The battle for Kobani has posed a quandary for the Turkish government. Turkey, a NATO ally, has frustrated Western officials with seemingly half-hearted support for the coalition confronting the Islamic State. Many Kurds also accuse Ankara of giving tacit if not active support to the extremist group – a charge that Turkey has forcefully denied.

"There is no evidence that Turkey has any link, any cooperation, any support to this type of group," Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the British Broadcasting Corp. on Tuesday.

Turkey has demanded that international action in Syria be directed at toppling Syrian President Bashar Assad, which it describes as a greater threat than the Islamic State. The Obama administration has insisted that the main threat lies with the Islamic State.

Turkey is also reluctant to offer military aid to the YPG in Kobani. It views the group as little more than a Syrian proxy for its longtime nemesis, the PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party. Both Washington and Ankara consider the PKK a terrorist group.

Special correspondent Johnson reported from Urfa, Turkey, and special correspondent Buhlos from Amman, Jordan. Staff writer Laura King contributed to this report from Cairo.

Laura.King@latimes.com

Twitter: @laurakingLAT 

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Kurdish fighters arrive in Turkey bound for Kobani

Iraqi Kurdish fighters bound for the embattled Syrian town of Kobani crossed into Turkey on Wednesday, poised to provide much-needed reinforcement for fellow Kurds trying to fight off Islamic State militants.

A contingent of 150 peshmerga soldiers landed at Ruha airport in the southern Turkish city of Urfa, 30 miles northeast of Kobani, before making their way with Turkish army and police escorts toward the Turkish-Syrian border, according to Turkey's official Anatolia news agency. Reports from the Turkish side of the frontier said large crowds had gathered to cheer them on.

Kobani has been the site of intense clashes since September between the Sunni Muslim extremists of the Islamic State and Kurdish fighters affiliated with the dominant Kurdish militia in the area, known as the YPG.

Kobani's defenders are backed by a campaign of U.S.-led airstrikes, lending the city heavy symbolic weight in the West's confrontation with the Islamic State. The group holds sway over large swaths of Iraq and Syria and has enforced its rule with atrocities including beheadings, crucifixions and sexual slavery.

In addition to the peshmerga fighters who flew in from Iraqi Kurdistan, another 40-vehicle convoy carrying fighters and weaponry traveled overland via the Habur border crossing in southeast Turkey. Local Kurdish news outlets showed footage of hundreds of Kurds cheering the convoy as it passed through Kurdish-majority towns between Iraq and Turkey.

Halgurd Hekmat, spokesman for the Iraqi Kurdish ministry responsibe for the peshmerga fighters, told French news agency Agence France Presse that the fighters would serve as support forces. They were armed with automatic weapons, mortars and rocket launchers, Hekmat said.

The battle for Kobani has posed a quandary for the Turkish government. Turkey, a NATO ally, has frustrated Western officials with seemingly half-hearted support for the coalition confronting the Islamic State. Many Kurds also accuse Ankara of giving tacit if not active support to the extremist group – a charge that Turkey has forcefully denied.

"There is no evidence that Turkey has any link, any cooperation, any support to this type of group," Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the British Broadcasting Corp. on Tuesday.

Turkey has demanded that international action in Syria be directed at toppling Syrian President Bashar Assad, which it describes as a greater threat than the Islamic State. The Obama administration has insisted that the main threat lies with the Islamic State.

Turkey is also reluctant to offer military aid to the YPG in Kobani. It views the group as little more than a Syrian proxy for its longtime nemesis, the PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party. Both Washington and Ankara consider the PKK a terrorist group.

Special correspondent Johnson reported from Urfa, Turkey, and special correspondent Buhlos from Amman, Jordan. Staff writer Laura King contributed to this report from Cairo.

Laura.King@latimes.com

Twitter: @laurakingLAT 

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Kurdish fighters arrive in Turkey bound for Kobani

Iraqi Kurdish fighters bound for the embattled Syrian town of Kobani crossed into Turkey on Wednesday, poised to provide much-needed reinforcement for fellow Kurds trying to fight off Islamic State militants.

A contingent of 150 peshmerga soldiers landed at Ruha airport in the southern Turkish city of Urfa, 30 miles northeast of Kobani, before making their way with Turkish army and police escorts toward the Turkish-Syrian border, according to Turkey's official Anatolia news agency. Reports from the Turkish side of the frontier said large crowds had gathered to cheer them on.

Kobani has been the site of intense clashes since September between the Sunni Muslim extremists of the Islamic State and Kurdish fighters affiliated with the dominant Kurdish militia in the area, known as the YPG.

Kobani's defenders are backed by a campaign of U.S.-led airstrikes, lending the city heavy symbolic weight in the West's confrontation with the Islamic State. The group holds sway over large swaths of Iraq and Syria and has enforced its rule with atrocities including beheadings, crucifixions and sexual slavery.

In addition to the peshmerga fighters who flew in from Iraqi Kurdistan, another 40-vehicle convoy carrying fighters and weaponry traveled overland via the Habur border crossing in southeast Turkey. Local Kurdish news outlets showed footage of hundreds of Kurds cheering the convoy as it passed through Kurdish-majority towns between Iraq and Turkey.

Halgurd Hekmat, spokesman for the Iraqi Kurdish ministry responsibe for the peshmerga fighters, told French news agency Agence France Presse that the fighters would serve as support forces. They were armed with automatic weapons, mortars and rocket launchers, Hekmat said.

The battle for Kobani has posed a quandary for the Turkish government. Turkey, a NATO ally, has frustrated Western officials with seemingly half-hearted support for the coalition confronting the Islamic State. Many Kurds also accuse Ankara of giving tacit if not active support to the extremist group – a charge that Turkey has forcefully denied.

"There is no evidence that Turkey has any link, any cooperation, any support to this type of group," Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the British Broadcasting Corp. on Tuesday.

Turkey has demanded that international action in Syria be directed at toppling Syrian President Bashar Assad, which it describes as a greater threat than the Islamic State. The Obama administration has insisted that the main threat lies with the Islamic State.

Turkey is also reluctant to offer military aid to the YPG in Kobani. It views the group as little more than a Syrian proxy for its longtime nemesis, the PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party. Both Washington and Ankara consider the PKK a terrorist group.

Special correspondent Johnson reported from Urfa, Turkey, and special correspondent Buhlos from Amman, Jordan. Staff writer Laura King contributed to this report from Cairo.

Laura.King@latimes.com

Twitter: @laurakingLAT 

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Islamic State video shows hostage John Cantlie apparently inside Kobani

Written By kolimtiga on Selasa, 28 Oktober 2014 | 16.38

Islamic State militants on Monday released a video showing a British hostage in what appears to be the besieged Syrian city of Kobani, delivering a mock-up news report declaring that American-led airstrikes meant to to drive off the extremist Sunni Muslim attackers were failing.

The video, whose authenticity was under examination by the British government and other Western authorities, shows journalist-hostage John Cantlie delivering apparently scripted remarks as he walks and gestures in front of the camera, with what is purportedly the Turkish border – a short distance from the town --- visible in the background.

Thin, pale and lightly bearded, Cantlie is seen clad in a black shirt and trousers rather than the orange jumpsuit he and other hostages have been forced to wear in previous video appearances. The 43-year-old experienced war correspondent and photojournalist has been held hostage for almost two years. 

The report opens with what is described as IS drone footage of the city. In calm though somewhat stilted tones, Cantlie declares: "The battle for Kobani is coming to an end. The mujahideen (IS fighters) are just mopping up now."

The Islamic State has released a succession of hostage videos in recent months, including ones showing the beheadings of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and British aid workers Alan Henning and David Cawthorne Haines. An American aid worker, born Peter Kassig, has been designated by the group as the next to die on camera.

The latest video lasts just over five and a half minutes and is one of a series in which Cantlie has delivered remarks laying out a case against the actions of the British and U.S. governments. At one point he makes a reference to American-airdropped weapons intended for Kobani's Kurdish defenders, saying the bundles fell "straight into the outstretched arms of the mujahideen."

According to the U.S. military, these ammunition and medical supply packages were provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq after supply routes were cut off by IS fighters.  

In the recent video statement, peppered with mocking references to "good old (Secretary of State) John Kerry" and "Kurd-hating Turkish President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan," Cantlie asserts that Islamic State fighters have pushed deep inside the city. He said they now controlled its eastern and southern sectors, where they are engaging in house-to-house combat against Kurdish militia defenders.

"They are definitely not on the run," he said of the IS fighters.

The anti-IS coalition has launched hundreds of air strikes against the militant group in a bid to break its siege against the city. In the video, Cantlie declares that the campaign has had little effect on the Islamic State's fighters.

"Urban warfare is as about as nasty and tough as it gets, and it's something of a specialty of the mujahideen," he said.

The date of the footage could not be independently authenticated, but in it, Cantlie makes detailed reference to Western news reports and official statements within the past 12 days. 

Special correspondent Bulos reported from Amman, Jordan.

Laura.King@latimes.com

Twitter: @laurakingLAT

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Islamic State video shows hostage John Cantlie apparently inside Kobani

Islamic State militants on Monday released a video showing a British hostage in what appears to be the besieged Syrian city of Kobani, delivering a mock-up news report declaring that American-led airstrikes meant to to drive off the extremist Sunni Muslim attackers were failing.

The video, whose authenticity was under examination by the British government and other Western authorities, shows journalist-hostage John Cantlie delivering apparently scripted remarks as he walks and gestures in front of the camera, with what is purportedly the Turkish border – a short distance from the town --- visible in the background.

Thin, pale and lightly bearded, Cantlie is seen clad in a black shirt and trousers rather than the orange jumpsuit he and other hostages have been forced to wear in previous video appearances. The 43-year-old experienced war correspondent and photojournalist has been held hostage for almost two years. 

The report opens with what is described as IS drone footage of the city. In calm though somewhat stilted tones, Cantlie declares: "The battle for Kobani is coming to an end. The mujahideen (IS fighters) are just mopping up now."

The Islamic State has released a succession of hostage videos in recent months, including ones showing the beheadings of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and British aid workers Alan Henning and David Cawthorne Haines. An American aid worker, born Peter Kassig, has been designated by the group as the next to die on camera.

The latest video lasts just over five and a half minutes and is one of a series in which Cantlie has delivered remarks laying out a case against the actions of the British and U.S. governments. At one point he makes a reference to American-airdropped weapons intended for Kobani's Kurdish defenders, saying the bundles fell "straight into the outstretched arms of the mujahideen."

According to the U.S. military, these ammunition and medical supply packages were provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq after supply routes were cut off by IS fighters.  

In the recent video statement, peppered with mocking references to "good old (Secretary of State) John Kerry" and "Kurd-hating Turkish President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan," Cantlie asserts that Islamic State fighters have pushed deep inside the city. He said they now controlled its eastern and southern sectors, where they are engaging in house-to-house combat against Kurdish militia defenders.

"They are definitely not on the run," he said of the IS fighters.

The anti-IS coalition has launched hundreds of air strikes against the militant group in a bid to break its siege against the city. In the video, Cantlie declares that the campaign has had little effect on the Islamic State's fighters.

"Urban warfare is as about as nasty and tough as it gets, and it's something of a specialty of the mujahideen," he said.

The date of the footage could not be independently authenticated, but in it, Cantlie makes detailed reference to Western news reports and official statements within the past 12 days. 

Special correspondent Bulos reported from Amman, Jordan.

Laura.King@latimes.com

Twitter: @laurakingLAT

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Piano and koto meet in 'Strings and Serpents'

"Strings and Serpents," which was presented at REDCAT Sunday evening, combines an intrepid Canadian and French jazz piano duo and an adventurous Japanese koto duo with everyday video animation and exotic Aboriginal myth and maybe a few other things I missed. Cultures combined and cultures collided, but mostly cultures were content to accomodate one another.

A value of art, and the one so overlooked by diplomats, is its ability to serve as a petri dish for cultural experiment, for finding common purpose and what works and what doesn't without anyone getting hurt. No one got hurt by "Strings and Serpents," which was commissioned by CalArts and is currently touring the country.

There was some messing with the piano strings, "preparing" them by putting objects on or between the strings to percussively alter the sound. That became the most useful point of sonic similarity between piano and the plucked koto.

The big picture, though, was ambiguous. Pianists Andy Milne and Benoit Delbecq and koto players Tsugumi Yamamoto and Ai Kajigano were eager to explore intersections between jazz improvisation and traditional Japanese music.

The role of Japanese video artist Saki Murotani, now based in Canada, was to bring in the notion of the rainbow serpent, the enormous Australian Aboriginal deity that created the rivers, oceans and mountains when it tread the empty Earth, and from which also sprung Earth's species.

The musicians worked through a number of numbers, none named or mentioned in a worthless, short program note. Cultures relate best when there is information and knowledge. For this endeavor, it was up to the audience to figure out what was happening.

There were wonderful moments, but they were only moments and mostly they had to do with the instrumental textures. The typical approach began with a rhythmic pattern or an atmospheric sound, well suited to both piano and koto, then added melody or smooth improvisation or lush harmonies.

The West seemed to dominate the East. But if the men at their keyboards had more sway than the ladies at their kotos, the main reason was because the piano is less adaptable. Pitches on the keyboard are fixed, whereas the koto can play in non-Western scales that to us are microtonal.

But the koto players were sly. Sometimes when playing in unison with the pianos, a koto might bend the pitch minutely in such a way as to make the piano seem to be doing so as well.

The real problem, though, was a lack of experimentation. Rather than cultures clashing in an effort to make new discoveries or produce hybrids, the quartet stuck with conventional models. Everything felt on firm ground. Rhythmic groves were insistent. Improvisation was tame. Options remained limited.

But the sound world, itself, proved ear-catching. The pianists were adept at changing the piano preparations on the fly, which I've never seen done so fluidly. Those preparations mean some notes sound normal and others become pitchless pings and thuds. Improvising around them creates harmonic and melodic potholes.

Milne, a fluid improviser, was impressive at skirting interruption. Delbecq, more a master of unusual effects, dove into the emptiness, leaving room for koto sounds to fill in for him. Meanwhile, the koto players pretty much did their thing, vaguely Asian and vaguely not.

The Rainbow Serpent never really reared its imposing head. Murotani's colorful CGI graphics were a New Age-y representation of creation. Earth-like circles exploded into chemical elements, abstract graphics and finally a circular keyboard that became a kind of musical space station in the cosmos.

The challenge of the two duos together, now that they have found a multicultural middle ground in which to work, is to find an avenue for their original voices to sing. At this early stage, the strings still imprison the serpents.

Follow me on Twitter: @markswed

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
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Madison Bumgarner gem puts Giants a win away from World Series title

Written By kolimtiga on Senin, 27 Oktober 2014 | 16.38

Madison Bumgarner did all he could do to clinch being selected the most valuable player of the World Series. Two games, two victories, one run and, in the last game here this season, one loud "M-V-P" chant from the home fans.

For the San Francisco Giants, one to go. For the Kansas City Royals, well, they might not be done with the amazing Mr. Bumgarner just yet.

Willie Mays has a statue outside AT&T Park, and Willie McCovey does too, and at this rate Bumgarner might get there. In his World Series career, he has given up one run in 31 innings. That earned-run average, ladies and gentlemen and sabermetricians of all ages: 0.29.

No one has given up so few runs in so many World Series innings — not Sandy Koufax, not Orel Hershiser, not Walter Johnson.

In this era of six innings and get the game to the bullpen, Bumgarner was his own bullpen Sunday. He went the distance in a 5-0 victory to carry the Giants within one victory of their third World Series championship in five years.

Game 6 is Tuesday in Kansas City. If the Royals force a deciding Game 7, Bumgarner will be available in the bullpen, for what would be the last game of the season.

Bumgarner has four of the Giants' 11 victories in the World Series run of 2010, 2012 and 2014. No one else has more than two. The Giants set up shop here in 1958, and no San Francisco team has won a World Series without him.

The last pitcher to throw a World Series shutout: Josh Beckett, in 2003, the Florida Marlins' clincher over the Yankees at New York.

Bumgarner has thrown 472/3 innings this October, a postseason record. He has struck out 41, walked six and given up six earned runs. His ERA this October: 1.13.

In 1988, when Hershiser willed the Dodgers to their last World Series title, his postseason ERA was 1.05.

That kind of company?

"Pretty special," Bumgarner said, "and very humbling."

On Sunday, Bumgarner barely allowed the Royals to breathe. He gave up four hits, walked none and struck out eight.

Lorenzo Cain singled with two out in the first inning; Bumgarner struck out the next batter. Salvador Perez singled to start the second inning; Bumgarner struck out the next three batters. Omar Infante doubled with one out in the fifth; Bumgarner struck out the next two batters.

Bumgarner pitched with little margin for error. The Giants scored two runs in the first seven innings, then three in the eighth inning. Brandon Crawford, the light-hitting shortstop, drove in three runs . Juan Perez, inserted as a defensive replacement, drove in two.

What Bumgarner has done in this Series is what the Dodgers expected Clayton Kershaw to do in their playoff series: win both of his starts.

The career postseason records: 7-3 for Bumgarner, 1-5 for Kershaw.

"Kershaw is a great pitcher, no question," Giants coach Ron Wotus said. "Bumgarner, with what he's done in the postseason, he's performed better than Kershaw, quite frankly."

In June, as the Giants coughed up a 10-game lead over the Dodgers, Giants pitcher Tim Hudson said Bumgarner called this classic fall.

"Isn't it amazing," Bumgarner told Hudson, "we're going to get to the World Series and win it?"

Said Hudson, laughing as he retold the story: "I was just hoping we would finish .500."

That kind of confidence leads to this kind of performance, and to dreams of an every-other-year parade.

"He'll sleep well," Giants pitcher Jeremy Affeldt said, "if his adrenaline allows him to go to bed."

Twitter: @BillShaikin

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Madison Bumgarner gem puts Giants a win away from World Series title

Madison Bumgarner did all he could do to clinch being selected the most valuable player of the World Series. Two games, two victories, one run and, in the last game here this season, one loud "M-V-P" chant from the home fans.

For the San Francisco Giants, one to go. For the Kansas City Royals, well, they might not be done with the amazing Mr. Bumgarner just yet.

Willie Mays has a statue outside AT&T Park, and Willie McCovey does too, and at this rate Bumgarner might get there. In his World Series career, he has given up one run in 31 innings. That earned-run average, ladies and gentlemen and sabermetricians of all ages: 0.29.

No one has given up so few runs in so many World Series innings — not Sandy Koufax, not Orel Hershiser, not Walter Johnson.

In this era of six innings and get the game to the bullpen, Bumgarner was his own bullpen Sunday. He went the distance in a 5-0 victory to carry the Giants within one victory of their third World Series championship in five years.

Game 6 is Tuesday in Kansas City. If the Royals force a deciding Game 7, Bumgarner will be available in the bullpen, for what would be the last game of the season.

Bumgarner has four of the Giants' 11 victories in the World Series run of 2010, 2012 and 2014. No one else has more than two. The Giants set up shop here in 1958, and no San Francisco team has won a World Series without him.

The last pitcher to throw a World Series shutout: Josh Beckett, in 2003, the Florida Marlins' clincher over the Yankees at New York.

Bumgarner has thrown 472/3 innings this October, a postseason record. He has struck out 41, walked six and given up six earned runs. His ERA this October: 1.13.

In 1988, when Hershiser willed the Dodgers to their last World Series title, his postseason ERA was 1.05.

That kind of company?

"Pretty special," Bumgarner said, "and very humbling."

On Sunday, Bumgarner barely allowed the Royals to breathe. He gave up four hits, walked none and struck out eight.

Lorenzo Cain singled with two out in the first inning; Bumgarner struck out the next batter. Salvador Perez singled to start the second inning; Bumgarner struck out the next three batters. Omar Infante doubled with one out in the fifth; Bumgarner struck out the next two batters.

Bumgarner pitched with little margin for error. The Giants scored two runs in the first seven innings, then three in the eighth inning. Brandon Crawford, the light-hitting shortstop, drove in three runs . Juan Perez, inserted as a defensive replacement, drove in two.

What Bumgarner has done in this Series is what the Dodgers expected Clayton Kershaw to do in their playoff series: win both of his starts.

The career postseason records: 7-3 for Bumgarner, 1-5 for Kershaw.

"Kershaw is a great pitcher, no question," Giants coach Ron Wotus said. "Bumgarner, with what he's done in the postseason, he's performed better than Kershaw, quite frankly."

In June, as the Giants coughed up a 10-game lead over the Dodgers, Giants pitcher Tim Hudson said Bumgarner called this classic fall.

"Isn't it amazing," Bumgarner told Hudson, "we're going to get to the World Series and win it?"

Said Hudson, laughing as he retold the story: "I was just hoping we would finish .500."

That kind of confidence leads to this kind of performance, and to dreams of an every-other-year parade.

"He'll sleep well," Giants pitcher Jeremy Affeldt said, "if his adrenaline allows him to go to bed."

Twitter: @BillShaikin

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Madison Bumgarner gem puts Giants a win away from World Series title

Madison Bumgarner did all he could do to clinch being selected the most valuable player of the World Series. Two games, two victories, one run and, in the last game here this season, one loud "M-V-P" chant from the home fans.

For the San Francisco Giants, one to go. For the Kansas City Royals, well, they might not be done with the amazing Mr. Bumgarner just yet.

Willie Mays has a statue outside AT&T Park, and Willie McCovey does too, and at this rate Bumgarner might get there. In his World Series career, he has given up one run in 31 innings. That earned-run average, ladies and gentlemen and sabermetricians of all ages: 0.29.

No one has given up so few runs in so many World Series innings — not Sandy Koufax, not Orel Hershiser, not Walter Johnson.

In this era of six innings and get the game to the bullpen, Bumgarner was his own bullpen Sunday. He went the distance in a 5-0 victory to carry the Giants within one victory of their third World Series championship in five years.

Game 6 is Tuesday in Kansas City. If the Royals force a deciding Game 7, Bumgarner will be available in the bullpen, for what would be the last game of the season.

Bumgarner has four of the Giants' 11 victories in the World Series run of 2010, 2012 and 2014. No one else has more than two. The Giants set up shop here in 1958, and no San Francisco team has won a World Series without him.

The last pitcher to throw a World Series shutout: Josh Beckett, in 2003, the Florida Marlins' clincher over the Yankees at New York.

Bumgarner has thrown 472/3 innings this October, a postseason record. He has struck out 41, walked six and given up six earned runs. His ERA this October: 1.13.

In 1988, when Hershiser willed the Dodgers to their last World Series title, his postseason ERA was 1.05.

That kind of company?

"Pretty special," Bumgarner said, "and very humbling."

On Sunday, Bumgarner barely allowed the Royals to breathe. He gave up four hits, walked none and struck out eight.

Lorenzo Cain singled with two out in the first inning; Bumgarner struck out the next batter. Salvador Perez singled to start the second inning; Bumgarner struck out the next three batters. Omar Infante doubled with one out in the fifth; Bumgarner struck out the next two batters.

Bumgarner pitched with little margin for error. The Giants scored two runs in the first seven innings, then three in the eighth inning. Brandon Crawford, the light-hitting shortstop, drove in three runs . Juan Perez, inserted as a defensive replacement, drove in two.

What Bumgarner has done in this Series is what the Dodgers expected Clayton Kershaw to do in their playoff series: win both of his starts.

The career postseason records: 7-3 for Bumgarner, 1-5 for Kershaw.

"Kershaw is a great pitcher, no question," Giants coach Ron Wotus said. "Bumgarner, with what he's done in the postseason, he's performed better than Kershaw, quite frankly."

In June, as the Giants coughed up a 10-game lead over the Dodgers, Giants pitcher Tim Hudson said Bumgarner called this classic fall.

"Isn't it amazing," Bumgarner told Hudson, "we're going to get to the World Series and win it?"

Said Hudson, laughing as he retold the story: "I was just hoping we would finish .500."

That kind of confidence leads to this kind of performance, and to dreams of an every-other-year parade.

"He'll sleep well," Giants pitcher Jeremy Affeldt said, "if his adrenaline allows him to go to bed."

Twitter: @BillShaikin

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

USC goes down the same dark road in loss to Utah

Written By kolimtiga on Minggu, 26 Oktober 2014 | 16.38

Again?

Beaten at the final, devastating ticks of the clock again? Beaten by their own reckless confusion again? Beaten not only on the scoreboard, but through the heart again?

Three weeks after losing a game on a Hail Mary pass, the USC football team has been beaten by a you've-got-to-be-kidding-me finish, and their once promising season is now splitting at the seams.

The stands at Rice-Eccles Stadium were a sea of black, the Utah players were draped in black, and late Saturday night all that black darkened the green field in a dancing, bouncing mob that eclipsed USC's conference championship hopes.

With eight seconds left in a game that the Trojans had seemingly locked up two minutes earlier, Utah's Travis Wilson completed a one-yard pass to a diving Kaelin Clay to give the Utes a 24-21 victory Saturday night that filled the field with students and seemingly emptied the Trojan season.

On a warm, windy evening in the Wasatch Range foothills, USC fell to 5-3 and out of the Pac-12 Conference South Division race while the largest football crowd in this stadium's history -- 47,619 -- saw a blackout game become a knockout game.

"We've seen it all,'' said a clearly shocked USC Coach Steve Sarkisian, whose team is 4-2 in conference play.

They've now officially seen it all twice. To those who thought it could never get worse than that loss to Arizona State on that final pass, well, in some ways, it just got worse.

This was not bad luck, this was bad play-calling, bad defense, and simply a bad football presence at the worst possible time. This was a team that played and coached as if "Fight On'' were not a 60-minute philosophy but a 57-minute chant.

Bad enough that the Trojans gave up a touchdown in the first minute of the game because they didn't realize a dropped backward pass was a fumble, which was promptly returned 53 yards for a touchdown by Davion Orphey. Turns out, that was nothing compared to that bookend touchdown in the last minute.

"It kills morale to lose like this," said linebacker Su'a Cravens. "But we're a band of brothers, we'll be back next week.''

It's a long way back from this, a defeat snatched from a seemingly uplifting victory with the Trojans holding a 21-17 lead and driving downfield in the final minutes. If they keep holding the ball and killing the clock, they win. If they attempt a field goal, they ensure at least an overtime.

After two consecutive running plays gained eight yards, they reached the Utes' 28-yard line to set up a third-down-and-two play, an obvious time to give the ball to Javorius Allen, who had already gained 105 yards. But no, Sarkisian called for a screen pass that slipped from quarterback Cody Kessler's hand.

Now it was fourth down, and the second-guessing of Sarkisian continued. He decided not to attempt a field goal. He again decided not to give the ball to Allen. He instead called for a pitch to Nelson Agholor, who stepped out of bounds one yard short of a first down.

No field-goal try? "At the time the wind was really blowing, I just didn't feel great about it," Sarkisian said, adding, "We've been a little injured at that position.''

Indeed, kicker Andre Heidari was struggling with a groin injury and backup Alex Wood has never attempted a field goal in college. The wind was howling, so in hindsight that decision doesn't seem so awful.

But no Allen? "I thought we called a good play,'' said Sarkisian. "Nelson got to the edge but unfortunately his toe nicks out of bounds before he gets the first down.''

In that case, it felt like Sarkisian's wildly creative offensive mind nicked out of bounds, the coach outthinking himself at the worst possible moment. This is USC. This is a tradition built on power football. Just give the ball to Allen.

Remember another time USC failed on a fourth-and-two play that eventually led to a loss? How about USC vs. Texas in the BCS championship game, a failed run by LenDale White with Reggie Bush on the sidelines, a play that involved a USC assistant named, um, Steve Sarkisian.

"I'm speechless right now,'' said Utah running back Devontae Booker after emerging from the on-field party late Saturday.

You know who's not speechless? Yeah, that same LenDale White, the former Trojans running back who has become one of this USC team's most notable critics.

"OMG…I'm so (expletive) right now,'' he tweeted.

The Utes still had to travel 73 yards for the touchdown, of course. But lucky for them, the Trojans were not prepared for the sort of quick-hit passing that carried them there.

"We were hoping they would run the ball,'' said linebacker Hayes Pullard. "Then they figured out we were in man."

Actually, they did run the ball on the key play of the drive, a stunning 18-yard sideline run by Wilson to give Utah the ball on the Trojans' one-yard line. Yet the Trojans admitted they weren't prepared for that, either.

"We didn't hustle to the ball,'' said Cravens.

Such was the indictment of the finish, of the game, of a USC program that is falling back into turmoil, one final, devastasting tick at a time.

Twitter: @billplaschke

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

USC goes down the same dark road in loss to Utah

Again?

Beaten at the final, devastating ticks of the clock again? Beaten by their own reckless confusion again? Beaten not only on the scoreboard, but through the heart again?

Three weeks after losing a game on a Hail Mary pass, the USC football team has been beaten by a you've-got-to-be-kidding-me finish, and their once promising season is now splitting at the seams.

The stands at Rice-Eccles Stadium were a sea of black, the Utah players were draped in black, and late Saturday night all that black darkened the green field in a dancing, bouncing mob that eclipsed USC's conference championship hopes.

With eight seconds left in a game that the Trojans had seemingly locked up two minutes earlier, Utah's Travis Wilson completed a one-yard pass to a diving Kaelin Clay to give the Utes a 24-21 victory Saturday night that filled the field with students and seemingly emptied the Trojan season.

On a warm, windy evening in the Wasatch Range foothills, USC fell to 5-3 and out of the Pac-12 Conference South Division race while the largest football crowd in this stadium's history -- 47,619 -- saw a blackout game become a knockout game.

"We've seen it all,'' said a clearly shocked USC Coach Steve Sarkisian, whose team is 4-2 in conference play.

They've now officially seen it all twice. To those who thought it could never get worse than that loss to Arizona State on that final pass, well, in some ways, it just got worse.

This was not bad luck, this was bad play-calling, bad defense, and simply a bad football presence at the worst possible time. This was a team that played and coached as if "Fight On'' were not a 60-minute philosophy but a 57-minute chant.

Bad enough that the Trojans gave up a touchdown in the first minute of the game because they didn't realize a dropped backward pass was a fumble, which was promptly returned 53 yards for a touchdown by Davion Orphey. Turns out, that was nothing compared to that bookend touchdown in the last minute.

"It kills morale to lose like this," said linebacker Su'a Cravens. "But we're a band of brothers, we'll be back next week.''

It's a long way back from this, a defeat snatched from a seemingly uplifting victory with the Trojans holding a 21-17 lead and driving downfield in the final minutes. If they keep holding the ball and killing the clock, they win. If they attempt a field goal, they ensure at least an overtime.

After two consecutive running plays gained eight yards, they reached the Utes' 28-yard line to set up a third-down-and-two play, an obvious time to give the ball to Javorius Allen, who had already gained 105 yards. But no, Sarkisian called for a screen pass that slipped from quarterback Cody Kessler's hand.

Now it was fourth down, and the second-guessing of Sarkisian continued. He decided not to attempt a field goal. He again decided not to give the ball to Allen. He instead called for a pitch to Nelson Agholor, who stepped out of bounds one yard short of a first down.

No field-goal try? "At the time the wind was really blowing, I just didn't feel great about it," Sarkisian said, adding, "We've been a little injured at that position.''

Indeed, kicker Andre Heidari was struggling with a groin injury and backup Alex Wood has never attempted a field goal in college. The wind was howling, so in hindsight that decision doesn't seem so awful.

But no Allen? "I thought we called a good play,'' said Sarkisian. "Nelson got to the edge but unfortunately his toe nicks out of bounds before he gets the first down.''

In that case, it felt like Sarkisian's wildly creative offensive mind nicked out of bounds, the coach outthinking himself at the worst possible moment. This is USC. This is a tradition built on power football. Just give the ball to Allen.

Remember another time USC failed on a fourth-and-two play that eventually led to a loss? How about USC vs. Texas in the BCS championship game, a failed run by LenDale White with Reggie Bush on the sidelines, a play that involved a USC assistant named, um, Steve Sarkisian.

"I'm speechless right now,'' said Utah running back Devontae Booker after emerging from the on-field party late Saturday.

You know who's not speechless? Yeah, that same LenDale White, the former Trojans running back who has become one of this USC team's most notable critics.

"OMG…I'm so (expletive) right now,'' he tweeted.

The Utes still had to travel 73 yards for the touchdown, of course. But lucky for them, the Trojans were not prepared for the sort of quick-hit passing that carried them there.

"We were hoping they would run the ball,'' said linebacker Hayes Pullard. "Then they figured out we were in man."

Actually, they did run the ball on the key play of the drive, a stunning 18-yard sideline run by Wilson to give Utah the ball on the Trojans' one-yard line. Yet the Trojans admitted they weren't prepared for that, either.

"We didn't hustle to the ball,'' said Cravens.

Such was the indictment of the finish, of the game, of a USC program that is falling back into turmoil, one final, devastasting tick at a time.

Twitter: @billplaschke

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

USC goes down the same dark road in loss to Utah

Again?

Beaten at the final, devastating ticks of the clock again? Beaten by their own reckless confusion again? Beaten not only on the scoreboard, but through the heart again?

Three weeks after losing a game on a Hail Mary pass, the USC football team has been beaten by a you've-got-to-be-kidding-me finish, and their once promising season is now splitting at the seams.

The stands at Rice-Eccles Stadium were a sea of black, the Utah players were draped in black, and late Saturday night all that black darkened the green field in a dancing, bouncing mob that eclipsed USC's conference championship hopes.

With eight seconds left in a game that the Trojans had seemingly locked up two minutes earlier, Utah's Travis Wilson completed a one-yard pass to a diving Kaelin Clay to give the Utes a 24-21 victory Saturday night that filled the field with students and seemingly emptied the Trojan season.

On a warm, windy evening in the Wasatch Range foothills, USC fell to 5-3 and out of the Pac-12 Conference South Division race while the largest football crowd in this stadium's history -- 47,619 -- saw a blackout game become a knockout game.

"We've seen it all,'' said a clearly shocked USC Coach Steve Sarkisian, whose team is 4-2 in conference play.

They've now officially seen it all twice. To those who thought it could never get worse than that loss to Arizona State on that final pass, well, in some ways, it just got worse.

This was not bad luck, this was bad play-calling, bad defense, and simply a bad football presence at the worst possible time. This was a team that played and coached as if "Fight On'' were not a 60-minute philosophy but a 57-minute chant.

Bad enough that the Trojans gave up a touchdown in the first minute of the game because they didn't realize a dropped backward pass was a fumble, which was promptly returned 53 yards for a touchdown by Davion Orphey. Turns out, that was nothing compared to that bookend touchdown in the last minute.

"It kills morale to lose like this," said linebacker Su'a Cravens. "But we're a band of brothers, we'll be back next week.''

It's a long way back from this, a defeat snatched from a seemingly uplifting victory with the Trojans holding a 21-17 lead and driving downfield in the final minutes. If they keep holding the ball and killing the clock, they win. If they attempt a field goal, they ensure at least an overtime.

After two consecutive running plays gained eight yards, they reached the Utes' 28-yard line to set up a third-down-and-two play, an obvious time to give the ball to Javorius Allen, who had already gained 105 yards. But no, Sarkisian called for a screen pass that slipped from quarterback Cody Kessler's hand.

Now it was fourth down, and the second-guessing of Sarkisian continued. He decided not to attempt a field goal. He again decided not to give the ball to Allen. He instead called for a pitch to Nelson Agholor, who stepped out of bounds one yard short of a first down.

No field-goal try? "At the time the wind was really blowing, I just didn't feel great about it," Sarkisian said, adding, "We've been a little injured at that position.''

Indeed, kicker Andre Heidari was struggling with a groin injury and backup Alex Wood has never attempted a field goal in college. The wind was howling, so in hindsight that decision doesn't seem so awful.

But no Allen? "I thought we called a good play,'' said Sarkisian. "Nelson got to the edge but unfortunately his toe nicks out of bounds before he gets the first down.''

In that case, it felt like Sarkisian's wildly creative offensive mind nicked out of bounds, the coach outthinking himself at the worst possible moment. This is USC. This is a tradition built on power football. Just give the ball to Allen.

Remember another time USC failed on a fourth-and-two play that eventually led to a loss? How about USC vs. Texas in the BCS championship game, a failed run by LenDale White with Reggie Bush on the sidelines, a play that involved a USC assistant named, um, Steve Sarkisian.

"I'm speechless right now,'' said Utah running back Devontae Booker after emerging from the on-field party late Saturday.

You know who's not speechless? Yeah, that same LenDale White, the former Trojans running back who has become one of this USC team's most notable critics.

"OMG…I'm so (expletive) right now,'' he tweeted.

The Utes still had to travel 73 yards for the touchdown, of course. But lucky for them, the Trojans were not prepared for the sort of quick-hit passing that carried them there.

"We were hoping they would run the ball,'' said linebacker Hayes Pullard. "Then they figured out we were in man."

Actually, they did run the ball on the key play of the drive, a stunning 18-yard sideline run by Wilson to give Utah the ball on the Trojans' one-yard line. Yet the Trojans admitted they weren't prepared for that, either.

"We didn't hustle to the ball,'' said Cravens.

Such was the indictment of the finish, of the game, of a USC program that is falling back into turmoil, one final, devastasting tick at a time.

Twitter: @billplaschke

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

For the record

Written By kolimtiga on Sabtu, 25 Oktober 2014 | 16.38

Anaheim girl killed: In the Oct. 24 California section, an article about the shooting death of a 9-year-old girl in Anaheim said that the Disney resort was to the west of the neighborhood involved. It is to the south.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

For the record

Anaheim girl killed: In the Oct. 24 California section, an article about the shooting death of a 9-year-old girl in Anaheim said that the Disney resort was to the west of the neighborhood involved. It is to the south.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

For the record

Anaheim girl killed: In the Oct. 24 California section, an article about the shooting death of a 9-year-old girl in Anaheim said that the Disney resort was to the west of the neighborhood involved. It is to the south.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Another CSUN fraternity being investigated for possible hazing

Written By kolimtiga on Jumat, 24 Oktober 2014 | 16.38

School officials said late Thursday that a fraternity at Cal State Northridge was under investigation for possible hazing, months after a pledge at a different Greek organization died during a mandatory hike.

In a letter posted by school newspaper the Daily Sundial, William Watkins, vice president for student affairs and dean of students, told sorority and fraternity presidents that the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity was being investigated for possible hazing.

This comes months after CSUN student Armando Villa, 19, died during what administrators concluded was a hazing incident while he pledged to a different fraternity. The dehydrated Pi Kappa Phi pledge died July 1 during a mandatory hike for students hoping to join the fraternity.

All pledging activity at Cal State Northridge was immediately suspended Thursday.

"It is my unfortunate duty to notify you that the university has learned of yet another instance of possible hazing," Watkins wrote in the letter dated Thursday. "I am directing that all pledge activities immediately cease and desist."

The Zeta Omicron chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha was placed on interim suspension pending the outcome of the university's investigation, which has yet to be completed.

The fraternity was also placed on administrative suspension by its national headquarters, Watkins said. 

The school's fraternities and sororities were warned that they would be immediately suspended and subject to removal proceedings if they continued pledging activities. Pledges can still be inducted, but they shall not be subjected to any further pledge activity, the school said.

The Pi Kappa Phi fraternity voted to shut down the CSUN chapter after Villa's death. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is expected to conclude a criminal investigation into the death.

School President Dianne F. Harrison was expected to address the leaders of CSUN's Greek system to discuss the university's expectations and intent to end hazing.

"It is shocking and disappointing that this conduct persists after all the efforts undertaken by so many this fall to ensure a recruitment and intake process that conforms to the university's zero tolerance policy on hazing," Watkins said.

For breaking news, follow @AdolfoFlores3.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Another CSUN fraternity being investigated for possible hazing

School officials said late Thursday that a fraternity at Cal State Northridge was under investigation for possible hazing, months after a pledge at a different Greek organization died during a mandatory hike.

In a letter posted by school newspaper the Daily Sundial, William Watkins, vice president for student affairs and dean of students, told sorority and fraternity presidents that the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity was being investigated for possible hazing.

This comes months after CSUN student Armando Villa, 19, died during what administrators concluded was a hazing incident while he pledged to a different fraternity. The dehydrated Pi Kappa Phi pledge died July 1 during a mandatory hike for students hoping to join the fraternity.

All pledging activity at Cal State Northridge was immediately suspended Thursday.

"It is my unfortunate duty to notify you that the university has learned of yet another instance of possible hazing," Watkins wrote in the letter dated Thursday. "I am directing that all pledge activities immediately cease and desist."

The Zeta Omicron chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha was placed on interim suspension pending the outcome of the university's investigation, which has yet to be completed.

The fraternity was also placed on administrative suspension by its national headquarters, Watkins said. 

The school's fraternities and sororities were warned that they would be immediately suspended and subject to removal proceedings if they continued pledging activities. Pledges can still be inducted, but they shall not be subjected to any further pledge activity, the school said.

The Pi Kappa Phi fraternity voted to shut down the CSUN chapter after Villa's death. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is expected to conclude a criminal investigation into the death.

School President Dianne F. Harrison was expected to address the leaders of CSUN's Greek system to discuss the university's expectations and intent to end hazing.

"It is shocking and disappointing that this conduct persists after all the efforts undertaken by so many this fall to ensure a recruitment and intake process that conforms to the university's zero tolerance policy on hazing," Watkins said.

For breaking news, follow @AdolfoFlores3.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

Flawed 'Camp X-Ray' still exposes truths in war on terror

One thing director Peter Sattler gets right in the new film "Camp X-Ray" is the way life can entrap even without prison walls. Pvt. Cole, a young soldier played by Kristen Stewart, joins the Army to escape small-town Florida and ends up guarding Ali, a Guantanamo Bay prisoner played by "A Separation" star Payman Maadi. From scraps of conversation, you gather Cole was as eager to leave her home's mentality as much as the reality, only to find a different brand of small-mindedness and repression in this man's army.

It helps if you think of "Camp X-Ray" and the prison face-off between Stewart and Maadi as a cautionary conversation unfolding more like a theater production than a movie.

In their tête-à-têtes, provocative moments emerge as writer-director Sattler zeros in on the unlikely and uneasy friendship that develops between Cole and Ali.

Otherwise, the drama has a tendency to slip into stereotypes a bit too easily, military misogyny, terrorist ideology and xenophobia among them. It's not that those elements don't exist in the real world, especially in places like Gitmo where being detained as a terrorist suspect can feel like a life sentence without the trial. But by boiling too much down to black and white, "Camp X-Ray's" ability to say something significant is diluted.

Ali is shown briefly in his pre-prison days, somewhere in the Middle East readying a bunch of cellphones for something, no clue as to what, when he's caught in a sweep. Black bag over his head, in chains, he's flown to Guantanamo. He's not the leader of his cellblock; he spends his time reading, praying and resisting where he can.

Cole joins the high-security detail as part of the regular rotation of new blood. Her first real encounter with Ali is over books — she's delivering them, he's complaining about a conspiracy to keep Harry Potter's last from him. She thinks "The Prisoner of Azkaban" is an Arabic book.

With that kind of cultural counterpoint established, Sattler starts escalating the hostilities between Ali and Cole. There is what should be a deal-breaker involving watered-down filth in the face. But watching the punishment that follows, something shifts inside Cole.

The film finds its footing as their fragmented conversations expand. By laying out the arguments in bits and pieces, Sattler keeps the dialogue from overstating the case. If only the other characters were drawn with as much restraint. Instead we have a sea of mostly anonymous, screaming faces in the detainees and, on the other side, jacked-up alpha males in uniform. Sgt. Ransdell (Lane Garrison), Cole's supervisor, is a particularly nasty piece of work, especially after she resists his advances.

The director, making his feature-film debut with "Camp X-Ray," comes out of graphic design, and you can see that influence in the way he's constructed the set. The cellblock, its tight walkways hemmed in by cinderblock and steel rooms, the monochromatic look mirroring the soldiers' fatigues, does much to create a claustrophobic, minimalist vibe. Director of photography James Laxton goes in close so often it can feel like the walls are coming in.

Within the constraints, Stewart and Maadi find the right rhythms to make Cole and Ali's exchanges seem real, even Ali's slight crush — the care he begins taking to trim his mustache — are humanizing.

A locked-down soldier is a good fit for Stewart's interior acting style. The skittish looks the actress slips between hard glares or icy outrage bring a kind of understated electricity to Cole. And the impact that comes when she softens, even slightly, is first rate as she continues to evolve the further away she gets from "Twilight's" teenage Bella. But there is an edginess that flows through all of her work — especially effective as a young Joan Jett in "The Runaways" — and one hopes she'll never lose that.

Maadi is always an intriguing and enigmatic presence on screen. There's a latent scowl that gives his look a kind of mystery and possible menace even when there is nothing else to indicate it. But it is the way he uses the eyes under those brows that is so potent. Intelligence, outrage, kindness, bemusement, he delivers it all with a glance. If you haven't seen his performance as a distressed Iranian husband in "A Separation," which won the foreign language Oscar in 2012, put it on your DVD to-do list.

As to Sattler, though he stumbles in this first outing, at times mightily — the ending is too ludicrous for words — he makes room for Stewart and Maadi to build a different narrative than we're used to in the war on terror. One that allows a little understanding to creep in.

Follow me on Twitter: @BetsySharkey

-------------------------------------------

'Camp X-Ray'

MPAA rating: R for language and brief nude images

Running time: 1 hour, 58 minutes

Playing: Sundance Sunset Cinema, West Hollywood

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

99 ways to boost pensions in California -- at public cost

Written By kolimtiga on Kamis, 23 Oktober 2014 | 16.38

Directing traffic is part of a police officer's job, and in the city of Fountain Valley, keeping cars moving comes with a $145 monthly bonus — and a bigger pension.

Fountain Valley officers can also pump up their pensions by working with police dogs or mentoring schoolchildren. Those who stay in shape get as much as $195 more each month.

All these perks boost officers' salaries and add thousands of dollars to taxpayer-funded pensions for years to come.

The California Public Employees' Retirement System made these higher pensions possible. The nation's biggest public pension fund voted in August to adopt a list of 99 bonuses, ensuring that newly hired California public workers would receive the same pension sweeteners as veteran employees.

The long-term cost of pensions calculated with bonuses is billions of dollars more than with base pay only. But the exact price tag remains a mystery. The labor-dominated CalPERS board voted without estimating the potential tab.

The vote raised alarms on Wall Street, where analysts have warned about the skyrocketing costs. With $300 billion in investments, CalPERS estimates it still needs an additional $100 billion from taxpayers to deliver on its promised pensions to 1.7 million public workers and retirees. That amount would be enough to operate the 23-campus California State University system for 16 years.

Gov. Jerry Brown, who pushed through a 2012 law to stop workers from using questionable perks to unjustly inflate their retirement pay, wants the action reversed. He vowed to take a personal role in the fight and has asked two state agencies to scrutinize whether the 99 pension sweeteners are legal and appropriate.

All new state employees, as well as those at most cities, counties and other local agencies across California, will now benefit from the list.

Among the beneficiaries are librarians who help the public find books, secretaries who take dictation, groundskeepers who repair sprinklers and school workers who supervise recess.

"Ninety-nine, are you kidding me?" said Dave Elder, former chair of the Assembly's public employees committee. "It's almost impossible to police."

CalPERS repeatedly told The Times it didn't know how much the bonuses were adding to the cost of worker pensions even though cities submit detailed pay and bonus information that is used to calculate retirement pay.

Even a small bump in salary can cause a public agency's pension costs to soar. An increase of $7,850 to a $100,000 salary can amount to an additional $118,000 in retirement if the employee lived to 80, according to an analysis by the San Diego Taxpayers Assn., a watchdog group that scrutinizes city finances.

Fitch, a Wall Street rating firm that weighs in on the financial health of governments, warned that the pension fund's vote would burden cash-strapped cities.

"Cities and taxpayers will undeniably face higher costs," said Fitch analyst Stephen Walsh. "Pensions are taking a bigger share of the pie, leaving less money for core services."

Governments sent CalPERS more than $8 billion last year, an amount that has quadrupled in the last 10 years.

And the cost will continue to rise. Long Beach expects its payments to CalPERS to increase 87%, or $35 million, in the next six years. Finding that money will be "very painful," its staff recently told the City Council.

Sacramento had been expecting pension costs to rise by millions of dollars when CalPERS asked cities to start paying even more because retirees are living longer. Leyne Milstein, the city's finance director, estimated the newest jump adds up to an additional $12 million annually — the equivalent of 34 police officers, 30 firefighters and 38 other employees.

At The Times' request, CalPERS analyzed salary and bonus costs for Fountain Valley — one of hundreds of cities and public agencies that award pension-boosting bonuses to workers.

CalPERS found the Fountain Valley perks could hike a worker's gross pay as much as 17%. About half the city's workforce received the extra pay that will also increase their pensions, most of them police and fire employees.

Fountain Valley taxpayers are spending between $147,000 and $179,000 in total compensation, pension and other benefits for each full-time officer on its force, according to city documents. Sergeants, lieutenants, two captains and the chief receive more.

Detective Henry Hsu, president of the Fountain Valley Police Officers' Assn., defended the bonuses, which he said "are intended to help officers become better officers."

The money compensates officers for extra hours or hazards they take on in the special assignments, he said.

Fountain Valley City Manager Bob Hall said that most of the premiums are fixed monthly sums, unlike those at many other cities where they are a percentage of base pay — causing them to rise in value with every salary increase.

"We've tried to manage the cost as best we can," Hall said.

CalPERS executives said they don't understand the anger caused by the board's vote. The action simply clarifies the 2012 reform law, which was designed to stem rising pension costs, said Brad Pacheco, a spokesman for the agency.

CalPERS always assumed that new employees would continue to benefit from bonuses just as those hired earlier did, Pacheco said. The reform law is still estimated to save taxpayers $42 billion to $55 billion over the next 30 years, he said.

"It's far-stretched to say this is a rollback of reform," Pacheco said. "We implement the law as it was written, not how others wish it were written."

Some public pension funds that operate independently from CalPERS disagreed with its interpretation. Fund officials in Stanislaus and Contra Costa counties decided not to include bonuses when calculating pensions for new employees.

"Our board came to the conclusion that base pay is what the Legislature and the governor had intended," said Rick Santos, executive director of the Stanislaus County Employees' Retirement Assn.

Over the years, unions have secured better retirement packages through negotiations with public agencies and by expanding their influence inside CalPERS.

In an extraordinary show of union power, workers persuaded voters in 1992 to amend the state constitution, requiring the pension board to place more emphasis on providing benefits to workers and less on the cost to taxpayers.

In 1993, CalPERS successfully sponsored a bill that gave it the authority to determine what bonuses could be counted toward pensions. That same year, CalPERS created a list spelling out dozens of possible pension sweeteners.

Since then, those bonuses have been used to boost pensions. The 2012 reform law was silent about whether new employees would get them too.

Seven people on the 13-seat board are union members or were elected by government workers who receive benefits from CalPERS. All but one of them voted to add the bonus list into the 2012 reform law.

Union-backed board members weren't the only ones who voted for the bonuses. State Treasurer Bill Lockyer and state Controller John Chiang both complained about the pension boosters but said they had little choice but to approve them.

"Many of the items on this premium pay list are absolutely objectionable," said Tom Dresslar, a spokesman for Lockyer. But frustration, he said, "needs to be directed to the proper place, which is the public agencies that negotiated the perks through collective bargaining agreements."

George Diehr was the only board member elected by workers who voted against the bonuses. A recently retired Cal State San Marcos professor, Diehr said many of the perks seemed silly and archaic.

One thing is clear: Pension costs will keep rising.

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, who is fighting to transform the state's public pension program, said CalPERS is continuing to "work against any kind of reform."

"They've set out on a course to protect the existing system and level of benefits," Reed said. "Meanwhile, costs are going up, the problem has not gone away, and it keeps getting worse."

melody.petersen@latimes.com

Twitter: @melodypetersen

marc.lifsher@latimes.com

Twitter: @marclifsher

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

99 ways to boost pensions in California -- at public cost

Directing traffic is part of a police officer's job, and in the city of Fountain Valley, keeping cars moving comes with a $145 monthly bonus — and a bigger pension.

Fountain Valley officers can also pump up their pensions by working with police dogs or mentoring schoolchildren. Those who stay in shape get as much as $195 more each month.

All these perks boost officers' salaries and add thousands of dollars to taxpayer-funded pensions for years to come.

The California Public Employees' Retirement System made these higher pensions possible. The nation's biggest public pension fund voted in August to adopt a list of 99 bonuses, ensuring that newly hired California public workers would receive the same pension sweeteners as veteran employees.

The long-term cost of pensions calculated with bonuses is billions of dollars more than with base pay only. But the exact price tag remains a mystery. The labor-dominated CalPERS board voted without estimating the potential tab.

The vote raised alarms on Wall Street, where analysts have warned about the skyrocketing costs. With $300 billion in investments, CalPERS estimates it still needs an additional $100 billion from taxpayers to deliver on its promised pensions to 1.7 million public workers and retirees. That amount would be enough to operate the 23-campus California State University system for 16 years.

Gov. Jerry Brown, who pushed through a 2012 law to stop workers from using questionable perks to unjustly inflate their retirement pay, wants the action reversed. He vowed to take a personal role in the fight and has asked two state agencies to scrutinize whether the 99 pension sweeteners are legal and appropriate.

All new state employees, as well as those at most cities, counties and other local agencies across California, will now benefit from the list.

Among the beneficiaries are librarians who help the public find books, secretaries who take dictation, groundskeepers who repair sprinklers and school workers who supervise recess.

"Ninety-nine, are you kidding me?" said Dave Elder, former chair of the Assembly's public employees committee. "It's almost impossible to police."

CalPERS repeatedly told The Times it didn't know how much the bonuses were adding to the cost of worker pensions even though cities submit detailed pay and bonus information that is used to calculate retirement pay.

Even a small bump in salary can cause a public agency's pension costs to soar. An increase of $7,850 to a $100,000 salary can amount to an additional $118,000 in retirement if the employee lived to 80, according to an analysis by the San Diego Taxpayers Assn., a watchdog group that scrutinizes city finances.

Fitch, a Wall Street rating firm that weighs in on the financial health of governments, warned that the pension fund's vote would burden cash-strapped cities.

"Cities and taxpayers will undeniably face higher costs," said Fitch analyst Stephen Walsh. "Pensions are taking a bigger share of the pie, leaving less money for core services."

Governments sent CalPERS more than $8 billion last year, an amount that has quadrupled in the last 10 years.

And the cost will continue to rise. Long Beach expects its payments to CalPERS to increase 87%, or $35 million, in the next six years. Finding that money will be "very painful," its staff recently told the City Council.

Sacramento had been expecting pension costs to rise by millions of dollars when CalPERS asked cities to start paying even more because retirees are living longer. Leyne Milstein, the city's finance director, estimated the newest jump adds up to an additional $12 million annually — the equivalent of 34 police officers, 30 firefighters and 38 other employees.

At The Times' request, CalPERS analyzed salary and bonus costs for Fountain Valley — one of hundreds of cities and public agencies that award pension-boosting bonuses to workers.

CalPERS found the Fountain Valley perks could hike a worker's gross pay as much as 17%. About half the city's workforce received the extra pay that will also increase their pensions, most of them police and fire employees.

Fountain Valley taxpayers are spending between $147,000 and $179,000 in total compensation, pension and other benefits for each full-time officer on its force, according to city documents. Sergeants, lieutenants, two captains and the chief receive more.

Detective Henry Hsu, president of the Fountain Valley Police Officers' Assn., defended the bonuses, which he said "are intended to help officers become better officers."

The money compensates officers for extra hours or hazards they take on in the special assignments, he said.

Fountain Valley City Manager Bob Hall said that most of the premiums are fixed monthly sums, unlike those at many other cities where they are a percentage of base pay — causing them to rise in value with every salary increase.

"We've tried to manage the cost as best we can," Hall said.

CalPERS executives said they don't understand the anger caused by the board's vote. The action simply clarifies the 2012 reform law, which was designed to stem rising pension costs, said Brad Pacheco, a spokesman for the agency.

CalPERS always assumed that new employees would continue to benefit from bonuses just as those hired earlier did, Pacheco said. The reform law is still estimated to save taxpayers $42 billion to $55 billion over the next 30 years, he said.

"It's far-stretched to say this is a rollback of reform," Pacheco said. "We implement the law as it was written, not how others wish it were written."

Some public pension funds that operate independently from CalPERS disagreed with its interpretation. Fund officials in Stanislaus and Contra Costa counties decided not to include bonuses when calculating pensions for new employees.

"Our board came to the conclusion that base pay is what the Legislature and the governor had intended," said Rick Santos, executive director of the Stanislaus County Employees' Retirement Assn.

Over the years, unions have secured better retirement packages through negotiations with public agencies and by expanding their influence inside CalPERS.

In an extraordinary show of union power, workers persuaded voters in 1992 to amend the state constitution, requiring the pension board to place more emphasis on providing benefits to workers and less on the cost to taxpayers.

In 1993, CalPERS successfully sponsored a bill that gave it the authority to determine what bonuses could be counted toward pensions. That same year, CalPERS created a list spelling out dozens of possible pension sweeteners.

Since then, those bonuses have been used to boost pensions. The 2012 reform law was silent about whether new employees would get them too.

Seven people on the 13-seat board are union members or were elected by government workers who receive benefits from CalPERS. All but one of them voted to add the bonus list into the 2012 reform law.

Union-backed board members weren't the only ones who voted for the bonuses. State Treasurer Bill Lockyer and state Controller John Chiang both complained about the pension boosters but said they had little choice but to approve them.

"Many of the items on this premium pay list are absolutely objectionable," said Tom Dresslar, a spokesman for Lockyer. But frustration, he said, "needs to be directed to the proper place, which is the public agencies that negotiated the perks through collective bargaining agreements."

George Diehr was the only board member elected by workers who voted against the bonuses. A recently retired Cal State San Marcos professor, Diehr said many of the perks seemed silly and archaic.

One thing is clear: Pension costs will keep rising.

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, who is fighting to transform the state's public pension program, said CalPERS is continuing to "work against any kind of reform."

"They've set out on a course to protect the existing system and level of benefits," Reed said. "Meanwhile, costs are going up, the problem has not gone away, and it keeps getting worse."

melody.petersen@latimes.com

Twitter: @melodypetersen

marc.lifsher@latimes.com

Twitter: @marclifsher

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More

99 ways to boost pensions in California -- at public cost

Directing traffic is part of a police officer's job, and in the city of Fountain Valley, keeping cars moving comes with a $145 monthly bonus — and a bigger pension.

Fountain Valley officers can also pump up their pensions by working with police dogs or mentoring schoolchildren. Those who stay in shape get as much as $195 more each month.

All these perks boost officers' salaries and add thousands of dollars to taxpayer-funded pensions for years to come.

The California Public Employees' Retirement System made these higher pensions possible. The nation's biggest public pension fund voted in August to adopt a list of 99 bonuses, ensuring that newly hired California public workers would receive the same pension sweeteners as veteran employees.

The long-term cost of pensions calculated with bonuses is billions of dollars more than with base pay only. But the exact price tag remains a mystery. The labor-dominated CalPERS board voted without estimating the potential tab.

The vote raised alarms on Wall Street, where analysts have warned about the skyrocketing costs. With $300 billion in investments, CalPERS estimates it still needs an additional $100 billion from taxpayers to deliver on its promised pensions to 1.7 million public workers and retirees. That amount would be enough to operate the 23-campus California State University system for 16 years.

Gov. Jerry Brown, who pushed through a 2012 law to stop workers from using questionable perks to unjustly inflate their retirement pay, wants the action reversed. He vowed to take a personal role in the fight and has asked two state agencies to scrutinize whether the 99 pension sweeteners are legal and appropriate.

All new state employees, as well as those at most cities, counties and other local agencies across California, will now benefit from the list.

Among the beneficiaries are librarians who help the public find books, secretaries who take dictation, groundskeepers who repair sprinklers and school workers who supervise recess.

"Ninety-nine, are you kidding me?" said Dave Elder, former chair of the Assembly's public employees committee. "It's almost impossible to police."

CalPERS repeatedly told The Times it didn't know how much the bonuses were adding to the cost of worker pensions even though cities submit detailed pay and bonus information that is used to calculate retirement pay.

Even a small bump in salary can cause a public agency's pension costs to soar. An increase of $7,850 to a $100,000 salary can amount to an additional $118,000 in retirement if the employee lived to 80, according to an analysis by the San Diego Taxpayers Assn., a watchdog group that scrutinizes city finances.

Fitch, a Wall Street rating firm that weighs in on the financial health of governments, warned that the pension fund's vote would burden cash-strapped cities.

"Cities and taxpayers will undeniably face higher costs," said Fitch analyst Stephen Walsh. "Pensions are taking a bigger share of the pie, leaving less money for core services."

Governments sent CalPERS more than $8 billion last year, an amount that has quadrupled in the last 10 years.

And the cost will continue to rise. Long Beach expects its payments to CalPERS to increase 87%, or $35 million, in the next six years. Finding that money will be "very painful," its staff recently told the City Council.

Sacramento had been expecting pension costs to rise by millions of dollars when CalPERS asked cities to start paying even more because retirees are living longer. Leyne Milstein, the city's finance director, estimated the newest jump adds up to an additional $12 million annually — the equivalent of 34 police officers, 30 firefighters and 38 other employees.

At The Times' request, CalPERS analyzed salary and bonus costs for Fountain Valley — one of hundreds of cities and public agencies that award pension-boosting bonuses to workers.

CalPERS found the Fountain Valley perks could hike a worker's gross pay as much as 17%. About half the city's workforce received the extra pay that will also increase their pensions, most of them police and fire employees.

Fountain Valley taxpayers are spending between $147,000 and $179,000 in total compensation, pension and other benefits for each full-time officer on its force, according to city documents. Sergeants, lieutenants, two captains and the chief receive more.

Detective Henry Hsu, president of the Fountain Valley Police Officers' Assn., defended the bonuses, which he said "are intended to help officers become better officers."

The money compensates officers for extra hours or hazards they take on in the special assignments, he said.

Fountain Valley City Manager Bob Hall said that most of the premiums are fixed monthly sums, unlike those at many other cities where they are a percentage of base pay — causing them to rise in value with every salary increase.

"We've tried to manage the cost as best we can," Hall said.

CalPERS executives said they don't understand the anger caused by the board's vote. The action simply clarifies the 2012 reform law, which was designed to stem rising pension costs, said Brad Pacheco, a spokesman for the agency.

CalPERS always assumed that new employees would continue to benefit from bonuses just as those hired earlier did, Pacheco said. The reform law is still estimated to save taxpayers $42 billion to $55 billion over the next 30 years, he said.

"It's far-stretched to say this is a rollback of reform," Pacheco said. "We implement the law as it was written, not how others wish it were written."

Some public pension funds that operate independently from CalPERS disagreed with its interpretation. Fund officials in Stanislaus and Contra Costa counties decided not to include bonuses when calculating pensions for new employees.

"Our board came to the conclusion that base pay is what the Legislature and the governor had intended," said Rick Santos, executive director of the Stanislaus County Employees' Retirement Assn.

Over the years, unions have secured better retirement packages through negotiations with public agencies and by expanding their influence inside CalPERS.

In an extraordinary show of union power, workers persuaded voters in 1992 to amend the state constitution, requiring the pension board to place more emphasis on providing benefits to workers and less on the cost to taxpayers.

In 1993, CalPERS successfully sponsored a bill that gave it the authority to determine what bonuses could be counted toward pensions. That same year, CalPERS created a list spelling out dozens of possible pension sweeteners.

Since then, those bonuses have been used to boost pensions. The 2012 reform law was silent about whether new employees would get them too.

Seven people on the 13-seat board are union members or were elected by government workers who receive benefits from CalPERS. All but one of them voted to add the bonus list into the 2012 reform law.

Union-backed board members weren't the only ones who voted for the bonuses. State Treasurer Bill Lockyer and state Controller John Chiang both complained about the pension boosters but said they had little choice but to approve them.

"Many of the items on this premium pay list are absolutely objectionable," said Tom Dresslar, a spokesman for Lockyer. But frustration, he said, "needs to be directed to the proper place, which is the public agencies that negotiated the perks through collective bargaining agreements."

George Diehr was the only board member elected by workers who voted against the bonuses. A recently retired Cal State San Marcos professor, Diehr said many of the perks seemed silly and archaic.

One thing is clear: Pension costs will keep rising.

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, who is fighting to transform the state's public pension program, said CalPERS is continuing to "work against any kind of reform."

"They've set out on a course to protect the existing system and level of benefits," Reed said. "Meanwhile, costs are going up, the problem has not gone away, and it keeps getting worse."

melody.petersen@latimes.com

Twitter: @melodypetersen

marc.lifsher@latimes.com

Twitter: @marclifsher

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

16.38 | 0 komentar | Read More
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