Feb
16

Deasy wants 30% of teacher evaluations based on test scores

L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy announced Friday that as much as 30% of a teacher's evaluation will be based on student test scores,...
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Kate Upton says body shut down after Antarctic bikini shoot

(Reuters) – Swimsuit model Kate Upton said on Tuesday her body shut down after she posed in a skimpy bikini in Antarctica for Sports Illustrated magazine.Upton, wearing only a white bikini bottom and an unzipped white parka, was picked as the cover girl for the annual Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, unveiled on Monday, for the second consecutive year.“It was freezing,” Upton, 20, told NBC’s morning...
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Livestrong Tattoos as Reminder of Personal Connections, Not Tarnished Brand

As Jax Mariash went under the tattoo needle to have “Livestrong” emblazoned on her wrist in bold black letters, she did not think about Lance Armstrong or doping allegations, but rather the 10 people affected by cancer she wanted to commemorate in ink. It was Jan. 22, 2010, exactly a year since the disease had taken the life of her stepfather. After years of wearing yellow Livestrong wristbands, she...
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The Education Revolution: In China, Families Bet It All on a Child in College

Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesWu Caoying studied English under her father’s watchful eye in 2006. She is now a sophomore in college. More Photos »HANJING, China — Wu Yiebing has been going down coal shafts practically every workday of his life, wrestling an electric drill for $500 a month in the choking dust of claustrophobic tunnels, with one goal in mind: paying for his daughter’s education. ...
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Feb
15

'Blade Runner' Oscar Pistorius weeps as he faces murder charge

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee revered in South Africa for overcoming his...
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Oscar’s oldest nominee, Emmanuelle Riva, on “Amour”: it’s a gift in the last stage of my life

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – The life of an artist is full of surprises, and none has been bigger for French actress Emanuelle Riva than the one that has come late in life. The response has been overwhelming to her performance in this year’s meditative “Amour,” which brought her the first Oscar nomination of her career – and makes her the oldest Best Actress nominee ever, at 85.Riva was best known...
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Fat Dad: Baking for Love

Fat DadDawn Lerman writes about growing up with a fat dad.My grandmother Beauty always told me that the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach, and by the look of pure delight on my dad’s face when he ate a piece of warm, homemade chocolate cake, or bit into a just-baked crispy cookie, I grew to believe this was true. I had no doubt that when the time came, and I liked a boy, that a batch of...
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DealBook: SAC Clients Said to Seek $1.7 Billion in Refunds

Clients of SAC Capital Advisors have asked to withdraw $1.7 billion from the giant hedge fund as the government’s insider trading investigation intensifies, according to people briefed on the matter.That amount represents slightly more than a quarter of the $6 billion that the fund manages for clients, and underscores the reputational damage to SAC from a spate of criminal cases tied to former employees...
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Feb
14

Oscar Pistorius remains in jail facing murder charge

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- South African athlete Oscar Pistorius, who made history last year as the first double amputee...
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”Downton Abbey” star Maggie Smith never watches TV show

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Maggie Smith‘s sarcastic dowager Countess may be the star of British period drama “Downton Abbey,” but the award-winning actress says she has never watched the TV series.Smith, 78, who has won two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe for her role as the acid-tongued Lady Grantham, tells CBS in an upcoming TV interview that she is amazed by the popularity of the show both in Britain...
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Doctor and Patient: Afraid to Speak Up to Medical Power

The slender, weather-beaten, elderly Polish immigrant had been diagnosed with lung cancer nearly a year earlier and was receiving chemotherapy as part of a clinical trial. I was a surgical consultant, called in to help control the fluid that kept accumulating in his lungs.During one visit, he motioned for me to come closer. His voice was hoarse from a tumor that spread, and the constant hissing from...
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A Tiffany at Costco? Not Now, or Ever, Tiffany Lawsuit Says

The discount warehouse chain Costco got something from Tiffany for Valentine’s Day: a lawsuit claiming it had sold diamond engagement rings falsely marketed in stores using the jeweler’s name. The lawsuit, filed on Thursday in Federal District Court in Manhattan, says a shopper complained to Tiffany late last year “that she was disappointed to observe that Costco was offering for sale what...
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Feb
13

Dorner manhunt: Investigators work to ID charred human remains

After what LAPD Chief Charlie Beck called "a bittersweet night," investigators Wednesday were in the process of identifying...
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Kevin Spacey, Eva Longoria find starring roles online

(Reuters) – “Desperate Housewives” alum Eva Longoria‘s new project won’t bring her back to ABC, or any traditional U.S. television network. The actress will produce and lend her voice to “Mother Up!,” a 13-episode adult animated comedy available in the U.S. this fall only on the online video site Hulu.Longoria, Kevin Spacey, John Goodman and other top Hollywood actors are being wooed by the growing...
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Well: Straining to Hear and Fend Off Dementia

At a party the other night, a fund-raiser for a literary magazine, I found myself in conversation with a well-known author whose work I greatly admire. I use the term “conversation” loosely. I couldn’t hear a word he said. But worse, the effort I was making to hear was using up so much brain power that I completely forgot the titles of his books.A senior moment? Maybe. (I’m 65.) But for me, it’s complicated...
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Media Decoder Blog: Time Warner Considers Spinning Off Some of Its Magazines

9:15 p.m. | Updated Time Warner is in talks to shed much of Time Inc., the country’s largest magazine publisher and the foundation on which the $49 billion media conglomerate was built, according to people involved in the negotiations.Time Warner is in early discussions with the Meredith Corporation to put most of Time Inc.’s magazines — including People, InStyle and Real Simple — into a separate,...
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Feb
12

Zhuang Zedong dies at 72; helped get 'ping-pong diplomacy' rolling

It might have been a chance meeting or a cunning act of propaganda, but the encounter more than 40 years ago between two ping-pong...
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