Boy Scouts' opposition to background checks let pedophiles in

Amid reports of widespread sexual abuse of children in the late 1980s, several leading youth organizations began conducting...

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Geek Culture's 26 Most Awesome Female Ass-Kickers

Angelina Jolie extends her reputation as filmdom’s most compelling ass-kicker, Female Division, when Salt opens Friday. Midway through a summer freighted with testosterone, Jolie’s lithe Agent Salt is a potent reminder of the power of feminine fighters. A minority presence in sci-fi and action realms even in 2010, women warriors remain the exception to the guy-centric rule in film, TV, videogames...

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NBC sets premiere date for “Do No Harm” drama

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – NBC will premiere its new drama “Do No Harm” at 10 p.m. on January 31, NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt said Friday.The premiere date takes advantage of the one-hour series finale of “30 Rock,” which will air at 8 p.m. on that same night.“Do No Harm” stars “Rescue Me” alum Steven Pasquale as Dr. Jason Cole, a neurosurgeon whose life is going swimmingly until...

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Unboxed: Stand-Up Desks Gaining Favor in the Workplace

THE health studies that conclude that people should sit less, and get up and move around more, have always struck me as fitting into the “well, duh” category. But a closer look at the accumulating research on sitting reveals something more intriguing, and disturbing: the health hazards of sitting for long stretches are significant even for people who are quite active when they’re not...

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L.A. County seeing high-risk offenders entering its probation system

One year into California's state prison realignment program, Los Angeles County is seeing an unexpected number of high-risk...

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Only in Vegas: Sprinting Santas and Run-Through Weddings

A sea of Santas in a silly sprint. Fido, it seems, has been very good this year.LAS VEGAS — Only in Sin City would the sight of 8,000 Santas running amok through the streets not raise an eyebrow. Even the Elvis Santas barely drew second glances in this town, where the King is as common as bad buffets and bad judgment.But such things are par for the course when you’re...

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“iCarly” and “Victorious” spinoff gets greenlight from Nickelodeon

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Tweens of the world, rejoice: “iCarly” may be relegated to the dustbin of TV-programming history, but a part of it will live on.Nickelodeon has greenlit “Sam & Cat,” a hybrid spinoff of “iCarly” – which ended its run last week – and the Nickelodeon series “Victorious.”The series – from “iCarly” and “Victorious” creator Dan Schneider – will star Jennette McCurdy (who...

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Prop. 8 supporters, opponents await Supreme Court decision

At San Francisco City Hall, officials are awaiting their moment in history, but they just don't know when it will come.In the...

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New Camera Snaps All-Sky Auroras in Full Color

Capturing a multicolored, all-sky image of the auroras that decorate Earth’s polar skies is now possible.Normally, studying these shimmering phenomena means taking multiple images of an aurora, using different filters that block or image different wavelengths. Now, a camera with tunable liquid crystal filters can capture many colors at once, a team of space-weather...

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Actor who apparently killed landlady not on drugs

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An autopsy report shows no drugs were detected in the body of a former “Sons of Anarchy” actor who police say killed his landlady and then fell to his death.Toxicology results on Johnny Lewis found no traces of cocaine, alcohol, marijuana or any other types of drugs in the actor’s system. Officials checked for anti-psychotic drugs as well as psychedelic drugs.Lewis was found dead...

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Clearing the Fog Around Personality Disorders

For years they have lived as orphans and outliers, a colony of misfit characters on their own island: the bizarre one and the needy one, the untrusting and the crooked, the grandiose and the cowardly. Their customs and rituals are as captivating as any tribe’s, and at least as mystifying. Every mental anthropologist who has visited their world seems to walk away with a different story, a...

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DealBook: Vinod Khosla Keeps Long-Term Bet on Clean Technology

Vinod Khosla crowed about the clean energy industry last year. Three of the biofuel start-ups in his venture capital portfolio had just gone public, and the stocks had risen considerably after their debuts. “I challenge anybody to claim that clean tech done right is a disaster,” Mr. Khosla said at a conference, rebuffing recent criticism. “We’ve generated more profits there than anybody has.”Since...

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California school districts face huge debt on risky bonds

Two hundred school districts across California have borrowed billions of dollars using a costly and risky form of financing...

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Mercedes Rolls Out the Future of the SUV

LOS ANGELES, California – Geländewagen. It’s not an Austrian insult or some obscure epithet from the Eastern Bloc; it’s Mercedes-Benz’ iconic SUV. Originally crafted with a ruler and a chisel for military use, it eventually went on sale to civilians in 1979 and hasn’t changed much during its 30-plus-year run. Until now.Mercedes knows that the G-Wagon will have to be...

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“Anger Management,” “Justified” return dates set by FX

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – FX released its early 2013 premiere schedule Wednesday, including dates for the second season of Charlie Sheen‘s sitcom “Anger Management” and the fourth season of the Timothy Olyphant lawman drama “Justified.”The premiere schedule kicks off with “Justified” on Tuesday, January 8 at 10 p.m. The season will find Olyphant’s character, U.S. Deputy Marshall Raylan Givens, picking...

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Well: Weight Loss Surgery May Not Combat Diabetes Long-Term

Weight loss surgery, which in recent years has been seen as an increasingly attractive option for treating Type 2 diabetes, may not be as effective against the disease as it was initially thought to be, according to a new report. The study found that many obese Type 2 diabetics who undergo gastric bypass surgery do not experience a remission of their disease, and of those that do, about a third redevelop...

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United Is Struggling Two Years After Its Merger With Continental

Nam Y. Huh/Associated PressA United 787 Dreamliner at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. United lost $103 million through the third quarter of 2012. CHICAGO — It was supposed to be a moment for celebration: United Airlines observing the delivery of its second Boeing 787 Dreamliner with a flight from Seattle to Chicago earlier this month for a select group of employees, while senior officers,...

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Alleged WikiLeaks source says he was illegally punished in jail

A key pretrial hearing for Pfc. Bradley Manning, accused of giving classified material to the website WikiLeaks, which then...

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Sprint, Chrysler Link Up With 'Velocity' In-Car System

The latest contender in the battle for your dashboard is Sprint’s Velocity, the telecommunications company’s first comprehensive in-car infotainment and telematics architecture aimed at automakers.Sprint is unveiling Velocity this week at the Los Angeles Auto Show, which is billing itself as the place for hot new automotive tech introductions. Sprint’s lined up Chrysler as its first partner,...

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Judge bows out of ‘pink slime’ suit over ABC ties

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A federal judge has recused himself from presiding over a $ 1.2 billion defamation lawsuit against ABC because his daughter-in-law works as a producer on one of the network’s morning shows.Judge Lawrence L. Piersol recused himself from hearing the defamation lawsuit filed by South Dakota-based Beef Products Inc. against ABC because his daughter-in-law works as a producer on...

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Global Update: Investing in Eyeglasses for Poor Would Boost International Economy

BSIP/UIG Via Getty ImagesEliminating the worldwide shortage of eyeglasses could cost up to $28 billion, but would add more than $200 billion to the global economy, according to a study published last month in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization. The $28 billion would cover the cost of training 65,000 optometrists and equipping clinics where they could prescribe eyeglasses, which...

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A Struggling CNN Casts Its Eyes on Jeffrey Zucker

In the days to come, when Time Warner appoints a new leader of CNN Worldwide for the first time in a decade, that person will face an identity crisis unlike any other in corporate America. Though CNN over all is on track to have its most profitable year ever, its flagship channel in the United States is seemingly rudderless, run by layers of producers and executives — many with competing...

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Congress returns as 'fiscal cliff' talks slow

WASHINGTON – Congress returned in a lame duck session with no signs of quick compromise to prevent a tax hike for most Americans...

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Elon Musk Wants to Build 80,000-Person Mars Colony

Elon Musk doesn’t just want to send a person to Mars — he wants to send 80,000. According to Space.com, the billionaire founder and CEO of the private spaceflight company SpaceX spilled details about his hopes for a future Mars colony during a talk at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London on Nov. 16.Earlier this year, SpaceX became the first private U.S. company to deliver cargo to...

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Berry’s ex says he was threatened before fight

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Halle Berry‘s ex-boyfriend claims the actress’s fiance threatened to kill him during a Thanksgiving confrontation that left him with a broken rib, bruised face and under arrest.Gabriel Aubry‘s claims are included in court filings that led a judge Monday to grant a restraining order against actor Olivier Martinez, who is engaged to the Oscar-winning actress.Aubry, 37, was arrested...

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