Bratton warned about possible flooding in the Venice, Playa del Rey and Dockweiler beach areas — though no flooding has occurred.In the winter of 1997-98, coastal cities throughout Southern California bulldozed giant sand berms into place to protect homes and try to stave off beach erosion.Although the rains were significant that year, in some places — such as Santa Monica — the beaches were so wide that the berms were unnecessary.At Dockweiler, Zuma and Venice beaches, bulldozers this week reinforced sand berms protecting structures and homes, said Garth Canning, a Los Angeles County lifeguard chief.Canning said a woman walking on a bike path in the El Porto section of Manhattan Beach was smacked by a wave and slammed against a fence, breaking her leg.”You should have seen the surf on Wednesday, it was amazing,” Canning said. The House bill approved Thursday would extend the 15% rates through 2010; the Senate bill includes no extension.The differences in the two chambers’ bills underscore the divisions within the ranks of the Republicans, who outnumber Democrats in both the House and Senate.Negotiations over a compromise tax bill will come as House and Senate Republicans face an equally tough task trying to agree on spending cuts. Top French runner Vincent Delebarre was about 10 minutes ahead of him, but Pacheco wasn’t worried; he knew he could catch him.Robinson Flat was the first major medical checkpoint where runners were weighed and probed. TIKRIT, Iraq Rather than trying to defeat the insurgency in Iraq militarily, U.S. We’re not telling him how to run the school district.”Villaraigosa, a former labor organizer, was received politely by longtime friends from the teachers unions as well as others at the California State Parent Teacher Assn. The climate of fear and precaution dampens our zeal for the kind of adventure and experimentation that leads to progress.

The company’s carbon dioxide was escaping into the atmosphere, to be taxed at more than $50 a ton.Smaamo grimaced.He watched money — and more — disappear up the flue.lee.hotz. Stuart Hanlon and Serra didn’t, and won acquittal in a retrial.The experience propelled Adachi into public defense law.”To say that Tony uses theatrics in court would be inaccurate,” said Adachi “He is theater…. We’ve all come to see Pacino onstage as Herod, a character traditionally portrayed with the royal masculine privilege of a tyrant not used to being checked.One of the most forceful presences in American film for the last four decades, Pacino delivers a portrait that, scenery-chewing though it is, can’t really be considered egomaniacal. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) complained that the bill provided more than $3 billion over 10 years in tax breaks and direct spending to the oil and gas industry and authorizes at least an additional $1 billion of subsidies.Rep Edward J. reliance on foreign oil — in other words, make rational energy policy — it could easily accomplish the task by raising fuel-efficiency standards for cars and gasoline taxes. Signing for the Venezuelan government was Rafael Ramirez, the president of state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela.The sale price was not disclosed.. either could not be reached, or did not return phone calls seeking comment.EPA spokesman John Millett said higher emissions during start-up, shutdown and malfunction of plants were unavoidable, just as cars emit more when they are started.In response to the lawsuit, the EPA said that it would review the matter and “respond appropriately.”The agency said its new rule requires refineries and other industrial plants to develop plans that describe how they will operate to minimize emissions during periods of start-up, shutdown and malfunction.

Each of these, needless to say, is well in excess of the typical price of a used version on EBay.Why would people be willing to pay so much more than ordinary value for these items just because they were owned by someone famous? These are not autographs or historically significant accessories like Benjamin Franklin’s spectacles or FDR’s cigarette holder or even one of Michael Jackson’s gloves. After telling his pastor that he is literally on a mission from God, he gets his hair cut short, breaks out his old Marine uniform, sneaks into the World Trade Center site and becomes instrumental in saving the two buried men.Then comes the coup de grace. That provoked a minor diplomatic crisis between Tokyo and Washington, and triggered demonstrations on the island.Last October, Washington and Tokyo signed an agreement to shift 7,000 Marines now based in Japan to Guam but expand other facilities on Okinawa, a move that has sparked fierce opposition.Now, in the wake of Sato’s killing, Japanese media are asking whether the Americans will prevent Japanese police from investigating a crime against a Japanese citizen, committed in Japan. But which “questionable ‘rights’ ” is he talking about here? The right to vote? The right to equal treatment under the law?Helms, who retired after his fifth term ended in January 2003, may not have transcended the racial politics of the South But his party has. He amassed 16 PGA Tour victories, including the Masters and British Open in 1998.

retailers, Hufbauer said.Clothing companies also aren’t likely to feel the pinch of potential price increases until 2006 because most have already completed their purchases for the rest of this year, analysts said. And criminals need to be punished, not to be understood and coddled and let out of jail for more therapy.”Boaz says he was gratified as well to see a heroic portrayal of individualism and the idea “that it’s up to each person to take a stand and [that] each person has his own talents, abilities and opportunities. France still can’t score in a World Cup game.The star-studded French team was held to a 0-0 tie by Switzerland on Tuesday in a Group G game at Stuttgart, Germany, its fourth consecutive World Cup shutout.Thierry Henry, who led Arsenal of the English Premier League with 33 goals this season, headed one good opportunity too high and took two soft shots at goalkeeper Pascal Zuberbuehler.Patrick Vieira shot high and wide from good vantage points and Zuberbuehler, who had expected a busy time, made only one difficult save. But not about Harris, who would be an irresistibly fascinating artist even if he were playing, say, the accordion.. illegally] who has some kind of relationship with a Border Patrol agent. Instead, employers should be required to hire from applications filed by workers in their home countries through a computerized job bank.Foreign workers should enjoy the same rights and protections as U.S. shortages while benefiting exporters such as Cemex.Zambrano, a dapper, courtly man whose personal fortune is estimated at $1.8 billion by Forbes magazine, chafes at the notion that his firm is fleecing its impoverished countrymen, the majority of whom earn less than $13 a day.

the very industry whose behavior we are trying to change,” Porter said. 6 outside the Circle Bar in Santa Monica for allegedly drugging and attempting to kidnap a 14-year-old girl.Not many details are yet known, but the allegation is that Douridas, 43, was seen slipping a substance into the girl’s drink and, along with a friend, carrying her out of the bar around midnight, at which point she became ill. ANO NUEVO STATE RESERVE As the children reflect on what they have just witnessed, one exclaims to another, “I’d like to be a little guy, so I could hide from everyone.”It’s a sentiment perhaps shared by many children at some point in their lives, and maybe even by young elephant seals here as they struggle to exist among so many large and testy adults.The fourth-graders from nearby Rio del Mar school have just seen a large blubbery male nearly squash a forlorn pup searching for its mother.They gasp at oozing scars on the neck of another large male, who has lost a brutal fight — over something so seemingly unimportant as a female!Indeed, life can appear cruel, whether one has two legs or four, or in this case, mere flippers.But life can also be exhilarating and full of wonders, and it seems no different for the northern elephant seals that spend the winter at this remote, wind-swept state park 55 miles south of San Francisco.In fact, this is one of the wildest romps in the hay known to the animal kingdom, involving beasts that can measure 16 feet and weigh 5,000 pounds.The testiness among the adults — nearly 500 males and 2,000 females at peak breeding season in late January — stems from all the hormones swirling around like pollen during a blustery spring bloom.About 40,000 tourists a year view the spectacle from Dec. By December, she had used a loan to finish renovating her house. The gnarled specimen at Chavez Ravine is part of the arboretum’s original planting and still produces white blossoms and plenty of viable seed (but more about that later).”It’s amazing what’s there and still healthy,” Bauml says.Though records are scarce and sketchy, a 1920s inventory lists more than 50 species of trees, 40 of which are still standing, says Teresa Proscewicz, principal forester for Recreation and Parks. Waiters will help explain the menu and make sure you don’t order too much in that first rush of enthusiasm.And it also offers takeout and local delivery.But the restaurant’s biggest virtue may be that it stays open, even on weeknights, to a wide-awake 11 p.m., which means you can catch a movie at the cineplex and still make it in for a bowl of pad Thai or chicken satay Now, that is very civilized.*Chadaka ThaiWhere: 310 N San Fernando Blvd., BurbankWhen: Open 11 a.m to 11 p.m Mondays-Fridays, noon to 11 p.m Saturdays-Sundays.