In Focus: Staff Photos from January 13 - January 19

An honor guard carries the casket of Sgt. David J. Hart of Lake View Terrace past his father, Jack, left, and his widow, Nicole, at Long Beach Airport.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Paul Doiron trains his bird dogs along a levee at the newly renovated wetlands behind Prado Dam, which straddles the Riverside-Orange county border. Part of the area is leased to members of local duck hunting clubs.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), on a swing through Southern California this week, talks about home loans and credit card companies with Gustavo Lizarde, left, Mimi Vitello, center, and Carlos Garcia, right, in the backyard of Vitello’s Van Nuys home, which she bought with an interest-only loan. The presidential candidate noted that foreclosures could cost California’s economy $23 billion, and he blamed the federal government for not regulating lenders.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

A worker smooths cement at one of the 44 homes going up in Watts as part of a new development. Some say the homes are too small and close together for the price; others contend they are vital to rejuvenating one of Los Angeles’ most impoverished neighborhoods. It is believed to be the largest development of new homes in Watts in at least three decades.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

USC’s Daniel Hackett is fouled by Washington’s Matt Bryan-Amaning, left, as Justin Dentmon tries to avoid contact during the Jan. 12 game. The Trojans’ won, 66-51, notching their first conference win of the season.  (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

A Southern California Edison worker makes his way through downed power lines after winds toppled utility poles along Grand Avenue in Santa Ana overnight Wednesday.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Jenny Murua, 11, practices in a dance class at an Aspire Public Schools charter campus in Huntington Park. Philanthropist Eli Broad is donating $23.3 million to jump-start at least 17 new charter campuses in Los Angeles.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Paleontologist David Alexander kneels near a 5-foot-long baleen whale skull fossil found in Lake Forest’s Aliso Creek. Orange County agencies are struggling to coordinate having the skull, which is millions of years old, removed and preserved.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Technician Jim Howell uses a laser to plot a map of a burned area in Winter Canyon near Malibu. Researchers hope to locate and fix potential debris-flow hazards.  (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)