News - latimes.com

High stakes for Rick Santorum at tonight's GOP debate

By Kim Geiger — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 05:47:00 PST

The last time the four remaining contenders in the GOP presidential race met on a debate stage, all eyes were on Newt Gingrich, who was trying to ride the momentum off his surprise victory in South Carolina.

Obama wants to cut corporate tax rate to 28% as part of overhaul

By Jim Puzzanghera — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 05:56:00 PST

President Obama wants to significantly lower the top corporate income tax rate to 28% as part of a broad overhaul that would raise an additional $250 billion from businesses over the next decade by eliminating many loopholes and other breaks, according to a senior administration official.

Trial begins in case of Rutgers student who filmed gay roommate

By Tina Susman — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 06:38:00 PST

Opening statements could begin Wednesday in the trial of a former Rutgers University student accused of spying on his gay roommate, Tyler Clementi, who then committed suicide after learning he had been secretly filmed during an encounter with another man in his dorm room.

O.C. serial killer suspect changed after Iraq, woman says

By Nicole Santa Cruz — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 07:42:00 PST

A former Marine accused of fatally stabbing six people pleaded not guilty Tuesday as an acquaintance said Itzcoatl Ocampo's service in Iraq changed him.

Fullerton police didn't intend to deceive public in Kelly Thomas' death, report finds

By Richard Winton and Abby Sewell, Los Angeles Times — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

A police watchdog attorney hired by the city says there was no deliberate attempt to make the homeless man, who was beaten by officers, look bad. His father disagrees.

There is no evidence that Fullerton police deliberately released false or negative information and an unflattering photograph of a mentally ill homeless man who died last year after being beaten by police officers, a police watchdog attorney hired by the city said Tuesday.

LAUSD substitute thrice accused of abuse moved to another district

By Alan Zarembo, Howard Blume and Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

The substitute teacher quit after the third inquiry and started working in Inglewood schools. Police later found video of him molesting a girl in that district; he was charged, but he fled and is at large.

During five years as a frequent substitute teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District, George Hernandez was investigated by police three times for allegations of sexual misconduct involving students.

Two Western journalists killed in besieged Syrian city

By Kim Willsher, Los Angeles — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 06:37:00 PST

An award-winning American-born journalist and a French photographer died in the besieged Syrian city of Homs on Wednesday, after the building in which they were taking shelter came under attack.

U.S., Israel send mixed messages on Iran

By Paul Richter and Edmund Sanders, Los Angeles Times — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:00:00 PST

As the U.S. seeks to tamp down talk of an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear sites, some analysts and officials see a campaign to wring concessions from Tehran.

The Obama administration is bluntly warning Israel about the danger of bombing Iran's nuclear facilities, but it is far from clear whether the allies are truly at odds over a core policy question or orchestrating an elaborate campaign to wring concessions from the Islamic Republic.

The Santorum question: Is he too extreme for the middle?

By Mitchell Landsberg, Los Angeles Times — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:31:00 PST

On abortion, same-sex marriage and other social issues, he's the most conservative of the GOP candidates. But he'll need the swing vote to win.

Rick Santorum is winning the hearts of conservative voters with uncompromising social views that, he says, are drawn from the same well as his fiscal and environmental policies: a reading of America's founding documents that stresses their Judeo-Christian underpinnings.

Prop. 8 backers seek full review by appeals court

By Maura Dolan, Los Angeles Times — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

Supporters say a three-judge 9th Circuit court panel that rejected the California ban on same-sex marriage wrongly concluded that the ballot measure stigmatized gays and lesbians.

Backers of California's ban on same-sex marriage urged a federal appeals court Tuesday to reconsider and reject a Feb. 7 ruling against Proposition 8, arguing that California voters did not express disapproval of gay people but simply wanted to preserve marriage.