Country is split on Iran

As diplomatic efforts continue, Americans remain divided over the possibility of U.S. military action if Iran continues to pursue nuclear technology.

In a Times/Bloomberg poll, 48% support military action if Iran continues to produce material that could be used to develop nuclear weapons, and 40% say no.

Most respondents support use of air strikes against Iranian targets, but only one in four support introduction of U.S. ground troops into Iran.

Fully 61% say they believe Iran will eventually get nuclear weapons anyway. Page A21

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Why Rumsfeld criticism mounts

A recent surge in public criticism of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld by retired military leaders follows months of intense private debate about how best to voice dissent during war.

Since the early days of the Bush administration, a number of officers have been quarreling over Iraq war policy, primarily over the wisdom of such an attack and the size of the deployed forces.

Recent sentiment among uniformed critics that Iraq setbacks were predictable and avoidable has been growing. The dissension of military officers reflects a similar tide of civilian public opinion. Page A4

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Hope he found a way to get around

Through the end of 2005, L.A. Customs agents prevented 68 missing vehicles from being shipped overseas, including a 1968 Corvette stolen in New York City and now a classic Yamaha motorcycle swiped off a Long Beach street 35 years ago.

Authorities had the bike returned this week to Philip McMeen, now an airline pilot living in New Hampshire. Handing over the long-lost keys was retired patrolman John Finn, who took the initial stolen bike report on Oct. 4, 1971. At that time he told McMeen “we’d probably get it back.” He just didn’t say how long it would take. Page B1

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School takeover plan outlined

The school district takeover plan that Mayor Villaraigosa’s aides are working on includes options to virtually eliminate the central bureaucracy, increase teacher pay, shift power and money to individual school campuses, and extend the school day and year. The mayor has yet to review the plan, described as a tentative collection of ideas. Page A1

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Opinion: It’s good, or maybe it’s bad

The real reason so little gets done in Washington, Jonah Goldberg writes on the Op-Ed page, “is not because ‘bad’ people are stopping the good people. It’s because different groups of people have different definitions of what’s good and what’s bad.” Page B13

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The Rev. William Sloane Coffin dies

The Rev. William Sloane Coffin, the former Yale University chaplain and an outspoken peace activist during the Vietnam War, dies at his home in rural Vermont. He was 81. Page B10

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More Iraq violence

A bystander weeps at the scene of a car bombing in Baghdad that targeted a police patrol, killing one officer and two civilians and wounding four others. Elsewhere, a series of car bombings in three cities in Iraq wounds dozens of people and kills at least seven. Page A20

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BUSINESS

L.A. homes edge past half a million

For the first time, the median home price in Los Angeles County climbs past the $500,000 mark.

Only four years ago, the median price (which means half the homes are worth more and half less) was barely 50% of what it is today. This has given homeowners undreamed-of equity in a relatively short time but has raised concerns about an overheated market bubble bursting. However, early indications suggest the L.A. market is acting less like a bubble that pops and more like a souffle that fades. Page A1

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Ex-Enron chief denies conspiracy

Former Enron chief executive Jeffrey Skilling takes the stand again, discussing his relationship with co-defendant Kenneth Lay for the first time. Skilling says they were “a good team” but never conspired to defraud investors or manipulate the company’s books.

Legal experts have theorized that prosecutors might try to drive a wedge between Skilling and Lay, but there is no hint of such a rift. Page C1

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Martha Stewart housing tract No. 2

If you missed out on the first Marthaville, then KB Home has good news. The builder announces plans for a second community inspired by domestic diva Martha Stewart. Last year, KB and Stewart mind-melded on a housing tract in North Carolina. The new community will rise outside Atlanta. And, no, the rooms won’t look like Stewart’s prison cell. They’ll simply feature Stewart-esque flooring, color schemes and fixtures. Page C2

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CALENDAR WEEKEND

Flower power

A former prison guard, a musician and a Vietnam vet are part of this spring’s crop of wildflower fanatics. Join them in Southern California’s annual hunt for Johnny jump-ups, shooting stars, baby blue-eyes, pygmy lupines, monkey flowers and other blooms. Page E28

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Coke + coffee= caffeine jolt

Humans must be genetically programmed to blend beverages. Give a kid unfettered access to a soda fountain and he’ll probably return with some weird brew of root beer, Fresca and Orange Crush. Occasionally, a combo catches on. Golf legend Arnold Palmer will someday be remembered only for the iced tea and lemonade mixture bearing his name. In this week’s Drive-By Dining column, fast-food guinea pig Dog Davis, whose arteries are hardening at this moment, reports on Coca-Cola’s new coffee-Coke concoction. Page E53

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Eggsplosions and other Easter fare

‘Tis the season for religion and rabbits. This year’s calendar of Easter events includes the resumption of sunrise services at the Hollywood Bowl after a two-year hiatus, egg hunting at the Los Angeles County Arboretum, a puppet show at the L.A. Zoo and Radio Disney’s Easter Eggsplosion concert in Burbank. Page E3

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‘Bizarro Baloney Show’ visits L.A.

The “Bizarro” comic strip goes live as cartoonist Dan Piraro kicks off a one-man stage show featuring animation, improv drawing, animal puppetry, original songs, stand-up comedy and a public reading of the hate mail he receives. This is the first stop on a 13-city tour. Page E15

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HOME

This just in: Minimalism dying

Word may not have reached you quite yet -- and if it didn’t that’s OK -- but the news out of Italy and the world’s largest and most prestigious furniture fair is that minimalist interiors are dying, if they aren’t stone-cold dead already.

And, according to the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan, they’re being replaced by -- you probably guessed this already -- eclecticism. No, seriously. “You don’t want to completely forget the foundations of minimalism and functionality,” said the editor of Wallpaper magazine, “but people are putting a more decorative layer on top of that, making it warmer and more personal.” Page F1

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Teaching kids to contain the giggles

It’s a mighty challenge being a parent and attempting to teach your youngsters to stop laughing. But someone needs to try at least.

“Quit that laughing,” the father says.

And, of course, that only fuels the giggles.

“There’s no future in laughing,” you tell the toddler. But, naturally, he doesn’t listen. He just, well, laughs.

In Man of the House, Chris Erskine writes of one of the underappreciated challenges for parents. Page F5

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Thinking globally, acting very locally

Her frontyard looks like a storybook American home -- lavender-lined front walk, two sturdy oaks, grass paths, a driveway along the side.

But, of course, that also makes it a textbook water polluter. It steers the water from the roof and yard straight into the street, where it becomes foul storm water, a soup of pesticides, fertilizers, motor oil, cigarette butts and worse.

So she set out to turn her yard into an environmentally friendly user and storage center for thousands of gallons of precious water. Page F3

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SPORTS

Phoenix Suns rising from ashes

Defying expectations once again, the Phoenix Suns are back in the NBA title picture. After starting the season with a 4-5 record, the team that is perennially derided as defensively weak and too small to win a championship is on a roll. Even with two of last season’s starters gone and other key players sidelined, the Suns’ offense is in the stratosphere.

After a rocky off-season, owner Robert Sarver, a banking magnate who used to wear a chicken costume to games, says he is “pretty optimistic” about the team’s chances. Page D1

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R.I.P. for the fumblerooski

The clock has run out on one of football’s wackiest trick plays, the fumblerooski. Officially known as the “planned loose ball” option, it was banned by the NFL and in college football long ago. But the gimmick thrived in high school play. It works like this: After a fake snap, the ball is placed on the ground behind the center and -- while everyone else on offense heads in one direction -- a lineman grabs the ball and runs the other way. Until now. A national rules panel has pulled the plug on the ruse starting next season. Page D5

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A Grand Slam for Mickelson?

Mickelson mania is spreading. After his Masters victory at Augusta National, golfer Phil Mickelson has been popping up in such odd places as a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal and aboard a bicycle on David Letterman’s show. Well, actually, Letterman’s “Phil” was an impostor. Next up: a possible run for the Grand Slam -- winning all four major tournaments in one year. Columnist Thomas Bonk believes it can happen, but one newspaper oddsmaker rates Mickelson’s chances as 925 million to 1. Page D1

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ON LATIMES.COM

Walls have ears

Palm portraits: The power steakhouse status of West Hollywood’s Palm restaurant has long been sealed by the faces on its walls. Since 1975, the Palm has provided a vast fresco of entertainment history, a who’s who of Hollywood royalty painted or pasted onto its landscape. Now the restaurant prepares to move and plans to take the walls along. See photos of the historic canvas at latimes.com/thepalm

Passover panic: Think you might want to serve a Seder at the last minute? “White Oleander” author Janet Fitch tells how to put together a Passover meal with zero notice. Fitch walks through the steps in a Hollywood How To. latimes.com/entertainment

Strippergate revealed: Las Vegas’ trial of the decade features a county commissioner accused of accepting a strip club’s special “perks” for his influence. Movable Buffet blogger Richard Abowitz writes on a sensational trial that has brought heartburn to Sin City’s political elite.

latimes.com/vegasblog