Bet you can’t guess where

Imagine how much gas money you could save if your community had a one-stop center for entertainment, shopping and civic events. You dream it, you’ll find it: movies, bowling, horse shows and minor-league hockey games. Restaurants, stores, child care, even a place to hold high school graduations.

Where? Why, it’s all at your neighborhood casino -- if your neighborhood happens to be one of the outlying areas of Las Vegas, that is. And, hey, while you’re picking up a salad spinner, you might as well give the slot machines a spin too. Page A11

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10 needless years in foster care?

Bureaucracies are notorious for letting things fall through the cracks. A lawsuit filed against L.A. County, however, seeks damages not because of a lost “thing,” but a lost child.

Melinda Smith’s parents weren’t married, and her mother cut off contact with her father when she was about 4. A few years later, the mother surrendered the girl to the county, and Melinda spent a decade in foster care. Meanwhile, her father continued making child-support payments to another agency, but he couldn’t locate Melinda.

Last year, the county undertook a new effort to help teenagers in foster care -- and a social worker found the father within a day.

County officials hailed the father-daughter reunion at the time, but the family’s lawsuit, filed last week, contends it was a decade too late. Page B1

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Russia’s date with gloriosky

Hosting the Group of 8 summit can be a nation’s magic moment, so Russia reached deep into its bag of tricks for the event.

No stuffy hotel rooms for the likes of Jacques Chirac and Tony Blair; the Russians housed each of the visiting world leaders in newly built mansions, giving them about 20,000 square feet of living space. And that’s not counting the basement and attic space in President Bush’s residence; those areas were off-limits, even to American security agents. (The U.S. suspects it had something to do with eavesdropping attempts.)

The Russians even tried to control the weather. With rain in the forecast, they sent aircraft to seed the clouds 30 miles away, trying to wring out all the moisture before the clouds moved to the summit site. Page A7

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The tie that binds is made of hemp

Here’s one of the many oddities about the marijuana-related plant sometimes called “industrial” hemp: It can legally be imported into the U.S. for use in manufacturing, but it can’t legally be grown here.

Here’s another: A liberal assemblyman from San Francisco and a conservative from Irvine are working together to legalize hemp production.

Capitol Journal columnist George Skelton writes that the unlikely pairing “shows it is possible for two legislators of diametrically opposite ideologies to acknowledge some common ground and work together to change public policy.” Page B3

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Questions remain after awful crash

Ten years ago today, a TWA jetliner heading from New York to Paris exploded off the shore of Long Island, killing all 230 aboard. Although new safety measures have been implemented in the decade since, federal officials say there’s still a risk of a similar disaster.

A lengthy investigation narrowed the explosion’s cause to the fuel tanks but couldn’t pinpoint exactly what happened. Aircraft wiring systems were redesigned to lessen the potential for dangerous sparking, but an FAA proposal to reduce the flammability of fuel tanks has met with resistance from airlines and manufacturers, who say the retrofit isn’t necessary and would cost too much. Page A11

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He’s living la vida Laker

For NBA hopefuls, what’s the difference between being drafted in the first round and the second round? Well, first-rounders can afford to stretch out in houses with private movie theaters. Second-rounders stretch out in motel rooms with TV dinners.

Danilo Pinnock is a second-rounder. He’s playing for the Lakers’ team in the Long Beach summer league, hoping to attract some attention and maybe an NBA salary next season.

Long odds, yes, but at least he gets to suit up. “There’s millions of people out there dying to be in my position,” Pinnock says. “They’d sell their soul to the devil to trade places with me. I’m loving it.” Page D1

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Firefighters catch a break

Slightly cooler temperatures aided firefighters Sunday as they battled the Sawtooth blaze, but high temperatures are still expected this week, as are record levels of power usage across the state. Some Southland areas experienced electrical failures over the weekend, and power companies are asking customers to avoid taxing the system as the workweek starts. Sunday, one Laguna Beach firefighter found time to recharge his batteries during a rest period in Yucca Valley. Page B1

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HEALTH

Thy sibling’s keeper

Healthy kids who have seriously ill siblings have their own problems and needs. Researchers in the healthcare community are starting to pay attention to the situation. One woman, whose brother suffered from a rare immune deficiency, summed up the craving for attention that these children often feel: “I used to have fantasies of breaking a leg or an arm -- just something big enough to matter.” Page F1

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Resetting your motion detector

Exercise is one of the best ways to maintain good health.

But what about people who have trouble getting around?

Stiff joints and diminishing stability and sensory acuity can compromise some older people’s interest in exercise.

New research, however, says that the problem isn’t the inability to exert oneself; it’s one’s personal definition of exertion.

For people older than 70, higher levels of activity, whether of low or high intensity, are associated with longer life.

So for those who can’t walk a few brisk miles every day, here are a few suggestions: Sweep the floor, empty the dishwasher and swing dance to Sinatra. Page F1

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Why no man is an island

The Holocaust. Genocide in Darfur. The alleged gang rape of an 11-year-old by college athletes in Fresno.

If a horrifying act by a single person can be explained by moral bankruptcy or even by evil, what about the bad behavior of a group?

Experts in human behavior say most people can lose their moral core when overwhelmed by group dynamics. That’s because humans are hard-wired to resist doing anything that would separate them from the group, even when they know the group is wrong.

The result is that when an individual is in danger, bystanders often watch the emergency without offering assistance. Page F1

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BUSINESS

It’s not so sunny in San Diego

San Diego has had the wildest run-up in home prices of the major California cities, a boom stoked by cheap loans, changes in the tax laws, creative financing and a mania that fed on itself.

Now, the seemingly unstoppable ascent of real estate has stopped. Last week reports showed that the city’s median home price had dropped 1% in June from a year earlier, the first decline in a decade.

The long-awaited shift in the housing market’s direction isn’t pleasing sellers, who are chopping prices to get deals done. Buyers worry that values will continue to fall, putting their investments at risk.

There’s widespread uncertainty in San Diego, and some anxiety, over what will happen next. Page C1

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A new strategy on immigration: $$$

Here’s a way to fight illegal immigration from Mexico that doesn’t require a wall: economic development.

A group of investors, philanthropists and economists from Claremont Graduate University are launching a $100-million venture capital fund in Mexico aimed at entrepreneurs and midsize businesses.

Fernando Fabre, an economist who is chief executive of a nonprofit that fosters entrepreneurialism, argues that the only way to stem the flow of illegal immigration is by creating wealth in Mexico. That, he says, will help shrink the earnings gap between the two countries and diminish the incentive for Mexicans to leave. “The long-term problem is only solved through opportunity,” he says. Page C1

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CALENDAR

Like his puppets, this guy needs a hand

Alan Cook has spent 70 years building a puppet collection that some believe is unrivaled in its breadth and depth.

Four years ago, volunteers began cataloging the collection, which could contain 5,000 items. Trouble is, the puppets are overflowing their Pasadena storage areas and need a home.

Cook and fellow aficionados dream of building a puppetry museum, but that could cost $2 million.

Right now, there’s no room to spare at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, the temporary headquarters of the nonprofit Conservatory of Puppetry Arts.

So Cook and his puppets need someone who can pull a few strings. Page E3

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ON LATIMES.COM

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THE WEEK AHEAD

TUESDAY

Immigration bill gets scrutiny

The House begins three days of immigration hearings that Majority Leader John Boehner says are intended to highlight perceived flaws in the Senate’s bill and translate them to political advantage when, or if, a final measure is negotiated. Tuesday’s focus will be whether the Senate “repeats the mistakes” of the 1986 amnesty; Wednesday’s, on how the bill would affect American workers; and Thursday’s, on border security.

WEDNESDAY

Regents focus on compensation

University of California regents meet Wednesday and Thursday in San Francisco to focus on further reforms and fallout from a controversy over executive compensation. The regents are expected to take action on reforms recommended in recent audits of the UC system’s pay practices, including possible disciplinary action for those found to have violated policy. They also may vote on reorganizing the office of UC President Robert C. Dynes.

THURSDAY

British Open tees off

The British Open returns to Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England, for the first time since 1967, when Roberto De Vicenzo defeated Jack Nicklaus to win the tournament by two strokes. Many U.S. players are unfamiliar with the layout, and Phil Mickelson, who is still trying to rebound from his final-hole collapse in the U.S. Open, is one of the Americans who arrived early to get a better feel for the storied links.

THURSDAY

A gathering of pop culturists

Hilary Swank will be there promoting her new sci-fi film. There’ll be a screening of an episode of “SpongeBob SquarePants” that hasn’t aired on TV yet. And a college instructor will discuss “the challenge of postmodern critical inquiry to the idea of the superhero as an icon.” It’s the annual Comic-Con International in San Diego, a four-day convention that draws upward of 50,000 people each year.