Job growth weak in May
Unexpectedly weak jobs growth in May -- combined with a downward revision for March and April -- are key indicators that the U.S. economy is slowing, economists say.
The likely culprits are softness in the housing sector, a spike in energy costs and tighter credit after a Federal Reserve regimen of interest rate hikes to bridle inflation.
The question now is whether the Fed can guide the economy to a soft landing -- or whether there’s a thud in our economic future. Page C1
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CBS crew’s deaths refocus networks
The “difficult reality,” as James Rainey describes it, is that the deaths of two CBS news crew members and the wounding of reporter Kimberly Dozier last week have pushed the war in Iraq back to prominence on evening network newscasts, countering a recent wave of “Iraq fatigue.”
The deaths have also compelled news organizations to reassess how their journalists report in a place where a quest for an interview can mean flirting with death. And they worry about the effect that the difficult reporting conditions have had on the coverage itself. Page A19
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Zarqawi slams Shiite Muslims
A large portion of the instability in Iraq grows from the presence of Al Qaeda forces, whose local leader, Abu Musab Zarqawi, has urged fellow Sunnis to “confront the poisonous Shiite snakes who are afflicting you,” and dismissed the Shiites’ leading cleric in Iraq as an atheist.
Zarqawi, according to an Associated Press translation of the four-hour tape posted Friday on an Internet site, also slammed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a Shiite, for not acting on his stated hope that Israel would be destroyed. The inflammatory words came as Iraq shuddered through a fresh round of suicide bombings and executions. Page A18
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Gay debate divides again
A planned White House event next week meant to reinvigorate the push for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage has run into surprise opposition -- from some of the movement’s supporters.
Republican backers of the constitutional amendment don’t believe they have the 67 votes necessary to pass in the Senate, and Democrats suspect the White House event, which is to include comments from President Bush, is aimed more at rallying social conservatives ahead of the midterm elections.
But social conservatives say the event merely reinforces how little they believe the Bush administration has achieved on their core issues. Page A5
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Get ready for the Redwood Revolt
A local initiative on Humboldt County’s ballot next week would ban political contributions from businesses with even a single employee outside the county. National unions, however, could contribute if they had just one local member.
Though it’s unclear how much support the measure has among voters and whether it would pass legal challenges, the issue has spawned a wide debate over the rights of corporations and what lengths residents can go to in trying to keep their local politics local. Page B1
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Cops nab desert gold
Riverside sheriff’s deputies say they’ve broken up a gang of jewel thieves and recovered $4 million in jewelry as well as cash and weapons -- among the largest such recoveries in Southern California in decades. The thieves had hit stores in Palm Desert, Beverly Hills and Artesia. Two suspects were arrested; a third is being sought. Page B7
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CALENDAR
New tunes, new times
Radiohead, for a time an unwilling contender for “biggest band in the world,” launches its first U.S. tour since 2003. While the material is solid, the question is whether Thom Yorke’s new songs have the same timely resonance that made Radiohead an oxymoron: a cult band with a mass audience. Page E1
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The wall spins, the monster sings
It’s not often that an operatic production gets global attention. And all it took for the Los Angeles Opera to land in newspapers half a world away was a computer glitch that delayed the planned May 27 opening of “Grendel,” the monster-bites-man story Elliot Goldenthal crafted from the Beowulf legends.
The show finally previewed Thursday night, all the parts moved at the right times and -- good news for the opera company -- the saga of the “Grendel” glitch spiked interest in the show. Several sold-out performances are expected. Page E1
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Grief’s beauty in a gay man’s heart
Literary critic James McCourt describes fellow author Andrew Holleran as “the most psychologically astute observer of the particular sorrows of the American homosexual male.”
In his new work, “Grief: A Novel,” Holleran meshes a gay man’s mourning over his mother’s death and a reading of Mary Todd Lincoln’s letters into “heart-stopping composition” about the nature of grief.
The work, McCourt says in his review, expands on Holleran’s earlier novels focusing “on something ... little known to Americans” -- “the nobility of failure itself.” Page E10
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Yo, Katie, settle on a style already
One moment she’s a pixie, the next she’s dressed for a cocktail party, then she’s popping up in a short skirt and fake tan.
For fashion critic Booth Moore, there’s just been way too much change for Katie Couric -- and that was before she quit NBC’s “Today” show to anchor the “CBS Evening News.”
Over 15 years as co-host of the top-rated breakfast show, Couric wore some 3,500 outfits and who knows how many different hairstyles. It’s amazing people still recognized her.
So Katie, please, find a look and stick with it already. At least for a little while. Page E1
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SPORTS
Maybe the third trip is the charm
U.S. soccer star Landon Donovan had two tries at breaking into Germany’s vaunted Bundesliga, and came away frustrated both times. Next week, the monthlong 2006 World Cup begins in Germany -- and Donovan is hoping for better things for the U.S. national team.
The return to Germany highlights Donovan’s emergence as a leading figure in American soccer, a role he tells Grahame L. Jones he’s happily embracing. And Donovan doesn’t anticipate another try at German soccer. Page D1
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Blake rebounds in French Open
U.S. tennis player James Blake used a rain delay to rebound from a slow start in a French Open match Thursday and rallied in the final sets Friday to beat Nicolas Almagro of Spain.
Combined with a loss by Newport Coast’s Kevin Kim to Rafael Nadal of Spain, Blake is the last U.S. male standing in the annual Grand Slam tournament.
In the women’s table, Venus Williams beat Karolina Sprem of Croatia on Friday and is the last U.S. woman still playing on the clay courts of Paris. Page D3
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BUSINESS
Global help for Kenyan workers
One of the bright spots in Kenya’s economy in recent years has been a sharp increase in the export of roses to Europe and the United States. The downside: complaints about rampant sexual abuse of female rose tenders at the largest grower, Sher Agencies Ltd.
But pressure from Sher’s Western buyers has sparked a crackdown on abusive managers and led the firm to introduce broad changes in benefits for its workers -- a case of the global economy helping out the people on the lowest rungs. Page C1
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Cost of cursing may be going up
A bill expected to get final congressional approval Wednesday would dramatically raise the maximum fine broadcasters face for airing material that rankles the sensitivities of the FCC.
The House is expected to approve the Senate version of the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act, which raises the maximum fine tenfold, to $325,000. The House gave up on its tougher version of the bill, which would have raised fines to $500,000 and required a license-revocation hearing after a third offense. Page C1
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ON LATIMES.COM
Bloggers feudin’ over NBA stats
Get into the fray: There’s a fight brewing on columnist J.A. Adande’s Overtime blog. Share your views on the contentious issue of the value of statistics in determining basketball’s MVPs, at
latimes.com/adandeblog
‘Cars’ takes a bow: Check out our photo gallery of the upcoming Disney animated film’s big premiere, and see how the stars of the film got decked out for their NASCAR night, at
latimes.com/entertainment
