A special kind of judge

One Nevada judge came close to indictment on blackmail charges. Another repeatedly ruled for a casino company he held a financial stake in.

Yet the Nevada Supreme Court has conferred on these judges a special distinction that exempts them from some of the common rules of judicial practice and reduces their accountability.

They are senior judges, not answerable to voters or subject to peremptory challenges. They were created in 1977 to ease a workload that’s grown to 2,700 cases per regular judge per year. Juice vs. Justice, Part 3 of a Times investigative series. Page A1

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Delphi agreement helps GM too

Ailing auto parts maker Delphi Corp. announces a breakthrough agreement with the United Auto Workers to offer thousands of disgruntled union members payments of up to $140,000 each to quit their jobs.

The agreement between the UAW and Delphi, which filed for bankruptcy last year, could ultimately relieve troubled General Motors of the obligation to fund billions of dollars in the former GM subsidiary’s future healthcare and pension costs.

GM had put its potential obligation at $5.5 billion. Much of that would evaporate if most of the 22,000 UAW members at Delphi took the buyout or early retirement offers. Page C1

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Will Zarqawi still inspire others?

Although Abu Musab Zarqawi’s reputation concerned his savage exploits in Iraq, he invested considerable effort and years building a web of international connections that have had a profound impact on Islamic extremism globally.

He built his reputation as a consummate man of action. His death is likely to undermine his network’s efforts to forge international alliances.

But investigators worry that his enduring symbolic power will spur retaliatory attacks by future generations of militants. “They talk more about him than Bin Laden or Zawahiri,” says one investigator. Page A22

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Fallout from school struggle

Mayor Villaraigosa’s determination to take over the Los Angeles Unified School District could complicate the search for a new superintendent.

After seven years running the system with its 727,000 pupils, Supt. Roy Romer is retiring in September. The management job is difficult enough without the uncertainty of a potential new governing relationship with the city that could complicate the nationwide hunt for a top-tier candidate. Page B1

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The dilemmas of arena booking

What are the odds, the managers of Edmonton’s Rexall Place wondered last November, that the Oilers would be playing in the Stanley Cup finals come June?

Based on the record, not very good, they reasonably decided. So they booked the traveling show “Dora the Explorer Live.”

And now guess who’s playing in the Stanley Cup finals?

It’s a serious scheduling -- and financial -- predicament for arena managers all over North America as they seek to maximize use of their facilities. And this time of year is the most problematic. Page D8

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Designed space

The architects are here! The architects are here! More than 7,000 of them, in fact, for the annual American Institute of Architects convention. Some are touring recent additions to downtown L.A., and Christopher Reynolds listens to their takes on our new look, including this inside view of the new Caltrans building. Page B1

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CALENDAR

Hoping the monster isn’t hungry

The long-gestating, $2.8-million opera “Grendel” premiered Thursday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and critic Mark Swed deems it a mixed success -- an overtaxed score but with a “career-making” performance by baritone Eric Owens, and a stage “with quite a bit to look at.” Page E1

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HIV takes hidden toll in rural China

Their agony began, in many cases, with an act of commerce. Impoverished villagers in remote Chinese villages received $6 for two pints of blood in the 1980s and 1990s. To recover faster for the next sales they received smaller transfusions of others’ blood, which in many cases was tainted with HIV.

Some 75,000 children have been orphaned in the ensuing AIDS epidemic, which the Communist government was slow to acknowledge.

But filmmakers Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon finagled access and produced “The Blood of Yingzhou District,” which premieres Wednesday at the Silverdocs Documentary Film Festival in Washington, D.C.

It’s not a pleasant story. The children, many of them also HIV-positive, are shunned by their villages and left to suffer -- and in some cases, to die -- alone. Page E4

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Getty vases show evolution of art

The first full-scale, special exhibit to go up at the refurbished Getty Villa since it reopened in January offers a small window of insight into the evolution of art in the creation of Athenian vases, says critic Christopher Knight.

An unknown artisan crafted a single bottle around 350 BC to hold oil; it was a generally unremarkable piece compared with similar vases.

But this particular vessel was crafted as “red-figure” pottery was declining in quality, and, in an unusual twist, it bears a painted terra cotta figure of Eros like a misplaced appendage.

Thus the vessel is “one craftsman’s inventive, perhaps experimental, certainly technically accomplished attempt to juice the product line and compete in a flagging market,” Knight writes.

“The Colors of Clay: Special techniques of Athenian Vases” runs through Sept. 4. Page E1

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BUSINESS

Your ship may come in emptier

With the global economy starting to cool down a bit, international trade -- with recent high annual growth rates -- is beginning to show signs of weakening.

Though the impact hasn’t hit the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports yet, some experts think it’s inevitable in part because shipping companies are ordering larger ships, thus increasing capacity at the same time growth in global demand is flagging.

That’s good news for importers, who are finding rates for 20-foot cargo containers dropping by as much as $200.

One aspect that might help insulate West Coast ports: the shipping routes to China, which one expert said have become a “supply chain corridor.”

Still, Los Angeles toy wholesalers like Charlie Woo are finding savings in every carton they receive. Page C1

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SPORTS

World: ‘If anyone calls, I’m busy’

That massive, momentary worldwide drop in worker productivity Friday was the result of millions of sets of eyes glued to televisions for the start of soccer’s quadrennial World Cup.

Germany, where the tournament is being played, beat Costa Rica, 4-2, and Ecuador surprised Poland, 2-0, on Friday in the first two games of the monthlong tournament. The U.S. plays Croatia on Monday. Page D1

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ON LATIMES.COM

Soccer and theater take center stage

The mania: With the World Cup underway, visit our soccer section for news and profiles to help you navigate through the matches of the planet’s most popular sport. The section includes extra photos and video, with interactive features that spotlight schedules, teams and players, a quiz and more.

latimes.com/worldcup

And the winners will be ... : “The Threepenny Opera” at 40/1 to win? “The Drowsy Chaperone” at even money? Get primed for Sunday’s Tonys with racetrack-styled odds and marquee category picks from a panel of experts from The Times, Entertainment Weekly, Playbill.com and more at

theenvelope.latimes.com