TUESDAY BRIEFING

Housing drop may be stabilizing

Evidence mounts that the Los Angeles County housing market may be stabilizing after months of slowing.

October median home prices increased 4.5% from the previous year to $517,000, beating September’s 3% year-to-year increase. Home sales continue to decline year over year but at a slower rate, 21.8% compared with 28% the previous month.

Experts speculate that some buyers who were waiting for the market to reach bottom are pursuing purchases, believing the bottom is near or here. Page C10

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The stories told by ancient waste

Archeologists deciphering the Dead Sea scrolls have made some interesting discoveries about ancient life by digging through the place where the society that is thought to have produced the scrolls buried its waste.

The scrolls describe the location of its latrines outside the settlement. Following the directions, the archeologists find evidence of human parasites indicating that the sect’s own strict purification rituals contributed to illnesses and shortened life spans. Page A9

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Palestinian rivals agree on unity

The Hamas movement and the Fatah party, competing Palestinian factions, report preliminary accord on a government of unity that could end months of political strife and stalemate.

Mohammed Shabir, a former university president without political affiliation, appears to be emerging as the consensus leader of a new ruling coalition. The groups’ hope is that the agreement would prompt Western countries to resume the financial assistance that is the Palestinian government’s main support. Page A13

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First victory, then comes the fighting

Congress returns to Capitol Hill, but the euphoria of the Democrats’ victory is quickly dimmed by internal strife initiated by the first political move of the presumptive House speaker, Nancy Pelosi.

She opts to back Rep. John Murtha as her No. 2. An antiwar advocate, he is a longtime liberal and Pelosi loyalist. His opponent for the leadership post is Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, favored by many more-moderate party elements. Page A21

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Supreme Court upholds execution

In its first decision of the new term, the U.S. Supreme Court reverses yet another 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling and reinstates the execution of a Central California man.

The man, Fernando Belmontes, was convicted of robbing and murdering 19-year-old Steacy McConnell 25 years ago. The 5-4 decision finds that jurors heard all the relevant evidence before condemning Belmontes. Page A18

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Mayor says take the bus; he doesn’t

As soon as he took office a year and a half ago, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa began urging city residents to help solve the city’s traffic congestion predicament by taking public transportation. “You’ve got to use public transit,” the mayor says.

One problem: The mayor’s own travels to and from the office and around the city do not coincide with his public urgings. He takes an SUV, chauffeured by a police officer. Page B1

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A King memorial

Just down Washington’s National Mall from where the Rev. Martin Luther King gave his stirring 1963 “I have a dream” speech, dignitaries including presidents Bush and Clinton gather to sing and break ground for a King memorial. The 4-acre site is to be completed in 2008. Page A18

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THE CRITIC: ‘Even when it was sometimes difficult to follow the Russian texts because of repetitions and overlays of words, it was impossible to miss the singers’ intentions, whether expressed in hushed, gentle meditations or huge outpourings of joy and affirmation.’ Chris Pasles on the L.A. Master Chorale’s performance of Rachmaninoff’s ‘All-Night Vigil,’ Calendar, E7

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CALENDAR

Down to the last waltz

It’s an unscripted show, but “Dancing With the Stars” has nonetheless woven a tangoed web of subplots this season, not the least of which have been the romances that have developed among cast members. And as it heads into tonight’s final competition, “Dancing’s” viewership is up 8% over last season. Page E1

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Looking for God, seeing the light

“The visual sophistication and conceptual erudition of a great Byzantine icon can astonish,” says critic Christopher Knight, who has taken a look at 52 rare Eastern Orthodox religious paintings from Egypt that go on display today at the J. Paul Getty Museum.

Rather than showing a literal image of God, the paintings portray a supernatural presence through lustrous gold, which Knight says reveals the complexity of the artworks.

“The colored panel is a material object, but the image resides within a complex web of perceptual experience,” he writes. Page E1

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‘3 Lbs.’ Of recycled material

Get out the rakes, ‘cause it’s autumn in Hollywood -- the time when failed TV series fall off network schedules and clutter up the lot. In their places comes a new crop of shows, which will either blossom ... or shrivel.

And that brings us to “3 Lbs.,” debuting tonight on CBS. The title refers to the average weight of a human brain. The show revolves around brain surgeons, especially a hardhearted veteran whose words, don’t you know, are just as cutting as his scalpel. Reviewer Robert Lloyd says “3 Lbs.” offers a good cast but behaves as though it was sewn together out of other medical series’ spare parts. Page E2

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BUSINESS

Warranties unwarranted?

Consumer advocates are waging a campaign against extended warranties on electronics and appliances, saying the policies often are a waste of money.

Extended warranties are a big business: The editor of the industry publication Warranty Week expects consumers to spend $7.5 billion on them this year, including $1.6 billion over the holidays. But Consumer Reports magazine says products rarely break within the warranty window, and when they do, the repairs cost only about as much as the warranty. Page C3

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A tougher policy on insurers

California’s top HMO regulator says she intends to introduce regulations that would make it more difficult for insurers to drop policyholders. The move comes in the wake of a consumer group’s petition demanding enforcement of a state law it says clearly forbids health insurers from canceling coverage unless a company can show a policyholder lied about a medical condition to obtain it. Page C1

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SPORTS

Cal star made a signature play

College recruiting sometimes boils down to a he-said, theysaid proposition. Case in point: DeSean Jackson contends he said he’d join the USC Trojans but changed his mind after they said some things that broke a private agreement with him.

“I kind of felt like they took it for granted that they had me,” Jackson says now.

USC coaches say otherwise, but regardless, Jackson signed with Cal when he left Long Beach Poly High. In two seasons at Berkeley, he’s returned four punts for touchdowns, and Saturday he could help the Bears secure a Rose Bowl berth. Page D1

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They made ‘the Play’ historic

“The Play” might be the most-televised football highlight ever. In the 1982 Stanford-Cal game, Cal took a kickoff with four seconds to play and started tossing the ball around as if it were going to explode. Then the Stanford band flooded the field like red-coated weevils, and Cal continued pitching the pigskin until Kevin Moen grabbed it and stormed into the end zone, knocking over Stanford trombonist Gary Tyrrell in the process.

Whatever happened to Moen and Tyrrell? Jerry Crowe has the answer. Page D2

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LATIMES.COM

Heated debate on police beating

Survey the world of opinion and debate compiled daily by The Times’ Opinion section. Today, it looks at how the blogosphere is reacting to the video of a police beating recently posted on YouTube and how it compares with the Rodney King video from 15 years ago. This time, the LAPD has a blog where retired Capt. Greg Meyer, a “science research specialist,” argues that “the truth almost always lies deeper than the video.” Others disagree. latimes.com/opinionla

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The early line on Lakers’ chances

Lakers blogger Brian Kamenetzky reports that a new analysis of NBA strengths puts the Lakers in a surprisingly robust eighth position overall but a not-so-great sixth position in the West, where basketball’s better teams are concentrated. “The Western Conference,” he writes, “looks like it could have upwards of eleven teams above .500.”

latimes.com/lakersblog

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Brad doesn’t seem to miss a beat

Elizabeth Snead reports in her Style & Scenes blog that Brad Pitt, Hollywood’s handsomest leading man, seems to be its busiest. At the premiere of his new film “Babel,” when it was announced that Pitt, who’d just flown 20 hours from India, would miss the after-party, “all the disappointed reporters understood,” she writes. “Who’d be awake enough to hang at the Hammer museum for a party?” But he showed up anyway and even hung out with Mayor Villaraigosa. latimes.com/snead