Sheriff's response time is longer in unincorporated areas, audit finds

It took Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies a minute longer to respond to emergency calls from unincorporated parts of the...

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Disney Shuts Down <cite>Epic Mickey</cite> Studio, Warren Spector Out

Disney will close Junction Point, the Austin, Texas, game development studio responsible for the Epic Mickey series, it said on Tuesday.“It was with much sadness that we informed our teams today of changes to our Games organization, which include the closure of Junction Point Studios,” a Disney spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “These changes are part of our...

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Dior: Jennifer Lawrence dress had no malfunction

LOS ANGELES (AP) — That was no wardrobe malfunction — that was couture.When Jennifer Lawrence ascended the stairs to accept her SAG Award Sunday night, a bit of skin showed through the skirt of her gown, leading to some speculation that it had ripped.Dior Couture told The Associated Press that wasn’t so.The design house said Lawrence’s gown was designed by Raf Simons “with different levels of tulle...

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Well: Ask Well: Long-Term Use of Nicotine Gum

In small doses, like those contained in the gum, nicotine is generally considered safe. But it does have stimulant properties that can raise blood pressure, increase heart rate and constrict blood vessels. One large report from 2010 found that compared to people given a placebo, those who used nicotine replacement therapies had a higher risk of heart palpitations and chest pains.That’s one reason...

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Streaming Shakes Up Music Industry’s Model for Royalties

Jim Wilson/The New York TimesZoe Keating published on her blog the details of what she made in royalties from the Web streaming of her music. It wasn’t a lot. Like plenty of music fans, Sam Broe jumped at the chance to join Spotify two summers ago, and he hasn’t looked back. Spotify, which began streaming music in Sweden in 2008, lets users choose from millions of songs over the Internet...

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'Argo' producer scours for the next stranger-than-fiction story

Hunched over a desk in his spartan Westwood apartment, David Klawans squints at his computer monitor and knits his brow in concentration....

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China's Giant Transport Plane Takes Flight

The Chinese military’s first homegrown long-range transport plane has flown for the first time, extending Beijing’s impressive record of new warplane development.But the Xian Y-20 (“Y” for Yun, meaning “transport”), roughly in the same class as the U.S. C-17 or the Russian Il-76, is probably still a long way from being fully operational — to say nothing of it being militarily effective. A...

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Barbara Walters hospitalized with chickenpox

NEW YORK (AP) — Barbara Walters would probably like to hit the reset button on 2013.She’s got the chickenpox and remains hospitalized more than a week after going in after falling and hitting her head at a pre-inaugural party in Washington on Jan. 19. A fellow host on the “The View,” Whoopi Goldberg, said Monday that Walters has been transferred to a New York hospital and hopes to go home soon.“She’s...

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Well: Keeping Blood Pressure in Check

Since the start of the 21st century, Americans have made great progress in controlling high blood pressure, though it remains a leading cause of heart attacks, strokes, congestive heart failure and kidney disease.Now 48 percent of the more than 76 million adults with hypertension have it under control, up from 29 percent in 2000.But that means more than half, including many receiving treatment, have...

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DealBook: Goldman Sachs to Sell $1 Billion Stake in Chinese Bank

Goldman Sachs is selling a $1 billion stake in Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the largest Chinese bank.The share sale, which was begun on Monday, is the second time in less than a year that Goldman has reduced its holdings in the lender after acquiring its stake before the Chinese bank’s initial public offering in 2006.Goldman has been selling off its shares as part of a broader effort to...

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