10/13/2012
TV and radio personality Gary Collins -- known for his roles in television series including "The Sixth Sense" and "The Wackiest Ship in the Army" -- has died, according to officials in Harrison County, Mississippi. He was 74. Here, he is seen with his wife, Former Miss America Mary Ann Mobley, in 1979. 
Collins poses in a Superman costume during the taping of "Hour Magazine" in 1987 in West Hollywood, California. 
Collins and his wife, Mary Ann Mobley, appear together at an unidentified event. 
From left, Mary Clancy Collins and her parents, Mobley and Collins, pose for a portrait wearing baseball caps in their Los Angeles home, circa 1980. 
Collins poses with 1984's Miss America winner, Vanessa Williams. Collins served as the host of the pageant in the 1980s. 
Mary Ann Mobley and Collins attend the Eagle & Badge Foundation Gala Honors in 2010. 
Former NFL player and actor Alex Karras died on October 10, in Los Angeles, a family spokesman said. He was 77. 
Legendary singer Andy Williams, known for his smooth voice and classics such as "Moon River," died after a yearlong battle with bladder cancer at his Branson, Missouri, home, on September 25. He was 84. 
Actor John Ingle, who played patriarch Edward Quartermaine on ABC's "General Hospital," died at age 84 on September 15. 
Michael Clarke Duncan, nominated for an Academy Award for his role in the 1999 film "The Green Mile," "suffered a myocardial infarction on July 13 and never fully recovered," a written statement from Joy Fehily said. He passed away on September 3 at age 54. 
Hal David, the lyricist behind such standards as "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" and "What the World Needs Now is Love," died at 91 on September 1. 
Neil Armstrong, the American astronaut who made "one giant leap for mankind" when he became the first man to walk on the moon, died August 25. He was 82. 
Puppeteer Jerry Nelson, famous for lending his voice to Muppets on "Sesame Street," "The Muppet Show" and "Fraggle Rock," died August 23. He was 78. 
Comedian Phyllis Diller, known for her self-deprecating humor, died "peacefully in her sleep" on August 20. She was 95. 
Film director Tony Scott left notes in his car and office before plunging to his death from the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro, California, a Los Angeles County coroner official said. Scott died August 19, at age 68 in an apparent suicide. 
Actor Ron Palillo, who played class clown Arnold Horshack on the 1970s television comedy "Welcome Back, Kotter," died from a heart attack at age 63 on August 14. 
Marvin Hamlisch, a prolific American composer, died after a more than four-decade long career that spanned film, music, television and theater, on August 6. He was 68. 
At 69, actress Lupe Ontiveros, who co-starred in the hit films "Selena" and "As Good As It Gets," died of liver cancer on July 26. 
Sherman Hemsley, who played the brash George Jefferson on "All in the Family" and "The Jeffersons," died July 24, at age 74. 
Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space, died after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer on July 23. She was 61. 
Keyboard player Jon Lord, who fused classical and heavy metal to make Deep Purple one of the biggest rock bands in the world, died July 16 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 71. 
Oscar-winning actress Celeste Holm died at her home in New York on July 15 at the age of 95. Here Holm, center, appears in 1950's "All About Eve" with Garry Merrill, from left, Bette Davis, and Hugh Marlow. 
On July 8, film and television actor Ernest Borgnine, who won an Academy Award for his portrayal of a lovelorn butcher in 1955's "Marty," died at age 95. 
Actor Andy Griffith, who played folksy Sheriff Andy Taylor in the fictional town of Mayberry, died July 3, at the age of 86. 
Nora Ephron, the screenwriter and director whose sharp, edgy romantic comedies featuring strong women took her to the top ranks of a film industry mostly dominated by men, died at 71 on June 26. 
Robin Gibb, one of three brothers who made up the group the Bee Gees behind "Saturday Night Fever" and other now-iconic sounds from the 1970s, died on May 20. He was 62. Gibb "passed away today following his long battle with cancer and intestinal surgery," a statement said. 
Donna Summer, the "Queen of Disco" whose hits included "Hot Stuff," "Bad Girls," "Love to Love You Baby" and "She Works Hard for the Money," died May 17. She was 63. 
Donald "Duck" Dunn, left, the bass player who laid the musical floor beneath soul legends like Booker T. and the MGs, Sam and Dave and Otis Redding, died at age 70 on May 13. 
George Lindsey, the actor who portrayed the country-bumpkin mechanic Goober Pyle on "The Andy Griffith Show," died May 6 after a brief illness, his family said. He was 83. 
Levon Helm, the drummer, multi-instrumentalist and singer for The Band who kept the band's heart for more than three decades, died "peacefully" April 19, according to his record label, Vanguard Records. He was 71. 
Television host Dick Clark poses for a portrait circa 1968. The longtime host of the influential "American Bandstand" died in April 18 after suffering a heart attack. He was 82. 
Earl Scruggs, whose distinctive picking style and association with Lester Flatt cemented bluegrass music's place in popular culture, died March 28 of natural causes at a Nashville hospital. He was 88. 
Doobie Brothers drummer Michael Hossack died at his home in Dubois, Wyoming, on March 11 at the age of 65 after battling cancer for some time. 
Jimmy Ellis, who belted out the dance anthem "Disco Inferno" in the 1970s for the Trammps, died on March 8 at 74 years old. Here, the Trammps are seen in 1973: From left, Earl Young, seated, Harold Wade, Jimmy Ellis, Stanley Wade and Robert Upchurch. 
Davy Jones, whose charming grin and British accent won the hearts of millions of fans on the 1960s television series "The Monkees," died on February 29, at age 66. 
The news broke on the eve of Grammy Awards, the music industry's biggest night: The woman with the pitch-perfect voice who once reigned as the queen of pop at the awards show had died. Whitney Houston was found by her bodyguard, lifeless, on February 11. She was 48. 
Actor James Farentino, whose television acting career began in the early 1960s, died on January 24. He was 73. 
Etta James, whose assertive, earthy voice lit up such hits as "The Wallflower," "Something's Got a Hold on Me" and the wedding favorite "At Last," died on January 20. She was 73. 
California may set trend easing '3 strikes' law
| SAN FRANCISCO — More than a decade after California set a national trend toward longer sentences for habitual criminals with its three-strikes law, crime in the Golden State is down, prison costs are up - and voters are poised to soften the hardline stance. A California ballot measure that would let some nonviolent offenders out of jail faster is the most high-profile example of what Adam Gelb, a criminal justice expert at the Pew Center, calls "a sea change across the country in attitudes on crime and punishment." While the main financial backer of the campaign to pass the measure is a liberal billionaire, it has drawn support from religious conservatives, fiscal hawks and a broad array of constituencies who have supported "tough on crime" policies in the past. California isn't the first state to revisit policies that have caused an explosion in inmate populations and in some cases jailed people for many decades over relatively minor infractions. In 2007, Texas faced more than $2 billion in new prison costs and chose instead to plow $240 million into alternatives such as treatment-oriented programs for nonviolent offenders.
In Delaware, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and New York, mandatory sentencing laws have been rolled back. Other states are revising parole standards and adding programs to let prisoners earn early release, according to a recent Pew study. And a September 2012 study by the Council of State Governments found seven states were succeeding in cutting recidivism rates, by 6 percent to 18 percent, often by focusing on nonprison programs and treatment. Conservative and liberal backing The coalition that is backing the California initiative, known as Proposition 36, illustrates the shifting politics of criminal justice. George Soros, the legendary investor who has backed many liberal causes, has donated $1 million. Conservative leader Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform, has endorsed it. The Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, the NAACP, and district attorneys of San Francisco, Los Angeles County and Santa Clara County - Silicon Valley - are all behind the proposition. More broadly, faith-focused leaders, such as Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, are backing more cost-effective approaches to crime and punishment through groups like Right on Crime. "Social conservatives and fiscal conservatives, for the last 30 years, have not applied the same level of scrutiny to the criminal justice area as they have applied to other levels of government," said Craig DeRoche, the former Republican Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives who is now vice president of sentencing reform group Justice Fellowship. Filling prisons with people who are not a threat to society is expensive and often works against integrating felons into a crime-free life, he said. Californians are not getting soft on violent crime: Polls show that an attempt to repeal the death penalty, which is also on the November ballot, has only a slim chance of success. Proposition 36 also is a relatively narrow adjustment to 1994's Proposition 184, known as Three Strikes and You're Out, which lengthened sentences for repeat offenders. The new proposition would let some criminals who have been in jail twice (two strikes) avoid a 25-years-to-life sentence for a third crime if it is judged to be nonviolent and nonserious. Each side uses portraits of prisoners to make its point. Prop 36 supporters describe Shane Taylor, who had two strikes called against him for committing two burglaries 11 days apart when he was 19. His third strike was for possession of 0.14 grams of methamphetamine, and he was sentenced to life in prison. The California District Attorneys Association says inmate Douglas Hall shows how the system keeps dangerous, habitual criminals off the streets. Hall's strikes included a robbery during which he fired a rifle at victims and involuntary manslaughter in which he stabbed the victim 11 times, according to a report by the group. He was convicted of possessing heroin, and because it was a third strike, he was sentenced to 25 years to life. If he were resentenced under Prop 36, his maximum sentence would be seven and a half years, the DAs say. Support in polls In a late-September University of Southern California/Los Angeles Times poll, 66 percent of respondents favored Prop 36. A majority of every single subgroup, divided by political party, race, family status, income, region of the state, ideology and gender favored the measure, according to the mid-September survey of 1,504 people. Opponents of Prop 36 say voters don't understand what they are doing. District attorneys already have significant leeway to show mercy to potential third-strike offenders, and they use it, said Carl Adams, president of the California District Attorneys Association. The new law could tie their hands in pursuing long sentences for some individuals with histories of violence, he said. The reach of the measure is limited, though; only about 2,000 of California's roughly 133,000 state prisoners would be released early if the proposition passes, according to the non-partisan Legislative Analyst's Office, which projects the state could save about $70 million to $90 million annually. Those figures don't compare with the number of inmates who will have to be moved out of the state prison system under a court order aimed at eliminating dangerous overcrowding. The court's target is a population of 110,000 next year, down from more than 160,000 in 2006. "California's criminal justice system is undergoing historical levels of reform," said Sarah Lawrence, a prison system policy researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, Law School. Roughly 25,000 prisoners who would have been in state prisons will be sent instead to local jails by 2015, the state Department of Corrections says. Ideally the local authorities will be better placed to help nonviolent offenders make the transition into their communities, but many counties will struggle to afford the necessary support systems. Crime in California, like the rest of the nation, has dropped dramatically since the early 1990s. State violent crimes are down by more than half and homicides by nearly two-thirds since 1992. Harsher sentencing was probably part of the reason, Lawrence said, but a lot of the most dangerous folks are now behind bars, and there may be better ways to raise public safety. "Your bang for the buck goes down the wider you make the net," she said. If Californians use the ballot box to say they want their state to try to find smarter ways to deal with prisoners, others will listen, said Pew's Gelb. "Precisely because California's three-strikes law is so notorious, any changes in that law will reverberate around the country." (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. 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Lake drained for LA water at center of dust lawsuit
| LOS ANGELES — The powerful Los Angeles Department of Water and Power sued air regulators Friday over demands to control dust from Owens Lake nearly a century after the exploding metropolis siphoned water to quench its growing thirst. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Fresno, marks the latest salvo in a bitter back-and-forth over water rights in the arid region that was set in motion in 1913, when Los Angeles began diverting water from the lake 200 miles to its north. The lake went dry in 1926 and has since been plagued with massive dust storms and poor air quality. The scandal created by the diversion project was fodder for the 1974 film "Chinatown," and hard feelings persist in rural Owens Valley, where many locals see the utility as a parasitic neighbor. The aqueduct was dynamited repeatedly after increased pumping in the 1920s combined with a drought to ruin many local farms. Since a 1998 agreement, Los Angeles has spent $1.2 billion to tamp down the dust there as part of the nation's largest dust mitigation project, mainly by putting water back into a 40-square-mile area of the lakebed. The utility is currently working to control dust in another 2-square-mile parcel. But recent orders from the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District to increase the dust mitigation area by 3 square miles are excessive and wasteful, the lawsuit alleges. The utility does not believe dust from the area in question was caused by its century-old actions and says it is not responsible. The utility will honor its commitment and maintain the work it's already done, but it wants a permanent agreement about where its responsibilities end, officials said. The lawsuit, which also names the California Air Resources Board, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, asks the court for relief from the "systematic and unlawful issuance to the city of dust control orders and fee assessments." The additional dust control project would cost the Department of Water and Power up to $400 million, and ratepayers already pay $90 a year for dust mitigation at Owens Lake, said Ron Nichols, the department's general manager. The city uses 30 billion gallons annually — enough to fill the Rose Bowl each day to overflowing for one year — to keep dust down, he said. "We're pouring that onto the lake, and the issue is, it's just a colossal waste of water," Nichols said. "Our fundamental problem is that we are being singled out because of our customers and Los Angeles being considered as having deep pockets. They think we're the only ones who can pay for dust that we believe is occurring naturally." Ted Schade, the control district's air pollution control officer, said by filing the lawsuit, the city was trying to back out of agreements solidified in 1997 and 2006. He disputed claims that the utility was not responsible for the dust and said the city was breaking its promises to Owens Valley. The utility was testing the limits of its obligations in court, he said, because it hadn't realized the true expense it was facing.
"They had hoped that they would be done spending money and putting water in Owens Lake," Schade said in a phone interview. "We realize that and we realize that the city has limited monetary and water resources and we're willing to work with them — but they just can't say, We're not willing to do more.'" Water experts and environmentalists said the lawsuit was symptomatic of a much bigger issue: An ongoing shortage of cheap water in the state and decades-long tensions between rural areas and urban areas over water rights. "It's sort of been a landlord-tenant relationship," said Steven Erie, director of the urban studies and planning program at the University of California, San Diego. "This is the latest chapter in long-standing and tension-filled history between the two ... and it has affected the discussion and the framing of every agricultural-to-urban transfer in California from then on." The agency argues that expanding dust control means the utility will lean even more on other water sources, which could impact supply in other parts of the state and increase air pollution from pumping operations. Peter Gleick, president of the non-partisan Pacific Institute in Oakland, said the Los Angeles utility could address the Owens Lake demands by further conservation. "It's no longer a question of expanding supply, it's also now a question of reducing inefficient use and reducing inappropriate demand," he said. "Los Angeles has been very good about reducing demand ... but there's a lot more that they could do." Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
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