Bells shatter a November morning

SACRAMENTO — Five bells rang, followed by the clack-clack of paper spewing from the Teletype. It was a bulletin.

"Dallas, Nov. 22 (UPI)—Three shots were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade today in downtown Dallas."

Five bells for a bulletin. Ten for a very rare flash alerting editors and broadcasters to earth-shaking news. There were several flashes that day. One came soon after the initial bulletin.

"Kennedy seriously wounded perhaps fatally by assassin's bullet."

And about an hour later:

"President Kennedy dead."

Bells? Teletypes? Flashes?

It's striking how primitive communications were 50 years ago compared to today. And few of us can imagine what they'll be like in another half century.

Hopefully people won't still be staring at their plate while a lunch companion rudely plays with his so-called smartphone. But that subject's for another time.

Most folks in their mid-50s or older remember where they were when the flashes from Dallas stopped them in their tracks. In California, it was late morning.

I was working at the state Capitol in the UPI bureau. That would be United Press International, which no longer exists as a major news service.

Our sworn enemy, the Associated Press, hangs on, although its reporter corps continues to dwindle as the news media decentralizes into cyberspace.

There's more information bouncing around these days, but much of it is unreliable and irrelevant. That's also for another time.

In the battle for survival, AP won. But on that day 50 years ago, UPI kicked its butt. That is, Merriman Smith did.

"Smitty," UPI's veteran White House reporter, won the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the Kennedy assassination. He was riding in the press pool car of the presidential motorcade, squeezed in the front seat between the driver and a White House aide, when three loud cracks were heard. A gun buff, Smith instantly recognized the sound as rifle shots.

In the back seat were three other reporters, including the AP's Jack Bell. Smith knew where to sit: with the car's only telephone at his feet. He grabbed it and dictated the bulletin — then kept clutching the phone while Bell beat him on the back and wrestled for it.

UPI broke ahead of AP and kept pulling away. Smith capped his performance with a riveting, detailed wrap-up piece written aboard Air Force One flying back to Washington.

In the Sacramento bureau, we reporters huddled over the A-wire machine, waiting for the bells and devouring every word. We weren't the only ones.

The little office soon flooded with politicians and legislative staffers. One I vividly remember was a former college roommate. He leaned through the door and mouthed the words: "Is it true?"

It struck me that nothing was true in those days unless the wire services said it was. Confirmation was on the yellow paper rolling out of Teletypes. There was no 24/7 cable TV news. No emailing. No tweeting.

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Same old, same old: SEC is center of BCS universe

Alabama played lousy and Auburn got lucky, but nothing changes as another November starts to coalesce around SEC headquarters in Birmingham, Ala.

It's almost like the swallows returning to Capistrano.

When undefeated Auburn was left out of the BCS title game of 2004, a defiant Commissioner Mike Slive vowed it would never happen again.

He was wrong, but not for long.

Texas and USC played for the title after the 2005 season, but the SEC has since won seven straight national championships.

Since 2008, in fact, the hardware hasn't left the state of Alabama. The Crimson Tide won in 2009, followed by Auburn, followed by consecutive titles by Alabama.

The Crimson Tide looked sluggish in its 20-7 win at Mississippi State, but it had no impact on Alabama's quest to win a third straight title.

Auburn needed an all-time fluke touchdown catch to beat Georgia, but that win lifted the Tigers to 10-1 with a Nov. 30 showdown looming against the Crimson Tide.

Auburn, with a little help from the deflection gods, replaced Oregon and Missouri as the best-positioned one-loss team that can still win the national title.

Oregon is ahead of Auburn now in the BCS standings but won't be if Auburn defeats Alabama.

Don't bother comparing the defeats: Oregon lost by six points at then-No. 5 Stanford, and Auburn lost by 14 at then-No. 6 Louisiana State.

Blah . . . blah . . . blah.

The sun may set in the West, but the BCS standings set over Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

Auburn's "win" should have made nervous all contenders outside of Tuscaloosa and Tallahassee.

Florida State's spot in the title game is secure so long as the Seminoles win out against Idaho, Florida and in the ACC title game.

But what happens if Auburn defeats Alabama in two weeks and ends up winning the SEC title with a 12-1 record?

Florida State would move up to No. 1, and then what?

The SEC would certainly argue its one-loss champion was more worthy than undefeated Baylor or Ohio State.

Unless you think Slive would say, "Nah, we've won enough, give the Big 12 a chance."

Sunday's BCS standings set the stage for an exciting closing act, with the top four teams lined up in order: Alabama, Florida State, Ohio State and Baylor.

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Monday's TV Highlights: 'Independent Lens:Indian Relay ' on PBS

Ivan "Zack" Rock in "Independent Lens: Indian Relay" on PBS (Aaron Pruitt / PBS / November 15, 2013)

By Ed Stockly

November 17, 2013, 8:00 p.m.

Customized TV Listings are available here: www.latimes.com/tvtimes

Click here to download TV listings for the week of Nov. 17 - 23, 2013 in PDF format

This week's TV Movies  

---

SERIES

How I Met Your Mother Barney's (Neil Patrick Harris) father (John Lithgow) arrives at the hotel in this new episode. 8 p.m. CBS

Almost Human In this new episode, Kennex and Dorian's (Karl Urban, Mark Ealy) investigation of a murder and missing persons case leads them into the high-stakes world of "sexbots," or Intimate Robot Companions. 8 p.m. Fox

Beauty and the Beast After a mission that puts Vincent's (Jay Ryan) life in jeopardy, Cat (Kristin Kreuk) urges him to join her for Thanksgiving dinner with her father (Ted Whittall) in hopes of getting information. Sendhil Ramamurthy, Amber Skye Noyes, Austin Basis and Nina Lisandrello also star in this new episode. 9 p.m. KTLA

Independent Lens The new documentary "Indian Relay" takes viewers inside the equestrian sport popular with Native American communities where participants ride bareback around a track, then leap from their moving horses onto new ones, then do it again. 10 p.m. KOCE

SPECIALS

Doctor Who: Tales From the TARDIS Cast members and producers share their memories of the long-running and influential science-fiction series, 9 p.m. BBC America. Then scientists examine the concepts and ideas of "The Science of Doctor Who." 10 p.m. BBC America

Pure Evel American Legend: Lives On The original modern daredevil is profiled in this new special. 10 p.m. Discovery

MOVIES

Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley This new documentary looks back on the life and boundary-breaking career of comedian Jackie "Moms" Mabley via recently discovered photos and performance footage and commentary from fellow entertainers including Harry Belafonte, Anne Meara and Robin Williams. 9 p.m. HBO

TALK SHOWS

CBS This Morning Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.); Steve McQueen. (N) 7 a.m. KCBS

Today (N) 7 a.m. KNBC

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LAPD to investigate allegation of delayed medical aid to TSA agent

Los Angeles police officials said they would investigate allegations made in a news report that an LAPD officer delayed medical attention for an airport security employee fatally wounded during the shooting at Los Angeles International Airport this month.

Police Chief Charlie Beck, however, called the claims in the report "highly speculative," saying it was too early to draw conclusions about how officers responded to the Nov. 1 shooting.

Authorities have accused Paul Ciancia of targeting agents with the Transportation Security Administration in the shooting, in which, they allege, he opened fire with an assault rifle in Terminal 3 of LAX. Ciancia has been charged with murdering TSA Officer Gerardo Hernandez and wounding others before being shot by police.

According to an Associated Press report published Friday, a veteran LAPD officer responding to the scene came across Hernandez minutes after he had been shot.

Citing an unnamed source, the report claimed that instead of immediately bringing Hernandez to paramedics stationed outside the terminal, the officer "checked on" him several times and declared to others that he was already dead. More than 30 minutes passed before officers from the airport's own police force brought Hernandez to paramedics, the report said.

Authorities have said Hernandez was shot repeatedly in the chest at close range; however, it is not known how quickly he died. Results of an autopsy have not yet been released. By the time he was brought out of the terminal, Hernandez was in full cardiac arrest, an emergency medical source with knowledge of the incident told The Times. Paramedics took him to a hospital, where doctors tried unsuccessfully to revive him.

Based on the claim in the AP report, the LAPD will open a formal investigation into the officer's conduct, said LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith. It is LAPD policy to conduct an investigation into any allegation of an officer's wrongdoing.

The LAPD is also conducting a broad review of how officers responded to the shooting. As part of that, investigators will review video recordings taken by terminal security cameras.

Marshall McClain, president of the union that represents officers in the separate airport Police Department, also raised questions about the LAPD officer's alleged inaction and the time it took to bring Hernandez to medical aid. "My point is we are trained to render aid. It is not your job to decide someone is dead," McClain told The Times.

McClain emphasized that he had not seen any video recordings of the shooting and so did not know exactly what officers did when Hernandez was discovered. McClain said his criticism is based on accounts provided to him by officers who responded to the shooting.

On Saturday, several agencies that either responded to or are involved in the subsequent investigation into the airport shooting issued a joint news release, saying "we are rightfully evaluating where improvements can be made should we ever be faced with such an incident in the future." It said a special work group has been assembled to make recommendations on any corrective action that might be taken.

The joint statement was issued by Los Angeles World Airports, the FBI, the L.A. Fire Department, the LAPD and the TSA. It characterized some of the statements made about the shooting and the response by authorities as "untrue," while others "merit serious consideration by our respective agencies."

joel.rubin@latimes.com

dan.weikel@latimes.com

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Some L.A. Unified schools to see cut in anti-poverty funds

More than two dozen local schools face reduced funding next year as the Los Angeles school district funnels more federal money to campuses with a higher percentage of low-income students.

The tighter budgets affect 28 schools next year, including the Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies, Chatsworth and Westchester high schools and Walgrove Elementary. Some of these schools are relatively high-performing academically.

Contingents from these schools argued for a reprieve at the Board of Education's meeting last week. But a measure to restore the funding fell just short of a majority on the seven-member body.

The proposal would have returned federal anti-poverty dollars to schools where just under half the students come from low-income families. L.A. Unified gets this funding for every low-income student, but the money doesn't necessarily follow the student. Instead, the dollars go to schools with the highest concentration of poverty. The goal is to address the cumulative effects of intense pockets of poverty, which describes much of the nation's second-largest school system.

It's up to L.A. Unified to decide where to draw the poverty line for these Title 1 funds. For years, schools that are 40% low-income received some of the money. But in 2011, L.A. Unified redrew the line, limiting the funds to schools where at least half the students are low-income.

Rio Vista Elementary fell short by nine students, which will cost it $87,000 next year. That money paid for academic intervention, more hours for a nurse, a psychologist and teaching assistants, said Principal Pia Sadaqatmal.

Board member Tamar Galatzan argued for the restoration. She said it would cost the higher-poverty schools only $5 per student, dropping their federal anti-poverty aid from $502 to $497 per pupil. The restored schools would have received $277 per student.

But Monica Garcia, whose schools serve predominantly low-income areas, objected.

"Maybe we don't understand poverty," she said. "Five dollars is a lot.… Poverty needs to be interrupted. Today we're hearing from the people that the system works best for…. Even when you take away privilege there is privilege in the system."

She added: "I'm having a hard time understanding how the kids at the most successful schools are being somehow harmed in the organization of this district."

Galatzan countered that affected schools are successful, in part, because they've used their anti-poverty funds so well, and, in many cases, have become attractive enough to lure back some middle-class families.

"These schools are being penalized because they've done exactly what we've asked them to do," she said later. "We're forcing these schools to crash and burn before we'll come to their rescue with any extra dollars."

But her motion failed when Bennett Kayser abstained, saying he sympathized with both sides. The supporting votes were cast by Galatzan, Monica Ratliff and Steve Zimmer. Joining Garcia in voting no were Richard Vladovic and Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte.

howard.blume@latimes.com

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Albuquerque becomes latest abortion battlefield

ALBUQUERQUE — A high-desert city in one of the poorest states in the nation has become the abortion debate's latest battlefield and a testing ground for whether abortion limits can be imposed on the local level.

Early voting is underway in Albuquerque for an election Tuesday, which will decide whether to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Although similar bans have been passed by state legislatures, New Mexico's largest city is believed to be the first municipality in the country to place such an initiative on a ballot.

The "Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Ordinance," which needs a majority to pass, would have statewide impact because the only late-term abortion providers in the largely rural state are in Albuquerque.

Women living out of state also fly to Albuquerque for this type of care, said Micaela Cadena, policy director at Young Women United. The New Mexico-based group is part of the Respect ABQ Women campaign, which is fighting the local measure.

"Albuquerque voters are voting for the whole state of New Mexico and also for the rest of the country," Cadena said.

The Supreme Court's ruling in Roe vs. Wade has been interpreted by lower courts as making abortion legal through 24 weeks of pregnancy, but antiabortion activists are pushing to ban the procedure after 20 weeks — a step in chipping away at the 1973 landmark ruling.

Tara and Bud Shaver, who call themselves pro-life missionaries, moved to New Mexico three years ago from Kansas, a center of antiabortion activism, with the intent of mobilizing a campaign to shut down Southwestern Women's Options — one of a handful of clinics in the country that provide late-term abortions.

There doesn't seem to be a consensus on when a pregnancy is considered late-term, with definitions ranging from the 20th week of gestation to the 27th.

Tara Shaver said that although terminations after 20 weeks account for about 1.3% of all abortion procedures, banning them would be one step toward outlawing the practice entirely.

In Albuquerque, it's hard to get away from any mention of the measure.

Campaign ads have taken over radio and television. Commuters drive down boulevards flanked with signs that read "Vote for Late Term Abortion Ban" or "Respect ABQ Women. Vote no Nov. 19."

On a recent weekday morning at University of New Mexico, Shaver and her contingent of volunteers handed out leaflets to backpack-toting students hurrying to class.

At about the same time a "truth truck" — as the antiabortion group contingent calls it — maneuvered along a road cutting through campus. The truck carried its a billboard-sized picture of what looked to be a dismembered fetus.

"We're going to show them the truth — what abortion really does," Shaver said.

The night before, a group of abortion rights advocates gathered downtown. Bineshi Albert and her 17-year-old daughter, Dezbah Evans, munched on pizza before they took to the streets with their best pitch in opposition to the ban.

"As a Native American, I have some experience with the government telling us what to do with our land, our hair, our body, our language, our culture," Albert said. "I can relate that experience to me as a woman, and I just don't think the city government should have a say to regulate what happens to my body."

To get the measure on the ballot, Operation Rescue and other antiabortion groups gathered 27,000 signatures — more than twice the number the city requires. If successful, the ordinance could be implemented days after city officials certify the election.

Councilman Dan Lewis, who describes himself as pro-life, said that if the measure passes and is challenged in court, the city will be obligated to defend it.

Councilwoman Trudy Jones, who has questioned the constitutionality of the measure, said abortion should not be a municipal issue. The special election will cost the city at least $500,000, and legal bills to defend it could triple that amount — a strain for a poor city, she said.

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For dining out, the pleasure of a singular choice beats the 'foodie pass'

Everybody has decided to eat like a restaurant critic. And I'm here to say … stop. You'll get a better meal.

There's something so convivial about sitting down together to eat the same foods at the same time. Conversation isn't fractured by plates whizzing around the table or by one person trying to cajole a bite from someone who prefers not to share.

Once I became a restaurant critic, I hardly ever got to eat that way. Because I needed to taste as many dishes as possible on one visit, I always had everyone at the table order something different — so I could have a taste. Helpful guests would insist on cutting me a bite or two before I could intervene. Deconstructed like that, nothing tastes the same.

There was no getting around it: In order to taste the dishes as the chef intended, we had to pass the plates. That behavior used to be a dead giveaway in restaurants, especially hushed high-end establishments. A waiter would inevitably rush over to "help" us trade plates mid-air and rush back with appropriate silverware.

But now that kind of sharing doesn't stick out at all, because practically every restaurant enthusiast indulges in what has become known as the "foodie pass."

Tasting 15 or 27 dishes in a single meal, each of which may have several components, is unnatural. I realize there are some tasting menus that long, but in that case the dishes have been orchestrated to make sense together. Otherwise, at the end of the night you can end up feeling as if you've been turned upside down like a cocktail shaker.

There are other reasons for simpler ordering too. I remember going to dinner with Barolo producer Angelo Gaja somewhere far out in the country in Piedmont. We were a big table, maybe eight or 10. The owner came out and talked about the wild mushrooms he had, the possibility of truffles, his wife's agnolotti.

Of course, we all wanted to order something different and to try everything. Gaja intervened, very sensibly I thought, to say that in order not to tax the kitchen, we should double up and order some of the same things. These country places don't have a brigade of cooks in the kitchen. He didn't want the restaurant to be thrown into a panic when an order for 10 different dishes to be served at the same time came in.

We've grown up thinking restaurants should be able to prepare myriad dishes on a moment's notice. Chefs are finally realizing that their food will show better if the menu is shorter. Which brings us to the tasting menu.

Alice Waters' Chez Panisse has kept the same formula for years. Downstairs in the restaurant, the four-course menu is prix fixe, without choices, and it changes every day. The waiter may hand you a menu so you can see what you're going to be eating, but there are no decisions to be made other than choosing a wine. You can just sit back and converse, savoring each dish as it comes.

If you go out to dinner in Paris and it's an important restaurant, the host will often choose the menu for the table. I learned this long ago when two other critics and I met Paris food writer Patricia Wells for dinner at the three-star L'Ambroisie.

We sat down in the beautiful room, took up the menus and started to negotiate who would get what. She quickly shot that idea down. She'd already discussed the menu with the chef, and we'd all have the same dishes. Just four? How could we write about the restaurant?

But as we unfurled our napkins and took that first sip of Chablis, we forgot all about that professional tic of trying as many things as possible and settled in to enjoy each of his dishes — together. No flying plates. No surreptitiously keeping track of who had grabbed more of the foie gras.

What a relief. What a pleasure.

irene.virbila@latimes.com

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The game plan for Thanksgiving dinner

So, are you getting ready for the big meal? For some of us, planning the Thanksgiving dinner is an exciting "Iron Chef"-like challenge; for others, it's perhaps more of an exercise in masochism. Whether you're hosting your first Thanksgiving or your 50th, this is one meal that can best be tackled successfully with a little planning and some tips.

For starters, figure out a head count. Then try to delegate as many dishes as you can. Having the guests bring some of the food gets them involved, allowing them to share in the meal. And it lessens the burden on you.

Decide if you're going to be eating on fine china or are comfortable with disposable ware (this will save a lot of cleaning time later), so you can determine what may need to be washed, rented or bought. Start this as soon as possible so you can get a game plan going.

Finally, plan a schedule for how you'll tackle the cooking itself. Familiarize yourself with your recipes. Keep in mind things like oven space and refrigerator room. Budget some wiggle room and allow time for errors, because something will always come up or go differently than planned (even for the pros).

And try to plan for as much advance preparation as possible so you can still find time to be with your guests.

Here's a sample Thanksgiving meal schedule, covering a few of the ritual dishes. Use this guide as you plan your own meal. Finally, remember to have fun.

Sunday, Nov. 24:

Buy the turkey. Thaw if frozen; save the neck and gizzards for gravy.

Monday, Nov. 25:

Make the cranberry sauce.

Do as much prep work as possible: candy nuts for salads, toast nuts and other ingredients for stuffing and sides.

Make the pie dough (it can be formed and refrigerated or frozen at this point).

Tuesday, Nov. 26:

Start setting the table. Get this over with now so you can focus on the recipes later.

Buy any snacks — cheeses, olives, sliced meats — that don't need preparations. Stock the drinks.

Start gathering and prepping whatever ingredients will hold: Prepare vegetables and aromatics for the gravy, and measure out flour and cream; roast vegetables for salad, chop vegetables and toast bread for stuffing, measure out ingredients for pie fillings.

Do last-minute shopping for fresh fruits and vegetables. You don't want to be out at the store on Wednesday, since it will be crazed.

Wednesday, Nov. 27:

Remove turkey from the bag in the evening to chill uncovered overnight.

Assemble the stuffing until it needs only to finish baking, then cover and refrigerate it. Do not stuff it into the turkey until just before roasting.

Prepare and cook any vegetables that can be made ahead (such as steaming potatoes for mashed potatoes; they can easily be reheated and mashed later).

Assemble pie fillings and bake the pies.

Thursday, Nov. 28:

Morning: Assemble appetizers and stock up on ice. Chill the beverages.

Mid-morning: Stuff and roast the turkey.

Early afternoon: When the turkey is done, finish the gravy. Rest the turkey at least 45 minutes after it comes out, tented with foil, before carving. Finish the vegetables and the stuffing.

During dinner: Get a pot of coffee going; chill the beater and bowl so heavy cream is ready to whip for dessert.

Enjoy your dinner with your guests. You did it!

noelle.carter@latimes.com

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A taste for Champagne, other sparkling wines at fall party

In the backyard under the tangerine tree, somebody's sabering the tops off bottles of Champagne with a chef's knife as a crowd of partygoers and the two family dogs watch raptly. It's the kind of thing that happens when Jill Bernheimer, owner of Los Angeles wine shop Domaine LA, invites dozens of friends over and fills two tables with 48 bottles of 10 different sparkling wines: Champagnes, Crémants de Bourgogne, maybe a Prosecco and a Petillant Naturel or two.

Bernheimer's tasting of Champagnes and other bubbles has become a fall tradition at her Larchmont Village home. This time of year, she increases her store's selection of sparkling wines, including Cavas, Lambruscos and Crémants, to about 90. (They take up nearly 20% of the shop.) She's big on grower Champagnes, produced by estates that own the vineyards and that emphasize terroir over a "house style."

And so on a couple of tables set up on the patio were buckets of ice holding some of Bernheimer's favorites. She pointed out the nonvintage Domaine Belluard "Ayse" Brut Vin de Savoie, a Crémant de Bourgogne (sparkling wine from Burgundy) that sells for $24. "The magical $30 bottle of Champagne doesn't exist that's better than a grower Crémant."

Someone who tried the 2012 La Grange Tiphaine "Rosa, Rose, Rosam" Petillant Naturel, a single-fermentation natural sparkler, noted that it smelled like pot — "but not in a bad way."

In the kitchen, Jesse Furman of Free Range LA topped latkes with fresh whipped lemon cream, salmon eggs and chives. "Jill and I talked about the menu and what we'd like to eat with Champagne," Furman said. "We like fried and also salty with bubbles." So on the menu went chicken wings, sweet-and-salty nuts and roasted potatoes too.

Someone popped his head through the door and asked, "Are these potatoes cooked in heroin?" "Nah," Furman responded, "that's parsley butter."

Bernheimer opened a cupboard to reveal her Pyrex collection and gathered more flutes. An independent film producer who experienced a life-changing bottle of Morgon while on her honeymoon in Paris in 2003, she was compelled eventually to launch an online wine store in 2007, an extension of a blog she had started. At the time, "it was basically a wine club for friends and family with monthly selections."

But by 2009, she had set up shop in a Melrose Avenue strip mall two doors down from a California Chicken Cafe, focusing mainly on European and domestic smaller-production wines that were accessible and affordable. The sparkling wines have become something of a specialty.

"I think people might overlook bubbles as wine that goes with food," Bernheimer said. Among the Crémants, the M. Plouzeau Touraine Perles Fines Crémant de Loire rosé had a subtle spiciness that made it "a great match to lots of holiday foods — pumpkin and ginger," for example.

If you're throwing your own sparkling wine tasting, "try to think about different categories of wine, what goes with food, or geeky options for the curious who are interested in exploring different regions and grapes," such as the Gringet, a nearly extinct variety used in the Domaine Belluard Crémant. Also, alternative bubbles such as Lambrusco or even cider.

Or maybe even something like the 2004 Movia Puro rosé, an undisgorged bubbly from eccentric Slovenian winemaker Ales Kristancic. There's sediment left in the bottle, so it has to be removed upon opening. Bernheimer's colleague Whitney Adams held the bottle upside down in a bowl of water and released the cork, along with the sediment and a spew of frothy wine; it looked like a Champagne jacuzzi.

"This probably isn't for everyone," Bernheimer said. "It's like advanced sabering."

A crowd, including wine shop regulars and Bernheimer's entertainment industry friends, entered the dining room, where pastry chef Hourie Sahakian had set out an apple crumble and TV scriptwriter Henry Alonso Myers had contributed a yellow layer cake with sea salt caramel butter cream that he'd made in baking class that day.

A guest standing next to a photograph by Seattle artist Chris Jordan that hangs above a cabinet for wine storage raised her flute and said, "I can't think of anything better than cake and Champagne."

betty.hallock@latimes.com

Domaine LA will host a tasting of grower Champagnes at the store from 2 to 5 p.m. Dec. 8. The tasting will feature eight to 10 wines from producers such as Cedric Bouchard and Val Vilaine, with food from Free Range LA. The cost is $25 per person. 6801 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 932-0280.

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USC School of Education set to offer more teacher training to alumni

By Jason Song

November 15, 2013

USC's school of education administrators announced Thursday that it will offer its nearly 25,000 alumni additional support, potentially including classroom visits.

Rossier School of Education officials said they believe students are well prepared to be effective teachers when they graduate, but that they felt an obligation to offer more training.

Teacher credentialing programs have come under scrutiny by elected officials, including U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan. In a speech in 2009, he criticized colleges and universities for doing a mediocre job of preparing educators.

Graduates of USC's counseling, K-12 leadership, student services, marriage and family therapy, and education doctorate programs will also be eligible to use the services.

"We will be there to help them if they need us," said Karen Symms Gallagher, the school's dean.

USC officials have already set up a hotline and email address for graduates and assembled a rapid response team of nine full-time faculty who can assess teachers' strengths and weaknesses. Faculty members may also visit teachers in their classrooms, if requested, and offer coaching.

The school would not bill graduates for additional support but may refer teachers to a third party that may charge them.

Gallagher also said USC staff members have consulted with local districts and that any training the program offers would not interfere with existing professional development.

"We would not want to duplicate something that the teacher needs but is already ongoing," she said.

jason.song@latimes.com

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