New Iran agreement includes secret side deal, Tehran official says

WASHINGTON – Key elements of a new nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers are contained in an informal, 30-page text not yet publicly acknowledged by Western officials, Iran's chief negotiator said Monday.

Abbas Araqchi disclosed the existence of the document in a Persian-language interview with the semiofficial Iranian Students News Agency.

The new agreement, announced over the weekend, sets out a timetable for how Iran and the six nations, led by the United States, will implement a deal reached in November that is aimed at restraining Iran's nuclear ambitions.

When officials from Iran and the world powers announced that they had completed the implementing agreement, they didn't release the text of the deal, nor did they acknowledge the existence of an informal addendum.

In the interview, Araqchi referred to the side agreement using the English word "nonpaper," a diplomatic term used for an informal side agreement that doesn't have to be disclosed publicly.

The nonpaper deals with such important details as the operation of a joint commission to oversee how the deal is implemented and Iran's right to continue nuclear research and development during the next several months, he said.

Araqchi described the joint commission as an influential body that will have authority to decide disputes. U.S. officials have described it as a discussion forum rather than a venue for arbitrating major disputes.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Monday that the text of the implementing agreement would be released to lawmakers. He said the six parties were weighing how much of the text they could release publicly.

Asked late Monday about the existence of the informal nonpaper, White House officials referred the question to the State Department. A State Department comment wasn't immediately available.

[Updated 8:45 p.m. Jan. 13: A State Department spokeswoman, Marie Harf, denied later Monday that there was any secret agreement.

"Any documentation associated with implementation tracks completely with what we've described," she said. "These are technical plans submitted to the International Atomic Energy Agency," the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency. 

"We will make information available to Congress and the public as it becomes available," Harf said.]

Ray Takeyh, an Iran specialist at the Council on Foreign Relations, said Iran and the other six countries may have written the nonpaper to record understandings that they didn't want to release publicly. The governments may plan to release "just a short text, with broad principles and broad strokes," Takeyh said.

The Nov. 24 deal between Iran and the six powers – the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany -- aims to freeze Iran's nuclear progress for six months. During that period, the two sides will try to negotiate a longer-term deal aimed at ensuring that Tehran's nuclear program remains peaceful. The agreement has come under fire in Iran and the United States from critics who contend it is harmful to their side.

In his interview, Araqchi touched on the sensitive issue of how much latitude Iran will have to continue its nuclear research and development.

U.S. officials said Sunday that Iran would be allowed to continue existing research and development projects and with pencil-and-paper design work, but not to advance research with new projects. Araqchi, however, implied that the program would have wide latitude.

"No facility will be closed; enrichment will continue, and qualitative and nuclear research will be expanded," he said. "All research into a new generation of centrifuges will continue."

The research and development issue has been an important one for many U.S. lawmakers, who fear that Iran will try to forge ahead with its nuclear program while the negotiations are underway. At an administration briefing for senators Monday, members of both parties raised concerns about the centrifuge research issue, aides said.

President Obama on Monday again hailed the implementing agreement and appealed to Congress not to impose new sanctions on Iran, for fear of driving the country from the bargaining table.

"My preference is for peace and diplomacy, and this is one of the reasons why I've sent the message to Congress that now is not the time for us to impose new sanctions; now is the time for us to allow the diplomats and technical experts to do their work," Obama said. "What we want to do is give diplomacy a chance and give peace a chance."

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Twitter: @richtpau

paul.richter@latimes.com

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Alex Rodriguez's case steals more of baseball's heart and soul

Baseball was drained of its charm and innocence long ago, when it went from being a kids' game to the multibillion-dollar enterprise we know as Baseball Inc.

Now the sad spectacle involving Alex Rodriguez and his former drug dealer, Tony Bosch, is robbing the sport of what remains of its heart and soul.

Actually "sport" may no longer be the right word, since it implies there is a winner and a loser. Clearly there are no winners in a process that involves liars, drug cheats, death threats, clandestine payments, blood drawn in the bathroom stall of a South Florida nightclub and more shady characters than an episode of "The Sopranos."

For Travis Tygart, who is often left peering at the dark underside of sport as head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), none of this is new or unusual.

"That's what we live with day in and day out," Tygart said. "These are down and dirty, nasty people who are trying to defraud the world. And it's an ugly business.

"It's having to confront drug dealers who are doing everything possible to defeat the system, ultimately for money."

Fortune and fame are at the center of the latest sordid soap opera. Rodriguez, a three-time American League most valuable player and the highest-paid player in baseball history, had both. Bosch, the brash son of a doctor, had plenty of money but wanted more. He ran a South Florida-based rejuvenation clinic called Biogenesis, and he liked to pal around with well-known athletes.

Biogenesis' connection to Major League Baseball was revealed when a disgruntled former employee leaked clinic documents to the Miami New Times newspaper, showing that the company had done business with players who had previously been suspended for using performance-enhancing drugs.

Bosch at first sided with Rodriguez, and claimed he knew nothing about PEDs. Bosch's stance changed when MLB sued him, alleging he and his partners had solicited the business of players seeking banned performance-enhancing substances.

With Bosch's cooperation, MLB built a case against Rodriguez and 13 other players who all received suspensions in August. Twelve players were banned for 50 games. All-Star outfielder Ryan Braun was suspended for 65 games and the 2013 postseason. And then there was Rodriguez, who was banned through the 2014 season, a total of more than 200 games, because, baseball said, he had not only cheated but also tried to impede its investigation.

Rodriguez, who has maintained his innocence, appealed and was allowed to finish out the 2013 season.

Fast-forward to Saturday, when an arbitrator shortened the suspension to 162 games — the 2014 regular season — but otherwise upheld MLB's ruling.

The next day, Bosch appeared on the CBS show "60 Minutes," saying Rodriguez paid him $12,000 per month for an array of banned substances, including testosterone and human growth hormone. He also shared detailed text message exchanges that he said showed him advising Rodriguez on PED use.

Bosch said associates of Rodriguez had tried to keep him quiet by offering to move him to Colombia. When he refused, his girlfriend received a threat on his life in a text message, Bosch said. Rodriguez's attorney denied the allegations.

If Bosch's "60 Minutes" interview was meant to bring clarity to baseball's latest steroid scandal, it instead simply shined a brighter light on what has already been an embarrassing, drawn-out legal process.

On Monday, Rodriguez again challenged his suspension, suing his employers and baseball's players' association, in Manhattan District Court. Then, hours later, CBS showed more of its interview with Bosch.

"Some people might hate me. Some people might love me," Bosch told interviewer Scott Pelley. "They might be confused. But at least they're going to listen, they're going to listen to what I have to say."

Apparently, muscles weren't the only thing to become grotesquely inflated during this sad saga; egos have swelled as well. But as much as Rodriguez and Bosch try to make this about them, what's really at stake is the integrity of a game that is enjoying record attendance and revenue.

Although some have questioned the simplicity of the doping regime Bosch described in his interviews, others such as Tygart say much of it rang true, proving the scofflaws are becoming more and more sophisticated in evading defection. So the drug detectives, like those at USADA, are constantly having to evolve as well, often using information from people such as Bosch to refine their methods.

"It's a constant battle. Because well-resourced athletes will go to great lengths to defraud their competitors, their teams and the public in order to reach celebrity, multibillion-dollar status," Tygart said. "So we on the ground, who are here protecting clean athletes and the integrity of sport, have to take advantage of those insiders and gain as much experience and information as we can to stay ahead and ensure that they don't get away with it.

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More than 2.1 million sign up for Obamacare health coverage

WASHINGTON — More than 2.1 million Americans signed up for health insurance in the last three months of 2013 through new online marketplaces created by President Obama's healthcare law as a December surge in enrollment helped the initiative recover from its disastrous launch.

But the enrollment numbers — released in a government report Monday — lagged behind the Obama administration's target of 3.3 million sign-ups by the end of December.

With nearly 500,000 enrollees through Dec. 28, California, which runs its own health insurance marketplace, continues to top all other states by a wide margin.

The national data also suggest that the marketplaces are still far more popular among older consumers, a trend that threatens to push up premiums unless more young, healthy Americans sign up for insurance.

A third of the new enrollees in October, November and December were between ages 55 and 64, according to the report from the federal Department of Health and Human Services. By contrast, only about a quarter were between ages 18 and 34 — well below the 40% goal that administration officials set. In California, the mix of enrollees by age was similar to the nationwide tally.

Insurance industry officials have been closely watching the mix of customers. Last week, insurance giant Humana announced that fewer young people than expected were signing up for its marketplace plans.

However, Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans, the industry's Washington-based lobbying arm, cautioned that it is premature to draw conclusions about the mix since the enrollment period lasts until the end of March.

"It is important to look at the enrollment picture over the whole six-month period," Zirkelbach said.

Obama administration officials expressed optimism Monday that the mix of customers will change.

"We think more and more young people will sign up," said Gary Cohen, who is overseeing the new marketplaces at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

That prediction seems realistic to Larry Levitt, senior vice president at the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation, who studies insurance markets.

"I would expect enrollment to surge in second half, particularly in March," he said.

The state-based marketplaces — a centerpiece of the Affordable Care Act — were created so Americans who do not get coverage at work could select among plans that offer at least a basic set of benefits and cannot turn away sick people.

The marketplaces opened Oct. 1. Americans who make less than four times the federal poverty level — or about $94,000 for a family of four — qualify for government subsidies to offset the cost of their premiums.

To date, nearly 80% of new enrollees have qualified for financial assistance, according to the report.

Coverage started Jan. 1 for people who selected plans before Christmas. But Americans have until the end of March to choose a plan before they risk having to pay a fine for not having coverage.

Obama administration officials had hoped to get about 7 million people to sign up for plans in 2014, the first year of coverage under the law.

It remains unclear if that number is within reach. Problems with the federally run marketplaces in 36 states and the HealthCare.gov Web portal made it nearly impossible to shop for plans in these states in October and November.

The problems appear to have been largely fixed by December. More than 1 million people signed up for plans in December through federally run marketplaces, seven times the number in October and November.

There were fewer problems in the 14 states including California that operate their own insurance marketplaces.

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Mexican vigilantes occupy another city in Michoacan

MEXICO CITY — Tensions continued to rise over the weekend in the Mexican state of Michoacan, where vigilante "self-help" groups reportedly rode into the latest of a string of cities that they have occupied in recent days — part of their effort to wrest control of a region known as the Tierra Caliente from the vicious Knights Templar drug cartel.

The incursion Sunday occurred amid a series of roadblocks, shootouts and attacks on government and private property that have prompted a Michoacan congressman, Silvano Aureoles, to call on the federal government to seize control of the situation or face a potential "civil war" in the region.

Dozens of pickup trucks carrying armed vigilante members rolled into Nueva Italia, a city of about 32,000 people, according to media reports. There were some unconfirmed reports of minor skirmishes, presumably with drug cartel members or their supporters.

Nueva Italia is about a half-hour drive east of the city of Apatzingan, a key Knights Templar stronghold. With more than 90,000 residents, Apatzingan is also the largest city in the Tierra Caliente, or hot land, an important agricultural region about six hours' drive west of Mexico City.

The vigilantes rose up in the region a few months ago, angered by cartel members' widespread abuse of residents, including extortion, killing and the rape of young women. But the narrative of the vigilantes as heroes is complicated by concerns that some of them may be fronts for rival drug gangs. Some residents of the area also hold the Knights Templar in high regard, even going so far as to worship their founder as a kind of modern-day saint.

With the incursion into Nueva Italia, along with a number of smaller communities last week, the vigilantes now control much of the area surrounding Apatzingan and may be preparing for a major assault there.

Some trouble has already reached the city. On Friday, as the presence of the vigilante groups continued to build in the towns just outside the city's borders, groups of armed, masked men of unknown allegiance looted and set fire to a number of convenience stores in Apatzingan and also set ablaze its main municipal building, according to media reports and Michoacan officials. The mayor of Apatzingan told the newspaper Reforma that 35% of the building was damaged after being attacked with homemade bombs.

The paper reported a tense calm in Apatzingan on Saturday, with many stores closed. For much of the last week, residents in and around the city have blocked major thoroughfares, sometimes with burning cars, which has shut much of the area off from the wider world. Bus routes have been canceled, and gas trucks are apparently refusing to go to Apatzingan to refill tanks at service stations.

"The people are very worried, there's already a gas shortage … as well as a number of basic products because there's no way in, there's nothing, everything's blocked off," the mayor, Uriel Chavez Mendoza, told Reforma.

Mexican military and federal police have been deployed to the area, and cleared a number of roadblocks this weekend. A number of news outlets reported that the vigilantes' incursion into Nueva Italia occurred under the noses of federal troops, who did little more than observe. In some cases, the vigilantes have been operating with the de facto approval of federal authorities, sometimes manning checkpoints alongside federal security forces.

"The federal government, in coordination with the local [government], needs to take charge of the security in the conflict zones of Michoacan," said Aureoles, the congressman, in a prepared statement reported Sunday by the federal legislature's official news service.

richard.fausset@latimes.com

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Airline safety performance continues to soar

Grouse all you want about shrinking airline seats and annoying fees for onboard food, drinks and entertainment, but the industry's safety record is looking up.

The world's airlines had one of their safest years on record in 2013. There were 29 airline accidents last year, which, combined, resulted in a record-low 265 fatalities, according to the Aviation Safety Network, a private research group in the Netherlands. That's out of about 31 million commercial flights worldwide.

The world's airlines had a pretty safe year in 2012 as well, with 475 fatalities from 23 airline accidents, including passenger and cargo flights, the research group said.

The last two years represented a dramatic drop from the 10-year average of 720 fatalities a year.

The deadliest accident in 2013 took place in Kazan, Russia, on Nov. 17 when a Tatarstan Airlines Boeing 737 crashed on approach, killing 50 people.

Closer to home, an Asiana Airlines plane crashed at San Francisco International Airport on July 6, killing three people. It was carrying more than 300 passengers and crew members.

Harro Ranter, president of the research group, attributes the improved safety record to the efforts of international aviation groups to impose safety guidelines on airlines around the world.

If you still harbor a fear of flying, you might be comforted to hear about Qantas, the Australian airline that recently was rated as the world's safest by AirlineRatings.com. The airline hasn't had a fatal accident since 1951.

"Safety is our No. 1 priority, and our teams work around the clock to ensure the safety of our passengers and our crew," a Qantas spokesperson said.

AirlineRatings.com gave its lowest safety ratings to Kam Air in Afghanistan, SCAT Airlines in Kazakhstan and Blue Wing Airlines in Suriname, a tiny country in South America.

TSA finds 20% more firearms at airports in 2013

Have gun — won't travel.

Last year, Transportation Security Administration officers uncovered 1,828 firearms at airports nationwide, a 20% increase from 2012, according to a study by Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.

The tally represents the fifth year in a row that the number of guns confiscated by the TSA has increased.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport — the world's busiest airport — had the greatest number of uncovered guns, 110, according to the study. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport came in second with 98 guns, and George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston came in third with 76.

A vast majority of the confiscated guns — 84% — were loaded when TSA officials found them, the study said.

Americans vent about notion of cellphone calls on planes

The Federal Communications Commission has yet to formally open a public comment period on a plan to lift a ban on cellphone calls on commercial planes.

But that hasn't stopped Americans from venting to the FCC about the idea. Based on a sample of the nearly 400 comments submitted since mid-December, the public is staunchly opposed.

The 30-day comment period is expected to begin once the FCC publishes the proposed rule in the Federal Register. In the meantime, FCC officials said they would accept the comments already added at http://www.fcc.gov/rulemaking/13-157.

Many of the comments are tinged with anger, with opponents saying cellphone calls on planes would incite "air rage."

"You want to see blood in the aisles, just go ahead and allow cellphone voice communications on aircraft," one comment said.

Another person wrote: "There are many dumb ideas and then there is this."

hugo.martin@latimes.com

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Venus Williams loses in first round of Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Australia — Just as she was starting to show glimpses of returning to form, Venus Williams was let down by her serve and her concentration at crucial times and lost, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, to Ekaterina Makarova on the first day of the Australian Open.

Makarova, seeded 22nd, upset Serena Williams in the fourth round here in 2012, but was comprehensively outplayed in the first set against the elder of the Williams sisters Monday, dropping serve three times.

Williams had chances in the second set too, missing a break-point opportunity to go up 4-2, and then serving three consecutive double-faults after leading the ninth game 40-30 to surrender a crucial break.

The 33-year-old Williams, the second-oldest player in the tournament and seven-time Grand Slam singles champion, took some time out after the second set to change her zebra-striped dress and came back strongly, taking a 3-0 lead. But Makarova rallied again and Williams' error count rose — she had 21 of her 56 unforced errors in the deciding set.

She has struggled with injuries and illness in recent seasons but reached the final of the WTA event at Auckland, New Zealand, to open the year and said after arriving at Melbourne Park that she was feeling better than she had in years.

"The last 12 months I have had issues," Williams said, "but this year I definitely am looking forward to having a good run and feeling well."

That didn't happen Monday.

"My level was a little bit too up and down. Obviously, my error count was a little high," Williams said. "I have to give her a lot of credit, though; she was very determined, played hard."

It was only the second time in 14 appearances that Williams lost in the first round at the Australian Open, in which her best run remains a loss to her sister in the 2003 final.

"It was a really tough match to play someone like Venus in the first round; she is such a great player," Makarova said. "At 3-0 down [in the final set], I decided I had to fight for every point. I just kept fighting and I turned around the match."

Makarova will meet another American in the second round after qualifier Irina Falconi beat Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain, 6-3, 6-1.

Two-time finalist Li Na defeated Ana Konjuh of Croatia — the youngest player in the tournament — 6-2, 6-0 in 61 minutes in the first round to set up a meeting with another 16-year-old in the next after Belinda Bencic of Switzerland knocked out 43-year-old Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm in three sets. Date-Krumm was 27 years older than Bencic, the reigning French Open and Wimbledon junior champion.

Li, who lost finals to Victoria Azarenka last year and Kim Clijsters in 2011, has advanced to at least the fourth round every year since 2010.

"This is my favorite Grand Slam," Li said. "Always looking forward to come back to Melbourne."

Eighth-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka was the first man through to the second round, advancing after just 15 games when Andrey Golubev retired with an injured left leg.

Wawrinka, who lost, 12-10, in the fifth set to eventual champion Novak Djokovic in the fourth round here last year in the longest Grand Slam match of 2013, was leading 6-4, 6-1 when his Kazakh rival quit after 65 minutes.

Wawrinka won the Chennai Open in India to start 2014 and is one of the big threats on the bottom half of the draw that includes three-time defending champion Djokovic and No. 3 David Ferrer.

Other men advancing included No. 14 Mikhail Youzhny, No. 32 Ivan Dodig, who beat fellow Croatian Ivo Karlovic, 7-6 (8), 6-3, 7-6 (4), and American Sam Querrey, who defeated Santiago Giraldo of Colombia, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (3).

"To win this match, in a tiebreak in the fourth set, gives me a ton of confidence," said Querrey, who had 47 winners and 24 aces.

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Funeral of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon set for Monday

Gilad Sharon, son of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, visits the grave of his mother, Lily. Ariel Sharon died Jan. 11. (Uriel Sinai / Getty Images / January 11, 2014)

By Batsheva Sobelman

January 11, 2014, 6:32 p.m.

JERUSALEM -- The official state ceremony in memory of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will be held Monday at the parliament building in Jerusalem, officials announced.

Services for Sharon, who died Saturday at 85 after being incapacitated for years by a stroke, are expected to draw dignitaries from around the world and thousands of admirers in Israel.

All meetings scheduled for Knesset committees Sunday and Monday have been canceled, according to arrangements announced after the Ministerial Committee for Symbols and Ceremonies convened Saturday to discuss plans for the ceremony and funeral, along with officials from the army, police, Foreign Ministry and Sharon family representatives.

Sharon's coffin will arrive at the Knesset on Sunday and special shuttles will be made available to members of the public wishing to pay their respects, officials said.

After the memorial ceremony Monday, the military funeral procession will leave Jerusalem for Latroun, where Sharon was injured in battle in 1948. The top army command will convene there for a special commemorative session at the battleground site, which now houses a military museum and memorial.

Sharon will be laid to rest on a hilltop at Sycamore Ranch, his family sheep-farm and home in southern Israel. Despite a reserved plot in Jerusalem's Mt. Herzl national cemetery dedicated to the nation's leaders, Sharon wanted to be buried on the farm beside his second wife, Lily.

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U.S. military secretly sent small team of advisors to Somalia

Death of former Israeli leader Ariel Sharon met with tears and cheers

Sobelman is a special correspondent.

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Lynwood public school alumni return to give advice about college

When Alma Renteria attended Lynwood High School, one of her best friends was a gifted soccer player and math student. "I thought he'd be an engineer," she said.

But her friend was taking too few classes to fulfill requirements and barely graduated. Then he entered community college and quickly dropped out.

"He had a lot of potential, but he just didn't know what to expect," said Renteria, who graduated from Lynwood in 2008 and is now a member of the school district's board.

To help students look toward continuing their educations, district officials including Renteria put on an annual alumni fair. At this year's event, held Saturday, about 50 former pupils who attended colleges such as Cal State Fullerton, Williams College and UC Berkeley dispensed advice to roughly 700 college hopefuls.

As reported in a recent Times survey of high schools, college admission officers tend to skip schools in poorer areas with heavy minority populations. In Lynwood, where nearly 94% of students are Latino, there is plenty of demand for guidance.

"That's why we have to do things like this ourselves, so our students can get the exposure they need," Renteria said.

Many of the students who attended the event were seniors who had already submitted college applications. Students said that although Lynwood High has six college counselors, the application process was difficult to negotiate, especially if their own parents had not attended college.

Senior Orlando Hernandez said he could afford to apply to only two California State University campuses; each application costs $55.

Hernandez wants to study computer science and wasn't sure which campuses would be the best fit. He checked out online message boards and websites before settling on Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State Northridge.

"It was stressful," he said.

Other students were curious about what life was like on campus. Elsie Carrillo, who graduated from Firebaugh High School in 2010 and attends Cal State Fullerton, found herself peppered with questions.

"What about the freshman 15?" someone asked.

"It's up to you," Carrillo replied. "You have to say, 'Am I going to eat pizza and hot wings all week and fill myself up with Coke?'"

Carrillo told the students they would have to learn how to adjust to different cultures. "At first, when I saw all of these Caucasians and Asian Americans I was like, 'Whoa, I'm not used to these groups,'" she said. "But you will learn from them, and they will learn from you."

Carrillo also gave out academic tips — "always sit in the first two rows so you can hear," she said — and urged students to take advantage of office hours and build relationships with professors. "They're not scary," she said.

Parents said the workshops gave them a better understanding of financial aid. "It's so helpful to have it all put out in front of you," said Leticia Santillan, who was carrying a stack of brochures.

Santillan's daughter, a freshman at Lynwood, hopes to attend USC and become a dermatologist. Santillan said that although she had attended Los Angeles City College and could offer some advice to her child, her daughter wanted to get input from others.

"Children never want to hear it from their parents," she said.

jason.song@latimes.com

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Chris Christie bridge scandal looks to many like Jersey as usual

HADDONFIELD, N.J. — A four-day traffic hell that trapped cars headed to one of the nation's busiest bridges, supposedly engineered by gleeful political operatives as payback: Deeply stupid, for sure. Unbelievably vindictive and petty. And, in its way, so quintessentially New Jersey.

The George Washington Bridge scandal that has engulfed Gov. Chris Christie, bizarre as it is, also somehow stands as an example of the state's hardball political traditions.

In the Garden State, political bosses have never gone out of style, corruption cases pile up more victims than the Sopranos, and elbow-to-the-face tactics are shrugged off by voters — as much a part of Jersey culture as boardwalk custard and stainless-steel diners.

The state has an outsized history of sleaze and outright public thievery. Frank Hague, boss of Hudson County for three decades, had a desk with a specially designed drawer that could be pushed out toward a visitor, the better to receive a discreetly dropped envelope full of cash. There were a lot of envelopes: When he retired, he was said to be worth $10 million.

Other ethically challenged New Jersey politicians have become enshrined in popular culture: cable TV's popular "Boardwalk Empire" features a bloodier version of Atlantic City boss Enoch "Nucky" Johnson, and the new movie "American Hustle" is based on the Abscam sting that took down a U.S senator from New Jersey, the mayor of Camden and six congressmen.

"If you look at the big-city mayors of the state, it's usually the express lane to the penitentiary," said Republican political consultant Steve Schmidt, who suggested that the bridge scandal fell somewhere near the state's norms. "As stupid as this is, it's not necessarily going to make someone familiar with New Jersey politics fall out of their chair."

And the cases keep coming, as colorful as ever. Even as Christie was at the gold-domed State House on Thursday, blaming the Fort Lee mess on his aides, the mayor of Trenton was going on trial down the street at the federal courthouse as a result of an FBI bribery sting.

Mayor Tony Mack is accused of working with Joseph "JoJo" Giorgianni, a rotund sandwich shop owner and convicted sex offender, to take bribes from an informant to smooth the way for a parking garage project that never really existed. Giorgianni referred to himself as "St. Joseph," prosecutors told jurors, as in: "St. Joseph always provides."

By New Jersey standards, the Trenton case is pretty ho-hum; the FBI here has been using that same crooked-businessman ploy to bring down mayors and other officials for decades. In 2009, a money-laundering and corruption investigation ensnared 44 people, including several mayors, as well as a rabbi who pleaded guilty to running an illegal operation to sell kidneys to people needing transplants.

"I guess that's evidence of the culture," said Brigid Callahan Harrison, a professor at Montclair State University who has studied New Jersey political corruption. "When politicians are approached with this, they don't automatically think, 'sting operation.' They think, 'business as usual.'"

The bridge mess, which emails from Christie aides suggest was political retaliation, perhaps for the Fort Lee mayor's failure to endorse Christie's reelection, "underscores the already held perception of seediness and thuggery in New Jersey — and particularly New Jersey politicians," she said.

Christie, a Republican, came into office in 2009, vowing to wipe out that low-rent reputation. When he served as United States attorney in New Jersey, Christie made a reputation as a corruption buster, prosecuting 130 corruption cases involving both Republicans and Democrats; on his office website, he says he never lost one.

Since taking office, Christie has reveled in a tough-guy political style. "I am who I am," he said Thursday. "But I am not a bully."

Yet former Gov. Thomas Kean, a Republican who met Christie when he was a 14-year-old volunteer on Kean's campaign, said the incident would play into Christie's reputation as a man with an "enemies list." (The duo's relationship has itself fallen to a Jerseyesque move: Christie angered Kean recently when he teamed up with Democrats to try to unseat Kean's son as minority leader in the state Senate. The attempt failed.)

"Nobody around Christie is going to say no to him," Kean said.

Kean called the epic traffic jam baffling, particularly since the New Jersey governor's office, considered the most powerful in the country, offers any number of more artful opportunities to take revenge. The governor has sweeping powers over ostensibly independent agencies (such as the one that runs the bridges), the power to appoint nearly all statewide officials, including judges and the attorney general, and a line-item veto.

"You can fool around with the projects of every mayor in the state, if that's what you want to do," Kean said. "If I wanted to do something like that, that's the way I would do it. There's no fingerprints."

There are other things that make New Jersey unusual: This smallish state has 565 municipalities and 590 school districts, each one an opportunity to award contracts and jobs to political insiders. A patronage tradition is still alive and kicking; Christie, like governors before him, stuffed the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey with dozens of supporters, including an old high-school classmate on the receiving end of the now-infamous email: "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

And the state still has influential unelected power brokers such as South Jersey Democrat George Norcross, who has formed an alliance with Christie on some issues.

"Normally one party is a check on the other party," said Republican political consultant Roger Stone, a veteran of New Jersey campaigns. "In New Jersey, they get together and figure out a way they all can benefit."

Some say New Jersey's reputation as a haven for scandal is overblown. One study found that measured by convictions per capita, the state ranked as only the seventh-most corrupt in the U.S. And a 2012 study by Washington good-government groups found that New Jersey, judged by its strong ethics codes and public records laws, actually ranked as the least corrupt and most transparent state in the nation — at least on paper. Some here may have found that amusing, but not Ben Dworkin, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University.

Convinced the state gets a bad rap, he says he has to work every year to persuade his students that New Jersey government is more than just a punch line.

"New Jersey politics is a full-contact sport," Dworkin said. "That doesn't mean it's corrupt. It just means people are aggressive."

Bob Ingle, a political columnist for Gannett newspapers in Trenton, said he noticed the difference right away when he moved from Sacramento. "There's an aggression in the culture here," he said. "There's also a higher tolerance for people involved in corrupt activities in public life."

When Ingle co-wrote a history of New Jersey corruption called "The Soprano State," he said his challenge was that many real-life stories were almost too weird to be true.

"The publisher made me go back in and put in: 'We're not making this stuff up,'" said Ingle. "There is just something about New Jersey that's hard to put your finger on. You just see some incredible things."

joseph.tanfani@latimes.com

e not making this stuff up,'" said Ingle. "There is just something about New Jersey that's hard to put your finger on. You just see some incredible things."

joseph.tanfani@latimes.com

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Health officials warn flu is striking early this season

It may be no surprise to snifflers stuck in doctor's office waiting rooms: The 2013-2014 influenza season appears to be picking up steam earlier than most flu seasons.

On Friday, state and Los Angeles County health officials reported "sharp increases" in influenza activity, including illnesses and deaths.

"The number of confirmed fatalities is rising rapidly and exceeds what is expected this time of year," said state epidemiologist Dr. Gil Chavez, of the California Department of Public Health in Sacramento.

The new data emerged amid concerns that this year's flu — predominated by the H1N1 "swine flu" strain estimated to have killed hundreds of thousands of people around the world in 2009 and 2010 — was striking young, healthy Californians particularly hard.

In a phone call with reporters, Chavez confirmed seven deaths from influenza since September, adding that his agency is investigating another 28 recent deaths identified by county health departments. They could be added to the list of fatalities in as soon as a week, he said.

In Los Angeles County, Department of Public Health epidemiologists on Friday reported 575 confirmed flu cases so far this season, 222 of which were documented in the week from Dec. 29 through Jan. 4.

Six people are believed to have died from influenza in the county. The Department of Public Health reported that all were adults, but did not provide victims' ages.

In some Los Angeles-area hospitals, doctors said they had noticed a spike in patients showing up with flu symptoms such as sneezing, coughing, extreme fatigue and fever.

Emergency department attending physician Dr. Greg Moran, of Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar, said Thursday that his hospital's ER had been "getting hammered" by crowds of patients, some seriously ill.

Dr. Rekha Murthy, hospital epidemiologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said that she too had noted an uptick in flu cases, with numbers rising from less than 10 confirmed cases per week through most of December to more than 30 per week in the first week of January.

But some area physicians said the influx hadn't yet become overwhelming.

"We haven't really gotten hit yet," said Dr. Mark Dechter, of Healthcare Partners in West Hills, where the waiting room was mostly empty on Friday.

He said the most common ailment he was seeing in patients these days was a stomach bug that causes severe vomiting and diarrhea.

Dechter said he was concerned, however, by the reports of severe illnesses in younger, otherwise robust people.

Usually, the flu is most deadly among very young children or the elderly, or in people with underlying medical problems or compromised immunity.

But H1N1 impacts young, healthy adults more severely than most forms of the flu, Chavez said Friday.

Chavez did not provide ages of the seven people confirmed by the state to have died from the flu, but several counties in the Bay Area have reported deaths in previously healthy patients younger than 50.

Riverside County's first influenza-related death of the season, also confirmed Friday, was a 30-year-old man from the Coachella Valley who tested positive for swine flu.

One positive this year, Chavez said, is that the current influenza vaccine is a "100% match with the strains circulating," including H1N1, and that there "is plenty of vaccine available."

Of the state's seven confirmed deaths, two were known to have occurred in people who had not received a flu vaccine. The state said it did not know whether the other five patients had been immunized.

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