Clippers Coach Doc Rivers gives staffers some excellent coaching too

Doc Rivers spent the morning before his first Game 7 with the Clippers meeting with marketing, finance and ticketing instead of guards, forwards and centers.

The coach addressed offensive statements rather than offensive execution.

He spoke in a conference room as opposed to a practice court.

For about an hour Friday, a decisive game in a first-round playoff series against the Golden State Warriors was nudged aside in favor of a more formidable adversary.

Derogatory statements about blacks attributed to team owner Donald Sterling continued to seep into every corner of the franchise, three days after NBA Commissioner Adam Silver had banned Sterling for life and instructed other owners to oust the 80-year-old from the league.

Staffers who worked out of the Clippers' Staples Center offices had seen Rivers and his players express outrage over their owner's remarks. But who spoke for them? And did anyone care that they had been the ones primarily handling the public backlash, fielding calls and emails from irate fans who branded them sellouts, racists and Uncle Toms, not to mention a slew of unprintable descriptors?

"Employees felt like they did not have a voice," said Raymond Ortegaso, the team's director of human resources, "and were being attached to the comments that were being made by Sterling."

A statement issued by team President Andy Roeser on Saturday in defense of Sterling only seemed to exacerbate the situation.

"A lot of people in the company did not feel comfortable with that," said Maurice Baker, a group event specialist. "I wasn't happy with it."

Rivers learned of a touchy staff meeting held Thursday, the same day the Clippers lost Game 6 in Oakland. After landing at Los Angeles International Airport about 1:30 a.m. Friday and watching film of the game until around 4, Rivers asked Ortegaso if he could address the employees a few hours later.

And so at 10 a.m., after making the drive from his office in Playa Vista to downtown L.A., Rivers stood before a group of about 70 staffers inside Staples Center and delivered a simple but meaningful message: hang in there.

"Ticket people, marketing people, they're sitting there crying, and I felt so bad for them," Rivers said. "I was thinking, my gosh, we've been in this thing and as coaches you forget that these are the people that are on the front line and they work for the organization too and you just felt so bad for them."

Baker said a few community groups had backed out of their relationships with the Clippers as a result of Sterling's comments, with some remaining estranged even after the owner was removed from day-to-day operations of the franchise.

Staffers also had to contend with the widely held perception that they fully supported the views of their owner.

"It was hard because you read things," Baker said of Sterling's remarks, "and people kind of automatically attribute it to you because you work for the Clippers."

Cippers players weren't the only team employees who contemplated a boycott. Some staffers considered not coming in to work Monday because they did not know how to respond to the anticipated public outrage.

"That's hard to deal with," Baker said, "when you don't have all the answers or any answers."

Rivers made them feel like they were starting to figure it out even at a time when he has questioned his own future with the franchise. When the naturally gifted orator had last stood before staffers, in the summer after taking the Clippers job, he told them that winning an NBA title required having a championship organization as well as a championship team.

Now those same employees told Rivers they felt like the organization essentially had to start over.

"I told them, 'Yeah, you're right, you do,'" Rivers said. "There's no quick solution to this. There's no banner that 'Everybody will be good.' So we've got to redo it and I told them that. I told them I want to be there for them as much as I can, but it's hard."

Rivers helped make it easier by drawing from the playbook of great leaders, showing up and saying he cared. After the last employee question was posed and Rivers answered, the group broke into applause.

"It meant a lot to have Doc come down here and say, 'I'm sorry you guys are hurting,'" said broadcast manager Jessica Bojorquez.

Said Baker: "It made me feel a lot better knowing someone of his stature cared about us."

Rivers also cared about beating the Warriors, though film study suddenly didn't seem as important as a lesson in sociology.

"You're sitting there and you're thinking, you know, before Game 7 I should be sitting in the office," Rivers said. "But what I did [Friday] for me was far more important than this stuff because they need it, they really do. Like, they need it even more than our players right now. They need somebody."

Thanks to Rivers, they have their man.

ben.bolch@latimes.com

Twitter: @latbbolch

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dodgers' Yasiel Puig gets a pass for now among South Florida's Cubans

MIAMI -- The tale of Yasiel Puig's death-defying escape from Cuba has proved so captivating, Hollywood has already bought the movie rights.

But there's at least one part his story that hasn't been fully told. Before he defected and signed with the Dodgers, Puig allegedly acted as an informant for the Cuban government, accusing at least three people of offering to help him defect and providing testimony that landed all three in prison, according to court documents filed here in South Florida and in Cuba.

"That is among the worst things that you can be among the Cubans, is to be an informer," said Pedro Roig, a senior consultant with the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami. "If, at the end, he is found guilty … then it's a new ballgame for him."

For the time being, though, Puig is being judged by rules that say any athlete brave enough, smart enough and talented enough to flee Cuba will be welcomed as a hero by South Florida's large and passionate exile community.

Puig, who makes his off-season home in Miami, was greeted warmly Friday in his second trip to Marlins Park as a Dodger. Playing before a crowd that included his mother and other relatives, he went one for three with a run batted in, a walk and two stolen bases in a 6-3 loss to the Marlins.

But that welcome could cool considerably if allegations from a Florida lawsuit are proved. Miguel Angel Corbacho Daudinot, who was sentenced to seven years in a Cuban jail on human trafficking charges, has accused Puig and Puig's mother, Maritza Valdes Gonzalez, of helping put him in prison, where he says he was tortured. Corbacho's attorneys are hoping the case will go to trial this winter.

Until then, talk-show hostess Ninoska Perez, one of the most popular and strident anti-Castro voices in South Florida, suspects Puig is getting a pass because of his celebrity.

"It's like [he's] a holy person," she said. "I don't know if people don't believe it or it's because he's a baseball player.

"This is Miami. People know what it's like to have this happen to them or their family."

South Florida has proved it hasn't softened its stance about Fidel Castro's Cuba. Two seasons ago, a public outcry led the Marlins to suspend Manager Ozzie Guillen simply for saying he admired the Cuban dictator. Six months later, Guillen was fired.

With Puig, the public appears willing to reserve judgment.

"People are waiting to see how it comes out," said Jorge Ebro, sports editor of the Spanish-language daily El Nuevo Herald.

The strongest allegation against Puig comes in an affidavit from Yunior Despaigne, a former boxer who accompanied Puig on his successful 2012 escape from Cuba, and in documents obtained from the communist island's domestic spy agency.

In a affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in the Corbacho case, Despaigne said Puig, who was sanctioned by the government for attempting to defect, admitted he accused people of human trafficking in an effort to have his penalty overturned.

In the Cuban documents, a young man purported to be Puig is shown pointing at a photograph of a man identified as Corbacho. An accompanying two-page declaration, on letterhead of Cuba's interior ministry, is signed by Puig.

Sean Santini, Puig's lawyer in the Florida case, declined comment, as did a representative for Adam Katz, the player's agent.

Puig has spoken of his defection and the accompanying court case only tangentially.

"When all that stuff came out, I really didn't worry about it," Puig, speaking in Spanish, said Friday. "It didn't really bother me on the field."

That appears to be true: since the LA Magazine story that detailed Puig's escape came out, he has raised his batting average 73 points, to .310.

Puig also appears far more relaxed this season. Off the field, he said he has grown accustomed to both the perks and the pressures of the major leagues, all of which were new to him last summer. On the field, he said he has benefited from extra work with hitting coaches Mark McGwire and John Valentin.

"I've been working every day, practicing every day," he said. "I've been working on inside pitches, outside pitches, breaking pitches — all kinds of pitches.

"We're facing other teams that have good starters, good relievers. And they all have different types of pitches, that's why I have to keep working every day."

And for the time being, at least, even the people in Miami appear more interested in talking about that then what Puig may — or may not — have done in Cuba.

"We don't have many heroes," said Ebro, himself a defector from Cuba. "And we need heroes."

kevin.baxter@latimes.com

Twitter: @kbaxter11

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Kings and Ducks take rivalry to higher level

They needed a way to combat and perhaps neutralize the Grim Reaper.

The earliest days of the Kings-Ducks rivalry were not about good hockey teams. It was about the Kings sinking fast after reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 1993 and missing the playoffs the next season; about the expansion Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, hatched in the 1993-94 season, exceeding modest expectations, playing hard and fighting hard.

Stu Grimson, now a broadcaster with Nashville and known as the "Grim Reaper" in his NHL days, remembered how the Kings responded to the physical presence of Anaheim.

"L.A. didn't have an answer for that," Grimson said Friday from Nashville. "I remember them saying that they went out and got Matt Johnson because we didn't have a response for guys like Todd Ewen and Stu Grimson.

"Right out of the gate, I had my hands full with this man-child."

He chuckled at the memory of Johnson, who would accumulate 1,523 penalty minutes in parts of 10 NHL seasons for three teams. Grimson played 231 games with Anaheim and later 72 more with the Kings, and happens to be one of 27 NHL skaters and goalies who have played for both teams.

The first playoff meeting between the Kings and Ducks — starting Saturday with Game 1 in Anaheim — will transform the rivalry from lower-case to upper-case letters.

Until now, there have been flickers, a few brief firestorms and some memorable fights between the teams since Anaheim entered the league. But nothing like the back-and-forth, intense playoff dislike that can only exist and develop in a best-of-seven game series.

Surely, Kings Coach Darryl Sutter will say something biting, sarcastic and certainly memorable. Or will Ducks Coach Bruce Boudreau get there first?

It says that the best retort involving the Kings and Ducks still belongs to a broadcaster. In 2006, the Kings' Sean Avery let loose with an unprompted, obscenity-laced blast at Brian Hayward, the Ducks' color commentator and former NHL goaltender, according to The Times story detailing the incident at Staples Center.

Players and team officials prevented the matter from escalating beyond verbal sparring. Avery ripped Hayward's playing ability.

"How would you know? You were in the third year of eighth grade then," Hayward replied.

Avery also seemed to be on a one-man mission to try to insult the Ducks' players that same season. He told a Canadian TV sports network he hated forward Andy McDonald and earlier ripped Chris Kunitz.

McDonald told The Times: "I didn't know Sean thought so highly of me."

Kunitz: "One guy was doing some talking and another guy was doing some contributing."

Others have tried to get a Kings-Ducks rivalry sparked in far less obnoxious ways. In 2005, new Ducks owner Henry Samueli said he wanted fans to come watch the best hockey in Southern California and "that's going to be here."

Jeremy Roenick, then of the Kings, later tried to jump-start things by saying the Kings were going to kick the Ducks' butts — but using more creative imagery.

He told Times columnist Bill Plaschke that he was hyping the proceedings, saying: "To create excitement about hockey, you have to spark a rivalry, you have to get people excited. I was trying to do that."

For the record, the first regular-season meeting between the Kings and Ducks was Dec. 2, 1993, and the Kings won, 3-2, at the Forum led by Jari Kurri's two goals in the third period.

"You guys would have been very tough if we had lost," then-Kings coach Barry Melrose said to reporters afterward. "Well, I wouldn't have been a bowl of cherries, either."

Said then-Ducks general manager Jack Ferreira: "This is our 27th game. This is their 27th year." Ferreira now is the special assistant to Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi.

Now, 20 years after that first regular-season meeting at the Forum, comes the hockey playoff Freeway Series that fans have been anticipating since the birth of the Ducks.

"To Southern California hockey, I think it's a tremendous boon," Boudreau said. "I go to the rinks almost every night because my son still plays every night, and everywhere I go, people are talking about us versus the Kings … and people around here know that during the regular season, the games can get fairly intense, so I gotta believe that will be magnified in the playoffs."

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

Twitter: @reallisa

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Government investigates 55 colleges over handling of sex assault cases

Aiming to reduce sexual assault on campus, the federal government Thursday disclosed that 55 colleges and universities, including four in California, are under investigation for possibly violating the law in their handling of sexual violence and harassment complaints.

The unprecedented naming of campuses — which included both public and private institutions in 27 states and the District of Columbia — is meant to increase public awareness of civil rights and the federal government's enforcement work, said Catherine E. Lhamon, the Department of Education's assistant secretary for civil rights.

But she added that colleges and universities on the list "in no way indicates at this stage that the college or university is violating or has violated the law."

The California campuses under investigation are Occidental College, UC Berkeley, USC and the Butte-Glenn Community College District. Other schools include Princeton University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University Law School, the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan, Arizona State University and Swarthmore College.

Activists who have been fighting for such disclosures hailed the action.

"It's a huge deal," said Caroline Heldman, chair of Occidental College's politics department who helped file complaints against the campus. "It will inspire more survivor activists to file complaints when they see schools of every stripe in every part of the country have this problem."

Most of the 55 investigations were sparked by complaints filed by student activists. However, 10 were compliance reviews initiated by the federal government based on statistics, news reports and information from parents and advocates, according to Dorie Nolt, a Department of Education spokeswoman.

Officials are investigating whether the campuses violated Title IX, a portion of a 1972 law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in all education programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance. The law requires campuses to address sexual misconduct allegations. Schools can lose federal funding over Title IX violations, although none ever have.

Title IX prohibits any behavior that creates an inequitable learning environment, including verbal sexual harassment and sexting as well as violent physical crimes, such as sexual battery, assault and rape.

The Obama administration has cracked down on campus sexual assault with greater enforcement and high-profile guidance to schools on their legal obligations around the issue. Earlier this week, a White House task force released a blueprint for strengthening federal enforcement actions and providing additional tools to combat the problem, including a new website and funding for research on promising prevention programs.

One in five women are sexually assaulted on college campuses, according to the White House. That figure was drawn from a 2007 study of two universities in the South and Midwest, which found that 19% of 5,446 undergraduate respondents said they experienced an attempted or completed sexual assault in college. A University of California survey released in March found that 6% of undergraduate respondents reported experiencing unwanted sexual conduct, including forced fondling and rape.

UC Berkeley was targeted last year by student activists, who filed a complaint alleging that the university had violated the federal Clery Act, which requires schools to report rape and other campus crimes. In February, 31 current and former Berkeley students filed additional complaints after saying the federal government had failed to respond to their initial action.

Berkeley spokeswoman Janet Gilmore said the university would not tolerate sexual assault and would fully cooperate with the federal investigation. "Sexual assault on college campuses is a critical issue.... Much has been done to strengthen the campus' handling of these issues, but we understand that there is always room for improvement," she said in an email.

The university is currently working on 42 Title IX cases, including 11 involving such issues as unwanted date requests and unwelcome hugs and nine involving sexual violence.

More than a dozen students filed complaints against USC last year, charging "gross mishandling" of sexual assault and rape cases. Previously, Occidental College was targeted with complaints.

teresa.watanabe@latimes.com

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Government investigates 55 colleges over handling of sex assault cases

Aiming to reduce sexual assault on campus, the federal government Thursday disclosed that 55 colleges and universities, including four in California, are under investigation for possibly violating the law in their handling of sexual violence and harassment complaints.

The unprecedented naming of campuses — which included both public and private institutions in 27 states and the District of Columbia — is meant to increase public awareness of civil rights and the federal government's enforcement work, said Catherine E. Lhamon, the Department of Education's assistant secretary for civil rights.

But she added that colleges and universities on the list "in no way indicates at this stage that the college or university is violating or has violated the law."

The California campuses under investigation are Occidental College, UC Berkeley, USC and the Butte-Glenn Community College District. Other schools include Princeton University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University Law School, the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan, Arizona State University and Swarthmore College.

Activists who have been fighting for such disclosures hailed the action.

"It's a huge deal," said Caroline Heldman, chair of Occidental College's politics department who helped file complaints against the campus. "It will inspire more survivor activists to file complaints when they see schools of every stripe in every part of the country have this problem."

Most of the 55 investigations were sparked by complaints filed by student activists. However, 10 were compliance reviews initiated by the federal government based on statistics, news reports and information from parents and advocates, according to Dorie Nolt, a Department of Education spokeswoman.

Officials are investigating whether the campuses violated Title IX, a portion of a 1972 law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in all education programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance. The law requires campuses to address sexual misconduct allegations. Schools can lose federal funding over Title IX violations, although none ever have.

Title IX prohibits any behavior that creates an inequitable learning environment, including verbal sexual harassment and sexting as well as violent physical crimes, such as sexual battery, assault and rape.

The Obama administration has cracked down on campus sexual assault with greater enforcement and high-profile guidance to schools on their legal obligations around the issue. Earlier this week, a White House task force released a blueprint for strengthening federal enforcement actions and providing additional tools to combat the problem, including a new website and funding for research on promising prevention programs.

One in five women are sexually assaulted on college campuses, according to the White House. That figure was drawn from a 2007 study of two universities in the South and Midwest, which found that 19% of 5,446 undergraduate respondents said they experienced an attempted or completed sexual assault in college. A University of California survey released in March found that 6% of undergraduate respondents reported experiencing unwanted sexual conduct, including forced fondling and rape.

UC Berkeley was targeted last year by student activists, who filed a complaint alleging that the university had violated the federal Clery Act, which requires schools to report rape and other campus crimes. In February, 31 current and former Berkeley students filed additional complaints after saying the federal government had failed to respond to their initial action.

Berkeley spokeswoman Janet Gilmore said the university would not tolerate sexual assault and would fully cooperate with the federal investigation. "Sexual assault on college campuses is a critical issue.... Much has been done to strengthen the campus' handling of these issues, but we understand that there is always room for improvement," she said in an email.

The university is currently working on 42 Title IX cases, including 11 involving such issues as unwanted date requests and unwelcome hugs and nine involving sexual violence.

More than a dozen students filed complaints against USC last year, charging "gross mishandling" of sexual assault and rape cases. Previously, Occidental College was targeted with complaints.

teresa.watanabe@latimes.com

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Viacom to pay $760 million for British TV outlet

Cable television giant Viacom Inc. is spending nearly $760 million to buy Britain's popular Channel 5 Broadcasting service.

The acquisition, announced Thursday, catapults the New York media company into a rare league. It would become owner of a public broadcasting service in Britain, which is one of the world's most vibrant hubs for developing television programming.

"This was a unique opportunity to grow our content business," Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman said in an interview. Britain "is a big center of creativity, and this will give us more to play with. The possibilities are endless."

Channel 5 had been on the auction block for several months, and a few other U.S. media companies circled it. The over-the-air channel is owned by British media baron Richard Desmond. His Northern & Shell Media Group bought the channel nearly four years ago for about $150 million, so his firm more than quadrupled its investment.

The deal is subject to regulatory approvals.

For Viacom — which owns such U.S. cable channels as MTV, VH1, BET and Comedy Central — buying a popular broadcast outlet would dramatically increase the company's profile in an important region.

Viacom, which entered Britain in 1987 to launch an MTV channel, would gain more programming to sell overseas and introduce to MTV and other networks it owns. It also would become an important buyer in a market that has churned out some of the most successful reality television formats in the last 15 years, including "Dancing With the Stars" and "Big Brother," the latter of which Channel 5 airs.

In addition, Channel 5 has a popular children's programming service called Milkshake.

Viacom can export some of its popular Nickelodeon characters, including "SpongeBob SquarePants," "Wallykazam," "Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles" and "Dora the Explorer," and perhaps, run some of the Channel 5 children's characters, which include Peppa Pig, on the Nickelodeon channels in the U.S.

"This looks to be a good deal for both parties. Richard Desmond gets a great return on investment," said Chris Beer, a professor at Warwick Business School in Britain. "Viacom on the other hand gets access to a large audience, a larger platform for their content, with the inevitable benefits from economy of scale."

Channel 5 reaches more than 40 million viewers a month, running such programs as "The Gadget Show," "Ice Road Truckers," "Under the Dome" and the "CSI" franchise.

Viacom, which is controlled by mogul Sumner Redstone, also reported earnings Thursday that beat analyst expectations, despite a soft quarter at its Los Angeles movie studio, Paramount Pictures.

Viacom said higher advertising sales and increased fees charged for its cable channels contributed to its 4% profit gain for the period.

For the quarter that ended March 31, Viacom earned $502 million, or $1.13 a share, up from $481 million, or 96 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time gains, Viacom's earnings from continuing operations came in at $1.08 a share. Revenue inched up 1% to $3.17 billion.

Viacom beat Wall Street's expectations, although some analysts had been expecting slightly higher domestic ad sales.

"We see an improved market as we go forward," Dauman assured analysts on a Thursday morning conference call.

Analysts queried by Thomson Reuters had been expecting earnings of $1.05 a share and revenue of $3.2 billion.

On Thursday, Viacom shares closed down $1.45 at $83.50.

Viacom's crucial television division generated $2.37 billion in revenue, a 6% increase from $2.23 billion a year earlier. Operating income was up 9% to $949 million from $873 million.

Ratings were higher at Nickelodeon with new shows "Wallykazam" and "Breadwinners," though domestic ad sales growth of 2% missed analysts' estimate of 3% growth.

But Paramount Pictures stumbled. Paramount's theatrical revenue was down 17% as the studio's slate did not fare well internationally. The Melrose Avenue studio was helped by carryover ticket sales from the December release of "The Wolf of Wall Street," which grossed $116 million domestically and nearly $390 worldwide, but that wasn't enough to make up for a more meager box office overall.

Paramount's overall revenue declined 12% to $831 million from $941 million in the same period last year. Its operating income plummeted 83% to just $11 million for the quarter.

meg.james@latimes.com

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Spurs, Raptors take lead in playoff series

Tony Parker had 23 points hours after the birth of his first child and the San Antonio Spurs never trailed in a 109-103 victory over the visiting Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night, taking a 3-2 lead in their first-round series.

Manu Ginobili had 19 points and Tiago Splitter added 17 points and 12 rebounds as San Antonio regained home-court advantage in the tense series against their intrastate rival. Tim Duncan added 16 points and 12 rebounds and Kawhi Leonard had 15 points for the Spurs.

Vince Carter scored 28 points, making numerous heavily contested shots in going 10 for 16 from the field for Dallas.

After averaging 16 points in the series' first four games, Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki found the stroke in scoring 26 points. Nowitzki was 10-for-20 shooting, but it wasn't enough to overcome Parker and the Spurs returning to form.

at Toronto 115, Brooklyn 113: Kyle Lowry scored a career playoff-high 36 points, including the go-ahead three-pointer after Toronto had blown a 26-point lead, and the Raptors took a 3-2 lead in their first-round series.

DeMar DeRozan had 23 points, Jonas Valanciunas scored 16 and Greivis Vasquez added 15 for the Raptors, who would advance to face Miami in the second round with a victory in Game 6 on Friday in Brooklyn.

Game 7, if necessary, would be Sunday in Toronto. Joe Johnson scored 30 points and Mirza Teletovic had 17 for the Nets, who scored 44 points in the fourth quarter in charging back from an 83-57 deficit.

at Houston 108, Portland 98: Dwight Howard had 22 points and 14 rebounds, and Jeremy Lin came off the bench to score 21 and help the Rockets beat the Trail Blazers to avoid elimination. The Trail Blazers lead the first-round series, 3-2, entering Game 6 on Friday in Portland.

A basket by Damian Lillard got the Trail Blazers to within two points before James Harden stepped back and swished a 3-pointer to make it 103-98 with about three minutes left. Harden's shot was the start of a 12-0 Houston run to close it out. He finished with 17 points and seven assists.

Houston finally slowed down LaMarcus Aldridge, limiting him to eight points, after he averaged 35.3 points in the first four games. Wesley Matthews led the Blazers with 27 points and Lillard added 26.

12.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Judge rejects lawsuit against L.A. police union media consultant

For a second time, Hollywood executive turned banking executive Brian C. Mulligan has failed to persuade a judge that he was unfairly attacked by the Los Angeles police union.

A federal judge this week threw out a lawsuit Mulligan brought against Eric Rose, a media consultant for the L.A. Police Protective League, which represents rank-and-file officers in the Los Angeles Police Department. In January, the former Deutsche Bank executive had a similar suit against police union officials tossed out as well.

"I am pleased and agree with both rulings," Rose said in a statement.

The cases both centered on a secret audio recording a police officer in Glendale made of Mulligan in 2012. Mulligan admitted on the recording to using a potent type of bath salts, a synthetic drug that can cause paranoia.

Days later, Mulligan was badly injured during a confrontation with Los Angeles police officers, who said they were attempting to take him into custody. The officers said they had found Mulligan acting suspiciously in an Eagle Rock neighborhood and then later saw him "screaming and dragging a metal trash can in the street" and trying to get into other people's cars, police reports show.

When Mulligan ran from the officers, according to the LAPD's official account of the incident, they gave chase, then Mulligan snarled and pretended to scratch at the officers as if he believed his hands were claws. The officers say Mulligan then charged at them.

After the incident, Mulligan's attorney at the time gave an different account of his arrest. The officers, the attorney said, had kidnapped Mulligan, forced him to go to a motel and then beat him in a brutal, unprovoked attack when he tried to flee.

He also denied the officers' claim that Mulligan had admitted using bath salts and marijuana, and he accused the officers of lying in their arrest report to cover up the alleged abuse.

In response, the union issued a statement that portrayed Mulligan as a drug-abusing liar and accused him of trying to "shake down" the police department. The statement included a link to a website where the union had uploaded the audio recording.

Mulligan sued the league and its president, Tyler Izen, saying union officials had conspired to "publicly vilify" him and pressure him to drop his demands for millions of dollars in damages for the arrest.

U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner rebuffed that idea, ruling that Mulligan had failed to show that the release of the tape by the union had violated his rights or was otherwise illegal.

Mulligan made the same basic allegations against Rose in a separate suit. This week, Judge Stephen V. Wilson dismissed those proceedings, ruling that Rose's role had been considered in the first case and that Mulligan was not entitled to go after him a second time.

"The judge's ruling does not reflect on the merits of the case. We look forward to our day in court," said Dan Miller, one of Mulligan's current attorneys. Mulligan's legal team is appealing both rulings, Miller added.

In another proceeding, a jury in January found the officers who arrested Mulligan had not used excessive force. That decision is being appealed as well.

joel.rubin@latimes.com
Twitter: @joelrubin

12.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Kings march on with historic win over San Jose Sharks in Game 7

SAN JOSE — Anze Kopitar scored the tiebreaking goal late in the second period and Jonathan Quick made 39 saves to cap the Los Angeles Kings' historic comeback from three games down with a 5-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks in Game 7 of their first-round series Wednesday night.

Drew Doughty, Tyler Toffoli, Dustin Brown and Tanner Pearson also scored for the Kings, who became the fourth NHL team to win a best-of-seven series after losing the first three games.

The Kings joined Toronto (1942), the New York Islanders (1975) and Philadelphia (2010) as the only teams to complete that comeback and now will get another California showdown in the second-round with the first Freeway Playoff against the Anaheim Ducks.

Matt Irwin scored the lone goal and Antti Niemi made 25 saves for the Sharks, who added perhaps their most bitter playoff disappointment to a history of them. San Jose has the second most regular-season wins in the NHL the past 10 seasons but has never made it past the conference finals.

The way the Sharks started this series by outscoring the Kings 17-8 to win the first three games, it looked as if this could finally be their year.

But Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and the rest of their stars went mostly missing the final four games, the power play could not convert on its final 15 chances and the defense made too many lapses, leading to their second straight Game 7 loss to their California rivals.

The Sharks took their first lead since Game 3 in the opening minute of the second when Irwin's point shot beat Quick through a screen to provide a jolt to the crowd that only got bigger when San Jose drew a penalty less than a minute later.

But a hooking call on Tommy Wingels negated that power play and Logan Couture then got called for an elbowing penalty, giving Los Angeles a two-man advantage for 6 seconds. Before Wingels could get back into the play, Doughty tied it when he beat Niemi from the faceoff circle.

The Sharks had three more power plays in the second period to give them a chance to go back ahead but Los Angeles killed every one of them with Quick robbing Marleau with a glove save on the goal line to thwart San Jose's best chance.

That save was emblematic of a remarkable turnaround this series for Quick, who allowed 16 goals the first three games but held the Sharks to just five over the final four wins.

The Kings responded after the fourth penalty kill when last year's Game 7 hero Justin Williams found Kopitar, who made a nifty move to beat Niemi with a backhand to give him points in all seven games this series.

Toffoli's goal in the opening minutes of the third period off a pretty no-look feed from Pearson gave the Kings insurance and they tightened things up the rest of the way to seal the win.

Brown and Pearson added empty-netters late to seal the win.

12.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Gov. Jerry Brown's fiscal pitch gets warm reception

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown received a warm welcome from lawmakers Monday as he pitched his proposal to pay off debt and save money for future economic downturns.

He faced only one mild question during a rare appearance before a legislative committee, joked about what office he might hold more than a decade from now and played his greatest-hits talking points about stabilizing California's tumultuous finances.

"There's nothing complicated about the idea of saving money," Brown said as he urged Democrats and Republicans to unite behind his proposal. "Voters can understand it."

Brown's testimony before the Assembly Budget Committee, part of a special legislative session he called to focus attention on his proposal, was another sign of his willingness to throw his personal political capital behind the measure.

Judging by his reception, Brown is on safe ground. One Republican, Assemblywoman Diane Harkey of Dana Point, praised the governor's handling of the budget and lamented that he "will only be here for another term," already assuming Brown will win reelection in November.

Committee members repeatedly praised the governor, and toward the end of the hearing Assemblyman Richard Hershel Bloom (D-Santa Monica) added, "I'm not going to rain on this parade."

Under Brown's proposal, spikes in revenue from capital gains taxes would be placed in a reserve fund or used to pay debts and other long-term costs, such as public pensions. California has had a reserve fund since 2004, but it has mostly sat empty. Brown says there should be stronger rules on paying into it.

"If we were angels, we wouldn't need any of these things," he said. "We would just, every day and every year, make very wise judgments. But we haven't proven that to be the case, so we're going to try a little bit of protective restraint."

Brown will need Republican support to push his proposal through the Legislature, because criminal investigations have cost Democrats their supermajority in the Senate. His measure, a constitutional amendment that voters would have to approve, requires a two-thirds vote before it can go on the ballot.

One of Brown's opponents in the governor's race, former U.S. Treasury official Neel Kashkari, has said lawmakers should approve Brown's plan, which the Republican candidate called "a small incremental step in the right direction."

Republican lawmakers have already expressed willingness to back off a competing proposal for a rainy-day fund, which Democrats have criticized as too restrictive on spending. However, the Republicans want more constraints than Brown has proposed to dictate when lawmakers can pull money out of the reserve.

The governor said he was open to compromises, such as raising the vote threshold in the Legislature for withdrawing money and using it to prevent budget cuts during a recession.

There are signs that the Democratic leaders of the Assembly and Senate are divided on some details.

Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) wants to finalize the measure before the Capitol is consumed by annual budget negotiations, which begin in earnest in mid-May, when the governor releases his revised spending plan.

Finishing early, Pérez told reporters, "lays the foundation for the assumptions of the budget."

Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) wants to slow down the debate, expressing concern that it is being rushed.

"A poorly designed constitutional amendment would be difficult to fix," Steinberg said on the Senate floor. "It's therefore paramount in my view that we work purposefully, but we don't rush it."

Steinberg said he wanted to see a greater emphasis on tackling the shortfall in the state's teacher pension fund and restoring money to government services. Advocates for the poor are also urging more funding for healthcare and social services.

Advocates plan to rally Tuesday at the Capitol to call for $5 billion more in spending on such services. They're confounded by Brown's push to save for the future when some cuts made during the recession have yet to be restored.

"We believe in rainy-day funds, but for a lot of people it's still raining," said Anthony Wright, who promotes expanded health coverage at Health Access.

To drive their point home Tuesday, demonstrators plan to carry umbrellas.

chris.megerian@latimes.com

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