State population rises in sign of economic recovery

California's population has grown to 37.8 million, continuing the state's trend of slowing but steady growth — about 1% annually — over the last decade, according to new population estimates released by the state Department of Finance.

The population increased by 256,000 people since July 2011, a growth rate of 0.7%. It's roughly the same growth rate as last year, but some experts pointed to an uptick in the number of people moving in and out of California and between counties as a sign of economic recovery.

"We've been mired in this deep slump, economically and demographically, and we're all looking for signs of revival," said USC demography and urban planning professor Dowell Myers. "During the recession, everyone froze. People didn't move as fast as normal."

In Los Angeles County, more people moved out than into the county in 2011, but at a significantly slower rate than in 2010, the state numbers show.

"Overall, movements are speeding up in both directions, but L.A.'s attraction is winning the war," said Myers, who also noticed an increase in movement in the entire western region, particularly among young adults. "It means the system is unfreezing, it's loosening up....This is the beginning."

Recent estimates by the American Community Survey showed that about 100,000 more Californians left the state than moved here. Most of those who left headed to Texas, Arizona and Oregon.

But state demographers cautioned that the out-of-state migration numbers may appear misleading because immigrants often enter through California before settling in other states.

"People see that so many people are leaving the state, and they think 'oh, it's because California business is bad,' " said Bill Schooling, chief of demographics research for the state Department of Finance. "It's more that California, particularly with counties like L.A., is a huge gateway state."

Los Angeles remains the state's most populous county, with more than 9.9 million residents. More than 26% of the state's entire population lives within the Los Angeles County limits.

Schooling noted that much of the state's population growth was concentrated in coastal counties, where people tend to be younger and more mobile.

Economists also said that job growth has been much stronger along the coast, particularly with growth in foreign trade, technology and tourism.

"The state recovery really started in the Bay Area, spread to Orange County and San Diego, and in the last six months, has spread to L.A. County," said Stephen Levy, director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy. "Slow population growth is consistent with the early phase of recovery."

Births helped maintain the population growth, with 503,000 babies born in California between July 2011 and July 2012. There were 234,000 deaths in the state during the same time, a slight increase from past years, according to the state estimates.

Until the state becomes more stable economically, it is difficult to make long-term population projections, experts said.

"This is a step in the right direction," Myers said. "And we will, we should, have much better news next year."

rosanna.xia@latimes.com

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Pro-Assad Alawites Blamed in Killings of Others in Sect

Scores of Syrian civilians belonging to President Bashar al-Assad’s minority Alawite sect were killed Tuesday in the first known Alawite massacre since the Syrian conflict began. But the killings, in the village of Aqrab, happened under circumstances that remain unclear.

Rights organizations researching the massacre said Wednesday that members of the shabiha, a pro-government Alawite militia, were the killers. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an anti-Assad group based in Britain with a network of contacts inside Syria, said 125 to 150 civilians died.

The accusation, if confirmed, would be a shocking episode of Alawite-on-Alawite violence in a conflict punctuated by violence between sects.

Videotaped testimony said to be from survivors, primarily women and children, has flooded the Internet in the last 24 hours, providing a series of glimpses of an atrocity in a devastated town. The picture they paint is inconclusive, however, and restrictions on foreign reporting inside Syria made verification difficult.

Many of the videos were filmed by members of the Free Syrian Army, the main anti-Assad armed group, in what appears to be a clinic, where survivors were being treated for wounds or lie wrapped in blankets, faces blank with shock. In the videos, they say that members of the shabiha gathered civilians inside a building or compound as the Free Syrian Army approached the village.

Soon, though, survivors said the shabiha turned their weapons on the same civilians they had been professing to defend.

“The shabiha came and told us they wanted to protect us from the rebels, but then they wouldn’t let us go,” said a young man in one video who gave his name as Mohamed Ibrahim al-Judud, and who like others in the videos said he was able to identify the attackers by their first names. “They killed my father, my mother and my brother.”

In another video, a young man who gave his name as Mohamed Fathy Jowwal lay wrapped in a blanket, speaking to a member of the Free Syrian Army.

“They said it was better that we kill ourselves than wait for you to kill us,” he said, looking at the young rebel fighter crouching beside him. “They were from our own group.”

Throughout the videos, members of the Free Syrian Army professed a commitment to religious pluralism and said the survivors of Aqrab were under their protection. Nevertheless, there were moments when flashes of sectarian animosity shone through. In one video, a rebel fighter could be heard saying to an injured young man, “Get well soon, even if you are in the Alawite sect.”

“Man, so what if I was in the Alawite sect?” the injured young man protests, as medics busily gathered around his bare legs. A second rebel, standing nearby, interjected and stroked his face.

“Bashar does not represent the Alawite sect,” the second fighter reassured the victim. “The Syrian people are one.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it believed the massacre victims had died from “gunfire and bombs.” Almost all were members of the Alawite sect.

The observatory also could not confirm the circumstances of their deaths, but said it had identified several similar narratives of the attack. One was that shabiha members had sought cover among civilians in a residential area, using them as shields. Another was that “pro-regime militiamen held Alawite civilians captive.” It also said that explosions had caused many of the deaths.

Syria’s conflict began as an Arab Spring protest movement after four decades of rule by the family of Mr. Assad, and has since transformed into a sectarian conflict. Even so, attacks by Alawite militias on their own civilian populations have so far been unheard-of.

Faiek al-Meer, a longtime antigovernment activist, wrote on Facebook that the Aqrab episode could be seen as a metaphor for the predicament facing the entire Alawite sect. Mr. Assad, he wrote, “will continue to fight to defend his seat and the interests of his clique even if has to use the Alawites as human shields to protect himself.”

Liam Stack reported from New York, and Hania Mourtada from Beirut, Lebanon.

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Tevin Hunte Is 'So Happy' After His Voice Elimination

TV Watch

The Voice

By Jessica Herndon and Julia Haskins

12/12/2012 at 07:45 PM EST

Team Cee Lo's Trevin Hunte was eliminated on Tuesday's episode of The Voice, but the soulful singer isn't letting the end of this journey hold him back.

"I feel like the best person on the planet Earth. I am so happy and excited to be honest," Hunte told PEOPLE after the show. I feel like a weight has been lifted. Being away from family and friends and what you're used to was definitely a hard thing for me."

Hunte is looking forward to his mom's cooking and seeing his friends back home, and he won't waste a second wondering what if he'd made it further.

"I have no regrets. I am glad that I took a leap of faith and auditioned," he said. "I auditioned for American Idol and told my family I didn't have the strength to do it again. But I am definitely happy and excited that I made it this far."

And he still has a long way to go. "I'm only 18," he said. "I'm just really excited."

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Congress examines science behind HGH test for NFL

WASHINGTON (AP) — A congressional committee has opened a hearing to examine the science behind a human growth hormone test the NFL wants to start using on its players.

Nearly two full seasons have passed since the league and the players' union signed a labor deal that set the stage for HGH testing.

The NFL Players Association won't concede the validity of a test that's used by Olympic sports and Major League Baseball, and the sides haven't been able to agree on a scientist to help resolve that impasse.

Among the witnesses before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday is Pro Football Hall of Fame member Dick Butkus. In his prepared statement, Butkus writes: "Now, let's get on with it. The HGH testing process is proven to be reliable."

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$100-million gift to cover costs for 30-plus UCLA medical students

More than 30 incoming medical school students will get a full ride to UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine thanks to a $100-million gift from the school's benefactor.

The donation by Geffen, a philanthropist and entertainment executive, will create a scholarship fund to cover the recipients' entire cost of medical school, including tuition, room and board, books and other expenses.

"It is a fantastic vote of confidence for higher education," said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block. "We're eternally grateful."

The gift, which will be announced Thursday, makes Geffen the largest individual donor to UCLA and to any single UC campus. In 2002, Geffen donated $200 million in unrestricted funds to the medical school. At the time, the campus was renamed in his honor.

Geffen, 69, declined to comment but said in a statement that students shouldn't be discouraged by the expense of medical school.

"The cost of a world-class medical education should not deter our future innovators, doctors and scientists from the path they hope to pursue," he said. "We need the students at this world-class institution to be driven by determination and the desire to do their best work and not by the fear of crushing debt. I hope in doing this that others will be inspired to do the same."

More than 85% of medical school students nationwide graduate with some debt. Among those, the average is $170,000, according to the Assn. of American Medical Colleges. That debt often influences graduates' career choices and has contributed to a shortage of primary care doctors, who often earn less than specialists. That shortage will be exacerbated by the aging of the population and the federal expansion of health coverage to the uninsured.

The UCLA scholarships are "unprecedented," said John Prescott, chief academic officer for the association. "My mouth dropped open when I saw this," he said. "It is going to create quite a legacy for the school."

The medical school's dean, A. Eugene Washington, said that he was thrilled by the donation and that it will free scholarship recipients from the tremendous burden of debt. The four-year tab for medical school students entering next fall could exceed $300,000 in tuition, housing, fees and other costs.

The scholarship will allow the school to free up some of the money it uses for financial aid and will enable students to follow their passions and become leading physicians and researchers without worrying about paying off loans, he said. "It is going to be for a group of the top students who will be freed up to pursue whatever their interests are," he said.

The David Geffen Medical Scholarship Fund will provide scholarships for up to 33 students beginning medical school in 2013. Up to three of the scholarships are available for students pursuing a joint doctorate and medical school degree. The students will be chosen based on merit, not financial need.

Block said the scholarships will help recruit more of the nation's top medical school applicants. Already, more than 7,500 applicants compete for 163 first-year slots at the school.

Emily Dubina, 25, a third-year medical school student at UCLA, received a partial scholarship from Geffen's original contribution. The new scholarships, she said, are an amazing opportunity that will take away a lot of the stress of day-to-day life. The recipients will be able to focus on becoming great physicians rather than on how much money they are spending on their education.

"I so wish they had that when I started," she said. "Life would have been much better."

Geffen began his career as a mail room worker at the William Morris Agency in Manhattan and later earned a fortune in the record and movie industries. He formed DreamWorks SKG in 1994 with Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg. He has also become a well-known benefactor, giving to such organizations as the Motion Picture and Television Fund and to the Geffen Playhouse.

anna.gorman@latimes.com

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In Cairo, Effort to Broaden Support for Charter

Hassan Ammar/Associated Press

Army tanks deployed Tuesday in Cairo during a protest outside the presidential palace against President Mohamed Morsi.

CAIRO — President Mohamed Morsi’s advisers struggled Tuesday to work with a panel of politicians and intellectuals in an effort to work out last-minute proposals that might broaden support for an Islamist-backed draft constitution that is set to go before Egypt’s voters on Saturday, participants said.

Just outside Mr. Morsi’s office, thousands of his opponents staged a seventh night of demonstrations. Many of those against the proposed charter chanted for the downfall of Mr. Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president.

Blocks away, crowds of Islamists denounced the secular opposition’s leaders as murderers for encouraging protests last week that led to deadly clashes with members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The huge crowds of rivals underscored the animosity and distrust that have all but shut down political dialogue here just as Egypt is poised to complete its promised transition to a constitutional democracy.

Khaled al-Qazzaz, a spokesman for the president, said a “national dialogue” committee convened by Mr. Morsi was continuing to meet to try to come up with measures that might bridge the gap between the Islamists and their opponents over the proposed charter.

Mr. Qazzaz said the panel was discussing measures that the president could announce now but that would take effect after the referendum. “If a segment of society has concerns about some articles of the constitution, how are we going to bring them together?” he said, declining to provide more detail.

Separately, Egypt’s defense minister, Gen. Abdul Fattah el-Sisi, issued a formal invitation to Mr. Morsi, the leaders of all political factions and officials from across the institutions of government for what the invitation called “a meeting for humanitarian communication and national coherence in the love of Egypt.”

The invitation raised alarms that General Sisi intended to play a role in the constitutional debate and perhaps have the military resume the explicitly political role it had in managing the transition before Mr. Morsi took over. But a military spokesman later said in a statement that politics and policy were off the agenda.

Mr. Qazzaz called the event a display of unity at a military-run facility and said Mr. Morsi would attend. It is a “social event to show that society is in coherence, that we are one big family,” he said.

Liberals complain that the charter does not do enough to prevent a future Islamist majority from limiting individual freedoms or women’s rights.

But the Islamists’ political strength may only partly account for the expected approval of the draft constitution in Saturday’s scheduled referendum. (Egyptians abroad begin voting on Wednesday.) The charter also promises stability after two years of the country’s chaotic transition.

The secular opposition’s main coalition postponed for a third day on Tuesday a formal announcement of its decision on whether to advocate a boycott of the referendum or to urge Egyptians to vote no. A statement on Sunday had appeared to declare a boycott.

People involved said the coalition was struggling to overcome internal disagreements. “Every hour there is a change,” an aide to one opposition leader said Tuesday evening.

Also on Tuesday, the chief of the largest judicial professional association, Ahmed al-Zend, announced that 90 percent of its members would refuse to monitor the polls. Judicial supervision of elections is required by Egyptian tradition and law, but the judges said they would boycott to protest the charter and Mr. Morsi’s decree, since withdrawn, putting the president above judicial review.

Mr. Zend was a loyalist of former President Hosni Mubarak who is now more or less openly at war with Egypt’s new Islamist leaders. Some doubted that he spoke for all of his members, and advisers to Mr. Morsi insist that they have the cooperation of enough judges.

On Tuesday, Mr. Morsi’s government also put off until next month the signing of a badly needed $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund intended to help prevent an economic collapse. Officials said they wanted more time to discuss the related economic reform package with the public.

“The delay will have some economic impact, but we are discussing necessary measures” to address that until the loan can be finalized, Finance Minister Mumtaz al-Said told Reuters by telephone. “I am optimistic,” he added.

Mayy El Sheikh contributed reporting.

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Hugh Hefner's Engagement Ring to Crystal Harris Revealed

By Mike Fleeman

12/11/2012 at 07:00 PM EST

The wedding's back on – though it may be a good idea to save that gift receipt.

Hugh Hefner, 86, officially confirms that he is once again engaged to Crystal Harris, 26, telling his Twitter followers, "I've given Crystal Harris a ring. I love the girl."

And to prove it, Harris posted photos of the big diamond sparkler, calling it "my beautiful ring."

Neither announced a wedding date, though sources tell PEOPLE they're planning to tie the knot at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles on New Year's Eve.

Whether that still happens remains to be seen.

This is the plan they had in 2011 – a wedding at the mansion – except that Harris called it off just days before the nuptials were scheduled to happen in front of 300 invited guests.

Hugh Hefner and Crystal Harris

David Livingston / Getty

The onetime Playmate of the Month then ripped Hef's bedroom skills, calling him a two-second man, to which Hefner replied, "I missed a bullet" by not marrying her.

A year later, Hefner's "runaway bunny" bounded back to him.

• Reporting by JENNIFER GARCIA

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Preventing a tragedy for seniors at the wheel

When my dad's driving deteriorated, I called the California Department of Motor Vehicles and asked about the procedure for having his license revoked. I could fill out a form, I was told, and my dad would be called in to have his driving ability reevaluated.

I thought about it, but did nothing. My brother said we should remove the carburetor and tell our father the car was kaput, but we never did that either.

If you've been in this situation, you know the dance. My dad insisted he was driving just fine, but the evidence was not on his side. One-way signs became invisible, lane markers faded, speed and distance were wild guesses.

If we took away his keys, as my mother pointed out, we'd be stealing his last bit of independence and making him miserable. If we didn't, and he hurt himself or someone else, we'd be responsible.

My dad eventually got so sick that the driving issue was moot, and when he died in February, he hadn't driven in months. But still, I should have taken charge a couple of years earlier, and I'll always regret being so irresponsible. When loved ones get old, sometimes you have to take action, and judging by my mail lately, no one finds it easy.

"Ten years from now, this is going to be happening in epidemic proportions," said Craig Power, whose 90-year-old father died from injuries suffered in a 2010 car accident in Orange County. The car was driven by his father's 85-year-old girlfriend, who was being treated for dementia.

Power sued the driver's doctor for not reporting her to authorities, but a jury decided the physician had not violated state law. California requires doctors to notify county health officials about disorders "severe enough to impair a person's ability to operate a motor vehicle." The doctor in this case said he had reported other patients, but this particular patient wasn't disabled enough to report.

As the nation ages, this will come up more and more. We're expected to have 57 million drivers 65 and older by 2030, and while texting teenagers or drunk drivers may be more deadly behind the wheel, that's no reason to avoid dealing with a growing convoy of cognitive loss.

Some people have suggested that elderly drivers should be required to take driving tests at age 75 or older — in addition to the written tests and eye exams required after age 70 — rather than have their licenses automatically renewed. Recently, after I wrote about a 72-year-old legally blind doctor who had his license renewed by the DMV, I heard from readers saying they've been shocked to find that their parents' and friends' licenses were renewed into their 90s.

"A friend with early signs of dementia began calling me from her car and asking directions to places well-known to her," said Diane Portillo, of Redondo Beach, who notified her friend's doctor. The license was eventually revoked, but it took a couple of years.

"As a parish nurse and a hospice nurse, I am frequently asked how to stop 'Mom' or 'Dad' from driving," said Kate Reeves of the Idyllwild area. "Yes, the DMV can pull the license, but have you any idea how many folks drive with no driver's license? The only real solution is to remove the car (not just the keys)!"

Dr. Gene Dorio, who makes house calls to elderly folks in Santa Clarita, says he tries to be sensitive but honest in telling patients about the compromises that come with age. He said he's had patients using walkers who think they're going to keep driving forever, and relatives, afraid to disappoint or send their loved ones into deep states of depression haven't told them otherwise.

"People will go out there and end up driving through stop signs or on the wrong side of the road, or just getting lost," Dorio said. "Some of them, their reflexes are too slow. They can't get their foot from the accelerator to the brake fast enough, or they don't hear the sirens coming or the flashing lights."

Dr. Donald Iverson, a Eureka neurologist who has studied cognitive loss and its effect on driving, said it's not always easy to diagnose risk.

"We don't have a cut-and-dried answer as to whether a person with mild dementia is impaired or not," said Iverson, who found that 76% of people with mild dementia were able to pass on-road driving tests.

A person with dementia might be perfectly lucid at times, and one symptom of the disease is an inability to recognize that there's a problem, Iverson said. That's how my dad was, insisting the real danger on the road was all the other drivers.

Iverson said the person in the best position to determine if a driver is impaired is the passenger, whether it's a relative or caretaker. And statistically, he said, when drivers voluntarily reduce the number of miles they drive regularly, or stop driving at night or when it rains, they've entered a phase in which they have a five-fold increase in the risk of crashes.

A good list of warning signs for unsafe driving — does the person drive too fast or too slow, straddle lanes, seem nervous or oblivious — can be found at http://www.la4seniors.com.

No doubt, doctors can do a better job of starting the conversation, and more testing after a certain age could help, too. But when you find yourself in a position to do what's necessary and potentially save lives in the process, I hope you're better at stepping up to that responsibility than I was.

The last couple of years my dad drove, it was luck, and nothing more, that prevented a tragedy.

steve.lopez@latimes.com

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Euro Watch: Bonds in Spain and Italy Shaken by Italian Politics

ROME — Italian stock and bond prices fell on Monday after a weekend of political turmoil in Italy gave rise to fears that the country was headed for renewed instability.

Shares of Italian banks, which are big holders of the government’s bonds, were among the hardest hit.

The action occurred in the first day of trading after Prime Minister Mario Monti said over the weekend that he would soon step down after his predecessor, Silvio Berlusconi, withdrew his party’s support from Mr. Monti and said he would again seek election as prime minister.

Mr. Berlusconi, who was elected prime minister three times, left office a year ago as markets pushed Italy to the brink of financial collapse. Mr. Monti, an economist who was appointed as his temporary successor, has restored Italy’s credibility with investors, who have given the country a break on its borrowing costs. But those gains have come at the cost of painful austerity measures that have worsened the country’s economic situation and given Mr. Berlusconi an opening to attack.

The Milan benchmark index, MIB, fell more than 2 percent on Monday. Italian banks, which remain sensitive to declines in the country’s bond prices, were among the big losers. Intesa Sanpaolo, the most active stock, fell 5.2 percent, as did UniCredit.

Mr. Monti, who joined other leaders in Oslo on Monday to receive the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the European Union, said at a news conference that the market reactions “need not be dramatized.”

“I am confident,” he said, that the Italian elections would result in a government “that will be responsible and oriented toward the E.U. and this will be in line with efforts the Italian government has made so far.”

The decline in bond prices sent their yields, or interest rates, higher — an indicator of the Italian government’s borrowing costs. The spread between interest rates on Italian 10-year sovereign bonds and equivalent German securities, the European benchmark for safety, grew to 3.5 percentage points on Monday. That was up from 3.25 percentage points late Friday, suggesting that investors were growing more wary of holding Italian debt.

The yield on Italian 10-year bonds, which breached 7 percent this year, ended trading on Monday at 4.8 percent, up 29 basis points. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percent.

Bonds of Spain, which is the other big economy of concern in the euro zone, also came under renewed pressure on Monday after Mr. Monti’s announcement.

The spread between Spanish 10-year bonds and equivalent German bonds widened to 4.27 percentage points from 4.16 points on Friday. The yield on the benchmark Spanish 10-year rose 10 basis points, to 5.5 percent; it reached 7.1 percent in July amid concerns that Spain would be forced into a full bailout after having to negotiate a 100 billion euro, or $129 billion, rescue package for its banks in June.

Luis de Guindos, the Spanish economy minister, warned that Italy’s political turmoil would affect his country.

“When doubts emerge over the stability of a neighboring country like Italy, which is also seen as vulnerable, there’s an immediate contagion for us,” he said Monday morning on Spanish national radio.

Asked whether Spain would itself seek further European rescue funding, he instead said, “The help that Spain needs is that the doubts over the future of the euro be removed.”

Speaking before the Nobel ceremony on Monday, the European Commission president, José Manuel Barroso, said Italy must “continue on the road of structural reforms.” The elections, Mr. Barroso said on Sky News, “must not be used to postpone reforms.”

A dismal economic report on Monday served as a reminder that despite Mr. Monti’s success with investors, the real economy continues to suffer. Italian industrial production fell a seasonally adjusted 1.1 percent in October from September, and by 6.2 percent from a year earlier, Istat, the national statistics agency, said.

Some analysts said they thought that Mr. Berlusconi’s re-emergence as a political leader was as responsible for unnerving investors as Mr. Monti’s unexpected decision to resign. Nicholas Spiro, managing director of Spiro Sovereign Strategy, a research firm, wrote on Monday in a note that Mr. Berlusconi remained “the boogeyman of investors,” who “epitomizes the dysfunctional nature of Italian politics.”

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, was to meet on Monday with Mr. Monti on the sidelines of the Nobel ceremony, said Georg Streiter, a spokesman for the chancellor.

Ms. Merkel pushed to have Mr. Monti succeed Mr. Berlusconi. But she ended up facing Mr. Monti’s own ideas for economic change, which focused more on growth and job creation than on the austere fiscal discipline championed by Ms. Merkel.

As a rule, the German government does not comment on its partners’ domestic politics, but Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle warned that an attempt to scale back Italy’s reform push could result in further destabilization in the euro zone.

“Italy cannot remain stagnant on two-thirds of its reform process,” Mr. Westerwelle said through a spokesman. “This would throw not only Italy but the rest of Europe into turbulence.”

Elisabetta Povoledo reported from Rome and David Jolly from Paris. Raphael Minder contributed reporting from Madrid and Melissa Eddy from Berlin.

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Hayden Panettiere Splits with Scotty McKnight

12/10/2012 at 07:50 PM EST

Hayden Panettiere and Scotty McKnight

Splash News Online

Is there a tear in her beer?

Nashville star Hayden Panettiere has broken up with her boyfriend of more than a year, New York Jets wide receiver Scotty McKnight, a source confirms to PEOPLE.

But the split doesn't appear to be the stuff of a sad country song. The actress, 23, is still friends with McKnight, 24, and one source tells TMZ that their pals wouldn't be surprised if they got back together.

This is Panettiere's second go at a relationship with an athlete. Before dating McKnight she was with Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko for about two years.
– Julie Jordan

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