In the News

Charles Piller | McClatchy Newspapers

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Three California Army National Guard captains pleaded guilty to misdemeanor fraud Tuesday in cases involving incentive payments in return for service commitments. Each faces up to a year in prison, fines and restitution of funds stolen.

The pleas, the latest in a federal investigation into thousands of improper bonuses and loan repayments for Guard members, came from:

- Capt. Yasser Brenes, 29, a recruiter who will pay $27,000 in restitution and up to $54,000 in fines.

Significant shift for Exodus International, which for decades has offered to help conflicted Christians rid themselves of unwanted homosexual inclinations
 PATRICK CONDON
The president of the country's best-known Christian ministry dedicated to helping people repress same-sex attraction through prayer is trying to distance the group from the idea that gay people's sexual orientation can be permanently changed or "cured."

By Ryan Kendall
I have known I was gay since I was a young boy growing up in a conservative, Christian household in Colorado. Back then, I tried to hide my sexual orientation from everyone around me -- including school classmates who tormented me with words like "faggot" because they thought I was different.

The Assembly Banking and Finance Committee has a chance today to give a break to Californians who need cars but don't have much money. Alternatively, the committee could side with a particular type of used car dealerships that profit from predatory lending practices.

Committee members are set to hear Senate Bill 956, by Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, which would regulate "buy here, pay here" dealers, many of which are owned by investment funds. The bill would impose modest restrictions on an industry that is sorely in need of regulation.