Israeli strike kills 9 members of Gaza family

GAZA CITY — An Israeli airstrike Sunday killed at least nine members of the same family — mostly women and children — in the deadliest single attack and worst civilian tragedy since the fighting in the Gaza Strip began last week.

Though Israel has expressed pride over its five-day military campaign for limiting civilian casualties, the strike against the Dalu home in Gaza City was likely to test the limits of international support it has received in the battle to stop militants from firing rockets at Israeli cities.

Yet despite immediate condemnation by Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, the tragedy did not appear to derail cease-fire negotiations underway in Cairo, where Israeli and Palestinian representatives are meeting. In fact, the high civilian death toll from Sunday's attack only increased the international pressure on both sides to end hostilities, coming on a day both President Obama and British officials raised concerns about the conflict expanding into a ground war.

Israeli military officials said they were targeting a Hamas militant in his home, but provided no further information. The Dalu family was believed to have links to Hamas' military wing and had been targeted by Israel before.

But there were conflicting reports about whether the strike killed the home's owner, Jamal Dalu, or his son Mohamed. Hamas' Health Ministry put the death toll at 11, which may include two neighbors. More than 20 people were injured.

On its website, the military wing of Hamas said that the attack on the family "will not go unpunished" and that the group had begun firing rockets at Israel in response. By Sunday night, Gaza militants had fired 114 rockets at southern Israel during the day, hitting buildings in Beersheba, Sderot and Ashdod. Five people were injured by shrapnel from a rocket in Ofakim, near the Gaza border.

The Israeli missile strike was so strong it destroyed the Dalu family's three-story building, blowing out windows blocks away and sending a charred mattress flying into the street.

For hours panicked neighbors and rescue workers clung to hope of finding survivors. While a bulldozer pulled apart pieces of the collapsed walls, volunteers in orange vests scrambled over the wreckage and searched for signs of life.

In a grim, heart-wrenching scene that played out over 90 minutes, the bodies of four children were pulled out one after another.

Each time they found a body, some of the men would yell excitedly and wave their hands at the bulldozer's driver to stop digging, while others would climb down to retrieve the child. As mobs of onlookers chanted "God is great," a rescue worker would race toward a waiting ambulance with a limp, dust-covered child.

"This is a massacre," shouted a distraught Nasser Dalu, 56, a cousin and neighbor, as he watched his relatives being pulled from debris. "What did these children do?"

Israel Defense Forces said it has launched more than 1,000 airstrikes over the last five days, mostly targeting weapons caches and military compounds, in an attempt to put an end to rocket and mortar attacks on communities in southern Israel.

It expanded its targets to include the homes of Hamas leaders; Gaza officials said 17 homes were attacked on Sunday alone. About the same time that the Dalu house was hit, Israel said it targeted Yiyhe Abia, the head of Hamas' rocket-firing squad, in his home nearby.

Sunday's airstrikes brought the death toll in Gaza to 69 people since Wednesday, including at least 24 civilians, hospital officials said. More than 660 Palestinians have been wounded.

Three Israelis were killed when a projectile fired from Gaza hit their apartment complex Thursday.

The strike on the Dalu home inflamed much of Arab world and within hours "aldalumassacre" had become a Twitter hashtag. Some compared the attack to the 2009 shelling of the Samouni house, when 21 members of the family were killed during the previous Israeli assault on Gaza.

The Dalu strike came at a delicate time in the Gaza conflict, as Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has been trying to broker a long-term truce between Israel and Hamas. Despite the heated rhetoric and escalating violence, talks continued behind the scenes Sunday night, Hamas officials said.

Without an agreement soon, many fear Israel will launch a ground invasion. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet on Sunday that Israel is "prepared for a significant expansion of the operation."

At a news conference in Bangkok, Thailand, Obama urged both sides to resolve their differences "without further escalation of violence in the region."

While repeating his previous statements that Israel has a right to press for an end to attacks on its people, Obama said, "If that can be accomplished without a ramping-up of military activity in Gaza, that's preferable. That's not just preferable for the people of Gaza, it's also preferable for Israelis, because if Israeli troops are in Gaza, they're much more at risk of incurring fatalities or being wounded."

British Foreign Secretary William Hague shared Obama's concerns, telling Sky News television that "a ground invasion of Gaza would lose Israel a lot of the international support and sympathy that they have in this situation."

In addition to hitting the homes of Hamas officials, Israel expanded its targets to include buildings used by communications services, leaving several journalists injured early Sunday.

A 1:30 a.m. strike against one building destroyed the 11-floor offices of Al Quds television, a Hamas-affiliated network. Several journalists were seriously wounded, including one whose leg had to be amputated, witnesses said.

Cameraman Mohamed Akhras, 23, said he was working the night shift in case of any breaking stories and had just fallen asleep when the blast buried him and a colleague under furniture and debris.

"Israel targeted us because we are revealing the truth about their crimes," Akhras said, half his face dotted with small shrapnel cuts.

Israeli military officials defended the attacks against the Al Quds site and another Hamas-run communications facility, saying they were trying to destroy rooftop antennas used by militants to communicate.

edmund.sanders@latimes.com

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Shirtless photo a “joke,” says FBI agent who began Petraeus inquiry

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – The FBI agent who began the investigation that led David Petraeus to resign as CIA director said that a shirtless photo he sent to a woman at the center of the probe was a “joke” sent to many friends, and was not meant to be sexual.

Frederick Humphries told the Seattle Times in an interview published Thursday that the photo in the unfolding adultery scandal that brought down Petraeus was sent to Tampa, Florida, socialite Jill Kelley in 2010.

Humphries, who has been identified in media reports on the scandal mainly as the “shirtless” FBI agent, was a “top-notch” operative, according to a prosecutor who worked with him on the “millennium bomber” case years ago.

Andrew Hamilton, now a senior deputy prosecutor for King County, Washington, said Humphries was assigned to the case partly because he spoke excellent French. Ahmed Ressam, who was convicted of plotting to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport on New Year’s Eve 1999, claimed to be from Quebec and spoke French.

“That’s the first time I met him, as a case agent,” Hamilton told Reuters. “We spent a lot of time together over the next couple years getting ready for trial, and I couldn’t have asked for more as a case agent. He was very, very thorough, and very honest. We always thought we were very lucky to have him.”

Five months ago, Kelley ignited the FBI investigation that led to Petraeus when she asked Humphries whether the bureau could look into harassing emails she had been receiving.

The investigation eventually revealed that the emails to Kelley were sent by Paula Broadwell, an Army reserve officer in military intelligence and co-author of a biography of Petraeus.

The FBI investigation revealed Broadwell’s affair with Petraeus, who cited the relationship when he resigned as CIA chief last week. The probe also ensnared General John Allen, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, whom agents found had exchanged “flirtatious” emails with Kelley, law enforcement officials said.

(Editing by David Lindsey and Jim Loney)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Justin Bieber dominates at American Music Awards

America proved its Bieber Fever was strong: The teen singer dominated the American Music Awards on Sunday night.

Bieber's wins included the show's top award, artist of the year. His mom joined him onstage as he collected the trophy, beating out Rihanna, Maroon 5, Katy Perry and Drake.

"I wanted to thank you for always believing in me," Bieber said, looking to his mom.

The 18-year-old also won the honor in 2010. He said it's "hard growing up with everyone watching me" and asked that people continue to believe in him.

Bieber and Nicki Minaj performed together — and separately — at the AMAs, and were both multiple winners.

But another collaboration was the night's most colorful performance: Korean rapper PSY and MC Hammer. Hammer joined the buzzed-about pop star for his viral hit "Gangnam Style." PSY rocked traditional "Hammer" pants as they danced to his jam and to Hammer's "Too Legit to Quit."

Bieber won favorite pop/rock male artist in the first award handed out at Sunday's show and gave a shout-out to those who didn't think he would last on the music scene.

"I want to say this is for all the haters who thought I was just here for one or two years. I feel like I'm going to be here for a very long time," he said.

He also won favorite pop/rock album for his platinum-selling third album, "Believe." He gave a stripped down, acoustic performance of "As Long As You Love Me," then transitioned to the dance-heavy "Beauty and a Beat," where Minaj joined him onstage, grinding with the teen for a few seconds.

Minaj, who wore three different wigs and four outfits throughout the night, repeated her AMAs wins from last year, picking up trophies for favorite rap/hip-hop artist and album for "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded." She was in an all-white get-up, including fur coat and pink hair when she performed her new song "Freedom." The scene was ghostly and snowy, as a choir — also in white — joined her onstage. One background singer stole the performance, belting semi-high notes as Minaj looked on.

As Bieber won his second award, he was kissed on the neck by Jenny McCarthy, who presented the award.

"Wow. I feel violated right now," he said, laughing.

"I did grab his butt," McCarthy said backstage. "I couldn't help it. He was just so delicious. So little. I wanted to tear his head off and eat it."

Bieber's red and black outfit seemed to be the night's theme, as Taylor Swift and Usher wore similar ensembles.

Usher kicked off the three-hour show with green laser lights beaming onstage as he performed a medley of songs, including "Numb," ''Climax" and "Can't Stop, Won't Stop," which featured a smoky floor and a number of backup dancers, as Usher jammed in all black, with the exception of his red shoes. He won favorite soul/R&B male artist.

Swift won her fifth consecutive award for favorite country female artist.

"This is unreal. I want to thank the fans. You guys are the ones who voted on this," she said.

Swift gave a masquerade-themed performance of the pop song "I Knew You Were Trouble." She sang onstage in a light dress while dancers wore mostly black. But then she changed into a red corset and black skirt, matching their dark mood. She even danced and sang on the floor as lights flickered throughout the performance.

Dick Clark, who created the AMAs, was remembered by Ryan Seacrest and an upbeat performance by Stevie Wonder.

"What a producer he was," said Seacrest, as Wonder sang his hits, including "My Cherie Amour."

Carly Rae Jepsen, who performed early in the night, won favorite new artist.

"I am floored. Wow," she said, thanking Bieber and his manager, Scooter Braun.

Party girl Ke$ha was glammed up on the red carpet, rocking long, flowy blonde hair and a light pink dress. She switched to her normal attire when she performed her hit single "Die Young." It was tribal, with shirtless dancers in skin-tight pants, silver hair and skeleton-painted faces, who also played the drums. Ke$ha was pants-less, rocking knee-high boots and rolling on the floor as she finished up the song.

Minaj and Christina Aguilera were blonde bombshells, too: Minaj's hair was busy and full of volume and she sported a neon strapless gown to accept her first award. Aguilera wore a blonde bob in a purple dress that matched her eyeshadow.

Aguilera performed a medley of material from her new album and joined Pitbull onstage.

Kelly Clarkson also hit the stage, making a nod to her "American Idol" roots with a number on her dress and three judges looking on as she sang "Miss Independent." Then she went into "Since U Been Gone," ''Stronger" and "Catch My Breath." It's worth noting that "Idol" judge Randy Jackson introduced Clarkson, the first-ever winner of the show. He also advised people to donate through Red Cross for Superstorm Sandy victims.

Fellow "Idol" winner Carrie Underwood won best favorite country album and performed, hitting the right notes while singing "Two Black Cadillacs." She talked about singing competition shows backstage.

"These people that go on these shows are so talented, you know? And I would love to see if so many of the other artists that are out there today would go back and try out for these shows, because they might get their behinds kicked by some of the contestants," she said.

Luke Bryan won favorite country male artist and Lady Antebellum favorite country group.

American Music Awards nominees were selected based on sales and airplay, and fans chose the winners by voting online. At this award show, even the stars were fans: Pink said on the red carpet that she'd like to collaborate with Lauryn Hill. Cyndi Lauper said her musical playlist includes Pink and Minaj. Boy band The Wanted said they were excited to see PSY and Colbie Caillat wanted to watch No Doubt.

"What makes the American Music Awards special is the fans choose the winning artists," said Chester Bennington of Linkin Park, who won favorite alternative rock artist and performed "Burn It Down," as Brandy sang along and Gwen Stefani, Usher and Phillip Phillips bobbed their heads.

David Guetta won the show's first-ever electronic dance music award. Non-televised awards went to Katy Perry for pop/rock female artist, Beyonce for soul/R&B female artist, Adele for adult contemporary artist and Shakira for Latin artist.

Along with Rihanna, Minaj was the top nominee with four nominations.

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AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen contributed to this report from Los Angeles.

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Follow Mesfin Fekadu on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MusicMesfin

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Online:

http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/american-music-awards

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Daniel Stern, Who Studied Babies’ World, Dies at 78

Dr. Daniel Stern, a psychiatrist who increased the understanding of early human development by scrutinizing the most minute interactions between mothers and babies, died on Nov. 12 in Geneva. He was 78.

The cause was heart failure, said his wife, Dr. Nadia Bruschweiler Stern.

Dr. Stern was noted for his often poetic language in describing how children respond to their world — how they feel, think and see. He wrote one of his half-dozen books in the form of a diary by a baby. In another book, he told how mothers differ psychologically from women who do not have children. He coined the term “motherese” to describe a form of communication in which mothers are able to read even the slightest of babies’ emotional signals.

Dr. Stern, who did much of his research at what is now Weill Cornell Medical College and at the University of Geneva, drew inspiration from Jay S. Rosenblatt’s work with kittens at the American Museum of Natural History in the 1950s. Dr. Rosenblatt discovered that when he removed kittens from their cage, they made their way to a specific nipple of their mother’s even when they were as young as one day old. That finding demonstrated that learning occurs naturally at an exceptionally early age in a way staged experiments had not.

Dr. Stern videotaped babies from birth through their early years, and then studied the tapes second by second to analyze interactions between mother and child. He challenged the Freudian idea that babies go through defined critical phases, like oral and anal. Rather, he said, their development is continuous, with each phase layered on top of the previous one. The interactions are punctuated by intervals, sometimes only a few seconds long, of rest, solitude and reflection. As this process goes on, they develop a sense that other people can and will share in their feelings, and in that way develop a sense of self.

These interactions can underpin emotional episodes that occur years in the future. Citing one example in a 1990 interview with The Boston Globe, Dr. Stern told of a 13-month-old who grabbed for an electric plug. His alarmed mother, who moments before had been silent and loving, suddenly turned angry and sour. Two years later, the child heard a fairy tale about a wicked witch.

“He’s been prepared for that witch for years,” Dr. Stern said. “He’s already seen someone he loves turn into something evil. It’s perfectly believable for him. He maps right into it.”

Dr. Stern described such phenomena in 1985 in “The Interpersonal World of the Infant,” which the noted psychologist Stanley Spiegel, in an interview in The New York Times, called “the book of the decade in its influence on psychoanalytic theory.”

In recent years, Dr. Stern ventured beyond childhood development to examine the psychology of how people thought about time. In one experiment, he interviewed people in depth about a single brief moment at breakfast and found that it took them a full hour to describe all that went through their minds in 30 seconds. This resulted in the 2004 book “The Present Moment: In Psychotherapy and Everyday Life,” which called for people to appreciate every moment of experience and discussed the nature of memory.

In 2010, he published “Forms of Vitality: Exploring Dynamic Experience in Psychology, the Arts, Psychotherapy and Development,” which used new understandings of neuroscience to explain human empathy.

Dr. Stern, who wrote hundreds of scientific articles, also painted, wrote poetry and had friendships with important artists. He gave Jerome Robbins, the choreographer, the title for his “Dances at a Gathering.” His friend Robert Wilson, the avant-garde director and playwright, said Dr. Stern’s slow-motion baby films helped inspire his seven-hour “silent opera,” “Deafman Glance.”

“So many things are going on, and the baby is picking them up,” Mr. Wilson said.

Daniel Norman Stern was born in Manhattan on Aug. 16, 1934. He graduated from Harvard and completed his medical degree at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. After conducting psychopharmacology research at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., he did his residency in psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He later trained as a psychoanalyst at the Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research at Columbia.

Dr. Stern is survived by his wife, a physician who collaborated on much of his research; two sons, Michael and Adrien; three daughters, Maria, Kaia and Alice Stern; a sister, Ronnie Chalif; and 12 grandchildren.

Dr. Stern pointed out how the evolution of the human body bolstered mother-child interaction. He noted that the distance between the eyes of a baby at the breast and the mother’s eyes is about 10 inches, exactly the distance for the sharpest focus and clearest vision for a young infant.

“Her smile exerts its natural evocative powers in him and breathes a vitality into him,” he wrote. “It makes him resonate with the animation she feels and shows. His joy rises. Her smile pulls it out of him.”

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Psychic Temple in Long Beach slated for office conversion

The Psychic Temple, a long-abandoned Long Beach landmark that is one of the city's oldest commercial structures, will be converted to office space as redevelopment attracts new residents and businesses to downtown.

Advertising agency InterTrend Communications will start making improvements this week on the brick building at 224 E. Broadway near Long Beach Boulevard. It is converting the top two floors that were formerly residential spaces into offices for the firm and preparing the ground floor and basement for retail tenants such as a restaurant.

The property in a formerly blighted part of downtown has been a headache for Long Beach officials, who purchased it for the city in 2000 in the hope they could find a developer willing to perform badly needed renovations.

Because it was an official landmark that couldn't be razed, it had a negative assessed value of $350,000, said Julia Huang, chief executive of InterTrend. Her Long Beach company agreed to fix up the property and recently took title after paying the city $1.

"It was truly debilitated, but we just fell in love," Huang said.

Local developer JR van Dijs Inc. is performing the makeover, which will cost about $2 million.

The Romanesque Revival-style building was completed in 1905 by former Baptist preacher W.R. Price, founder of a doctrine he called the New or Practical Psychology. Its motto was "Health and happiness for all."

Price raised money from members to build the headquarters sometimes referred to as the Psychological Temple. Rifts among cult members soon arose, and Price's name was chiseled off the building's cornerstone after he lost control of the society. In 1911 the brick building was sold at auction.

For decades, the building's upstairs floors were used as a hotel. The property is called the American Hotel on the city's list of historic landmarks.

InterTrend will move about 80 employees there in about a year. It will leave an Ocean Boulevard high-rise to be part of a more pedestrian-oriented downtown, Huang said.

"Long Beach is going through an evolution of street culture," she said. "That was very appealing to us."

Clients of Asian-oriented InterTrend include Toyota Motor Corp., AT&T Inc., State Farm and Walt Disney Co., Huang said.

Private USC housing site is sold

University Gateway, high-end private student housing across the street from USC, has been sold for more than $200 million to a Wisconsin public employees pension fund.

The eight-story complex at 3335 S. Figueroa St. was completed in 2010 by Los Angeles developer Urban Partners, which owned it with real estate investors RCG Longview and Blackstone Real Estate Advisors. Its appraised value before the sale was $89 million, according to real estate data provider CoStar.

University Gateway has 421 units with 1,656 beds available for rent. The residences are 96% leased, according to real estate brokerage CBRE Group Inc., which helped arrange the deal. The complex also has shops and restaurants on the ground floor.

The price set a new national benchmark for the sale of a single student housing complex, said Ryan Reid, head of student housing sales at CBRE. "Urban Partners developed a high-quality asset in an irreplaceable location," he said.

Students pay about $1,000 a month per bed to live at University Gateway. Amenities include a fitness center, rooftop terraces and a sound-proof study room.

Chicago company Blue Vista Capital Partners purchased the property on behalf of the State of Wisconsin Investment Board.

Father, son artists to move L.A. base

Acclaimed and sometimes controversial Los Angeles artist Paul McCarthy and his son Damon will move their base to a new location on the Eastside after the purchase of a 1970s-era industrial building.

Damon McCarthy bought the 150,000-square-foot building at 4540 Worth St. from Trammell Crow Co. for nearly $9 million, he said.

"I make big, crazy art pieces for famous artists, especially my dad," McCarthy said. His 67-year-old father is known for his provocative performance art and large-scale sculpture that often skewers the excesses of American culture.

Paul and Damon McCarthy's work "Rebel Dabble Babble," presented downtown in May, covered two floors and spilled into the parking lot of a downtown gallery. It included original videos and eight rooms based on the 1955 movie "Rebel Without a Cause."

Paul McCarthy Studios will move in next year, said Damon, who employs about 60 workers. "This will be my hub."

The Eastside neighborhoods of Lincoln Heights and El Sereno are in transition from being exclusively industrial to more artistic, said real estate broker Jimmy Chai of Cushman & Wakefield, who represented McCarthy in the deal.

roger.vincent@latimes.com

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Russia vows tough response to U.S. human rights legislation

MOSCOW — Russian officials are promising a tough response to U.S. legislation that would impose sanctions on Russian officials if Congress finds them responsible for violating human rights.

The U.S. House on Friday passed a bill that establishes permanent normal trade relations with Russia, repealing the 1974 Jackson-Vanik amendment, which had imposed limits on trade because of the Soviet Union's treatment of Jews. It had been waived annually since 1989, two years before the Soviet Union collapsed.

But a provision of the legislation named after Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky also would impose sanctions on officials responsible for human rights violations.

Magnitsky was a 37-year-old lawyer representing the Britain-based Hermitage Capital Management company in 2008 when he blew the whistle on alleged fraud involving Russian tax officials and police officers. Magnitsky said a tax refund scam had cost Russia about $200 million.

But Magnitsky himself was arrested on charges of organizing tax evasion for Hermitage Capital executives. He was allegedly tortured and denied proper medical treatment, and died in a Moscow prison on Nov. 16, 2009.

The circumstances of his death as well as the purported multimillion-dollar fraud have never been properly investigated, human rights activists say.

If the legislation passed by the House on Friday, the third anniversary of Magnitsky's death, also passes the Senate and is signed by President Obama, U.S. officials will be obligated within 120 days to compile and publish a list of Russian officials involved in Magnitsky's persecution and death, and other violations of human rights in Russia.

The officials on the so-called Magnitsky list will be denied U.S. visas and current visas will be revoked. Their financial assets in the United States will be frozen.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said the legislation could damage relations with the United States.

"The passage of the Magnitsky Act is another attempt of flagrant politicizing the issue of human rights," the ministry's envoy on human rights, Konstantin Dolgov, said Saturday in an interview with Voice of Russia radio station. "The American side over and over again attempts to accuse Russia of violating human rights in [Sergei] Magnitsky's case, ignoring the exhaustive explanations about the course of the case's investigation."

Dmitry Peskov, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, said late Friday that the legislation would elicit an "equally tough response."

Lilia Shevtsova, a senior researcher with the Moscow Carnegie Center, said there was little left of the U.S.-Russia relationship to be damaged by the latest dispute.

"Moscow however may take advantage of it to more actively play the role of the spoiler in respect to America in global politics," Shevtsova said. "The Kremlin will try to use the situation to intensify its ongoing crackdown on the opposition inside the country."

Pavel Palazhchenko, senior advisor to former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, said he was puzzled by Russia's tough reaction.

"My guess is that the authorities, including the Foreign Ministry, misjudged the internal dynamics in the U.S., betting that the administration, which never likes Congress micromanaging foreign policy, would object to the Magnitsky Act," he said.

Palazhchenko said Russia was rapidly using up any goodwill left in the West, but he predicted that Obama would do some damage control before his planned visit to Moscow next year.

sergei.loiko@latimes.com

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Lady Gaga tweets some racy images before concert

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Lady Gaga's tweets were getting a lot of attention ahead of her Buenos Aires concert Friday night.

The Grammy-winning entertainer has more than 30 million followers on Twitter and that's where she shared a link this week to a short video showing her doing a striptease and fooling around in a bathtub with two other women.

She told her followers that it's a "surprise for you, almost ready for you to TASTE."

Then, in between concerts in Brazil and Argentina, she posted a picture Thursday on her Twitter page showing her wallowing in her underwear and impossibly high heels on top of the remains of what appears to be a strawberry shortcake.

"The real CAKE isn't HAVING what you want, it's DOING what you want," she tweeted.

Lady Gaga wore decidedly unglamorous baggy jeans and a blouse outside her Buenos Aires hotel Thursday as three burly bodyguards kept her fans at bay. Another pre-concert media event where she was supposed to be given "guest of honor" status by the city government Friday afternoon was cancelled.

After Argentina, she is scheduled to perform in Santiago, Chile; Lima, Peru; and Asuncion, Paraguay, before taking her "Born This Way Ball" tour to Africa, Europe and North America.

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The Neediest Cases: Emerging From a Bleak Life to Become Fabulous Phil

For years, Phillip Johnson was caught in what seemed like an endless trench of bad luck. He was fired from a job, experienced intensifying psychological problems, lost his apartment and spent time in homeless shelters. At one point, he was hospitalized after overdosing on an antipsychotic drug.

“I had a rough road,” he said.

Since his hospital stay two years ago, and despite setbacks, Mr. Johnson, 27, has been getting his life on track. At Brooklyn Community Services, where he goes for daily counseling and therapy, everybody knows him as Fabulous Phil.

“Phillip is a light, the way he evokes happiness in other people,” his former caseworker, Teresa O’Brien, said. “Phillip’s character led directly to his nickname.”

About six months ago, with Ms. O’Brien’s help, Mr. Johnson started an event: Fabulous Phil Friday Dance Party Fridays.

One recent afternoon at the agency, 30 clients and a few counselors were eating cake, drinking soft drinks and juice, and grooving for 45 minutes to Jay-Z and Drake pulsating from a boom box.

Mr. Johnson’s voice rose with excitement when he talked about the party. Clients and counselors, he said, “enjoy themselves.”

“They connect more; they communicate more,” he continued. “Everybody is celebrating and laughing.”

The leadership Mr. Johnson now displays seems to be a far cry from the excruciatingly introverted person he was.

As an only child living with his single mother in public housing in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, he said, he tended to isolate himself. “A lot of kids my age would say, ‘Come outside,’ but I would always stay in my room,” he said. He occupied himself by writing comic books or reading them, his favorites being Batman and Spiderman because, he said, “they were heroes who saved the day.”

After graduating from high school in 2003, he worked odd jobs until 2006, when he took a full-time position at a food court at La Guardia Airport, where he helped to clean up. The steady paycheck allowed him to leave his mother’s apartment and rent a room in Queens.

But the depression and bleak moods that had shadowed him throughout middle and high school asserted themselves.

“My thinking got confused,” he said. “Racing thoughts through my mind. Disorganized thoughts. I had a hard time focusing on one thing.”

In 2008, after two years on the job, Mr. Johnson was fired for loud and inappropriate behavior, and for being “unpredictable,” he said. The boss said he needed counseling. He moved back in with his mother, and in 2009 entered a program at an outpatient addiction treatment service, Bridge Back to Life. It was there, he said, that he received a diagnosis of schizophrenia and help with his depression and marijuana use.

But one evening in May 2010, he had a bout with insomnia.

He realized the antipsychotic medication he had been prescribed, Risperdal, made him feel tired, he said, so he took 12 of the pills, rather than his usual dosage of two pills twice a day. When 12 did not work, he took 6 more.

“The next morning when I woke up, it was hard for me to breathe,” he said.

He called an ambulance, which took to Woodhull Hospital. He was released after about a month.

Not long after, he returned to his mother’s apartment, but by February 2011, they both decided he should leave, and he relocated to a homeless shelter in East New York, where, he said, eight other people were crammed into his cubicle and there were “bedbugs, people lying in your bed, breaking into your locker to steal your stuff.”

In late spring 2011, he found a room for rent in Manhattan, but by Thanksgiving he was hospitalized again. Another stint in a shelter followed in April, when his building was sold.

Finally, in July, Mr. Johnson moved to supported housing on Staten Island, where he lives with a roommate. His monthly $900 Social Security disability check is sent to the residence, which deducts $600 for rent and gives him $175 in spending money; he has breakfast and lunch at the Brooklyn agency. To assist Mr. Johnson with unexpected expenses, a grant of $550 through The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund went to buy him a bed and pay a Medicare prescription plan fee for three months.

“I was so happy I have a bed to sleep on,” he said about the replacement for an air mattress. “When I have a long day, I have a bed to lay in, and I feel good about that.”

Mr. Johnson’s goals include getting his driver’s license — “I already have a learner’s permit,” he said, proudly — finishing his program at the agency, and then entering an apprenticeship program to become a plumber, carpenter or mechanic.

But seeing how his peers have benefited from Fabulous Phil Fridays has made him vow to remain involved with people dealing with mental illnesses or substance abuse.

He was asked at the party: Might he be like the comic-book heroes he loves? A smile spread across his face. He seemed to think so.

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Black Friday: A survival guide

Shopping

The plan | The numbers | The gear | The strategy | The apps | The start

Black Friday, the most buzzed-about shopping day of the year, is starting even earlier this holiday season as retailers try to get a jump on the competition.

The official kickoff to the Christmas shopping rush, the day after Thanksgiving brings out millions of bargain hunters looking to score new tablets, flat-panel TVs, clothes and toys. Last year retailers raked in an estimated $11.4 billion on Black Friday, up 6.6% from 2010.

This year, major retailers including Wal-Mart and Toys R Us are opening their doors as early as 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. That’s too bad for store employees, but good news if you’re a shopaholic who doesn’t mind hitting the shops before the turkey has cooled.

For those of you who are planning to brave the crowds, whether you’re a first-timer or a seasoned veteran, here’s a guide to surviving the Black Friday rush.


-- Andrea Chang

Photo credit: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

Photo credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

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Former O.C. Sheriff Michael Carona seeks to cut prison sentence

Attorneys for former Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona — who is now serving 66 months in federal prison for witness tampering — are asking that the former lawman's sentence be cut by nearly half, potentially freeing him.

In a motion, Carona's attorneys argued that the sentence handed down in 2009 by U.S. District Judge Andrew Guilford should be adjusted after changes in the law.

His attorneys contend that the judge sentenced Carona on the witness tampering charge by "cross-referencing" charges on which he was acquitted, a practice his attorneys argue that the U.S. Supreme Court overruled in a case involving former Enron President Jeffrey Skilling.

"Carona seeks relief on the ground that the court erred in determining his sentence by using honest services fraud as the 'underlying offense' under United States sentencing guidelines," his lawyers wrote in the motion filed earlier this month. They added that "the conduct at issue did not constitute honest services fraud or any other federal offense."

His lawyers, according to the motion, are seeking to reduce his time to a term of 24 months to 30 months.

Brett Sagel, the federal prosecutor on the case, said in an emailed statement Thursday that the government contends "Carona's filing lacks merit both factually and legally."

Carona was acquitted in 2009 on charges of conspiracy, mail fraud and one count of witness tampering. But the jury found him guilty on another count of witness tampering after he was recorded as he tried to persuade his former assistant sheriff to lie to a grand jury investigating allegations of corruption.

Carona, 57, was widely considered to be a rising political star at the time of his indictment.

The former sheriff began serving his 51/2 -year prison sentence in January 2011 at Englewood Federal Correctional Institution in Littleton, Colo., where he joined other prominent criminals — including Skilling, who is serving a 24-year sentence; and disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

When Carona's sentence began, officials at the prison — dubbed by Forbes magazine as one of the "12 best places to go to prison" — said the former sheriff would put in 71/2-hour days doing landscaping, plumbing, painting or food service.

But he could have access to the low-security prison's amenities, including college courses and the use of indoor and outdoor recreational facilities with a running track, bicycle court and exercise bicycles.

Carona's lawyers said that he had exhausted his appeals when the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld his conviction shortly before he reported to the prison.

rick.rojas@latimes.com

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