Free Republic

Evicted four months ago from their Highland Park apartment, Louis Morales and his 18-year-old stepson, Arthur Valenzuela, live half-hidden by brush along the nearby Arroyo Seco riverbed. Morales, 49, keeps a framed bible verse and a stuffed monkey in his tent. Water hauled by bike from a park heats up on the camp stove. Next door, their friend Johnny Salazar fixes bikes and shattered computer screens on the cheap for people who live in the neighborhood. A brother and sister Morales has known for years live up the river, and three couples stay down by the bridge. "Everybody here is...

Lights! Camera! Agita! Despite monster hits like "The Incredibles" and "Shark Tale," Hollywood is hurting this season, with overall box-office earnings down well below the take in the same period for the previous two years. In the 10 weeks from Labor Day to just before Thanksgiving, the film industry grossed $1.39 billion, down 14 percent from last year's record of $1.63 billion and off 12 percent from $1.59 billion in 2002. Fall ticket sales were a bust as well, dropping 18 percent from last year's figure, from 268.3 million ducats to 219.9 million. This year's sales also were below...

Broke and bitterly split, California is on skid row By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles 01 July 2003 The state of California, as of midnight last night, was officially broke. The richest, most populous state in the union - by some measures the world's fifth biggest economy - is facing a budget deficit of $38bn (£23bn). Midnight was the nominal deadline for the state legislature to balance the books for the new budgetary year, which begins today. But the legislature, riven by partisan rivalries, including a vicious battle to unseat the governor just months after his re-election, never stood a...