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George Fischbeck, a science teacher turned weatherman who joined KABC-TV in 1972 and spent nearly two decades exuberantly delivering the local forecast, has died. He was 92. Fischbeck, who was known as "Dr. George," died of natural causes early Wednesday morning at the Motion Picture & Television Fund retirement home in Woodland Hills, his daughter, Nancy Fischbeck, said. A trained meteorologist, George Fischbeck was so enthusiastic about his subject that he sometimes forgot to talk about the next day's weather.

Augusta quake felt in Atlanta.

I've written before that the current Tuesday night lineup might be the best night of television ever. Of course, that was when Justified was in the schedule, so give it another month.)With ABC's V, about emotionless good looking alien invaders who want to seduce earthlings with promises of universal health care, green energy and peace (if they just give up those troublesome things like individualism and, oh yeah, their souls); TV's most politically sophisticated show The Good Wife; USA Network's utterly charming Catch Me if You Can ripoff, White Collar; FX's promising new boxing series, Lights Out; and possibly best...

Off-duty officer wrestled with shopper, pulled gun on customers: report A Fort Lauderdale cop whose off duty antics inside a 7-11 included wrestling with a shopper and pulling his gun on other customers is facing charges of battery and falsifying reports. Officer Jason Hersh, 34, was served with a summons Thursday on the three misdemeanor charges for the incident last December inside a Fort Lauderdale beach store, according to the Sun-Sentinel. Hersh, a 5-year veteran alleged in his reports that the shopper, Lee Ferrell, had made an aggressive move towards him, forcing him to tackle Ferrell. But according to prosecutors,...

For a man prone to belittling politicians, Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco is proving to be a deft politician. In his run for governor, he is summoning all the skills he can to shed the political baggage of his hometown, where taming a rowdy parade is the sort of thing that can set off a popular backlash. He is known outside San Francisco for one thing above all: his renegade order legalizing same-sex marriage in 2004. So Newsom has been trekking across the state for weeks, trying to show that the "gigantic order-of-magnitude change" he envisions for California entails...

Campaigning as the only true conservative running for president, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson came to one of the most Republican towns in Republican-dominated Orange County on Saturday to deliver crowd-pleasing talk of slashing taxes and securing U.S. borders. The event was kicked off by state Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), a favorite among the party's conservative activists. He introduced Thompson as the first candidate in a generation to have the integrity, credentials and appeal of former President Ronald Reagan. Thompson avoided taking any direct shots at his rivals Saturday, only subtly questioning some recent political conversions on bedrock conservative...

Bed feeling a little crowded? Maybe you have company. The Cimex lectularius, better known and despised as the common bedbug, is snuggling into households across Southern California, giving people the heebie- jeebies. The blood-sucking, heat-seeking, pint-size parasites aren't believed by the experts to transmit disease, but they do have a way of cranking up stress levels. "It was just horrendous," said a West Hollywood middle-school teacher, who, like others who have been horrified to have lived with the uninvited guests, asked that she not be identified. "Think of how you wouldn't sleep at night if you had roaches, and this...

Despite a population boom forecast for California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger hopes to keep traffic gridlock from worsening - and even improve it from today's levels - with his $107 billion transportation plan, officials said Friday. The governor's ambitious proposal for highways and freight-moving projects - which would be funded, in part, by voter-approved bonds - is unprecedented in a region where commuters spend 93 hours a year idling in traffic. It would add 750 highway miles, 550 miles of car-pool lanes and 600 miles of commuter rail. "We think we can make a significant improvement over today's levels for the...

HISTORY OF SOUTHERN ROCK CMT EXPLORES THE ROOTS, LEGACY AND ARTISTS OF SOUTHERN ROCK IN "AMERICAN REVOLUTIONS: SOUTHERN ROCK" Sun, Aug 21st 5:00 PM ET/PT on CMT American Revolutions: Southern Rock, a CMT original 90-minute documentary, explores the roots and legacy of Southern rock by tracing the rise of its greatest artists and their music from the late 1960s to the present. As a young white South looked to redefine its identity after the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, Southern rock gave a voice (and driving backbeat) to that struggle in the 1970s -- and had a pretty damn...

Private groups flew Southern California congressional representatives across the globe on trips worth nearly $700,000 over the past five years, according to a report issued Tuesday. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, was the area's most frequent flier, according to the data collected by PoliticalMoneyLine, an online service that monitors campaign finance disclosure forms. Waters accepted 52 trips -- including jaunts to Cuba, Puerto Rico and Jamaica's Montego Bay -- at an estimated total of $132,219. At the bottom of the list was Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, who took one $340 trip to San Diego at the expense of the...

CHATHAM, Va. - Gathering food for Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's troops earned Sam Lovelace a rare reward.In 1933, Lovelace began drawing a Civil War pension - $300 a year - for his service to the Confederate States of America.Lovelace collected the pension for his work as a teen-aged slave in the Chatham area during the Civil War. He is believed to be the last Confederate pensioner in Pittsylvania County, according to Herman Melton's book, "Thirty-Nine Lashes - Well Laid On: Crime and Punishment in Southside Virginia 1750-1950."The annual pension was the result of an act passed by the Virginia...

DEFUNIAK SPRINGS -- Commissioners in the Florida Panhandle's Walton County have refused to haul down a Confederate battle flag from a Civil War memorial on the courthouse lawn. The unanimous vote came Tuesday in response to a request by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "We say that it's a flag of hatred," said Sabu Williams, an NAACP chapter leader. "Put it in a place of historical value, not in front of a place of justice." Williams suggested putting it in a museum. He said any Confederate flag flown on public property is offensive to blacks. Nelson...