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| Professional/Personal Overview |
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An award-winning journalist at the Los Angeles Daily News, The Press-Enterprise and other newspapers for two decades, I write for Reuters, Newsmax, Bankrate.com, Human Events, Watchdog.org, Angie's List and many other media outlets. I specialize in investigative reporting, government, business, entertainment and travel. I also write website content, press releases, screenplays and television scripts. I've won more than two dozen local, state and national writing awards and 2011 and 2012 Eddie Awards. I was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and featured as an investigative reporter in The McGraw-Hill book, "Careers For Puzzle-Solvers & Other Methodical Thinkers." I'm a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the premier national organization of nonfiction writers who have met ASJA's exacting standards of professional achievement. I'm listed as a 5-star writer - the highest rating - on Mediabistro.com. |
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| Work Info |
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Expertise |
| Reporter |
21 Years |
| Writer |
21 Years |
| Writer |
21 Years |
Specialty |
| Business (general) |
21 Years |
| Government |
21 Years |
| Travel |
21 Years |
Total Media Industry Experience
21 Years |
Media Client List (# assignments
last 2 yrs)
Reuters (1 billion readers) (11+), Bankrate.com (7 million readers) (11+), Newsmax (13 million readers) (11+), Outreach (75,000 readers) (6-10), Pacific Research Institute's CalWatchdog.com (6-10), NBIZ Magazine (30,000 circ.) (6-10), Charisma (1 million readers) (6-10), Franklin Center's Watchdog.org (6-10), Rebel (100,000 circ.) (6-10), Human Events (1.4 million readers) (3-5), Inland Empire (190,000 circ.) (3-5), Angie's List (2 million readers) (1-2), Pool & Spa News (15,000 circ.) (1-2), High Country News (25,000 circ.) (1-2), Los Angeles Daily Journal (20,000 circ.) (1-2), MainJustice.com (1-2), National Wildlife (650,000 circ.) (1-2) |
Corporate Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)
WDC Media (11+), Los Angeles County Business Federation (6-10), Gener8Xion Entertainment (3-5), Significant Federation (3-5), SpareFoot (1-2) |
Other Work History
- The Press-Enterprise: Editorial Writer / Assistant Editorial Page Editor (2011)
- Los Angeles Daily News: County Government / Enterprise Reporter (1999-2010)
- Inland Valley Daily Bulletin: Local Government / Investigative Reporter (1997-1998)
- Medford Mail Tribune: Police / General Assignment Reporter (1996)
- Nevada Appeal: Capitol Bureau Chief / Investigative Reporter (1991-1995)
- Cottage Grove Sentinel: Intern (1991)
- University of Oregon News Bureau: Hometown Writer (1990-1991)
- Oregon Daily Emerald: Freelance Writer (1989-1991)
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Computer Skills
CCI Newspaper Editing System, Computer-Assisted Reporting, Blogging, Internet Research, Facebook, Twitter, Excel, Word and other software. |
Technical Skills
Editing, Layout and Photography. |
Equipment
Pentax K100 Digital Camera, Laptop Computer, Canon Digital Video Camera and Digital Audio Recorder. |
Work Permits & Visas
Passport |
References
Available upon request. |
Awards
During my career, I've won more than two dozen local, state and national writing awards. A magazine I wrote for, Rebel, won 2011 and 2012 Eddie Awards (FOLIO: magazine's prestigious journalism awards) for the best series of articles, the "Rebel With a Cause" feature I often wrote. In 2004, I was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for a foster care series that contributed to "revolutionary" national reforms. In 1998, I won a national first place award from the Donrey Media Group for an investigative series in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. |
Associations
American Society of Journalists & Authors (ASJA)
Investigative Reporters & Editors
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Other
- Investigative Reporter
- Magazine Feature Writer
- Documentary and TV Script Writer
- Public Relations (press releases, press kits, etc.)
- Website Content Writer
- Public Speaker
- Business Reporter
- Travel Writer
- Hollywood Reporter (Extensive entertainment industry contacts)
- Speechwriter
- Op-Ed Writer
- Book Ghostwriter
- Public Records Act Requests
- Government and Court Documents Research
- B.S., University of Oregon, 1991
Major: News-Editorial Journalism
Minor: Political Science
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Freelancer Availability
I freelance full-time. I live near Los Angeles, CA. I am willing to travel anywhere. I have a driver's license. I have access to a car. |
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| Work Samples |
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(Newsmax, 6/25/2013)
Ever since Daniel Defoe penned Robinson Crusoe in 1719, the mystique of being marooned on a deserted island has captured the imagination of millions the world over.
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(Newsmax, 4/25/2013)
Not so long ago, shopping was easy. Goods had a set price, and if customers liked the price, they bought the item. If they didn't, they went elsewhere. Today, prices can change from hour to hour - even minute to minute.
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(Newsmax , 3/1/2013)
CIA officers are masters at detecting lies and deceit. In fact, knowing the difference between the truth and deception is often a matter of life or death for intelligence agents.
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(Newsmax, 2/28/2013)
Declining U.S. and global fertility rates could have dire consequences, including threatening economic stability - even pushing nations to the brink of war, a groundbreaking new book warns. At home, the decline could wreak havoc on Social Security, already on course to run dry within 10 years.
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(Newsmax, 2/2/2013)
Nick Vujicic grew up hoping people wouldn't focus on what he didn't have and focus on what he did have - courage, strength, and tenacity.
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(Newsmax, 1/26/2013)
Americans love going overseas to visit the historic castles of Europe. But the fact is we have our own castles here in the United States, complete with towering turrets, romantic drawbridges, and secret passageways.
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(Newsmax, 1/5/2013)
Those familiar with the fervor of the animal-rights community weren't the least surprised this fall when "Trapping is torture" billboards blanketed Minnesota highways, accompanied by lurid images of bloody wolf carcasses.
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(Newsmax, 1/2/2013)
Jeanie Truslow doesn't focus on the minutiae; she leaves that to the bean counters.
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(Newsmax, 1/2/2013)
For some travelers, spontaneity is the elixir of life. And it's easy to see the allure of great destinations.
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(Human Events, 11/8/2012)
Already facing calls for a congressional investigation into his ties to Georgia's most notorious abortion doctor, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. may be headed for more trouble.
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(Human Events, 10/31/2012)
Eric Holder Jr.'s family is moving fast and furiously to bury the U.S. Attorney General's ties to one of Georgia's most notorious abortion doctors.
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(Newsmax, 10/20/2012)
I set out two years ago to discover the secret that made America the freest and most prosperous country the world has ever known.
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(Reuters, 10/14/2012)
(Reuters) - The retired space shuttle Endeavour rolled at a snail-like pace through narrow city streets on Saturday, arriving five hours late at a key checkpoint but steadily closing in on its final destination at a museum.
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(Reuters, 8/29/2012)
(Reuters) - California Governor Jerry Brown and lawmakers have reached a deal to raise public employees' retirement ages, have them pay more into their pension accounts, and cap retirement payments in a vast overhaul of the state's pension system that he says will save $30 billion.
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(CalWatchdog.com, 8/27/2012)
During Vallejo's bankruptcy, which began in 2008, the city cut the number of police in half rather than deal with the "pension problem."
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(Newsmax, 8/23/2012)
Hollywood has officially been born again - at least when it comes to Bible movies. Not since the 1950s and '60s when director Cecil B. DeMille and others brought a flood of faith stories to the big screen (think "The Ten Commandments" with Charlton Heston), has Hollywood had so many stories of faith
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(Newsmax, 8/23/2012)
One issue getting barely a mention in this year's presidential contest is the rising collateral damage from the war on drugs, including swelling U.S prison populations and cartel violence that has claimed nearly 50,000 lives in Mexico since 2006.
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(Outreach, 6/29/2012)
I may be one of the most unlikely Olympic decathletes in the history of the games. I'm shorter and lighter than most decathletes. In fact, I'm the smallest decathlete to ever win an Olympic gold medal.
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(Newsmax, 6/29/2012)
The TV star travels to England to tour the tiny town that spawned a band of outcasts we now call the Pilgrims.
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(Newsmax, 5/26/2012)
Somewhere around the 500th baptism of the day, a decidedly unspiritual thought popped into Pastor Rick Warren's mind. "They're all fat," America's most famous pastor remembers saying to himself. "I'm dunking everybody underwater, and everybody's fat."
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(Reuters, 5/11/2012)
(Reuters) - Tens of thousands of fans are expected to attend Junior Seau's public memorial in a San Diego stadium on Friday, more than a week after the former National Football League star killed himself in his beachfront home.
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(The Huffington Post, 3/29/2012)
(Reuters) - A group of activist parents in this impoverished community were thwarted again in their bid to become the first in the nation to seize control of a public school under a controversial "parent trigger" law designed to shake up chronically failing schools.
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(Chicago Tribune, 3/22/2012)
LOS ANGELES, March 21 (Reuters) - Police investigating the 1974 murder of a U.S. Marine whose body was identified only recently said they have so far found no links to a serial killer
active in California at the time but have not ruled out a connection.
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(Rebel , 3/2/2012)
Innovative entrepreneur Shaun King has mastered the art of using social media for social good.
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(Rebel , 2/1/2012)
Adam Braun's Pencils of Promise, with a little help from Justin Bieber, is bringing education to impoverished children.
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(Bankrate.com, 1/25/2012)
Mold mania swept the United States a decade ago after lawsuits filed by celebrities Ed McMahon, Erin Brockovich and Michael Jordan stoked fears about "killer mold." Now, a new threat has emerged - a "house-eating fungus" that can devour homes in months.
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(The Press-Enterprise, 11/4/2011)
The Press-Enterprise editorials I wrote about local, state and national topics.
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(CalWatchdog.com, 2/11/2011)
The prevailing wisdom holds that existing public pensions - once converted into Cadillac plans - can't be turned back into Oldsmobiles.
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(Rebel , 1/31/2011)
After spending his childhood in a devout Christian home caring for his ill mother, Scott Harrison rebelled at age 18, grew out his hair, joined a rock band and moved to New York City to become rich and famous.
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(Los Angeles Daily News, 11/1/2010)
Amid the worst recession in modern history, the salaries of top Los Angeles County officials have shot up 12 to 45 percent in three years and some public servants are now making more than $400,000 annually in total compensation, a Los Angeles Daily News investigation has found.
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(Los Angeles Daily News, 10/11/2010)
In the middle of the 17th century, a Jewish scribe in Kolin, Czechoslovakia, sat down at a table with a feather quill and a bottle of special ink and spent a year writing the "Five Books of Moses" on the skin of a kosher animal.
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(Los Angeles Daily News, 4/5/2010)
In a tale worthy of Greek tragedy, the lion king of the Santa Monica Mountains a few years ago murdered his lioness and two of his offspring.
Yet the fierce P-1, as scientists call him, has never attacked people or pets.
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(National Wildlife, 1/19/2010)
Deep inside one of 260 caves in California's Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, Shane Fryer stared for 20 minutes at a square-meter of ground, seeing little of interest. Then he noticed a tiny, moving dust flake.
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(Los Angeles Daily News, 8/15/2009)
At a time when government agencies are cutting back on law enforcement, health care for children and services for the poor, the number of public servants collecting $100,000-plus pensions - including one raking in nearly $500,000 a year - has exploded in recent years.
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(Christianity Today, 5/15/2009)
Gazing out a large window in the pastor's office at Bel Air Presbyterian Church, Arlene Epps-Gray explains how a mother who once owned a four-bedroom home surrounded by a pond and a barn became a homeless drug addict. She recalls a pivotal event, a childhood trauma seared into her memory.
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(Charisma , 3/1/2009)
He surfs. He swims. He's going to be in the Los Angeles Marathon in March. He has a contagiously optimistic outlook on life. And yet he has no arms or legs.
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(Los Angeles Daily News, 1/10/2009)
When he first saw the storied 5.05-carat red diamond - a gem colored "as if a drop of blood fell upon the hand of the cutter" - Douglas Kazanjian thought it was heaven-sent.
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(Los Angeles Daily News, 11/23/2008)
No one knows Mother Nature's fury like Daniel and Mary Rios.
In a tragic confluence of misfortune, the Rios family has lost three San Fernando Valley homes to natural disasters. First it was the Sylmar Earthquake of 1971. Then the Northridge Earthquake of 1994. And now, the Sayre Fire.
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(Christianity Today, 6/17/2008)
Despite all the recent attacks on faith, or perhaps, because of them, these are definitely the best of times for Christian apologists such as Lee Strobel, William Lane Craig, Ben Witherington III, Darrell Bock, and J. P. Moreland.
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Writing Samples |
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(Angie's List, 6/26/2013)
One of the most elaborately and colorfully decorated Victorian homes in Los Angeles is just a blur to those speeding by along the Arroyo Seco - the first freeway in California. But for those who take the time to visit the historic Hale House, an enchanting - if not otherworldly - adventure awaits.
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(NBIZ Magazine, 6/19/2013)
In the recent release of his proposed budget, President Obama called for an overhaul of the nation's 74,000-page tax code.
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(Pool & Spa News, 5/11/2013)
At a time when Amazon and other e-merchants are wreaking havoc on brick and mortar retailers, it's vitally important to make a good impression on customers as soon as they walk in the door.
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(Angie's List, 4/26/2013)
When Christine Coyle Johnson first saw the basement of the Burbank, Calif., home where she lived since 1997, she was stunned to discover walls covered with vibrant and colorful circus scenes remarkably reminiscent of those in Walt Disney's beloved film, "Dumbo."
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(NBIZ Magazine, 4/19/2013)
As experts debate whether the 12-year bull run in gold and silver is over or about to take off again, Lance Roberts predicts that the recent "consolidation" in the precious-metals market will end soon, making now a good time to buy gold and silver.
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(Bankrate.com, 4/8/2013)
Ah, muscle cars. The name evokes the aroma of burning rubber and hot motor oil, the rush of driving a fast, powerful car and a wilder, crazier time in America.
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(NBIZ Magazine, 2/17/2013)
While President Obama touts the Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 as a "victory for middle-class families" that will boost the economy and shrink the deficit, Stewart A. Feldman says this claim is nothing more than a deceptive mirage.
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(CalWatchdog.com, 1/3/2013)
In the early morning hours of Dec. 2, 2012, four people were found brutally shot and killed just outside an unlicensed boarding home in Northridge.
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(Charisma, 12/1/2012)
When New York Times best-selling author Joel C. Rosenberg tells audiences that America isn't mentioned in Bible prophecy, many are stunned and ask how the wealthiest, most powerful nation in history isn't a specifically defined player in the last days.
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(NBIZ Magazine, 10/15/2012)
As the drumbeat for war grows louder, the most burning questions for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - and U.S. President Barack Obama - are whether and at what point to launch preemptive strikes on Iran's suspected nuclear weapons facilities.
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(Watchdog.org, 10/11/2012)
DENVER - Amid mounting concerns nationwide regarding voter fraud, a ColoradoWatchdog.org analysis found Colorado is one of the most problematic states with large numbers of inactive voters, "dirty" voter registration rolls and other problems.
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(Bankrate.com, 9/15/2012)
In 1949, George Orwell wrote his masterpiece - "Nineteen Eighty-Four," a classic novel about a society where "Big Brother" watches everything that citizens do.
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(Outreach , 8/1/2012)
One morning in December 2005, I awoke from a vivid dream, and the first thought that came to my mind was, "I want you to podcast the Bible." I sat up, shook off the dream and made a pot of coffee. But "I want you to podcast the Bible" became the tape playing over and over in my subconscious.
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(NBIZ Magazine, 6/27/2012)
In recent years, experts have predicted the coming of "peak oil." The International Energy Agency announced not long ago that global oil production had likely reached its peak in 2006 at about 70 million barrels a day.
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(Bankrate.com, 6/7/2012)
At first glance, the lawsuit that insurance giant State Farm filed against tattoo artist and reality TV star Kat Von D seems "outrageous," one insurance expert says. State Farm paid $909,199 after a fire burned down the home the former "L.A. Ink" star was leasing in the Hollywood Hills.
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(NBIZ Magazine, 4/1/2012)
Former Joints Chief of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen likens the "cyber threat" to Russia's stockpile of nuclear weapons.
FBI Director Robert Mueller testified cyber-attacks will soon overtake terrorism as the top national security focus of his agency.
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(CalWatchdog.com, 2/23/2010)
As the $17 billion annual taxpayer tab for government employees' pensions and retiree health care increases at a rate of several billion dollars a year, Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach says California is heading for an economic meltdown.
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(Los Angeles Daily News, 6/30/2008)
Awakened by late-night pounding and his doorbell ringing, Palmdale resident Jesus Bejarano found a social worker and two sheriff's deputies demanding he turn over his 20-month-old daughter, Kelly.
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(High Country News, 6/1/2008)
Jeff Villepique usually carries bear spray when he goes into the mountains. But the California Department of Fish and Game biologist isn't worried about bears as he walks to the edge of a steep, rocky wash near the Mount Baldy Ski Lifts resort in Southern California.
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(Los Angeles Daily News, 3/1/2008)
Like another famous swashbuckling treasure hunter, he has a fear of snakes. He's not adverse to associating with mystics, charlatans and crooks in his quest for prized artifacts.
But unlike his fictional alter ego, the "British Indiana Jones" claims he's discovered the genuine Ark of the Covenant.
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(NBIZ Magazine, 12/1/2007)
Pastor John W. Bowie's father followed the Lord's admonition to build his church on the "rock" when he built the True Light Missionary Baptist Church 73 years ago.
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(Charisma , 9/1/2007)
During his six-year journey to make the movie Amazing Grace, producer Ken Wales visited St. Mary Woolnoth, the London church where the pastor and former slave trader John Newton wrote the beloved song for which the film was named.
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(Christianity Today, 8/1/2007)
It was 2004 and Korn's lead guitarist Brian "Head" Welch had hit rock bottom. As a member of the controversial nu-metal band that became the voice for youth worldwide with lyrics about alienation and abuse, the pressures of the rock star life had torn his marriage apart.
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(Los Angeles Daily News, 5/1/2007)
Flamboyant and ostentatious, they drive luxury cars, unwind in multimillion-dollar mansions, flaunt designer clothes and flash dazzling jewels.
But behind the glitz lurks what law enforcement officials say is a brazen new breed of organized criminal - Eurasian mobsters .
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(Inland Empire , 3/1/2007)
On the wall behind the easel at his Claremont studio, world-renowned painter Karl Benjamin displays a simple drawing of a dog jumping up on a table, a gift a child gave to him decades ago when Benjamin was an elemetary school teacher.
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(Crafted in California, 1/1/2007)
Sam Maloof doesn't believe his ancestors helped build Solomon's Temple. But it's a fair question to ask the son of immigrants from a mountain village in Lebanon - a stone's throw away from the famous cedars used to build God's temple on earth.
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