Surgeon infected patients during heart procedure, Cedars-Sinai admits

A heart surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center unwittingly infected five patients during valve replacement surgeries earlier...

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New Crowdfunding Site Seeks to Protect Backers of Industrial Design

Entrepreneur Jamie Siminoff wants to build more credibility into crowdfunding — so he’s launching a new platform that takes responsibility for ensuring the viability of new projects.The crowdfunding process, pioneered by sites like Kickstarter, has had its share of huge successes, as well as failures. The problem, says Siminoff, is that when a venture fails, the funders are left holding the...

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TNT’s “Leverage” could end this month, producer warns

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – This could end up being a very un-merry Christmas for “Leverage” fans.Dean Devlin, executive producer of the TNT drama, penned an open letter to the show’s viewers on Thursday, telling them that he and fellow “Leverage” executive producer John Rogers crafted the show’s Season 5 finale – airing December 25 – as a series finale, because it just might be.TNT has not yet decided...

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You for Sale: Company Envisions ‘Vaults’ for Personal Data

Peter DaSilva for The New York TimesMichael Fertik, the founder and chief executive of Reputation.com, at its offices in Redwood City, Calif., where he has amassed a database of information collected on millions of consumers. “YOU are walking around naked on the Internet and you need some clothes,” says Michael Fertik. “I am going to sell you some.” Naked? Not exactly, but close. Mr....

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Supreme Court to rule on California's Prop. 8 ban on gay marriage

Justices will rule for the first time on same-sex marriage by deciding the constitutionality of Prop. 8. The Supreme Court announced...

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Video: A Magical Nighttime Journey Through a Fluorescent Reef

A coral reef is a world of kaleidoscopic shape and color. To see one at night, illuminated by its own fluorescence, is even more marvelous still. This luminous parade was filmed off the coast of Egypt by Lynn Miner and Steffen Beyer, the founders of FireDiveGear, who custom-build photographic equipment for marine biologists and other undersea explorers. Miner and Beyer dive in the blackness...

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Nurse who took prank call about royal Kate found dead

LONDON (Reuters) – A nurse who answered a prank call at the London hospital that was treating Prince William‘s pregnant wife Kate for morning sickness has been found dead, the hospital said on Friday, in a suspected suicide.The death comes days after the King Edward VII hospital apologized for being duped by an Australian radio station and relaying details about Kate’s condition which made headlines...

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The New Old Age Blog: A Son Lost, a Mother Found

My friend Yvonne was already at the front door when I woke, so at first I didn’t realize that my mother was missing.It was less than a week after my son Spencer died. Since that day, a constant stream of friends had been coming and going, bringing casseroles and soup, love, support and chatter. Mom hated it.My 94-year-old mother, who has vascular dementia, has been living in my home in upstate New...

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Wealth Matters: Protect Yourself from Investment Fraud This Madoff Day

From left, Marc S. Drier, Bernard L. Madoff and R. Allen Stanford. Their fraudulent schemes collapsed in late 2008 and early 2009. THIS is the time of year when most people think of gifts and holiday gatherings. I couldn’t help thinking of frauds past. Four years ago this week, Marc S. Dreier, a high-flying lawyer, was arrested and later charged with defrauding his clients of $700 million....

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18 arrested in federal crackdown on gang that operated near USC

Federal authorities on Thursday announced a sweeping racketeering indictment against a Mexican Mafia-controlled gang that operated in an L.A. neighborhood just north of USC and was allegedly involved in at least one slaying, drug sales, extortion and robberies.Eighteen members of the Harpys gang, also known as the Harpys-Dead End gang, were arrested Thursday morning on charges in three federal indictments...

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