The bureau and San Francisco Municipal Railway (sfmuni.org) sell MUNI passes online. They also say it creates an incentive for employers and employees to choose more expensive healthcare than they need, helping drive prices higher.The president's proposals have gotten a frosty reception on Capitol Hill. Add the olive oil and butter and heat until the butter bubbles but is not yet turning brown. But what triggered Proposition 20, she said, was a drive through Malibu with her children..

to settle human-rights claims sued Wal-Mart on Tuesday, alleging the world's biggest retailer allowed sweatshop conditions at supplier factories around the world.The case opens a new front in litigation against the retail giant, which is already fighting a mammoth suit alleging it has underpaid female employees as well as efforts by residents and politicians in some communities to block new stores.The International Labor Rights Fund filed the suit in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of hundreds of thousands of factory workers in China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Swaziland and Nicaragua -- as well as California workers at Ralphs and Safeway grocery stores who it claims were harmed by the company.The suit contends Wal-Mart failed to enforce its corporate code of conduct -- which mandates basic wage and working conditions -- on its suppliers around the world, as the company has pledged to do. The company -- which owns 42 properties in the U.S., Canada and Europe, including the Block at Orange and Del Amo Fashion Center -- employs about 1,100.The Arlington, Va.-based real estate investment trust has been forced to restate and lower its profit in recent months. Pete Wilson, helped write the Costa initiative and said the foul-up did not mislead voters. Now, corrections officials in states as politically dissimilar as Indiana, Missouri and Minnesota are concluding that "gender matters," according to Barbara Owen, a prison sociologist at Cal State Fresno."No state does everything well" in managing female inmates, said Owen, recently hired as an advisor to the California Department of Corrections.

"I have to speak English."So he tries, sometimes stumbling, often staggering, hemming and hawing but never quitting until he has answered a question or complimented a teammate or thanked a fan.Teammates sometimes listen with restrained impatience. Ever seen a hummingbird do the breast stroke? Trish Meyer and her husband, Chris, have witnessed this phenomenon in the hummingbird bath of their Sherman Oaks home."They move their little wings like this," Trish says, demonstrating the proper arc, "and paddle with their teeny little feet. soldiers arrived.A roadside bomb aimed at a police patrol killed four officers and injured two in central Baghdad. "We've done theater in London, L.A., Chicago, New York and Vegas.

So if your heart is set on a minimalist Modernist decor, forget about bamboo flooring.*(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)Resource guideCOVER: Plyboo Parquet bamboo floor, at Smith & Fong Co., South San Francisco, (866) 835-9859, www.plyboo.com. Ray Charles"Ray Charles: Genius & Friends"(Atlantic/Rhino)* * 1/2THIS album isn't a sequel to last year's Grammy-winning "Genius Loves Company," though the title hints at it and the concept (a duets collection) is similar.Although Charles went into the studio with the various vocal partners to record "Company," most of the guest vocals on "Friends" were added after the magnificent soul singer's death last year. Yet Abraham Lincoln in 1863 was determined to tell a fractured nation that there was still hope, and to offer a heartfelt prayer for healing amid the bloodshed.Whether one offers gratitude to God, family, friends or even business associates, Thanksgiving is about counting our blessings, not our curses. is home to nearly 100 million vehicles at least 10 years old and could provide a huge pool of imports into Mexico, according to Adesa Inc., an Indiana-based operator of used-car auctions.Opening the Mexico market will benefit merchants and consumers there and in the United States, said Timothy Van Dam, general manager of California Auto Dealers Exchange in Anaheim, the largest dealer auction on the West Coast."Many cars are considered disposable even though they still have a lot of miles left," he said. He had missed the first pitch, and the ball knocked down one of the three sticks behind him, called wickets.

The Arab leaders will not accept Olmert's proposal," Ahmed Tibi, an Arab member of the Israeli parliament, said in a radio interview Sunday night. Then it's unforgettably topped with roasted cherry tomatoes and squanda, a unique, sharp-flavored ricotta made from sheep's milk.* Bruschetta with cherry tomatoes and ricotta, $8.95; 11604 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 571-3800.AmmoNobody would call this Hollywood cafe/caterer Italian, but its bruschetta aims in that direction. Retired Orange County Superior Court Judge James Randal Ross, the great-grandson of Western outlaw Jesse James who was once criticized for selling copies of a book he wrote about his notorious ancestor from his chambers, has died. forces in Iraq, said explosives "can be found on the side of the road, buried in the road, in cars; they have been found in dead animals.