Obama gets tough on jobless benefits

Gulf oil well cap appears successful

Engineers battling the Gulf of Mexico oil spill are confident that the cap over the rogue well is strong enough that they may be able to plug it by pumping mud inside, bringing the three-month disaster closer to an end, BP and the Coast Guard said Monday.
The cap is holding tight at pressures slightly below what engineers had expected, said BP Senior Vice President Kent Wells. That means it may be possible to once again try using the dense liquid to help permanently seal the well, he said.

An earlier attempt at a "top kill" failed because the oil was gushing too violently, but it may be easier for the mud to plug the well when oil isn't flowing, Wells said.

The capping strategy hit a snag over the weekend when oil was discovered seeping into the nearby sea bed. But that oil doesn't appear to have come from the well, said retired Coast Guard admiral Thad Allen. He said pollution from the well doesn't seem to be spilling and pressures are acceptable.

"There is no indication at this time that this is any indication of a significant problem in the well bore," Allen said. "But we are running every one of these anomalies down."

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Edc Death

​A 15-year-old girl who attended an Exposition Park mega-rave died of a suspected drug overdose Tuesday, on a day when headlines were dedicated to mayoral and police concerns about the more than 200 medical emergencies and reported 65 arrests related to two-day event at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The death was reported at 4:55 p.m. at California Hospital Medical Center and hospital officials contacted the county coroner's office about an hour later, said corner's Lt. Larry Dietz.

Fox 11 News reported that the girl's family today decided to remove her from life support, apparently after she hadn't shown signs of life for some time. The family told CBS2 News that her organs would be donated.

The website for the 14th annual Electric Daisy Carnival stated entrants had to be 16 and up, although many such events are listed as "all ages." California law is a little vague in that area, establishing a nighttime curfew for those under 18 but allowing many exceptions, including arts and school events.

The Coliseum's commission was called to to a special meeting to review whether promoters of such events have undertaken proper heath and safety precautions.

"On behalf of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission, I express our dismay and deep sadness on the death of the young woman who attended the Electric Daisy Carnival,'' Barry A. Sanders, president of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission said. "We send our sincere condolences to her family."

Although drugs were suspected in the girl's death, the exact cause of death won't be known until coroner's investigators complete an autopsy.

"It will be a couple of days before the doctors get the case,'' Dietz said. "The big question is what kind of drugs are involved because drugs are pretty much free flowing at a rave party.''

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa this week questioned whether such public venues were the right places for kids to party.

"We're going to have to assess whether or not these events will occur in the future,'' he said.

The event, featuring Will.i.am, Moby and Deadmau5, claimed to have drawn 185,000 people over Friday and Saturday.

New book Colorblind

Tim Wise is one of the most prominent anti-racist activists in the U.S. One of several people featured in the book White Men Challenging Racism, he's trained teachers, physicians, government, entertainment, military and law enforcement personnel on the how-to's of dismantling racism in their industries/institutions and journalists on eliminating racial bias in reporting. He also co-taught a master's class on racism in the U.S. A Nashville, TN native, Wise earned his undergrad degree from Tulane. His books include White Like Me and Colorblind.

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Hulu starts paid subscription TV service

* $9.99 a month for full TV season

* Access on iPad, PlayStation, and Samsung TVs (Adds byline, details on service

NEW YORK, June 29 (Reuters) - Hulu introduced a new paid subscription service for watching TV shows and movies on mobile devices, game consoles, television sets and computers, and joined other media companies trying to strike a balance between paid and ad supported models.

Until now, Hulu has been free over the web supported by advertisements, but offered only selected TV shows and movies. That service will continue to exist after the launch of Hulu Plus.

Hulu's subscription service, called Hulu Plus, gives users access to more than 45 full programs of everything from "Glee" to "The Office" for $9.99 a month.

Like all media companies, Hulu has its work cut out in trying to get people to pay for programming they are used to watching for free from the broadcast networks.

Hulu Plus is hoping to lure consumers to pay a monthly fee for the convenience of watching shows whenever they want.

Hulu has the backing of some of the most powerful media brands, with Fox owner News Corp (NWSA.O), General Electric Co's (GE.N) NBC Universal, ABC owner Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) holding equiy stakes in the company. Providence Equity Partners also is a stakeholder.

Hulu said it is making its service available on Apple Inc's(AAPL.O) iPhone, iPad and iTouch, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's(005930.KS) television sets and Blu-ray players. Soon, Hulu Plus will be available on Sony Corp's (6758.T) PlayStation 3.

Next year, the service will be available on Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) Xbox 360, Hulu said in its announcement on Tuesday.

Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) already runs a subscription service, while Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O) and Time Warner Inc (TWX.N) are developing "TV Everywhere," which will allow people to watch shows on demand for free and on any device provided they are already paying customers.

In another case, Time Warner's HBO service Go lets subscribers download episodes of "True Blood" or "Big Love" as a free ad-on.

Man killed by metro gold line in pasadena

Metro officials and L.A. County sheriff’s detectives were investigating the death early Friday of a man who apparently walked in front of a southbound Gold Line train as it was leaving the Del Mar station.

All the warning lights and gates were working properly in the 5:34 a.m. incident, said Jose Ubaldo, a Metro spokesman.

Ubaldo said the man was walking on the north side of Del Mar Boulevard between Arroyo Parkway and Raymond Avenue.

About 40 passengers were evacuated from the train, he said. Service between the Del Mar and Allen stations was limited to one track because of the incident.

Trains along the entire Gold Line were running every 20 minutes, instead of the usual 7 to 8 minutes, he said.

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