Southern California is cleaning house in its tarnished athletic department, throwing out much of what got the school in severe NCAA trouble. Athletic director Mike Garrett and Reggie Bush’s Heisman Trophy are the first two items to go. In a letter to school supporters Tuesday, incoming USC president... 

Oprah Winfrey’s quarter-century run on daytime TV may be accompanied by a TV film dramatizing her life. Veteran producer Larry A. Thompson said Monday the planned two- or four-hour Winfrey film will be based on Kitty Kelley’s tell-all biography. Thompson says he has optioned it for six figures. The... 

Metro Transit Police officials are investigating how a 19-year-old D.C. man was able to steal a Metrobus, crash it into a tree and ultimately abandon the bus when officers stopped the vehicle. Police said they arrested the man on Friday and charged him with unauthorized use of a vehicle and fleeing... 

Longtime New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner died Tuesday morning, his family confirmed in a statement. “It is with profound sadness that the family of George M. Steinbrenner III announces his passing. He passed away this morning in Tampa, Fla., at age 80,” the family said in a statement. The... 

Mel Gibson is heard using a racial epithet and calling his ex-girlfriend a “whore” in a recording released by a celebrity news website Friday.The two-minute recording posted by RadarOnline.com includes segments in which a voice sounding distinctively like the Academy Award-winner is heard telling... 

LeBron James has taken center stage in Miami dressed in his new uniform as the Heat welcomes the NBA’s newest trio of superstars. With 13,000 fans chanting “Yes We Did!” Friday amid an atmosphere more suited to an awards show or rock concert than a basketball game, the Miami Heat put on a celebration... 

Violent protests erupted in Oakland with stores damaged and dozens arrested after a Los Angeles jury convicted a white former transit officer of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man. Prosecutors had wanted Johannes Mehserle convicted of murdering Oscar Grant. So Thursday’s... 

A former police mechanic suspected of killing 10 people and stumping detectives for more than two decades was finally arrested Wednesday after police used DNA from his son to track him down. Lonnie Franklin Jr., 57, was charged with 10 counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and special circumstance... 

A new study says legalizing the recreational use of marijuana in California could sharply drive down prices for the drug and possibly undercut the tax windfall that supporters have touted. The study published Wednesday by the RAND Drug Policy Research Center says “considerable uncertainty” surrounds... 

“Red,” the anguished two-man drama about painter Mark Rothko and the timeless tug of war between art and commerce, was a big winner Sunday at the 2010 Tony Awards, receiving the best play prize and five other honors. Fences,” a revival of August Wilson’s deeply personal drama about family, won...