Kathryn Evarts

I took a trip out to Anaheim Hills on Saturday to see how people were coping with the damage left by last week's fire. I was barred from entering the Cascade Apartments complex, where the Anaheim fire is said to have started, by a security guard who said that only residents and family were allowed on the property. However, even from the outside the devastation was evident.

I also went to see the houses in the neighborhood directly behind the Cascade Apartments. I encountered three families who had either lost their homes completely or suffered extensive damage during the fire.

As upset as they were over what had happened, these people had found one reason to smile when I saw them. Dana Philblad, whose house was nothing now but a pile of bricks and charred debris, was showing off her wedding ring. Firefighters found it on Friday after days of searching, and although the band had turned black, the stones were still in place. Philblad is six months pregnant, and had removed the ring because it had become tight on her finger.

The fight between the Mormon church and its homosexual members over a ballot measure that will ban gay marriage in California if passed on Nov. 4 has come down to the question of what constitutes the ideal family.

When Senator Obama and Senator McCain took the stage at Belmont University on Tuesday, the country was anxious to see if McCain would finally "take the gloves off" as he was urged to do at a Colorado town hall. Both men's campaigns have taken an ugly turn lately, and many voters were excited to see the candidates use that aggression against each other in person.

 

On a huge lot in Torrance, right off the 110 freeway, cynical Los Angeles natives can lose themselves in the quaint traditions of one Deutcshland's most celebrated holidays: Oktoberfest. There they can enjoy huge steins of beer, plenty of be-lederhosened German hosts, and hours of drinking songs performed by a live oom pa pa band. The interactive evening is certainly entertaining, but guests should arrive early to avoid a late-night crowd more interested in the large quantities of cheap beer than the authentic food and entertainment.

In a highly irregular move, Senator John McCain announced on Wednesday that he was suspending his campaign for President of the United States so that he could return to Washington, D.C. and focus on the economic crisis. His opponent, Senator Barack Obama, shot back at a news conference shortly after this announcement, "This is exactly the time when people need to hear from the candidates."