Boeing Dreamliner to undergo federal safety review

Plagued by one mishap after another, Boeing Co.'s much-heralded 787 Dreamliner passenger jet for the 21st century is feeling new heat from federal regulators.

Days after one of the planes caught fire while parked in Boston and another experienced a fuel leak, the Federal Aviation Administration has launched an unusual "comprehensive safety review of Boeing 787 critical systems." This includes a sweeping evaluation of the way Boeing designs, manufactures and assembles the aircraft.

The review — just 17 months after the FAA gave the go-ahead to the new $200-million-plus plane — does not ground the 50 Dreamliners currently being flown by eight airlines around the globe.

Since the inception of its next-generation passenger jet, Boeing has touted the revolutionary way the Dreamliner is made and the way it operates. But those novel technologies will now attract greater scrutiny from U.S. regulators after recent events have raised questions about Dreamliner safety.

New planes, in general, have "teething" issues as they are introduced. But, industry analysts said, the type of review the Dreamliner is undergoing is rare, and passenger jets haven't been subject to this sort of sweeping government review for decades.

Boeing said it will participate in the review with the FAA and believes the process will underscore customers' and the traveling public's confidence in the reliability of the aircraft.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and FAA chief Michael Huerta launched the effort Friday at a news conference in Washington, revealing plans for a "comprehensive safety review of Boeing 787 critical systems." This includes a complete evaluation of the aircraft, including an assessment of the way Boeing designs, manufactures and assembles the aircraft.

The move comes despite the "unprecedented" certification process in which FAA technical experts logged 200,000 hours of work over nearly two years and flew on numerous test flights, Huerta said. There were more than a dozen new special conditions developed during the certification process because of the Dreamliner's innovative design.

"The purpose of the review is to validate the work that we've done," Huerta said, "and to look at the quality and other processes to ensure that effective oversight is being done."

Certification of the Dreamliner was completed Aug. 25, 2010, and the first plane was delivered to All Nippon Airways a month later. It was more than three years late because of design problems and supplier issues.

The Dreamliner, a twin-aisle aircraft that can seat 210 to 290 passengers, is the first large commercial jet with more than half its structure made of composite materials (carbon fibers meshed together with epoxy) rather than aluminum sheets. Another innovative application is the changeover from hydraulically actuated systems typically found on passenger jets to electrically powered systems involving lithium ion batteries.

For instance, Boeing has said electric brakes "significantly reduce the mechanical complexity of the braking system and eliminate the potential for delays associated with leaking brake hydraulic fluid, leaking valves and other hydraulic failures." Because of these technologies, Boeing says, the new plane burns 20% less fuel than other jetliners of a similar size.

But the use of such extensive electronic systems was called into question when a smoldering fire was discovered Monday on the underbelly of a Dreamliner operated by Japan Airlines Co. after the 173 passengers and 11 crew members had deplaned at the gate.

The incident prompted the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate.

"We don't know the cause of the fire, but it's a serious issue," said Scott Hamilton, an aviation industry consultant and managing director of Leeham Co. in Issaquah, Wash. "Did the FAA miss something? Did Boeing have an oversight in the design process? Was there a problem in the supply chain? These are questions we don't have answers to."

In December, the FAA ordered inspections of fuel line connectors because of risks of leaks and fires.

On the same day, a United Airlines Dreamliner flight from Houston to Newark, N.J., was diverted to New Orleans after an electrical problem popped up mid-flight. Qatar Airways, which had accepted delivery of a Dreamliner just a month earlier, grounded the aircraft for the same problem that United experienced.

Still, both LaHood and Huerta insist the Dreamliner is safe. Ray Conner, Boeing's chief executive of commercial aircraft, attended the conference and said the company was "fully committed to resolving any issue related to the safety" of the Dreamliner.

The Chicago company has taken 848 orders for Dreamliners from airlines and aircraft leasing firms around the world. The price ranges from $206.8 million to $243.6 million per jet, depending on the version ordered.

Major parts for the plane are assembled at various locations worldwide — including Southern California, Russia, Japan and Italy — and then shipped to Boeing's facilities in Everett, Wash., where they are "snapped together" in three days once production hits full speed, compared with a month the conventional way.

Boeing currently is making five Dreamliners a month. The company plans to reach 10 a month late this year.

Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with Teal Group Corp., a Virginia research firm, said the review will be beneficial for the Dreamliner program in the long run.

"There's no showstopper here; it's a short-term embarrassment for the company," he said. "Then again, this program is full of short-term embarrassments."

william.hennigan@latimes.com

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Villaraigosa backs Feuer in hotly contested city attorney's race

Making his first citywide endorsement of this municipal elections season, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Thursday backed former Assemblyman Mike Feuer in the hotly contested race for city attorney.

Villaraigosa, appearing with Feuer outside the Variety Boys and Girls Club in Boyle Heights, praised the former lawmaker "as a tireless advocate, as a ferocious fighter for public safety and for kids."

The endorsement came the same day that campaign finance reports filed with the city showed Feuer to be in the best financial shape of the four candidates on the ballot as the March 5 primary nears.

Counting the $300,000 in matching public funds he qualified for, Feuer had raised nearly $1.2 million by the end of the year and had some $940,000 left to spend. City Atty. Carmen Trutanich, whom Feuer and two others are trying to unseat, reported raising $381,000, which included nearly $159,000 in matching funds, and had $313,000 in cash on hand.

Of the others on the ballot, private attorneys Greg Smith and Noel Weiss, Smith lent his campaign $616,000 — much of it during the last three months of 2012 — and reported raising $8,900 in contributions from others, bringing his total contributions to date to $97,000. Smith had $473,000 remaining and has rejected public funds. Weiss has agreed to accept the spending-limit terms attached to receiving campaign cash from taxpayers but has not qualified for any because he has not raised anything.

In another citywide race, for controller, Councilman Dennis Zine raised the most of any of the six candidates for the open seat: nearly $1 million, counting a $25,000 loan and $267,000 in matching funds.

Trutanich downplayed both Feuer's financial advantage and the mayor's endorsement. The city attorney said he had only recently begun raising money — he announced he would seek reelection shortly after failing to make the runoff in last year's district attorney election. And Trutanich also held a news conference Thursday to discount the mayor's endorsement of Feuer.

"The mayor has an appreciation for what those folks do across the street," Trutanich said, pointing to police headquarters. "But I don't think he has an appreciation for what we do in this office."

The mayor and Trutanich have had a cool relationship since 2009, when Trutanich, then an attorney in private practice, beat Villaraigosa's close political ally, then-Councilman Jack Weiss, to win the city's top legal post.

Others said the mayor's endorsement is valuable, though not likely to be the game-changer that the Feuer campaign predicted it would be.

Democratic campaign consultant Eric Hacopian, who is not working for any of the city attorney candidates, said the endorsement, though important, will probably have the most impact with those already inclined to go with Feuer, because the two men appeal to many of the same voters.

Raphael Sonenshein, a longtime observer of Los Angeles politics who heads the Pat Brown Institute at Cal State L.A., said the mayor's endorsement also could help Feuer with Latinos and African Americans, groups that sided with Rocky Delgadillo when he defeated Feuer for city attorney in 2001.

"The only silver lining for Trutanich," Sonenshein said, is that it would give him an opportunity to remind voters that he defeated an establishment candidate in the 2009 race. "He could say it's the City Hall machine" at work, but "on balance it's a good endorsement for Feuer."

jean.merl@latimes.com

wesley.lowery@latimes.com

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Baby Bones Found Scattered in Ancient Italian Village

SEATTLE — The death of an infant may not have been an occasion for mourning in ancient Italy, according to archaeologists who have found baby bones scattered on the floor of a workshop dating to the seventh century B.C.

The grisly finds consist of bone fragments uncovered over years of excavation at Poggio Civitate, a settlement about 15 miles (25 kilometers) from the city of Siena in what is now Tuscany. The settlement dates back to at least the late eighth century B.C. Archaeologists excavating the site have found evidence of a lavish residential structure as well as an open-air pavilion that stretches an amazing 170 feet (52 meters) long. Residents used this pavilion was as a workshop, manufacturing goods such as terracotta roof tiles.

In 1983, scientists uncovered a cache of bones on the workshop floor, consisting mostly of pig, goat and sheep remains. But among the bony debris was a more sobering find: two arm bones from an infant (or infants) who died right around birth.

In 2009, another baby bone surfaced at the workshop, this one a portion of the pelvis of a newborn. [See Images of the Infant Bones]

The bones “were either simply left on the floor of the workshop or ended up in an area with a concentration of discarded, butchered animals,” said Anthony Tuck, an archaeologist at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, who presented an analysis of the bones Friday (Jan. 4) at the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America.

Abandoned bones

The discovery of the discarded infant bones in an area used for work could suggest that the people who labored in the workshop had little social status, Tuck said. They may have been slaves or servants whose lost infants would garner little sympathy from the community at large.

However, a third find complicates the picture. In 1971, archaeologists found an arm bone from another newborn or near-term fetus pushed up against the wall of the lavish residence along with other bones and debris. It seems as if someone swept the debris up against the wall, not differentiating between baby bones and garbage, Tuck said. [8 Grisly Archaeological Discoveries]

There’s no way to know whose infant came to rest up against the wall of a wealthy person’s home, said Tuck, who plans to submit the findings to the journal Etruscan Studies. Perhaps the infant belonged to a desperate servant, or perhaps to a member of the family. If so, it may be that even high-status families didn’t consider babies worth mourning when they died in infancy.

The possibility can sound horrifying to modern ears, Tuck said.

“This kind of new data makes people a bit uncomfortable,” he told LiveScience. “People have a tendency to romanticize the past, especially in a place like Tuscany. When we have direct evidence for this kind of behavior, it can be a little tricky to present.”

Death in infancy

Nevertheless, Tuck said, there is reason to think that people have not always given infants the same community status as adults or older children. However, baby bones tend not to preserve well, which makes it difficult to know how ancient Italians in Tuscany treated their deceased infants.

Very few signs of infant burial appear in central Italian cemeteries from this time period, though, Tuck said. The handful of coffins containing baby bones that have been found are loaded with ornaments and jewelry, suggesting that only families of great wealth could have given a lost baby an adult-style funeral.

Even in modern times, societies have sometimes seen babies as belonging to a different category than adults, Tuck said. In areas of extreme poverty and stress that have high infant mortality, the death of a newborn may not trigger many outward displays of mourning, he said.

And many cultures have naming traditions that only recognize the baby’s identity significantly after birth. For example, in traditional Jewish culture, a baby boy’s name isn’t revealed outside the family until the bris, or the ritual of circumcision eight days after birth. According to superstition, naming the baby before then would attract the attention of the Angel of Death.

The Maasai people of Africa give their newborns temporary names until a ceremony as late as age 3, in which the child receives a new name and has his or her head shaved to symbolize a fresh start in life.

On the other hand, not all ancient cultures differentiate between the burials of babies and adults. Stone Age infant graves found in Austria in 2006 date back to 27,000 years ago and contain the same beads and pigments as adult gravesites.

The people who lived in Poggio Civitate more than 2,000 years ago have left little evidence of how they viewed infants, but Tuck and his colleagues expect more finds to emerge as the researchers continue to dig in the Tuscany hills. More evidence that high- and low-class babies were buried differently would suggest that the civilization had a rigid hierarchy, they said.

Images of more than 25,000 objects recovered from the site can be found at Open Context, an open-source research database developed by the Alexandra Archive Institute.

Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas or LiveScience @livescience. We’re also on Facebook & Google+.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Warner wins legal victory for control of Superman

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Just in time for the summer release of a hoped-for blockbuster movie "Man of Steel," Warner Bros. won a second significant legal victory Thursday giving it complete commercial control of the lucrative Superman franchise.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals unanimously ruled that the heirs of Superman's co-creator Jerome Siegel must abide by a 2001 letter written by the family's attorney accepting Warner Bros.' offer for their 50 percent share of Superman. Though the five-page letter was never formalized into a contract, the appeals court said it was still binding.

"Statements from the attorneys for both parties establish that the parties had undertaken years of negotiations, that they had resolved the last outstanding point in the deal during a conversation on Oct. 15, 2001, and that the letter accurately reflected the material terms they had orally agreed to on that day," Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote for the panel.

The ruling Thursday undoes a 2008 trial court decision ordering Warner Bros. to share an undetermined amount of money earned since 1999 with the heirs, and to give the family control of key components of the Superman story, including his costume. If that decision were to stand, the studio would have had to negotiate a new costly royalty agreement with the family.

"The court's decision paves the way for the Siegel finally to receive the compensation they negotiated for and which DC has been prepared to pay for over a decade," Warner Bros. said in a prepared statement, referring to its DC Comics division. "We are extremely pleased that Superman's adventures can continue to be enjoyed across all media platforms worldwide for generations to come."

The family's attorney, Marc Toberoff, didn't respond to a request for comment.

Toberoff said earlier that he would appeal another significant Warner Bros. victory won in October involving the family of Superman's other creator, Joseph Shuster, and their bid for half the commercial rights. Toberoff also represents the Shuster heirs, who lost their bid to retain a 50 percent share of Superman.

A federal judge in Los Angeles had ruled that Shuster's sister and brother relinquished any chance to reclaim Superman copyrights in exchange for annual pension payments from DC Comics. U.S. District Judge Otis Wright noted in that case that the families of both creators have been paid in excess of $4 million since 1978, plus undefined bonuses and medical benefits.

In April, the $412 check that DC Comics wrote in 1938 to acquire Superman and other creative works by Shuster and Siegel sold for $160,000 in an online auction.

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F.D.A. Warns Two Producers on Egg Safety

Two large egg producers have received warning letters from the Food and Drug Administration, which said they violated a two-year-old rule aimed at preventing salmonella contamination.

During inspections conducted last summer, the F.D.A. found failures to prevent pests and wildlife from entering barns housing laying hens, poor record-keeping and other infractions that amounted to what it called “serious violations” of the rule.

The failures meant that eggs the companies produced “may have become contaminated with filth,” agency inspectors wrote in the letters, which were sent late last month and posted on the agency’s Web site on Thursday.

The letters offer a window into the way new regulations the agency proposed last week to enhance food safety might work. The proposed regulations, like the rule cited in the letters, aim to prevent food from being tainted rather than addressing contamination after it has occurred.

Both producers, Midwest Poultry Services of Mentone, Ind., and SKS Enterprises Inc., in Lodi, Calif., failed to comply with plans they had submitted to the agency aimed at preventing salmonella enteritidis, one of the most common types of salmonella bacteria, the F.D.A. said. Such plans were required by a rule set out two years ago.

Officials noted the presence of more than 30 wild birds and their nests in three of the five SKS facilities they inspected between May and August, despite the company’s plans for preventing wildlife from coming into contact with its chickens and eggs.

After the inspection, SKS told the agency it would use chicken wire to prevent wild birds from entering its barns, but the agency said it had not received any follow-up report on that correction.

The F.D.A. also said the company was missing pest control records and failed to conduct tests of its birds within time frames specified by the rule.

A woman who answered the phone at SKS’s offices at about 1 p.m. Pacific time said everyone had gone home for the day.

In Midwest Poultry’s facility in Fort Recovery, Ohio, the agency inspector found records of high levels of rodent activity — in one barn, 113 rodents were caught over a five-day period.

Midwest, which produces some 150 million dozen eggs a year, could not give inspectors any record of actions it had taken to correct the problem, and a subsequent response sent to the F.D.A. in August lacked any new strategy for dealing with rodents, the agency said.

The F.D.A. said Midwest failed to maintain records showing that it had refrigerated eggs within the required 36 hours of laying.

“They cited two violations, both of which were about documentation, and all of that documentation has been sent to them,” said Robert L. Krouse, chief executive of Midwest Poultry. “Now we’re waiting to see if they want any more.”

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Herbalife fires back at hedge fund giant

Herbalife Chief Executive Michael Johnson was tired of a powerful hedge fund manager bad-mouthing his company.

So he put on a show Thursday before hundreds of investors at the Four Seasons hotel in Manhattan, rebutting claims that the Los Angeles nutritional supplement company is a pyramid scheme. The presentation accused hedge fund giant Bill Ackman of lies and snobbery, compared Herbalife to the Girl Scouts and featured the company's president entreating that "the world needs more hugs."

Who says Wall Street is more boring these days?

The company's two-hour defense of itself is the latest in a battle since Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management labeled Herbalife as "the best-managed pyramid scheme in the history of the world," during a similar presentation he made late last month. The outspoken fund manager has made a $1-billion bet that the stock would plunge in value.

"Just the very nature of the 'battle' has never been seen in the history of the Earth," said Tim Ramey, an analyst with D.A. Davidson and Co. "This was a very, very orchestrated attack."

Herbalife has hired a battalion of researchers to prove that it has a legitimate and stable business model. Executives held back no punches Thursday before a crowd of investors and analysts, labeling Ackman an elitist who made "false statements," "distortions" and "misrepresentations" about Herbalife and vowing to use "every means available to protect our reputation."

"In recent weeks, there's been a tremendous amount of misinformation about Herbalife," Johnson said. "This misinformation has found its way into the marketplace. Therefore we are sitting with you to correct some of this today."

In addition to outside experts brought in to bolster Herbalife's claims, company executives went through Pershing's presentation last month, disputing individual slides.

To the complaint that Herbalife is not focused on its products, Chief Operating Officer Rich Goudis showed figures indicating that the company spends millions on research and development.

To a Pershing slide that accused Herbalife of having a small distribution network, the company countered with a map of more than 300 company-run distribution points and showing its expansion in Indonesia and South Korea.

To a Pershing slide showing Herbalife products as more expensive than competitors' per 200-calorie servings, the company offered its own slide that compared the prices of the products per unit and showed costs in line with those of its competitors.

"Pershing intentionally used a misleading metric," Goudis said. "They did this to knowingly create a false impression."

They paraded out experts.

Kim Rory, representing Lieberman Research Worldwide, said distributors she surveyed had joined Herbalife because they wanted to get a discount on the products for personal use. Few signed up because they thought they'd make a large amount of money, and about two-thirds would recommend being a distributor to friends, she said.

Anne Coughlan, a professor at the Kellogg School of Management, defended Herbalife's marketing structure and disputed the allegation that it is a pyramid scheme.

"I didn't even see a scintilla of evidence that would suggest to me any hint that this company is running anything but a legitimate multi-level marketing program," she said.

Perhaps the most personal attacks came from Herbalife President Des Walsh, who said he was "highly offended" by Ackman's portrayal of Herbalife's nutrition clubs and defended the company for bringing nutritional products to poor neighborhoods.

After showing a video featuring happy distributors in crowded nutrition clubs, Walsh suggested that Ackman was out of touch with real America.

"This doesn't look like a country club in Westchester, Connecticut, but let me tell you, inside this club is real America," he said. (Earlier in the presentation, Walsh explained that people come to the club for a hug, adding, "the world needs more hugs.")

His comments echo a note sent out last week by D.A. Davidson analyst Ramey, who has a "buy" rating on Herbalife.

"Perhaps where Mr. Ackman lives he never sees a car with the 'Lose weight, ask me how' message across the rear window," he wrote. "I can tell Mr. Ackman that in my hometown, which is not quite Chappaqua, Herbalife is an iconic and widely recognized brand."

Ackman responded quickly Thursday, saying that Herbalife's presentation "distorted, mischaracterized and outright ignored large portions of our presentation," and that he had been contacted by people who provided more information into Herbalife's business practices, which he will soon reveal.

The unusual fight on Wall Street ramped up in December, when Ackman laid out his case against Herbalife in a three-hour, 200-plus slide presentation. He questioned whether the company was focused on recruiting new distributors, who pay to join the company, instead of on selling products. His announcement sent the company's stock down 36% and turned heads when analysts heard he'd sold short 20 million Herbalife shares.

Ackman's biggest beef with Herbalife focused on its so-called multi-level marketing model, which he said led to only those at the top of the company making money. More than 90% of distributors break even or lose money, he said. Ackman even drew UCLA into the controversy, saying Herbalife mentioned a lab at the university multiple times during each investor presentation to lend itself legitimacy.

Herbalife shares recovered some of their losses in the weeks after Ackman's presentation as some investors expressed confidence in the company. Hedge fund Third Point said it was taking an 8.2% stake in Herbalife, betting that the company would survive Ackman's assault.

Analysts at Thursday's meeting seemed supportive of Herbalife, with some expressing their belief in the company during a question-and-answer period after the presentation. One analyst urged the company to fight back against Pershing Square's method of "slandering" the company.

"It was a good, thorough presentation that certainly accomplished the job of defending the legitimacy of their business model," Ramey said.

Still, not all investors were convinced by the presentation. Herbalife's stock closed down 71 cents, or 1.8%, at $39.24. That may be because on Wednesday the Securities and Exchange Commission opened an investigation into Herbalife, according to published reports.

alana.semuels@latimes.com

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Irvine City Council overhauls oversight, spending on Great Park

Capping a raucous eight-hour-plus meeting, the Irvine City Council early Wednesday voted to overhaul the oversight and spending on the beleaguered Orange County Great Park while authorizing an audit of the more than $220 million that so far has been spent on the ambitious project.

A newly elected City Council majority voted 3 to 2 to terminate contracts with two firms that had been paid a combined $1.1 million a year for consulting, lobbying, marketing and public relations. One of those firms — Forde & Mollrich public relations — has been paid $12.4 million since county voters approved the Great Park plan in 2002.

"We need to stop talking about building a Great Park and actually start building a Great Park," council member Jeff Lalloway said.

The council, by the same split vote, also changed the composition of the Great Park's board of directors, shedding four non-elected members and handing control to Irvine's five council members.

The actions mark a significant turning point in the decade-long effort to turn the former El Toro Marine base into a 1,447-acre municipal park with man-made canyons, rivers, forests and gardens that planners hoped would rival New York's Central Park.

The city hoped to finish and maintain the park for years to come with $1.4 billion in state redevelopment funds. But that money vanished last year as part of the cutbacks to deal with California's massive budget deficit.

"We've gone through $220 million, but where has it gone?" council member Christina Shea said of the project's initial funding from developers in exchange for the right to build around the site. "The fact of the matter is the money is almost gone. It can't be business as usual."

The council majority said the changes will bring accountability and efficiencies to a project that critics say has been larded with wasteful spending and no-bid contracts. For all that has been spent, only about 200 acres of the park has been developed and half of that is leased to farmers.

But council members Larry Agran and Beth Krom, who have steered the course of the project since its inception, voted against reconfiguring the Great Park's board of directors and canceling the contracts with the two firms.

Krom has called the move a "witch hunt" against her and Agran. Feuding between liberal and conservative factions on the council has long shaped Irvine politics.

"This is a power play," she said. "There's a new sheriff in town."

The council meeting stretched long into the night, with the final vote coming Wednesday at 1:34 a.m. Tensions were high in the packed chambers with cheering, clapping and heckling coming from the crowd.

At one point council member Lalloway lamented that he "couldn't hear himself think."

During public comments, newly elected Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer chastised the council for "fighting like schoolchildren." Earlier this week he said that if the Irvine's new council majority can't make progress on the Great Park, he would seek a ballot initiative to have the county take over.

And Spitzer angrily told Agran that his stewardship of the project had been a failure.

"You know what?" he said. "It's their vision now. You're in the minority."

mike.anton@latimes.com

rhea.mahbubani@latimes.com

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‘Liquipod’ takes smartphone waterproofing on the road

Amid a sea of Ultra-HD TVs, smart washing machines and various other gadgets, waterproofing expert Liquipel took to CES 2013 to make two announcements. The firm, which adds an interior and exterior waterproof nanocoating to cell phones, revealed a new and improved waterproofing material that is even more effective than its first-generation solution. Liquipel also unveiled its new “Liquipod,” a portable machine that can waterproof gadgets anywhere in the world while device owners wait, according to TechCrunch. Previously, Liquipel required customers to ship their handsets to the company’s offices for treatment.

[More from BGR: iPhone 5 now available with unlimited service, no contract on Walmart’s $ 45 Straight Talk plan]

This article was originally published on BGR.com

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People's Choice Awards a feast for 'Hunger Games'

LOS ANGELES (AP) — "The Hunger Games" devoured the competition at the People's Choice Awards, emerging the top victor with five trophies.

Katy Perry won three awards at the Wednesday night ceremony in Los Angeles, at which fans selected the winners in categories spanning music, movies and television.

"Hunger Games" was named favorite movie, action movie and movie franchise, and stars Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth had fans' favorite on-screen chemistry. Lawrence also won favorite movie actress and "face of heroism."

Perry was the fans' favorite female artist and pop artist. Her video for "Part of Me" also won.

Sandra Bullock picked up the show's first favorite humanitarian award for her efforts in New Orleans.

Actress Kaley Cuoco hosted the ceremony at the Nokia Theatre, where performers included Christina Aguilera, Jason Aldean and Alicia Keys.

___

The night's winners:

Movie: "The Hunger Games"

Movie actor: Robert Downey, Jr.

Movie actress: Jennifer Lawrence

Action movie: "The Hunger Games"

Action movie star: Chris Hemsworth

Face of heroism: Jennifer Lawrence, "The Hunger Games"

Comedic movie: "Ted"

Comedic movie actor: Adam Sandler

Comedic movie actress: Jennifer Aniston

Dramatic movie: "The Perks of Being a Wallflower"

Dramatic movie actor: Zac Efron

Dramatic movie actress: Emma Watson

Movie franchise: "The Hunger Games"

Movie superhero: Robert Downey, Jr., "Iron Man"

On-screen chemistry: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Liam Hemsworth, "The Hunger Games"

Movie icon: Meryl Streep

Network TV comedy: "The Big Bang Theory"

Network TV drama: "Grey's Anatomy"

Cable TV comedy: "Awkward"

Cable TV drama: "Leverage"

Premium cable TV show: "True Blood"

TV crime drama: "Castle"

Sci-fi/fantasy TV show: "Supernatural"

Comedic TV actor: Chris Colfer

Comedic TV actress: Lea Michele

Dramatic TV actor: Nathan Fillion

Dramatic TV actress: Ellen Pompeo

Daytime TV host: Ellen DeGeneres

Late-night talk show host: Jimmy Fallon

New talk show host: Steve Harvey

Competition TV show: "The X Factor"

Celebrity judge: Demi Lovato

Male artist: Jason Mraz

Female artist: Katy Perry

Pop artist: Katy Perry

Hip-hop artist: Nicki Minaj

R&B artist: Rihanna

Band: Maroon 5

Country artist: Taylor Swift

Breakout artists: The Wanted

Song: One Direction, "What Makes You Beautiful"

Album: One Direction, "Up All Night"

Music video: Katy Perry, "Part of Me"

People's voice: Christina Aguilera

Humanitarian: Sandra Bullock

___

Online:

www.peopleschoice.com

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Flu Widespread, Leading a Range of Winter’s Ills

It is not your imagination — more people you know are sick this winter, even people who have had flu shots.

The country is in the grip of three emerging flu or flulike epidemics: an early start to the annual flu season with an unusually aggressive virus, a surge in a new type of norovirus, and the worst whooping cough outbreak in 60 years. And these are all developing amid the normal winter highs for the many viruses that cause symptoms on the “colds and flu” spectrum.

Influenza is widespread, and causing local crises. On Wednesday, Boston’s mayor declared a public health emergency as cases flooded hospital emergency rooms.

Google’s national flu trend maps, which track flu-related searches, are almost solid red (for “intense activity”) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s weekly FluView maps, which track confirmed cases, are nearly solid brown (for “widespread activity”).

“Yesterday, I saw a construction worker, a big strong guy in his Carhartts who looked like he could fall off a roof without noticing it,” said Dr. Beth Zeeman, an emergency room doctor for MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham, Mass., just outside Boston. “He was in a fetal position with fever and chills, like a wet rag. When I see one of those cases, I just tighten up my mask a little.”

Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston started asking visitors with even mild cold symptoms to wear masks and to avoid maternity wards. The hospital has treated 532 confirmed influenza patients this season and admitted 167, even more than it did by this date during the 2009-10 swine flu pandemic.

At Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 100 patients were crowded into spaces licensed for 53. Beds lined halls and pressed against vending machines. Overflow patients sat on benches in the lobby wearing surgical masks.

“Today was the first time I think I was experiencing my first pandemic,” said Heidi Crim, the nursing director, who saw both the swine flu and SARS outbreaks here. Adding to the problem, she said, many staff members were at home sick and supplies like flu test swabs were running out.

Nationally, deaths and hospitalizations are still below epidemic thresholds. But experts do not expect that to remain true. Pneumonia usually shows up in national statistics only a week or two after emergency rooms report surges in cases, and deaths start rising a week or two after that, said Dr. Gregory A. Poland, a vaccine specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. The predominant flu strain circulating is an H3N2, which typically kills more people than the H1N1 strains that usually predominate; the relatively lethal 2003-4 “Fujian flu” season was overwhelmingly H3N2.

No cases have been resistant to Tamiflu, which can ease symptoms if taken within 48 hours, and this year’s flu shot is well-matched to the H3N2 strain, the C.D.C. said. Flu shots are imperfect, especially in the elderly, whose immune systems may not be strong enough to produce enough antibodies.

Simultaneously, the country is seeing a large and early outbreak of norovirus, the “cruise ship flu” or “stomach flu,” said Dr. Aron J. Hall of the C.D.C.’s viral gastroenterology branch. It includes a new strain, which first appeared in Australia and is known as the Sydney 2012 variant.

This week, Maine’s health department said that state was seeing a large spike in cases. Cities across Canada reported norovirus outbreaks so serious that hospitals were shutting down whole wards for disinfection because patients were getting infected after moving into the rooms of those who had just recovered. The classic symptoms of norovirus are “explosive” diarrhea and “projectile” vomiting, which can send infectious particles flying yards away.

“I also saw a woman I’m sure had norovirus,” Dr. Zeeman said. “She said she’d gone to the bathroom 14 times at home and 4 times since she came into the E.R. You can get dehydrated really quickly that way.”

This month, the C.D.C. said the United States was having its biggest outbreak of pertussis in 60 years; there were about 42,000 confirmed cases, the highest total since 1955. The disease is unrelated to flu but causes a hacking, constant cough and breathlessness. While it is unpleasant, adults almost always survive; the greatest danger is to infants, especially premature ones with undeveloped lungs. Of the 18 recorded deaths in 2012, all but three were of infants under age 1.

That outbreak is worst in cold-weather states, including Colorado, Washington, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Vermont.

Although most children are vaccinated several times against pertussis, those shots wear off with age. It is possible, the authorities said, that a new, safer vaccine introduced in the 1990s gives protection that does not last as long, so more teenagers and adults are vulnerable.

And, Dr. Poland said, if many New Yorkers are catching laryngitis, as has been reported, it is probably a rhinovirus. “It’s typically a sore, really scratchy throat, and you sometimes lose your voice,” he said.

Though flu cases in New York City are rising rapidly, the city health department has no plans to declare an emergency, largely because of concern that doing so would drive mildly sick people to emergency rooms, said Dr. Jay K. Varma, deputy director for disease control. The city would prefer people went to private doctors or, if still healthy, to pharmacies for flu shots. Nursing homes have had worrisome outbreaks, he said, and nine elderly patients have died. Homes need to be more alert, vaccinate patients, separate those who fall ill and treat them faster with antivirals, he said.

Dr. Susan I. Gerber of the C.D.C.’s respiratory diseases branch, said her agency has not seen any unusual spike of rhinovirus, parainfluenza, adenovirus, coronavirus or the dozens of other causes of the “common cold,” but the country is having its typical winter surge of some, like respiratory syncytial virus “that can mimic flulike symptoms, especially in young children.”

The C.D.C. and the local health authorities continue to advocate getting flu shots. Although it takes up to two weeks to build immunity, “we don’t know if the season has peaked yet,” said Dr. Joseph Bresee, chief of prevention in the agency’s flu division.

Flu shots and nasal mists contain vaccines against three strains, the H3N2, the H1N1 and a B. Thus far this season, Dr. Bresee said, H1N1 cases have been rare, and the H3N2 component has been a good match against almost all the confirmed H3N2 samples the agency has tested.

About a fifth of all flus this year thus far are from B strains. That part of the vaccine is a good match only 70 percent of the time, because two B’s are circulating.

For that reason, he said, flu shots are being reformulated. Within two years, they said, most will contain vaccines against both B strains.

Joanna Constantine, 28, a stylist at the Guy Thomas Hair Salon on West 56th Street in Manhattan, said she recently was so sick that she was off work and in bed for five days — and silenced by laryngitis for four of them.

She did not have the classic flu symptoms — a high fever, aches and chills — so she knew it was probably something else.

Still, she said, it scared her enough that she will get a flu shot next year. She had not bothered to get one since her last pregnancy, she said. But she has a 7-year-old son and a 5-year-old daughter, “and my little guys get theirs every year.”

Jess Bidgood contributed reporting.

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