A Los Angeles sports era has officially come to an end. After weeks of -backbiting, betrayal and big money,- Lakers' center Shaquille O-Neal has officially signed with the Miami Heat. One sports columnist has tagged the National Basketball Association the summer-s hottest soap opera, -As the League Turns.- Next, what's happening with Kobe Bryant? Will he help pick up the pieces, or was getting rid of an aging behemoth a better move than some fans want to admit? We hear about big money and Byzantine politics of professional basketball, where multi-millionaire athletes aren-t just making the shots. They-re calling them-with attitude. Warren Olney speaks with a local sports columnist, the founding director of Arizona State University's MBA Sports Business Program, and Lakers fan writer-actor-satirist Harry Shearer.
- Reporter's Notebook: Lead-Tainted Candy Wrappers Banned
Earlier this week, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer sued 33 companies that make or sell imported candy. Now, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission has ordered 60 companies to stop importing their sweet treats from Mexico. All this comes less than three months after the Orange County Register showed that Mexican candy was linked to lead-poisoning in California children. Jennifer McKim was part of the investigative team.
Miami Heat on signing O'Neal
LA Lakers' on O'Neal trade
Lakers' Kobe Bryant
Modesti's article on Lakers, hiring of Rudy Tomjanovich
TJ Simers' LA Times article on Buss, Lakers
US Consumer Product Safety Commission on lead-tainted candy
OC Register investigation in to lead-tainted candy