Which Way, L.A.?

Crisis in Emergency Medical Care; Arts in Action

Domino Effect Fells County's Emergency Rooms The Northridge Hospital Medical Center on Sherman Way is slated to close by the end of the year, even as staff searches for ways to keep the facility open. Today, months ahead of schedule, the emergency room unexpectedly shut its doors. It's the biggest of six ER's to close this year in LA County, forcing 29,000 patients a year to go someplace else. Carol Meyer, head of emergency services for LA County, says the broken healthcare system has grave implications for the rest of the county. Downtown Culture Comes to Culver City For 35 years, LA's Center Theatre Group has been searching for a venue that's more intimate than the Mark Taper Forum or Ahmanson Theatre downtown. Now it has, in a 300-seat former movie house named for Kirk Douglas--in Culver City. Artistic Director Gordon Davidson says the refurbished facility, which opens November 7, will serve as an important venue for developing new talent and new material. Making News: No News, More Shaking at Mount St. Helens Mount St. Helens in Washington state released huge billowing clouds today. So far just a release of steam and ash, geologists believe there may be more behind it. Bill Steele, seismology lab coordinator at the University of Washington, cautions that the big show may be getting nearer, but predicts the eruption will probably not approach that of 1980. Reporter's Notebook: Where's My Democracy? West Hollywood was recently the scene of the three-day Liberty Film Festival, billed as the first event of its kind catering to conservatives. It was designed, in part, to counter mainstream Hollywood productions like the remade Manchurian Candidate and The Day after Tomorrow, which are perceived as liberal. Tomorrow at UCLA's Royce Hall, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Michael Chabon will read from his own work to promote change in the US presidency.