Pacific Time - Los Angeles Times

L.A. Times reporter Alana Semuels asked a group of UCLA economists visiting the L.A. Times offices what it's going to take to launch a sustained recovery.

The clock is ticking down the final 72 hours of the campaign, and we touch base with California politics reporter and editor Cathleen Decker about the polls, plans and prospects of the candidates for governor and senator.

As part of the "America Out of Work" series, which chronicles the U.S. unemployment crisis, The Times' Stuart Pfeifer writes in Sunday's paper about scams targeting job seekers.

Fatima Bhutto Times staff writer Lori Kozlowski recently had a chance to speak with author Fatima Bhutto, the niece of Benazir Bhutto, for an upcoming piece in Books.

Markets columnist Tom Petruno talks about how bond funds performed in the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30. Are they really the safe havens that shelter-seeking investors may think they are? And what should you do if you own them?

We touch base with California politics editor Cathleen Decker for a status update on the gubernatorial and senate races. We also get some insight on recommendations on the governor's race and on Propositions 19 and 23 from Robert Greene, who heads up the endorsement process for the Times' editorial board.

Entertainment reporter Amy Kaufman takes us inside the upcoming movie about the first friends of Facebook, "The Social Network." She spent time with Jesse Eisenberg, who portrays Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg.

We hear from reporters Jason Felch and Jason Song on what data from the LAUSD revealed about teaching success and failure in Los Angeles, why they embarked on the project and how parents can use the database, which will be made public early next week. In Sacramento, there's a flurry of activity as the legislative session comes to a close early next week. Bureau chief Evan Halper talks us through some of what's going on in our state Capitol.

Sacramento bureau chief Evan Halper talks about questions being raised about CalPERS in light of its inaction on exorbitant Bell salaries when the pension system found out about them four years ago. Christopher Goffard offers his account of covering, over the last two years, a Los Angeles County program aimed at helping the 50 most vulnerable people on downtown L.A.'s skid row. And senior photo editor Alan Hagman talks about the role of photojournalism at The Times.

Times staff writer Scott Gold, who spent all of 2009 reporting on the progress, promise and peril in South Los Angeles, talks about the South L.A. of the mid-1980s, an environment so infused with economic distress, virulent drugs, rampant violence and pervasive cultural mistrust that serial killers could operate in obscurity and with impunity for about a decade.