The age-old question of “paper or plastic?” is out of fashion in Los Angeles, replaced by the quandary of whether to shell out an extra 10 cents for paper bags at the register. Read more...

In an effort to rein in exploding college costs, President Barack Obama’s administration is applying pressure to universities with the oldest trick in the textbook: grades. Read more...

Photo: Lisa Aragona/ Bruin senior staff

At the time Kathleen Sheldon started graduate school at UCLA in 1975, it seemed Nelson Mandela would never get out of prison. As Sheldon and a group of campus activists sought to make the South African government an international pariah, Mandela toiled away in an island prison – a visionary moral leader reduced to breaking rocks in a labor camp. Read more...

Photo: On Apr. 24, 1986, anti-apartheid protesters gathered on campus to urge the UC Board of Regents to divest from South Africa. Above, police face a crowd of students, one of whom is holding a sign with Mandela’s face on it.

After years of recession, the California government finally has some pocket change to stash away for potential future crises. But the state would get ahead of itself by stocking a rainy day fund when clouds still loom over the University of California. Read more...

Photo: At a University of California Board of Regents meeting last month, Gov. Jerry Brown expressed concerns about University plans to request additional funding.