Gloria Hillard

A number of studies have touted the health benefits of canine companions. But a new study says dogs can make for a happier, more productive workplace, too.

El Centro has something most hard luck small cities don't have — the Blue Angels. For three months every winter, the Navy's flight demonstration squadron makes the city its training home. It's been an enduring love affair for both the city and its adopted military family.

Slab City is a 600-acre chunk of California desert on an abandoned WWII artillery training range, home to long time residents, newcomers and transients. There is no running water, no sewers, and no other comforts of modern day civilization, and the folks of Slab City like that just fine.

In 1952, the federal government created a program that encouraged Native Americans to move off reservations and into cities such as Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles. They were lured by the hope of a better life, but for many that promise was not realized.

Although in the past bell ringers were primarily volunteers, for many behind the kettle today, the temporary job has become a lifesaver. For first-time bell ringers Lynn and Rusty Smith, the minimum wage job is helping to keep them afloat during tough economic times.

Occupy L.A. is camped out on the front lawn of City Hall in Los Angeles. A large number of homeless people are also camped there, causing the group to divide into sections on the lawn. The homeless are in an area referred to as Skid Row. The part-time protesters are in an area called Westwood, after a nice part of town.

Taylor Howell told his high school football coach that if he wasn't blind he would love to play football. The coach told him he'd have to come up with a better excuse than that. The sophomore now plays center on the junior varsity team.

Screen legend Elizabeth Taylor died Wednesday of complications from congestive heart failure. She was 79. Taylor was English by birth and became an American movie star after she was discovered by a talent scout at age 9. In her later years, Taylor put considerable energy and money into the fight to find a cure for AIDS.

From blockbusters like Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 and Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth to smaller films like Deliver Us From Evil, documentaries are drawing large audiences. But some worry that the Academy's new rules could hamper that trend.

A dozen writers for America's Next Top Model, the hit reality show, are on strike. Their goal is to unionize reality TV writers. Without their efforts, Model maestro Tyra Banks and other reality show stars might sometimes be at a loss for words.

Reporter Gloria Hillard gets a glimpse at the underworld of Barbie aficionados, collectors and fanatics at the recent National Barbie Convention in Los Angeles.

Gloria Hillard profiles the little-known industry of people who bid on the hidden treasures in abandoned self storage facilities. They buy entire storage units at auctions, and then peddle the bounty at flea markets and on eBay.