When it comes to breaking the cycle of domestic violence, social workers are unsung heroes. Police patrol officers respond to the volatile abuse calls, so potentially deadly that two or more units are sent. How police defuse the situation, record information and identify potential witnesses can prove vital.

In April, when Public Utilities Commission Chairman Michael Peevey persuaded the PUC board to back his plan to use $600 million generated by a 10-year surcharge on some energy bills to create a PUC-run global warming think tank, the response was far chillier than he probably expected. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was enthusiastic, but he was practically alone.

I've been blessed, and I've been cursed. I've heard diatribes that I thought would never end. I've met lonely folks who count TV as a friend. But I never thought I'd be counseled, consoled and mothered while taking heat for the Union-Tribune's decision to stop publishing TV Week.