By STEPHANIE HOOPS, Scripps Howard News Service

Although President Barack Obama has recently made changes to a program designed to help Americans refinance their "underwater" homes, people who have been advised by banks to become delinquent on their loans may not qualify for the new benefits.

The Federal Trade Commission has halted operations and frozen assets of a Southern California debt collection firm accused of threatening to kill pets, dig up deceased relatives, and a long list of other harassment complaints from across the country.

The business operated under a variety of names including Joseph, Steven and Associates and Specialized Debt Recovery.

In the late 1990s on a snowy day in Chicago, sociologist Helene Lawson was car shopping when she spotted a woman on the lot, trudging around in 5-inch heels.

"I'd never seen a woman selling cars before, especially at that time," she said. "I thought, what do women know about cars?"

The world's airlines expect they will need an additional 466,650 pilots for airplanes being added to their fleets during the next 20 years, according to a forecast by aircraft maker Boeing Co.

A large percentage of those new hires will be needed to replace pilots leaving through retirement and attrition.

If California ever legalizes marijuana usage, employers will still have the right to test employees for it, experts say, because the proposed laws don't offer new protections in the workplace.

"The employers will continue to have the right to determine what level of impairments they allow in their workplaces," said Karen Gabler, an Oxnard lawyer who specializes in labor law.

VENTURA, Calif. - For 15 years, people have sniffed the tree-free paper products made by EcoPaper Inc. to see if they smell like the bananas they're made from.

"People ask all the time," said CEO Harry Johansing, and he assures them that they do not smell.

Hummer enthusiasts say they won't turn their backs on the brand just because General Motors Corp. is retiring it.

"I will keep my Hummer forever," said Angga "Pico" Febrian, 24, a bartender from Oxnard, Calif.

A variation on the company doctor is emerging at big companies across the country, where businesses are sponsoring on-site medical centers to provide employees with free or low-cost healthcare.

In Oxnard, Calif., for instance, a large berry grower that employees scores of migrant and other workers adopted the approach at the start of the year.

OXNARD, Calif. -- Joe Lara's cell phone went off Thursday morning like a winning slot machine, belting out "ding, ding, ding, ding, ding." The Oxnard man picked it up and recoiled: He had 56 voice mails."I said, Who in the heck is calling me?' "

An African moth capable of devastating agriculture crops has been trapped for the first time on U.S. soil in California.