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While “some” progress has been made in the sixth round of renegotiations to modernise the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that concluded this week, the US has once again expressed concerns over the slow progress of the talks and addressed the so-called “misunderstanding” that it is being unfair in the negotiations.

New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Hicks and other current and former professional and Major League Baseball players put youth baseball players ages 6-15 through their paces at the Greatest Save Clinic.

A program under the auspices of the nonprofit KinderVision Foundation and an official charity of Major League Baseball, Greatest Save uses baseball as an avenue to teach children about personal safety and protecting themselves from predators and victimization.

The La Habra City School District is re-configuring its campuses for the 2018-19 school year, creating a special focus for each, and hundreds of parents have already put in requests to transfer their children to the school that interests them.

The district held two rallies recently to introduce families to the changes happening in the fall when each of the district’s elementary schools will have classes for transitional kindergarten through the sixth grade – Las Positas Elementary will end at fifth grade. Previously campuses were either K-2 or 3-5.

That system made teachers feel disconnected from students who were on campus for just a few years, Rosamaria Murillo, principal at Arbolita Elementary School, said.

“I think (the changes) will deepen our relationships,” Murillo said. “Being able to provide K-6 for kids allows us to get to know them better, provide resources and extend those resources for what they need. We get a chance to know families and grow families together.”

At the rallies, the district’s nine schools had a table with demonstrations and activities explaining their new focus. The schools will still be teaching a standard curriculum along with offering classes relating to their individual focus, such as coding or visual and performing arts.

Parents were able to meet principals and staff members from each school and ask questions about the new magnets and specialized programs as well as transportation, food services, the transfer process, registration and more.

About 800 attended the two rallies, Superintendent Joanne Culverhouse said. The district has a population of about 5,000 students.

“We had great feedback,” Culverhouse said. “It was just a sense of a rally and excitement for the way we’re re-configuring. As always, we’re making sure our students are reaching their full potential.”

Culverhouse said decisions on school focuses were based on teacher surveys and school capacity. Teachers and classified employees have supported the changes, she said, and some will move based on a school’s new focus.

“There’s a lot of excitement, but there are still some unknowns about where people are going to land,” said Murillo, who will be transferring to Ladera Palma Elementary. “We like the idea, we think it will revitalize the district.”

Parents interested in having their child transfer to a campus other than their home school need to complete an application for each student by Feb. 9.

Culverhouse said some parents camped out overnight when the transfer window opened Jan. 21. She said about 75 parents were in line by the time she arrived at the district office at 5:30 a.m.

“(The parents) have been very complimentary,” Culverhouse said. “So far, we’ve had over 500 intradistrict transfers.”

***The new school year

Here are the individual focuses for each school and the grade levels served:

• • Arbolita Elementary, TK-6 – Visual and Performing Arts Academy
• • El Cerrito Elementary, TK-6 – Code to the Future (Computer Science)
• • Ladera Palma Elementary, TK-6 – Spanish Dual Immersion
• • Las Lomas Elementary, TK-6 – Entrepreneur Exploration (Music and Art)
• • Sierra Vista Elementary, TK-6 – No Excuses University College Career Pathways and Music
• • Walnut Elementary, TK-6 – STEAM Academy, AVID Demonstration Site
• • Las Positas Elementary, TK-5 – International Baccalaureate (Application for Candidacy 2018)
• • Imperial Middle School, 6-8 – Academy of the Arts, International Baccalaureate (Application for Candidacy 2018)
• • Washington Middle School, 7-8 – Project Lead The Way (STEM, Music, Dual Immersion 2021)

For more information, visit lahabraschools.org.

I’ve recently decided to start dating again, after a very short dry spell of only 20 years.

My last date – and this is the truth – showed up at the door of my tiny apartment in Laguna Beach as a blind date, wearing ratty shorts, flip-flops and a T-shirt with a hole in it. A noticeable hole.

It was a blind date. He was a fellow journalist and we’d been fixed up by friends.

I asked him, “This is how you impress a potential date? Wearing a shirt with a hole in it?” He looked hurt and said, “I thought we were going to the beach?” Then, he asked where to find the cheapest place to eat. Sad to say, it didn’t work out.

Which is OK, because I feel like I would have needed to run his credit before dating him again. My late mother worked for a credit reporting agency, and she used to illegally run guys’ credit reports before she’d agree to go out with them. Good idea, Mom. If they have a lot of collections on there, your future together might not be so bright.

Luckily, men have been contacting me on Facebook, wanting to strike up friendships. Even better, they’re all handsome, in the military and are carrying cute puppies. Apparently, only men with puppies are allowed to post on Facebook. Occasionally, they also have their arms around girls that I assume they’re passing off as their daughters, to disarm you and persuade you to “friend” them. Although, nowadays, who knows?

Lots of women from Russia also contact me, calling me “dear one,” and offering to strike up close personal friendships. I want to tell them, “Sorry, honey, but I don’t swing that way.”

My 19-year-old daughter, Curly Girl, has made it clear that she would have to approve of any man I dated, and she refuses to recognize the irony that it hasn’t been that long since I made the same demand of her. Not that it ever did any good – she never did listen to anything I say.

We were watching an episode of “90 Day Fiance,” this TLC reality show where people bring their love interests over from other countries on a marriage visa and then must marry them within 90 days or they have to return to their countries of origin. Some of the romances, mostly arranged online, are clearly just ludicrous.

“Do you think it can work out?” says the 47-year-old mother of two about the 22-year-old hunk she wants to marry from a Third World country. Um, no. Her daughters are horrified. Her friends are horrified. She is besotted and determined to bring him to the U.S. and marry him anyway.

“I wouldn’t let you do that,” my daughter, Curly Girl, says, turning to me. She’s lying on my bed and I’m sitting in my reading chair while we watch together. “You’d better not marry anyone we don’t like.”

Well, considering I’m 61 years old and I’ve never managed to marry anyone at all, probably not a huge issue. (My kids are adopted).

Also, I’m chubby, flabby, crabby, stubborn and demanding. Great marriage material, in other words.

My friend and I looked at an online dating site for old folks recently, urged on by one of my colleagues who met his latest spouse there, and I must say I was amazed at the number of older men pictured in their profiles wearing wife-beater T-shirts and mirrored sunglasses. Yeah, that’s attractive.

I know lots of guys who are good husband material, which was proven when they married my friends decades ago. Sigh.

If I ever did manage to get a date someday, it would have to be someone who likes to read. One description of a guy on this online site asked if he reads, and he answered, “If I have to.” Maybe not my soulmate.

True story: My friend Janie is trying to teach me how to attract men. We were at Crystal Cove beach recently, where she was giving me tips as we walked along the shore. Apparently, I need to learn how to talk to random guys.

Suddenly, she pointed to a guy wearing a shirt with an outline of a whale on it, and the word EAT emblazoned in the middle, who was walking toward us. She ordered me, “Say something to him.”

I was flummoxed so I blurted out the first thing that came into my head. I looked at him and said, “So, do you eat whales?”

He gave me a look and then walked as far away as possible. Janie looked at me, disgusted, and said, “You’ve got no game at all.”

Mariano, a Persian cat, appeared unimpressed as he gazed down on bustling Franklin Avenue from inside a home — a concrete temple, really — that Lloyd Wright dreamed up when he wasn’t busy designing orchestra shells for the Hollywood Bowl.

Likewise, Mariano didn’t seem to care that, as he groomed his stone-grey coat, he was sitting near the very same fireplace where Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Beckinsale filmed a scene for the 2004 movie “The Aviator.”

And when it all got to be too much, Mariano escaped to a narrow passageway hidden behind the living room bookshelf, connecting to a basement where many believe the Black Dahlia murder took place.

It’s fitting that Mariano roams freely through the $4.7 million-dollar landmark Sowden House. Because if it wasn’t for the 10-year-old cat, his owner, Dan Goldfarb, wouldn’t have had the motivation or the means to buy the infamous Los Feliz property.

Goldfarb made his money selling cannabis products for pets.

“Our goal was not to start a business or proselytize cannabis or anything else,” said the 42-year-old New York City native, who talks fast and rarely sits down. “Our goal was to help animals.”

Thousands of customers across the country say his Canna-Pet products have done just that. But Goldfarb says he’s just getting started.

As part of an ongoing mission to educate people about cannabis, Goldfarb and his wife, Jenny Landers, have started opening the landmark Sowden House for marijuana-friendly events and fundraisers that support causes close to their hearts.

“I just feel like this house is meant to be shared,” Landers said.

And it all started with a sick Persian cat.

The business

Goldfarb has been a cat lover for as long as he can remember. And he’s had a love affair with cannabis since he started studying film, media and economics at MIT when he was just 17.

He was consuming marijuana recreationally then. But at the time, in the early 1990s, his prestigious university was also on the forefront of studying how cannabis actually works in the body. And even as he went on to pursue a career in computers, the plant’s potential stuck with him.

Landers was working as a graphic artist and doing post-production TV work when she married Goldfarb 10 years ago. A short time later, their adopted rescue cat Mariano — named after Yankees closer Mariano Rivera — began battling a myriad of health issues. Drugs prescribed by the veterinarian were causing Mariano’s fur to fall out, and he still wasn’t much better.

So, in 2013, Goldfarb started treating Mariano with an early version of the cannabis products he now sells.

Canna-Pet capsules, oils and dog treats don’t have any THC, the compound in marijuana that makes people high and pets uncomfortable. Instead, his products are made from Kentucky-grown industrial hemp, a strain of the cannabis plant that’s heavy on CBD, the chemical thought to have the most therapeutic benefits.

Since Canna-Pet products aren’t psychoactive, people don’t need a doctor’s recommendation for medical marijuana to purchase them, and they don’t have to worry that they’re making their animals stoned. The products can be sold outside marijuana dispensaries, even in states that haven’t legalized cannabis for any human uses.

Commercial success, according to Goldfarb, was “instantaneous.”  But much like with the famous home he now owns, controversies have popped up.

In 2014, Goldfarb’s original business partners in Seattle sued him, claiming he’d stolen formulas they’d developed. The case was dismissed a few months later, court records show, and both parties declined to discuss it.

In 2015, the Food and Drug Administration sent Goldfarb a warning letter that said Canna-Pet had to stop marketing its products as a treatment for health conditions in animals.

Today, Canna-Pet is going strong. Goldfarb said they sell products online and in stores and vet offices across the country. And, while testimonials on his website tout how the products have helped cats, dogs, horses and more with everything from arthritis to seizures, he’s careful not to make any such promises himself.

The home(s)

As Goldfarb and Landers plotted to expand their business and charity work, he said he knew he wanted to be in Los Angeles – though he’d never previously visited the city.

“I’m here because it’s a hub for talking about cannabis,” he said. “We want to be part of the conversation.”

A friend sent him a Zillow listing for the Sowden House, likely as a joke.

“She called it ‘the Lex Luthor house,’” said Goldfarb, who wore a button-up shirt over a graphic tee as he toured his fortress. “But I think that only made it more appealing to me.”

Lloyd Wright, son of Frank Lloyd Wright, built the house in 1926 for retired artist John Sowden. But the Sowdens didn’t live there long, with reports that they resented the criticism their Mayan Revival-style home received.

More controversy was in store. After Dr. George Hodel purchased it in 1945, the house became known for hosting drug-fueled orgies. Hodel reportedly beat his sons there and drove his daughter to run away. In 2003, Hodel’s son Steve, who was a retired L.A. Police Department detective, wrote a book claiming his dad had killed several women in the basement. He said one of those alleged victims was Elizabeth Short, who in death became known as the Black Dahlia.

The property was in disrepair in 2001 when real estate mogul Xorin Balbes bought it for $1.2 million. He promptly began restoring and renovating it, with some uproar as he built a pool in the courtyard, added a modern kitchen and overhauled the bathrooms.

The Sowden House has changed hands several more times since then, until it was listed for sale in spring 2017 for $4.7 million.

Goldfarb fell in love at first photo, calling the property a “thing of beauty.” He doesn’t drive thanks to his New York City upbringing, so he jumped on an Amtrak train with an offer already in hand. On July 1, the home was his.

Since Balbes designed custom furniture that came with the house, Landers said they basically rolled up with some suitcases and their cats. And the only thing they’ve changed since they began dividing their time between the Sowden House and their second home in La Jolla has been to take down bougainvillea and other landscaping that had swallowed some concrete pillars, replacing those bright plants with more understated succulents.

Despite rumors that the home is haunted from its Hodel days, Landers said she’s never felt any bad vibes, even when she’s stayed overnight by herself.

“I feel peaceful here, in fact,” she said.

Hollywood has long come calling to use the Sowden House for filming. Along with its appearance in “The Aviator,” the home has been used as a backdrop for a season of “America’s Next Top Model,” with scenes shot in its tomb-like entryway, by the koi pond in one of the bathrooms and in front of the eel-filled fish tank in the sitting room. The band The xx also played on the home’s “creepy” reputation as it filmed a recent music video starring Millie Bobby Brown of “Stranger Things” fame and Michael Jackson’s daughter, Paris Jackson.

Those Hollywood gigs cover expenses for the home, Goldfarb said. That allows Landers, who manages the property, to offer it up free to nonprofits like Kindred Spirits Care Farm, which works with troubled youth to rescue animals and promote sustainable farming. The Winnetka-based charity is holding a fundraiser at the Sowden House on Feb. 10.

Event coordinator Katie Partlow now curates gatherings at the home under the name Black Dahlia.

On Sunday, some 250 people gathered at the historic property for Partlow’s Afternoon Delight, an exclusive event celebrating cannabis. Chef Taryn Garcia cooked up treats like infused macaroons and the band October’s Child performed while experts offered classes and health treatments for a chic crowd.

Mariano and his siblings get to attend most of these swanky events.

He’s healthy now. And he’s typically quite willing to pose with guests who are eager to Instagram shots of the cat that inspired a cannabis empire.

If it’s Super Bowl weekend in Huntington Beach, one thing is certain: There’s going to be a party and you can forget about parking.

On Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 3 and 4, 17,000-or-so runners will toe the line for the 22nd annual Surf City Marathon and Half Marathon.

And once again, there will be 17,000-or-so individual stories to go with the event: Stories of triumph and heartbreak; people overcoming odds and obstacles, and those falling short; stories of reaching goals and taking taking pride in reaching for them regardless of the outcome.

There also will be the usual cast of characters to add color to the event, like the guy running in 60 pounds of fire gear.

Runners will splay out across Huntington Beach, from Pacific City downtown to the Bolsa Chica Wetlands and State Beach to the north and inland around Seapoint, the Bluffs and Central Park.

This year, there will be some old favorites and new wrinkles will be introduced.

On Saturday, kids will have the chance to scamper over, around and through a half-mile obstacle course called the Cowabunga Beach Challenge. The course includes a cargo net crawl, trash can slalom, hay bale climb, sand pail carry, balance walk and an inflatable slide. Kids who complete the course get a medal and a cape. The event begins at 10:30 a.m. in waves by age group.

For the older set, on Sunday adults will be able to belly up to the Sand Bar, sponsored by Sam Adams, with libations and free music.

Returning this year after a five-year absence is the 5K Run and Walk on Sunday. It features ocean views throughout the course and wends past the pier and Main Street.

Some of the runners participating:

• Christine and Charles Mayfield, of Placentia, registered to run in the marathon as a husband-wife activity. It became something more on Sunday, Oct. 2, 2017, when Charles Mayfield was wounded in a hail of gunfire at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas. He is recovering from two wounds. Christine Mayfield and the couple’s children emerged unscathed. The two told race organizers that completing the half-marathon will be another victory as they move forward and live each day with gratitude, hope and respect for those whose lives were lost.
• Laura Fitzgerald is running her 21st half-marathon in the past six years, since recovering from fusion surgery in her lower back.
• Jennifer Obenberger and Rishika Murthy are fighting back from ulcerative colitis and colon removals. Both are registered to run in the Team Challenge for Crohns and Colitis for the half-marathon and raising money to fight the disease.
• Mycle Brandy, of San Clemente, is a four-time stroke survivor in his third half-marathon in Surf City. He walks to raise awareness of the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle and to support the Wounded Warrior Project and the Brain Injury Association of America. His next event will be his fourth Walk Across America.

Weekend schedule

What: Active Lifestyle Expo

When: 1-7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 2; 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 3

Where: Huntington Beach Parking Lot, 21291 Pacific Coast Highway

What: The Cowabunga Beach Challenge

When: 10:30-11:30 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 3

Where: On the beach across from the Expo, 21291 Pacific Coast Highway

What: Race Day

When: 6:25 a.m. Wheelchair Half Marathon; 6:30 a.m. Marathon; 7 a.m., Surf City 5K; 7:45 a.m., Half Marathon; Sunday, Feb. 4

Information: motivrunning.com/run-surf-city

“I call this collection ‘Jackie O going to Kyoto to meet the royal family of Japan,’” declared Andrew Gn, with his trademark mix of erudition and tongue-in-cheek humor.
In practice, his pre-fall lineup centered on casual chic day options — think oversize coats, ample culottes and ruffled blouses — done in a zingy palette of acid-bright colors.
Key to the look was a woven motif, inspired by a kimono fabric from the Edo period, that blended floral designs with bright dégradé effects, in a nod to his Japanese grandmother and his own penchant for collecting antiques.
The custom-made fabric came in a sky blue-to-lemon yellow variant on a bell-shaped skirt, which was paired with a pale pink blouse in a colorful floral pattern inspired by a Minton porcelain motif. Gn threw in chunky pearls, a sequined handbag and blood-red suede boots for good measure.
“My goal is to do something that cannot be copied within 48 hours,” he said of his soigné aesthetic, with its abundance of handcrafted details. “We’re living in this high-tech world and everything moves so fast. The most luxurious thing now, and also in the future, will be things made by human hands.”
Nonetheless, the designer believes in making life easy

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As brands search for ways to stand out amid an increasingly crowded show calendar, Rodarte’s Kate and Laura Mulleavy opted to skip the catwalk entirely this season in favor of a portrait portfolio featuring some of the women who inspire them.
Kirsten Dunst (pregnant with her first child), Kim Gordon, Grimes, Gia Coppola, Miranda July and Ava Phillippe are among the talents they tapped to pose in outfits from their fall collection, which were also displayed on dressmakers’ forms in a Paris showroom.
Standing against a painted backdrop in ruffled lace blouses, flamenco frill skirts or sheer dresses with embroidered floral motifs, Rodarte’s eclectic cast of characters could have jumped out of a vintage Hollywood movie set in turn-of-the-century theaterland.
The duo played with a multicolor palette: baby blue for a simple tulle bustier gown, lipstick red for a dress covered in tiny fabric rosettes and a trail of velvet butterflies. There was a costume feel to some of the looks, such as an oversize artist’s smock covered in tiny silver sequins.
Kate Mulleavy said their recent feature film debut, “Woodshock,” has set them on new paths to self-expression. “We’re kind of now more freeing ourselves from what are the traditional ways that you

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PARIS — The sense of a renewal was tangible at the recent Salon International de la Lingerie and Interfilière trade shows here, with heritage brands visibly shifting to a more consumer-oriented discourse and a strong focus on offering solutions for retailers seeking to boost their business in what remains a difficult market.
The events, which ran from Jan. 20-22 at Porte de Versailles, both saw slight upticks in visitor numbers, according to show organizer Eurovet, which no longer discloses traffic data. Premium and VIP visitors were up 12 percent at SIL and 5 percent at Interfilière, Eurovet said.
“The energy is incredible,” said first-time visitor Gloria Barrigan, owner of Alberta, Canada-based Night Owl Lingerie. “We’re seeing the high-end collections we are looking for, which we don’t see in North America anymore,” she commented.
French lingerie and hosiery sales fell 2.5 percent to 2.95 billion euros last year, according to IFM data sourced from Kantar Worldpanel, a decline principally attributed to changing consumption patterns and the growth of online, with department stores, mass distribution, independent and multibrand retailers all losing market share. According to estimates, meanwhile, the global lingerie market was flat in 2017.
In such a context, communicating a strong brand identity and offering differentiation

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PLAYING MATCHMAKER: Lord & Taylor wants to do much more than just clothe its customers. In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, the retailer is getting into the dating-mating game. Tonight, L&T will host an event at the Andaz bar in New York with The League, a social and dating mobile app.
The event is speed-dating with members of The League and TV personalities Dean Unglert, Eric Bigger, Amanda Stanton and Ashley Iaconetti from “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette.” (Unglert, Bigger and Stanton are also participating in “The Bachelor Winter Games” starting Feb. 13.)
The League has invited 23 women and 23 men to participate. The women will be seated and the men will rotate so everyone has a chance to meet one another, including the celebrity guests. A bell will be rung every three minutes.
The TV stars will be dressed in Lord & Taylor’s exclusive brands including Design Lab, Highline Collective and Black Brown 1826 and will share dating advice and style tips with guests.
Lord & Taylor says this is the first time a retailer has done this type of “disruptive event” to promote Valentine’s Day.
“Lord & Taylor has always been a great destination for gift-giving, and Valentine’s Day is no different.

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