According to the Down Syndrome Research and Treatment Fund (DSRTF) website, about one in every 800 American babies is born with Down syndrome and approximately 350,000 people in the U.S. have this condition today. Down syndrome is caused when a child is born with an extra chromosome, more specifically an extra copy of chromosome 21. The genes are all normal, but having an extra throws the delicate balance of the body off, which leads......

This may seem like a moot point in the wake of the horror that is the Benoit murder-suicide. I do not mean to minimize the tragedy by nit-picking. But I cannot believe that in this day and age I am seeing headlines like this one from Fox News: WRESTLER CHRIS BENOIT, WIFE ARGUED OVER RETARDED CHILD BEFORE MURDER- SUICIDE And here it is again. And again. Retarded child? Retarded? Are you kidding me? This poor......

Crispin Glover's 2006 directorial debut, "What is It?" is being trotted out once again this year, along with the Crispin Glover Show, complete with exclusive interviews and curious media hype. Today I deliver to you a slightly more critical perspective than the review that accompanied last year's LAist interview. I also attended last year's screening of "What is It?" and after seeing the film, I think that it has been mis-titled. "What is it?" is......

LAist has the pleasure from time to time to hear about the good the entertainment industry can do and certain individuals who are invested in a cause and pounding the pavement to raise awareness. Though he might play a snarky doctor on Scrubs, John C. McGinley (aka Dr. Perry Cox) took the day off from the set of the hit TV show last week to host a special Storytime at Barnes & Noble at......

Edward Barbanell is an actor with Down syndrome. But having sat down with Ed for lunch last weekend, I can assure you Ed has not gone "Hollywood" on us. He is in movie after movie, attends movie premieres, but above all else he loves his family and is not afraid to show it. After talking about his brother's upcoming wedding (Ed's going to be the best man) he agreed to do a quickie interview......

Maura Conlon-McIvor visits Dutton's Books in Brentwood to sign her book, FBI Girl: How I Learned to Crack My Father’s Code. There's a Southland connection to this childhood memoir of an Irish Catholic girl struggling to connect with her enigmatic F.B.I. father. Young Maura Conlon’s dad was a Hoover-era FBI agent in Los Angeles. Determined to infiltrate her father’s world, she is met with his stony silence. So Maura sets out to discover the......