Kingdom Day Parade Leads Holiday Activities

1. The 26th annual Kingdom Day Parade gets underway in just a few hours in South Los Angeles. This year's theme is "Working together, we can make the dream come true.'' More than 3,000 participants are expected. The parade starts at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Western Avenue, heads west to Crenshaw Boulevard then south to Vernon Avenue, where it will end with a festival in Leimert Park.

2. Government offices, courts, schools, libraries, banks and post offices will be closed today for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Trash will be collected as usual in the city of Los Angeles. All MTA buses and rail lines will also run on a normal schedule.

3. The Social Network and Glee were big winners at the 68th Golden Globe Awards Sunday night in Beverly Hills. Social Network won four awards including best film drama. Glee won three including best TV comedy.  Natalie Portman won best actress for Black Swan while Colin Firth was named best actor for The King's Speech. Top comedy film honors went to The Kids Are Alright.

4. The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County fell one-tenth of a cent today to $3.356, ending a stretch of 24 increases in 26 days that pushed the average price to its highest amount since Oct. 17, 2008. However, the average price is 2 cents higher than a week ago, 9.6 cents above what it was one month ago and 29.9 cents more than one year ago, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service.

5. Today will be another day of warm temperatures and sunny skies with highs in the low 70s. Tonight will be mostly clear with lows in the 50s.

Thought for the day: "With courage you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be compassionate and the wisdom to be humble. Courage is the foundation of integrity."—Keshavan Nair

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