Keeping an eye on the Phil Spector retrial

A few readers have sent notes along the lines of that sent by Gretchen Armato of Santa Barbara, who asked by e-mail: "I would like to know why the paper is no longer reporting on the Phil Spector trial. I enjoyed your coverage of the last trial and am very interested in the current one as well. Will you be reporting on it any time soon?"

Spector is accused of killing actress Lana Clarkson at his Alhambra mansion Feb. 3, 2003; the first trial ended in a jury deadlock in September 2007. From coverage of the opening statements in April 2007 to the Sept. 27 piece reporting that jurors failed to reach a verdict, The Times published more than 100 news articles.

Times coverage of Spector's retrial started again in mid-October with selection of new jury. Trial No. 2 is turning out to be a bit more of the same, but The Times is still keeping an eye on it, says California Editor David Lauter.  His e-mail response to readers asking for more on the Spector trial follows.

Whatever happened to...?

Sometimes a story sticks in the readers' minds long after it has appeared on the front page. Here's a place to ask reporters for updates.

For example, a reader wonders what's happened with the women in their 70s who allegedly took out several life insurance policies on men, then killed them by running over them with a car.