Robert Jablon

LOS ANGELES — Scientists prepared to send Curiosity on its first test drive Wednesday over the billion-year-old rocks of Mars and said a busted wind sensor wouldn’t jeopardize its mission of determining whether life could exist there.

Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., turned four of the rover’s six wheels in place this week in a successful “wheel wiggle” to test the steering for the short trek, mission manager Mike Watkins said.

LOS ANGELES -- Etta James' performance of the enduring classic "At Last" was the embodiment of refined soul: Angelic-sounding strings harkened the arrival of her passionate yet measured vocals as she sang tenderly about a love finally realized after a long and patient wait.

In real life, little about James was as genteel as that song. The platinum blonde's first hit was a saucy R&B number about sex, and she was known as a hell-raiser who had tempestuous relationships with her family, her men and the music industry. Then she spent years battling a drug addiction that she admitted sapped away at her great talents.

The 73-year-old died at Riverside Community Hospital, with her husband and sons at her side, De Leon said.

LOS ANGELES -- Authorities were on the hunt for a Pennsylvania couple after the body of a Good Samaritan who befriended them was cut into pieces and stashed in a backpack and under a bed in a Skid Row hotel room, police and family said.

Edward Garcia Jr., 36, and Melissa Hope Garcia, 25, who also goes by the name of Melissa Turner, were charged Tuesday with murder and the special circumstances of torture in the Thanksgiving killing of Herbert Tracy White, 49, of Los Angeles.

The couple from York, Pa., had several previous arrests for robbery in that state and they are considered armed and dangerous, Detective Richard Arciniega said.

LOS ANGELES -- Toxicology tests will determine whether drugs or alcohol played a role in the death of Marie Osmond's 18-year-old son, who police said jumped to his death from a downtown apartment building, a coroner's official said Monday.