At the visitors center at Mitchell Caverns, part of Providence Mountains State Recreation Area in the Mojave Desert, vandals cut fences, kicked doors off of hinges and shattered windows and display cases. They also stole copper wire, metal signs and survival gear, including hand-held radios, flashlights and binoculars. Critics say what happened at the shuttered park is a signal of what’s to come when 70 more state parks are closed because of budget cuts.

Read Louis Sahagun’s article: “Shuttered California state parks may be vulnerable to vandalism“

Each week we bring you the very best in visual journalism.

This week, revelers dance on floats and in the streets during their turn in the spotlight at the Sambadrome during Rio de Janeiro’s famed Carnival parades, the focal point of Brazil’s bacchanalian pre-Lenten festival. Up in the States, Mardi Gras is awash in beads, parties and fancy floats as partiers cram in all the fun they can before Lent. These festivals led up to Ash Wednesday, marking the beginning of Lent, a time when Christians prepare for Easter through acts of penitence and prayer. In New York, Archbishop Timothy Dolan joins volunteers distributing food at St. Francis of Assisi Church. Dolan, just back from Rome, was among 22 Catholic churchmen who were elevated to cardinal Saturday by Pope Benedict XVI.

The outrage in Afghanistan shows little sign of subsiding as Afghans take to the streets in protest against an alleged burning of the Koran outside Bagram airbase in Afghanistan. The U.S. has apologized for what it calls an unintentional act at the military installation.

You know what they say about burning your bridges? In Steubenville, Ohio, they blow them up. In this case, the 83-year-old Fort Steuben Bridge.

Elsewhere, bodies continue to be removed from the shipwrecked Costa Concordia (more photos) in Giglio, Italy; rioting inmates watch police reinforcements arrive outside the Kerobokan prison in Denpasar, Indonesia; the aftermath of a bomb blast is seen in Peshawar, Pakistan; and investigators from  the Washington State Patrol crime lab examine the area where a patrolman was shot and killed during a traffic stop.

Add stops in Italy,  Germany, Hong Kong, Serbia, Pakistan and Myanmar to round out the report.

Leading off Friday’s Pictures in the News is a two-headed turtle in Kiev, Ukraine; preparations for the Asia-Pacific Dog Show in Manila; a rainbow over the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem; continued protests in Afghanistan over the burning of Korans at a U.S. military base (more photos); and more.

San Francisco is the only fire department in the country to still make all of its own ladders. A look at the singular workshop in this famously fire-phobic city.

In today’s Pictures in the News a helicopter is seen lifting a body from the shipwrecked Costa Concordia (more photos) in Giglio, Italy; rioting inmates watch police reinforcements arrive outside the Kerobokan prison in Denpasar, Indonesia; the aftermath of a bomb blast is seen in Peshawar, Pakistan; Afghan security officials fire into the air during a protest in Kabul (more photos) against the Koran burning, allegedly by U.S. troops; investigators from the Washington State Patrol crime lab examine the area where a patrolman was shot and killed during a traffic stop Thursday morning. And there’s more.

The 84th Academy Awards show is Sunday. It’s time for a From the Archive look at previous Oscar ceremonies and winners.

This gallery is just the beginning. For more historical images check out these Academy Award archive galleries at The Envelope.

Both The Envelope and latimes.com will add many more new galleries before, during and after Sunday’s show. The Envelope already has these 2012 Academy Awards galleries online.

Best of the Web this week might seem a tad condensed, but venture through the Focus Forward, Three Minute Stories and recognize what an innovative world exists.

Remi Ochlik

Recently the World Press Photo 2012 winners were announced, awarding photojournalist Remi Ochlik with first prize in the General News Story category for his work in Libya.  On Wednesday morning, Ochlik along with war reporter Marie Colvin of the London Times were killed in Homs, Syria, when shells hit their makeshift media station. Last night, Colvin was on CNN with Anderson Cooper and said, “It’s a complete and utter lie they’re only going after terrorists. The Syrian Army is simply shelling a city of cold, starving civilians.”

I’m not trying to get all preachy here, but I would like to reiterate that there are many journalist that risk their lives daily to get us information of the world around us.  Let’s not take this for granted.

Focus Forward, Three Minute Stories

Hillary’s Straw by Phil Cox is a wonderful piece of hope, determination and innovation with a powerful mood and tone.  Heart Stop Beating by Jeremiah Zagar was beautifully shot and colored.  I am in awe by what I learned and how well this short doc was made.  The pace and timing and interviews are stunning. Forward Films is a series of short films.  Each piece is entertainingly educational.  From Mr. Toilet by Jessical Yu, I got a different perspective of poop.   Newtown Creek Digester Eggs: The Art of Human Waste by David Leitner is also another piece about human waste, but very different from Mr. Toilet.  This film does an excellent job of giving a glimpse to this mighty piece of ambitious architecture and engineering.   The last film I screened, Landfill by Jessica Edwards and Gary Hustwit is also a piece that focuses on taking garbage and creating energy.  It’s quite telling as to the direction of society — it is universal and affects every single one of us to some degree.

These films are incredibly thorough considering they are only three minutes.  Each topic is relevant and brings to light a deeper point of view and a glimpse of something or someone creating an impact in society.  These films remind me again why I love documentaries and just how much fun they make learning.

Caption: Photograph by Remi Ochlik of fighters believed to be pro-government mercenaries and snipers captured by rebel fighters Sept. 25, 2011, in the Tripoli neighborhood of Abu Slim during the final resistance of Moammar Kadafi loyalist forces.

Wednesday’s Pictures in the News begins in Afghanistan, where anti-U.S. demonstrations at a NATO military base in Jalalabad continued for a second day over what the U.S. has said was the inadvertent burning of Muslim holy books. See gallery

In other protests around the globe, exiled Tibetan students take part in a daylong hunger strike on the first day of the Tibetan New Year at a Buddhist temple in New Delhi and an anti-regime protester holds chains beside Egyptian security forces during the trial of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo.

Today is Ash Wednesday, marking the beginning of Lent, a time when Christians prepare for Easter through acts of penitence and prayer. In New York, Archbishop Timothy Dolan joins volunteers distributing food at St. Francis of Assisi Church. Dolan, just back from Rome, was among 22 Catholic churchmen who were elevated to cardinal Saturday by Pope Benedict XVI.

Add stops in Italy. Germany, Hong Kong and Myanmar to round out the report.

April 6, 1959: Crowds gather outside the Pantages Theater as stars arrive for the 31st Academy Awards.

Los Angeles Times motion-picture editor Philip K. Scheuer reported:

Hollywood staged its biggest annual shindig tonight (Monday) at RKO Pantages Theater – the 31st awards presentations of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Not only was the industry sponsoring its own program for the second time; it promised the longest (two hours) and most star-spangled show in Oscar history.

The entire event was telecast by NBC-TV over KRCA (4) from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., minus all commercials except one – that for the motion picture itself. Monday was chosen, rather than a mid-week night, at the behest of theatermen who have long complained that millions of potential customers stayed home to watch on a Wednesday or Thursday.

The movie “Gigi” won a record nine Oscars, only to be beat the next year by “Ben-Hur’s” 11. The next year, 1960, was also the last year the Academy Awards were held at the Pantages.

This photo was published the next morning on Page 2 of the Times.

For more historical photos from the Academy Awards, check out these galleries at The Envelope.com.