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• Antonio Villaraigosa intends to become chairman of the MTA board when he takes ofice. The mayor gets to appoint three other MTA members, and he vowed to look at extending the rail lines.
• Charles L. "Chuck" Henry, who ran Villaraigosa's Westside office, violated state law by soliciting campaign contributions while he was director of the county AIDS program, says a confidential report obtained by the Times.
• Villaraigosa, who had lunch with Jim Hahn yesterday (catered by Langer's Deli), wants an opinion from the City Attorney on whether the mayor's office can stop noisy jets from taking off at Van Nuys Airport.
• Homeowners on Malibu's Broad Beach were told to stop using bulldozers to push wet sand back onto their land, creating a berm between them and the public use part of the beach.
• Joe Scott blogs that "an unimpeachable source" tells him that negotiations between the NFL and Coliseum are 80% complete, with a deal certain by Labor Day.
• An appreciation of life in Bakersfield, by former LAT columnist Dianne Klein.