LA Observed

⇒ Times columnist Gregory Rodriguez writes that the Democrats would have reached more Latino voters had Antonio Villaraigosa given the English-language State of the Union response: "the ethnic politics behind the decision are decidedly lame."

⇒ Uniformed op-ed reaction to the Devin Brown decison: Police Protective League president Bob Baker in the Daily News, anonymous cop "Jack Dunphy" in the Times.

⇒ Chase Knolls in the Valley will get 141 new apartments but older units in the garden-like complex will remain under a compromise approved by the City Council. "I don't think anyone is happy with the final results, but it is the best we can do," says a leader of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association.

⇒ At least one million-dollar real estate sale has already fallen through in the gated-enclave of Bell Canyon since the news that cancer rates are higher near the former Rocketdyne engine-testing facility in the Simi Hills, the Daily News reports.

⇒ LAT music critic Robert Hilburn, whose going-away bash was held last week, runs a Sunday pre-Grammy interview from London with Paul McCartney under the unfamiliar byline of "Special to the Times."

⇒ Sunday's NYT reviews its reporter James Risen's book, The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration. Reviewer Walter Isaacson is a former managing editor of Time and chief executive of CNN.

⇒ The MTA says the Orange Line busway in the Valley is a success so far.
Meanwhile, Ray Bradbury re-promotes his vision that monorails are the future in the LAT Current section, citing the failure of something he calls "the subway from East L.A. to the Valley." There's a subway in East L.A.?.

⇒ Defamer Mark Lisanti is profiled by Copley's Norma Meyer in the Daily Breeze.

⇒ Former LAT and current NYT reporter Jodi Rudoren writes a piece to explain why her byline is now a blend of her family name (Wilgoren) and her husband's surname. She cites Antonio Villaraigosa as support.

⇒ Collage Dance Theater's latest piece—performed at the LAPD's academy in Elysian Park—is featured in Sunday's New York Times.

⇒ Add character actor Paul Parducci to the L.A. blogroll.