Head of Child Services to go
David Sanders will resign as director of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services on July 31. He is becoming executive vice president with Casey Family Programs. Since taking over DCFS in March 2003, the number of foster children in the county has declined to about 20,000. CityBeat's Joe Piasecki has a
cover story on Sanders out today.
Most expensive ride in town
On top of the taxes you pay, a ride in an LAFD ambulance will cost you at least $622 plus more for life-saving services
plus $14.50 a mile. The City Council
raised the charges Wednesday, and bumped up to $125 the charge for getting a boot removed from your car.
Blue Shield to exclude UCLA
Negotiations
broke down over high costs at the Westwood medical center.
Terrorist gang that can't shoot straight
A website claimed that the Animal Liberation Front takes responsibility for planting a Molotov cocktail on the front porch of a UCLA psychiatry professor's home. Police say, though, that the device was placed in front of the
wrong Bel-Air home.
Rafael Perez in the news
The ex-LAPD officer who is on parole for his role in the Rampart corruption was
arrested on suspicion of applying for a driver's license using a false name.
Scandal in Maywood
The deputy city clerk is suspected of sending hate mail and
threatening a councilman.
Building and Safety folo
Jeffrey Anderson analyzes Controller Chick's
audit in LA Weekly.
UTLA rank-and-file split on the Villaraigosa deal
At a raucous meeting last night, union members demanded lots of answers and in the end supported the mayor's compromise on a close vote. The
Daily News stayed on the story longer than the
Times and got the vote results.
More ethics rules
Mayor Villaraigosa signed an executive directive ordering every city department to update their ethics policies and cooperate with the Ethics Commission.
Disney to cut 20% of jobs
Some Santa Barbara staffers wavering
A report on the UCSB student newspaper's website has
more details on the mixing of business and news decisions by the ownership of the News-Press that caused six top editors and columnist Barney Brantingham to resign. It also quotes an unidentified staffer saying that more people are contemplating departure.
“A lot of emotions are running high, and there are a few people in the newsroom who are teetering on resigning or staying,” the employee said. “It’s hour to hour with the way they feel, including myself. And now as far as any top people resigning, there’s no top people left.”
Congratulating Jillian
LA Weekly's Joe Donnelly offers up
an appreciation of
Good Day L.A.'s Jillian Barberie on the occasion of her marriage — shared, of course, with the Fox 11 audience.
Somewhere along the way, Jillian stopped being so much fun. She started to get a little cranky. Maybe it was the fact that Kelly Ripa got the Regis gig she wanted. Maybe she felt marginalized as “the weather babe.” When Good Day L.A. tried going national, her spot was taken by a Jillian-lite. She still did her job, but she didn’t seem happy. She kept reminding us she was on antidepressants.
Worse, and perhaps defiantly, she seemed to be internalizing something she used to wink at: the caricature of her as a sex object. Her knockout body went from playing a supporting role in her persona to taking the lead. Her photo shoots got racier. There was talk of doing a Playboy spread. Yeah, she flashed glimpses of the old, goofy Jillian, the beautiful train wreck with nine adopted pets at home, smarter than she lets on. But her characteristic self-deprecation appeared to have given way to a darker self-absorption. I tuned in only sporadically.
But when on a whim I turned on Good Day L.A. the other morning, there she was showing off pictures of her with her new husband. They got married in a small ceremony over the weekend in her backyard. She looked resplendent in a white dress and a flower crown.
Speaking of Fox 11...
The station's
website makeover is up in beta. More news and a lot more bells and whistles.
This mayor likes potholes
Mayor Villaraigosa will travel out to the Bureau of Street Services maintenance yard in North Hollywood to call on employees to fill 300,000 potholes over the next year.
Entertaining Dogg
Zuma Dogg's exhortations in a piece about the Venice boardwalk vendors has been amusing Life & Times staffers. The story airs tonight at 6:30 pm on KCET.
Dick Dale on the pier
Surfing music pioneer Dick Dale plays for free on Santa Monica Pier 7:30 to 9:30 pm.
Media finds Lakewood home
A front yard in Lakewood where the lawn was replaced by a vegetable garden serves as the
poster yard in a NYT story.
Art costs too much
New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art is raising its suggested
adult admission to $20.
Follow LA Observed on Twitter here
In today's feast are a couple more reasons not to get hurt in this town, plus a narrow victory for the mayor's school plan, a departing county official of some note and congrats to Jillian Barberie. Just click on the Buzz for details.
