California set a record for electric power consumption on Monday. Even with Enron out of the picture, why do blackouts feel inevitable?

City code enforcement agents were given authority to carry Tasers. They currently carry pepper spray and have never had to use it. Security officers for the city already have Tasers.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. introduced a resolution that begins possible impeachment proceedings against U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real. The 82-year-old judge intervened in a bankruptcy case involving a woman whose probation he was overseeing then let her live rent-free for three years, costing her landlord $35,000 in rent and thousands more in legal costs, says the Times.

City Council president Eric Garcetti released a letter chiding the LAPD chief for saying that council members Bernard Parks and Dennis Zine didn't know what they were talking about when they criticized the department's hiring standards. Where the chief may have gotten Garcetti's goat is when he said the councilmen should "mind their own business." LAT, DN

The City Council is expected to vote today to put a measure on the ballot to allow themselves a third term in office. It won't apply to the mayor or other citywide offices, which naturally bothers Controller Laura Chick.

Matthew Dowd, Gov. Schwarzenegger's top campaign adviser, is "being paid to provide marketing strategy to AT&T Inc. at a time when the governor's office is involved in negotiations on legislation potentially worth billions of dollars to the telecommunications giant," the LAT reports.

The paper will trim an inch and a half of width as part of a redesign that will lead to a 5% cut in news hole. Editor Bill Keller's memo on the ramifications is at Romenesko.

Larry Barajas, heard on KNX, was thrown from the helicopter and received minor injuries in a hard landing near Chino on June 28, says Ron Fineman's On the Record. He makes a semi-big deal of the copter being owned by an aviation company and on assignment for Metro Networks, but no one from any of the companies would comment.

The former general manager of KMPC and KABC helped Gene Autry launch the Los Angeles Angels in 1961. LAT obit by Ross Newhan.

Patt Morrison is trying to get Wendy McCaw or Travis Armstrong for a segment shortly after 2 pm.

The author will sign Wheeler-Dealer, the Riproaring Adventures of My Uncle Gordon, a Quadriplegic in Hollywood, at Book Soup at 7 pm.