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Some politics, some media, some books...click to go on in.
Bratton defends homeless dispersal around city
LAPD Chief William Bratton says that the transfer of Skid Row's denizens to other areas of the city because of police enforcement Downtown is "minimal," but a good thing. LAT, DN
"Is there some displacement? Certainly," Bratton said at a news conference where he, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other officials touted the drop in skid row crime."But what's wrong with that in some respects? Why should one square mile of the city be impacted by something that's effectively a countywide problem?" Bratton said. "So if there is displacement, all well and good."
Cop who sued gets $1 million
Ya-May Christie is the LAPD detective who claimed she was retaliated against after reporting on sexual activity by former deputy chief Michael Berkow. He was dismissed from the case, but a jury awarded Christie damages after the city insisted on going to trial. LAT
Arrest by competition
The L.A. County sheriff's station in Lakewood motivated deputies with contests to see who could make the most arrests, impound the most vehicles and question the most gang members in a 24-hour period. "Operation Any Booking" was a competition designed to arrest as many people as possible. DN
Council moves phone tax toward ballot
Preliminary plan is to have Los Angeles vote on the measure on Feb. 5, same day as the presidential primary. LAT
In the weeklies
Today's LA Weekly is the annual Best of L.A. edition. Looks like fun, as usual. Former Weekly staffer Jeffrey Anderson shows with the cover story in rival CityBeat on the sleazy tow-truck politics of Bell Gardens and the southeast cities — and the involvement of State Sen. Gil Cedillo.
Back from the dead
IDG, the company that killed The Industry Standard magazine in the last dot-com crash, is making sounds about reviving the title. NYT
Today in 1984
The L.A. Times launched a daily edition in the San Fernando Valley with its own front page, news section, calendar listings, high school sports coverage, city room of reporters and photographers, and printing plant. The saturation coverage forced the Daily News to add staff and provide deeper coverage. Today, the Times' entire Chatsworth operation is closed and sold off, the paper is mostly clueless about the Valley swath of the city, and the Daily News shrinks more every year. The city was much better served then.
When Jonathan knew Jack
LA Weekly's Jonathan Gold says on Ira Glass' "This American Life" that he was bullied in high school by future felon Jack Abramoff. Abramoff, by the way, denies knowing Gold. Epiosde, AAN
It's all good exposure
Author, snapshot collector and performer Charles Phoenix made a guest appearance yesterday on the Martha Stewart show. He showed off old Halloween snapshots from his collection. It ain't Oprah, but it's pretty decent national exposure for his newest book, Americana the Beautiful: Mid-Century Culture in Kodachrome. I know his (and my) publisher, Angel City Press, was pretty jazzed about it.
Bloodmother.com
Author Sandra Ramos O'Briant blogs about last weekend's West Hollywood Book Fair.