Explaining the homicide jump

With 93 murders so far compared to 69 last year, the LAPD took the step of analyzing each and announcing that racial animosity is not to blame. Said the Times, "Of 57 Latinos killed this year, 87% are believed to have been struck down by other Latinos, the LAPD data show. (Those statistics do not include several cases in which the race of the suspect is unknown and one case in which the assailant is white.) Nearly two-thirds of black homicide victims, meanwhile, are suspected to have been killed by other blacks. In about one of every three cases, the killer is thought to be Latino -- up from 14% over all of 2007. But even in instances in which a Latino is believed to have killed a black person or vice versa this year, police insist that there is no evidence that points to race being the primary factor in the homicide." LAT

New tower at KFI falls over

LARadio.com has a picture on its home page.

Las Lomas in City Council today

The planning committee voted yesterday for the city to continue processing the project's application for annexation. It goes to the full council today. DN Plus: Op-Ed by lawmakers opposed. DN Op-Ed

Flaws in the lobbyist rules

Hillary Norton Orozco has been a leading operative for Las Lomas (itself sort of a full-employment project for City Hall advocate types) without registering as a lobbyist with the Ethics Commission. Same for Mickey Kantor, who represents Burlington Northern Santa Fe and met three times last year with harbor commission president S. David Freeman to discuss a rail yard issue in Wilmington. LAT

Studio City mural fight gets nasty

Jack McGrath, publicist for Studio City Hard Car Wash, got the city to order signs taken out of windows at the local Petco. "It's signs like (Petco's) that have ruined murals for everybody," says McGrath, who is advocating for a historical mural at the car wash that officials ordered covered. DN

Ride-along with Yaroslavsky

Columnist Steve Lopez listens to the Supervisor rant about city planning lapses and excesses. LAT

Macaw found far from home

Bird that went missing in Carpinteria was found 15 months later flying free in Pasadena, 80 miles away. AP