Ramon Cortines assumes de-facto control of LAUSD

The mayor's advisor, not Supt. David Brewer, now has all responsibility for day-to-day operations of the district, says Naush Boghossian. "Brewer would have to be an ostrich not to get the feeling that something is moving around him," said Jaime Regalado, director of the Edmund G. "Pat" Brown Institute of Public Affairs at California State Los Angeles. DN

National Magazine Awards announced

Local interest: Three Caitlin Flanagan columns for The Atlantic won in review and criticism, called by the judges "thoughtful and bracingly honest, filled with humor and empathy, and free of cliches and political correctness." The photo-portfolio award went to a Vanity Fair gallery of Annie Leibovitz pictures "in which contemporary Hollywood stars posed in elaborate film-noir-style scenes." And the profile-writing award also went to VF's Evan Wright for a piece on Hollywood agent Pat Dollard, "a 23,000-word monster of an article chronicling his subject's harrowing but frequently amusing descent into drugs, madness, violence, and, improbably, his resurrection as a hero of the pro-war right." WashPost

Ziman and Lee patch it up

Daphna Ziman and Rev. Eric Lee sat down together for lunch and photos weeks after she accused him of anti-Semitic remarks (and a few days after the episode hit the Wall Street Journal.) LAT

Pellicano jury deliberates

The panel must decide 78 counts against Pellicano and the co-defendants: racketeering, conspiracy, wire fraud, identity theft, bribery, wiretapping. LAT

Population of 4 million is now official

The state Department of Finance yearly estimates are used between U.S. censuses. And the state say Los Angeles had 4,045,873 residents as of Jan. 1. California itself is at 38 million and counting. DN

Scully clarifies that he has no plans to retire

Bill Plaschke implies previous remarks by Vin Scully were about contract negotiating, then does his duty and pushes McCourts to let Scully stay off road trips entirely. LAT

Report from the Sierra

The snowpack is low and the reservoirs lower, meaning there's a possibility of water rationing this summer. LAT

Rosendahl field deputy arrested

Len Nguyen was arrested by Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies in West Hollywood on April 13th, following an incident in which he was "extremely intoxicated, confused and disoriented" and tried to force his way into a condominium unit that was not his, according to a statement from L.A. Councilman Bill Rosendahl. The Argonaut

Key Press-Telegram editor leaves

Jason Gewirtz, executive city editor at the Long Beach paper, submitted his resignation last week and is leaving May 10th to become managing editor at Sports Travel Magazine. "This is a tremendous loss for the Press-Telegram, and an even bigger loss for Long Beach. Jason in my opinion was the glue and heart of the PT," writes Robert Garcia. LB Post

Schwarzenegger with Patt Morrison

KPCC will air a recorded interview with the Governor at 1 pm on "Patt Morrison."
There's already a transcript and audio (and photos) up on the web.