Los Angeles County CEO William Fujioka has abruptly ended his weekly Monday media briefings, saying he'll now be available by phone. But when the Times' Garrett Therolf called Fujioka to talk about it, he hung up after saying any newspaper reporting on his decision would be "another hit piece." Why the sensitivity? There was that report last week saying performance of the CEO's office has not been as stellar as hoped when new powers were added a while back. Weekly briefings for the media have been held by the top county official since 1993. LAT

Also this: County officials drive around in 51 "unjustified" luxury cars, more than 1,400 county workers get take-home cars and they were involved in 830 accidents in 2005-06 alone, according to a Grand Jury report. DN