Why Villaraigosa held back data on trash fee

When he raised the trash fee, Mayor Villaraigosa said "Every new dollar residents pay for trash pickup will be used to put more officers on the streets." It took Controller Laura Chick nine months to pry loose the data showing that less than half of the money went to adding police. "Now we know why," says a Daily News editorial: "Most went to cover cost-of-living pay raises for officers and others already on the LAPD payroll." DN, LAT story

Hahn takes stand in Leland Wong trial

Ex-mayor Jim Hahn testified Wednesday that Wong, his longtime friend and appointed commissioner, never told him about accepting money from Evergreen Marine. After Hahn finishes, former deputy mayor Troy Edwards is expected to testify under immunity. LAT, DN

Janice Hahn modifies gang tax plan

Councilwoman says she will remove a quietly inserted provision that would have allowed her proposed parcel tax to be increased every year. DN

Long day, then ordeal, for then-LAPD officer

Series in the Register describes what happened after Trevor Jackson had an officer-involved shooting, was reprimanded, left the department for a job in Huntington Beach then was awarded the Medal of Valor. Part 1, Part 2

Marty Kaplan on Sam Zell

The USC professor and new Jewish Journal columnist writes of Zell's plans for the Los Angeles Times, "If Zell's editorially pared down, graphically tarted up and otherwise reinvented Orlando Sentinel is a sign of what's to come, our local paper will soon be a cross between My Weekly Reader and a ransom note." JJ

Also: Politics blogger Andy Martin vows to save Tribune, saying he "believes a tragedy is unfolding in Chicago: an ignorant, arrogant, incompetent swindler has gained control of the Tribune Company and is systematically destroying the company's assets, particularly its newspapers." Release

Chicago paper likes Los Angeles magazine

The Chicago Tribune's annual list of "our 50 favorite magazines" says, "To wrap its glossy pages around everything that is the City of Angels, a metropolis of geographic, cultural and economic extremes, is no easy task. But Los Angeles does it with panache and style, such as the lyrical works by feature writers Jesse Katz and J.R. Moehringer and food writer Patric Kuh. Slowly becoming a local magazine that's a must-read for a national audience." ChiTrib

Also: The 2008 Los Angeles sex survey is online and offering prizes for your stories. LA Mag

Home of Self Help Graphics and Art sold

Leaders of the Eastside Chicano cultural center on Cesar Chavez Avenue say they are shocked that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles sold the place. KPCC, LAT

McCain's joke about USC

Referring to his wife's alma mater as the University of Spoiled Children, says commentator Rob Long, may be an ages-old joke but it says about the Republican candidate that "he's honest. He's a straight-talker. And he's willing to speak truth to ... well, not to power, exactly, but to healthy, fit young people in shorts and flip-flops. Which is more than his opponent can say." LAT Op-Ed

Omar Sharif's war on the justice system

The actor who flipped out criminally at a Beverly Hills parking valet has no intention of paying the civil judgment against him. LAT

Former Jim Hahn deputy joins Janice Hahn

Eric Brown, a deputy mayor in the administration of Mayor Jim Hahn, will be a deputy chief of staff for Councilwoman Janice Hahn.