• Sacramento Democrats have so far failed to get the one Republican vote needed to pass a state budget and break the fiscal logjam. LAT, AP
• MTA officials think that AnsaldoBreda's promise to build a plant to make rail cars in Los Angeles is a ruse to overcome complaints about poor performance, Rick Orlov says. DN
• Former president Bill Clinton will be at City Hall for a 9 a.m. press conference with Mayor Villaraigosa to announce the largest LED green street light program ever undertaken by a city, or so they say.
• The Valley Alliance of Neighborhood Councils and the Daily News threw a forum for the mayoral candidates at CBS in Studio City and the usual things were said. DN
• Political activist Ron Kaye has gotten approval from Community Partners to partner with them on Our LA.org, a non-profit news and opinion operation he describes as "Huffington Post meets Facebook meets the old Valley News & Green Sheet." Ron Kaye
• DJ Waldie says "it looks like the first big city in southern California to go naked without a daily paper won’t be Los Angeles," but Long Beach. KCET blogs
• 25 random things about Meg Whitman, but they aren't things she would write herself. Also, Michael Hiltzik weighs in. Huffington Post, LAT
• The New York Times reviewed Ed Humes' new book, "Eco Barons: The Dreamers, Schemers, and Millionaires Who Are Saving Our Planet." NYT
• Charles Isherwood writes that "all four actors give effective, engaging performances, inhabiting their characters with an ease that gives a sense of moment-to-moment truth," but that "Time Stands Still" at the Geffen Playhouse is "weakened by the lack of a compelling dramatic arc." NYT
• LAFD spokesman Ron Myers has promoted to captain and will leave media relations for fire station 90 in the Valley. LAFD blog
• Channel 4's ever-more amateurish website is running a best taco in L.A. contest that "looks like NBC simply asked their interns where they get their Tex-Mex." Carne Asada is Not a Crime
• More than 100 restaurants have agreed to extend the DineLA discounts through February. DineLA
• British pop singer M.I.A., who performed at the Grammy Awards despite experiencing labor contractions, gave birth to a baby boy. Reuters
• Haris Silajdzic, the Bosniak member of Bosnia and Herzegovina's three-way presidency, lectures Tuesday at noon at the UCLA School of Law, sponsored by the International Human Rights Law Program. It's part of the Sanela Diana Jenkins Clinic on International Justice, started recently by an L.A. businesswomen who is a Bosnian refugee.

Mark Lacter | Native Intelligence | Bill Boyarsky
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