Afternoon news and notes

Chief Bratton endorses another candidate — this time in New York City. L.A. Now
KPFK suspends "anti-Semitic hatefest" show "La Causa" for six weeks; its followers blame the Jews. OC Weekly
Mayor Villaraigosa buys two more months at the MTA for troubled Italian rail car builder AnsaldoBreda. L.A. Now, Streetsblog
What's killing the storefronts along Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. Frontiers
Christopher Hawthorne pens a front-page critics notebook saying billboards and supergraphics aren't so bad, followed a few hours later by the city planning commission approving on a 6-3 vote its version of a new billboard law that would ban digital billboards in most parts of the city, place some restrictions on supergraphics and allow sign districts. LAT L.A. Now
Now jurors have the Phil Spector homicide case, after closing arguments and instructions. L.A. Daily
New political blogger in town: Brian Doherty, author and senior editor at the libertarian Reason Magazine, who will write about local politics for KCET as City of Angles (and push readers toward Reason, apparently.)
Madeleine Brand, late of NPR's Day to Day, is also blogging for KCET Local for a month. KCET
He was in a wheelchair, but Julius Shulman attended last night's party for the new Annenberg Space for Photography in Century City. Culture Monster