• California's $24 billion budget deficit is bigger than the budgets of some states, and Sacramento looks no closer to resolving the problem as IOUs are prepared. Rough & Tumble roundup
  Plus: Pete Wilson's ideas on how to govern California. Zocalo
• Villaraigosa pollster Diane T. Feldman argues that the L.A. Times misread its own poll numbers by calling the mayor's 55% approval rating tepid: "Villaraigosa's ratings would be the envy of chief executives in many jurisdictions." LAT Blowback
• A registered sex offender who found a teenager's stray dog in Hawthorne threatened to torture the pet unless she engaged in sex with him, police said. Breeze

Much more inside:

• Katherine Jackson, 79, gets temporary custody of Michael Jackson's children and is named special administrator of his estate. She and Joe Jackson have not lived together for years. LAT
• Tony Castro remembers when he was wooed to write an unauthorized biography of Michael Jackson. DN
• Channel 5 reporter Eric Spillman blogs that he's had enough with the Jackson coverage on TV. Blog
  Plus: Erin Aubry Kaplan has a personal reaction to Jackson's death and seeks out others in Leimert Park. KCET
• City Council President Eric Garcetti will hold a community swearing-in ceremony at 6 p.m. at the Los Angeles City College theater.
• Councilwoman Janice Hahn Hahn told a group of labor supporters that she was interested in running for the congressional seat held by Rep. Jane Harman if it comes open. Breeze
• Federal prosecutors agreed to dismiss a final charge of illegal campaign finance violations against Los Angeles attorney Pierce O'Donnell, but called it a procedural move. LAT
• Ed Boks cleans out his office today as head of the city's department of animal services. DN
• Voters approved a parcel tax that would raise $3.25 million annually for Palos Verdes Peninsula schools. L.A. Now
• An LAPD motorcycle officer went down this morning on the San Diego Freeway at Wilshire and was taken to a hospital with unknown injuries. DN
• The New York Times won the top Gerald Loeb Award for business coverage with a team that includes ex-LAT reporters Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Charles Duhigg. Biz Wire
• Today ends the fourth straight year of below average rainfall in the Los Angeles area. LAT
• Another pay cut at the Register, five percent across the board per interim CEO Burl Osborne. Read the memo
• A headless goat was observed over the weekend in the Los Angeles River. Atwater Village Newbie
• Thank you to Tia Chucha Centro Cultural. LatinoLA
• The Dodgers won another game on their final at-bat on another walk-off homer by Andre Ethier.
• Pina Bausch, the German choreographer, died today at age 68. AP

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