Wednesday's news, notes and observations are after the jump. Also see Mark Lacter's morning headlines at LA Biz Observed and follow us on Twitter.

• State budget mess is a long way from settled or fixed, despite the initial wave of optimism. Rough & Tumble
• Mayor Villaraigosa was booed when introduced before last night's Dodgers game. LAT
• Will there really be a criminal aspect to Michael Jackson memorial costs, or did City Attorney Carmen Trutanich hype it a bit? Too soon to tell. LAT, DN
• Tim Rutten calls the AnsaldoBreda controversy a dilemma for public officials in which "the choice isn't a clear one. It is, as they say, a very close question." LAT Op-Ed
• City parks and large landowners like cemeteries want exemptions from the city's watering limits. L.A. Now
• Los Angeles Magazine editor Mary Melton adds a personal postscript to her writing on the passing of Julius Shulman. LA
• This week LAT media writer James Rainey takes on Lou Dobbs and the other wingnuts who keep pushing the claim that Obama isn't legally qualified to be president. LAT
• Erstwhile LAT book reviewer Lionel Rolfe remembers and revisits old issues with current books editor David Ulin. Random Lengths
• New blog Recycle LACMA is called a hilarious send-up of the museum's deaccessioning from its textile collection. CultureGrrl
• The Wrap has added a VP of Advertising Sales: Victoria Gold, former director of ad sales at Variety and The Hollywood Reporter among others. Via release
• Haim Saban accuser Matthew Krane may be in federal custody, but he's still got his crisis adviser Ross Johnson (of BNC PR) working the angles.
• Danny Bakewell, executive publisher and CEO of the Los Angeles Sentinel, was elected Chairman of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, aka the Black Press of America. Via release
• Failed mayoral candidate Walter Moore will get a talk radio tryout on KABC. LAT
• Kenneth R. Weiss of the Los Angeles Times won the top print beat award from the Society for Environmental Journalists. Valerie Brown of Santa Barbara's Miller-McCune Magazine won the honor for print explanatory reporting. SEJ
• Former TV reporter Lonnie Lardner has directed a documentary called “Angel in the Hood,” called "the real-life story of two Latina party girls from a gang-infested Los Angeles neighborhood, and their deep-rooted spiritual devotion for Peter Pan’s 'Tinker Bell.'" SoCalMediaScoop
• She's no fan of the NoHo Gateway sculpture. Metblogs