John Perez to be elected Speaker today, Essel wasted $156 per vote to lose, a pregnant woman murdered in Venice and more after the jump.

• John Perez is expected to be voted the next Assembly speaker today after Kevin de Leon bowed out. Sacto Bee, Capitol Weekly
• Christine Essel spent $156 per vote in a losing cause backed by City Hall unions, while victor Paul Krekorian spent $28 per vote. LAT, DN, editorial
• DNA found in a bite wound is the key evidence that ties LAPD detective Stephanie Lazarus to the murder she is charged with. LAT
• LAPD officer Kenneth Aragon had been drinking at the police academy bar before crashing his motorcycle and dying. LAT
• The LAPD is investigating whether a man arrested in the rape and killing of a Venice woman pregnant with twins might be responsible for other sexual crimes on the Westside. LAT
• Radiation testing finally began on the old dump buried under the Brentwood side of the VA hospital land west of Westwood. LA Weekly, Enviro Reporter
• Good question: somebody asked why the Los Angeles Marathon route doesn't go through the only neighborhood that celebrates marathon runners: Little Ethiopia.
• KPFK's and Hamilton High's Barry Smolin has made an album homage to Boss Radio and The Real Don Steele. LA Weekly
• The LA Phil's Dec. 22 presentation at Disney Hall of Holidays with Sweet Honey In The Rock will be sung and simultaneously sign-interpreted by a member of the troupe, Shirley Childress Saxton.
• Aisha Tyler, Alonzo Bodden and Ben Gleib guest with Patt Morrison on her Comedy Congress segment on KPCC at 2 p.m.— from Pasadena's Ice House Comedy Club, where they now get funny in front of live audiences.