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Rain on the way, less-dire budget news all around, the morning news battleground, a new book show and more.
- Oddly enough, a cold Alaska storm may bring some rain to the L.A. area starting this afternoon. Wires
- Mayor Villaraigosa's budget for next year, to be released today, will suggest 750 or fewer layoffs, not the 4,000 previously mentioned. The budget will begin with a shortfall of more $400 million and include more furlough days. LAT, DN
- The county's proposed budget calls for only about 100 layoffs, but starts with a $500 million shortfall and eliminates 1,400 vacant positions, including 380 at the Department of Public Social Services, "which routinely has long lines outside its welfare offices." LAT, DN, Yaroslavsky blog
- The city budget and Villaraigosa's state of the city speech this afternoon will be Warren Olney's main topic on KCRW's "Which Way, L.A.?" at 7:30 p.m.
- The Adam Smith Foundation, a group devoted to "promoting conservative principles and individual liberties in Missouri" that brings in $30,000 a year, donated $498,000 to the campaign to repeal California's greenhouse gas law. Capitol Weekly
Plus: The Iowa-based American Future Fund is running an ad blasting Tom Campbell for refusing to sign an anti-tax pledge. LAT, Bee - The SEC and others are investigating whether Hewlett-Packard executives paid bribes to win a lucrative foreign contract while Carly Fiorina was the boss. LAT
- As interim chief of DWP, deputy mayor Austin Beutner will continue to oversee 12 other city agencies. LAT, DN
- Ron Kaye is soliciting emailed resumes and cover letters from potential City Council candidates under his latest banner of the L.A. Clean Sweep Campaign. CityWatch
- With Fox 11 adding a 4:30 a.m. newscast, mornings are "fast becoming one of the most fiercely competitive time periods in regional news across the country." LAT
- AMC News correspondent Jacob Soboroff talks with City Councilman Tom LaBonge and the Trust for Public Land about the campaign to buy the land around the Hollywood sign. AMC
- Bruce Beresford-Redman's in-laws aren't buying his story on how his wife ended up strangled in Cancun. LAT, AP
- Detectives in the San Fernando Valley are searching for a trio of female robbers who are targeting expensive homes in the Encino hills. KTLA
- The Hotel Normandie in Koreatown reopens tonight billed as America's first pot-friendly hotel. LAT
- The Getty Research Institute's withdrawal of financial support for the Bibliography of the History of Art has set off hand-wringing in that world, says Lee Rosenbaum. WSJ
- Kari Moran is hosting a new Sunday 3 p.m. show about books on KFWB; it debuted this week.