Morning Buzz

Morning Buzz: Wednesday 9.22.10

Whitman, Brown, Mrs. Brown, pot, Mrs. Obama, a job opening at City Hall for a media type and more inside.

  • Ebay founder Pierre Omidyar says Meg Whitman would do a 'great job' if elected governor but he won't endorse her, saying they disagree over same-sex marriage and her selection of former Gov. Pete Wilson as campaign chairman. LAT
  • Wife Anne Gust Brown has emerged as one of candidate Jerry Brown's "closest political confidants in the most high-profile and expensive race in the country this year." Bee
  • The state council of the Service Employees International Union, the largest labor union in California, endorsed Proposition 19, the marijuana initiative. But a coalition of medical marijuana advocates came out Tuesday against. LAT, AP
  • First Lady Michelle Obama will campaign for Sen. Barbara Boxer in Los Angeles on Oct. 27. DN
  • With Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger feeling ill and stuck in Los Angeles, legislative leaders will fly south today to resume budget talks with him. Bee
  • As part of the LAPD's media relations response to the controversial Westlake shooting, Steve Lopez of the L.A. Times and John North of Channel 7 were among selected reporters invited to see and use (and hopefully do sympathetic stories about) the department's training simulator for dealing with threatening situations. LAT, ABC 7
  • Relations between bike groups and the LAPD are still not so smooth. Streetsblog
  • Praise for Mayor Villaraigosa and the 30/10 transit funding plan from bloggers at PBS.org.
  • Councilman Bill Rosendahl is looking for a a new communications deputy. They want someone who can write well and quickly; gets L.A. government and politics, is fluent with social media and can conceive, edit and produce video packages.
  • The arrests of most of Bell's elected leaders Tuesday (plus ex-officials including Robert Rizzo) brought cheers in the small, working-class city, but added to the already deep uncertainty about its future. LAT
    Plus: Bell should temporarily be put in the hands of an independent receiver, the Times says in an editorial.
  • Even though all city offices are non-partisan, so many readers are demanding to know the party affiliation of Bell's arrested officials that the Times felt moved to explain why it doesn't run them. Readers' Rep blog
  • Homeboy Industries is doing better now that the county has stepped in with $1.3 million and donations have increased. Neon Tommy
  • Peter Goodman, national economic writer at The New York Times, is jumping to the Huffington Post as business editor in part so he can be more opinionated. Wash Post, HuffPo release
  • John Cook, Gawker's former investigative reporter who left in April for Yahoo's Upshot, is returning to his old employer. The Wrap
  • The former World Gym on Main Street in Santa Monica, once a second home for Arnold Schwarzenegger and other weightlifters, is being auctioned today. LAT
  • TV series creators-writers Matthew Weiner and Alan Ball visit with Elvis Mitchell on the next installments of KCRW's Up Close.
  • Former Dodgers manager Tom Lasorda turns 83 today and will celebrate at the stadium, the team says in a press release.

More by Kevin Roderick:
Standing up to Harvey Weinstein
The Media
LA Times gets a top editor with nothing but questions
LA Observed Notes: Harvey Weinstein stripped bare
LA Observed Notes: Photos of the homeless, photos that found homes
Recent Morning Buzz stories on LA Observed:
Thursday news and notes
A little bit of mid-week reading
A few links from a few different places
Let's talk about anything but the weather
A few links from here and there
A couple of links from a couple of places
A bit of news from a few places
Morning Buzz: Wednesday 4.16.14


 

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