Wednesday news and notes

I thought my daughter's snowed-in-at-Heathrow story was bad enough: eight days late coming home and missing Christmas. But the experience of UC Irvine professor Ngugi wa Thiong’o was even worse and more costly.
Lisa Pearson's Siglio Press in an Eagle Rock garage figures into a David Ulin exploration into the future of the printed book in the age of e-books.
Winners and losers of 2010 as chosen by the staff of The Wrap.
Rachanee Srisavasdi, a court reporter for The Orange County Register for nearly 14 years, is moving to communications director for the Los Angeles-based Asian Pacific American Legal Center.
Jonathan Lethem, the author who has taken over for the late David Foster Wallace at Pomona College, turns up on New York magazine's Reasons to Love New York issue as #59: Because Our Most Notable Recent Exile Can’t Stop Thinking About Us.
L.A. Olympics movement journalist Alan Abrahamson pays tribute to his friend Bud Greenspan, the documentary filmmaker who died Saturday at 84.
The family enclave of Vernon is fighting efforts to strip its cityhood status.
How to get reimbursed (maybe) for damages caused by an L.A. street pothole.
Fox 11's Gigi Graciette on Twitter: "Dealing with Chase Bank is the most frustrating thing I have ever had to do. HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE. #FAIL - #EPICFAIL #CHASE"
Gerry Spector, whose career has been tied to Sam Zell since he was a 25-year-old accountant (he's now 63), is no longer Tribune's chierf operating officer.
Robert S. Chandler, the National Park Service veteran who was the first superintendent of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, died at age 74.