Morning Buzz: Thursday 1.20.11

Police looking for yesterday's gunman greeted students arriving this morning at El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills. LAT

The Supreme Court ruled against JPL scientists and decided that wide-ranging personal and sexual questions in background checks may be required of all corporate, college and think tank employees who work on government-funded projects, whether secret or not. LAT

Today's big Delta IV-Heavy rocket launch at Vandenberg' is scheduled between 1:08 and 1:23 p.m., weather permitting. Webcast

Gov. Jerry Brown met with California League of Cities members to push his plan to take money from their redevelopment agencies, at a meeting held in a hotel that itself was built as a redevelopment project. Bee, LAT, Capitol Notes

Eighteen of 31 first-year legislators in Sacramento have declined to order a new car paid for by the state. Bee

California's High-Speed Rail Authority announced it has set aside more than $30 million for land acquisition and related projects in the Los Angeles area, much of it for buying Union Station jointly with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. LAT

After hearing from AEG's Tim Leiweke, a City Council committee urged the city to fast trackl help for the company to build a downtown stadium and get an NFL team. LAT, DN, LA Weekly

Brad Smith, who dropped out of the CD12 race after the L.A. County Democrats endorsed him, emailed supporters that he is back in the race: "One week ago, we had to put this campaign on hold because of very real issues that anyone working in today’s economy can identify with; today, those issues have been resolved.” No other explanation. City Maven, Chatsworth Patch, DN

The city attorney's office says a $1 million cut in its budget imperils public safety. LAT

The Huffington Post announced it will launch an African-American news and opinion platform
in partnership with entrepreneur and BET co-founder Sheila Johnson.

Sharon Waxman asks (but can't answer) whether Tribune will sell the Los Angeles Times after the company emerges from bankruptcy. The Wrap

KUSC acquired San Francisco's only commercial classical music staqtion, KDFC, and in a resulting move KUSF, the station at the University of San Francisco, shut down to the chagrin of protesters. SF Chronicle, SF Weekly

A judge ruled that animation director Darrell Rooney can’t write off the costs of Jean Harlow memorabilia he acquired for what he said was research for a possible book or screenplay about the life of the ill-fated actress. Forbes

Joan Rivers says she was bumped from an appearance on "Fox & Friends" after making a joke about Sarah Palin. NYT Arts Beat

Matt Lait of the Los Angeles Times, Lindsey McCormack of Miller-McCune and freelancer Donna Foote Shalvoy are among 36 journalists named to participate in the fifth annual Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution from March 4 – 6 in Philadelphia. Release

Los Angeles-area commuters spent more than a half-billion hours stuck in traffic during 2009, the most time of any region in the nation. DN

Searching for the cosmic mystery of Epsilon Aurigae, a star that has long puzzled observers with its strange fluctuations of light, using the sophisticated arrays of telescopes on Mt. Wilson. LAT

The forrmer North Hollywood medical building used as the "hospital" on the sitcom "Scrubs" looks as if it will be torn down. Franklin Avenue

Some of the city's leading commercial art galleries are organizing shows to take part in Pacific Standard Time in the fall. LAT

Blackboard Eats will begin charging $1 to sign up for a restaurant discount. Daily Dish

A representative of the Pearl Project will talk about the Daniel Pearl investigation on the "Madeleine Brand Show" airing at 9 a.m. on KPCC. Also: L.A. writer Natasha Vargas Cooper.

David Levithan, author of "A Lover’s Dictionary," guests on "Bookworm" on KCRW at 2:30 p.m.

Homeboy Industries will launch its first ever mass-produced product, Homeboy Chips and Salsa, at Ralphs on January 25.