Morning Buzz: Friday 3.25.11

Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law billions of dollars in budget cuts Thursday that will mean fewer government services, particularly for the old, the poor and the sick. LAT, Bee, SF Chronicle

Republican operatives filed two initiatives with the attorney general's office Thursday -- to curb public employee pensions and cap future state spending -- in the event Gov. Brown opts for a November special election without GOP support. LAT, Capitol Alert

Mayor Villaraigosa and Councilman Greig Smith apparently didn't like the way the council's delay in LAPD hiring was reported. Thursday statement: "Yesterday, the City Council voted to maintain police hiring. They did not endorse the CAO's recommendation to suspend police hiring, they voted to keep our police force strong, hire the April class of LAPD officers, and delay the start date of the final class to July 1 in order to take advantage of the financial savings under the new sworn pension tier."

Villaraigosa voted no as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board narrowly approved sweeping cuts to its bus service: nine lines to be eliminated in late June, 11 to be scaled back, a total reduction of 305,000 service hours in 2012 and a drop in Metro's peak operating fleet to about 1,900 buses. LAT, Metro, BRU, Streetsblog

StoryCorps, the national storytelling project, will record interviews with local African-Americans until April 23 at the California African American Museum in Exposition Park.

Less than one month after Costa Mesa officials approved issuing more than 200 preliminary layoff notices because of budget troubles, the OC city has agreed to pay ex-reporter William Lobdell up to $3,000 a week as a communication specialist. Register, NYT

A dangerous drug-resistant bacterium, carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae or CRKP, has reached Southern California healthcare facilities, according to a study released Thursday by Los Angeles County public health officials. LAT, DN

In California and other Western states, 67.5% of households saw their net worth fall during the recession, compared with 62.5% in the U.S. overall. LAT

Romantic comedies are dying because romance Is dead, says writer Emily Bracken. HuffPost

Curtain is up at a new $65 million Performing and Fine Arts Center at East Los Angeles College. Eastern Group

Steven Bingen and Stephen X. Sylvester, co-authors of "MGM: Hollywood’s Greatest Backlot," guest with Larry Mantle on KPCC's "Airtalk" at 11:30 a.m.

Leonard Weinglass, the crusading former Los Angeles defense lawyer whose clients included the Tom Hayden, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Jane Fonda, Symbionese Liberation Army members William and Emily Harris, Angela Davis, Kathy Boudin, Mumia Abu-Jamal and Amy Carter, died in New York of pancreatic cancer. He was 77. LAT

The three-day AdultCon Adult Entertainment Show opens today the Convention Center. DN

Daniel A. Olivas kicks off the signings for "The Book of Want" Saturday at 6 p.m. Libros Schmibros in Boyle Heights. LatinoLA

A remembrance of short story writer and essayist Hisaye Yamamoto will be held on Sunday, March 27, at 2 p.m. in the Garden Room of the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, 244 S. San Pedro St. in Little Tokyo.

Alejandro Mayorkas, U.S. Director of Citizenship and Immigration Services, will be keynote speaker April 6 at a conference of the USC Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration.

Authors Lisa Ling and Laura Ling will speak to the UCLA Library Associates on April 16
in the Powell Library Rotunda.