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Colleges, fish, a ton of politics notes and an update on La Villa Basque, all inside.
The L.A. Community College District fired building program chief Larry Eisenberg in the wake of the Times' series on gaffes and abuses. LAT
Cleanup of the tons of dead fish in King Harbor has "taken on an urgent air" as officials worried about the fish rotting and poisoning remaining sea life. Daily Breeze
Gov. Jerry Brown has been pitching his budget plan on Republican turf. LAT
Democrats are learning that a power they have long sought — to pass a budget with a majority vote — might not be the lever they thought it was going to be, says Daniel Weintraub. HealthyCal
The Los Angeles City Council has gone into recess until Friday, March 18, so a number of its members can attend the National League of Cities meeting in Washington, D.C. DN
Mayor Villaraigosa is also in Washington again and will give the luncheon keynote speech at the Campaign for America’s Future Summit on Jobs. DN wires
Forescee Hogan-Rowles said in a statement "my quest to represent the 8th District in the Los Angeles City Council is not over yet."
The Times suggests in a day-after story that the CD 8 results call into question labor's clout in L.A. could be waning, but most of the experts quoted — and the most obvious conclusion from Bernard Parks facing any danger of a runoff — is that labor's money and slate cards put him there. LAT
Villaraigosa and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will tweet each other to help promote The People's Games, but the release makes it sound as if they will write their own Twitter posts. Release
The Los Angeles city attorney’s office notified operators of 140 pot shops, and their landlords, that they must close immediately. LAT, LA Weekly
Bell's newly elected City Council of novices faces some difficult choices. LAT
Bell's Robert Rizzo may have stolen more than $5 million, prosecutors said during closing arguments in his preliminary hearing. LAT
A Times editorial says it "can't see a compelling reason for L.A. to keep running" Ontario Airport. LAT
Mel Gibson has agreed to plead no contest to a misdemeanor charge Friday involving violence against ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva. LAT
Close to 900 layoffs expected today at AOL as the merger with Huffington Post takes effect. Writers, editors and others on the content side will get the worst of it, and there also will be less work for freelancers. Romenesko
Samantha Geimer, the victim of Roman Polanski's sexual abuse who surfaces every now and then to say he should not be punished any further, was interviewed today by George Stephanopoulos on “Good Morning America.” GMA
The Daily News is reviving its eliminated Monday opinion page as an entirely reader-written page. Opinion editor Mariel Garza explains. DN
Banksy's 'Elephant' tank on PCH was home to a man named Tachowa Covington. LA Weekly
The future of Vernon's La Villa Basque is tied to its past. Eastern Group Papers
Eddie Brandt, the owner of Eddie Brandt's Saturday Matinee Hollywood memorabilia store in North Hollywood, died at age 90. LAT
Veronique de Turenne has a piece on Altadena's urban homesteaders on the cover of today's LAT Food section.