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It's Legionella bacteria at the Playboy Mansion, Christina Aguilera released without charges after drunkenness arrest, and Frank Rich leaves the New York Times for New York magazine. Plus more politics and media notes.
Another story in the Times' series on LACCD says "Valley College's health and science center exemplifies the poor oversight and quality control exercised by the Los Angeles Community College District in its vast construction program." LAT
Public health officials looking into that February disease outbreak at the Playboy mansion has identified Legionella bacteria in a water source at the mansion. LAT, Infection Control Today
West Hollywood sheriff's arrested Christina Aguilera for public drunkenness (she was in a car, not driving) but released her without charges on Tuesday morning.
Gov. Jerry Brown endorsed Councilman Tom LaBonge in CD 4: "Tom LaBonge is uniquely dedicated to L.A.'s neighborhoods. I'm glad to call him my friend, and I support his re-election."
After law enforcement and cities objected, Brown reconsidered his proposal to shift responsibility for more prisoners and parolees to local governments. LAT, SF Chronicle
Jim Newton's column chronicles how the LAFD budget and staffing have been falling in recent years. LAT op-ed
Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is ditching the San Francisco state office building where the lieutenant governor typically works in favor of hipper digs in the city's South of Market neighborhood. AP
A new group called Small Business United has formed "to advocate for the removal of discriminatory, union-only Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) on publicly funded projects, specifically Los Angeles County’s Martin Luther King Hospital Replacement Project and the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s Expo Line Extension." Site
The rise of bicycle advocates as a force in City Hall, leading to the probable passage of a bike master plan today. LAT
City Controller Wendy Greuel said Monday she will file paperwork this week that will allow her to raise money in a potential run for mayor in 2013. DN
Council President Eric Garcetti and Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association, take opposite sides of DWP reform measures I and J on the March 8 ballot. Patt Morrison show on KPCC, 1:40 p.m.
Looking at the open race for the school board in district 5. LAT
A memo discovered in files of the Bell Police Department appears to outline a game in which police officers would compete to issue tickets, impound cars and arrest motorists. LAT
Is the city of Signal Hill another Bell? The Beachcomber
Frank Rich is leaving the New York Times to be an essayist on politics and culture and editor-at-large of New York magazine. He will also be a commentator on nymag.com, "engaging in regular dialogues on the news of the week." The move reunites Rich with editor Adam Moss. Romenesko
Oscar winner Natalie Portman said in a statement about designer John Galliano that "as an individual who is proud to be Jewish, I will not be associated with Mr. Galliano in any way." Galliano was fired by Dior after saying he loved Hitler. AP
Variety's news blog that will be outside the paywall, but linking to stories inside, is to be called Showblitz. Via release
Profile of Chris Mallick, the porn payments impresario whose business collapsed shortly after the movie he made about himself, "Middle Men," bombed at the box office. Details
Arianna Huffington has joined the board of directors of the Center for Public Integrity, "one of the country’s oldest and largest nonprofit investigative news organizations." Via release
Steve Bisheff remembers Ted Tajima, the longtime journalism teacher at Alhambra High School.
Pseudonymous Hollywood "insider" HJ Whitley has sold "L.A. Fadeaway," billed as "a roman a clef pitched as What Makes Sammy Run? for the Entourage generation, taking place behind the scenes at a big talent agency and starring a twenty-three-year-old go getter rapidly ascending out of its storied mailroom," to Touchstone, at auction, for publication in summer 2012. Publishers Lunch
On KCRW's "UnFictional" at 2:30 p.m., producer Bob Carlson invites a household organizing expert to help go through his garage full of the junk he's been holding onto since he was a teenager. Plus a dreamlike visit to the U.S. Postal Service mail recovery center, and a woman who's the exact opposite of penniless.
MSNBC "Hardball" host Chris Matthews, journalist Maureen Orth, former Robert F. Kennedy press secretary Frank Mankiewicz and Peace Corps director Aaron S. Williams will be in town for a panel discussion Wednesday night at UCLA's Royce Hall. The panel, co-sponsored by UCLA's Burkle Center for International Relations and James S. Coleman African Studies Center, is part of a series of events making the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corp. UCLA Newsroom
"Finding Face," a documentary about a woman's recovery from an acid attack in Thailand that disfigured her face, will air on KLCS on March 5 at 9 p.m.