Follow LA Observed on Twitter here
California Republicans favor Mitt Romney so far, Villaraigosa takes a stand on wars, LAT backs AEG's stadium plus more politics and media notes from the weekend.
Mitt Romney is the first choice of a 25 percent of Republican voters in the state, a Field Poll finds. Bee
Since the Republicans won back power in Congress last year, electeds from California have taken the third-highest leadership post and chair four powerful House committees. LAT
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa assumes the presidency of the U.S. Conference of Mayors today, reportedly the first L.A. mayor to head the group since Norris Poulson more than 50 years ago. On "Meet the Press" Sunday, he called for ending U.S. wars to make more funds available for cities. LAT, DN, MSNBC
Scores of public officials across Los Angeles County have been asked to release any records of contact with Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy as part of a fishing expedition by MB Public Affairs, a Sacramento-based operation that specializes in opposition research and that won't say who hired the firm to find dirt on LAANE. Jim Newton/LAT
In an editorial the L.A. Times editorial board urges the City Council to approve AEG's Downtown NFL stadium proposal and "not let the most promising football deal it has ever received slip through its fingers because it was too slow or too political to reason effectively." Meanwhile, key issues remain to be negotiated. LAT, DN, City Maven
George Skelton says that Gov. Jerry Brown kept his word on the California budget, and Democrats are dismayed. LAT
A court-appointed overseer in a massive housing fraud case is demanding that former city councilman-turned-political consultant Richard Alatorre explain nearly $1 million in payments he received from Advanced Development and Investment, a developer accused of bilking Los Angeles and other entities of at least $134 million. LAT
Rick Orlov's Tipoff: budget gloom and more. DN
There are four kinds of people running for mayor, says Jon Regardie. Downtown News
There's a little Rick Caruso theme developing in the last two posts at KCET's SoCal Focus blog.
Assembly Speaker John Pérez's latest plan for the city of Vernon is a Community Services District with a board made up of the five L.A. County supervisors. LA Weekly, LAT
Alejandro Stephens, president of Local 660 of the Service Employees International Union who went to prison for steering voter education funds to his reelection campaign, died at 67 of prostate cancer complications. LAT
David Carr gives his impressions of "The Deal From Hell: How Moguls and Wall Street Plundered Great American Newspapers,” the book about Tribune by former L.A. Times editor James O'Shea. NYT
Strawberry Saroyan had a piece in the Sunday New York Times Magazine on Amanda Hocking, the Minnesota-based "star of self-publishing." NYT
"Carbon Beach" is a short story by Daniel A. Olivas, who in his non-writing life is the state lawyer who helped open Malibu beaches to public access. La Bloga
Gavin Polone, the agent turned manager turned producer, talks about his new movie "Conan O'Brien Can't Stop" and how he was a jerk when he was an agent, on KCRW's "The Business" at 2:30 p.m.
Meruelo Maddux Properties, the biggest private land owner in Downtown, is poised for a shakeup that would see the ouster of its top two executives, including founder Richard Meruelo. Downtown News
Casey Wasserman's foundation has donated another $1 million to LAUSD to help pay for several academic programs and new positions. LAT
Historic marker in Hollywood has the wrong information for a former hotel now owned by the Church of Scientology. LAT
Virginia M. Fields, LACMA's curator of Mesoamerican art and Latin American culture, died at 58 in Mexico City of diabetes complications. LAT