Morning Buzz

Morning Buzz: Monday 8.22.11

Burbank man nabbed for feeding birds near airport, those Santa Monica Mountains stop sign cameras, Times employees settle suit, Patrick Range McDonald profiled, Bay Area writer says Hollywood stole his script, prolific TV director dies and much more.

Top of the news

Burbank police arrest businessman Charles Douglas for refusing to stop feeding a flock of pigeons near Bob Hope Airport, where officials are reporting more bird hits. News-Press


Politics and politicos

Mayor Villaraigosa's contention in his Proposition 13 speech that Gov. Jerry Brown has "got to be more assertive" echoes a growing murmur around the Capitol, writes George Skelton. LAT

With the state paying less, this year for the first time UC tuition will bring in more than the state pays toward students' education. LAT

With Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul signed up to speak to next month’s California Republican Party convention in Los Angeles, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry should come too. Calbuzz

The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority's highly profitable stop sign cameras in rustic areas are "generating mounds of complaints from motorists" who get socked with $175 fines. LAT

Rep. Maxine Waters over the weekend: "The tea party can go straight to hell." L.A. Now

David Lehrer and Joe Hicks argue against using the Voting Rights Act to make the case for Latino-majority districts for county supervisors. DN op-ed

The City Council approved a contract for 6,000 bus benches, replacing current vendor Norman Bench with Martin Outdoor Media. LAT, DN, City Maven

The mayor's office released a video feature today on Joan Sullivan, the deputy mayor for education. YouTube

Media and media people

A group of former and current Los Angeles Times employees settled a federal lawsuit against GreatBanc Trust, the trustee for Tribune Co.'s employee stock ownership plan, for $32 million. This was the class-action suit by newsroom staff that originally included Sam Zell and Tribune. The settlement, minus attorney fees, will go into about 13,000 employees' retirement accounts. LAT

The LA Weekly's Patrick Range McDonald is profiled as a West Hollywood resident who is "changing the world." WeHo News

Joe Quirk, a Bay Area novelist, says that Sony's upcoming movie "Premium Rush" is a pretty direct rip-off of his 1998 novel "Ultimate Rush," down to the character names, love interests, villains connected to Chinese organized crime, corrupt policemen and a grouchy bike-messenger dispatcher with suspect motives. The original novel was optioned once by Warner Bros. and repped by CAA. Bay Citizen

An excerpt about Rin Tin Tin in Hollywood from Susan Orlean’s forthcoming book, “Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend,” is in this week’s New Yorker.

“After 9/11,” an e-book of stories that ran in the New Yorker, goes on sale today.

It's been a year since the remains of Mitrice Richardson were found in Malibu Canyon. Mike Kessler talks abut his piece in the September issue of Los Angeles magazine on The Madeleine Brand Show with guest host Alex Cohen, 9:20 a.m. on KPCC.

Ann Louise Bardach had a piece in the New York Times' Sunday Review on Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. NYT


More news and observations

Dmitri Dmitrov, the 60-year-old Macedonian immigrant who is maître d’hôtel at the Tower Bar on Sunset Strip, is "a sphinxlike figure who knows everything and says nothing" NYT

T.J. Simers talks to Tony Spino, the longtime caretaker for the late UCLA coach John Wooden. LAT

Caltrans will unveil restored 1984 Olympics-era murals on the Santa Ana and Hollywood (101) and Harbor (110) freeways today. DN wires

Reza Badiyi, the prolific television director who set a Directors Guild of America record for directing the most hours of episodic TV, died at UCLA at age 81. LAT, DN


Planning ahead

On September 17, ArtCycleLA takes over Santa Monica Boulevard from Vermont Avenue to Virgil, closing the street to cars and creating an "open-air gallery that features artists and artisans creating arts and crafts, bike tours of local galleries and architecture, live music on two stages, opportunities to create and activities for all ages."


More by Kevin Roderick:
Gustavo Arellano, many others join LA Times staff
Power out Monday across Malibu
Put Jamal Khashoggi Square outside the Saudi consulate on Sawtelle
Here's who the LA Times has newly hired*
LA Observed Notes: Clippers hire big-time writer, unfunny Emmys, editor memo at the Times and more
Recent Morning Buzz stories on LA Observed:
Thursday news and notes
A little bit of mid-week reading
A few links from a few different places
Let's talk about anything but the weather
A few links from here and there
A couple of links from a couple of places
A bit of news from a few places
Morning Buzz: Wednesday 4.16.14


 

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