Morning Buzz: Monday 10.31.11

Nearly two years before Sheriff Lee Baca acknowledged that jailer brutality was a problem, his command staff raised alarms about excessive force used on inmates in the nation's largest jail system, according to confidential memos reviewed by The Times. LAT

Rick Orlov's Monday Tipoffs: A minor candidate signs on in the Berman-Sherman district, UTLA endorses three in CD 15, and the L.A. Civic Alliance is concerned about LAUSD and the union. DN

John Pérez and Jim Newton have been talking about the government and politics of California for 13 years, only now Pérez is the speaker of the Assembly. LAT op-ed

This past Saturday night Celeste Fremon became—albeit briefly— a voting member of Occupy LA’s Finance Committee. She discovered the camp's maddeningly slow version of democracy. Witness LA

Occupy SFV left the Van Nuys Civic Center mall unoccupied after a warning by police. Patch, DN

Despite LAUSD spending $20 billion on its new construction program, hundreds of repairs are needed at the 80 new schools built over the past decade - at an additional cost of $30 million - because of failure to meet federal handicapped accessibility standards. DN

Charles Fleming has reportedly been hired as editor of the L.A. Times' Company Town section, replacing interim Claudia Eller, sources say.

Pressure increases on Village Voice Media over its Backpage.com section and ads that may offer minors for sex. NYT

Erin Aubry Kaplan, author of “Black Talk, Blue Thoughts, and Walking the Color Line: Dispatches from a Black Journalista," talks about black L.A. at 1:40 p.m. on "Patt Morrison" on KPCC.

The filmmakers behind "For Lovers Only" and "Martha Marcy May Marlene" guest on "The Business" at 2:30 p.m. on KCRW.

Five men were arrested Friday as suspects in the theft of dozens of weapons, including machine guns, from the LAPD SWAT team. But so far just three weapons have been recovered. LAT, AP