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UC president decries pepper spraying, mayoral candidates unsettling to watch, Beck's big test, and Wesson's too.
The police chief at UC Davis was placed on administrative leave today over the pepper spray incident, and University of California president Mark Yudof put out a statement deploring the Davis incident and telling campuses to honor free speech rights. Bee, LAT
California voters want teacher evaluations made public, and are willing to pay higher taxes for better schools, the USC-L.A. Times Poll found. LAT, LAT
Eli Broad, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt and former governors Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger are among the supporters of a $10-billion tax revamp and increase they're aiming toward the November 2012 ballot. LAT
Jim Newton was unsettled watching mayoral hopefuls Eric Garcetti, Wendy Greuel and Jan Perry talk about their visions at last week's forum: "It's not that there's anything wrong with their proposals; rather, it's that all three have largely the same vision, one that views City Hall from the inside out rather than from the outside in." LAT op-ed
Who is lining up behind December fundraisers for Greuel and Austin Beutner. The Hollywood Reporter
Looking at the racial politics of the Democratic primary contest in the 44th congressional district between Reps. Janice Hahn and Laura Richardson and assemblyman Isadore Hall III. LAT
How he handles Occupy L.A. will be a big test for LAPD chief Charlie Beck. DN editorial
Pieces on Herb Wesson as City Council president, both his background and plans for the job, and his concession that he will probably have to stop smoking. LAT, DN/Orlov
When it comes to the city's gross receipts tax, it appears no one is happy. DN
The Board of Supervisors could soon be asked to approve the county's most expensive building project ever, a $1.4-billion reconstruction and renovation of the Men's Central Jail and the Pitchess Detention Center. LAT
The L.A. school board has decided reluctantly to plug some of the holes in its budget by selling advertising space on LAUSD's vans and delivery trucks. DN
Ann Ravel, Gov. Brown’s pick to lead the state Fair Political Practices Commission, "has been on the job less than a year but is moving quickly and provoking strong reactions." California Watch
The documentary on former Gov. Pat Brown by his granddaughters, says Dan Walters, "is a celebration of the man – and perhaps the myth that always surrounds a political figure – not an arms-length appraisal that tells us the bad as well as the good. And that's all right, as long as a viewer doesn't assume it's the latter." Sacto Bee
Vanessa Grigoriadis's long profile of Arianna Huffington calls her "on the one hand...a glittery Earth Mother and, on the other...the world’s best bullshit artist...although, oddly, she remains intensely enjoyable to be around." New York
Sunday's rain didn't dampen the Arroyo Arts Collective's 19th annual Discovery Tour. LAT
Craig Collins was elected president of the Silver Lake Reservoirs Conservancy. SLRC
Singer Nathan Pacheco will perform a one-night concert for the Gil Cates Memorial Fund at the Geffen Playhouse on Dec. 18.