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An initiative to abolish California's death penalty qualified for the November ballot. AP, LAT
Federal Transit Administration chief Peter Rogoff has ordered the MTA to review whether cutting hundreds of thousands of hours in bus service over the last few years was unjust to riders, citing "disturbing findings" of a civil rights investigation. LAT
Rep. Howard Berman held a fundraiser in Sacramento headlined by
Gov. Jerry Brown and attended by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Council President Herb Wesson, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, Assembly Speaker John Perez and Treasurer Bill Lockyer. Sausage Factory
In the annals of California water wars, "there has been little to rival the feud now under way between San Diego’s water agency and the [MWD] that provides water to 19 million customers in Southern California. This contentious and convoluted battle seems more akin to a tough political campaign than a fight between bureaucrats, albeit one with costly consequences." NYT
Harold Hofmann, the 79-year-old mayor of Lawndale, began his 12th term as the city's mayor. Daily Breeze
Hugh Hefner writes Chicago a nice farewell letter, now that Playboy is fully in the Los Angeles area. Chicago Tribune op-ed
"The Hunger Games" is "facism playing on all strings," writes Kelly Candaele. Politics and Films
Jesse Linares "re-shaped the way Spanish language news covers the region's significant Central American population," Adolfo Guzman-Lopez writes of the Hoy editor who died this month. Movie Miento
Seth Abramovitch has joined The Hollywood Reporter as deputy editor, while Erin Carlson and Jordan Zakarin are new staff editors. Fishbowl LA
A Department of Fish and Game warden shot and killed an 80-pound mountain lion near homes in Sunland. KTLA, LAT
Hollywood Park race track will resume horse racing on Thursday as Betfair Hollywood Park. LAT
No buyers so far for Music Man Murray Gershenz's record collection. LAT
Chris Ethridge II, a songwriter and bassist in The Flying Burrito Brothers and other Gram Parsons projects, as well as with Willie Nelson and others, died in Meridian, Mississippi at age 65. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in September. Sun-Herald.com
