Morning Buzz: Tuesday 6.12.12

Politics and government

State legislators are back into that situation where they face losing their own pay if they don't pass a state budget by Friday. Democrats are pushing back against some cuts proposed by the governor. LAT, Bee, SF Chronicle

State Sen. Sharon Runner returned to Sacramento after recovery from a lung transplant. Bee

Commerce Secretary John Bryson will take a medical leave for tests regarding what the Administration is calling seizures that may have contributed to two weekend hit-and-run accidents. Something may have been wrong when he gave the graduation speech at Pasadena's Polytechnic School on Thursday. LAT, SGV Tribune

Board of Public Works Commissioner John Choi announced in a resignation letter that he will join the crowded field of candidates seeking to succeed Eric Garcetti as councilman of the 13th district. City News Service


Media and media people

Ed Wasserman, the Knight Chair in Journalism Ethics at Washington and Lee University, will be named the new dean of Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, his current school says. Romenesko

Twitter has hired Mark S. Luckie, author of The Digital Journalist's Handbook and founder of the 10,000 Words journalism blog, as Creative Content Manager for Journalism. He will leave the Washington Post. @marksluckie

On Twitter: ‏@RyanMorden: "My history of legendary duos retiring from broadcasting tells me Ben Mankiewicz & Ben Lyons will be the new hosts of Car Talk."


More

United Technologies Corp. is in negotiations with one buyer to sell storied rocket engine maker Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne and a deal may soon be announced, sources said Monday. DN

Hmm. New owners of Malibu's Beau Rivage had served their first meals hours before a fire burned through the restaurant. LAT

The Dodgers and Andre Ethier have agreed on a five-year contract extension worth $85 million through 2017, with a $17.5 million vesting option for 2018 based on plate appearances in 2017 or 2016-17, according to an industry source. There is a $2.5 million buyout if the option does not vest. MLB.com

Tenaya Lake in the Yosemite high country is getting a $1.7 million upgrade of parking and picnic facilities this summer. LAT


Deaths

Ann Rutherford, the actress who played Scarlett's younger sister Carreen in the 1939 film "Gone With the Wind," died Monday at home in Beverly Hills at 94. LAT

Gene Selznick, a beach volleyball pioneer who twice coached U.S. teams in the Olympics, died Sunday at Kindred Hospital in Los Angeles. He was 82. LAT

Yutaka Shimizu, a second-generation Japanese American who coached high school basketball in Los Angeles for more than 50 years &mdas; mostly at Hamilton and Kennedy — died Sunday at a Lakewood hospital. He was 84 and had a lung ailment. LAT

Bill Littlefield, the longtime head of the Los Angeles Public Defenders Office, died Saturday at home in Van Nuys at age 90. DN


More by Kevin Roderick:
Santa Monica's mean parking meters observed
LACMA shortens museum hours
Elinor Ostrom, LA woman who won Nobel in economics was 78
Free wi-fi at LAX? Forget about it
Hockey is a family affair
Recent Morning Buzz stories on LA Observed:
Morning Buzz: Tuesday 6.12.12
Morning Buzz: Monday 6.11.12
Morning Buzz: Friday 6.8.12
Morning Buzz: Thursday 6.7.12
Morning Buzz: Tuesday 6.5.12

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