Morning Buzz

Morning Buzz: Friday 8.31.12

Gov. Jerry Brown will not attend the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte next week, citing the death of his wife's father and the press of work in Sacramento. Sacto Bee

lariver-bigditch-lindley.jpgBrown signed a bill that as of January 1 will legally change the status of the Los Angeles River to waterway, from officially just a flood control channel. Curbed

The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority has proposed two new special taxes on residents in and around the Santa Monica Mountains to help maintain and improve open space, parklands and wildlife corridors. DN

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center canceled its warning of a possible tsunami after a major offshore earthquake in the Philippines measured 7.6 magnitude. Reuters

Executives of Live Nation Entertainment Inc. contributed $18,000 to Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich, who is seeking a court order against ticket scalpers. LA Now

A man who stole a police car in South Los Angeles and crashed on La Brea Avenue may lose both legs. City News Service

Two married teachers in Huntington Beach were convicted of unlawful sex with a 17-year-old male high school student they repeatedly invited to their home. LAT

State Sen. Kevin de Leon endorsed Assemblyman Gil Cedillo for the City Council's 1st district.

Social media engagement by City Council members does not correlate with clout, votes, savvy, quality of constituent services or election chances, but here's a roundup of what they do anyway. LAist

Add East Hollywood community activist Elson Trinidad to the length list of candidates who won't replace Eric Garcetti on the City Council. Streetsblog

The Los Angeles County Fair opens today in Pomona. Daily Bulletin

NBC4 adds "The Steve Harvey Show" to its lineup at 3 p.m. on Monday and "The Jeff Probst Show" a week later at 2 p.m.

LA film writers congregate in Telluride. Fishbowl LA

Add UCLA beat sports writer to the list of open positions being filled by the Orange County Register. SportsJournalists.com

Photographic peek inside Arianna Huffington's office. DuJour

How Burning Man is like the American air base in Kandahar. LAT op-ed

The new supposedly better Dodgers lost again and are now 4.5 games out of first place, their biggest gap of the season. MLB.com

The Lakers announced that Nov. 16 is the day they will unveil a statue of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. ESPN LA

Steve Franken, the actor who played Chatsworth Osborne Jr. on the 1960s show "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis" and appeared in other TV episodes, died at age 80. LAT


More by Kevin Roderick:
'In on merit' at USC
Read the memo: LA Times hires again
Read the memo: LA Times losing big on search traffic
Google taking over LA's deadest shopping mall
Gustavo Arellano, many others join LA Times staff
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Morning Buzz: Wednesday 4.16.14