Morning Buzz

Morning Buzz: Monday 8.20.12

Politics and government

Two Republican congressmen attacked plans for a new federal courthouse and federal office building in downtown Los Angeles. LAT

Rick Orlov's Tipoff: Riordan back in the pension fight, booing Berman-Sherman, Rosendahl's video. DN

Mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel send an email to potential supporters wishing Bill Clinton a happy 66th birthday: "As someone who once worked for President Clinton, it has been so rewarding to watch him develop a post-presidential career that expands on his lifetime of public service."

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation will hold a 10 a.m. presser to argue that the latest syphilis outbreak among performers in the LA porn industry proves that self-policing does not work.

Manuel Figueras, an aide to Councilman Richard Alarcon, was charged last week with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter for allegedly striking and killing a transient in North Hollywood while driving a city car back in March. KPCC, DN

The city of Ontario and San Bernardino County plan to establish a new governing authority for L.A./Ontario International Airport, even though Los Angeles actually operates the airport. LAT


Media and books

KPCC says in an announcement about the new "Brand and Martinez" show that begins today: "Don't worry, we're not changing much....We've added a new cast member." LAO

Air Hollywood in Pacoima is where that airplane cabin or cockpit scene you watched may have been filmed. DN

Even with a Jay Leno pay cut to save some jobs, the "Tonight" show laid off between 20 and 25 staffers. NYT

Layoffs at the Village Voice in New York again, thinning the editorial presence down to almost nothing. Bad sign for the entire chain, an ex-staffer speculates. BuzzFeed

KPCC's Adolfo Guzman-Lopez on the death of lesbian poet Tatiana de la Tierra. Movie Miento

Christopher Simon Sykes’s “David Hockney. The Biography, 1937-1975: A Rake’s Progress” is the "engaging if breezy first volume of a projected two-part book...a semiauthorized biography, with all that implies about a tone of blanketing admiration." NYT

Alex Morgan, a top scorer on the Olympic-champion US women's soccer team, signed with Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing for "The Kicks," a three-book series of novels for middle schoolers. The main characters will be four young girls. SGV Tribune wires

Diane Gordon has resumed publishing The Surf Report as "an email newsletter and blog" about television.


More

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory used a laser beam to vaporize a rock on the surface of Mars. LAT

Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar, which opened long ago as a TB sanitarium, now handles the worst cases of tuberculosis. LAT

Demolition begins this week of a Southern Pacific Railroad bridge over National Boulevard as part of the Expo Line extension west of Culver City. KPCC

Singer and pianist Michael Feinstein will be the new lead conductor of the Pasadena Pops, succeeding Marvin Hamlisch. LAT

Grand Park is the focus of "all sorts of grand visions" for downtown Los Angeles. NYT

Those who believe that visible high-altitude contrails behind jets are actually poisonous "chem trails" gathered at a Los Angeles conference. DN

The body of experienced diver Rebecca Weiss, 50, was found in the Pacific off Rancho Palos Verdes, where her husband said she went diving on her own. Daily Breeze

Frank Godden, a real estate man who had a key role in the growth of Val Verde as a resort community for African Americans, died in Los Angeles at 101. LAT

Actor William Windom died Thursday of congestive heart failure at his home in Woodacre, north of San Francisco, said his wife, Patricia. He was 88. LAT, NYT


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Read the memo: LA Times hires again
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Gustavo Arellano, many others join LA Times staff
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Morning Buzz: Wednesday 4.16.14