Follow LA Observed on Twitter here
A slim majority favors Proposition 30, Gov. Jerry Brown’s ballot initiative that would raise taxes in order to avoid further spending reductions in education and public safety, but the arguments against carry more weight with voters, according to a new PACE/USC Rossier School of Education Poll released Wednesday.
Also: Brown hopes that voters don't focus on the $68 billion for high-speed rail, or on the debacle in which the state Department of Parks and Recreation hid $54 million. "Sometimes, you have to wonder if Democrats want Gov. Jerry Brown's tax initiative to fail," says Dan Morain. Sacto Bee
L.A.'s top budget administrator made an impassioned plea Tuesday for new and higher taxes to help balance the city's projected $250 million shortfall next year. DN, LAT
Steve Lopez asks: what would the mayoral candidates do about pension reform? LAT
That 70-year-old tennis official accused of bludgeoning her 80-year-old husband to death with a coffee mug was profiled in the L:A Times in 1994.
Terry Hara, the frontrunner in fundraising for the 9th city council district, is an LAPD deputy chief and Japanese American, in a district that is mostly Latino or black, where he doesn't live. His Bunker Hill residence was shifted out of the 9th in redistricting. Downtown News
A City Council committee blocked a $1.1-billion makeover of a shopping center near USC into student housing and retail space community groups protested. LAT
Celeste Fremon accuses the LAPD union of numerous lies in a mailing opposed to a bill that would allow parole for teenaged killers. Witness LA
The first phase of downtown's Grand Park is promising, Sam Hall Kaplan says, but it remains unknown whether it "can attract enough people to lend the space urbanity." Planetizen
The food editor of the Orange County Register publicly tweeted a food writer urging him to apply for a job at the paper. OC Weekly
Inside the new Sundance Sunset Cinemas, with their amenity fees. Hollywood Patch
San Fernando councilwoman Maribel De La Torre entered a not-guilty plea to charges of battery and vandalism, with the supposed victim, the ex-mayor, by her side. DN
Traffic backups into Dodger Stadium have "been happening forever here, and it's still wrong.," says Bill Plaschke. LAT
Ex-Dodger Jeff Kent joined the next season of "Survivor" on CBS.
Today is move-in day for the dorms at USC. UCLA's fall quarter does not begin until next month.
