Follow LA Observed on Twitter here
The first televised debate of the mayoral runoff is tonight at 7 p.m. (on Channel 7) from American Jewish University. At 11 a.m., Wendy Greuel will unveil her school reform plans at Granada Hills Charter School. At 10:45 a.m., Eric Garcetti is due at First AME Church to announce the endorsement of former Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke.
Greuel and Garcetti spent Wednesday exchanging barbs about labor influence and education chops. Greuel's team tried a lame stunt by offering to debate Garcetti on education if he would come on very short notice to her media event at Camino Nuevo school. (He declined.) The school's CEO then complained about Greuel using the site for negative campaigning. Meanwhile, the DWP union gave another $500,000 to the indepedent committee spending big on Greuel's behalf. LAT, DN, KPCC, LAT again
Jan Perry endorsed Curren Price for her seat on the City Council. KPCC
Hillary Clinton for president backers see California as the key to her running and winning. SF Gate
Which accused LA crime figure is a friend of a friend of ex-Los Angeles DA Steve Cooley? OC Weekly
Voters in the city of Vernon approved three tax measures. 42 of 70 voters took part. LAT
"When you're music director at KCRW," Jason Bentley says, "you're kind of music director of Los Angeles." LA Weekly
New owners likely to change 'old school' hip-hop KDAY to Chinese-language programming. KPCC
Former KTTV weatherman Mark Thompson has a new podcast. Dateline‘s Josh Mankiewicz was a guest. Fishbowl LA
The City Council approved the move of City of Los Angeles Cityview Channel 35 to the historic Merced Theatre located at El Pueblo Historical Monument.
Sonia Nazario, who wrote the award-winning Enrique's Journey series for the Los Angeles Times in the 1990s and later a book of the same name, has an op-ed piece in the New York Times arguing on behalf of children being deported by the U.S. without representation by lawyers. NYT
Oops: In an item on the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic downsizing, the Times says that the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1955. Their first season in LA was 1958. LAT (last item)
Lucky to be alive: A Lancaster couple's devastating encounter with Lee Baca's COPS HIT deputies. LA Weekly cover
A gay leader emerges in the 'hood at Imperial Courts housing project in Watts. LA Weekly
Five Inland Empire suspects were arrested for what authorities called an elaborate bank robbery scheme that included cutting through rooftops and disguising the work from passing helicopters. "It is one of the most elaborate crimes we have seen," Sheriff Lee Baca said at a news conference. "This is something out of a movie script." LAT
Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, the con man who posed as a member of the Rockefeller family, was convicted of the 1985 murder of John Sohus after one day of jury deliberations.
U.S. seeks national recreation area status for San Gabriel Mountains. LAT, AP, SGV Tribune
Departing flights at John Wayne Airport, already required to make a steep ascent, would have to make several turns under a request by Newport Beach to reduce noise. LAT
Ex-KB Homes CEO Bruce Karatz, investor Stanley Gold and collector Orna Amir Wolens have joined the MOCA board of trustees. LAT
Downtown's Electric Dusk Drive-In, displaced from Broadway, is moving to a temporary home on San Julian Street in the Fashion District. LAT
USC announced that Jodie Gates, "an internationally renowned dancer, choreographer and educator" currently at UC Irvine, has been named vice dean and director of the new USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance.
Television writer Mickey Rose, a high school friend of Woody Allen, died Sunday at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 77. LAT
LA Weekly photo of Jason Bentley: Jennie Warren
