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Curated news, notes and observations most weekdays from LA Observed.
Federal authorities have opened a civil rights probe into whether Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies have engaged in a pattern of abuse of jail inmates — a new level of scrutiny for the nation's largest jail system. LAT
In response to the news, at least two of the challengers for sheriff said over the weekend that they would welcome a federal consent decree, which is one of the possible outcomes of this newest federal investigation into wrongdoing in the scandal plagued LASD. Witness LA
If Sheriff Baca has been an advocate for LA's jailed mentally ill, as he promised, "then I think he’s done a pretty poor job of it." Opinion LA
Moving long-term prison inmates into county jails built to hold prisoners for short terms is proving to be a challenge around the state. LAT
Change is coming to the Board of Supervisors, and for the first time since the board was created in 1852, the majority of members could be women in three years. LAT
Mayor Garcetti knocks on doors in Venice's Oakwood section. LAT
LA Times opinion editors cheekishly let you vote on some even dicier career moves for Antonio Villaraigosa than advising Herbalife. Opinion LA
Former state Treasurer Kathleen Brown is moving back to Los Angeles as a partner at Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, and she also will work in San Francisco and New York on issues including health, financing, energy and the environment. DN
The national AFL-CIO convention opened here Sunday. DN
LAUSD revives effort to reopen four blighted West Valley schools as charters. DN
Vanity Fair's harder edge toward Hollywood has some in the business chafed, among them Gwyneth Paltrow and the longtime publicist for Tom Cruise. NYT
The 38-year-old “PBS NewsHour” began a new era this weekend, adding Saturday and Sunday newscasts for the first time and preparing for the debut on Monday of Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff as the new weeknight anchor team and the first female co-anchors at any network. NYT
Tina Fey will open the new season of Saturday Night Live on Sept. 28, followed by Miley Cyrus the following week. NYT
Judging by my email, some home editions of the Sunday Los Angeles Times did not contain the score of the USC football game and fans were upset (again) that the deadlines are set so early.
The latest investigative project from the Center for Health Reporting at USC is its most extensive yet: "Deadly Neglect," in partnership with U-T San Diego, is based on six months of reporting and finds serious flaws in how California oversees assisted living homes. U-T SD
Jon Wiener of UC Irvine and the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities @ USC signs up for a MOOC through Coursera and finds it less than meets the eye. The Nation
TechCrunch apologized for the "sexisim" of two presentations on stage at its Disrupt 2013 conference: one of them for a joke app called Titstare. Business Insider, TechCrunch
Capital New York founders Josh Benson and Tom McGeveran announced the site's acquisition by the publisher of Politico "with the intention of establishing and growing it as a free-standing sibling publication in New York." Note to readers, Politico
Michael Wolff calls Kara Swisher of All Things D "a proudly charmless and abrasive figure in San Francisco...not, per se, a gossip columnist but part of the technology press, with its fragile line between promotion and coverage and its protection racket method of sucking up to sponsors and allies and ignoring or dinging those who do not fall into line." USA Today
The publishers of Los Angeles Water Works, "a beautiful four-color book that explores Southern California's connections to water and is published by the nonprofit organization the Studio for Southern California History," is looking for funding to help print copies for the October 12 LA Archives Bazaar. Kickstarter
Here are the finalists for this year's Southern California book awards. SCIBA
Former police Chief Bill Bratton is preparing to launch The Blue Line, a social media network designed only for law enforcement. Rick Orlov's Tipoff/DN
Denise Hamilton, Lynell George and other Angelenos on why Santa Ana winds blow our minds. Zocalo Public Square
Research turns up a published taco recipe from 1922. LA Taco
Getting the Elysian Valley community to buy into the summer of kayaking on the Los Angeles River. ZevWeb
Los Angeles ranks just number 17 on a list of popular cities for business meetings, far behind smaller California cities such as San Diego and San Francisco. LAT
Radical inclusion vs. radical self-reliance at Burning Man. Medium
The Broad is still under construction on Bunker Hill, but its Un-Private Collection series of free public programs "featuring conversations with some of today’s most influential artists and cultural and art-world leaders" begins Sept. 12 with Eli and Edythe Broad and Joanne Heyler in conversation with Inge Reist. That's at Central Library at 7:15 p.m. The Broad
The Gibson Amphitheatre closed its doors Friday night, with a performance by Pepe Aguilar, 41 years after opening as the Universal Amphitheatre. DN
Tokyo won the 2020 summer Olympic Games, beating out Istanbul. 3 Wire Sports
Serena Williams won her fifth U.S. Open tennis title. ESPN
