Morning Buzz

Morning Buzz: Thursday 10.10.13

Curated news, notes and observations most weekdays from LA Observed.

Politics and government

For more than a year, John A. Pérez, speaker of the California Assembly, dated a Hollywood funeral director who faces fraud allegations in one of the biggest financial scandals to rock the U.S. funeral industry. CIR

Perez announced yesterday he is running for state controller in 2014. Bee, LAT, KPCC

Column One on Irwin Nowick, officially the "principal consultant for the Senate Rules Committee" in Sacramento, but actually a mysterious and vital presence around the Legislature. LAT

Los Angeles World Airports officials outlined an ambitious plan to connect the Metro rail with Los Angeles International Airport in an appearance Wednesday before two City Council committees. Daily Breeze

Despite the failure of past efforts, the ever-optimistic Los Angeles City Council went on record Wednesday renewing a request to the National Football League to return to the region with one or two professional football teams. DN

AEG won a five-year contract to operate L.A. Convention Center. LAT

Santa Monica will regulate the use of its public parks for fitness classes and charge fees to trainers following complaints from some residents that their space has become overrun by athletic enthusiasts. LAT


Media and books

alice-munro-crop.jpgAlice Munro, the Canadian author who has made a career of crafting short fiction instead of novels, is the winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in literature. Jacket Copy

From The New Republic on Wednesday: "Stanley Kauffmann, our film critic of more than five decades, died early this morning at St. Luke’s Hospital in New York at age 97. He died of pneumonia, and peacefully. There will be no funeral. In accordance with Stanley’s request, The New Republic will host a memorial service in New York to celebrate him and his work at a date and time to be announced." TNR, NYT

Paul Thornton, the letters editor at the Los Angeles Times, explains why he will not run letters that state there are no signs that humans have caused climate change. "Saying "there's no sign humans have caused climate change" is not stating an opinion, it's asserting a factual inaccuracy." Opinion LA

The Center for Investigative Reporting in Berkeley is getting a free branding and advertising campaign, courtesy of a leading creative agency. NYT

For the first day of KUSC's fall membership drive, announcers Rich Capparela and Jim Svejda will team up on the air today from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. They will do it again on Friday, Oct. 18.

David Ulin on being from New York and still feeling the tug to go back. Jacket Copy

The Village Voice says it got an exclusive interview with Banksy. LA Weekly

Talking Windy City sportswriting with Ron Rapoport, by David Davis. The Classical

An inside memo at AOL Patch advises local editors how to handle complaints about a new series mapping where in the country divorced men and women live. Romenesko

Pop music critic and author of "Corn Flakes with John Lennon (And Other Tales from a Rock ‘n’ Roll Life)" Robert Hilburn recalls a time when he met John Lennon. PBS American Masters


Courts and cops

A judge on Wednesday rejected an attempt to stop the Los Angeles Times from publishing information found in sheriff's deputies' background screening files. "You'd have to be blind not to recognize there's tension between privacy, public safety and the 1st Amendment," Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michelle R. Rosenblatt said during a hearing on the matter. LAT

LAPD officers learn about science of using deadly force. CBS LA

At a trial in the federal courthouse, five inmates are suing for unspecified damages, saying they suffered skull fractures, broken limbs and other serious injuries after being “unmercifully beaten” by LA County sheriff's deputies at Men’s Central Jail. DN


More news, notes and observations

L.A. Might be The Movie Capital, But Angelenos Aren't Film Buffs. LA Weekly

Does LAX hold the key to American Airlines' future in Asia? The Street

Chef Mark Peel left the project to open an airport version of Campanile at LAX Terminal 4, and his ex-wife and former partner in the real Campanile, Nancy Silverton, is in. Daily Dish

Despite an increasingly secular culture, religion still plays an active role in American life, says USC gerontologist and sociologist Vern L. Bengtson, who explores how religion is inherited in a new book, "FAMILIES AND FAITH: How Religion is Passed Down Across Generations."


Tweets of the day

One local, one international.


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
Recent Morning Buzz stories on LA Observed:
Thursday news and notes
A little bit of mid-week reading
A few links from a few different places
Let's talk about anything but the weather
A few links from here and there
A couple of links from a couple of places
A bit of news from a few places
Morning Buzz: Wednesday 4.16.14