News

Friday news and notes

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LA Observed file photo


Selective catching up after staying away from the LA news for a little while...

Donald Sterling-related

V. Stiviano's lawyer says that she gave copies of the recordings that she and Sterling made to friends for safekeeping, and that one of them sold a copy to TMZ. LAT

Sterling's side has confirmed he is being treated for prostate cancer — KCAL 9 reported for a time last night that it was pancreatic cancer.

Michael Hiltzik column: Donald Sterling and the NBA, your guide to the looming legal morass. LAT

For 30 Years, the City Knew This Man Was a Racist. But Impunity Is Part of the Culture Here. Joe Mathews/Zocalo

Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson is getting a lot of credit for getting the NBA to move swiftly against Sterling. NYT, AP

Leon Jenkins resigned as president of the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP, under pressure over his ties to Sterling and embarrassing plans to give the Clippers owner a lifetime achievement award in spite of his anti-minority past. A former lawyer, Jenkins had been disbarred in Michigan and California. LAT, Deadline Detroit

Interim chapter president Lorraine Miller said it was "inexcusable" that the previous leadership wanted to give an award to Sterling: "We will determine the shortcomings that enabled Donald Sterling to receive or be considered for any awards.” CNS

The Sterling scandal has "presented Garcetti with a test of leadership — how quickly and forcefully to respond to incendiary remarks attributed to the prominent owner of a major L.A. sports franchise," says David Zahniser. LAT

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar seems to be convinced that the Sterling conversations were taped illegally, and thus he argues someone should go prison. Weirder still, Time ran his piece.

LA Times columnist Sandy Banks learned about the cost of uninformed throwaway lines after she columnized about Sterling, "Let the real estate magnate take his millions and buy a hockey team. Then he won’t have to worry about black superstars showing up for games on his girlfriend’s arm." LAT


Politics and government

Vacant Parker Center should be demolished and a 27-story tower housing a variety of city offices should rise in its place, according to a recommendation from the City Department of Public Works and the Bureau of Engineering. Downtown News

Michael Finnegan's profile of supervisor candidate Sheila Kuehl opened with a 1959 anecdote of her being kicked out of her UCLA sorority for being gay. LAT

The LA Times has endorsed Jim McDonnell for sheriff, Matt Miller in the 33rd congressional district, and Marshall Tuck for state superintendent of public instruction. LAT Opinion

The Daily News endorsed Bobby Shriver for supervisor. DN

Councilwoman Nury Martinez endorsed Sheila Kuehl for supervisor. Sausage Factory

Commuters on Pacific Coast Highway in Santa Monica on Thursday began fighting what could be months of heavy traffic due to a lane closure stemming from a storm drain construction project. SM Mirror

Pasadena city officials put public health director Eric Walsh on temporary paid administrative leave after they learned of controversial statements he had made about homosexuality and evolution while a pastor. Walsh was Pasadena City College's replacement commencement speaker after Dustin Lance Black was deemed unofficially too gay. LAT, Star-News

Investigative reporter Frank Snepp says there is a threat from underground methane that LA city officials are ignoring. YouTube

The Los Angeles City Council promoted Sharon Tso to become its top policy advisor as chief legislative analyst. DN

Councilman Bernard Parks made his soap opera debut on Friday on the CBS daytime drama “The Bold and The Beautiful.” KCRW

Taffany Lim is leaving the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs to be senior director of Cal State LA's new Center for Engagement, Service, and the Public Good.


Media and books

la-weekly-cover-gierach.jpgRyan Gierach, the founder, publisher and editor of WeHo News, talks about putting out the paper from his place in the PATH homeless shelter. "During his 14 months as a secretly homeless man, Gierach posted some 584 articles to WeHo News." LA Weekly

LA author Mona Gable's memoir, "Blood Brother: The Gene That Rocked My Family," about her experience learning she was at risk for Huntington's disease shortly before her brother died, is being published May 7 by Shebooks.

Phillip Rodriguez's documentary, "Ruben Salazar: Man in the Middle," premiered on PBS. LAT

Henry Chu, London bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times, will be a Nieman Fellow studying "the rise of a global middle class and why, in major developing countries such as China and India, the group has not become the engine of significant political change that it has been elsewhere."

Alfred Lee, a staff reporter for Los Angeles Business Journal, will be a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in economics and business journalism at Columbia for the year.

Michael Moyer, an editor with Scientific American, he was asked on "Fox and Frineds" to talk about future trends but when he told the producer his top trend would be the impacts of climate change, "I was told to pick something else." Talking Points Memo

Leonard Klady, a box office analyst for the website Movie City News, has been expelled from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association after an attempt to get sponsors for the group’s annual awards dinner triggered a lawsuit. Hollywood News

Latest to leave the LA Daily Journal is associate editor Ben Adlin, who will be freelancing.

The new KNBC and NBC studios at Universal City the “Brokaw News Center” because Tom Brokaw began his network career in the LA bureau. The facility houses NBC News, CNBC, MSNBC, Telemundo News, NBC4 Southern California/KNBC and Telemundo 52/KVEA.


Courts and cops

LAUSD admits having more photos than previously said in the Miramonte Elementary sex abuse case. KPCC

Authorities believe that missing Fox executive Gavin Smith was killed the night he vanished two years and have issued a death certificate. LAT

Michael Vuong, 66, of Palms, was arrested in connection with the hit-and-run death last year of David Pregerson on Chautauqua Boulevard in Pacific Palisades. CBS LA

For the second time, a judge has thrown out a lawsuit by Hollywood executive Brian Mulligan against Eric Rose, a media consultant for the LA Police Protective League. "I am pleased and agree with both rulings," Rose said in a statement. LAT


More news, notes and observations

Was Toyota driven out of California? Not really. LAT

The Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games released its bid to win the 2024 games for Los Angeles. SCCOG, Inside the Games

A visit to Southern California’s board game cafe, GameHaus. KCRW

Fifteen proposed new words for LA traffic. Curbed

The iPic Theaters open today on Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood Village. Info

The Great Los Angeles River Cleanup continues Saturday in the Glendale Narrows area. FOLAR


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