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Another Southern California summer has come and gone. Bummer — I'm not really an autumn guy. So while daylight time is still in force, I'm taking a few weeks off to travel a bit and recharge. My already-slower pace of posting is going to be more spotty until I get back, as will responding to email and answering phone calls. Not off-grid exactly, but unplugging for longer stretches. The other contributors to LA Observed will continue to post as they wish and I'll chip in here and there.
Before I go, some clearing of the desk.
Two of the other Republicans on the statewide ballot in November declined to endorse the party's moderate candidate for governor, Neel Kashkari, at the state convention in LA this weekend. LAT, AP
The LA Times led the Sunday paper with a big story package (with multimedia on the web) the paper bills as "a Los Angeles Times exclusive" — and here's the 2009 and 2010 coverage in the New York Times of the same federal sting and controversy over the market in Native American relics in the Four Corners area of the West.
Jim Newton listened to last week's UCLA debate between Sheila Kuehl and Bobby Shriver and heard enough of a difference between the two Board of Supervisors candidates to columnize that "their pitch to voters in their initial debate does suggest how differently these two moderate to liberal Democrats would approach the job." LAT op-ed
Councilman Bernard Parks is still sought out for comment in the national media on African American issues but here in LA "finds himself in the political wilderness" these days, says the LA Times.
Is Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian "looking to pull off what Councilman Bob Blumenfield was able to do last year…Run for his state office in this November’s election and then turn around and run for a City Council seat in 2015?" Rick Orlov's Tipoff/DN
Garcetti aide Linda Lopez, who directs the mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, is the "face of [the] city's outreach to foreign-born residents." LAT
Karen Mack, president of the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners, "is undertaking what she sees as the daunting task of trying to engage a metropolis where people go out of their way to ignore their local government." DN
The Dodgers won three of four from the Cubs and come home with a 4½-game lead over the Giants and a chance to clinch a division title as early as Tuesday night. ESPN
Former Orange County Register sports columnist Mark Whicker is now a full-time columnist for the LA News Group. He succeeds Jill Painter.
Coastal Cleanup volunteers this weekend turned up parts of two handguns as well as the usual tons of litter, cigarette butts and other debris that washes into the ocean off LA. Heal the Bay
KPCC's John Rabe re-posted the segment in which I observed him try to fry an egg in a pan placed on a driveway in the Valley. Off-Ramp
"100 Not So Famous Views Of L.A.," a book of paintings by Barbara A. Thomason and Prospect Park Books. Website
The new movie "Fort Bliss" has an Orange County connection. Hollywood Reporter
Man charged with DUI after flagging down officer to say "hello" http://t.co/4kew97kbiI pic.twitter.com/4pLOiSY0M2
— NBC Los Angeles (@NBCLA) September 22, 2014
Tonight is that golden night of the week where I watch the last 12 minutes of all the shows I fell asleep during
— Richard Rushfield (@richardrushfield) September 22, 2014
It's a good night when my editor tells me my story is 1:29 and my producer gave me 1:30!!!! #reporterproblems
— Brittney Hopper (@brittneytv) September 22, 2014