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Selected items from the media, our in box and other LA Observed sources. Posted occasionally.
Only 54 percent of the 11,244 Los Angeles County homicides between 2000 and 2010 have been solved, the Los Angeles News Group papers say in a weekend special section, after an 18-month investigation. DN
Also: The LAPD declared 596 murders solved under dubious circumstances. DN
A huge drop in the Los Angeles County jail population has allowed officials to require the most serious offenders to serve 100 percent of their sentences - up from 40 percent - and other offenders are serving 90 percent, up from 10 percent. KPCC
The New York area is expecting a major blizzard, perhaps its largest snow storm ever, starting today. NYT, Slate
City unions are not yet throwing their money around the 2015 campaigns for City Council. Rick Orlov's Tipoff/DN
Candidates vying for Tom LaBonge's seat try to break out of the pack. LAT
Mayor Eric Garcetti is seeking roughly a 25% cut in the pay that city civilian workers receive while on injury leave, an unusually generous benefit that critics say has contributed to increasing taxpayer costs. LAT
George Skelton columnizes that "Antonio Villaraigosa's resume definitely qualifies him to be a U.S. senator and suggests the potential of a pretty effective one." LAT
Villaraigosa should run "for at least three important reasons," say the guys at CalBuzz.
Councilman Bernard Parks argues against moving city elections to even-numbered years, writing "if two charter amendments headed to Los Angeles voters March 3 get approved, it will make it next to impossible for candidates who aren't party insiders, or the darlings of labor or business interests, to run for and win city office in LA." LAT op-ed
How Metro will build the Purple Line extension under Wilshire Boulevard. The Source
Sundance report: "Going Clear is not only the single best film or television show made about Scientology, it’s masterful storytelling and it packs a serious punch squarely at the people who have allowed the organization’s abuse to go along for so long. Tom Cruise and John Travolta, you are now on notice." Tony Ortega, plus IndieWire
Jill Leovy's South LA crime book, "Ghettoside," led the NYT Book Review on Sunday with the second good review from the paper in less than a week. NYT, earlier at LA Observed
Also: Leovy will be on "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart on Tuesday. TDS
The sale of Digital First Media’s newspapers, which include the LANG papers here, is in
the penultimate rounds of bidding with Cerberus Capital Management and Apollo Global Management competing, says Ken Doctor. Capital NY
Retiring AP courts reporter Linda Deutsch will be honored Tuesday by the county Board of Supervisors.
KCRW's Matt Miller in the Zocalo Green Room.
The staff of The New Yorker has moved downtown from Times Square, and on the way out found some stuff. TNY
Joe Franklin, who became a New York institution by presiding over one of the most compellingly low-rent television programs in history — "an oddly long-running parade of has-beens and yet-to-bes interrupted from time to time by surprisingly famous guests" — died Saturday in Manhattan at age 88. NYT
Jane Wilson Adler, an award-winning historian who chronicled the history of Southern California and enjoyed success as a journalist in London, New York and Los Angeles, has died at age 75. Via email.
More homeless camps are appearing beyond downtown Skid Row. LAT
Boyle Heights community leader Maria Cabildo apologized over her “gentrification fence” photo and tweet. The Eastsider LA
Finally Given a Platform, Boyle Heights Speaks Out on Metro’s Mariachi Plaza and Affordable Housing Plans. Streetsblog
The restored Frank Lloyd Wright Hollyhock House in Barnsdall Art Park will reopen on Feb. 13. Visitors will be allowed to tour the home for 24 hours beginning at 4 p.m. Eric Garcetti on Facebook
Chris Sutter, son of LA Kings coach Darryl Sutter, helps dad coach the NHL All-Stars during Sunday's game.
Retired former Dodgers pitcher Ted Lilly was charged with insurance fraud in connection with a claim for damage to his RV in San Luis Obispo County. AP
Maybe Sports Illustrated, without photographers, will change its name to Sports Described.
— John Branch (@JohnBranchNYT) January 23, 2015