Foo Fighters for Obamajam, Wesson punishes City Council rivals and an LAPD detective arrested, plus more.
Rep. Gabrielle Gifords to leave Congress, Simpson case detective Philip Vannatter dies and more.
Bronson Canyon body parts, Johnny Otis tribute and more.
A roundup of news briefs, observations and email items.

Yes, a roundup of news briefs that's about a day too late. But still, out with the old and in with the new.

Reporters, editors and other staffers at the Daily News offices in the Valley have been told to stop feeding the wildlife.
Romenesko, the Geffen Playhouse, Evelyn Martinez, Haskell Wexler, Winston Doby and more.
Making ready for the coming week, with Jim Ladd, Zev Yaroslavsky, Steve Lopez, Dawn Hudson and more.
A roundup from the news and the email in-box.
UCLA student in Libya, a light quake, a professor selling meth, big waves and more.
Denise Hamilton's Native Intelligence tribute to the late journalist Terry McGarry will air this weekend on KPCC's Off-Ramp, noon Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday. Off-Ramp blog Police are preparing...
Obama's menu from last night, Lohan sentenced back to county jail, and more.
No Dodger Stadium arrests, Trutanich endorses Hahn, former Daily News editor dies and public radio stations raise money for Japan. Plus more.
Clearing out the backlog, with more to come.
L.A. sits out trend on nonwhite children, more Grim Sleeper victims, Abby Sunderland's book, LACMA partners with New York Times, Nikki Finke plans her return and more.
Mayor Villaraigosa's negotiated deal with the FPPC to pay a $42,000 fine over not reporting free tickets "highlights the need for that agency to clarify its regulations," says Laurie Levinson of Loyola law school. Plus more
Tsunami coverage, Mel Gibson, Arianna Huffington, book notes and more.
Coliseum manager out, Villaraigosa appoints to the DWP commission and more.
Jane Fonda's third act, multi-racial America, The Dude in London and more.
Councilman Bill Rosendahl to undergo heart procedure, and more news notes.
Riordan to close two restaurants, Zine recuses over girlfriend, Yvonne Burke and Matt Toledo get state appointments and is Hollywood L.A. neighborhood of the year?
I thought my daughter's snowed-in-at-Heathrow story was bad enough: eight days late coming home and missing Christmas. But the experience of UC Irvine professor Ngugi wa Thiong’o was even...
Tying up loose ends on the Bell story, Disneyland turns away crowds, re-thinking the Gray Davis recall and more.
Oscar ballots go out, the falling murder rate, new execs at KCET and more.
S. Ireve Virbila, Patrick O'Connor, Brian Lowry, Ryan Kavanaugh, David Kipen and more.
Jerry Brown, the Downtown Art Walk, even Lindsay Lohan. And more.
News, notes and observations from the weekend.
Sofia Coppola's "Somewhere," a forthcoming film set mostly at the Chateau Marmont, won the top Golden Lion prize at the Venice Film Festival. LAPD chief Charlie Beck said the...
A round-up from the weekend's email and media.
Broadway theaters in WSJ, McCourts try to settle, Bell's $1.5 million city manager, Pau Gasol in scubs and more.
Mayor Villaraigosa will name zoning administrator Michael LoGrande to be city planning director, and also talked to Rick Orlov about the Daily News' challenge to show he hasn'[t checked out.
News, media, politics, blogs, food and more.
Before I head off to survey the far-flung reaches of the empire for the 4th, some notes from the week.
Kobe Bryant, Brian D'Arcy, Ron Kaye, John Forsyth and more.
Variety has restored that missing "Iron Cross" review to its website and says it was only down for factual vetting in response to a legal threat, not because of...
Jerry Brown plans to announce officially that he's running for governor, and other notes from the day.
Sunday's News Conference guests, a new column for Amy Wallace, a warning from Nikki Finke and more.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (at the home of attorney Bruce Broillet and his wife Norah) and Sen. Mark Warner are among the Democrats holding L.A. area fundraisers during the congressional recess.
A little afternoon news and notes roundup, plus my script for today's LA Observed commentary on KCRW.
Leading with Rep. Jackie Speier saying she's out of the Democratic race for attorney general.
News and notes for the end of the week.
A roundup of items in the news and our in-box.
The L.A.. Times ran another investigative collaboration with ProPublica on lax enforcement that lets problem nurses keep working. There's a pretty good summation of how 92 digital billboard came...
Holiday week posting will be on the light side. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation announced a grant of $200,000 to The Huffington Post Investigative Fund, which has...
LAPD chief Charlie Beck reiterated that he will keep Special Order 40, which instructs officers not to question people solely to ascertain their immigration status. Don Novey, the political...
The Michael Jackson memorial cost the city $3.2 million in staff costs and overtime, and generated $4 million in increase economic activity, the city's chief legislative analyst said. DN...
The real reason David Hockney relocated from Los Angeles to Yorkshire is that the U.S. wouldn't allow his partner back into the country, Tyler Green says in chiding the...
LA Biz Observed has followed some of the state budget fallout over there. Cal State university and colleges trustees raised student fees 20% and furloughed employees, as California's higher ed...
Thomas Saenz talks about the MALDEF job and being passed over by the Obama Administration. NPR's Tell Me MoreMarc Haefele says the debate over paying for police services during the...
Former UCLA chancellor Charles Young filed suit asking the California Supreme Court to invalidate the state's 2/3 vote requirement for raising taxes. Dan Walters More chest-beating and attention-seeking by...
Freeways are uncommonly bad out there today, especially the 405 north due to truck crash in Sepulveda Pass. Incoming councilman Paul Koretz signed his chief of staff: Rich Llewellyn,...
Channel 5 had Stan Chambers throw the switch to change over to digital TV, making the point that he worked at the station for the entire analog era. Video...
The L.A. Times was forced to run a correction because Michael Douglas forgot that he hosted a 1991 event honoring his father, Kirk Douglas. The anonymous blogger known as...
Space Shuttle Atlantis might land at Edwards AFB this weekend — and sonically boom us all, twice — or it might proceed on to Florida. NASA With the state...
George Kieffer, partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and former chair of the L.A. Chamber of Commerce, was appointed a University of California regent, according to Shane Goldmacher of...
That Long Beach State student and two other L.A. County residents are confirmed cases of the new H1N1 or swine flu. More local cases are expected, but the outbreak appears...
Los Angeles city officials are considering the immediate layoffs of 400 workers and eliminating an additional 2,800 positions in the months ahead, according to union officials. LAT A 30-year-old...
Chief Bratton endorses another candidate — this time in New York City. L.A. Now KPFK suspends "anti-Semitic hatefest" show "La Causa" for six weeks; its followers blame the Jews....
Times film columnist and blogger Patrick Goldstein responds to Variety's weekend package on bloggers and says of Peter Bart: "He's launched his own blog, which you'd have to call...
The city of Los Angeles could face nearly a $1 billion — that's with a B — shortfall in the 2010 budget year because of a "mammoth bailout needed...
In a follow to her audit of City Hall gang programs a year ago, Controller Laura Chick says there is still a long ways to go. ReportUnlike in L.A., next...
Because it's been that kind of day: The consulting company belonging to the Screen Actors Guild’s new national executive director, David White, shut down shortly before he was hired because...
David Beckham admits to the Euro press that he's considering an offer to leave the Galaxy and stay with AC Milan: "little more than a formality" says The Independent....
Police say a murder-suicide in Wilmington claimed five children and their parents who had lost jobs at the Kaiser medical center at Venice and La Cienega. The father apparently...
Sharon Waxman's Hollywood news site The Wrap will make its official debut on Monday, and Eric Estrin of LAO (and the LAO Script Project) will be on board as...
Because the desk is flowing over, and I have a few minutes... Film critic John Anderson repeatedly punched veteran publicist Jeff Dowd over a disagreement at Sundance about "Dirt! The...
Some new, some holdovers from the end of the year. I'll be back to regular posting on Monday. Happy New Year everybody! Bell Gardens city counciman Mario Beltran took the...
Camille Johnston, who left as the Dodgers' director of communications in 2007, lands with the Obama Administration as Special Assistant to the President and Director of Communications for the...
Should a new public school in Carson be named for Cesar Chavez or slain LAPD officer Randal Simmons, as originally proposed? Daily Breeze Add Sen. Gil Cedillo and the...
Heavy snow (by SoCal standards) has closed highways in and out of the Antelope Valley, San Gabriel Mountains and San Bernardino Mountains and of course over the Grapevine on...
Word out of KCBS/KCAL is that there have been layoffs today, including assistant news director Jim Hattendorf. Also, the copy desks of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, San Bernardino...
Ex-Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano was sentenced to 15 years in prison. LA Biz Observed Las Lomas project in the Newhall Pass appears to be dead. Ron Kaye The...
Get a look at Rep. Loretta Sanchez's holiday card for this year. It reportedly costs her campaign contributors $130,000 a year to produce the season's greetings. Latino Politics Blog...
Political consultant Sue Burnside denies she was hired by candidate Ben Austin to circulate his petitions: "I was on my honeymoon in South America." Sausage Factory Controller Laura Chick...
Planning commission president Jane Usher resigned, confirming gossip that swept offices this week, saying she needs a job and offering the mayor some advice in her exit letter. LAT,...
NBC will announce that Jay Leno is getting a 10 p.m. slot when his "Tonight Show" run ends. NYT Political writer Joe Mathews offers five steps to victory over...
In addition to today's three Daily News layoffs, LANG has also eliminated the DN Travel section and reassigned the chain's sports editor, Kevin Modesti, to be a metro reporter....
Media and politics tidbits from around the greater Los Angeles universe. Controller Laura Chick is quoted on the CBS Evening News in a story about the impact of car dealers...
Politics, media and assorted news briefs from the greater Los Angeles universe. Heavy fog in Sacramento aborted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's flight from Santa Monica, so he made his fiscal emergency...
News of Los Angeles, a little from here, a little from there... District Attorney Steve Cooley's office is looking into possible lobbying violations by former L.A. councilman Richard Alatorre and...
Mark Ridley-Thomas will resign his Senate seat on Sunday, in time to allow for a March 3 special election. Sausage Factory Russ Parsons returns as food editor at the...
And now, some stuff I missed because I was actually working. Let's start here at LAO: Today's biz headlines (Japan is in recession) and an answer (hah) to the subprime...
OK -- man, alligator, bar. The patrons freak out, the Huntington Beach cops get called to Johnny's Saloon, and even though this all happened on Saturday night, word about the...
Esha Momeni, a 28-year-old Iranian-American working on a documentary about the women's movement in Iran, has been held since being arrested on Oct. 15. A friend of her family says...
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa gets a seat on President-elect Barack Obama's Transition Economic Advisory Board, which will meet Friday in Chicago. Talking Points Memo Controller Laura Chick is volunteering to...
Metrolink appointed an 11-person panel of industry experts to take a comprehensive look at commuter rail safety and operating procedures. LAT A homeless man died after being set on...
Add the LA Weekly's Detour festival to the list of Downtown traffic challenges on Saturday. Not to mention that at 5 pm, Sen. Hillary Clinton and celebrities like Natalie...
The MTA approved putting a half-cent sales tax increase on the November ballot that could raise between $30 billion and $40 billion for transit and highway projects. LAT, Under...
At least two Japanese gangsters who received liver transplants at UCLA Medical Center then donated $100,000, the LAT reports. (WitnessLA adds some context to the UCLA transplant stories.) Todd...
Bob Hertzberg is also sniffing around a challenge to Mayor Villaraigosa — or a run for city attorney against Jack Weiss — the former Villaraigosa friend and foe tells...
Sallie Hofmeister is the new business editor at the Los Angeles Times, reporting to the managing editor. LA Biz Observed Scary forecast about the financial future of newspapers, also...
KPFK wants to broadcast "your big fat gay wedding," as the OC Weekly's Gustavo Arellano puts it. Navel Gazing Catch a photo of FishbowlLA bloggers Mayrav Saar (on the...
California Supreme Court chief justice Ronald George gives a two-hour interview to the LAT's Maura Dolan and talks about the court's milestone same-sex marriage ruling: "I think there are...
I'm still tied up on a deadline, but here are some items in the news this morning: The Breeze's Gene Maddaus examines the Fox 11 report alleging Councilwoman Janice Hahn...
Lunchtime brawls at Locke High in South Los Angeles involved hundreds of students and led to four arrests, as well as a campus lockdown. Overwhelmed school officials called in...
Jane Gross exits NYT Former L.A. Times reporter (and ex-New York Times L.A. bureau correspondent) Jane Gross takes the NYT buyout offer. Romenesko The Advocate sold cheap PlanetOut Inc. agreed...
Woman shot and killed on Harbor Freeway Samantha Padilla, 19, was fired at five times while exiting the northbound freeway at Slauson shortly after midnight. LAT Many Pellicano charges dropped...