Topic Archive: Politics
Did Lu Parker go along, as she implied she would in that first public glimpsing of the couple at Chevalier's bookstore a month ago? Mayoral spokesman Matt Szabo isn't saying.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 2, 2009 11:29 PM
An elected San Francisco supervisor has been agitating up there for details on the cost of Mayor Gavin Newsom's security detail, without much luck. Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, however, easily tracked... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 1, 2009 4:55 PM
Steve Hymon, who covered the City Hall beat (and later transportation as the Bottleneck blogger) for the Los Angeles Times, is back again, at least virtually. This time, he's doing... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 1, 2009 4:22 PM
Emanuel Pleitez is the 26-year-old who may have played a bit of a spoiler role in the 32nd congressional district by taking votes from Gil Cedillo in the Democratic primary... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 1, 2009 2:37 PM
Channel 5 reporter Eric Spillman posted the photo on Twitter of his KTLA colleague, the mayor's girlfriend, in the invited crowd at Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's pre-swearing-in church gathering this morning.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 1, 2009 9:43 AM
Homies Unidos director Alex Sanchez was denied bail even though former Senator Tom Hayden offered his home as security and support at the hearing included a deputy to City... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 1, 2009 9:30 AM
One day before she would have left elective office, Governing magazine features former Los Angeles City Controller Laura Chick on its July cover. She stepped down early, of course, to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 1, 2009 12:54 AM
LAUSD chief Ramon Cortines said he was taking "appropriate personnel action" against the principal and athletic director of Birmingham High School for letting Sacha Baron Cohen (as gay character "Bruno")... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 30, 2009 10:52 PM
Just passing this along, but the source — Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo — isn't known to go off half-cocked. Marshall posts tonight that Rep. Henry Waxman was taken... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 30, 2009 9:38 PM
Assembly Democrats passed a budget package Sunday night without Republican votes. A veto by the governor is expected. LAT, Bee, Register Decisions by the U.S. 9th Circuit were overturned... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 29, 2009 8:58 AM
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James K. Hahn — yes, the former mayor — did the honors yesterday as his younger sister, Janice Hahn, took the oath of office for... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 28, 2009 5:50 PM
Levin was a familiar sight around the Westside signing up voters — which Bob Pool at the Times says she did six days a week for 36 years. Levin's son... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 27, 2009 6:34 PM
Well, let's call it partly politics and partly law enforcement, with some union advocacy for seasoning. It's the new blog of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which posts today... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 26, 2009 3:13 PM
Today's Michael Jackson mourners in Hollywood are able to get to his actual Walk of Fame star instead of radio host Jackson's star, where they gathered yesterday. Gatherings also... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 26, 2009 9:26 AM
Anish Mahajan, 34, a member of the Mid City West Community Council, was selected for the 2009-10 class of White House fellows. He's the only Indian American in the group.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 25, 2009 10:23 PM
Wave columnist Betty Pleasant writes there was a dust-up at the Lakers victory parade when star Kobe Bryant refused to ride with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. She says: The cause of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 25, 2009 12:10 PM
State budget talks go nowhere again, so the state may soon have to issue IOUs instead of checks to the people it owes. Rough & Tumble roundup, Which Way,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 25, 2009 9:19 AM
The Democrats' latest budget plan in Sacramento appears to be dead on arrival. Rough & Tumble Kudos to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for having the guts to enter... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 24, 2009 8:52 AM
Take a look at more Steve Greenberg cartoons in the LA Sketchbook archive. Click on any cartoon to view it bigger.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 23, 2009 11:31 PM
A judge has ruled that the Los Angeles city controller does not have the powers to conduct performance audits of the other elected city officials, siding with City Attorney Rocky... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 23, 2009 6:45 PM
A few minutes ago, at 6:30, Mayor Villaraigosa's Twitter feed came alive: villaraigosa Today I announced that I will not be running for gov of CA. LA needs a leader... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 22, 2009 6:43 PM
Steve Lopez had a column ready for the LAT website on Mayor Villaraigosa giving up his dreams of living in the governor's suburban estate. Of course L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 22, 2009 5:06 PM
The mayor of San Francisco would very much like to have the endorsement of the mayor of Los Angeles. Newsom sends out this reaction to Villaraigosa dropping out: As a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 22, 2009 2:19 PM
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa blows off locals and goes to CNN's Wolf Blitzer for his announcement a minute ago that he will not run for governor. Good call, though it makes... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 22, 2009 1:16 PM
Steve Greenberg was inspired by today's Los Angeles Times Poll story showing higher approval ratings for the LAPD. See more by Greenberg in LA Sketchbook.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 22, 2009 10:57 AM
Per Rick Orlov, City Council candidate Christine Essel will go with John Shallman as consultant, Tom Berman as campaign manager and John Fairbank and Jonathan Brown of Fairbank Maslin Maullin... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 22, 2009 10:32 AM
Mayor Villaraigosa plans to appear on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" at 1 p.m. PDT and make some kind of statement about his plans on running for... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 22, 2009 9:34 AM
Authorities in Iran "acknowledged that the number of votes cast in 50 cities exceeded the actual number of voters, state television reported Monday following assertions by the country’s supreme leader... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 21, 2009 11:56 PM
LAUSD Supt. Ramon Cortines spoke to friends of Los Angeles Magazine at breakfast this morning and called out the teachers union, which had plans to demonstrate at his home this... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 18, 2009 11:31 PM
The mess in Sacramento is so bad that Steve Greenberg helps them finish their sentences. See more of LA Sketchbook by Greenberg in the archive. Click the cartoon to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 18, 2009 9:30 AM
Staples Center owner Phil Anschutz's Clarity Media Group closed the deal to buy the conservative mag from Rupert Murdoch. Here's a report in Anschutz's Washington Examiner, via Romemesko.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 17, 2009 2:45 PM
Big political giver Jerry Perenchio, Casey Wasserman and other donors as yet undisclosed have answered Mayor Villaraigosa's call to help pay for the city's share of the Lakers parade costs.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 16, 2009 12:12 PM
Here's the Trutanich transition's roster of working groups that will look into the operations of the City Attorney's office. TrutanichTeam.pdf... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 16, 2009 9:19 AM
The City Council cancelled its Wednesday session to allow members to attend the Lakers parade. City Clerk L.A., area designers took some big honors at last night's Council of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 16, 2009 9:10 AM
Los Angeles City Council members Dennis Zine and Jan Perry and City Attorney-elect Carmen Trutanich riding in Sunday's L.A. Pride Parade. Below, San Francisco's Gavin Newsom and Antonio Villaraigosa... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 14, 2009 9:32 PM
Local Iranian-Americans demonstrated today against the election results and ensuing violence in Tehran, in the usual spot outside the federal building on Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood. Jonathan Alcorn has... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 14, 2009 4:44 PM
Due to a snafu in the new Post- 9/11 GI Bill, California veterans won't get the aid for private colleges that vets in other states do. That's because, officially, the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 13, 2009 4:33 PM
The Sacramento home owned by Rep. Laura Richardson of Long Beach gets her more ink than anything she has done in Congress. This time, the L.A. Times revisits the situation... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 12, 2009 8:32 AM
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... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 11, 2009 5:26 PM
The state Coastal Commission reportedly just turned down the City of Los Angeles application to create permit parking districts near the beach in Venice. The vote was 9 - 1... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 11, 2009 3:00 PM
Just a month after Donald Trump ruled that Carrie Prejean could keep her title despite giving her views on same-sex marriage, she's been dethroned as Miss California after all. The... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 10, 2009 2:50 PM
Phil Anschutz is said to be close to a deal with News Corp. to buy the conservative Weekly Standard. LAT Numero Uno grocery magnate George Torres was released from... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 10, 2009 9:18 AM
Click on cartoon to see bigger. More LA Sketchbooks by Steve Greenberg... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 8, 2009 2:45 PM
All of Rocky Delgadillo's senior aides have been placed on tenure tracks that will make it hard for incoming city attorney Carmen Trutanich to replace them. Among the aides... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 8, 2009 9:20 AM
You remember Cadiz — that was the venture to bank water beneath the distant Mojave Desert, then pipe it into urban Southern California, envisioned by Friend-of-Antonio (and many other Democrats)... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 5, 2009 5:28 PM
Call me crazy, but I'm thinking that Steve Greenberg isn't persuaded that all the marijuana dispensaries around town are medically necessary. Catch more Greenberg cartoons in the LA Sketchbook... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 5, 2009 3:15 PM
State assemblyman Paul Krekorian, whose district centers on Burbank, is renting an apartment in the 2nd Los Angeles city council district while he ponders whether to run for the open... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 5, 2009 9:06 AM
Westside city councilman Bill Rosendahl admits that he is actively considering a run for the U.S. Senate if Dianne Feinstein steps down in 2012. This even though, as the LA... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 4, 2009 12:09 PM
An editorial in the Daily News says the prospect of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa running for governor with the city in deep financial crisis is a no-win situation. He should not... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 4, 2009 9:34 AM
Cardinal Mahony wagers a case of wine on the Lakers, a councilman resigns in disgrace, David Carradine is found hanged and more, including the local gay Asian-American mayor. Mark Lacter's... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 4, 2009 9:25 AM
Can't call it a debunking exactly, but Rick Orlov gets denials all around on the Jack Weiss to get $200,000 as homeland security deputy for the mayor meme. Same on... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 3, 2009 4:08 PM
Mayor Villaraigosa put forth Cindy Miscikowski, the former City Council member from Brentwood, for the port commission spot vacated by S. David Freeman. Release after the jump. Also at City... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 3, 2009 3:59 PM
Schwarzenegger's plea, the Lu Parker/Villaraigosa talk continues, those Chinese are still at LAX, books by Barbara Streisand and Choire Sicha, a journalist gets a job and more. Mark Lacter's LA... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 3, 2009 9:12 AM
At last Friday's LA Observed rooftop party at the Formosa in Hollywood, city attorney-elect Carmen Trutanich stuck around for some fairly extended conversations with revelers. Celeste Fremon reports on hers,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 2, 2009 1:33 PM
Steve Lopez thinks that Mayor Antonio Villaraiogsa's latest 30-something television news squeeze could learn something from the last one. Call her immediately, he advises. Heh heh: I don't know Parker,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 2, 2009 12:34 PM
Phil Willon, who covers Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for the L.A. Times, posted at L.A. Now that Channel 5 reporter-weekend anchor Lu Parker told KTLA officials that she and the mayor... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 1, 2009 5:23 PM
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa dropped in Saturday at the opening of actress Melissa Joan Hart's store Sweet Harts in Sherman Oaks. He's getting a hug from Valley restaurant and real... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 1, 2009 1:55 PM
Wow, it's June already. Today's Morning Buzz has much talk about Antonio Villaraigosa and his intentions, more questioning of the Los Angeles magazine failure cover, plus some other politics and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 1, 2009 9:01 AM
The trickle of local Obama supporters receiving appointments as ambassadors is not quite a flood yet, but it's reached stream status. The latest is Munger, Tolles & Olson partner Vilma... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 29, 2009 9:40 AM
John McCain will do the deed at a Meg Whitman event today in Orange County. That will give her McCain, Mitt Romney and Pete Wilson in the early stages of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 29, 2009 8:56 AM
Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky is adapting to the new media order by revamping his official website to be more newsy under the guidance of Joel Sappell, who used... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 28, 2009 9:15 PM
City Attorney-elect Carmen Trutanich announced that former Speaker Robert Hertzberg and former District Attorney Robert Philibosian will co-chair his transition team. Jane Usher, the former president of the city planning... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 28, 2009 8:33 PM
More by Steve Greenberg. Click on the cartoon to view it full-sized.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 28, 2009 1:36 PM
An investigative series in the Contra Costa Times up north says that an environmental program to benefit the delicate Sacramento-San Joaquin delta instead provided cash and cheap water for wealthy... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 28, 2009 9:31 AM
LA Observed editorial cartoonist Steve Greenberg responds to yesterday's Proposition 8 ruling, and the reactions to the decision. See more by Greenberg at the LA Sketchbook archive. Click on... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 27, 2009 9:28 AM
Former Occidental College classmate Lisa Jack's circa-1980 photos of Barack Obama will be at the M+B Gallery in West Hollywood starting Thursday night. "I'm sure Hillary would have paid a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 27, 2009 9:21 AM
Gov. Schwarzenegger proposed cutting deeply into health and welfare, letting non-violent felons out of prison a year early and closing most state parks as a start on closing the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 27, 2009 9:15 AM
Looks like the most action by Proposition 8 opponents will be at 6 pm Downtown at Pershing Square, 7 p.m. in West Hollywood at the corner of Santa Monica and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 26, 2009 4:23 PM
Anthony Pacheco unexpectedly announced his resignation as of July 1, saying in a letter to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa that he needs to return full-time to his law firm job. Pacheco... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 26, 2009 1:53 PM
Vote of the electorate is upheld by the California Supreme Court on a 6-1 split, but the court ruled unanimously that existing same-sex marriages will also remain valid. Longtime Supreme... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 26, 2009 10:12 AM
See more by Steve Greenberg in his editorial cartoons archive at LA Observed. Click the cartoon to view bigger.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 26, 2009 8:51 AM
Federal court oversight of the LAPD that was agreed to in a consent decree nine years ago "has been a resounding success, and it should at last be allowed to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 25, 2009 11:09 AM
Past Villaraigosa backer Eli Broad hasn't sounded very positive toward the mayor lately, and in today's L.A. Times he seems to include Antonio Villaraigosa among the leaders who need to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 24, 2009 12:59 PM
Villaraigosa supporter and Occidental College professor Peter Dreier has some problems with the Los Angeles Magazine cover package that declared Mayor Villaraigosa a failure. (Whole story is online now.) Here's... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 22, 2009 9:56 AM
See more by Steve Greenberg in his editorial cartoons archive at LA Observed. Click cartoon to view bigger.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 22, 2009 9:42 AM
Steve Cooley, Carmen Trutanich and David Zahniser analyze what the election results mean for the mayor and City Hall. KCRW/WWLA, KPCC/Airtalk Raphael Sonenshein guesses that "this train wreck is... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 22, 2009 9:35 AM
The governor (or his ghost tweeter) is pretty busy on Twitter. Ironic, perhaps, that he takes refuge from the Sacramento budget storm at a community college, given how hard they... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 21, 2009 5:12 PM
Editorial cartoonist Steve Greenberg sees the new City Attorney-elect Carmen Trutanich as a potential man of steel at City Hall. See more by Greenberg. Click cartoon to view bigger.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 21, 2009 9:29 AM
More post-game election pondering: Deep cuts inevitable now, affecting services of many kinds. LAT, Bee, LAT (on schools), Rough & Tumble, DN, Which Way L.A.? Calls for a constitutional... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 21, 2009 9:16 AM
From the desk of Carmen Trutanich: The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Last night, the citizens of Los Angeles took a gigantic leap toward changing... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 20, 2009 4:37 PM
Top Carmen Trutanich adviser (and future City Hall East staffer?) Jane Usher sent a letter to the new City Attorney-elect's supporters thanking them and urging them to be patient with... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 20, 2009 12:46 PM
Election aftermath LAT, NYT, WSJ, Bee, CalBuzz Arguably the end of an era in California politics – the Schwarzenegger era. Anthony York/Capitol Weekly Carmen Trutanich's victory margin over Jack... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 20, 2009 9:05 AM
Gov. Schwarzenegger conceded defeat two hours after the polls closed, and said Democrats and Republicans must now work together to close a $21 billion budget deficit. The five budget propositions... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 19, 2009 11:40 PM
Next week's "Evening With President Obama" at the Beverly Hilton, the president's first major fundraiser since taking office, has added some name entertainment: Jennifer Hudson and Earth, Wind & Fire.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 19, 2009 2:50 PM
The former CNN correspondent who reinvented himself as a Los Angeles-based multimedia journalist for Yahoo was named one of 24 new Nieman Fellows at Harvard. He's the only one from... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 19, 2009 1:32 PM
More in LA Sketchbook by Steve Greenberg. Click on the cartoon to see it bigger. Steve Greenberg bio and email... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 19, 2009 12:11 PM
Rick Orlov notes that City Council president Eric Garcetti is now Lt. Garcetti in the Naval Reserve, up from ensign.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 19, 2009 11:26 AM
At the city council's meeting today on the impending budget cuts, council president Eric Garcetti apparently was noticeably pointed in defense of colleagues who felt roughly handled in comments last... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 18, 2009 5:30 PM
More in LA Sketchbook by Steve Greenberg. Click cartoons to see bigger. Steve Greenberg bio and email... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 18, 2009 8:43 AM
Former Speaker Willie Brown says Sacramento is in "total panic" believing the tax props will lose on Tuesday's ballot, and he blames years of bad decisions by the governor... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 18, 2009 8:35 AM
Los Angeles Magazine's cover package calling Antonio Villaraigosa a failure as mayor also includes suggestions from a dozen SoCal experts, observers and advocates of various ilk. Author D.J., Waldie, for... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 18, 2009 12:58 AM
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger returns to LA Sketchbook for a second day in a row. Tells you something about what's in the news. As always, click on the cartoon to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 15, 2009 9:58 AM
Gov. Schwarzenegger threatens drastic cuts at the state level, in some cases even if the props pass on Tuesday. Rough & Tumble, WWLA, Airtalk Candidate for governor Meg Whitman... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 15, 2009 9:10 AM
On the right, how Los Angeles Magazine played Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on the cover in December 2006. My piece on the mayor was a mix of skepticism and marvel at... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 14, 2009 1:12 PM
Judy Chu's consultant Parke Skelton tells LA Observed that the reason Richard Ziman's name was belatedly taken off the invitations for this week's Chu fundraiser at Ziman's home is that... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 14, 2009 12:24 PM
Yesterday's news that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to auction off the historic Los Angeles Memorial Colisuem to help ease the state's budget mess caught Steve Greenberg's attention. As always,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 14, 2009 12:10 PM
The June cover of Los Angeles Magazine, out in a few days, bears a portrait of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and one word blazoned in white ink across the page: Failure.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 14, 2009 12:48 AM
During Monday night's fundraiser for Judy Chu at the Daphna not Richard Ziman home, city airport commissioner Christine Essel was pitched to the crowd as a candidate to succeed Wendy... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 13, 2009 7:01 PM
The boiling bi-coastal scandal involving Wetherly Capital Group, a New York pol and some Villaraigosa commissioners is likely the reason that Monday night's Beverly Hills fundraiser for congressional candidate Judy... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 13, 2009 6:54 PM
Today's post is from an Angeleno whose Twitter profile describes him as a "digital marketing nerd and writer with a fondness for Hollywood, webseries, widgets and wine," retweeted by @LAWeekly:... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 13, 2009 5:02 PM
This cartoon was created by Steve Greenberg several weeks ago when the Los Angeles City Council was still debating whether to finish the elephant enclosure at the L.A. Zoo.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 13, 2009 10:51 AM
Channel 4 devoted ten minutes on its 5 p.m. newscast yesterday to saying goodbye to retired anchor Paul Moyer, despite the memo last month saying there would be "no... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 13, 2009 9:05 AM
An anonymous, no questions asked gun exchange program by the LAPD netted 40 assault-style weapons and a rifle with a grenade launcher among the 1,700 guns turned in. "We... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 12, 2009 9:10 AM
George Sanchez, hired just last fall to cover the LAUSD for the Daily News, stepped up to be bought out Friday. Cityside staff down to nine reporters and columnist... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 11, 2009 5:49 PM
Fix the basic unfairness of Proposition 13 that lets multi-million dollar mansions get away with lower property taxes than you or your neighbors pay and the state might not... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 11, 2009 2:18 PM
Steve Greenberg is the editorial cartoonist for LA Observed. There's an archive of his cartoons on the site, and a page with his his bio and email contact. Click... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 11, 2009 1:46 PM
An appeals court in Iran freed journalist Roxana Saberi from prison. CNN, NPR, LAT The Service Employees International Union was included on a conference call between the Obama Administration... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 11, 2009 8:52 AM
Former Los Angeles-area assemblyman Louis Caldera has had to resign as director of the White House military office over the controversy involving a flyover of New York for an Air... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 8, 2009 3:30 PM
Here are more editorial cartoons for LA Observed by Steve Greenberg, plus his bio and email contact. Click on the cartoon to see bigger.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 8, 2009 12:11 PM
Another angle to the now-controversial appointment of ex-Assemblyman Wally Knox to a $205k job at the Port of Los Angeles — an appointment blocked this week despite the mayor's desire... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 8, 2009 12:07 AM
Sean Harrigan, president of the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions board, resigned today a month after receiving a letter from the Securities and Exchange Commission asking him to identify... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 7, 2009 3:28 PM
The Carson city council spent a chunk of its meeting last night talking about Lyndon LaRouche's "Homeowners and Bank Protection Act of 2007." The item was on the agenda at... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 6, 2009 4:27 PM
Now this is interesting, given the perception held by some that Mayor Villaraigosa heads into his second term weaker than before. At today's City Council meeting, Councilwoman Janice Hahn raised... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 6, 2009 4:11 PM
Steve Greenberg is the editorial cartoonist for LA Observed. View his bio and cartoon archive. Click the cartoon to see it bigger.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 6, 2009 9:10 AM
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said yesterday that the time is right to debate legalizing marijuana for recreational use in California. SF Chronicle, Bee Rep. Jane Harman has toned down her... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 6, 2009 8:53 AM
The L.A. City Council voted today to extend the citywide moratorium on new digital billboards and supergraphics. It runs now until June 24, while the pols continue to ponder a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 5, 2009 4:24 PM
A federal judge issued a TRO stopping the city of Los Angeles from taking action against unpermitted supergraphics erected on at least 18 buildings by Sky Tag. LAT The... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 5, 2009 9:12 AM
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... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 4, 2009 5:15 PM
Click for bigger More by Steve Greenberg... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 4, 2009 9:10 AM
NBC picked up four dramas and two comedies for its fall lineup but "left several questions unanswered until later this month." Variety, The Wrap, Finke Rep. Jane Harman went... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 4, 2009 9:01 AM
More by Steve Greenberg Click cartoon to see bigger... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 3, 2009 5:13 PM
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... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 3, 2009 2:40 AM
At least seven May Day marches are scheduled today around L.A., including four in Downtown. LAT, DN Only 14 percent of registered voters approve of the California Legislature's performance,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 1, 2009 9:10 AM
Now that Shaq, Magic and the NRA have chosen up sides, City Attorney rivals Jack Weiss and Carmen Trutanich will take their gutter fight to tonight's Which Way, L.A.? on... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 30, 2009 3:40 PM
Here's today's editorial cartoon by Steve Greenberg. Click on it for full size; here's Steve's website.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 30, 2009 2:18 PM
Scientists studying the current swine flu virus say it doesn't look to be as fatal as past strains, and may be less dangerous than the usual flu. Meanwhile, a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 30, 2009 9:22 AM
The commission that sets legislator salaries fell one vote short of approving a 10% pay cut for the California lawmakers who failed to pass a state budget for so many... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 29, 2009 11:48 PM
I'm pleased to say that Steve Greenberg will be contributing original editorial cartoons to LA Observed; this is his first. Steve is an editorial cartoonist, illustrator and graphic artist... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 29, 2009 9:41 PM
A Mexican child who died in Texas [fixed] is the first confirmed U.S. death from swine flu, and a Marine at Twentynine Palms may have swine flu and has... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 29, 2009 9:05 AM
Polish pianist Krystian Zimerman caused a stir Sunday night at Disney Hall by announcing from the stage it would be his last U.S. performance because of the nation's military... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 27, 2009 8:54 AM
Times staffers Jessica Garrison and Kim Christensen went big on Sunday's page one with an expose on oft-accused L.A. slumlord Frank McHugh. Money grafs: For more than 50 years, McHugh,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 27, 2009 12:38 AM
"It was supposed to be the Valley's first public museum, our own Disney Hall," says a Daily News editorial. Instead, the plan to relocate the Children's Museum to Hansen Dam... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 26, 2009 11:05 PM
Deputy Mayor Arif Alikhan has been appointed Assistant Secretary for the Office of Policy Development in the Obama Administration's Department of Homeland Security. His current boss, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, has... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 24, 2009 4:27 PM
Mayor Vilaraigosa's office has put out a statement thanking the embattled Boks for his service. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa released the following statement today regarding the resignation of the Department of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 24, 2009 12:21 PM
A commuter bus caught fire on the Ventura Freeway this morning, causing 30 passengers to be treated for smoke inhalation. AP The Republican leader in the Assembly also handed... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 23, 2009 9:25 AM
From Capitol Weekly: "Assembly Speaker Karen Bass abruptly rescinded 5 percent pay increases for dozens of rank-and-file members of the Assembly staff, citing concerns the pay raises might jeopardize the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 22, 2009 3:56 PM
Rep. Jane Harman denied any wrongdoing in the quid pro quo allegations involving suspected Israeli spies, and in a letter to the AG called her wiretapping an abuse of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 22, 2009 8:22 AM
In a meeting today with Times editors and reporters, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was asked if he could guarantee that his ally, Councilman Jack Weiss, would win the City Attorney runoff... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 21, 2009 10:59 PM
My post yesterday on NBC closing its bureau in Sacramento should have pointed out that ABC still maintains a fulltime presence in the state capital. Nannette Miranda, of course, has... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 21, 2009 9:21 PM
You know how state employees are being threatened with unpaid furloughs and salary cuts — and how Mayor Villaraigosa is asking city staffers to voluntarily give up some pay? And... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 21, 2009 9:16 PM
Rep. Jane Harman's wiretapped conversation was with an AIPAC supporter who said Haim Saban would withhold campaign funds from Speaker Nancy Pelosi to help Harman become chairman of the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 21, 2009 9:12 AM
Congressional Quarterly columnist Jeff Stein wrote the piece getting a lot of play today about Rep. Jane Harman being snagged in a National Security Agency wiretap, apparently telling a suspected... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 20, 2009 6:07 PM
The NBC bureau in the state capital is shutting down. It fed stories to KNBC Channel 4 and the other California stations. Here's an email going around from reporter Mike... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 20, 2009 5:48 PM
The Numero Uno supermarket founder and president was convicted today on federal charges that include racketeering and solicitation of murder. Somewhat of a surprise to court watchers, apparently. Steven Mikulan... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 20, 2009 4:08 PM
Mayor Villaraigosa's budget to be unveiled at 11 a.m. will include plans to reduce salary costs 10%, some department mergers and privatizing, and cuts even in the police and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 20, 2009 9:05 AM
The City Council approved shortage year water rates that will hit users with a hefty new charge if they don't reduce water consumption. Via release That federal indictment director... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 17, 2009 5:12 PM
The mayor is bringing S. David Freeman, the former head of DWP, back from the harbor commission to be his deputy on environmental issues, says David Zahniser. LAT Lt.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 17, 2009 9:21 AM
Massie Ritsch, the former L.A. Times politics desk writer and editor who has been Communications Director at the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, is heading for the Department of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 16, 2009 4:47 PM
Coverage of the local tea parties. LAT, DN, Breeze, KPCC News, Patt Morrison audio, Pajamas Media The campuses overseen by Mayor Villaraigosa would be especially hard hit under the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 16, 2009 9:25 AM
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took his campaign for state propositions 1A through 1F to the Los Angeles Times building tonight, telling an invited crowd of opinion shapers and readers that "the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 15, 2009 11:05 PM
While director John McTiernan awaits a new indictment over his use of wiretapper Anthony Pellicano in a divorce case, he's pushing a new documentary that alleges the Pellicano prosecution was... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 15, 2009 5:05 PM
Rob Wilcox, director of communications for City Controller Laura Chick, will be the chief of staff in her new office in Sacramento. Gov. Schwarzenegger named Chick to be the state's... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 15, 2009 2:28 PM
Fox News' hyping of today's anti-tax tea parties is a "team effort" that includes the news anchors and has been "building up to the protests with Super Bowl-style intensity."... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 15, 2009 8:58 AM
Mayor Villaraigosa had a busy TV day, appearing at boxer Oscar De La Hoya's retirement announcement and delivering his fourth State of the City speech down in Harbor City. The... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 14, 2009 5:05 PM
A full-page ad on Page 9 of today's L.A. Times takes Councilman Jack Weiss to task for a proposed development near Cedars-Sinai. It's signed by Cary Brazeman as president of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 14, 2009 4:14 PM
Times columnist Hector Tobar picks up on the paper's look at state Sen. Gil Cedillo's lavish spending on restaurants, hotels and gifts and says "it's never been a better time... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 14, 2009 8:59 AM
On-location film shooting in the Los Angeles area has fallen to the lowest level on record, due to labor troubles, the economy and runaway production. But off-site TV shooting... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 14, 2009 8:51 AM
Jerry Gillam covered California government and politics for 40 years, most of that time in the Sacramento bureau of the Los Angeles Times. He left the Times in 1995. Gillam... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 13, 2009 8:30 PM
Now that State Sen. Gil Cedillo is running for Congress, his campaign expense reports get more attention. What popped out to the LAT's Michael Finnegan was the expensive meals at... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 12, 2009 9:47 PM
Los Angeles planning commissioner Ricardo Lara has to live in the city to be on the commission. He's also raising money to run in the 50th assembly district, which is... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 10, 2009 9:07 AM
In this case, Mary Anne Ostrom of the San Jose Mercury News is "Silicon Valley's top political writer," says Capitol Alert's Peter Hecht. Ostrom is joining the gubernatorial campaign of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 9, 2009 12:59 PM
Yes, the headline is intentional. The City Council voted 14-zip today to reject a drought surcharge on water bills for now. The vote had as much to do with the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 8, 2009 11:17 PM
A "California doctor" and others who speak out against gay marriage in a TV spot have been busted as actors. A gay rights group got hold of the audition video... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 8, 2009 10:49 PM
A student worker in the Hall of Administration no longer has to peel the labels off Arrowhead water bottles and paste on generic county labels. The Board of Supervisors has... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 8, 2009 9:21 PM
Wally Knox is stepping down from the city's DWP board to take the newly created position of deputy executive director of external relations at the Port of Los Angeles.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 8, 2009 9:35 AM
Mayor Villaraigosa told city unions that to avoid layoffs, workers need to defer raises, cut work hours and pay more for retirement benefits. The Times editorialized for the plan.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 7, 2009 9:31 AM
Right-of-center blogs that used Pajamas Media as their advertising service are back on their own. The L.A-based PJM is dropping its blog ads network and will focus on PJTV, its... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 6, 2009 11:24 AM
Mayor Villaraigosa has called an 11 a.m. news conference to announce steps to avert thousands of city layoffs. "The City currently faces a Fiscal Year 2009-10 deficit of $530... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 6, 2009 8:26 AM
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... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 3, 2009 6:24 PM
City Controller Laura Chick will be leaving her job a little sooner than scheduled. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is naming her the state's inspector general, overseeing the billions of dollars in... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 3, 2009 3:18 PM
The troubled museum-in-waiting near Hansen Dam in Lake View Terrace has taken steps to file for Chapter 7 protection, at least partly due to the impact of a scam, per... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 2, 2009 4:35 PM
A local journo wonders in email if the new Yvonne Brathwaite Burke Park in Marina del Rey, near where the retired county Supervisor used to claim she lived, will have... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 1, 2009 9:15 AM
More than 400 judges in Los Angeles County make more than the chief justice of the U.S. AP Bob Hertzberg is back in Sacramento reinvented as a government reformer,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 1, 2009 9:05 AM
The party itself was probably pretty loud — a black-tie bash for old pol Willie Brown's 75th birthday, at Mayor Villaraigosa's official residence in Windsor Square. What was quiet about... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 31, 2009 2:56 PM
County Supervisors pay a student worker to peel the labels off bottles of water and replace them with a customized county label so that Arrowhead won't get free publicity... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 31, 2009 8:58 AM
That is, if it ever really existed. From Martin Zimmerman at Up to Speed, the LAT's auto blog: The California Air Resources Board said...it has no plans “at this timeâ€... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 30, 2009 10:39 PM
A. Jerrold "Jerry" Perenchio, the former chair of Univision, has donated $1.5 million to back two of the May special election measures being pushed by the governor. It's the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 30, 2009 10:23 PM
David Zahniser takes a post-Measure B look at Brian D'Arcy, who runs the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 18 at the DWP. LAT Three high-level managers forced out... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 30, 2009 8:55 AM
Author and Slate blogger Mickey Kaus has several friends at the Los Angeles Times, but for years he has been advocating the demise of the paper — partly in the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 28, 2009 9:58 PM
Essentially nobody voted anywhere in this week's special election to pick Mark Ridley-Thomas's successor in the 26th state Senate district. But in the precinct that covers the USC campus, the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 26, 2009 10:54 PM
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.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 26, 2009 5:44 PM
Mayor Villaraigosa named attorney, philanthropist and former city commissioner David Fleming to the board of the Metropolitan Water District. (This gets Fleming off the MTA board, opening up a second... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 25, 2009 5:31 PM
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... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 23, 2009 5:49 PM
The Roundup picks up that reporter Jordan Rau is leaving the L.A. Times Sacramento bureau, apparently not as part of today's layoffs. Presuming that Rau won't be replaced, the Sacto... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 23, 2009 4:34 PM
Times media columnist James Rainey wrote over the weekend about how political pros love one unintended consequence of the wane of mainstream news outlets and the rise of blogs —... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 22, 2009 11:43 PM
Rick Orlov offers the L.A. politics obituary for City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo: "Could be remembered as the loneliest guy in City Hall." DN The 151 pages of sign regulations... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 22, 2009 10:46 PM
Former Los Angeles members of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense got together at the Lucy Florence Coffeehouse and Cultural Center in Leimert Park for a screening of "41st... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 22, 2009 8:35 PM
The deficit-facing city council has made noise recently about halting its practice of waiving the fees levied on community events — but for sci-fi writer and Scientology founder L. Ron... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 20, 2009 7:43 AM
Tina Daunt says in the Times that President Obama bedded down at the Century Plaza. The Beverly Hills Courier, however, reports that he was at the Beverly Hilton and has... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 19, 2009 11:58 PM
It was a squeaker, but here's the final breakdown on Measure B, the solar energy jobs program pushed by the mayor, city council and the DWP union in the March... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 19, 2009 8:51 PM
President Obama stayed at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza [or not; see below] on this trip into L.A. rather than bed down in one of the mansions around town, and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 19, 2009 5:13 PM
LA Observed's TJ Sullivan was credentialed into President Obama's town hall this afternoon in Costa Mesa and sent along some photos. He'll have more later at his website. In the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 18, 2009 7:55 PM
Sen. Alan Cranston's 1986 reelection campaign was the first one I covered where Hollywood celebrities rode along on just about every bus trip across California. They would be introduced at... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 18, 2009 9:35 AM
There's about to be a fresh news outlet covering politics. Would you believe AOL? The Wrap reports that the service has hired Melinda Henneberger of Slate, and formerly of the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 17, 2009 5:32 PM
In addition to the previously reported round of media events on Wednesday and Thursday, the White House has added what it's calling a "town hall" with President Obama at the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 16, 2009 3:10 PM
The Occidental College alum will be here Wednesday for the first time as president — in Long Beach, Costa Mesa in OC and Pomona. He's also going to tape a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 16, 2009 9:10 AM
The Getty plans to slash its operating budget nearly 25% for the coming fiscal year, "an emergency response to investment losses that have totaled $1.5 billion since July and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 16, 2009 8:58 AM
President Obama has appointed a Maryland state official to head the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, meaning that Villaraigosa adviser Thomas Saenz didn't get the job. The Daily Journal reported... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 14, 2009 5:49 PM
The newcomers include John Kim, co-director of the Advancement Project and director of the Healthy City Project, appointed to the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners. He's from Highland Park. Release after... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 13, 2009 10:49 AM
When Alex Comisar of NeonTommy, the USC news website that recently launched, was rebuffed in an interview request of Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, he took it public and confronted Yaroslavsky in... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 12, 2009 11:38 PM
Mark Lacter at LA Biz Observed has been following today's jailing of Bernard Madoff in New York, the New York Times story on Rep. Maxine Waters' questionable involvement with OneUnited... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 12, 2009 5:21 PM
A tentative agreement between the county and UC would reopen the emergency room and other inpatient services at Martin Luther King-Harbor Medical Center near Watts by 2012. The hospital would... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 11, 2009 5:15 PM
Former Assembly Speaker and Los Angeles mayoral candidate Robert Hertzberg is becoming the Democrats' half of the bipartisan co-chair arrangement at the head of California Forward, which supports reform of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 11, 2009 5:03 PM
A coalition of groups including California Common Cause, the Center for Media Justice, the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College and the LA Alliance for a New Economy... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 10, 2009 10:48 PM
The KFI talk hosts helped draw an estimated 8,000 people to a tax revolt rally in Orange County on Saturday. (Here's the Register story, and the Orange Juice blog.) The... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 10, 2009 12:15 AM
Mark Arax, the former Los Angeles Times reporter based in Fresno, is joining the staff of the state's Senate Select Committee on Air Quality, a new committee headed by Sen.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 9, 2009 9:58 PM
Controller Laura Chick, in a statement this morning, said she has been asked a lot about running for the 2nd district seat that will be vacated by Councilwoman Wendy Greuel,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 4, 2009 10:29 AM
With one 9th district precinct left to count, plus whatever else is left over, the solar and jobs measure trails by 1,322 votes. If that holds up, it's a stunning... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 4, 2009 7:40 AM
In the 1 a.m. bulletin from the City Clerk, a bit over 89% of the precincts have been counted and nearly all of the mail-in ballots. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 4, 2009 12:22 AM
Aurelio Rojas, a reporter for the Sacramento Bee, is the new communications director for L.A. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. An item at Capitol Morning Report says that Rojas used to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 3, 2009 12:49 PM
KPFK's weekly news review "Deadline L.A." is airing a special on the city election today at 2 p.m. with guests Marial Garza, Daily News editorial page editor, and Robert Greene,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 2, 2009 12:39 PM
While you haven't been watching your politicians at work in Sacramento, they have added some unrelated charges to the cost of a ticket. Here's the breakdown of the tab for... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 2, 2009 9:47 AM
Sara Catania hasn't been running fulltime to get ready for her first marathon — though she certainly has been running plenty (see Run On), and recently completed the first race... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 1, 2009 10:10 PM
The Daily News grits its teeth and endorses Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa again this time, just as it did four years ago (saying then "Villaraigosa...represents the future.") This time, there's less... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 1, 2009 12:50 PM
Lame-duck Controller Laura Chick elaborates in The Planning Report on her opposition to the solar measure on Tuesday's city ballot. From the interview: It’s egregious to put something on the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 1, 2009 10:14 AM
From a David Zahniser story buried on page B9 in today's L.A. Times: Of the 363 lobbyists who worked the corridors of Los Angeles City Hall last year, no one... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 1, 2009 9:57 AM
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... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 27, 2009 5:24 PM
Officers from the LAPD met mayoral candidate David "Zuma Dogg" Saltsburg at tonight's campaign forum, took him to the Wilshire station and questioned him about an accusation that he directed... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 26, 2009 10:26 PM
Soto, who left office last year after missing significant amounts of time in Sacramento due to illness, apparently died today. She was at least 82. A statement from Speaker Karen... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 26, 2009 5:58 PM
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... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 26, 2009 5:38 PM
The L.A. Times editorial board, in a slap to the mayor and City Council, recommends a no vote on Measure B: Set aside, for a moment, the secretive and rushed... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 26, 2009 8:56 AM
Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the actress who married San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, made "The Trouble With Romance" before they met. It has been out since Feb. 1 on Netflix and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 25, 2009 11:25 PM
Is this an anybody but Jack Weiss for city attorney statement? Only Rep. Maxine Waters knows for sure, but the press release quotes her saying, in part: "Carmen Trutanich grew... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 24, 2009 3:45 PM
Rep. Hilda Solis is the new U.S. Secretary of Labor, so there will be an election out east to replace her. The vote was 80-17 after Republican leadership in the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 24, 2009 3:11 PM
Thomas A. Saenz, the in-house counsel to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, has been selected to head the U.S. Department of Justice's civil rights division, the Los Angeles Daily Journal reports today... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 24, 2009 9:42 AM
Fox News shouter John Gibson did not compare Attorney General Eric Holder to a monkey with a bright blue scrotum, and thus the Huffington Post regrets the error. Live by... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 23, 2009 5:25 PM
City Attorney candidate Jack Weiss scheduled a press conference this morning to announce the backing of some local enviros, including Ed Begley Jr. and Heal the Bay's Mark Gold. But... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 23, 2009 4:13 PM
The editorial page at the Daily News came out against both Measure B, the solar energy and jobs program, and Measure E, which is billed as a way to give... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 23, 2009 12:27 AM
Former city Controller Rick Tuttle had considered running in the open race to replace Jack Weiss on the City Council. He opted against, and now has thrown his backing to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 19, 2009 5:34 PM
I'm told now that the pending wave of departures from the Los Angeles Times newsroom will be split into two phases: with voluntary departures and a relatively small number of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 19, 2009 8:58 AM
CityBeat this week brings out-of-work classical music critic Alan Rich back into print, at the expense of freelance critic Donna Perlmutter, who wrote for CityBeat for five years (and was... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 19, 2009 8:35 AM
Republican state Senator Abel Maldonado of Santa Maria crossed over in a vote held about dawn, and lawmakers finally passed last year's budget with California on the brink of financial... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 19, 2009 8:12 AM
Freshman Republican Curt Hagman from Chino Hills tells Capitol Weekly that he was at home in Sacramento last night when he heard a crash. Outside he found a man and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 17, 2009 10:57 AM
The Los Angeles Times editorial board delivered a slap to the mayor's pick, Jack Weiss, and endorsed Carmen Trutanich for City Attorney. Voters could assemble a fairly good city attorney... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 15, 2009 10:44 PM
On Saturday, Father Daniel Berrigan's Vietnam-era protest drama, "The Trial of the Catonsville Nine," opens at The Actors' Gang in Culver City. And on Wednesday, L.A. Theatre Works begins a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 13, 2009 5:19 PM
Tonight on Which Way, L.A.?, Warren Olney gets Controller Laura Chick (con) and former DWP general manager David Freeman (pro) into a spirited back and forth over the merits of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 12, 2009 3:45 PM
The Los Angeles Times editorial pages don't get as much use out of their website as I expected — the blogroll would have been light in 2006, for instance —... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 12, 2009 1:54 PM
Former planning commission chair Jane Usher is co-hosting a Feb. 18 fundraiser in Hancock Park for city attorney candidate Carmen Trutanich. "Trutanich lacks the staunchly Democratic, Westside, Ivy League credentials... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 11, 2009 2:07 PM
Eight candidates have filed papers to run in the March 24 special election to fill the vacancy in the 24th Senate district created when Ridley-Thomas was elected to the Board... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 10, 2009 9:55 PM
Mayor Villaraigosa was on Which Way, L.A.? tonight talking up his water restrictions to the KCRW audience, Patt Morrison continued her daily run through the challengers on KPCC with Zuma... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 10, 2009 9:20 PM
The Jewish Journal is streaming video of Israeli consul general Jacob Dayan giving minute-by-minute analysis of election returns from Tel Aviv, with an audience of journalists and Israelis on hand.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 10, 2009 12:38 PM
Former EBay Chief Executive Meg Whitman, who is 52, announced today that she'll be a Republican candidate for governor next year. Former Gov. Pete Wilson will be her campaign chairman.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 9, 2009 12:27 PM
Marc Haefele's comparison of Thursday's Drew Street demolition to something out of the Middle Ages struck a nerve in the City Attorney's office, which sent over a response: The February... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 7, 2009 5:56 PM
Journalist Marc Haefele found this week's media event at the demolition of the former Avenues gang home in Northeast Los Angeles more than a little unsettling. A bunch of pols... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 6, 2009 11:19 AM
Sam Sayyad, the husband of Rep. Hilda Solis, paid $6,400 this week to settle small Los Angeles County tax liens against his auto business dating to 1993, USA Today reported.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 5, 2009 8:40 PM
County supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky just sent a letter to Los Angeles Times publisher Eddy Hartenstein urging him to reconsider his decision to fold local news into the A section and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 2, 2009 4:43 PM
City Controller candidates Nick Patsaouras and Wendy Greuel have picked an odd issue to bicker over: who attended Mayor Villaraigosa's recent birthday party at the Santa Monica home of certified... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 2, 2009 12:10 PM
The City Council voted 11-4 to go ahead with plans to build the elephant enclosure at the Los Angeles Zoo, despite the presence of some low-grade celebrities arguing against it.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 28, 2009 1:08 PM
Along with their invitations for a Jan. 31 fundraiser in the Hollywood Hills for Council President Eric Garcetti, potential contributors got a personal note from Obama fundraising chief Yolanda Parker.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 26, 2009 11:45 AM
Newly powerful Reps. Henry Waxman and Howard Berman are the key draws at a Sunday gathering at USC of the Jewish Federation's New Leaders Project. They will be honored along... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 23, 2009 12:07 AM
City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo's final term has five months and change to run, so today comes word that he has filed papers to let him raise money for a second... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 22, 2009 12:24 PM
Syndicated columnist Robert Scheer has been dropped from the San Francisco Chronicle Op-Ed page. The editor told him his take on world affairs and politics had become "predictable," to which... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 21, 2009 5:33 PM
Journalist Joe Mathews has become the latest advocate of a narrow SoCal position to argue that taking his side is somehow a test of whether President Barack Obama truly means... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 20, 2009 6:13 PM
The website switched over right about 9 a.m. PST.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 20, 2009 9:42 AM
The big day is here. Barack Obama becomes the 44th U.S. president a few ticks before 9 a.m. Pacific time. Most TV networks will be live from Washington, D.C. at... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 20, 2009 1:23 AM
KNBC plans to air Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's State of the State speech live at 10 a.m. The station's Mekahlo Medina says they will post text messages from viewers on the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 15, 2009 9:49 AM
Democratic and Republican consultants with a lot of experience in Los Angeles — and in California more generally — have formed a new firm to work on ballot measures. LFM... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 14, 2009 5:34 PM
Anti-Zionist protesters blocking the entrance to the Israeli consulate on Wilshire Boulevard today broke up after LAPD chief William Bratton showed up and intervened. The Jewish Journal posted video and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 14, 2009 3:22 PM
State Sen. Gloria Romero has dropped her interest in running for the Hilda Solis seat in Congress. Romero said today she will run as planned for Superintendent of Public Instruction... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 8, 2009 5:02 PM
Looks like the former K-Mart store on Foothill Boulevard will stay empty. Home Depot has given up trying to get approval — over concerted neighborhood opposition — to open a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 7, 2009 6:26 PM
Aron Miller, who recently served a stint as interim city editor at the Daily News, has given notice that he's leaving the paper and journalism. He's been on the Woodland... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 6, 2009 3:21 PM
Whether or not City Hall actually wants to take control of billboards is open to interpretation, but today the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out a challenge to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 6, 2009 2:58 PM
City Council President Eric Garcetti and Amy Elaine Wakeland, his longtime partner, were married Sunday at a small ceremony attended by the couple's parents and close friends, his office announced... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 6, 2009 12:46 PM
The latest web venture from Drudge Report West Coast man Andrew Breitbart goes live Tuesday. Big Hollywood, he says, "is not a 'celebrity' gabfest or a gossip outpost - it... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 5, 2009 7:53 PM
Henry Casas, deputy chief of staff for Councilman Jose Huizar, has been arrested on suspicion of felony domestic violence. Casas, 40, was booked in Van Nuys on New Year's Eve... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 5, 2009 5:33 PM
"I always keep my options open." — LAPD Chief William Bratton, dismissing speculation he was a candidate for London police chief "Barack's better half not only has stature but... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 4, 2009 2:38 PM
D.J. Waldie picks up on my post on Jane Ellison Usher's resignation as chair of the city planning commission and runs with it at his KCET blog. He starts with... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 29, 2008 1:52 AM
In Sunday's New York Times Style section, Rep. Linda Sánchez recounts leaking the news of her unmarried pregnancy to the LAT's Patt Morrison — "I thought, we need to sort... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 29, 2008 1:15 AM
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... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 24, 2008 2:09 PM
Contributors to the Obama inauguration fund are being wooed with the promise of hard-to-score tickets to the Washington events around the January 20 festivities. New cheaper packages have been added... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 22, 2008 12:24 PM
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... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 21, 2008 11:54 PM
Ron Kaye, the former Daily News editor who is reinventing himself as a political activist, at the end of a long blog rant about the city's solar energy boondoggle: "I... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 21, 2008 11:20 PM
State Sen. Gloria Romero says to count her in on the derby to replace Hilda Solis in Congress. Solis will be Barack Obama's labor secretary. Other names being tossed around... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 19, 2008 1:07 AM
Google News still returns just one hit for coverage of Sen. Barbara Boxer's presser yesterday in Culver City (see Morning Buzz.) But there was also a report by Kitty Felde... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 18, 2008 1:55 PM
Looks like there will be an opening in the ranks of local Latino Congress people after all. Word out of Washington is that Rep. Hilda Solis will be nominated as... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 18, 2008 11:32 AM
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... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 17, 2008 4:57 PM
Roger Snoble announced today that he will leave soon after seven years as CEO of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Release after the jump.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 17, 2008 1:09 PM
Pilar Marrero at La Opinión reports that Rep. Xavier Becerra pulled his name from consideration as U.S. trade representative. Column en español. (And now in English, partially, at Politico.) So... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 16, 2008 4:35 PM
Mayor Villaraigosa has appointed investor and former Warner Bros VP (and Clinton Admninistration staffer) Sean Burton to the citywide planning commission. Also: Attorney Justin Sanders to the Community Redevelopment Agency... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 12, 2008 2:40 PM
From the Daily News: An editorial in Tuesday's paper, "Turf war costly," incorrectly reported that the City Attorney's Office hired an outside law firm to sue the city controller in... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 12, 2008 9:22 AM
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,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 11, 2008 6:35 PM
South El Monte mayor Blanca Figueroa has been given an 11 p.m. curfew. She's been known to stay in her office at city hall deep into the pre-dawn hours, but... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 10, 2008 5:58 PM
This morning the City Clerk held the random drawing to determine the order that names will appear on the March ballot in Los Angeles. Names starting with Z will lead... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 10, 2008 3:16 PM
Claude Brodesser-Akner, host of The Business on Mondays on KCRW, took a stand on the show against the resignation of Rich Raddon from the L.A. Film Festival over his support... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 10, 2008 9:01 AM
The Los Angeles Unified school board approved 5-2 a buy out of Supt. David Brewer's contract, clearing the way for Ramon Cortines, who had been the mayor's chief education adviser,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 9, 2008 2:30 PM
The Loyola Marymount exit polling showed a 61% approval rating for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, 58% in the Valley. Voters who were asked their choice in the mayoral election next year... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 9, 2008 12:53 PM
LAUSD chief David Brewer emerged this afternoon to say he wants the school board to exercise the buy out clause of his contract, but he apparently declined to answer media... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 8, 2008 3:07 PM
Christopher Lisotta at Frontiers magazine says that Marjorie Christoffersen, the manager at El Coyote who threw a few bucks to the yes of Proposition 8 campaign through her church, has... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 8, 2008 12:07 PM
Supt. David Brewer plans to make a 2 p.m. statement, media reports say. The Daily Breeze reports that Brewer will step down as head of the Los Angeles Unified School... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 8, 2008 11:42 AM
The Atlantic author Caitlin Flanagan and Benjamin Schwarz, the magazine's national and literary editor, weigh in on the post-Proposition 8 debate on today's New York Times Op-Ed page. In particular,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 7, 2008 8:37 PM
Tying Barack Obama's appointment of Xavier Becerra and Eric Holder to the Carlos Vignali commutation controversy from the Clinton years. LAT Times editorial calls Becerra a bad choice, describing... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 5, 2008 8:53 AM
Embattled LAUSD Supt. David Brewer is scheduled to be on KPCC with Patt Morrison at about 1:30 p.m.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 3, 2008 1:18 PM
The attempted putsch of LAUSD Supt. David Brewer was put on hold because Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte, the lone black member, did not attend the board's closed session. LAT, DN... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 3, 2008 9:14 AM
Esteban Armando Nuñez, the 19-year-old son of the former Assembly Speaker, was arrested Tuesday in connection with the stabbing death of a 22-year-old college student at a party in San... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 3, 2008 1:45 AM
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... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 2, 2008 4:52 PM
Actually, KPCC's Frank Stoltze did take note of the quiet milestone that District Attorney Steve Cooley began his third term yesterday. Cooley is the first DA in 70 years to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 2, 2008 10:34 AM
SF Weekly writer Benjamin Wachs is trying to watch all 7.5 hours of State of the City videos posted by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom on his new YouTube channel.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 2, 2008 9:28 AM
In the contest to become the mayor more likely to lose to Jerry Brown in the 2010 Democratic primary for governor, Gavin Newsom gets a leg up by releasing... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 1, 2008 4:27 PM
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... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 1, 2008 4:14 PM
Columnist Bill Boyarsky argues that the Dodgers should help pay the cost of the city's shuttle bus to Dodger Stadium from Union Station. It could cost the city $350,000 next... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 1, 2008 8:34 AM
Torie Osborn, former executive director of Liberty Hill and adviser to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa — as well as a campaign leader against the LaRouche initiative in 1986 — has been... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 28, 2008 9:24 PM
The former king of the gay Los Angeles political strategists (a key campaign adviser to the late Mayor Tom Bradley) is now blogging on the Obama election and Proposition 8... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 28, 2008 7:53 PM
Two pieces in the current Jewish Journal — by Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and LA Observed columnist Bill Boyarsky — frame the Proposition 8 battle and the ascent of Rep. Henry... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 28, 2008 7:04 PM
Evan Halper succeeds Virginia Ellis as chief of the Los Angeles Times bureau in Sacramento. Here's the memo sent to the troops about 5 p.m.: To: The Staff From: David... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 26, 2008 7:16 PM
Former Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, about to be termed out of the legislative high life, will join Mercury Public Affairs, LLC, as partner and co-chair. The Los Angeles Democrat will... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 26, 2008 2:39 PM
SEIU President Andy Stern announced today that Tyrone Freeman, the politically connected head of the union's United Long-Term Care Workers local, would be banned for life and asked to repay... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 26, 2008 2:15 PM
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger named unwilling mayoral candidate Rick Caruso to the joint agency that oversees the Memorial Coliseum. Rick Orlov at the Sausage Factory says there's no word yet which... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 26, 2008 11:56 AM
Capitol Weekly has put together capsule summaries of what there is to know about the newly elected Los Angeles-area politicos who will be swarming into Sacramento on Dec. 1. Here's... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 26, 2008 11:44 AM
Kevin Fry, the president of Scenic America, was interviewed in The Planning Report about the Los Angeles billboard situation. Excerpt: The city of Los Angeles has surrendered its built environment... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 25, 2008 8:22 PM
Termed-out L.A. state Senator Sheila Kuehl hasn't lined up that next political gig yet so today she was appointed to a $132,178 per year post on the state's Integrated Waste... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 25, 2008 6:59 PM
Hendrik Hertzberg, senior editor of The New Yorker, calls Proposition 8 "a fight that should have been won" and credits some in the gay community with rightly self-critiquing what went... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 23, 2008 10:39 PM
The New York Times dedicates five staffers to covering the Obama White House, including for the first time a video journalist. Former LAT reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg remains on the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 21, 2008 12:58 PM
Sergeant Paul M. Weber takes over as president of the LAPD officers' union. He has been a VP and replaces Tim Sands, who will retire from the department next month... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 21, 2008 12:46 PM
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Council President Eric Garcetti have summoned the media for a 1:30 pm "major announcement regarding the financial status of the City."... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 21, 2008 10:55 AM
Politico's Jeffrey Ressner compiled short bios on the seven insiders who he calls Barack Obama's real friends in Hollywood. "Obama’s tightly knit circle is mostly Chicago-based, but there is a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 20, 2008 6:08 PM
The Obama inauguration committee is offering a cool package of tix — and it only works out to $12,500 per person! From: "Yolanda " Cookie " Parker" Date: Thu, 20... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 20, 2008 2:58 PM
The Los Angeles Times, which never had trouble making gobs of money until very recently, is loving the Obama phenomenon so far. The paper's hawking of front pages and other... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 20, 2008 1:52 PM
The news, according to Patt Morrison, is that it's not news that Sanchez isn't married to the father. Morrison writes on the LAT Op-Ed page: You're practically the first to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 20, 2008 11:23 AM
Retired USC Annenberg professor and CBS News correspondent Murray Fromson writes at the Huffington Post that Sam Zell has gotten off too easy for destroying the Los Angeles Times Washington... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 20, 2008 10:23 AM
Tomorrow's Daily Journal will report that the City Council did not approve the proposed settlement of legal claims for victims of the LAPD's misbehavior in MacArthur Park last year. The... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 19, 2008 7:44 PM
The Supreme Court in San Francisco announced today it will hear arguments in March on the validity of Proposition 8, and asked the litigants to include in their written submissions... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 19, 2008 3:58 PM
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today appointed Stephanie M. Rodriguez to the city Board of Transportation Commissioners. Rodriguez, director of public affairs at KCAL/KCBS, fills the unexpired term of Paul Kim. Also... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 19, 2008 12:10 PM
Now that she's the lamest of political ducks, the DA's office has decided not to prosecute Supervisor Yvonne Burke for allegedly living in Brentwood — outside her district — while... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 18, 2008 10:16 PM
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... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 17, 2008 2:24 PM
Why am I blogging on a Saturday night? Because PCH to Santa Monica, where I was supposed to meet friends for dinner and a movie, is a parking lot. An... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 15, 2008 6:22 PM
First more than a thousand anti-Prop 8 protesters gathered at the Mormon temple in Westwood. Now, after employees reported receiving an envelope filled with white powder, the temple has been... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 13, 2008 5:17 PM
Here's another body blow for our hometown paper -- Virginia Ellis, the Times' Sacramento bureau chief, is retiring. She'd been planning to leave last year but, when asked to please... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 13, 2008 3:37 PM
Did anyone really think the same-sex marriage issue in California was over? According to a new story in Capitol Weekly, the move to repeal Prop 8 is already taking aim... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 13, 2008 10:38 AM
The El Coyote manager who donated to Proposition 8 through her church probably should not have been invited to the press conference.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 12, 2008 4:35 PM
Anger — and the resulting finger pointing — continues apace over the passage of Proposition 8, which appears to have added a ban on same-sex marriage to the California Constitution.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 12, 2008 10:13 AM
Back from the holiday...here are some news notes. The Supreme Court rules that the Navy's interest in conducting sonar tests whenever it wants trumps concerns about the damage to sea... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 12, 2008 9:20 AM
Congrats to former City Controller Rick Tuttle, who was married tonight to Rebecca Rona. I'm told the festivities at UCLA's Faculty Center attracted, among others, Reps. Howard Berman and Brad... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 9, 2008 11:39 PM
Noon on Saturday was the deadline for candidates to file their declarations of intent to run in the March 3, 2009 primary election in the city of Los Angeles. No... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 9, 2008 9:45 AM
Developer Rick Caruso has been saying for a while that his running for mayor is only a question of when, not if. Well, it won't be this time, he announced... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 7, 2008 8:27 AM
TJ Sullivan roamed among the anti-Proposition 8 demonstrators who gathered at the Mormon Temple on Santa Monica Boulevard, a couple of days too late to sway the election. Photos over... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 6, 2008 11:51 PM
Demonstrators upset by the passage of Proposition 8 began at the Mormon temple on Santa Monica Boulevard and have moved to Wilshire and Westwood boulevards, closing both streets. They're targeting... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 6, 2008 4:44 PM
Former Los Angeles mayor James Hahn was appointed a Superior Court judge today by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. So were 16 other lawyers, six of them deputy district attorneys. Here's an... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 5, 2008 4:41 PM
Here are some photos and videos from last night in Leimert Plaza, center of the largely African American neighborhood where Barack Obama's election was a cause for a public celebration.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 5, 2008 3:45 PM
Californians who voted: For Barack Obama: 6,194,012 Against parental notification before teen abortion: 5,071,449 To retain same-sex marriage: 4,806,595 Proposition 8 to define marriage as only between a man and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 5, 2008 12:24 PM
The Hyatt Century Plaza was rocking with so many Barack Obama supporters last night that long lines formed outside, before the polls closed, just to get in the hotel. Those... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 5, 2008 9:44 AM
TJ Sullivan is checking out polling places and found this line outside the Cheviot Hills Recreation Center. More locales at Native Intelligence.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 4, 2008 1:25 PM
Word from Sacramento is that Bill Stall, the Los Angeles Times' Pulitzer-winning editorial writer, died today after suffering from emphysema. The Times is working on an obituary, and colleague Karin... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 2, 2008 5:22 PM
The Los Angeles Times Washington bureau, one of the last pre-Tribune strengths of the paper still mostly intact, has been told that Chicago will announce this Friday that the bureau... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 2, 2008 12:58 PM
Sam Zell's contributions in this election cycle include $20,000 to the McCain Victory Committee on May 6 and another $20,000 to McCain-Palin Victory 2008 on Sept. 16. Previously, all we... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 31, 2008 5:09 PM
Just when you were hoping the campaign ads would stop already on TV, the Los Angeles City Clerk puts out word that filing opens Monday for candidates in the city... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 31, 2008 9:16 AM
Barack Obama and John McCain? Feh. How about Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas. The L.A. Theatre Works production of "The Rivalry" by Norman Corwin, starring David Strathairn and Paul... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 30, 2008 11:50 PM
Board of Supes candidate Mark Ridley-Thomas doesn't wait until election day to vote with his family. He votes early with his family.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 30, 2008 11:16 PM
Longtime L.A. Unified school board member Julie Korenstein announced today she won't seek reelection, just days after her colleague Marlene Canter said the same thing. That's two open seats in... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 30, 2008 3:07 PM
Who better to talk about Obama's infomercial than Ron Popeil, the king of the informercial? NPR's "All Things Considered" put some questions to the master. Audio... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 29, 2008 8:23 PM
From the LA Observed video archive, Sen. Barack Obama came to Los Angeles in February 2007 and drew an excited crowd long before he pulled ahead of Sen. Hillary Clinton.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 29, 2008 10:39 AM
Variety managing editor and politics writer Ted Johnson blogged about his marriage to Stewart Scott, presided over by West Hollywood City Councilman John Duran, in the context of Proposition 8.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 28, 2008 10:52 AM
Department of Water and Power commissioner Nick Patsaouras told activist Ron Kaye that he will run for City Controller next year against current city council member Wendy Greuel. It's an... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 27, 2008 6:31 PM
LAPD chief William Bratton's phone message for Barack Obama "challenged Republican John McCain's 'record on policing issues and extolled Obama's,'" he told the L.A. Times. Bratton said he got involved... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 23, 2008 10:45 PM
I caught up with Rick Caruso tonight at The Grove — not by accident — and asked if he intends to go for it and challenge Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's reelection... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 22, 2008 8:21 PM
LAPD chief William Bratton co-authored an Op-Ed piece in the New York Daily News that posits Osama Bin Laden wants to influence the Nov. 4 election: "If history is any... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 22, 2008 4:18 PM
Jacob Soboroff, who produced and appeared in more than a dozen LA Observed videos, is now executive director of the voting reform group Why Tuesday. He and new best pal... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 22, 2008 11:48 AM
Controller Laura Chick calls her audit finding a backlog of 7,000 unprocessed rape evidence kits "one of the most startling and important audits " since she was elected seven years... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 20, 2008 4:30 PM
In a long blog post at Opinion L.A., editorial page editor Jim Newton says the paper's editorial supporting Barack Obama has gotten a near-record response and was written wholly without... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 20, 2008 8:59 AM
Los Angeles bureau chief for the New York Times Jennifer Steinhauer and L.A.-based staff photographer Monica Almeida have completed one of those cross-country road trips to gauge voter sentiment. It's... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 19, 2008 11:58 PM
Does this editorial seem a tad bleak? The world of America as we know it in the first decade of the 21st century is a dark, money-in-the-mattress place of foreclosed... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 19, 2008 11:06 PM
Nelson Rising, who ran Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley's campaign for governor in 1982, sounds pretty certain that Barack Obama won't suffer any "Bradley effect" backlash from white voters misleading... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 19, 2008 10:54 PM
For the first time since backing Richard Nixon in 1972, the Los Angeles Times editorial board has publicly endorsed a candidate for president. It's also the first time ever that... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 17, 2008 6:00 PM
This time only Sacramento was worse than Los Angeles, among the 56 Metro areas that Nielsen meters. But then, the Dodgers were on and, as usual, the debate did not... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 16, 2008 9:23 AM
Both The New Yorker and Los Angeles have pieces on Arianna Huffington in their current issues. The New Yorker profile by Lauren Collins (with the photo here by Jonathan Becker)... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 14, 2008 12:54 PM
"I entered politics because the America of my dreams includes everyone, not just a few," Antonio Villaraigosa wrote with his check to the campaign fighting the state ballot initiative that... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 14, 2008 10:48 AM
Heal the Bay founder Dorothy Green has passed away, according to a release from Mayor Antonio Villarigosa's office. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa issued the following statement today on the passing of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 13, 2008 1:48 PM
I'm told the Los Angeles Times mailroom opened a hand-scrawled letter today that read "death to Obama" and contained a white powder that triggered a call to the FBI and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 10, 2008 10:54 PM
The former City Hall power broker and commissioner was sentenced today to state prison in connection with the pay-to-play scandal during the Jim Hahn years. In particular, Wong carried water... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 10, 2008 4:31 PM
If you've been following the saga of the former Miramar resort beside the 101 freeway in Montecito, there's been actual movement you might be interested in. The Montecito planning commission... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 9, 2008 11:28 AM
Charles Gerencser says he is leaving Southland Publishing, where he oversaw LA CityBeat and New Angeles Monthly, on Oct. 17 to join the Barack Obama campaign as a fundraiser and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 8, 2008 4:30 PM
The Women's Conference created by Maria Shriver and hubby returns to Long Beach on Oct. 22. The program includes MSNBC’s Chris Matthews moderating a conversation on leadership and the economy... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 8, 2008 3:14 PM
"Carne asada is not a crime," attorney Phil Greenwald said again, perhaps for the last time, after DA Steve Cooley's office said Friday that it would not appeal a judge's... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 5, 2008 11:23 AM
Nielsen says that last night's Biden-Palin debate drew a much larger television audience — 45% of households in the 55 biggest metered metro areas — than the earlier McCain-Obama debate.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 3, 2008 11:03 AM
Our columnist Bill Boyarsky has been on the national campaign trail this year for Truthdig, and as he used do to for the Times as a columnist and political reporter,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 2, 2008 11:12 PM
The top grossing release at LATimes.com for the month of September was Gloria Steinem's Op-Ed piece called Palin: wrong woman, wrong message. The latest monthly update from website executive editor... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 2, 2008 2:30 PM
Valley congressman Brad Sherman's office sent out a seven-page analysis explaining in some detail why he still opposes the financial package being voted on soon in Congress. Sherman has gotten... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 1, 2008 2:34 PM
Today's L.A. Daily News letters page published this overtly political note from Richard B. Scudder, chairman of the board of MediaNews Corp., the company that owns the paper. Patriotic ideals... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 1, 2008 2:15 PM
With John McCain staying in Washington for the Senate vote on the bailout measure, Cindy McCain and Todd Palin will fill in at tonight's Century City fundraiser. Kelsey Grammer and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 1, 2008 11:30 AM
The perking up of Downtown has reached the point that Sen. Hillary Clinton is scheduled to appear at an Obama fundraiser at the hipster bar The Edison on Oct. 4.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 1, 2008 9:32 AM
Garrett Therolf gets a partner in the Times' big but lonely office tucked away in the Hall of Administration on Temple Street. Molly Hennessy-Fiske has worked in Washington, Baghdad and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 30, 2008 11:16 AM
The city council of Bell Gardens has hired itself a new city manager — and it's Steve Simonian, the former chief of investigations for District Attorney Steve Cooley. What's intriguing... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 29, 2008 9:07 PM
No felony charge for Kanye West in that scuffle with a photographer at LAX. Reuters New editor assignments on the L.A. Times city desk — involving Nita Lelyveld and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 26, 2008 10:40 PM
A state appeals court says the ballot measure that extended the term limits for Los Angeles City Council members will stand. Five incumbent council members are running for reelection based... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 25, 2008 2:52 PM
Heal the Bay is out with a new beach report card today saying that California's beaches were much improved this summer due to a monitoring program — but that Gov.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 25, 2008 1:36 AM
In a personal reflection on his county website, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky writes about going to the scene of the Metrolink crash in Chatsworth and talking with the relatives of victims.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 24, 2008 10:05 AM
Mitchell Schwartz, a veteran of Bill Clinton, Barbara Boxer, Gray Davis and Antonio Villaraigosa campaigns, is state director of the Barack Obama campaign. Schwartz is also president of the Los... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 22, 2008 4:55 PM
Tina Fey won Emmy awards for acting, writing and being one of the executive producers on "30 Rock," which got the trophy for outstanding comedy series. Fey then took a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 22, 2008 12:59 AM
Los Angeles police commissioner Robert Saltzman was married on Saturday night to Edward Pierce, who retired as the general counsel and vice president for legal affairs of GeoCities. In addition... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 21, 2008 11:16 PM
City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo put up an entry this morning at the Huffington Post titled "Protecting families from McCain's broken health care plan." Sample: In the name of "choice," the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 18, 2008 1:30 AM
The son of Councilman Herb Wesson has left the building at the Bernard Parks for Supervisor campaign, where he was field director or campaign manager, depending on who's talking. And... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 18, 2008 12:52 AM
Brad Pitt announced today that he will donate $100,000 to oppose Proposition 8, the November initiative that seeks to re-eliminate same-sex marriage in California. "Because no one has the right... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 17, 2008 2:45 PM
Steve Lopez visits in today's column with Dorothy Green, the longtime water activist and founder of Heal the Bay who is in hospice care for metastasized cancer. She is 79,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 17, 2008 9:40 AM
OK, here's a last report (I think) from Tuesday night's Obama funder in Beverly Hills. On his way in to the event, former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan — a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 17, 2008 1:02 AM
Here's what the pool reporters filed from Beverly Hills for the traveling national media and the locals. Pool Report – No. 1 Sept. 16, 2008 Beverly Hills, Calif. No News.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 17, 2008 12:20 AM
An LA Observed source who is at tonight's Barack Obama fundraiser (the cheaper one at the Beverly Wilshire, not the $28,500 shindig at the Greystone Mansion) messaged that it was... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 16, 2008 9:47 PM
State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner made official Monday what's been expected for months: He's formally exploring a run for governor in 2010. From the Sacramento Bee: The state's only Republican... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 15, 2008 1:36 PM
Atlantic magazine and its writer Jeffrey Goldberg are unhappy that Los Angeles photographer Jill Greenberg turned in manipulated photos of John McCain for a story, then announced that she had... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 15, 2008 8:34 AM
Labor unions that already put up more $4.5 million to elect Mark Ridley-Thomas to the county Board of Supervisors plan to spend millions more, says Garrett Therolf in the Times.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 15, 2008 8:11 AM
Here's the most interesting blog post I read all day. Political scientists at UCLA who asked students to rate the faces of hundreds of American candidates found that Alaska Gov.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 11, 2008 10:42 PM
Potential attendees at Barack Obama funders next week at the Greystone estate in Beverly Hills and the Beverly Wilshire are being enticed with the prospect of Barbra. Friends: Great news!... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 9, 2008 9:13 AM
Western intelligence sources think that Californian-turned-al Qaeda propogandist Adam Gadahn may have died in CIA-directed attacks by unmanned predator aircraft on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, says a writer... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 7, 2008 8:02 PM
Quick update from an item this morning: Principal Donna Tobin posts at the Walter Reed Middle School website that "permission to use the front of our school for the Republican... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 5, 2008 1:54 PM
Sen. John McCain "has been relatively aggressive when it comes to tapping into the pool of Hollywood donors who, like their counterparts on the Democratic side, often give over concerns... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 5, 2008 9:25 AM
The backdrop photo chosen to illustrate John McCain's speech last night sure appears to be Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood. No one has said why a school in... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 5, 2008 8:49 AM
It's a long way from Beverly Hills High for disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. LAT story. Previously: Backhanded compliment... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 4, 2008 5:15 PM
Los Angeles-based Republican consultant Mike Murphy calls the choice of Sarah Palin "cynical" and former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan says the neophyte's pick means the race is "over." They had... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 3, 2008 5:13 PM
Top of the Ticket has reached #85 on the Technorati hit parade, LATimes.com executive editor Meredith Artley says in her wrap-up for August. More highlights: Total traffic to the Times... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 3, 2008 4:54 PM
Today's New York Times story says right up high in the fourth graf that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced her daughter Bristol's pregnancy "after a swirl of rumors by liberal... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 1, 2008 11:30 PM
Amy Goodman, the host of Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now, was arrested Monday during a demonstration near the Republican National Convention. She was apparently trying to discuss with cops the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 1, 2008 10:31 PM
Bill Boyarsky, posting dispatches from the Democratic gathering at Truthdig.com, concluded that this convention marked a welcome end to big media dominance of political reporting. This from a media veteran... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 30, 2008 10:35 AM
La Opinión columnist Pilar Marrero relaunched her politics blog in Spanish for the Democratic convention, and it sounds like she will keep it going on the La Opinión site and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 30, 2008 10:26 AM
New York Times calls the choice of the anti-abortion, conservative Christian with less than two years in office (she is 44) a "roll of the dice, a gamble that an... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 29, 2008 8:08 AM
Scott Martelle has been busily covering the presidential election for the Los Angeles Times, including many posts to the Top of the Ticket blog. But he was tapped on the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 29, 2008 7:56 AM
Variety Managing Editor Ted Johnson blogs at Wilshire and Washington that one of the men arrested in what was first thought to be a plot against Barack Obama was staying... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 27, 2008 2:14 PM
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has been making the rounds and got some face time on MSNBC this afternoon — outside of prime time — but City Controller Laura Chick... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 26, 2008 10:54 PM
KCRW's convention package includes online video shot by producers for Warren Olney's show in Denver. They have found an Obama lookalike, protesters and "dancing Democrats," plus an interview with Charlie... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 26, 2008 1:21 PM
Bil Boyarsky is covering the Democratic convention scene for Truthdig and his featured story today is about the abortion issue at the Interfaith Gathering held in Denver by religious leaders,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 26, 2008 9:13 AM
Barack Obama will announce Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware as his running mate in a few hours, the New York Times, L.A. Times and Washington Post all agree.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 22, 2008 11:34 PM
With Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, City Council President Eric Garcetti and assistant president Wendy Greuel headed to Denver for the Barack Obama investiture, Councilwoman Jan Perry is in charge. The Downtown... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 22, 2008 5:49 PM
Only one problem with that: Tyron Freeman's union contributions on behalf of Board of Supervisors candidate Mark Ridley-Thomas are mostly so-called independent expenditures. So the money officially never got into... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 22, 2008 9:55 AM
Orange County-based Kevin Drum moved his Calpundit blog persona over to Washington Monthly as Political Animal and began getting paid for his politics blogging four years ago. Now he's been... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 21, 2008 3:25 PM
The head of the United Long-Term Care Workers, an SEIU local that is the largest in California, takes a leave in the aftermath of Times stories showing how the union... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 21, 2008 12:31 AM
The Central City Association, which presses Downtown interests at City Hall and worked hard to get into Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's good graces after backing Jim Hahn big in 2005, announced... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 20, 2008 4:45 PM
The FBI's investigation of City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo seems to center on his wife Michelle's businesses and income, the Times reports. It's clear the Times had been digging on the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 20, 2008 1:10 AM
Patrick O'Connor, the Daily News' editorial cartoonist, has some fun with the upcoming change of venue to Denver for City Hall electeds attending the Democratic convention. See it big... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 19, 2008 9:21 AM
Today's San Francisco Chronicle reports that "FBI agents have begun a criminal investigation of Los Angeles City Attorney Rockard 'Rocky' Delgadillo, a one-time rising star of California politics whose career... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 19, 2008 7:44 AM
The South L.A. activist pleaded guilty to attempting to bribe a witness in a criminal case involving his daughter, Jasmin Eskew. Ali's sentence was enhanced because of a 1992 robbery... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 18, 2008 9:46 PM
Zach Behrens at LAist test-drives the city's new website for searching and keeping tabs on City Council files, motions and votes.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 14, 2008 4:09 PM
At the urging of the City Council, City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo agreed to suspend his lawsuit against Controller Laura Chick and she agreed to suspend her review of his office... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 13, 2008 10:06 AM
The city Ethics Commission did go ahead this morning and levy almost $15,000 in penalties against Councilman Jose Huizar for misusing his campaign accounts, partly to do opposition research on... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 12, 2008 12:08 PM
Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo today filed a civil court challenge to block Controller Laura Chick from asserting the power to audit his office, and she called in the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 11, 2008 10:27 PM
The Times' Paul Pringle weighed in Saturday with an investigative piece saying that the SEIU-affiliated United Long-Term Care Workers local headed by Tyrone Freeman, and a related charity, have been... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 10, 2008 11:48 PM
Echo Park author Sarah Miller has an amusing piece in the Times opinion pages Sunday about John Edwards' former extra-marital squeeze, who rented the room Miller had vacated in a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 10, 2008 11:35 PM
Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky has posted a personal piece at his county website explaining why he pushed to require fast-food stores to list the calories of their fare on menus. Yaroslavsky... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 8, 2008 12:56 PM
ABC News has an interview between Bob Woodruff and the former (and not future) VP candidate, confirming the affair with videographer Rielle Hunter. Edwards says he doesn't love her, that... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 8, 2008 12:45 PM
In the face of political and media criticism over the DWP board spicing up the future pension of COO Raman Raj, CEO David Nahai just released a statement saying never... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 7, 2008 9:55 AM
Supervisor Gloria Molina joined the two Republicans on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to reject placing a sales tax increase question on the November ballot, citing friction between... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 5, 2008 1:23 PM
Top of the Ticket finished atop the blog rankings at the L.A. Times again this past month, with the celebrity driven stuff just behind. Peter Viles' L.A. Land continues to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 5, 2008 12:17 PM
Actor George Clooney is the featured attraction for the Geneva event on Sept. 2. Here's the email sent to potential Barack Obama donors: Subject: A Reception with George Clooney in... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 5, 2008 11:32 AM
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa hired Miriam Long, now a senior deputy for Supervisor Yvonne Burke, to be his deputy mayor for education, youth and families. From the release: For 12 years,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 5, 2008 12:12 AM
Bill Boyarsky, LA Observed's occasional politics columnist, is a finalist in nonfiction for the 2008 book award from the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association. It's for "Big Daddy: Jesse Unruh... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 4, 2008 8:55 PM
Lt. Gov. John Garamendi announced this morning that, as expected, he will run for governor in 2010. Bee... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 31, 2008 11:17 AM
This week's piece by Kelefa Sanneh starts out exploring TV and radio commentator Tavis Smiley's criticism of Barack Obama's candidacy and looks into Smiley's enterprises, which are based in Leimert... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 31, 2008 8:52 AM
Tom Hogen-Esch, associate professor of political science at Cal State Northridge and co-author of "Local Politics: A Practical Guide to Governing at the Grassroots," argued in La Opinión that the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 30, 2008 12:27 AM
Rick Orlov's column today reports that State Sen. Sheila Kuehl denies through an aide that she is looking to move into the city of Los Angeles and run for the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 28, 2008 8:11 AM
I received an email statement from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa this morning that announced he would skip tonight's banquet in San Francisco for the Human Rights Campaign, a mainstream gay community... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 26, 2008 6:10 PM
Mickey Kaus has the email from Los Angeles Times blog editor Tony Pierce telling the paper's bloggers not to go there on the John Edwards-tryst-in-Beverly Hills story: Subject: john edwards... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 25, 2008 9:43 AM
Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke was named today by House Democrats to the independent panel that is supposed to review conduct by members of Congress. But as the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 24, 2008 6:15 PM
The former City Hall power player was convicted on 14 counts of bribery, perjury and other charges stemming from influence peddling while he was a commissioner in the Jim Hahn... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 24, 2008 5:18 PM
A federal grand jury has been secretly probing whether attorney Pierce O'Donnell violated federal campaign laws by asking employees of his law firm to contribute to the 2004 presidential campaign... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 24, 2008 11:49 AM
Sharon Waxman, free of the New York Times label next to her name, blogs a question: how long can the mainstream media ignore the National Enquirer story saying that John... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 23, 2008 5:07 PM
A pretty contentious exchange this afternoon between "Which Way, L.A.?" host Warren Olney and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa began with the mayor quipping "long time, no interview." Olney then started peppering... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 16, 2008 10:45 PM
Brendan Huffman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association since early 2006, said he plans to resign at the end of the year. "I'm just ready for something else,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 15, 2008 5:30 PM
It's Don Pierro, a former public affairs fellow at Coro. Release after the jump.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 15, 2008 2:31 PM
Ron Kaye's first try at post-Daily News movement organizing drew more than 100 potential activists to the City Hall lawn on Monday. David Zahniser in the Times set the scene... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 15, 2008 12:33 AM
Councilman and Board of Supervisors candidate Bernard Parks scored some CNN time this morning during all the hot talk about that satirical New Yorker cover picturing Barack and Michelle Obama... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 14, 2008 11:56 AM
District Attorney Steve Cooley sent a letter to the chairman of the state Board of Parole Hearings strongly opposing the compassionate release from prison of Manson family killer Susan Atkins.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 14, 2008 11:10 AM
At the L.A. Times' Top of the Ticket blog, many of the reader comments posted about former Bush spokesman Tony Snow's death have been tasteless — to say the least.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 13, 2008 11:12 PM
City Council president Eric Garcetti, who represents Hollywood, said provisions added to the project will help alleviate concerns that the 16-story residential project next door will affect Capitol Records' underground... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 11, 2008 4:55 PM
Los Angeles County CEO William Fujioka has abruptly ended his weekly Monday media briefings, saying he'll now be available by phone. But when the Times' Garrett Therolf called Fujioka to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 11, 2008 9:09 AM
Former deputy mayor (to Hahn) Troy Edwards testified under immunity yesterday at the Leland Wong trial and detailed the gift of sexual favors linked to Wong at a Bonaventure Hotel... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 11, 2008 8:55 AM
Catching up on this: Monday's Los Angeles Daily Journal cited sources saying that Councilman Jack Weiss has raised $1.1 million for next year's open race for City Attorney. Weiss has... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 10, 2008 11:43 PM
Ex-Daily News editor (and future candidate?) Ron Kaye is encouraging readers of his politics blog to bring their trash to City Hall on July 14. Bastille Day — get it?... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 10, 2008 11:35 PM
The subject is the Alexandria Hotel, the Rosslyn Lofts project and City Hall's support of an $8 million subsidy for alleged slumlord Ruben Islas. Tibby Rothman, in the LA Weekly,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 10, 2008 10:27 PM
Why Villaraigosa held back data on trash fee When he raised the trash fee, Mayor Villaraigosa said "Every new dollar residents pay for trash pickup will be used to put... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 10, 2008 9:15 AM
Gene Maddaus reports in the Daily Breeze that ties to Supervisor Yvonne Burke led to the Peace & Joy battered women's shelter in Carson being allowed to operate despite filth,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 8, 2008 6:20 PM
LA Observed columnist Bill Boyarsky recently completed a five-year term on the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission. He was appointed after writing Controller Laura Chick a letter suggesting that the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 6, 2008 10:58 PM
The Sacramento Bee pulled together details on nine of the campaign fundraisers that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa held between June 21 and July 1. Included are snippets giving LAT reporter David... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 2, 2008 6:25 PM
KCRW's popular Friday afternoon politics gabfest has added a blog. If you want to argue about Bob, Arianna, Matt and Tony or discuss things with Left, Right & Center producer... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 2, 2008 1:25 PM
City Hall's new water police won't have to look far for offenders of the rule against mid-day watering. Me and everyone else on the sidewalk during the noon hour just... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 2, 2008 1:20 PM
San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom filed papers for a campaign committee that lets him start gathering contributions for a possible run for governor in 2010. He's the first of the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 1, 2008 10:17 PM
Don White, a longtime Los Angeles political, social and labor activist, died in his Los Angeles apartment and was discovered on June 20. White had been a Los Angeles Unified... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 1, 2008 12:07 AM
Six events at least, including a bunch involving contributors with business (or potentially so) pending at City Hall. David Zahniser touches on them at the Times' local blog, but for... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 30, 2008 4:14 PM
City Controller Laura Chick wants to audit the City Attorney’s Workers’ Compensation Program. City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo declined her request to turn over records, so she is using the subpoena... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 26, 2008 5:36 PM
A remarkable editorial in this morning's Daily News admits the paper got used in the news story earlier this week about DWP chief David Nahai offering up data on his... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 26, 2008 8:59 AM
You know that L.A. Times-Bloomberg Poll this morning that had Barack Obama up by 12 points? The Gallup tracking poll out today disagrees in a big way. It says the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 25, 2008 3:27 PM
Alan Mittelsteadt blogs that the Daily News and reporter Beth Barrett — he calls her "the Queen of Spoon-Fed Journalism" — got snookered into running DWP chief David Nahai's planted... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 24, 2008 10:51 PM
From now until November, expect the presidential candidates to be a giant pain in L.A.'s butt. Motorcades shutting down entire freeways, etc. For Barack Obama's appearance Tuesday night at the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 23, 2008 3:20 PM
Eric Lynxwiler and I will be the featured speakers in Westwood today at 4 pm at the inaugural literary salon of the Friends of the Westwood Library. It's a benefit... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 22, 2008 1:05 PM
Right after he got back from his week in Israel, Mayor Antonio Vllaraigosa took off for a Conference of Mayors gathering in Florida where he will work in a weekend... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 20, 2008 4:34 PM
Maria Elena Durazo, executive secretary of the County Labor Federation, will join Mayor Villaraigosa and his coterie of city employees and Jewish community leaders on the trip to Israel that... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 11, 2008 12:34 AM
Mayor Villaraigosa has appointed Alicia Maldonado to the Housing Authority, Margarita C. Garr to the Housing Authority, Marsha Hirano-Nakanishi to the Commission for Children, Youth and Their Families and Christopher... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 10, 2008 12:45 PM
The Ethics Commission today fined Los Angeles Councilman Herb Wesson $3,000 for taking campaign money above the limit and and Councilman Richard Alarcon $2,650 for various violations of the campaign... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 10, 2008 12:25 PM
Joel Sappell, who vented recently in the American Journalism Review about Sam Zell and other changes that led him to flee the Los Angeles Times, started today as Deputy for... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 9, 2008 6:46 PM
The Huffington Post blogger's decision to tape, and then post, Bill Clinton slamming Vanity Fair writer Todd Purdum is still being discussed and dissected all over the politics and mediasphere.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 9, 2008 9:07 AM
Jon Regardie at the Downtown News imagines an address by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in advance of this week's trip to Israel. Selected quips: Many people have asked why I am... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 9, 2008 9:04 AM
The saga of the Long Beach deadbeat continues. The Press-Telegram's Paul Eakins reports today that Rep. Laura Richardson didn't pay a $735 mechanic's bill on her 740iL BMW — didn't... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 7, 2008 4:50 PM
She's the Huffington Post Off the Bus blogger who recorded Bill Clinton's three-minute rant about Vanity Fair writer Todd Purdom — and who earlier captured Barack Obama's critique of "bitter"... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 6, 2008 2:58 PM
Former candidate for mayor Bob Hertzberg told a bunch of friends at lunch at The Palm that he won't be running for anything next year. David Zahniser blogged it. Previously... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 5, 2008 11:59 AM
Author and urban affairs expert William Fulton says a challenge to Mayor Villaraigosa "would be a haberdasher’s dream," but he doesn't buy that developer Rick Carsuo would go after a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 4, 2008 1:25 PM
Department of Water and Power chief David Nahai has hired former Assemblywoman (and City Council candidate) Cindy Montañez to do whatever it is that pols do at the big-spending agency.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 4, 2008 9:40 AM
State Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas came out on top in the race for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, but fell way short of a majority. He and Councilman Bernard... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 4, 2008 9:25 AM
Tom Waldman is the chief of staff to Los Angeles school board member Tamar Galatzan (and he formerly was press secretary to Rep. Howard Berman.) He's also the author of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 3, 2008 9:20 AM
Stripped across the bottom of today's front page is a paid ad banner for a candidate in the 27th congressional district. The day before the election. The paper could make... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 2, 2008 1:43 PM
Oh, let somebody win on Tuesday so it can all be over. KPCC's Frank Stoltze went out walking the district with the candidates for a long story during "Morning Edition"... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 2, 2008 8:58 AM
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... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 30, 2008 5:30 PM
Yesterday it was a freelancer who argues that District Attorney Steve Cooley has gone easy on Jessica's Law. Today it's Doug Dowie, who worked with Kaye at the Daily News... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 30, 2008 12:22 PM
Shopping-mall mogul and former Jim Hahn commissioner Rick Caruso says he's considering a challenge to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa next year. He tells the Times' Tina Daunt, for her Cause Celebre... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 29, 2008 5:35 PM
Andrew Malcolm, the former New York Times correspondent and Laura Bush press secretary (as well as part-time Karl Rove assistant), talks about his conversion from L.A. Times editorial writer to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 29, 2008 2:59 PM
Let's see, what's new: Cornel West, the author and Princeton professor of religion, will address campaign workers at the Ridley-Thomas headquarters at 6:30 pm. Both candidates replied to LAT questions... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 29, 2008 9:20 AM
After Tuesday's Los Angeles Times endorsement of Bernard Parks, a tip came in claiming that the members of the Times editorial board actually preferred Mark Ridley-Thomas in the race for... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 28, 2008 9:08 AM
Bad crash on Crenshaw Five people, including two children, died when a red-light runner sped through the intersection of Crenshaw and Florence. Two of the victims burned to death inside... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 27, 2008 12:25 AM
Business and tribal interests located far from the open Inglewood-Compton area Senate district have spent more than $715,000 in independent expenditures to elect ex-assemblyman Rod Wright over rival Mervyn Dymally,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 23, 2008 9:20 AM
Linda Douglass, the former television reporter here who is now a contributor editor at National Journal, will join the Barack Obama presidential campaign as a senior strategist and "senior campaign... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 21, 2008 5:20 PM
Lots of people have gotten caught in the foreclosure vise — but Rep. Laura Richardson? The Democrat won last year's special election in the Long Beach-Compton area, loaning her campaign... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 20, 2008 10:14 PM
The former chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America — and target of the Napster generation's ire — was named political director and Washington editor-at-large for the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 20, 2008 1:29 PM
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... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 18, 2008 12:25 PM
Stories planted this morning in the Times, Daily News and Wall Street Journal unveil Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's billion-dollar agenda to re-invent Los Angeles' relationship to water. Villaraigosa and DWP chief... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 15, 2008 8:58 AM
Under fire for his ties to lobbyists Arnie Berghoff and Harvey Englander, former Villaraigosa deputy Marcus Allen withdrew his name from consideration for the job of city administrative officer. He... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 14, 2008 11:53 PM
Proposition 98 is sold to voters as an anti-eminent domain measure, "but really carries the long-standing agenda of interests that want to extinguish rent control and block water and air... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 12, 2008 8:19 AM
Councilwoman Hahn responds on her blog to the Fox 11 report that sided with two cops suing the city and tied Hahn to the mother of a Grape Street gang... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 9, 2008 5:25 PM
Regarding yesterday's item from the Daily Mail about LAPD Chief William Bratton advising the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, Bratton says there has been no contact between them: I have... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 9, 2008 1:37 AM
Looks like LAPD chief William Bratton could be traveling out of the city more than ever. The mayor of London just announced that he has signed Bratton to help advise... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 8, 2008 9:18 AM
BongHwan Kim moved up from assistant to become interim general manager of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment after last November's death of Carol Baker Tharp. On Tuesday, Mayor Villaraigosa put... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 6, 2008 11:11 PM
The pundits pretty much agree that Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign has reached the realistic end, after she lost big today in North Carolina and perhaps won by only a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 6, 2008 9:36 PM
For a campaign strategist, does Ace Smith get a lot of coverage or what? In the LAT over the weekend, the consultant for Antonio Villaraigosa's mayoral campaign — and before... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 5, 2008 6:13 PM
The May issue of W (with Cameron Diaz on the cover) proclaims Arianna Huffington more influential than ever, with her new book doing well and the Huffington Post "arguably the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 5, 2008 12:55 AM
On Saturday, candidates Bernard Parks and Mark Ridley-Thomas squared off over what makes them different in the race to succeed Yvonne Burke on the county Board of Supervisors. Here's the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 5, 2008 12:19 AM
The Times is moving California political writer Phil Willon onto the Los Angeles City Hall beat. The memo from California Editor David Lauter waxes on a bit about the importance... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 4, 2008 11:54 PM
There are four weeks weeks and change left until the June 3 primary showdown to decide who inherits the black seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. It's... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 1, 2008 2:35 PM
Louis Sahagun reports for the Times that "thousands of dockworkers at all 29 West Coast ports, including Los Angeles and Long Beach, took the day off work today in what... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 1, 2008 11:40 AM
Our blogger-columnist Bill Boyarsky covered a march Downtown on Friday by 700-1,000 janitors and renters of the slum housing around MacArthur Park. It got him thinking about the two (or... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 29, 2008 3:55 PM
The Los Angeles city clerk's automated email notification of upcoming City Council agendas just gave notice of a budget committee meeting that includes members Nick Pacheco and Cindy Miscikowski. Wait,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 29, 2008 2:15 PM
Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon will guest on Sunday's "KNBC News Conference," hosted by Laurel Erickson at 9:30 am on Channel 4. She wants to ask him about the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 25, 2008 3:12 PM
The Miguel Contreras Learning Complex is one of LAUSD's newest, most gleaming schools — even if it did take Craigslist intervention to open the swimming pool to the public last... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 24, 2008 12:31 AM
The Home Depot project on Foothill Boulevard that ran into a mountain of community opposition is back on the agenda. The store applied to City Hall for a permit to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 22, 2008 3:54 PM
Councilman Bernard Parks and State Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, the candidates for county Supervisor in the June primary, are scheduled for their only televised debate on Thursday at 6:30 at the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 21, 2008 10:50 PM
Erstwhile and future minor candidate for mayor Walter Moore proves a lightweight in an email exchange with L.A. Times editorial page editor Jim Newton, blogged by Ron Kaye. According to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 21, 2008 1:00 PM
From ex-editor Ron Kaye's new blog: In my mind, it's time for people to make a stand for what they believe in, to act like the free people Americans are... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 17, 2008 11:24 PM
He was on this week talking about the Britney Spears-inspired anti-paparazzi law that LAPD chief William Bratton says is not needed. "Rob Riggle does a fine job of grilling the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 17, 2008 9:28 AM
His business partner in the politics site is Henry Copeland, the founder of Blogads and a longtime friend of Layne's. Layne tells Tony Pierce of the LAT blog Web Scout... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 15, 2008 10:35 AM
Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, becoming the go-to voice raising questions about the urbanists' rush to let developers densify new areas of Los Angeles, took his cause to Sunday's LAT Opinion section.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 13, 2008 1:14 PM
The Rev. Eric Lee, head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in L.A., today sent an apology to Daphna Ziman, the philanthropist who stalked out of an African American awards... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 10, 2008 10:55 PM
PolitickerCA has a blind item saying that Doug Dowie, the former president of Fleishman-Hillard in L.A. whose conviction on wire fraud is on appeal, is doing some work for political... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 9, 2008 11:25 PM
Why do two separate City Hall items when they can merge into one? The City Council just voted 11-3 to approve the increases in Department of Water and Power rates.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 9, 2008 2:40 PM
Labor's Dave Sickler adds the CRA to his resume, which previously logged stops at the city's Board of Public Works and the executive suites at DWP. Esther Cepeda joins the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 8, 2008 5:30 PM
This cartoon by Rob Tornoe runs today under the headline "Sam Zell must be very proud" at PolitickerCA. That is the relatively new local outlet of a national chain of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 8, 2008 9:31 AM
Charlton Heston wrote a lot of letters to the editor. Today's L.A. Times excerpts some the paper received. Sample: Spike Lee's threat IN a fit of pique at the Cannes... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 8, 2008 1:18 AM
Monday was the state AG's birthday. The governor from 1974 to 1982 — before that a member of the original elected board of the Los Angeles Community College District, then... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 7, 2008 11:59 PM
Freshman state Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes — the ex-chief of staff to Alex Padilla in City Hall who dropped out of the 2007 race to succeed his boss on the City... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 4, 2008 5:18 PM
The L.A. County Business Federation, that new biz group that hopes to rival labor in political heft, made its first candidate endorsement today: Councilman Bernard Parks for county Supervisor. Not... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 4, 2008 10:16 AM
City ethics commissioner Bill Boyarsky heard from friends what the scene was like inside the exclusive, closed "VIP reception" before last week's political roast at the Century Plaza. He posts... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 3, 2008 11:30 PM
Sen. Hillary Clinton used her entrance on "The Tonight Show" (Channel 4, 11:35 pm) to defuse the mocking over her tale about dodging gunfire in Bosnia while First Lady. "I... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 3, 2008 9:08 PM
The Los Angeles City Council was asked yesterday to endorse a 40-hour moratorium on homicide over this coming weekend. After much discussion, they wouldn't call for the moratorium exactly but... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 2, 2008 8:55 AM
Voting rights advocate Paul H. Turner will be put forth to take Rob Saltzman's seat on the city ethics commission, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced. California Common Cause, where Turner used... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 1, 2008 3:13 PM
CityBeat's L.A. Sniper columnist Alan Mittelstaedt captures Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky's persuasive argument that the Times' cutback of local coverage through the years contributes to the city's bad traffic by letting... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 27, 2008 9:14 AM
Fabian Wesson, wife of City Councilman (and former Speaker) Herb Wesson, has opened a committee to explore running for the Assembly in 2010 when Speaker-elect Karen Bass is termed out,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 26, 2008 12:34 PM
The City Council will wait a week to vote on the hike sought by the Department of Water and Power. Time for more politicking study. The Daily News, which has... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 25, 2008 11:53 PM
Newsom, one of the California mayors who might run for governor in 2010, said today in the state capital that it's "wildly premature" to consider running but added he "surely... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 25, 2008 11:36 PM
Chief administrative officer Karen Sisson is returning to her alma mater, Pomona College, to be vice president and treasurer. She has been CAO since December 2006 and before that was... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 25, 2008 4:43 PM
As we suggested yesterday in Payback time. Became official at 11 am.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 20, 2008 11:56 AM
Chief William Bratton has scheduled an 11 am press conference tomorrow with State Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, the candidate for county Supervisor. They don't officially label it an endorsement event. But... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 19, 2008 3:32 PM
Well, just a new name. Jamie Court has abandoned the snooze-inducing Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in favor of...ta dah...Consumer Watchdog.org. Broadcasters everywhere will no doubt applaud the switch.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 19, 2008 2:55 PM
The Los Angeles City Council voted 10-5 this morning to stop work on the annexation application of the heavily lobbied Las Lomas project in Newhall Pass. Rick Orlov and Kerry... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 19, 2008 1:06 PM
Chief Bratton gave his side of the SWAT report controversy, and talked about having women in the unit, this afternoon on "Patt Morrison" on KPCC. (Audio.) Mayor Villaraigosa was also... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 18, 2008 5:30 PM
New U.S. Attorney Thomas O’Brien redistributed the 17 lawyers in the public integrity unit in Los Angeles among the major fraud and organized crime sections, the Recorder reports. The San... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 17, 2008 3:16 PM
The Downtown News' Jon Regardie saw some news in Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa repeating to Charlie Rose the company line that will he run next year for a second term. In... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 17, 2008 12:38 AM
KNBC Channel 4 has tapped David Markland, a "city captain" at LA Metblogs, to write a couple of items a day under the California Faultline banner. He will focus on... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 16, 2008 5:40 PM
Oscar Medrano Jr., 47, was picked up by sheriff's deputies at his Gardena jewelry store on suspicion of molesting a 14-year-old girl. No charges filed as yet. Worth noting, I... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 13, 2008 3:56 PM
Elizabeth Hill announced Thursday she will retire from her "dream job" as Legislative Analyst at the end of the year. "It's time for a new chapter in my life," said... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 13, 2008 11:18 AM
Looks like it's down to Villaraigosa cousin and labor favorite John Perez. Arturo Chavez, an aide to Sen. Gil Cedillo, and Ricardo Lara, an aide to Speaker Fabian Núñez, have... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 12, 2008 6:12 PM
Here's a YouTube video of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, at UCLA yesterday, declining to make an endorsement in the presidential race but saying nicer things about Barack Obama. Of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 12, 2008 4:49 PM
Rep. Howard Berman, in his 13th term, today was officially named chairman of the House committee on foreign affairs, replacing the late Tom Lantos. Originally a supporter of the Iraq... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 11, 2008 7:19 PM
The latest entry on the Los Angeles Times politics blog comes from a new — but no longer unexpected — source. It's credited not to one of the Times' bloggers... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 10, 2008 6:08 PM
The best political contest of the year in Los Angeles, by far, is the showdown between Councilman Bernard Parks and State Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas to be anointed the next Los... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 10, 2008 11:28 AM
Jane Galbraith is leaving as director of communications for Councilman Tom LaBonge after six years to work in the public affairs group at the Department of Water and Power. She... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 10, 2008 11:22 AM
You've read about the story, now here's the invitation. Tomorrow night's event for City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo was put together, reports David Zahniser in the Times, by Ken Spiker and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 6, 2008 10:59 PM
One is that Speaker Bass is related to State Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, reports Shane Goldmacher of the Sacramento Bee. She also went to Hamilton High, same as Rep. Howard Berman,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 5, 2008 1:16 PM
Harrison Sheppard is returning to the Woodland Hills office, where he will do a mix of editing and reporting, the Sacramento Bee's Capitol Alert says. Sheppard went up to Sacramento... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 5, 2008 1:02 PM
Mark Lacter and I were just on "Airtalk" talking with Larry Mantle about the buyouts at the Times and other local papers. You can hear it in the archives at... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 5, 2008 12:35 PM
Assemblywoman Nell Soto, the 81 year-old Democrat from the San Gabriel Valley, hasn't been in Sacramento since at least September. She has been out ill. She also hasn't filed the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 4, 2008 4:54 PM
News and politics did well in the LATimes.com stats for February, so maybe there's hope yet. Politics blog Top of the Ticket led the pack of in-house blogs in February... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 3, 2008 3:07 PM
The former California insurance commissioner, who resigned in 2000 amid corruption allegations, is now a deputy sheriff in Florida. And he just shot somebody: a domestic violence suspect with a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 29, 2008 3:05 PM
The eminent domain measure on the June ballot would also phase out some rent control laws, potentially resulting in a $15 million windfall for Sam Zell's Equity Lifestyle Properties Inc.,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 28, 2008 12:40 AM
Los Angeles assemblywoman Karen Bass has the votes to become Speaker, the Sacramento Bee reports. Fiona Ma, the San Francisco Democrat who tried to get the job, conceded that Bass... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 27, 2008 7:06 PM
David Gershwin has been chief of staff to Council President Eric Garcetti since 2005. He is leaving to be a vice president of Cerrell and Associates. Ana Guerrero moves up... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 27, 2008 6:38 PM
Staff editor-blogger Don Frederick plays it a little coy but says the latest Times/Bloomberg national poll, due to post about 4 pm our time, will show "Obama has erased the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 26, 2008 3:31 PM
Murray was in the Assembly for four terms, ran a slate mailer in South L.A. with Mervyn Dymally and spawned ex-legislator Kevin Murray. Willard's name figures prominently today in a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 26, 2008 12:55 PM
Even poli sci professors, columnists and all-around political pundits are doing it. Raphael Sonenshein, who's all three and the author of books about Los Angeles politics, is writing the Jews... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 25, 2008 4:49 PM
Councilman Herb Wesson entertained a lunch crowd at the Current Affairs Forum the other day with some fairly open comments about his political decision making. He didn't run for the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 24, 2008 12:48 PM
A day after stepping down from the Community Redevelopment Agency board, labor leader John Perez joined the crowded (for now) race to succeed termed-out Speaker Fabian Núñez. Perez's entry is... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 23, 2008 10:57 AM
The L.A. Police Protective League took umbrage at Times columnist Tim Rutten's chiding of Mayor Villaraigosa for injecting a bit of politics into his TV time at the funeral of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 23, 2008 9:53 AM
Councilman Jose Huizar and his wife Ricchelle welcomed Simon Luis Huizar at 3:10 am. The baby was delivered at Arcadia Methodist Hospital weighing 7 pounds, 10 ounces and measuring 20... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 23, 2008 9:37 AM
I listened to Sam Zell answer questions Thursday night at the Hammer Museum, then afterward shook his hand and chatted a bit about the Times and newspapers. First time I'd... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 21, 2008 10:06 PM
Slate editor Jacob Weisberg gave a little shout out to LA Observed in his remarks last night at a book party at Arianna Huffington's home. Actually, he noted that I... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 20, 2008 6:04 PM
Montorio says he was 'surprised' at firing New boss Russ Stanton walked in on Friday and summarily fired the Times managing editor for features. "It was really quite brief and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 19, 2008 8:53 AM
The Republican National Committee convened its winter retreat for major donors this weekend at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, presenting Karl Rove and figure such as RNC chairman Robert Duncan —... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 18, 2008 9:20 PM
Holiday hours today so no Morning Buzz, but stuff has still been piling up on my desk. City Council members are lining up to object to Controller Laura Chick's move... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 18, 2008 11:40 AM
Joel Stein and his mother, Clinton supporter Rosalind Byrd-Leszczuk, were guests on today's "To the Point" episode examining the support for Barack Obama. Others talking with Warren Olney on KCRW... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 14, 2008 1:16 PM
President Felipe Calderón of Mexico was in Chicago and the Bay Area yesterday. Today he'll address the Legislature in Sacramento and visit the Napa Valley, then be greeted at LAX... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 13, 2008 12:36 AM
Inspectors from the state's Department of Health Services visited the busy emergency room on Feb. 1 and said they would issue a citation of "immediate jeopardy" due to overcrowding and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 13, 2008 12:24 AM
Marc Cooper sinks the hooks on Speaker Fabian Núñez at the LA Weekly website: With great pride, I accepted the honor a few months back of being labeled 'the state's... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 12, 2008 10:46 PM
Two state lawmakers want to see what Sacramento can get for the land under the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. They say the proceeds could help out the state budget shortfall.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 11, 2008 1:30 PM
The Breeze mentioned yesterday that Michael Molina has moved from chief of staff for Councilwoman Janice Hahn to senior director of government affairs for Los Angeles World Airports. Hahn's communications... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 8, 2008 4:33 PM
City Councilman Richard Alarcon and his wife, Flora Alarcon, welcomed Camilla Isabella Alarcon into the world this morning. She was born at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 8, 2008 9:33 AM
Democrats in the state Senate have agreed to make Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento the chamber's next leader. That means Alex Padilla, the former president of the Los Angeles City Council,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 7, 2008 12:55 PM
There is no shortage of candidates looking to replace Speaker Fabian Nunez now that the voters have rejected the term limits modifications that would have kept him in the Assembly... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 6, 2008 9:15 PM
Doug Johnson at the Rose Institute's blog has an interesting twist on the usual California divide between the Democratic coast and the Republican interior (itself an update on the old... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 6, 2008 7:35 PM
In a pop-up window on the Downtown News website, the weekly says: County Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke will endorse Bernard Parks in the race to succeed her, Los Angeles Downtown... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 6, 2008 7:21 PM
Barack Obama and former president Bill Clinton both called in to El Cucuy de la Mañana's radio show this morning. A suspicious device ignited a fire at a home owned... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 5, 2008 3:32 PM
City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo stepped into the controversy over the unique-to-Los Angeles requirement that independent voters who want to be counted in the Democratic primary be sure to color in... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 5, 2008 2:42 PM
American Apparel's website and an email are urging people to vote for Obama and McCain, and give a list of reasons why not to vote for Clinton. But Politico's Ben... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 5, 2008 2:28 PM
A reader sends this photo of the sign hanging outside his poll location on South Genesee in the Pico-Fairfax neighborhood. He also observed a pirate flag hanging over the voting... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 5, 2008 11:22 AM
Polls are open from 7 am to 8 pm for those who still vote the old fashioned way. Close to half of all California votes will be cast absentee, sent... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 5, 2008 8:45 AM
It's a big get out the vote day all over town. Former president Bill Clinton will hit four churches in the morning: City of Refuge in Gardena at 8 am,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 2, 2008 9:06 PM
Joe Mathews, who's covering the presidential campaign, will leave the Los Angeles Times sometime after Super Tuesday to join the New America Foundation as a California Fellow. Other ex-Timesmen already... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 2, 2008 9:03 PM
Soulvine columnist Betty Pleasant says that Councilman Bernard Parks and former mayor Richard Riordan are trying to stave off the closing of Daniel Murphy High School, Parks' alma mater. The... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 2, 2008 3:41 PM
This whole battle for the Latino vote between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama keeps getting more intriguing. Today, the state's biggest Spanish-language newspaper endorsed Obama, saying the historic moment he... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 2, 2008 10:10 AM
La Opinión confirmed the paper will endorse a Democratic and Republican candidate in tomorrow's edition, CandidatoUSA reports. The endorsement, first in the paper's history for a primary, will be posted... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 1, 2008 4:59 PM
First presidential endorsements by the LAT since Richard Nixon in 1972. On Barack Obama: "Either of the Democratic candidates would make a strong nominee. But just because the ballot features... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 1, 2008 1:45 PM
Prompted by the $25,000 spent by the LAPD to escort Britney Spears to the hospital, Councilman Dennis Zine said today he'll push for an ordinance that would create a "personal... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 1, 2008 12:59 PM
Recalled ex-Gov. Gray Davis, whose fumbling created Arnold Schwarzenegger as a (sort-of) Republican leader, received a standing ovation from the Democrats when he was introduced before last night's debate. We... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 1, 2008 12:45 PM
Torie Osborn, Mayor Villaraigosa's senior advisor on the homeless and poverty, left the City Hall staff at the end of January. Her departing email to colleagues says it's been nice... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 1, 2008 12:17 PM
The most popular radio host in Los Angeles — and probably the nation — gave Sen. Edward Kennedy the royal treatment this yesterday morning, before Kennedy's pro-Obama appearance in East... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 1, 2008 12:04 PM
Sometime LA Observed contributor Jacob Soboroff got Mayor Villaraigosa, Stevie Wonder and Diane Keaton on video talking to him about the media's role in increasing or decreasing voter participation. Soboroff... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 31, 2008 8:29 PM
Wolf Blitzer just took the stage and did the obvious sound check for the Kodak: "And the Oscar goes to...." Big laugh. 4:51 Blitzer tells the audience there are... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 31, 2008 4:52 PM
One of the benefits of scoring an assigned seat next to IN Los Angeles magazine's Karen Ocamb: free photos.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 31, 2008 4:48 PM
Invited debate attendees (and those who bought tickets on the free market) are filing in to the Kodak Theatre through boisterous crowds of supporters with Obama and Clinton signs... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 31, 2008 4:45 PM
From the roof of Hollywood and Highland a few minutes ago, compliments of Karen Ocamb at IN Los Angeles.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 31, 2008 2:12 PM
The Daily News' Beth Barrett has posted a story saying that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has taken $10,500 in campaign funds from indicted Chicago entrepreneur Antoin Rezko and his relatives or... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 31, 2008 1:58 PM
The last surviving Republicans battered each other and invoked Reagan — without evoking him — last night in Simi Valley. Now it's Clinton and Obama's turn to whack away at... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 31, 2008 9:26 AM
Two weeks after making a pledge of neutrality in the Republican race, Gov. Schwarzenegger is expected to endorse John McCain tomorrow. LAT, William Bradley... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 30, 2008 5:49 PM
Irene Hirano will step down next year as president of the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo. But that's not her big news. She also become engaged to Sen.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 30, 2008 3:05 PM
Several dozen of the 500 news media and bloggers credentialed for Thursday night's CNN-Politico-L.A. Times Democratic debate did a walk-through this afternoon at the Kodak Theatre. David Bohrman, CNN's Washington... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 29, 2008 6:05 PM
Former Daily News publisher Tracy Rafter is chief executive of the new Los Angeles County Business Federation scheduled to be formally announced today with 44 member organizations representing more than... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 29, 2008 1:18 AM
The candidates will all be here this week, at least for Wednesday's Republican debate at the Reagan library in Simi Valley and the Democrats' face-off on Thursday evening at the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 28, 2008 1:13 AM
How happy was the Barack Obama camp to get Maria Elena Durazo on board a couple of weeks back? Pretty happy, apparently. Today the executive secretary of the L.A. County... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 25, 2008 1:56 PM
Because it feels like a briefs kind of day. Departing eBay chief Meg Whitman is talking to Republicans about her running for Governor in 2010. LAT Small pet turtles are... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 24, 2008 6:08 PM
A tribute to retired City Hall powerhouse Ron Deaton last evening brought out "a who's who in the city of Los Angeles," in the words of City Council member Wendy... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 24, 2008 9:10 AM
29 LAPD officers may face May Day melee charges LAPD officials will submit a report naming 29 officers responsible for 72 different allegations to the District Attorney's Office and the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 23, 2008 8:53 AM
Two legendary ex-Lakers are jostling for position over presidential endorsements. Nico Pitney at the Huffington Post: Unbeknownst to him, basketball legend-turned-author Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was pulled into the 2008 campaign fray... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 22, 2008 1:53 PM
You may remember awhile back (June 2006, actually) that the L.A. Times editorial page said it would resume making presidential candidate endorsements. Those plans survive the change in editors, publishers... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 22, 2008 1:15 PM
Council President Eric Garcetti cancelled this morning's meeting after using the internal City Hall squawk box to beseech members to show up. When a quroum of ten didn't appear, he... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 22, 2008 11:59 AM
It's Oscar nominations morning Witching hour is 5:30 am Hollywood time. Find out if you were nominated at the official site. For post-game analysis, take your pick of these or... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 22, 2008 12:50 AM
"I still have no memory of the trip to Costa Rica or anything that happened," Ron Deaton, once the most powerful figure in City Hall, tells Rick Orlov in the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 21, 2008 10:20 PM
Although the Los Angeles Times is listed as one of the sponsors (along with CNN and Politico) of the presidential campaign debates behind held here Jan. 30 and 31, the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 18, 2008 12:21 PM
Arnold admits his early positions were bogus He says inexperience and naivete were behind things like calling for mass elimination of state departments. (But it fooled enough voters to get... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 18, 2008 8:55 AM
Hillary Clinton campaigned today at Citizens of Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Compton and at Cal State Northridge — Andrew from Here in Van Nuys got some pics of everyone... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 17, 2008 10:24 PM
Democratic hopeful John Edwards is in town today. He'll drop in at SEIU Local 721, the public service workers, after noon and be endorsed by Councilman Richard Alarcon and SEIU... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 17, 2008 8:33 AM
Dubious media events most likely to make tonight's local news At 8 am, the media masses are invited to Burbank to observe the casting of actor statuettes for the SAG... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 17, 2008 1:03 AM
Media man-about-town Richard Rushfield is, these days, recognized mostly for his reviews of "American Idol" in the L.A. Times, where he's the website's entertainment editor. In his freelance life, Rushfield... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 17, 2008 12:56 AM
Barack Obama is stopping in at the Los Angeles Times this afternoon for a meeting with the editorial board. Tonight he has the big fundraiser in Rustic Canyon with the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 16, 2008 3:15 PM
Riordan and Hahn veteran Diego Alvarez was appointed Deputy Mayor for Legislative and Intergovernmental Relations. This makes him Mayor Villaraigosa's chief liaison to federal, state and local governments and agencies.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 16, 2008 9:06 AM
City Council steps in on LAPD financial disclosure The Police Protective League gets through to council members with its protests over the rules for narcotics and gang cops. The Council... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 16, 2008 8:55 AM
Democratic contender Barack Obama has scheduled a "roundtable on economic opportunity" at a private home in Van Nuys tomorrow afternoon. He's also got a fundraiser Wednesday night at the Pacific... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 15, 2008 4:10 PM
This evening's CNN-Los Angeles Times-Politico poll shows California support for Sen. Hillary Clinton running strong — she beats Obama 47-31% in the state, with Edwards pulling 10%. Here are some... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 14, 2008 9:51 PM
The Center for Public Integrity has launched a website to keep track of the millions pouring into the presidential campaigns. Obama, they report, won the New Hampshire money primary. The... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 9, 2008 10:34 AM
Clinton defies the polls and the pundits and wins New Hampshire, 39% to Obama's 36%. McCain takes the Republican side, leaving Romney with the silver again. The Huckabee juggernaut stalled... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 8, 2008 11:31 PM
Safiya Jones, communications director for Councilman Bill Rosendahl, checks out. Her exit email: Dear All, It is with deep respect and gratitude that I say farewell to all of you.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 8, 2008 11:28 PM
Tina Daunt posits in her Cause Celebre column in today's Calendar that Hollywood's Hillary contingent is on the verge of buying tickets on the Barack Obama bus. On desks all... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 8, 2008 2:28 PM
Unhappy with the LAPD's new financial disclosure rules for drug and gang cops, the L.A. Police Protective League has bought radio time on KFWB and KABC for an ad that... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 3, 2008 8:17 PM
Democratic Rep. Tom Lantos announced today he has cancer of the esophagus and will leave Congress at the end of his term. Lantos, who represents the Bay Area, has been... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 2, 2008 1:44 PM
The Internet has spoken — no Los Angeles story came close to surpassing the interest in Antonio Villaraigosa and his affair with Telemundo rising star Mirthala Salinas. First came the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 1, 2008 11:30 PM
Question: Where will Mayor Villaraigosa and Chief Bratton drag the media to announce the 2007 crime stats? AKA, a "historic reduction in homicides and violent crime." Presser is Wednesday at... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 1, 2008 2:59 PM
Let's face it, the fun place to be for a politics junkie right now is Iowa. Mayor Villaraigosa flew in Saturday (after skiing in Aspen with his kids, reportedly) to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 31, 2007 12:32 PM
Remember when the City Council got around that whole referendum thing by, wink wink, making a few changes to its living wage policy for the LAX-area hotels? It worked. A... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 27, 2007 10:20 PM
A long story at Editor & Publisher.com on newspaper political blogs ledes with the veteran reporter who co-writes Top of the Ticket, the L.A. Times campaign blog. The story muses,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 14, 2007 5:43 PM
The erstwhile LA Observed video maker pulled up to the Des Moines Register's Republican debate in Johnston, Iowa in a horse and buggy, trying to make a point about outdated... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 12, 2007 1:25 PM
No way the mayor's organizers could let this one slip away. Parents and teachers at six LAUSD campuses — including one of the high schools Mayor Villaraigosa attended, Roosevelt —... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 11, 2007 11:55 PM
Anonymous residents of Rancho Palos Verdes have demanded, through an attorney, that the city produce eleven years of public records — "all documents, communications, e-mail, memos, contracts and other writing... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 10, 2007 8:33 AM
Among them is director Oz E. Scott, appointed to the Cultural Heritage Commission. Release with bios follows.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 29, 2007 12:14 PM
Remember Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, the journalist who quit the L.A. Times in a huffy outburst and resurfaced as a successful novelist? (And who more recently mourned the death of Cathy Seipp.)... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 27, 2007 11:56 AM
Before a City Council committee voted yesterday to tentatively approve a controversial condo project in Van Nuys Valley Village, a planning staffer for the city called the developer and told... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 21, 2007 9:07 AM
In addition to his blog here at LA Observed, Bill Boyarsky is a regular columnist for Robert Scheer and Zuade Kaufman at Truthdig. They actually pay him, unlike here, and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 19, 2007 10:25 PM
Ted Johnson, the Variety managing editor who writes the trade's politics blog, Wilshire & Washington, posts about Sen. Hillary Clinton's appearance Saturday at a local environmental gathering: At [a] global... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 18, 2007 2:40 PM
Michael Aguirre began "investigating" San Diego's PBS station after cancellation of a show where he was a frequent guest. As soon as light was cast on his stunt, he dropped... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 16, 2007 8:07 AM
Heidi Klum tries to appear charmed at the gift of pumpkin bread from Councilman Tom LaBonge, but most of the Victoria's Secret Angels seem — let's call it wary. Perhaps... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 14, 2007 10:11 PM
Events are starting up for Bill Boyarsky's major political history from University of California Press, Big Daddy: Jesse Unruh and the Art of Power Politics. Unruh, of course, was the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 13, 2007 12:26 PM
USC's Norman Lear Center and pollster John Zogby tested for the link between political leaning and taste in entertainment. They conclude that 37% of the nation bleeds red, 39% fit... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 12, 2007 4:53 PM
During today's discussion of the expansion at Holy Cross hospital in the Northeast Valley, Councilman Richard Alarcon made City Hall reporters sit up in their chairs and look at each... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 7, 2007 11:40 PM
Another of Speaker Fabian Nuñez's legal dodges to squeeze money out of special interests has been uncovered. The LAT's Nancy Vogel and Evan Halper report that companies like AT&T, Verizon... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 2, 2007 9:08 AM
In January the Sacramento Bee baffled people by going against the trend and moving its online political coverage behind the pay wall — a high wall at $499 a year.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 1, 2007 10:54 PM
Pajamas Media's Ron Rosenbaum has got some chatter going with an item that hand-wrings about media gossip that the L.A. Times is sitting on an explosive story about sex and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 31, 2007 12:20 PM
Hmm, guess it was all pre-arranged. Mayor Villaraigosa today will nominate H. David Nahai for the vacancy at the head of the Department of Water and Power. He quit the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 29, 2007 8:12 AM
Ron Deaton made it official that he won't be returning to the top job at the Department of Water and Power. He either resigned (Times) or retired (Daily News) —... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 26, 2007 8:47 PM
State Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas has formed an exploratory committee to run for Supervisor Yvonne Burke's seat and filed his intent papers today. He told the Downtown News, "I am a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 24, 2007 11:58 PM
Both the Times and Daily News have stories today on efforts to quietly reach a severance settlement with Gloria Jeff, the not very effective chief of the city Department of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 12, 2007 8:35 AM
Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez has been taking a pounding in the Times for his extravagant spending with money stuffed in his pockets by the interests who grease lawmakers in this... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 11, 2007 10:34 PM
Lauritzen died today of a brain tumor, according to the Board of Education and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. He lost his reelection campaign for the board earlier this year. Lauritzen had... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 1, 2007 10:00 PM
Council President Eric Garcetti has been close to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa since the new administration took over in 2005, even though Garcetti actually endorsed then-Mayor Jim Hahn for reelection. Now... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 1, 2007 2:59 PM
With another of its occasional Sunday packages railing about city salaries, the Daily News posts online a database listing the name and salary of all 8,500 workers at the Department... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 30, 2007 11:04 PM
Mayor Villaraigosa has dumped Department of Transportation chief Gloria Jeff and replaced her with longtime City Hall hand Rita Robinson. Jeff lasted a year and a half, after being presented... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 28, 2007 4:19 PM
The Advocate, feeling pretty good after celebrating its 40th anniversary, is proud that news features editor Sean Kennedy scored an interview with Sen. Hillary Clinton at the recent Logo/Human Rights... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 25, 2007 10:47 PM
Tom Tugend in the Jewish Journal has more details on the incident where city building inspectors ordered an Orthodox shul to halt its services on the eve of Yom Kippur,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 25, 2007 10:14 PM
Mayor Villaraigosa signs off on a deal brokered by Council President Eric Garcetti. It's less, obviously, than the $2.7 million Pierce and the City Council agreed to last year, but... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 21, 2007 6:55 PM
Marc Cooper is joining the Huffington Post as special correpondent and will direct coverage of the 2008 political campaigns for OfftheBus.net, a co-venture of the Huffington Post and NewAssignment.net, NYU... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 20, 2007 10:54 AM
Missed these in yesterday's flood of email — new appointees by Mayor Villaraigosa to the Cultural Heritage Commission and other city boards. Details after the jump.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 14, 2007 10:23 AM
Bill Boyarsky went back to the ethics commission yesterday for the first time since his fellow commissioners didn't elect him president. In fact, nobody seconded his nomination. They didn't let... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 12, 2007 1:55 PM
Constitutional law scholar and media quotemeister Erwin Chemerinsky was all set to be named dean of the new UC Irvine law school — he even signed the contract — but... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 12, 2007 12:54 PM
Remember when former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan was so perturbed at the L.A. Times that he dallied with starting his own rival paper? He even produced a prototype of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 10, 2007 1:03 AM
After Ruby De Vera finished third in the 2005 City Council race that elected Jose Huizar, her boss — Councilman Ed Reyes — fired De Vera as his office manager.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 19, 2007 1:09 PM
The Times has a piece tomorrow saying that Mayor Villaraigosa and some other local electeds use more water at home than normal people — in some cases much more. OK,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 9, 2007 11:34 PM
Controller Laura Chick says that "in our enthusiasm to put his expert abilities to work again for the city of Los Angeles, we lost sight of how this contract would... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 7, 2007 8:49 AM
Republicans in Los Angeles are being offered $15 to show up at an upcoming taping of the "Half Hour News Hour" on Fox. From the email: The Half Hour News... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 3, 2007 4:24 PM
Former Assemblyman Paul Koretz put himself in the running for the 5th council district race that will be fought the next two years over the seat to be vacated by... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 2, 2007 2:59 PM
Jonathan Diamond is leaving the City Attorney's press office after a bit more than two years. He had been assistant managing editor at the Los Angeles Business Journal, and plans... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 30, 2007 3:10 PM
Big weekend story in the LAT — a solid gotcha: L.A. official steered work to relatives Nearly $800,000 in contracts, often with inflated prices, went to family and firms with... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 29, 2007 11:40 PM
Dakota Communications political consultant Rick Taylor didn't like having his tactical memo exposed by the group fighting a Home Depot store in the Sunland area. So, in a not so... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 28, 2007 11:04 PM
A memo from political adviser Rick Taylor lays out Home Depot's plans to stack a City Council meeting next week with supporters of the store's desire to open a new... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 26, 2007 8:55 AM
Art Marroquin is leaving City News Service for the Daily Breeze, where he will take over the LAX and Port of Los Angeles beat. That's a major beat for the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 17, 2007 5:14 PM
Lots of L.A. city council members are happy about this — a judge rejected a challenge to the ballot measure that extends their term limits. Voters in Los Angeles passed... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 17, 2007 4:06 PM
Invitations have gone out for a Sept. 8 Barack Obama fundraiser at Oprah Winfrey's home in the Santa Barbara area. The ante for entry is the usual $2,300, but those... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 17, 2007 9:25 AM
Fed up with delays in opening the filled-and-waiting swimming pool at the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex, activists have posted their own Craigslist ad to help the city hire the necessary... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 13, 2007 3:25 PM
Former Los Angeles city administrative officer William Fujioka, 55, was hired today by the Board of Supervisors as the county’s chief executive officer, at an annual salary of $310,000. He... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 10, 2007 6:19 PM
Department of Water and Power general manager Ron Deaton is in an intensive care unit in Costa Rica "with his family by his side" after suffering what a DWP statement... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 9, 2007 1:32 PM
Steven Maviglio, deputy chief of staff to Speaker Fabian Núñez, called the LA Weekly's Marc Cooper the state's worst political journalist on the state Democrats' website. Cooper calls it a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 8, 2007 11:16 AM
The city council voted unanimously today to keep Eric Garcetti in the president's chair. Councilwoman Wendy Greuel also stays as pro tem. Garcetti re-appointed Jan Perry to the position of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 3, 2007 12:32 PM
The Times editorial page calls Rocky Delgadillo "unfit" to be City Attorney and urges he do the right thing and resign. Under the headline "The honorable thing," the paper says:... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 3, 2007 8:36 AM
Two Southern California legislators, Sen. Edward Vincent and Assemblywoman Nell Soto, have been away from the Capitol injured or sick for six months of the 2007 legislative session — but... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 2, 2007 11:23 PM
Yesterday it was Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa giving a coveted spot on the full-time, paid Board of Public Works to labor attorney Julie Gutman. Today it's a bunch of commission appointments.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 26, 2007 8:35 AM
Now Michelle Delgadillo has business tax problems, but abruptly took care of them Friday in advance of a new round of stories. LAT, DN Popular progressive and previously faceless... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 23, 2007 12:46 PM
Now this should get interesting. LA Weekly political reporter David Zahniser, the hottest property on the City Hall beat, is jumping to the L.A. Times to cover Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 21, 2007 11:29 PM
A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that former Fleishman-Hillard executives Doug Dowie and John Stodder should remain free on bail while their cases are... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 20, 2007 11:24 PM
Word out of the Santa Monica courthouse is that Michelle Delgadillo came in this morning, pleaded no contest and received twelve months probation on top of paying fines. Stories forthcoming.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 20, 2007 2:38 PM
Michelle Delgadillo, wife of the city attorney, has an outstanding warrant for her arrest for failing to appear in court nearly nine years ago on charges of driving without insurance,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 20, 2007 7:59 AM
Yes, the wife of City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo was driving the city-owned GMC Yukon when it hit a pole in 2004. Yes, he'll pay for the repairs — he wrote... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 18, 2007 5:20 PM
The Times editorial page launched a Rocky Watch box this morning that counts the days until City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo "comes clean" about who was driving his city-owned GMC Yukon... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 18, 2007 1:03 AM
The mogul's backing of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is called "the political equivalent of the Oscar" in the Cause Celebre column by Tina Daunt that plays on this morning's LAT... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 14, 2007 1:00 PM
It's amazing what basking in the Paris Hilton media glare can do for your profile. Even Radar Online is now covering Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, posting today about... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 12, 2007 10:38 AM
Today's New York Times reports on the rapprochement between LAPD chief William Bratton and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, who "had not spoken to each other in 10 years.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 12, 2007 8:19 AM
Former editorial writer Andrew Malcolm handles the West Coast, Washington bureau editor Don Frederick the east for Top of the Ticket. What can one more blogger bring to the nation's... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 11, 2007 1:09 PM
Yes! Sometimes things just work that way. The DN editorial page staff has launched a new blog where editor Chris Weinkopf (from the right), editorial writer Mariel Garza (leftier) and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 7, 2007 2:58 PM
State Assemblywoman Nell Soto, who is 80, has been out with a bad case of pneumonia since March — not that the political media has noticed. The San Gabriel Valley... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 5, 2007 11:14 PM
The Sacramento Bee's subscriber-only Capitol Alert reports today on a nasty fight between Valley assemblyman Lloyd Levine and his former chief of staff, Stuart Waldman. Levine fired the aide last... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 1, 2007 12:42 PM
The Times' Sacramento blogger Robert Salladay, who took the buyout, signed off this afternoon. Political Muscle will continue in some guise, he writes. From his farewell post: The Political Muscle... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 31, 2007 5:10 PM
The former city comissioner, already waiting trial on bribery and other charges, will be arraigned tomorrow on a new conflict of interest felony that stems from his time on the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 31, 2007 4:21 PM
The L.A. Weekly's David Zahniser is out with a cluster of stories on one of the least talked-about big stories in Los Angeles: the push by planners, pols led by... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 31, 2007 8:56 AM
The Bush Administration has settled on Thomas O'Brien, chief of the criminal division for the U.S. attorney's office here and a former gang prosecutor in the district attorney's office, to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 30, 2007 10:27 PM
The vote counters finally called it a day and proclaimed Georgia Mercer the winner in the March 15 runoff election for the L.A. Community College District. She edged challenger Roy... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 30, 2007 5:52 PM
Patrick McGreevy, a fixture at City Hall for the L.A. Times, is transferring to the buyout-impacted Sacramento bureau. Memo after the jump.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 25, 2007 2:11 PM
This time it's the city of Claremont getting all umbraged up about the Claremont Insider, recounted on the blog of San Garbriel Valley Tribune city editor Edward Barrera. Previous: Foothill... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 23, 2007 12:34 AM
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson won't announce Monday at the L.A. Press Club after all. His campaign sent out an urgent notice that the Millennium Biltmore downtown is where he'll... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 20, 2007 2:49 PM
That consulting contract we exposed on Tuesday that would have given newly elected state assemblyman Felipe Fuentes $20,000 in city funds for services to the 7th district, where he had... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 17, 2007 9:14 AM
Felipe Fuentes, the former chief of staff to 7th district councilman Alex Padilla, is on today's ballot running in the special election in the 39th assembly district to replace Richard... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 15, 2007 3:58 PM
Ace Smith, the strategist behind Antonio Villaraigosa's win in 2005, is now working on the presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. The weekend San Francisco Chronicle called him a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 14, 2007 8:24 AM
Some stuff that caught my eye over the weekend... Chief Bratton is in treacherous waters trying to satisfy both the police union and the people of the city in the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 13, 2007 11:45 PM
The anonymous Foothill Cities news and gossip blog pulled its recent posts on goings-on at Pomona city hall after receiving a cease-and-desist threat from the Pomona city attorney. The city... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 11, 2007 11:27 AM
Daniel Weintraub reports on the Sacramento Bee's Capitol Alert website that Robert Salladay, who writes the LAT's Political Muscle blog from Sacramento, plans to take the buyout. Here's the item,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 11, 2007 9:05 AM
Since January, KMEX here has been blanketing its Spanish-language audience with encouragement for green card holders who are eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship. Now the project is going nationwide... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 10, 2007 11:21 AM
Valerie McDonald, daughter of the late Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald, added her name to the list of candidates in the 37th district special election and picked up the endorsement of Rep.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 10, 2007 8:54 AM
Mayor Villaraigosa, Chief William Bratton and police commission president John Mack have called a 3:30 news conference that the mayor's office bills as "to discuss changes in LAPD command staff"... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 7, 2007 1:11 PM
"I am not in prison! At least not yet, not for a few more weeks and hopefully never," John Stodder says in a Dear Friends email to city staffers, friends... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 4, 2007 8:57 AM
Three swastikas and an anti-Semitic message were found this morning on the front door of Councilman Jack Weiss' Sherman Oaks field office. The red-and-black Nazi symbols were printed on sheets... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 3, 2007 12:13 PM
Sen. Dianne Feinstein's opposition on behalf of neighbors posed too great an obstacle and the FBI will look for another location to build its new L.A.-area headquarters. The feds had... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 27, 2007 8:55 AM
The L.A. Times Sacramento bureau is looking to bring in a new body to help cover Gov. Schwarzenegger. Here's how the offer went out to the newsroom: From: Janet Clayton,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 24, 2007 10:59 PM
Last week the staff of Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald put out the word that she would take a leave of absence to recuperate from an unstated form of cancer. Now AP... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 22, 2007 3:28 PM
The Center for Responsive Politics broke out the by-state contributions to the '08 presidential candidates: Sen. Hillary Clinton leads the way in mining California for bucks so far. Here are... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 18, 2007 3:05 PM
In the new W, former Variety scribe Gabriel Snyder explains the role of Hollywood political consultants and updates the roster of who works with whom. Noah Mamet, for instance, wrangled... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 18, 2007 9:11 AM
We posted a note when Dave Lesher opened a California office for the New America Foundation, so it's only right to observe that he's leaving. Lesher, the former editor of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 17, 2007 10:59 PM
A three-judge panel of the state's 2nd District Court of Appeal unanimously kicked aside Mayor Villaraigosa's quest to rewrite democracy in Los Angeles and take power over the schools. They... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 17, 2007 12:15 PM
Assemblyman Lloyd Levine's office helpfully sends along the news that the boss just finished the Boston Marathon. His time was 3:10:03, good for a pace of 7:15 per mile. Levine... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 16, 2007 11:49 AM
Mayor Villaraigosa named Olga Garay as general manager of the Department of Cultural Affairs. She was Program Director for the Arts for eight years at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 16, 2007 9:34 AM
The Daily News politics blog, mostly silent since March, has come back to life. Rick Orlov introduces himself from City Hall in today's Sausage Factory post. Excerpt: In my real... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 9, 2007 6:12 PM
President Bush has an evening fundraiser in Brentwood, there are accidents on both sides of the 405 near Wilshire, and the northbound Pasadena is backed up near I-5. Luckily, Bush... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 4, 2007 5:05 PM
Waiting to hear just when (or if, considering appeals) he goes to federal prison in the Fleishman-Hillard case, Doug Dowie is writing up a storm. In addition to the screenplays... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 4, 2007 11:46 AM
LAPD chief William Bratton did the deed today and requested a second term. "It's been an honor and a privilege to serve as Los Angeles' chief of police," he said... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 2, 2007 6:17 PM
The nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics ran the numbers on victorious Tribune suitor Sam Zell and calls him a political contributor who gives generously to both Democrats and Republicans. "Double-giving... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 2, 2007 10:06 AM
Student journalists at Occidental College dug through old literary magazines to find two poems that Sen. Barack Obama published in 1982. "What better than the poetry of a 19-year-old college... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 26, 2007 12:51 PM
President Bush gave Attorney General Alberto Gonzales a vote of confidence last night, but why let that ruin a good story? This morning's Daily Journal speculates on possible replacements for... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 21, 2007 8:14 AM
Technically, I guess it's the booboo of the week because it was in last Thursday's LA Weekly issue. But I just noticed: The article “Nasty Battle for Classroom Control” [March... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 20, 2007 10:50 PM
Mayor Villaraigosa is expected by many to eventually endorse Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for president, but for now he is saying nice things about several of the Democrats and being... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 16, 2007 8:37 AM
In this week's The Z Files, posted to the LA Weekly website more than a day early, David Zahniser reports on a recall move against 5th District councilman Jack Weiss... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 14, 2007 8:34 AM
Claudia McMahon joins the staff of Councilman Dennis Zine today as communications deputy. "She comes to us with a wealth of media experience including several years as a senior producer... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 12, 2007 1:32 PM
Mayor Villaraigosa's main photo op for Monday will be to announce that the only African and sole female elephant at the Los Angeles Zoo is being retired to the Performance... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 11, 2007 8:19 PM
Sacramento Bee reporter Aurelio Rojas visits with Doug Dowie (his former boss at UPI) in today's paper and says the story of the ex-editor and Fleishman-Hillard power broker "has parallels... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 11, 2007 12:39 PM
Assemblyman Richard Alarcon wins a seat on the City Council without a runoff, pulling 54.6% to Monica Rodriguez's 27.9%. (She was the one endorsed by all the newspapers.) Two precincts... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 7, 2007 7:55 AM
David Abel, publisher of The Planning Report and Metro Investment Report, now has a colloquium named after him. "Rethinking Governance in the Age of MySpace.com" will be held Thursday night... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 3, 2007 8:15 PM
The LA Weekly's David Zahniser asks how it is that Assemblyman Richard Alarcon spent more than $415,000 running for election when he didn't have an opponent. Zahniser's answer: "For starters,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 1, 2007 11:52 PM
The dimensions of departing airports chief Lydia Kennard's deal to keep a hand in the pot at LAX are becoming clear. Nice deal, if you can get it. The Board... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 1, 2007 10:31 PM
Adolfo V. Nodal was general manager of the city's Cultural Affairs Department from 1988 until the Hahn Administration took over City Hall in 2001. (He left in January 2001, during... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 1, 2007 2:55 PM
Gov. Schwarzenegger took his vision of post-partisan love to the National Press Club in Washington and invoked the image of his cigar-sharing refuge back home in Sacramento: "In the courtyard... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 26, 2007 9:52 PM
The mayor today also nominated his new top people to run the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment. Carol Baker Tharp, the former executive director of Coro Southern California, gets the general... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 26, 2007 3:27 PM
David Zahniser in the LA Weekly ferrets out the story behind 4903 La Calandria Way, an El Sereno home where City Councilman Jose Huizar may or may not have lived... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 23, 2007 11:34 AM
When former Assemblywoman Cindy Montañez made like the good Democrat and dropped out of the race for City Council to make way for State Sen. Richard Alarcon, you just knew... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 21, 2007 2:42 PM
LA Observed's Jacob Soboroff took his video camera behind the scenes at today's crowded Barack Obama rally at Rancho Cienega Rec Center and chatted with Councilwoman Janice Hahn, Channel 4... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 20, 2007 10:55 PM
A memo just sent around the New York Times newsroom by executive editor Bill Keller announces a new political editor and greater attention to covering the 2008 campaign on the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 20, 2007 3:27 PM
A 20-foot-long sign criticizing President Bush was purloined from a building facade on Abbot Kinney Sunday night. Venice Paper reports that "to steal the sign, thieves broke into [a] private... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 20, 2007 1:40 AM
The press release for this evening's Occidental College rally for former student Barack Obama uses the familiar nickname Oxy just like the locals do — but spells it Occi as... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 19, 2007 2:53 PM
National editor Suzanne Daley wishes the former L.A. staff correspondent well in a newsroom note posted at Romenesko: Charlie was part of the team that won the Pulitzer for the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 14, 2007 12:33 PM
Hey, thanks. More than 75 caption ideas came in for the photo of Mayor Villaraigosa and Paris Hilton visiting at a Grammy party. Some cutlines were wittier than others, some... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 13, 2007 5:33 PM
The City Council vote was 13-0 for the new high-rise and shopping district to surround Disney Hall. "This is a historic day for Los Angeles," said Eli Broad, who has... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 13, 2007 1:30 PM
This YouTube video from Charlotte, North Carolina shows that we aren't alone in having regulars who amuse at city council sessions and other government meetings. He looks meek, but give... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 13, 2007 12:50 AM
First there was "Jack Dunphy" opining anonymously at the National Review Online. Now there is Sgt. Sunil Dutta writing in the latest issue of The Nation, under his real name,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 12, 2007 1:38 AM
Thomas Mauk, the man who wouldn't be L.A. County CAO, wasn't the first to reject a deal with the Board of Supervisors. Dr. Joshua Perper, the Broward County (Fla.) Medical... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 12, 2007 1:25 AM
Politics in the small cities spread across Los Angeles County are often more colorful and vicious than those downtown. (Witness today's LA Weekly piece on threats against a citizen in... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 8, 2007 1:54 PM
Aaron Gross, the deputy chief of staff to Councilman Bill Rosendahl, is moving down to the third floor to be the City Council liaison for Mayor Villaraigosa. Taking Gross's place... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 7, 2007 4:25 PM
While debating the war at National Review Online two years ago, Times op-ed columnist from the right Jonah Goldberg offered the following wager: Let's make a bet. I predict that... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 7, 2007 9:41 AM
Ryan Knoll and Scott Schmidt, the Republican political and communication consultants behind RSC Partners, are the new landlords at LA Voice.org. Creator Mack Reed made it official tonight that he... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 6, 2007 11:55 PM
Convicted and sentenced former Fleishman-Hillard exec Doug Dowie has optioned a screenplay to Jonathan Sanger, a producer on The Elephant Man, The Producers and Vanilla Sky. "It's kind of an... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 6, 2007 10:55 PM
While the English-language media has largely given Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a pass for his latest musings on ethnicity, Daniel Hernandez blogs that today's La Opinión went with a headline that... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 6, 2007 3:49 PM
City News Service has moved an advisory saying the Board of Supervisors rehired David Janssen, luring him out of retirement with a promise of new powers.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 6, 2007 3:28 PM
Considering that Controller Laura Chick billed Karen Sisson last night (and in a Jan. 16 press release) as the new City Administrative Officer, this announcement has a tinge of anti-climax... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 2, 2007 1:59 PM
Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald got some attention in today's Washington Post, but not the kind she orders her press aides to go get. The paper's Lois Romano says that Millender-McDonald, whose... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 2, 2007 10:27 AM
The City Elf blog went out to Controller Laura Chick's panel on "Women at the Top" last night and posted a report. On the panel were some of the highest-powered... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 2, 2007 1:39 AM
We told you yesterday afternoon that Rebecca Schoenkopf became the third exit in a week from the OC Weekly, and said her farewell "Commie Girl" column would run today. Well... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 1, 2007 5:19 PM
In San Francisco, that is. Mayor Gavin Newsom's former deputy chief of staff and current re-election campaign manager, Alex Tourk, resigned Wednesday after confronting his boss about an affair Newsom... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 1, 2007 9:44 AM
Bill Boyarsky directed the Times reporters covering the county Board of Supervisors for more than ten years. He doesn't blame Thomas Mauk for fleeing from the CAO job before he... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 31, 2007 3:41 PM
The City Council just voted 14-0 to rescind the living wage ordinance it imposed last year on LAX-area hotels. If the council had not caved, a referendum qualified by business... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 31, 2007 12:33 PM
FBI investigators have contacted current and former city officials in Monrovia and Fontana about Rep. Gary Miller's land sales, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported this morning. The Brea Republican,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 30, 2007 8:17 PM
Doug Dowie insisted he was innocent in a three-minute speech to the court before sentencing. John Stodder gets 15 months. The Times web story doesn't say where they will serve... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 30, 2007 4:54 PM
KFWB and City News Service are reporting that Thomas Mauk, who the Board of Supervisors announced yesterday had accepted the job of chief administrative officer of Los Angeles County, has... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 30, 2007 3:34 PM
Catching up to a Rick Orlov story from the weekend (and Steve Hymon's in the Times), Controller Laura Chick says she is considering a return to the City Council when... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 29, 2007 1:26 PM
Thomas G. Mauk, the executive officer of Orange County since 2004, will start March 12 as chief administrative officer of Los Angeles County. The Board of Supervisors offered him the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 29, 2007 10:33 AM
Mayor Villaraigosa gave the Democratic Party radio address this morning and said, with regard to the war in Iraq, "it's time for a new direction." Bipartisanship was the bigger theme,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 27, 2007 3:11 PM
Cathy Warner, who is 63, announced her diagnosis at Tuesday's meeting of the Whittier City Council. "It's a responsibility as elected folks to make sure that our constituents know that... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 26, 2007 10:39 AM
Politico, the new politics website, has a nice early scoop. The site posted the full 140-page battle plan for the Rudy W. Giuliani presidential campaign that was reportedly lost in... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 24, 2007 11:35 PM
The Sacramento Bee today announced a big new risky online gamble: a premium politics website called CapitolAlert that costs a whopping $499 a year and gives subscribers early access to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 24, 2007 10:16 AM
The PR industry anony-blog Strumpette is making fun today of Villaraigosa press deputy Matt Szabo. He came up in Steve Lopez's recent Los Angeles Times column on Hummer-driving transportation aide... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 23, 2007 1:46 PM
Martin had been chief of staff to Mayor Richard Riordan back in the day. A fellow Riordan Administration alum, City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, today named her general counsel for Los... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 18, 2007 4:48 PM
Rick Orlov gives a sneak peek at tomorrow's Tipoff column in the Daily News to LA Observed video blogger Jacob Soboroff — psst, there's a good item about City Attorney... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 14, 2007 7:51 PM
Judge Dzintra Janavs denied a motion by the mayor's lawyers to delay enforcement of her December ruling that AB 1381 is unconstitutional. The whole issue is headed to the state... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 11, 2007 2:57 PM
The Engineers and Architects Association at City Hall has voted to accept the recent contract deal negotiated with the city. Website.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 10, 2007 1:49 PM
Former Fleishman-Hillard executives Doug Dowie and John Stodder received a sentencing reprieve until January 30. They were convicted last May of federal charges in the overbilling of the city Department... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 8, 2007 3:41 PM
Can't remember the last time we posted so much on the weekend, including Mark Lacter's exclusive memo from LAT publisher David Hiller on rethinking the Times website. The menu for... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 8, 2007 1:16 AM
What a story. Two high-ranking city traffic engineers, Gabriel Murillo and Kartik Patel, were charged Friday with breaking into the city's automated traffic system and disabling the lights at four... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 6, 2007 9:32 AM
Now this is cool. The Jewish Journal has turned up and posted on its website an audio recording of the Rev. Martin Luther King giving a sermon on Feb. 26,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 4, 2007 4:47 PM
There was yesterday's piece in the Christian Science Monitor (which prompted some email), now outgoing chief administrative officer David Janssen says Los Angeles County needs a powerful executive to make... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 4, 2007 1:11 AM
All that bravado about making the party scene on crutches is so last week. Gov. Schwarzenegger's office just announced that his broken femur will keep him away from tomorrow's inauguration... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 3, 2007 3:25 PM
Today's Christian Science Monitor takes up the question of whether Los Angeles County should have its own elected executive. Reporter Daniel Wood takes off from Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky's remarks at... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 3, 2007 10:37 AM
City news junkies will soon start hearing more about the "912 Commission." More formally called the Neighborhood Council Review Commission, it is required by the City Charter revamp that created... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 3, 2007 5:20 AM
We urged City Hall reporters to make the calls last week. Nobody got a story out of it, and now the news breaks on its own: Lydia Kennard is stepping... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 2, 2007 4:55 PM
You can't make this stuff up. Some gems from the archive: Antonio and the schools: Mayor Villaraigosa began the year talking tough about taking over LAUSD, compromised in the Legislature... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 1, 2007 1:38 PM
City ethics commissioner Bill Boyarsky took the on-line ethics course required of Los Angeles officials and found the exercise filled him with mixed emotions. "Campaign contributions -- the target of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 29, 2006 12:25 PM
Judge Dzintra Janavs bitch slapped Mayor Villaraigosa over his LAUSD compromise, David Zahniser writes in the LA Weekly. Greg Stacy found out the hard way, after 600 weeks writing... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 28, 2006 6:02 PM
Former president Gerald Ford died today, Betty Ford announced. No location was given, but the Fords were residing in Rancho Mirage on the desert near Palm Springs. Ford lived to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 26, 2006 10:58 PM
Print reporters who have to work the dead week between Christmas and New Year's are always scratching for news to fill the time and the papers, so here's a live... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 26, 2006 6:14 PM
Ex-mayor Richard Riordan already owns the Original Pantry downtown and Gladstone's 4 Fish on Pacific Coast Highway. Now he's close to closing a deal for the venerable Mort's Deli in... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 22, 2006 1:12 AM
A recent email reminded all the lawyers in City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo's criminal branch never to talk to reporters without clearance — and how they should recognize a newsworthy legal... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 22, 2006 12:35 AM
Superior Court Judge Dzintra I. Janavs this afternoon threw out AB 1381. The law that Mayor Villaraigosa and friends pushed through the Legislature would have given the mayor power over... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 21, 2006 4:51 PM
Not much of a hiatus today, it appears — but I promise to make up for it tomorrow. Peace in our time: the city and the Engineers and Architects Association... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 20, 2006 5:30 PM
Four in ten California voters (41.5%) cast their November ballots absentee. Los Angeles County voters not so much: just 26% of those who voted used the convenient absentee method. (Contrast... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 20, 2006 11:14 AM
In July, Ryan A. Jimenez left the staff of the Geffen Playhouse to become press secretary for Maria Shriver in Sacramento. He abruptly departed that job last week, says the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 20, 2006 1:06 AM
Yeah, the former head of LAPD internal affairs cops to the affair with a sergeant under his command — but only for three years! Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally apologized (sort... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 19, 2006 5:55 PM
Nate Holden, the ex-city councilman and state legislator, bopped into the HMS Bounty on Wilshire Boulevard last night confident of two things. For 40 years the political consulting firm of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 17, 2006 11:32 PM
The list of co-chairs for Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's inaugural includes leading California Democrats Pelosi, Feinstein, Boxer, Villaraigosa and Núñez — and even a few Republicans such as Pete Wilson... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 15, 2006 1:26 PM
When Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally got in trouble recently over issuing fake badges to friends and campaign contributors, he called the fellow Democrat who was assigned to investigate, Hector De La... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 15, 2006 12:12 PM
Both Felipe Fuentes and Cindy Montañez have been persuaded to drop out of the 7th council district special election and make way for Richard Alarcon. I assume Fuentes will now... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 12, 2006 12:29 AM
My cover story on Antonio Villaraigosa's first eighteen months as mayor has gone online at the still-in-transition Los Angeles magazine website. The piece delves into the roots of the mayor's... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 11, 2006 11:50 PM
School board incumbent David Tokofsky, a critic of the mayor's bill to dilute the board's powers, has filed papers with the City Clerk dropping his campaign for reelection, according to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 9, 2006 9:20 PM
Jan Perry and her estranged husband, Douglas Galanter, blame him and his business problems for falling $270,000 behind on taxes and being late on mortgage payments. Legal separation papers and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 9, 2006 2:46 PM
On January 1 Mayor Villaraigosa becomes responsible for three clusters of L.A. Unified schools — three high schools and the elementary and middle schools that feed students to them. It's... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 9, 2006 1:30 PM
There will be a new lineup of Los Angeles Times editors managing coverage of the next presidential race. The desk will be bicoastal: one editor in Washington, one here in... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 8, 2006 3:51 PM
Richard Bloom, the mayor from 2002 to 2004, is back again after the bi-annual dance of the slates on the Santa Monica City Council. You probably have to live there... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 7, 2006 12:21 PM
William Morris has sent along the press release on former Villaraigosa deputy Cecile Ablack, who we told you Friday was going Hollywood. The flackage — which notes that Chris Petrikin,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 4, 2006 6:48 PM
Political Muscle, the Times' Sacramento politics blog, sees a certain resemblance between Borat Sagdiyev and newly elected state Assembly member (and ex-L.A. City Council member) Mike Feuer. Can you tell... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 4, 2006 2:19 PM
Political theater plays out: Mayor Villaraigosa accepted the fire chief's resignation this morning. Just now William Bamattre faced the cameras at a station in Panorama City, said the politics got... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 1, 2006 2:12 PM
Sure, the city promoted William Bamattre to fire chief eleven years ago hoping he would clean up the station house culture of abusing women and minorities that kept raising its... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted December 1, 2006 9:51 AM
If it seems as if State Sen. Richard Alarcon is always running for something, you aren't wrong. Last year he campaigned in the primary for mayor and lost, then immediately... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 30, 2006 11:05 AM
LAist redesigns wider with biggified headlines and pictures. For more on the dustup at USC's Daily Trojan, check out blogger Brendan Loy's rant-like dissection. The food blog Amuse-Biatch (just... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 29, 2006 5:30 PM
An email floating around Democratic circles suggests more turnover is in store for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's media operation. Press Secretary Joe Ramallo recently moved up 1st Street to run communications... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 28, 2006 2:17 AM
City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, through chief deputy Rich Llewellyn, has asked the City Council to waive its attorney-client privilege and divulge what it was told about the hazing case involving... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 21, 2006 3:39 PM
The Daily News' new columnist, writer of the weekend piece about Mayor Villaraigosa's childhood and personal exaggerations, has been around Los Angeles journalism since he landed a column at the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 21, 2006 2:07 AM
Mayor Villaraigosa used his veto power for the first time and killed the $2.7 million payout to firefighter Tennie Pierce that was negotiated by City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo and approved... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 20, 2006 4:47 PM
After UC Irvine historian and controversial Los Angeles chronicler Mike Davis was called a "Marxist apocalypticist" by Gregory Rodriguez in the LAT's Current section on Sunday, he fired off an... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 20, 2006 4:28 PM
Mayor Villaraigosa wants to say something about the City Council's $2.7 million settlement with firefighter and hazing victim Tennie Pierce and has summoned the media at 4 pm. Talk radio... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 20, 2006 1:21 PM
Rupert Murdoch pulls the plug on the Judith Regan book and the Fox TV special. "We are sorry for any pain that his has caused the families of Ron Goldman... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 20, 2006 12:59 PM
Myths of Antonio: In a big blow-out on the Daily News front page, Tony Castro uses psychiatrists and psychologists to analyze Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's exaggerations about his past. Attempts to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 19, 2006 3:48 PM
Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky says he's actively looking for support to put a county executive initiative on next year's ballot. Voters have rejected the idea of an elected county exec before,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 17, 2006 5:00 PM
In 1999 contractor Dillingham-Ray Wilson filed a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles for withholding payment for work done at the massive Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant on the coast... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 16, 2006 11:44 AM
New logo, typeface, departments and architecture to the magazine, which celebrates 45 years in December. It's the Power Issue, hitting newstands now with pieces by me on Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 15, 2006 2:15 PM
After today's Ethics Commission meeting, the panel's vice president writes, "Give me a cynical old pol who at least keeps his or her word...We voted 4-1 to send a public... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 14, 2006 3:53 PM
No challengers filed against City Council members Wendy Greuel, Tom LaBonge and Greig Smith by Saturday's deadline. Minor rivals tentatively filed their intentions to run against Herb Wesson, Bernard Parks... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 13, 2006 1:43 AM
Bill Boyarsky, the newest LA Observed contributor, used to be city editor of the Los Angeles Times, wrote a local column called "The Spin" for many years, and created the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 12, 2006 4:59 PM
David Hiller, the new L.A. Times publisher who pushed out editor Dean Baquet last week, gave $1,000 to the Republican National Committee as recently as 2003. Since 2000, while an... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 12, 2006 12:37 PM
Ah, the rich cultural history, snow-capped mountains and sun-kissed beaches. Sounds lovely — too bad the Vernon link on Supervisor Gloria Molina's county website doesn't point to the strange little... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 8, 2006 2:31 AM
Up-to-the-minute results for selected races Click for the latest: Measure H (L.A. housing bond) — needed 2/3 to pass. Measure R (term limits/ethics) — surprise runaway. Rest of L.A.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 8, 2006 1:53 AM
The Downtown News steps out of character with an 1,100-word editorial defending the LA Weekly's decision to run a story reporting that labor leader Miguel Contreras died in a botanica... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 6, 2006 12:04 AM
Among all the election roundups and wrapups that will come your way before Tuesday, this one sounds different. Saturday's "Deadline L.A." on KPFK will extend to an hour and preview... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 3, 2006 12:59 PM
If you are queued up for a Guadalajara Dog at Pink's tonight about 8:15 and notice a faintly familiar, wonkish-looking man trying to cut the line, don't worry. It's just... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 3, 2006 11:38 AM
Yesterday's upheaval at the LA Weekly — first detailed here — sent observers of the paper and staffers buzzing into the night about what the future holds. At the afternoon... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 2, 2006 1:13 AM
News editor Alan Mittelstaedt is out and controversial columnist Jill Stewart is coming in to edit local news coverage. Mittelstaedt pushed the recent story on Miguel Contreras's death and has... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted November 1, 2006 5:40 PM
Rob Reiner's California Children and Families Commission, also known as the First 5 Commission, is the target of a stinging state audit. The commission "failed to properly award millions of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 31, 2006 12:06 PM
Emilia Wright and Michael Wright, the daughter and son-in-law of Democratic Assembly member Karen Bass, died when their car went out of control on the southbound 405 freeway at La... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 30, 2006 1:10 PM
First, let me say that I want West magazine to flourish. I think it should be, and on some Sundays is, an important home for California-oriented journalism. Just today the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 29, 2006 11:52 PM
Occidental College professor Peter Dreier, a leader of L.A.'s progressive political sphere, calls David Zahniser's story on the Miguel Contreras death cover-up "irresponsible, gutter, tabloid journalism, with no redeeming value"... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 27, 2006 12:25 AM
By popular demand, KCRW is moving the replay of Left, Right & Center back to Friday evenings at 7 pm. The politics talk show starring Matt Miller, Robert Scheer, Arianna... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 26, 2006 4:54 PM
City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo has made a bunch of senior personnel moves, including appointment of his first "special counsel to the City Council." That sensitive hand-holding job goes to Senior... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 26, 2006 1:15 PM
In most election years, the Los Angeles Times Poll would be out in the field this week with a final look at the governor's race and the other statewide offices... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 26, 2006 12:35 PM
LA Weekly news editor Alan Mittelstaedt was mentioned only obliquely in departed columnist Harold Meyerson's email blast last night. Mittelstaedt writes the new L.A. Sniper column, which Meyerson called a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 26, 2006 10:24 AM
I didn't set out to post two Harold Meyerson items in a row, or three LA Weekly items. News is unpredictable, though, and they are all related. Meyerson, the newly... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 25, 2006 11:55 PM
Another David Zahniser headline grabber in tomorrow's LA Weekly: When labor leader Miguel Contreras collapsed of a heart attack last year, he wasn't in his car as the quasi-official line... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 25, 2006 9:42 PM
U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter ruled today that a ten-year-old legal agreement with the Bus Riders Union that prodded the MTA to spend $1.3 billion to improve service for the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 25, 2006 3:27 PM
John Shallman, the campaign consultant for Measure R on the Los Angeles ballot, will soon be receiving a letter from City Controller Laura Chick, if he hasn't aready. She opposes... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 23, 2006 4:38 PM
New campaign ads for the billion-dollar housing bond on the Los Angeles ballot debut tomorrow, on cable and broadcast TV. Here's a sneak peek on YouTube. They were shot by... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 23, 2006 2:43 PM
Is La Opinión spinning its coverage of the scare letter sent to Orange County Latinos by Republican congressional candidate Tan Nguyen? Gustavo Arellano of the OC Weekly raises the question... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 23, 2006 2:33 AM
Daily News columnist Mariel Garza offers newly chosen L.A. Unified superintendent David L. Brewer some sage tips on how politics works in Los Angeles. Abridged: In L.A., it's all about... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 22, 2006 12:15 PM
Los Angeles magazine's RJ Smith takes notice of David Zahniser's run of noteworthy stories in the LA Weekly (and previously in the Daily Breeze) and pronounces him the top beat... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 20, 2006 1:05 AM
Today's San Francisco Chronicle editorial page wishes David Brewer luck but finds his selection to run L.A. Unified — and everything about the new governance here — rather curious. While... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 17, 2006 8:49 AM
Mayor Villaraigosa's office has issued a second statement on the selection of Vice Admiral Brewer to head the Los Angeles Unified School District. It's considerably more let's-get-along than yesterday's "deeply... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 13, 2006 1:56 PM
Admiral David Brewer, the newly designated superintendent of L.A. schools, will kick off this afternoon's Patt Morrison show at 2 pm on KPCC. He apparently will address working with Mayor... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 13, 2006 1:32 PM
Rep. Jane Harman isn't just wealthy, she is the most wealthy member of the House of Representatives, according to a database at the Center for Responsive Politics. Today's Daily Breeze... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 13, 2006 12:44 PM
While the mayor is away in China, the L.A. school board — in its last gasp as an important elected body? — today announced it will give the superintendent job... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 12, 2006 7:46 PM
The Board of Education was joined by Rep. Diane Watson (a former board member), the League of Women Voters, the California School Boards Association and the PTA in today's lawsuit... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 10, 2006 2:41 PM
Why yes, it is. On the cover of her new book, Democratic campaign steerer-turned-columnist and USC law professor Susan Estrich strikes an Ann Coulter pose. The pic, in fact, mimics... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 6, 2006 2:31 AM
NBC 4 was first to go with the story last night, but today's Times and Daily News have many more details on the Grand Jury testimony alleging sexual favors paid... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 4, 2006 2:25 AM
Channel 4 got pretty excited tonight about an Ana Garcia investigative report that Troy Edwards, a deputy mayor under Jim Hahn, ran up $18,000 in bills for massages and sex... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 3, 2006 10:23 PM
In today's story about Republican congressman Mark Foley's suggestive emails to congressional pages of the underage male variety, The Hollywood Reporter grabbed the wrong photo. After an urgent call for... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted October 2, 2006 2:09 PM
The mayor's office completed its appointments to the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment board and announced the new members of the East L.A. and South Valley planning commissions. Familiar names if... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 28, 2006 11:51 AM
The Orange County District Attorney's office is attacking the Times again, this time focusing on an investigative reporter working on a story about the office's chief spokeswoman, Susan Kang Schroeder,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 27, 2006 8:29 AM
When the developer of controversial Runkle Canyon threw up new fences to keep out prying eyes, residents at the west end of Simi Valley upped the ante. They got hold... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 25, 2006 2:24 PM
The liberal Episcopal congregation in Pasadena won't turn over the emails and other documents requested by the IRS. The church's 26-member vestry voted unanimously to not cooperate in the government... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 21, 2006 1:36 PM
City Administrative Officer Bill Fujioka let it be known today that he will retire at the end of the year, giving the mayor another senior slot that he gets to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 20, 2006 8:42 PM
Times columnist Steve Lopez met the former mayor at Yang Chow in Chinatown yesterday, and they talked about Hahn's new improved life out of the public eye: a steady lady... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 20, 2006 2:55 AM
Mayor Villaraigosa is taking the show on the road, heading first to London and Manchester next week at the request of Prime Minister Tony Blair to speak about global climate... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 20, 2006 12:31 AM
The California Clean Money Campaign emailed supporters last night that co-founder and chairman Ted Williams died yesterday morning.. Funeral services will be Thursday at Mt. Sinai. An excerpt of the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 19, 2006 7:38 AM
Steve Sugerman, the first former Fleishman-Hillard executive to be sentenced for overbilling the city and other PR clients, today received three years probation and 250 hours of community service. Before... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 18, 2006 4:27 PM
The children's section of the Central Library downtown provided the setting for Gov. Schwarzenegger to sign the bill shifting some control of Los Angeles schools to Mayor Villaraigosa. "Today we... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 18, 2006 3:41 PM
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and State Sen. Gil Cedillo rode together as teenagers on the Eastside* and did battle arm-in-arm in the labor movement before teaming up when both got elected... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 14, 2006 4:14 PM
The anonymous blogger at Los Angeles City Nerd says that Councilman Bernard Parks hosted a Monday Night Football viewing party starting at 4 pm yesterday in the "media room" at... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 12, 2006 9:05 AM
The Wave reports that the civil rights attorney and former police commissioner died last night when her car plummeted down a slope near her home in the Hollywood Hills. Lomax... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 11, 2006 3:08 PM
The Los Angeles Times launched its California Politics website and blog today, four days after it was promised. There are links to today's LAT stories out of Sacramento, video of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 11, 2006 9:37 AM
Once again a politician caught being himself in an unguarded moment says he has no idea how such words would ever come out of his mouth. Gov. Schwarzenegger apologized for... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 8, 2006 1:55 PM
The state's 2nd District Court of Appeals stayed a judge's order yesterday that the City Council's term limits measure should be taken off the November ballot. It stays on pending... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 8, 2006 1:55 PM
The governor of California, discussing the only Latina Republican in the state Legislature with chief of staff Susan Kennedy: "She seems to me like Cuban," Schwarzenegger says. "She's not Mexican,"... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 7, 2006 11:47 PM
Don't go looking for the new Los Angeles Times blog that was supposed to launch today as part of a new website, California Politics, per managing editor Doug Frantz's memo... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 7, 2006 3:36 PM
At yesterday's Angelides and Villaraigosa rally in South Los Angeles, I sat for a time with Pilar Marrero, the political columnist and Features Editor for La Opinión. In today's paper... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 6, 2006 1:20 PM
I haven't checked back to compare his past talk, but it feels like LAPD Chief William Bratton has been cranking up the rhetoric. In his latest monthly missive on the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 6, 2006 11:42 AM
A New Republic piece critical of the County Human Relations Commission for honoring Maher Hathout of the Muslim Public Affairs Council has fueled opposition from the American Jewish Committee,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 5, 2006 5:45 PM
Mayor Villaraigosa stumped for fading Democratic contender Phil Angelides today in San Francisco and in South Los Angeles, but it was the mayor's quick thinking this afternoon at Foshay Learning... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 5, 2006 4:49 PM
LAPD chief William Bratton could be headed for Scotland Yard or the mayor's office — of New York City. Or he could stick around Los Angeles for another five-year term.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted September 5, 2006 2:57 AM
Fear of the long knives from Chicago is rampant again in the Los Angeles Times newsroom at First and Spring streets downtown. You know people are skittish when a rumor... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 31, 2006 3:48 PM
SoCal talk radio host and blogger Hugh Hewitt's message and worldview can almost always be reduced to a simple statement: Republicans good, Democrats bad. On yesterday's nationally syndicated show, he... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 30, 2006 2:09 PM
At today's victory performance in South Los Angeles for his school reform measure, Mayor Villaraigosa and his aides pretty much stuck to the script: enthusiastic cheerings kids, lots of talk... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 30, 2006 1:32 PM
Democratic strategist Chris Lehane says Mayor Villaraigosa's school reform victory tonight in Sacramento show his political juice, but calls it "a very short-term win [and] an extraordinary long-term political gamble... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 29, 2006 10:41 PM
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's school bill got to 30 ayes in the Assembly before the voting was suspended about 5:20 pm. His side expects to get over the top before the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 29, 2006 6:24 PM
The vote was 23-14. AB 1381, aka the Gloria Romero Educational Reform Act of 2006, now goes to the Assembly for a thumbs up in the education committee and a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 28, 2006 1:33 PM
The blog of the Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment disagrees with observers, I guess most notably DA Steve Cooley and the Daily News, who say that whether... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 28, 2006 3:09 AM
I just received an email from a local editor-in-chief which reads, "David Zahniser's piece in this week's LA Weekly .. is brilliant. I'm jealous." The subject of the rave is... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 23, 2006 6:42 PM
Pay to play is back in the news, in a big way. Former Hahn Administration power broker Leland Wong pleaded not guilty this morning to a twenty-count Grand Jury indictment... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 23, 2006 11:54 AM
NBC4 yesterday ran a half-hour special report on the political fight over the future of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Didn't see it, but the station's website has a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 22, 2006 4:11 PM
Superior Court judge Dzintra Janavs (her again!) ordered about 200 "essential" city workers not to join the walkout called for tomorrow by the Engineers and Architects association at City Hall.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 21, 2006 3:40 PM
Blogger Zach Behrens (In the Oaks and LAist) is running for a seat on the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council. He's unopposed, so it looks like he should be addressed in... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 21, 2006 1:27 PM
Mayor Villaraigosa took his LAUSD campaign to UTLA's leaders on Sunday in La Quinta and got a good reaction, despite some catcalls at the start. Up north in San Francisco,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 21, 2006 9:56 AM
In my Politics piece this month for Los Angeles magazine, while talking about South L.A. black politics post-Yvonne Burke I observe that reporters typically resist assignments at the county Hall... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 16, 2006 1:23 PM
Bob Sipchen went to Sacramento for the show today and says that Supt. Roy Romer and Board of Education president Marlene Canter have given up trying to substantially alter the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 14, 2006 4:23 PM
They talked and talked first for going on three hours, but in the end the City Council fell into line behind Mayor Villaraigosa and voted unanimously to endorse his LAUSD... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 11, 2006 4:32 PM
The Central City Association, the lobbyists for downtown business interests, endorsed Mayor Villaraigosa's bill in the Legislature to put the Los Angeles schools partly under his control. We'll see in... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 11, 2006 11:38 AM
The Times has posted the full list of its anointed 100 most powerful Southern California players. After the first ten, which I gave you here this morning, they are in... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 10, 2006 12:47 PM
It's not as surprising as, say, usually reliable Hollywood Democrats Spielberg, Katzenberg and Saban endorsing Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, as they did last week. Mel Gibson has well-known religio-conservative leanings. Still,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 8, 2006 6:14 PM
The City Council imposed new rules of decorum for public speakers at the thrice-weekly meetings: one minute instead of two, no addressing a specific council member (let's see them defend... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 1, 2006 5:41 PM
This all began back on July 21 when longtime ACLU member Joel Bellman released an open letter to Ramona Ripston, head of the Southern California ACLU, protesting an award to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted August 1, 2006 5:23 PM
Mayor Villaraigosa's preferred course toward reform of the LAUSD — Assembly bill 1381 — came up for endorsement before the the City Council's Intergovernmental Relations committee this morning. When no... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 28, 2006 11:34 AM
News out of Mayor Villaraigosa's office is that Rafael López will serve as interim executive director for the Commission on Children, Youth, and Their Families, and Ken Simmons will do... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 27, 2006 5:01 PM
Rushmore Cervantes is general manager of El Pueblo, the City Department with responsibility for Olvera Street. He will come to City Hall East as Controller Laura Chick's chief deputy controller.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 27, 2006 4:29 PM
The Times editorial page today follows the Daily News in wagging the finger of shame at the politicos and local leaders who lined up to throw money at disgraced ex-councilman... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 25, 2006 1:36 PM
There's some chatter out there about today's Daily News editorial lambasting last week's Holmby Hills fundraiser for Martin Ludlow, the ex-councilman who had to give up his County Fed post... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 24, 2006 12:44 PM
Karen Constine, the former chief of staff to Laura Chick and director of the California Film Commission under Gov. Gray Davis, gets the mayor's nod. Details in the following press... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 21, 2006 3:44 PM
KCRW thought they had U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad all lined up to guest with Warren Olney on "To the Point" at 1 pm, but the station regrets to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 21, 2006 12:08 PM
Longtime ACLU of Southern California supporter Joel Bellman yesterday circulated an open letter to executive director Ramona Ripston protesting the group's decision to honor Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 21, 2006 9:32 AM
Supt. Roy Romer used today's "state of the schools" speech to stress that campuses are getting better under his watch and to blast Mayor Villaraigosa for deploying "propaganda" that undermines... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 20, 2006 6:31 PM
Back in April 2004, when he was under full attack for the Fleishman-Hillard deal with DWP that began under Dick Riordan, then-Mayor Jim Hahn banned PR contracts with city agencies.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 19, 2006 5:12 PM
LA Weekly's Steven Leigh Morris looks at how the Latino Theater Company, which had never run a theater and possessed few assets, was awarded control of the city-owned Los Angeles... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 19, 2006 12:56 PM
Things seem kind of cozy down in the second city. The newly elected mayor of Long Beach, Bob Foster, will be "officially sworn in" today by the columnist for the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 18, 2006 9:26 AM
When I posted in the Morning Buzz about Rick Orlov's story on the relatively new Los Angeles Civic Alliance, the members' names had not yet been included on the Daily... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 17, 2006 2:32 PM
The Chronicle of Philanthropy has a new job posting of some importance to Mayor Villaraigosa and his Los Angeles Unified School District ambitions: Position: Superintendent of Schools Organization: Los Angeles... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 14, 2006 4:54 PM
Came across a nice shot of the council chambers at City Hall the way it (and the elected members) looked during President Franklin Roosevelt's first term. The caption info identifies... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 11, 2006 5:46 PM
CityWatch is out with an extra edition on the weekend election of downtown activist Brady Westwater as chair of the Neighborhood Council Congress. Westwater (right, with vice chair Jim Alger)... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 10, 2006 4:26 PM
Lawyer Helen Zukin is City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo's newest appointee to the City Ethics Commission. Zukin, a temporary judge in the Los Angeles County Superior Court system, previously chaired the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 10, 2006 4:12 PM
• Protesters looked on as bulldozers began ripping out the South Los Angeles community garden where Mayor Villaraigosa couldn't broker a deal to mollify property owner Ralph Horowitz. • Convicted... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted July 5, 2006 12:30 PM
Los Angeles airport chief Lydia Kennard today described $1.2 billion worth of coming improvements to LAX: an expanded Bradley International Terminal, realignment of the southernmost runway to improve safety and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 29, 2006 9:23 PM
Brad Friedman's Los Angeles-based liberal blog has been all over the vote irregularity issues in the Busby-Bilbray congressional race in San Diego County. Friedman is scheduled to appear tonight on... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 29, 2006 2:41 PM
Speaking of Animal Services, the department recently accepted an offer from Hooters to throw a benefit bikini contest. Hooters has done it for other animal causes, and for this one... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 27, 2006 5:38 PM
The Los Angeles Department of Animal Services—whose chief, Ed Boks, has a blog—has begun giving websites a little piece of code that will display a pitch to adopt specific pets... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 27, 2006 1:34 PM
Mayor Villaraigosa and the MTA unions will announce—and I quote—a "historic settlement" at the transit agency's office tower at 1:15 this afternoon. The mayor's office says it's historic because it's... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 27, 2006 9:52 AM
I haven't mentioned it much because it's frankly kind of lame, but for 111 days the Times has kept two goldfish in an aquarium supposedly living on water taken from... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 26, 2006 4:55 PM
As Mariel Garza notes in today's Daily News, Saturday will mark Antonio Villaraigosa's anniversary as mayor. With murmurs out of Sacramento that the mayor's school compromise may be no sure... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 25, 2006 11:54 PM
• Developer and big-time Villaraigosa contributor Richard Meruelo was banned from building on his land near Union Station for five years for tearing down some dilapidated structures without permits, as... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 25, 2006 8:32 PM
Antonio Villaraigosa added another first to his resume on Saturday. He became the only mayor to play in the annual Hollywood Stars softball game at Dodger Stadium. Along with Lou... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 25, 2006 12:50 AM
Civil rights attorney—and long-time thorn in the side of local law enforcement officials—Stephen Yagman has been indicted on nineteen counts of income tax evasion. The indictment dated June 1 was... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 23, 2006 12:25 PM
The Associated Press story out of Sacramento bills this morning's agreement (earlier post) on the LAUSD as a compromise in which Mayor Villaraigosa gets a little control over the schools,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 21, 2006 2:02 PM
Hmm. This will incite more grumbles that the mayor's trip to Sacramento was at least partly a choreographed show. Villaraigosa, Democratic leaders in the Legislature and the teachers unions today... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 21, 2006 11:14 AM
I reported the other day on John Stodder's motions for a new trial or acquittal in the Fleishman-Hillard billing case. Doug Dowie, his former boss at Fleishman, also filed similar... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 21, 2006 4:16 AM
• Tribune chief Dennis J. FitzSimons vows to stand up to the big bad Chandlers. • A spill of cooking oil closed three lanes of the Long Beach Freeway this... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 20, 2006 5:28 PM
I didn't notice this anywhere else, but the Daily Breeze story on yesterday's dueling Sacramento dog-and-pony shows over LAUSD control mentions that Mayor Villaraigosa has retained KP Advocates to help... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 20, 2006 11:44 AM
The elections director in King County, Washington is coming here to take the job of chief deputy registrar of Los Angeles County. Dean Logan's tenure in Seattle has been anything... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 20, 2006 11:24 AM
John Stodder, the former Fleishman-Hillard executive convicted last month of wire fraud in the exaggerated-billings case, filed motions today seeking acquittal or a new trial, alleging the government failed to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 19, 2006 11:22 PM
Today's Daily Journal carries an Erin Park story saying that the City Attorney's office spent $10 million on an outside law firm to defend the city against a lawsuit over... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 19, 2006 10:56 PM
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's commencement speech Friday at UCLA praised his mother Natalia for supporting him and addressed the news that African American enrollment is down. "I worry for the future.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 19, 2006 2:51 PM
Patrick O'Connor cartoon in the Daily News. Full uncropped version.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 18, 2006 8:47 PM
Well I lied; my desk is anything but clear. Here are some final news notes from the day though. Have a good weekend: • The Times replies to this morning's... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 16, 2006 3:53 PM
The New York Times looks from afar at Jerry Brown's quest to be attorney general of California—a quest that figures to take a big step forward with tomorrow's whuppin' of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted June 5, 2006 3:05 AM
Convicted editor-turned-Fleishman-Hillard executive Doug Dowie called no defense witnesses in his trial, but he sat down at the Pacific Dining Car for an exclusive interview with two of his former... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 30, 2006 3:28 AM
♦ USC isn't thrilled about the mayor's (and others') plan to drastically alter the Coliseum's innards to entice the NFL. University prez Steven Sample's letter uses phrases like "athletic program... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 23, 2006 5:12 PM
Folks in Colorado have much more connection to Roy Romer than Angelenos do. Before he came down to Los Angeles to run the school district, the 77-year-old superintendent served three... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 22, 2006 2:28 AM
Sure we all know that Mayor Villaraigosa has spent a lot of time on the road—but this much? Dean Singleton, Zuma Dogg and Doug Dowie are also in the news.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 22, 2006 2:08 AM
Seems that City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo's resume, and his image, have been a tad inflated all this time. Patrick McGreevy in Saturday's LAT: In various speeches, campaign ads and written... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 21, 2006 6:17 PM
CJR Daily—"real-time media criticism from the Columbia Journalism Review"—has watered down its recent praise for the Los Angeles Times series about problems with the Kaiser Permanente kidney transplant problem. The... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 21, 2006 5:52 PM
Councilman Tom LaBonge's penchant for handing out loaves of pumpkin bread made by nuns at Hollywood's Monastery of the Angels makes the pages of this week's Los Angeles Independent. Notice... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 18, 2006 3:41 PM
It's not every day that a guy goes home from a bad day in federal court—conviction on twelve felonies—and blogs about life. Former Fleishman-Hillard VP John Stodder, of course, has... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 17, 2006 7:50 PM
Franklin Avenue caught Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's appearance on "American Idol" last night, telling finalist Katherine McPhee that she was to sing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." She's the first Angeleno to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 17, 2006 1:06 PM
Fired Fleishman-Hillard boss Doug Dowie and his former deputy in the Los Angeles office, John Stodder, were found guilty today of cheating on billings to the city Department of Water... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 16, 2006 3:54 PM
It's hard enough campaigning for state Attorney General against Jerry Brown when no one in Northern California has heard of you or has an opinion. But when you are in... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 16, 2006 2:04 AM
It's always been a mystery why Highland Avenue through the heart of Hollywood is so poorly engineered—especially the lack of left-turn signals at Hollywood Boulevard, given the number of vehicles... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 15, 2006 11:55 AM
The Los Angeles Police Department launched its official blog with a burst of opinion (a rebuttal to an editorial in the Daily News) and a welcome message from Chief William... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 11, 2006 11:15 PM
♦ Answer: Mayor Villaraigosa, Sheriff Baca, Lakers owner Jerry Buss, Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, Magic Johnson, Natalie Cole, Johnny Grant and Councilman Tom LaBonge. Question: Who shows up when Channel... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 8, 2006 3:16 PM
One day after Alex Padilla showed his hand and announced the endorsement of City Council President Eric Garcetti and nine council colleagues, Cindy Montañez countered with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 6, 2006 10:53 PM
In case there was any uncertainty, yes Mayor Villaraigosa did depart from yesterday's march podium to fly to Dallas and join Gov. Schwarzenegger in pitching National Football League owners. Today... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted May 2, 2006 12:57 PM
No hug for Villaraigosa's school plan, social engineering at Hollywood and Vine, ten percent raise for cops, Fred Muir on the stand and journalists plan to meet tonight in Spanish.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 27, 2006 2:13 AM
Would you believe 200 luxury boxes and 24,000 fewer seats for most events, but with 15,000 of them designated as club seating? Those are some of the details of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 25, 2006 6:48 PM
The May cover of Los Angeles pushes 52 Dream Weekends, but the talker story of the month is Jesse Katz's piece on the pets we kill and Ed Boks, newly... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 25, 2006 1:20 PM
You know the story going around today about threats against Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa over his immigration position? Jazmín Ortega had it April 14 as the lede in La Opinión, quoting... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 25, 2006 12:37 PM
Sunday's New York Times has a piece about the origin of the friendship between supermarket czar Ron Burkle and former President Bill Clinton. dating it to the aftermath of the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 22, 2006 8:18 PM
City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo's quest to become the attorney general of California just isn't picking up much momentum. The Field Poll out today shows former governor Jerry Brown with a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 20, 2006 11:11 PM
Bob Kholos was a KMPC and Radio News West radio reporter in Los Angeles who became the first press secretary for newly elected mayor Tom Bradley in 1973. At a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 20, 2006 4:28 PM
Budget day for the mayor, bad news in the LAT for Cardinal Mahony, the LA Weekly profiles half of Los Angeles and Dean Singleton closes in on three Norcal newspapers.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 20, 2006 1:49 AM
Mayor Villaraigosa came up with some surprises in the school takeover details tucked into his State of the City rally speech this evening. He proposed a school board with diminished... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 18, 2006 6:12 PM
Speaking of mispronouncing City Hall names, I listened tonight to the audio stream of LAPD chief Bill Bratton taking calls on the "Ask the Chief" segment on this afternoon's Patt... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 17, 2006 10:35 PM
With every passing day it becomes less common to hear the mayor's name mangled as Veela-ga-rosa or Veeya-gree-osa. By the time he runs for president, everybody should have the pronunciation... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 17, 2006 5:22 PM
It's Pulitzer day in newsrooms, UTLA day on the school reform front, and rehearse for the big speech day in the mayor's office. Today's Morning Buzz also touches MediaNews Group,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 17, 2006 1:47 AM
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa hasn't had a lot to say about immigration lately. It wasn't high on his agenda until 500,000 or more people marched through downtown. He did a media... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 16, 2006 11:02 AM
A light serving today since I'm driving back to L.A. from upstate, but you should turn the page anyway for some Devin Brown news, some media tidbits and a clutch... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 13, 2006 1:51 AM
Residential trash pickup in Los Angeles has been free (meaning taxpayer-supported) pretty much forever, but as of today the officially sanctioned term for that is "subsidized." Mayor Villaraigosa proposed to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 12, 2006 11:36 PM
Antonio plans to impose a trash fee as the build-up to The Big Speech continues...Monique Moret names names in the Fleishman-Hillard trial: recognizable names...plus racism in the LAFD, black market... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 12, 2006 1:56 AM
Mayor Villaraigosa will unveil his master strategy for taking control of the Los Angeles Unified School District in a speech next Tuesday, while the teachers union plans to beat him... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 11, 2006 10:12 AM
Lots of City Hall tongues clucking about the news (published in the Daily Breeze) that Stacey Jones, the #2 exec at the Port of Los Angeles, is leaving after 25... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 7, 2006 3:27 PM
♦ Authorities released surveillance tape of suspects in the killing of Deputy Maria Rosa. ♦ Opening statements in Dowie-Stodder trial. ♦ Three ski patrol members at Mammoth Mountain died when... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 6, 2006 4:56 PM
Downtown's largest property owner gets his name in the media again—this time coming into the sights of LA Weekly investigative reporter Jeffrey Anderson for razing a new, possibly toxic purchase... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 6, 2006 12:18 PM
Left unsaid in today's LAT story on the mystery illness of Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald is that her son was in federal court in Pasadena yesterday appealing his conviction on corruption... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 6, 2006 10:44 AM
A jury in Orange County ruled that City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo improperly retaliated against a deputy in his office and ordered the city to pay $1.5 million to Lynn Magnandonovan.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 6, 2006 12:52 AM
For months the leadership of City Hall's Engineers and Architects Association has been chasing Mayor Villaraigosa around the city—literally. They show up to disrupt his events and media appearances. Today,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 4, 2006 1:21 PM
♦ Deputy City Controller Ruben Gonzalez is leaving Laura Chick's staff after four years to be a vice president at Englander and Associates, the lobbying firm headed by Harvey Englander. Gonzalez... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted April 3, 2006 6:33 PM
♦ As expected, Mayor Villaraigosa did recommend Cecilia Estolano to be CEO of the Community Redvelopment Agency. Villaraigosa's CRA commissioners have to approve her, but they could just mail that in.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 31, 2006 5:47 PM
...you do things like this and send out press releases on it: Los Angeles City Councilmember Alex Padilla today announced that he has filed an amicus brief in support of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 31, 2006 4:27 PM
Rick Jacobs, the Howard Dean campaign chair in California and regular chipper-in of thoughts at the Huffington Post, really didn't like the phone call he got from Los Angeles politics... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 31, 2006 2:21 PM
Scary talk about bird flu, a third deputy sheriff dies, Cecelia Estolano for CRA chief, Los Angeles lawyers breaking away and a little online dust-up between CBS and the Times'... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 31, 2006 2:43 AM
♦ Deputy Maria Cecilia Rosa's death was homicide, not an accident, with robbery the apparent motive. The Sheriff's Department says her gun had not been fired. ♦ About one hundred Westchester High... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 29, 2006 1:39 PM
News that Sharon Stone will guest star on the new Showtime series "Huff" as a larcenous "high-powered Los Angeles public relations executive" caused the PR industry blog Media Orchard to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 29, 2006 2:25 AM
Everybody is vowing to get tough if students walk out again today, but we'll see how that goes...Villaraigosa's political squeeze...Bratton calls the freeway swarms "insanity" (and he's right)...That just might... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 29, 2006 2:14 AM
Mayor Villaraigosa is meeting about the immigration demonstrations this afternoon with LAPD Chief William Bratton, Sheriff Lee Baca, Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Roy Romer and the district's police chief Lawrence... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 28, 2006 2:18 PM
♦ Former West Basin Municipal Water District board member R. Keith McDonald, convicted on ten felony counts of corruption, has asked to delay prison so he can care for his ailing... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 24, 2006 5:50 PM
From the City News Service wire: Eds: At 3:30 p.m., Andrew Ahlering, a candidate for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, will hold a news conference to discuss his... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 23, 2006 11:40 AM
Every Los Angeles political story has a backstory. At his blog, John Stodder takes off from the recent news about Sunshine Canyon landfill to reconstruct how, when he was the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 22, 2006 11:18 AM
Gustavo Arellano at the OC Weekly's blog gets in the face of "Chicano yaktivists" (his term) who are attacking Daniel Hernandez of the sister LA Weekly for his hard-hitting story... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 22, 2006 1:23 AM
Turn the page for items on Dean Singleton's California strategy, Sheriff Baca's Compton strategy, a Saudi prince gets booed at Town Hall Los Angeles, celebrities at the fashion shows and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 22, 2006 12:58 AM
Marco Firebaugh, a Democratic candidate for the state Senate in the 30th district of southeast Los Angeles County, died this morning or last night. Liver illness is reportedly the cause.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 21, 2006 10:32 AM
New York mayor Michael Bloomberg stepped before the cameras today at P.S. 282 in Brooklyn and introduced Antonio Villaraigosa as Alcalde Veea-ga-rosa, before correcting his pronunciation (and switching, mercifully, to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 20, 2006 2:13 PM
The Valley Industry and Commerce Association, arguably the most influential advocacy group for the Valley, this morning named Brendan Huffman its new president. Huffman is currently the director of public... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 20, 2006 12:52 PM
Turn the page for Orlov's return...how Heidi Fleiss got bugged and screwed...a new lead Tinseltown Spywitness...Huffington's mea culpa...political theater downtown...and the return of Fashion Week. Those items and a lot... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 20, 2006 1:38 AM
♦ The Daily News talks up public financing of city election campaigns, but ethics commissioner Bill Boyarsky—who proposed it—writes in the LAT that he's getting tired of wasting his time: "I... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 19, 2006 1:01 PM
♦ Rep. Maxine Waters' and her husband's presence at the SEIU's endorsement interviews in January has candidates in an uproar and got the attention of the FBI, the Los Angeles Wave... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 17, 2006 3:31 PM
If you have Flash installed, you can click below to watch Council President Eric Garcetti's video about Mayor Villaraigosa from last night's Los Angeles Political Roast. (Earlier post.) If you... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 17, 2006 11:30 AM
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's political ambition, lust for the spotlight, desire to take control of the schools and supernaturally white teeth all came in for some playful ribbing at tonight's Los... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 16, 2006 11:55 PM
Because it feels like a notesy kind of day... The Cultural Heritage Commission will recommend to the City Council that the Derby in Los Feliz be declared a historic-cultural monument.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 16, 2006 3:15 PM
Dan Laidman, who became the new guy in the Daily News' City Hall bureau just last summer, is jumping to Copley News Service to fill the shoes of David Zahniser.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 16, 2006 12:11 PM
Seeing old friends in federal court...fining Pierce O'Donnell and Martin Ludlow...Giving Steve Cooley a pass...Arnold and Sirhan...Tear-downs in Century City...and Larry King gets no respect again. Those items and quite... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 15, 2006 2:20 AM
Media and blog coverage of the South Central Community Garden mostly celebrates a story line of plucky, poor South L.A. residents banding together in agrarian fellowship to stand up to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 14, 2006 10:56 PM
Bad enough that the mayor and his wife can't go to the movies without being reported on, as we noted yesterday. Now someone else who claims to have been at... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 14, 2006 5:29 PM
Either L.A. County's Board of Supervisors stood up to the final lobbying swarm or all the deals for friends got written into the staff recommendations. But the Supes today OK'd... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 14, 2006 3:46 PM
Chris Arellano—the school board candidate without the degrees he claimed and with the criminal record he played down—has dropped out of the runoff campaign, the LA Weekly reports online. City... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 14, 2006 3:36 PM
Bob Hertzberg's moribund website BIGIdeas4LA.com has finally been taken off life support and allowed to pass into the Internet afterlife:... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 13, 2006 10:01 AM
Linking Brad Grey to Pellicano through Linda Doucett...two heads for Universal?...those stinking badges for friends of Lee Baca...seeing purple along Wilshire Boulevard...Robert Altman's new heart...your NCAA brackets...and borrowing a familiar... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 13, 2006 1:45 AM
Police chief William Bratton's unofficial bicoastal lifestyle makes the news again. Bratton released his travel records to the Los Angeles Times' Patrick McGreevy, who calculated that the chief was outside... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 11, 2006 2:40 PM
LAPD crime maps go interactive (left)...It's going to be cold and windy today...Praising Brokeback despite the Oscar upset...blocking traffic for the mayor...questions but few answers about Herb Wesson Jr....reviews of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 10, 2006 2:34 AM
"It is clear from this initial review that there is a disturbing lack of transparency and accountability at LAUSD." Release after the jump.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 9, 2006 1:39 PM
The mayor today offered up Gloria Jeff to run the Department of Transportation, subject to City Council approval. Jeff resigned last month as director of the Michigan Department of Transportation,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 9, 2006 1:24 PM
Laura Chick locks and loads to talk about schools...the mayor gets ready to name a transportation chief...Daniel Hernandez on secret talks to save the South L.A. farm...Ludlow pleads after being... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 9, 2006 1:49 AM
Just over ten percent of registered voters in the 2nd Board of Education district cast ballots in Tuesday's election—for a total of 13,561 votes. So much for the persuasion of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 8, 2006 10:46 AM
Runoff for school board...more strangeness around the Ferrari Enzo crash...Rob Reiner's campaign chief steps out of the limelight...L.A.'s blogging pet czar blasts the Animal Defense League...while Cardinal Mahony seeks a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 8, 2006 1:37 AM
First reviews of the Oscars and Jon Stewart: not good. Also, Arnie Berghoff's diabetes roast gets some scrutiny, the Times finds waste in the local bioterrorism budget, Villaraigosa promises to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 6, 2006 1:54 AM
Maria Elena Durazo was chosen to head the County Federation of Labor, just ten months after her husband, Miguel Contreras, died while serving in the post. From the Times: Durazo,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 4, 2006 1:13 AM
If nothing else, Christopher Arellano has found a way to deflect scrutiny from the $200,000 he has taken from UTLA. But the Times and Daily News miss a big chunk... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 2, 2006 11:52 PM
KPCC's Adolfo Guzman Lopez aired a late Thursday update reporting that Board of Education candidate Chris Arellano has fudged his campaign claims of multiple college degrees from USC and UCLA.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 2, 2006 11:27 PM
La Opinión reported today that Christopher Arellano, the labor candidate in the East Side school board race, was convicted of robbing a Pioneer Market in 1992, then had a second... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 2, 2006 2:05 PM
Villaraigosa warns of red ink and loves Crash...Jim Hahn gets $800 million to play with...Martin Ludlow and Octavia Butler are remembered in much different ways...big meeting today at Yahoo in... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted March 2, 2006 1:27 AM
Sam Lanni, the owner of Safari Sam's, has gone public with a rant about City Hall bleeding him dry before he can open his long-awaited club on Sunset Boulevard in... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 28, 2006 7:34 PM
Channel 5 is promoing up close and personal time with Corina Villaraigosa on tonight's Prime News at 10 pm. They call it the first prolonged TV interview she has given... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 27, 2006 9:03 AM
The war of words between the United Farm Workers union and the Los Angeles Times continues. To catch you up, the Times in January ran an investigative series on the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 25, 2006 1:54 PM
Full plate for a Friday morning: Plaschke rips the silver from Sasha Cohen's neck, Steve Cooley's least favorite Mexican fugitive is nabbed, the Writers Guild invites Cheryl Rhoden to stay... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 24, 2006 1:45 AM
Maria Elena Durazo watch begins, the Z Man appears in the LA Weekly, "Ask a Mexican" cracks Column One, questions about Ed Boks—all this and an old murder in Alhambra... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 23, 2006 9:03 AM
Another near-miss at LAX, Vin Scully signs on for three more years (but that's probably it), chiding Erin Aubry Kaplan on race, the editor of the LAT's Home section moves... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 22, 2006 2:40 AM
After taking the weekend to ponder his future, County Fed executive secretary-treasurer Martin Ludlow quit today and says he is cooperating with the federal investigation into violations of campaign laws... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 21, 2006 2:04 PM
Would you believe Jackie Goldberg for school superintendent? Rampant talk of that, plus good press for Alan Rothenberg, the mystery ooze of Olive Street takes a toll, a fresh crop... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 21, 2006 1:47 AM
Murder sprees in Venice (maybe) and the gangland of Panorama City-North Hills...How Darry Sragow came to hire former Roy Romer advisor Glenn Gritzner at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal is the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 20, 2006 2:43 PM
I have a piece on Council President Eric Garcetti in the March issue of Los Angeles, out but not online. It talks about his rising national profile—from involvement in the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 20, 2006 1:08 PM
* Newest shorts at the bottom... ⇒ More subplots in the Anthony Pellicano affair, a thirteenth defendant and Leslie Abramson joins the case. Also, the Times says anonymous witness 'Johnny... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 18, 2006 11:24 PM
Today's Daily Journal (no link) features a front-page piece on John Stodder, the indicted former Fleishman-Hillard executive turned blogger who I began telling you about last month. Erin Park reports:... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 17, 2006 12:47 PM
Rumors about Villaraigosa intimate Martin Ludlow swept California political circles all week and finally make it into print in Friday's LAT: Sources say the former city councilman may take a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 17, 2006 1:27 AM
The February issue of TPR talks to Corbin Smith, project manager of the Getty Villa transformation, and also with Chief Legislative Analyst Gerry Miller and Playa Vista president Steve Soboroff.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 16, 2006 10:59 PM
Mayor Villaraigosa's press conference du jour was to announce the members of his newly created panel on homeland security. Councilman Jack Weiss co-chairs with Deputy Mayor for Homeland Security and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 16, 2006 12:13 PM
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Speaker Fabian Núñez plan to campaign on the Eastside tomorrow for Mónica García, their anointed candidate for the open school board seat to replace José Huizar.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 16, 2006 11:25 AM
Today's front pagesNew York Times See/Read Washington Post See/ReadLA Times See/ReadDaily News See/ReadDaily Breeze See/ReadPress-Telegram See/Read Register See/ReadStar-News Read Variety ReadHwd Reporter ReadLa Opinión Read Slate: Today's Papers Terry Christensen wasn't... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 15, 2006 8:10 PM
Today's front pagesNew York Times See/Read Washington Post See/ReadLA Times See/ReadDaily News See/ReadDaily Breeze See/ReadPress-Telegram See/Read Register See/ReadStar-News Read Variety ReadHwd Reporter ReadLa Opinión Read Ovitz and Pellicano, ugly details... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 15, 2006 12:47 AM
Loyalty to Jill Murphy may have finally been Barry Munitz's undoing, the police commission waffles, going after Deaton, bomb on the 210 and another batch of morning media notes—all after... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 14, 2006 12:45 AM
At a news conference out in the Valley this afternoon, Mayor Villaraigosa said he made an offer yesterday to Sheriff Lee Baca to help out on the jail rioting mess.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 13, 2006 3:32 PM
Three lead items out of the largest local bureaucracy in the nation, none of them good news...plus Hiltzik lashes Keith Brackpool, no retraction for the UFW, the best and worst... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 13, 2006 2:20 AM
New ones are added to the tail end through the weekend.... ⇒ Robert Parry, who frequently contributed when LA Observed took comments, returned last month from Iraq duty as a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 12, 2006 1:11 AM
LAUSD superintendent Roy Romer has told the school board that he wants to leave by September, nine months before his contract expires, the Jewish Journal just reported on its website.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 10, 2006 6:11 PM
An exclusive on the new boss at "California Connected," a $15 million payday for three LAPD cops, Rocky's legal memo to the police commission and more Barry Munitz farewells—plus the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 10, 2006 1:20 AM
I had not heard of Willie Grace Campbell until Karen Wada profiled her in Los Angeles Magazine in 2004, writing that she "has changed American politics, one cup of tea... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 10, 2006 12:26 AM
Finger pointing aside, it sounds like President Bush's morning disclosure of more details about the four-year-old Al Qaeda plot to bomb Library Tower (he called it 'Liberty Tower') did catch... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 9, 2006 4:43 PM
The Breeze has a follow on the Metropolitan Water District not hiring Mayor Villaraigosa's preferred candidate, Richard Katz. The agency offered the top job to its attorney Jeffrey Kightlinger. Says... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 9, 2006 11:31 AM
Real Estate Journal has a free link to yesterday's WSJ story about developer Rick Caruso. * Also: I added the link I meant to include this morning to the LA... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 9, 2006 11:28 AM
Mayor Villaraigosa has filled out the city's Board of Transportation Commissioners with the daughter of State Sen. Richard Alarcon, a former deputy to Nate Holden and a former senior cop,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 9, 2006 11:21 AM
Jack Weiss steps in on the police commission ruling, more jail riots, the gang war rages in Watts, girls behind bars, more left-turn arrows—it's a busy morning here at the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 9, 2006 2:17 AM
The LA Weekly website posted a (perhaps final?) Rob Greene story saying that the multi-agency investigation of SEIU Local 99's help for Martin Ludlow's City Council campaign has uncovered widespread... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 8, 2006 7:08 PM
The LA Weekly editor has posted a defiant response to the United Farm Workers demand for a retraction of an earlier column he wrote lauding the Times series and chastising... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 8, 2006 2:15 PM
City Council members Herb Wesson and Bernard Parks want to rename 17th Street (between Norton and Bronson avenues) for the late attorney. The Board of Education OK'd Johnnie L. Cochran... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 8, 2006 12:02 PM
Richard Katz reportedly doesn't get the MWD gig, friends of Cesar Chavez turn their legal guns on Marc Cooper, everybody it seems is investigating the SEIU's outpouring for Martin Ludlow,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 8, 2006 2:05 AM
Doug Dowie scores some points but not a knockdown, the police commission mums up, "Today" takes the Chino shooting story, a new Nina Zero review and paying tribute to the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 7, 2006 11:42 AM
State Controller Steve Westly has hired Ed Sanders as his Director of Public Affairs in Southern California. Sanders used to be chief of staff for then-councilman Martin Ludlow. Westly also... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 6, 2006 2:55 PM
Mayor Villaraigosa is lobbying hard to install his campaign advisor and former Assembly colleague Richard Katz at the head of the Metropolitan Water District—and MWD board members feeling the pressure... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 6, 2006 9:52 AM
Eyewitness News goes hi-def, James Frey has a few words for the LAT, the Downtown News loses patience with Villaraigosa and a former mayor goes in for a tuneup—plus a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 6, 2006 2:31 AM
Jack Weiss makes his ambition more or less official, Anthony Pellicano comes back to town, the Ambassador gets a proper send-off, Channel 13 News adds a comic, more bad news... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 3, 2006 8:56 AM
City Controller Laura Chick's latest audit dings the Department of Transportation for letting $5 million collected from developers as "traffic mitigation funds" go unused. "There is something very wrong with... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 2, 2006 3:57 PM
David Zahniser, the Copley News Service reporter in City Hall whose work appears mostly in the Daily Breeze, is jumping to the LA Weekly. He presumably fills the spot opened... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 2, 2006 12:41 PM
Prominent attorney Pierce O'Donnell admitted pleaded no contest to charges of laundering campaign funds to then-City Attorney Jim Hahn's first campaign for mayor in 2001. The Times originally reported that... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 2, 2006 11:23 AM
Looks like there's finally a new head of LACMA, Tom LaBonge finally makes it in Column One, County Health finally comes clean about the hepatitis A outbreak, Nikki Finke finally... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 2, 2006 2:32 AM
In the news this morning, the FBI looks at that videotaped shooting by a deputy in Chino...misreading Los Angeles...quitting James Frey...buying off Stuckey...and Hollywood's gay thing analyzed from a couple... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted February 1, 2006 2:21 AM
Mayor Villaraigosa's aides made available English and Korean translations of his Spanish-language response to the State of the Union address. To those who heard Villaraigosa during the campaign, he returned... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 31, 2006 11:37 PM
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa ordered flags at city buildings lowered to half-staff in honor of the civil rights leader and widow of Dr. Martin Luther King. She died at age 78... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 31, 2006 2:42 PM
Chief Bratton makes a finding in the Devin Brown killing, Guerdon Stuckey gets an offer, Richard Meruelo didn't lay a million on the Center for Law in the Public Interest,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 31, 2006 2:15 AM
Expect something as soon as this week on the NFL-in-the-Coliseum front, the L.A. Business Journal says. Also, look what's in our drinking water, how's your algebra, Mike Piazza returns to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 30, 2006 2:03 AM
State Sen. Gil Cedillo led a junket—er, fact-finding trip—to New York City this week to look into how that city has improved its homeless problem. If you wondered where City... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 27, 2006 9:23 PM
City Controller Laura Chick adds her name to the list of pols lining up behind Mónica García for the open seat on the L.A. school board. City Councilmembers Jose Huizar... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 27, 2006 3:42 PM
Scenes from Mayor Villaraigosa's media availability this morning in his third floor conference room at City Hall: ⇒ First words: "Why is it so dark in here?" The mayor steps... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 27, 2006 1:31 PM
Antonio maps out his war plan for conquering the school board, Rocky takes it on the chin (twice), gang war in Watts and every Oscar-eligible film of 2005—plus Byron Miranda,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 27, 2006 2:54 AM
Controller Laura Chick, in releasing her latest city audit, said the Los Angeles Fire Department "lacked strong and decisive leadership, and a clear and understandable vision." She began the audit... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 26, 2006 11:12 PM
This won't help Mayor Villaraigosa convince people his desire to take over the LAUSD isn't at least partly a scheme about political power. In a report to the Joint Commission... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 26, 2006 10:54 AM
This is the anniversary of the Metrolink disaster near Glassell Park. Unrelated, we think, fictionating non-fictionist James Frey will guest on Oprah to address the literary hubbub he has created.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 26, 2006 1:36 AM
Mt. Vernon Middle School, in Mid-City near Venice and Crenshaw, will be renamed for the late attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. The LAUSD board made the decision last night. "This... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 25, 2006 9:06 AM
Antonio Villaraigosa will give part of the Democratic response to next Tuesday's speech—the part in Spanish. His remarks will be broadcast from the mayor's City Hall office over Spanish-language networks.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 25, 2006 8:54 AM
Meruelo rejected...AOL targets Beverly Hills...spotting old Three Stooges locations...the end of DVD Exclusive...plus some blogs observed, the front pages of eleven newspapers and more after the jump.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 25, 2006 1:44 AM
Joel Stein's going to get letters [finally?—ed.] for writing that its wussy to "support the troops" if you oppose the war. Also if you fly a yellow ribbon. And don't... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 24, 2006 2:25 AM
The new issue of The Planning Report has a Q-and-A with departing L.A. planning director Mark Winogrond, a discussion with planning commissioners Jane Usher and Robin Hughes, and urban critic... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 23, 2006 2:07 PM
A new week begins with happy birthday greetings to the mayor, a glitch at KPCC, the Defamer-in-chief in Vanity Fair and a dustup between Cathy Seipp and a New York... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 23, 2006 3:09 AM
Times coverage of the Civic Center figures to pick up in February. Editors today posted the lineup for the newly re-created unit that will cover local government and politics, and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 20, 2006 11:06 PM
You can end the week with a Wall Street Journal look at Dave Dreier, a thousand Valleyites out of work, possible trouble for Ron Deaton at DWP, a new Times... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 20, 2006 1:59 AM
The mayor draws a crowd in Sherman Oaks, the UCLA controversy, bunch of reporter moves at the Times and Long Beach cops still can't find their shotguns...that and much more... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 19, 2006 4:21 AM
Councilman Bernard Parks didn't care for the Times' weekend story on the surplus city land in his district that he wants to sell to a developer, three years after the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 18, 2006 1:28 PM
City Controller Laura Chick is profiled on tonight's Life & Times on KCET at 6:30. Longtime LAT pop music editor and critic Robert Hilburn, who is stepping down this month,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 18, 2006 10:39 AM
In the morning news rodeo, op-ed newcomer Erin Aubry Kaplan dumps on Herb Wesson, what the Golden Globes could do to slow immigration, why you won't see many A380's at... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 18, 2006 1:32 AM
Smelly beaches in the South Bay, no new Wal-Mart in the Valley, horny females on Channel 2 and the winners of the Golden Globes—plus where Alex Padilla will eat breakfast... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 17, 2006 2:21 AM
The House that Jack Kent Cooke Built might be no more, air rights are hot again downtown (and so is Richard Meruelo), Tad Friend expounds on Los Angeles car chases...plus... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 16, 2006 3:43 AM
⇒ Port commission chief S. David Freeman is profiled by Deborah Schoch in the Times: "Freeman, the brash and innovative former head of the city's Department of Water and Power,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 15, 2006 7:52 PM
Council president Eric Garcetti released his new committee assignments this afternoon. They follow after the jump. Included are new chairs for the Housing, Community and Economic Development committee (it used... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 13, 2006 2:22 PM
Saving the convention center (really Staples Center) hotel and the mountain yellow-legged frog, photo op of the day, missing shotguns at the Long Beach PD and a sell-out for the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 13, 2006 3:18 AM
In today's morning roundup: Anthony Pellicano has a fool for a client, the City Council returns to life, counting the homeless, and saving the Convention Center hotel—plus Bert Blyleven moves... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 12, 2006 2:08 AM
Another Pellicano case guilty plea, Arnold's illegal problem, Patterico and Hiltzik go mainstream, DA Cooley wants to reform three strikes—plus the end of the UFW series, Michael Eisner, Mack Reed,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 11, 2006 1:24 AM
The UFW urges emails to the editor of the L.A. Times, Chick and Romer cozy up, one less obstacle for New Times and a stalwart of the Los Angeles Rams... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 10, 2006 1:30 AM
Turn the page for the fill-in on Gov. Schwarzenegger's fat lip, the latest on the Times' UFW investigation, Eric Garcetti week at the city council, Sheriff Baca's defense of Compton,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 9, 2006 2:11 AM
Gail Goldberg was the city planner of San Diego. Her hiring by Mayor Villaraigosa to run the show in Los Angeles was disclosed Saturday and will be formally announced Monday.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 8, 2006 12:57 PM
They filled up the council chambers this morning for Bill Roberston, the former head of the county Federation of Labor who died in December. Martin Ludlow, the fed's current chief,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 7, 2006 1:25 PM
Today's LAT editorial page delivers on its Rose Bowl wager to say something nice about Texas: "Any state that gave us Lance Armstrong, Lyle Lovett and Larry McMurtry can't be... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 6, 2006 1:47 AM
The LAT was right on top of this local obituary. Saxophone-playing, small-government maverick Ernani Bernardi died yesterday. He served eight terms from his beloved Van Nuys before leaving the city... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 5, 2006 3:52 PM
Jennifer Forkish, the press deputy to Valley councilman Dennis Zine, starts Jan. 17 as Director of Local Government Relations for the California Grocers Association in Long Beach. And catching up... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 5, 2006 2:57 PM
Rob Greene, the LA Weekly's man at the Civic Center, suggests thirteen power grabs that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa should add to his portfolio this year. A sampling: The Los Angeles... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 5, 2006 1:37 AM
We're number two! USC lost the Rose Bowl and the national championship to Texas 41-38. Thirty-two of those points came in the last quarter. Today's front pagesNew York Times See/Read... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Posted January 5, 2006 1:04 AM
Today's front pagesNew York Times See/Read Washington Post See/ReadLA Times