Past week of posts

Congressional lawmakers who are clearly incapable of carrying out their own jobs morphed into schoolyard bullies during the testimony of the IRS official.

Put on those tap shoes! The outgoing mayor (38 days but hey, whose counting?) pooh-poohed the LA Weekly's not-so-flattering examination of his finances and what he might do when he leaves office.

Turns out that the old Avco multiplex on Wilshire Boulevard has all sorts of asbestos issues that need to be dealt with, which means that the six-screen iPic Entertainment theater is in a holding pattern.

Can anybody make heads of tails of the insurance rates for California's new health care marketplace? I'm still a supporter, but I've got to wonder how many folks in need of health coverage can sift through the whys and wherefores.

Mind-boggling (and kind of sad) on several fronts, not the least of which is that according to the Weekly he did it publicly during an Oscar party. (Someone should tell him not to job hunt in a crowd.)

If city officials still don't know how many dispensaries are operating in the city, how on earth will they enforce a ballot measure that restricts the number to 135?

That would be attorney Ron Galperin, who easily defeated City Hall insider Dennis Zine for a job that reminds me a little of a newspaper ombudsman: Broad discretion in critiquing how the place is run, but little or no authority to force the real honchos to make changes.

Well, it's the budget, of course, which is still $100 million or so in the red because the city has to keep paying out those out-sized pension and health care benefits.

Google's database of 5.2 million books published between 1500 and 2008 provides some interesting clues about word usage - and perhaps about attitudes.

Several out-of-town budinskis have called the campaign an embarrassment, which was certainly not the case. Let's just say that the race, like so many others these days, was a missed opportunity

Here's another explanation for the improving fiscal outlook: Property is gaining in value. This is good news for local governments, as well as for homeowners who are seeing the value of their properties creep back up after several down years