LA Observed on KCRW Mondays at 4:44 p.m.John Schwada has been a politics-government and investigative reporter for Fox 11 News, the Los Angeles Times and the L.A. Herald Examiner for three decades. His journalism DNA can also be found in The Economist and San Francisco Bay Guardian. He lives in West Los Angeles and has a masters degree in history from UC Berkeley. He was twice named top reporter of the year by SPJ's Los Angeles chapter, and in 2011 he received the Los Angeles Press Club's Joseph M. Quinn Award for journalism excellence and distinction. Email
The death of any newspaper is a sad occasion. But it was personal when I learned that the plug had finally been pulled on the San Francisco Bay Guardian.
The former television and LA Times political reporter fled to Oman after the Carmen Trutanich and Dennis Zine campaigns for City Hall fizzled. Now he's back: "Hope to see you around the city's political/media souk."
First the Coliseum, now problems at a children's health agency, show lax oversight by the Board of Supes.
State Treasurer Bill Lockyer says tax benefits for green industries ready again
Medical pot industry faces a fresh challenge - LA city hall hopes no one remembers
Facebook's ad partners and data-miners miss the perfect hookup.
Gov. Brown appointee offers surprise defense for double-dipping.
A Brookings Institution report spells out nearly $4 billion in taxpayer-backed loan guarantees that have already been reached with green energy projects in California.
"Crony capitalism" is as American as apple pie and often goes under the name "public-private partnerships."
Oakland-based BrightSource Energy, Inc. has got a loan pledge of $1.6 billion from the federal government.
Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky seeks to protect his political base - a smart move especially if he's running for mayor.
LA Observed learns Solyndra was seeking another $469 million in federal loan guarantees.
Former LA Times newsman talks about the paper he helped shape.
U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman scolded Solyndra and the GOP in remarks today.
The author meets USC "convergent journalists" and is both impressed and concerned.
The astonishing collapse of solar power giant Solyndra lands on Sacramento too.
In 1951 Pearl Harbor's tenth anniversary was hardly noticed. But ten years from 9-11 we still feel the pain.
Solyndra could be a very big story - about clean energy and clean government.
In which the author muses about the need to clean up his Facebook "living room" as new guests arrive.
Council President Eric Garcetti was leaking his decision to run for mayor weeks ago. But now, hand it to the LA Times, he's making it official.
San Fernando Valley politics is behind the push to have ex-lieutenant governor Cruz Bustamante appointed U.S. ambassador.
Ex-Civic Center gadfly Leonard Shapiro's latest quest has taken him to an oasis of calm, where loud is bad and politics just an echo. But his eccentric golf swing says he's still an original.
