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* Updated all weekend, newest posts at the bottom
• A new (to me) blog of L.A. street photography: The Streets are Alive, by Nitsa of Streets of Los Angeles, where she has photos galore, a book and screen savers and wallpapers for downloading. That's her Griffith Observatory to the right.
• Both the Times and the Daily News come back with second-day stories on the mayoral debate, analyzing that Hahn and his record will be a target for the next three months. The DN also uncorks an editorial arguing that, "In his tenure as mayor, James Hahn has politicized the airport, the harbor, the city contracting process, government commissions and the Department of Water and Power. And now he appears to be politicizing the Los Angeles Police Department, too." Laura Mecoy in the Sacramento Bee is the first to point out that, minutes before going to air, the debate producers were asking urgently, "where is Villaraigosa?" The councilman arrived just in time to avoid having his empty chair be seen on live TV, explaining he had been caught in traffic.
• The end-of-the-year rush to get big projects into the Times for award consideration is underway. On Sunday the paper begins a five-part series on the troubles at King-Drew Medical Center, placing the blame on politics and timid leadership. The story is coordinated with an editorial in the Opinion section.
• Former Los Angeles police chief Tom Reddin died at age 88. He was chief from 1967-69, then briefly joined KTLA as a newscaster. He ran for mayor in 1973, losing to another ex-LAPD officer, Tom Bradley.
• The Times was wrong in reporting Friday that the news on KCBS scored its highest ratings since 1997 and tied for second at 11 p.m., says the pay site RonFineman.com. In fact, the site contends, it was the station's lowest 11 p.m. ratings since at least 2001. The Times erroneously used the ratings for adults 25-54, Fineman says. In a correction Saturday, the Times says it got wrong only the dates when anchors Laura Diaz and Paul Magers were hired.
• Author and freelance writer D. J. Waldie speaks Tuesday in the Zócalo lecture series at the Central Library.
• The Times' Patt Morrison will dish the commentary at a benefit fashion show for the Coalition for Clean Air on Dec. 9. Los Angeles elected officials including Controller Laura Chick and council members Jack Weiss, Tom LaBonge, Tony Cardenas and Eric Garcetti will walk the runway.
• A couple of readers have emailed to observe that Beb Hertzberg's campaign ads are running on the New York Times and Washington Post websites. His ads don't run, apparently, in the Google ad space that has been squeezed into the new design of the Los Angeles magazine website, or at LATimes.com. [Update: They are on LATimes.com.] But they are showing up now in a banner ad on the Daily News site. Meanwhile, MartiniRepublic has posted a blog entry criticizing Hertzberg for advertising on Roger L. Simon's blog (and Hertzberg supporter BoifromTroy has responded).
• The LA Weekly is advertising on craigslist for a new Music Editor: "This editor’s section should break new bands and be an important voice in the Los Angeles music scene. The Music Editor should seek writers to provide passionate, funny, smart and sometimes even obnoxious writing....must have excellent line-editing and organizational skills, as well as be ambitious, hard-working and have the ability to work with diverse personalities."
• More than 3,000 LAPD officers, or a third of the force, have applied to take second jobs, the Daily News says. Before the switch to a three-day work week, only 500 officers asked permission to hold down outside jobs.
• Norma Zager, the editor-in-chief and sole reporter for the Beverly Hills Courier, is profiled by the Jewish Journal: "Big blonde hair and hot pink fingernails...she spent 14 years as a stand-up comedian, entertaining at clubs in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. But being a journalist was her lifelong dream. 'I always wanted to be Brenda Starr.'"
• No staff cuts are involved in the LAT's shutdown of the national edition, Times spokeswoman Martha Goldstein told the Washington Post.