Follow LA Observed on Twitter here
⇒ The LAT explains why it's not running the controversial Prophet Muhammad cartoons: "Our newsroom and op-ed page editors, independently of each other, determined that the caricatures could be deemed offensive to some readers and the there [sic] were effective ways to cover the controversy without running the images themselves."
⇒ L.A.-based Slate editor Andy Bower is taking podcast-generated nominations for the Bad Movie Awards: "Winners will be selected through a subjective, arbitrary, and capricious process known only to us. Hey, at least we admit it upfront."
⇒ Jose Luis Valdez, the Chino man who took and sold that video of a sheriff's deputy shooting an unarmed man, has been arrested on an old warrant that turned up when he went to renew his green card.
⇒ At least ten people were injured—some losing legs—after a car engaged in a street race crashed into the waiting room of a crowded South L.A. health clinic. One driver was arrested, the other is at large but wanted.
⇒ The revitalization of Hollywood—the actual place, not the biz—is going so well that too many office buildings are being converted to residences. A shortage of office space looms, the L.A. Business Journal reports. Also in next week's LABJ: Mann Theatres is pulling out of the National in Westwood Village and Hoy will start carrying “Fox Sports en Español” in weekend editions.
⇒ Mayor Villaraigosa is grand marshal of the Lunar New Year parade in Chinatown tomorrow. It starts at 2 pm and travels on Broadway and Hill Street.
⇒ Ruth666 at blogging.la discovered the Channel 13 News: "Lauren Sanchez is simply horrifying - those giant breasts, glossy slug lips, the whore togs, the leering come-on as she reads the bite-sized newslets - hoo gah, I'm hooked!"
⇒ Disneyland is closing Pirates of the Caribbean for four months to "install more movie-related elements." Theme Park Insider has details.