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AB 1381 lacks the votes
Mayor Villaraigosa's school bill couldn't get out of the state Senate on Thursday, but President Pro Tem Don Perata said it should have the votes next week. Sen. Gloria Romero, the bill's author, says Perata is holding it hostage as leverage with the Speaker. Daily News, Daily Breeze
Beverly Hills' Big Dig?
Fearing loss of shoppers to Dubai and more prosaic places such as the Grove, Beverly Hills officials want to tear up the new sidewalks on Rodeo Drive and replace the concrete with granite.
Bad crabs
Four Orange County diners have contracted a rare-in-the-U.S. lung infection after eating raw Japanese river crabs at a sushi bar.
AFTER THE JUMP: Democrats' website sputters, Jim Hahn sighting, Expo Line it stays (for now), ValleyNews.com from the union's point of view, higher valet parking rates, Nikki Finke's photograph and media notes that mention Patterico, Lisa Sodders, Ann Curry, Sumner Redstone and Shana Ting Lipton. Click below for the Full Buzz.
Politics
'Calif Majority Report' crashes, scrambles
Bill Bradley posts an explanation from the new website site for Democrats:
We've now been "launched" for 48 hours. The good news: world-class commentary, an unexpectedly-high level of traffic to the site and reams of constructive feedback (one favorite: that we are the "Vanilla Ices of the California blog community"). The bad: our site has already crashed, our layout is confusing and many of the features we wanted simply aren't working.
When Kos is right (which is often), he's right. On the modern blog evolutionary chart, we're still dragging our knuckles.
So, over the next few days, we're switching server and software and building a better mousetrap. New features will include: a revamped layout, an easier-to-access archive, up-to-the-minute blogging and, of course, a blogroll to others in the California Democratic/progressive netroots community - all ready by September 1st.
Jim Hahn spotted—at Starbucks
BoifromTroy considered exchanging a few words, but opted to take his mother's advice.
No decision on Aqua vs. rose
The Expo Line will still be called that because the MTA and councilman Parks can't break their impasse. Just why does he care so much anyway? LAT
Media
He likes it
ValleyNews.com through the eyes of a Daily News GA reporter and union rep.
No surprise there
A Times editorial called on the FCC to to relax the rules on media cross-ownership, a move that would let the Tribune keep both the LAT and Channel 5.
Patterico rants, but not what you expect
Title of the post doesn't say it all, but gives you a taste: "Memo to the Scumbag Sitting in the Row in Front of Us Or Behind Us on the Plane Today on the Flight from Atlanta to New York."
Belated note
Lisa Sodders has left the Daily News, where she covered higher education, for a job at the Rand Corp.
Looks normal to me
Nikki Finke-hater Cathy Seipp has claimed recently to know that her target is grossly overweight, as in "looks like Jabba the Hut, if you can imagine Jabba after he's said to hell with the diets already. She doesn't allow herself to be photographed..." That doesn't jibe with my info, perhaps because Seipp admits she hasn't actually seen Finke in years. In any case, a newly shot contributor photo of Finke is up at the Huffington Post.
Curry on the cover
Ann Curry, who made her mark her at Channel 2 before going to NBC and "Today," adorns the best-selling cover of More to date, says Eat the Press.
McCaw goes after editor
The owner seeks $500,000 from Jerry Roberts, who resigned as her editor at the Santa Barbara News-Press.
Personal takes
WashPost on Quinceañera
Stephen Hunter's review says that "it's not fierce, it's not angry, it's not radical, it's polite and what might be called "life-affirming," which may be why it won two big awards at the very safe Sundance Film Festival. But it does have a couple of attributes most movies don't. First, courage to look realistically, instead of idealistically, at some dubious civic practices; and second, honesty about the painful feelings of kids coupled with their desperate need for love and guidance and their ultimate desire to do the right thing.
Noted
Valet parking costs going up
Franklin Avenue notes that $5.50 seems to be the new $3.
She thinks not
Shana Ting Lipton wonders if it can really be coincidence that just over 24 hours after Tom Cruise is ousted from Paramount, Pluto is kicked off the planet list.
Vanity correction?
A For the Record in today's LAT reads: "Paramount and Tom Cruise: An article in Thursday's Business section and some copies of the Patrick Goldstein column in today's Calendar section about Paramount Pictures Corp. and Tom Cruise severing ties misstated the age of Sumner Redstone, chairman of Paramount parent Viacom Inc. He is 83, not 84."
Around LA Observed
Earlier at News & Chatter
New on the blogs
LA Biz Observed: Friday morning headlines
Here in Malibu: Sugar rush
The Valley Observed: 'Historic' tower of pallets gone
We Get Email: Critiquing Allison Margolin's list of accomplishments
Here in Malibu: Sugar rush
The Valley Observed: 'Historic' tower of pallets gone
We Get Email: Critiquing Allison Margolin's list of accomplishments