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Going after Bert Fields
Prosecutors engaged in a "last-ditch effort" to tie the Hollywood superlawyer to the Anthony Pellicano case have summoned ten members of Greenberg, Glusker, Fields, Claman & Machtinger before a federal grand jury in recent weeks, the New York Times reports. Lead prosecutor Daniel A. Saunders' promise last spring of new charges in the case has yet to come true.
Big cuts at NBC?
FTVLive reports that the budget axe will fall hard on NBC this week, predicting based on sources that 500 to 800 employees will lose jobs. Presumably Burbank will be affected — the pay website says "all NBC properties."
Long arm of Antonio
Mayor Villaraigosa will press the flesh at a UCLA-USC alumni reception and dinner tonight at 6:45 pm — in Tokyo. If you happen to be in town, it's at the Westin Tokyo.
AFTER THE JUMP: Brewer makes blacks and the Valley feel good, if Jay Leno won't give up the chair and much more to start off your Wednesday. Plus: an update on Columbia Square.
Politics
Prop. H money
More than $2 million has come in from developers, banks, real-estate investors and insurance companies to promote the $1 billion affordable housing bond on the November ballot.
Aubry Kaplan: Brewer a win for blacks
The African American community sees the appointment of David Brewer as LAUSD superintendent as "a symbolic victory of the highest order, much like the election of former Mayor Tom Bradley in 1973," Times op-ed columnist Erin Aubry Kaplan writes. On Tuesday, Brewer met with leaders in the Valley and again pledged to be a partner with the mayor.
Black students at UCLA
African American community leaders urged UCLA to increase enrollment of black students to at least 300 next year. This year's class had just 96 black freshmen, the lowest number since the 1960s.
Javier Nuñez off Building and Safety commission
Mayor Villaraigosa removed Nuñez as commission president two months after it was reported that a project at his church received special handling by the Building and Safety department. The Times says he was dumped, while the mayor's office says he was replaced as part of the review of commissioners originally appointed by former mayor Jim Hahn. LAT
County ombudsman
John S. Fernandes, a former DEA and Secret Service official, will receive public complaints against the Sheriff's Department and the Office of Public Safety.
Knabe.com
Supervisor Don Knabe has a new website with scads of logically organized content, including the names, phone numbers and emails of his staffers.
Media
What if Jay won't go?
Columnist Brian Lowry speculates that Jay Leno may be harder to dislodge as planned in 2009 than NBC thinks. It's available free on the video-heavy redesigned Variety website. There's even a video tour of the new features.
Cutting back
Ron Fineman announced to readers that he is temporarily posting less at On the Record due to the spread of his cancer and some new chemo treatments.
Gossip's book
Jared Paul Stern, the guy who was fired from freelance duties at Page Six after sounding on tape like he was shaking down Ron Burkle for money, has sold a book to Touchstone Fireside, a division of Simon & Schuster. The book will describe what goes on “inside the sausage factory” of gossip journalism, he says in today's New York Observer.
Noted
Regarding Columbia Square
Marathon Communications, spokesman for the new owners of the CBS studios at Sunset and Gower, says there are "absolutely no plans to raze the facility. In fact, the centerpiece of the development being contemplated for the site is the renovation of historic Columbia Square. Details of the plan will be finalized soon, but rest assured they will include the reuse of Columbia Square." That differs from an item here yesterday picked up from the Hollywood Thoughts blog.
Another Hollywood project
J.H. Snyder plans an office park on the former Technicolor property on Seward Street. LA Biz Observed, LAT.