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It's Buzz Lite for the pre-holiday. Look for the regular Morning Buzz to return Monday.
Alarcon makes it official
State Sen. Richard Alarcon said he definitely is running for the City Council in a Valley district where he didn't live until recently, and will give up his new Assembly seat if he wins. The salary difference is about $61,000 a year. DN
Hate and bias at neighborhood councils
Report by DONE claims meetings are getting uglier, but some activists think the report is a scheme to rein in the councils politically. Breeze
Police beat
The LAPD decides that no change in pepper spray policy is needed, but won't say if that Venice use on a handcuffed man inside a police car was excessive. The department declares a gang siege afflicting the Valley. Meanwhile, UCLA might be the only UC campus where officers are allowed to use stun guns on non-combative suspects (and I suspect that might be changing pretty soon.)
Fire beat
The Times runs a front-page piece crediting John & Ken with stopping the $2.7 million award to firefighter Tennie Pierce, while the NAACP and other groups criticize the mayor's veto and LAFD chief William Bamattre. LAT, DN, Breeze
Lakers on top this time
Kobe scores 40 as his first-place team beats the Clippers 105-101.
Greece wants Getty's ex-curator
Greek authorities recommended felony charges against former Getty Museum antiquities curator Marion True for her part in the acquisition of a 2,500-year-old gold funerary wreath. LAT
Santa Monica parking spaces on the web
Number of open spots in garages near the Promenade will be at parkingspacenow.smgov.net, refreshed every five seconds. LAT
Another actress-novelist-whatever
Courtney Thorne-Smith has sold her debut comedic novel Outside In, about "the sparkling absurdities of life in L.A. and...the less glamorous side of success in the entertainment world," to Broadway for publication next September.