Morning Buzz: Tuesday 3.17.09

Today's the day Gavin Newsom holds his town hall in Santa Monica, which Carla Marinucci sets up in the context of the 2010 race for governor: "We expect that this could come down to a tale of three cities - and the relative records of Mayor Newsom, former Mayor Brown and Mayor Villaraigosa," says Newsom's political strategist, Eric Jaye. SF Chronicle
The Music Center today will announce a $20 million donation for dance programs by Los Angeles philanthropist Glorya Kaufman. LAT
U.S. District Judge Audrey B. Collins, in a tentative ruling, "dealt a blow to Los Angeles' attempt to rid the city of enormous signs that stretch across office buildings, but did signal that at least 85 signs proposed by the city's most prolific supergraphic entrepreneur would not be allowed." Phil Willon/LAT
Nearly six months after decreeing that most pets must be spayed or neutered, the city has eliminated the voucher system that provided free spaying and neutering services to low-income owners. LAT, Patt Morrison
El Camino College president Thomas Fallo backed away from a proposed $36,000 raise that would have made him one of the higher paid college administrators in the state. Daily Breeze
Journalists Jeffrey Toobin, Paul Krugman, Joe Klein and Eric Alterman and bloggers Ezra Klein and Matthew Yglesias are among the members of JournoList, a private liberal-oriented online discussion group that has raised some hackles because its content is off the record. Politico
Hollywood writer Ray Richmond has launched a new blog, Man Bites Tinseltown. slogan "monitoring Hollywood for quality assurance."
Larry Harnisch has posted images from that 1959 Burbank time capsule. Daily Mirror
Manny Ramirez will miss at least a week o spring training games due to a sore hamstring. MLB.com
Laker Jordan Farmar talks about the team and his UCLA days on his blog at Playboy.com