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- Assemblyman Curren Price led the field in the 26th state Senate special election and will face Republican Nachum Shifren and Cindy V. Henderson of the Peace and Freedom Party in a May 19 special general election. Looks like about 23,681 voted, plus provisionals and late ballots, for a turnout of 6%. Registrar-Recorder
- State Sen. State Senator Abel Maldonado says that during the budget battle in Sacramento, some of his fellow Republicans urged him to withhold his vote so that the stalemate would bankrupt California. "It was ‘Abel - let it go into bankruptcy, let it go off a cliff, we need to prove a point, that it’s the majority’s fault," he says in an interview to be published Thursday in the Santa Barbara Independent. CalBuzz
- Phil Spector's defense team argued that all evidence points to Lana Clarkson committing suicide in his house that night. LAT
- The 818 area code begins dialing 1-818 to make local calls on April 18 with the arrival of the 747 overlay code. DN
- Cal State Los Angeles, one of seven Cal States on the quarter system, is pondering a switch to semesters. LAT
- Los Angeles County supervisors on Tuesday unanimously recommended that sheriff's deputies, prosecutors and the county Human Relations Commission start tracking and reporting attacks on the homeless as hate crimes. LAT
- The Times doesn't have enough reporters to cover the Westside anymore, but that doesn't stop the paper from starting a new website section called Westside Watch. LAT
- Damon Romine is leaving as director of entertainment media at the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation to join the Screen Actors Guild as director of communications, as of April 1. Greg in Hollywood
- Miguel Almaguer is leaving WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. to join NBC News as a Burbank-based correspondent, effective April 2. Media Moves
- Author Mark Arax will discuss his latest book, "West of the West: Dreamers, Believers, Builders & Killers in the Golden State" in conversation with Thomas Curwen of the L.A. Times at ALOUD, Monday, April 6 at 7 p.m. Info
- Journalist Scott Timberg ran an online poll at his blog to name the world's coolest Irishman and the winner was Oscar Wilde. Blog
- A 16-year-old has confessed to killing WABC newsman George Weber during a sex date. NY Daily News
LA Biz Observed headlines
Deanne Stillman on Phil Spector at Native Intelligence