Morning Buzz: Monday 6.22.09

Mayor Villaraigosa plans to appear on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" at 1 p.m. PDT and make some kind of statement about his plans on running for governor. L.A. Now, DN wires
Strategists for Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom are coveting the L.A. mayor’s political base in the event the Democratic primary race becomes a two-man contest. CalBuzz
Villaraigosa is driving City Hall "crazy" trying to detect if he's running for governor, and his swearing in for the second term will be a low-key public event on July 1. Rick Orlov/DN
An L.A. Times Poll found tepid good will for Villaraigosa or his possible run, more for the LAPD, and a sense among many that the city is headed the wrong way. LAT, LAT

That gray whale hanging out in Marina Del Ray left after three weeks, accompanied by about 50 bottlenose dolphins. AP
Add Jane Usher, the former Planning Commission president who played a major role in the Trutanich campaign, as a senior advisor on the incoming city attorney's staff. LAT
Isaac Guillen was a reformed gangbanger who became an attorney, but federal prosecutors say he helped launder money between a set of the 18th Street Gang and the Mexican Mafia prison gang. LA Daily Journal (no link)
Chris Brown's preliminary hearing in the Rihanna assault case is this afternoon. LAT
Revisiting the history of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in the Simi Hills, where rocket testing left a legacy of contamination and a nuclear reactor had a partial meltdown. DN
Local churches facing foreclosure due to the recession. PBS
Judy Chu's opponents in the San Gabriel Valley congressional race aren't going quietly. LAT
Erika Schickel has an epiphany about Michael Douglas as Gordon Gecko. LAT Op-Ed
Former state Senator Herschel Rosenthal died Friday of complications from pneumonia. He was 91. LAT, DN