Follow LA Observed on Twitter here
Whoa, the news and notes run a bit long today — that's what happens when you take the night off. The buzz is after the jump. Also see Mark Lacter's morning headlines at LA Biz Observed, and follow Mark and LA Observed on Twitter.
- The high-surf warning for Southern California continues, with waves as high as 8 feet possible on southwest-facing beaches.
- State Senate stays all night and passes budget plan, sending it to the Assembly. LAT, Rough & Tumble
- Mayor Villaraigosa's letter to the state Assembly opposing the state budget package. His blog
- Lies, damned lies and statistics about the early prisoner release issue. Witness LA
- The MTA board delayed for two months a decision on whether to extend the contract options of AnsaldoBreda. LAT
Plus: Tolls for solo drivers to use the carpool lanes on the 10 110 freeways will range from 25 cents to $1.40 a mile, depending on traffic. LAT - Red light enforcement cameras in Los Angeles could go dark because the company is in receivership. LAist
- Community activists in the Sunland-Tujunga area have started a blog to follow the CD2 election. Claim at this point to be candidate neutral. Blog
- If you are state Assemblyman and CD candidate Paul Krekorian, do you vote L.A.'s interests on the state budget? LAist
- 'Tailgunner Trutanich's' head-knocking so far is more Three Stooges than Theodore Roosevelt, says Doug McIntrye. DN Op-Ed
- The city Fire and Police Pensions board voted to require any company seeking business with its board to disclose campaign contributions it has made to city political candidates. LAT
- Don't declare victory in LAPD reform efforts, but continue them, says an editorial in La Opinión.
- Gavin Newsom's exaggerated campaign claims about his record as mayor. CalBuzz
- Villaraigosa speechwriter Jonathan Powell has taken a job with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, thus the opening. Sausage Factory
- Michael Jackson's Houston doctor, Conrad Murray, is the target of the LAPD's manslaughter investigation. LAT
- U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson banned the media and public from a two-day civil trial involving prison procedures and issues his ruling under seal, perplexing legal analysts. LAT
- A sting led to a 25-year veteran of the Los Angeles Fire Department being charged with soliciting and accepting bribes from the owners of nursing homes in the Valley. DN
- Sharon Waxman of the Wrap is waiting for Nikki Finke to "apologize for her error, and correct her post. But I'm not holding my breath." The Wrap
- Before the issue of swine flu at summer camps made the New York Times front page, it was in the Jewish Journal. Plus update
- Hadley Tomicki, blogger for New York magazine's Los Angeles food blog, Grub Street, follows closely on the ground previous trod by Eddie Lin of Deep End Dining. Navel Gazing
- Register publisher says things are looking up, won't charge for online content. OCR
- The New York Times was the big winner in the Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism. J-Lab
- AP plans to set up a news registry to track its content online. PaidContent
- Evan Kleiman's Good Food map of recommended dive restaurants. KCRW
- KTLA's Sam Rubin found out the hard way that when you invite an Italian family to dinner in Amalfi, you invite the whole family. My Truth
- Twitter 101 for business, from the folks behind Twitter.
- Julius Shulman, the film.
- "Haunting Bombay," the debut novel by Mar Vista author Shilpa Agarwal that is called "a supernatural mystery set in 1960’s India," has reached number four on the San Francisco Chronicle bestseller list.
- Beckham vows to ride out L.A. storm with the Galaxy. BBC
- Paul Steiger of ProPublica discusses a new business model for newspapers with Patt Morrison at 1:30 p.m. on KPCC.
- Former L.A. City Councilman Louis Nowell died at age 94. LAT