Weekend news and notes

• LAPD chief Charlie Beck reiterated that he will keep Special Order 40, which instructs officers not to question people solely to ascertain their immigration status.
• Don Novey, the political consultant who directed the Police Protective League's expensive backing of Chris Essel in the 2nd council district, was dismissed as adviser to the California Correctional Peace Officers Association. (Link fixed.)
• The L.A. Times concluded after an investigation that "the Los Angeles Unified School District routinely grants tenure to new teachers after cursory reviews -- and sometimes none at all."
• Rick Orlov talks to the mayor and writes that "despite all evidence to the contrary, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa insists this past year was one of the best in his nearly six years as the city's chief executive." (Actually, 4½ years.)
• Villaraigosa's 9-day trip to Berlin, London, and the climate conference in Copenhagen with seven staffers will cost an estimated $120,266, including hotel and airfare but not his security detail, his spokeswoman told KTLA's Eric Spillman.
• Looks from the Board of Supervisors agenda for Tuesday as if Mark Ridley-Thomas is rethinking that $700,000 renovation of his offices.
• The House ethics committee has subpoenaed records from Long Beach City Hall regarding U.S. Rep. Laura Richardson.
• City councilman-elect Paul Krekorian won't take office until at least Jan. 5 "because the City Clerk's Office was unable to certify the Dec. 8 election by last Wednesday - the date his new colleagues began their annual winter vacation."
• Quite an uproar in Beverly Hills over kicking out non-local kids in the city schools, now that they don't bring in as much money, says Jennifer Steinhauer in the New York Times.
• Variety columnist Brian Lowry takes stock of his productivity in 2009 and says he had a pretty good year.
• In the arena of homeowner association disputes, the one embroiling Scottsdale Estates in Carson "is in a whole different stratosphere," says Jeff Gottlieb in the L.A. Times
• The new issue of Westways has a story on the late Avery Clayton and his work to establish a library and museum in Culver City based on his mother's collections of African American materials.
• KCRW commentator and comedy writer Rob Long muses that for Gov. Schwarzenegger, staying in politics "means going to the Senate. In movie star terms, this is sort of like giving up and going on television, which is a painful and difficult adjustment for a lot of stars to make."
• The DA's office is considering possible misdemeanor charges against former Assemblyman Walter Karabian for that arrest at a USC football game. The case came back to the DA because Karabian's son works in the city attorney's office.
• "The Wire" creator David Simon has some unflattering things to say about former L.A. Times editor John Carroll.
• Lt. Robert Parry, a local blogger from Monrovia, was in a convoy of California National Guard troops that was attacked in Afghanistan.
• Local book critic and author David Kipen steps down as director of National Reading Initiatives at the National Endowment for the Arts on Dec. 31.
• Huffington Post L.A. contributing editor Tina Daunt has a first-person piece in the January issue of Los Angeles magazine on starting her personal style blog, English Muse.
• Christian Drury, a former L.A. Times art director who was laid off last year, just launched her own line of handmade leather goods.

Plus: Bill Boyarsky was on "KNBC News Conference" today talking with host Conan Nolan about "Inventing Los Angeles: The Chandlers and Their Times," and my KCRW commentary on Friday was a look back at several news stories from 2009.