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Emotional testimony on Prop. 8, ambition at City Hall and a critical audit of spending by neighborhood councils. Plus more, after the jump.
- Proposition 8 "is exactly why we have courts, why we have the Constitution and why we have the 14th Amendment,” lawyer Ted Olson said in his opening statement at the federal court trial in San Francisco on the measure's constitutionality. The judge repeatedly told lawyers for both sides to can the rhetoric and stick to facts. LAT, NYT
Plus: Anschutz paper in Washington attacks LAT coverage. LA Daily - Add to the list of would-be aspirers at City Hall: Jan Perry wants to be mayor, Dennis Zine wants to be Controller, Tom La Bonge won't rule out a run foir mayor and Richard Alarcon has opened an Assembly committee in the Valley. "The City Hall chess moves -- some announced, others only in the discussion stage -- could make it harder for the council to make unpopular decisions," says David Zahniser. LAT
- After a new audit, Controller Wendy Greuel says there has been a “systematic failure” in basic financial oversight of neighborhood councils and called for greater scrutiny of their spending. LAT
- New councilman Paul Krekorian spoke with hosts Brendan Huffman and Edward Headington on their web talk show Off the Presses.
- The City Council may have violated the state's open meeting law when it voted to approve a South Los Angeles shopping center, a judge tentatively ruled. LAT
- Demoted Los Angeles County top executive Sharon Harper has been on medical leave and has yet to report to her new position in the Sheriff's Department. LAT
- The $15.2 million overhaul of the iconic Theme Building at LAX is scheduled for completion by April, officials said Monday. Daily Breeze
- Those skulls found in the fire denuded Angeles National Forest are of a man and a woman. One was shot and the other showed signs of trauma. Watershed News
- Reporter Ruben Vives gets to the bottom of why there is a fire truck visible on the roof of a building in Vernon. LAT