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Analyzing the DWP rates showdown, checking in on Bill Bratton, another southeast city official indicted, traffic ticket stings in Glendale and more.
- The showdown over DWP electric rates "threatened to deepen the city's financial crisis while suggesting that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had sharply misread the public mood at a time of recession," say the Times' City Hall reporters. LAT
Plus: "It was a high-stakes gamble over one-tenth of a penny and it wound up costing $36 million." DN
And: "Villaraigosa has lost an extraordinary political showdown. But the City Council’s refusal this week to approve Villaraigosa’s proposed electricity rate hike – and the mayor’s refusal to accept a smaller rate increase – threaten the city’s financial stability." Frank Stoltze/KPCC - By the way, in a twist on the usual way it goes, yesterday morning's printed Daily News did have the late story from the previous night's City Council meeting, while the online story was out of date.
- First Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner announced the initial group of six Los Angeles Fellows funded by industry to work at City Hall. LAT
- Attorney General candidate John Eastman will be listed on the ballot as Constitutional Law Attorney, not the other titles he wanted or how most people would know him, the former dean of Chapman University Law School. Legal Newsline
Plus: The certified list of California candidates and titles. - Business Week checks in on the new global reach of William Bratton. BW
- City of Commerce councilman Robert Fierro was arrested by the FBI after being indicted for allegedly trying to hide illegal campaign contributions. His wife and sister-in-law were also charged. LAT
- Police in Glendale are under fire for having an officer dressed in a rabbit costume walk out into traffic as part of sting to write tickets for not yielding to pedestrians. News-Press, DN
- Plans to display what's left of that uncovered David Alfaro Siqueiros mural “America Tropical” at Olvera Street are still being worked on and now won't be final until 2013. KPCC
- Alan Minsky, the interim program director at KPFK, posted a reply to the recent James Rainey column in the Times on the Pacifica station's turmoils. LAT Blowback
- This year's Hollywood Bowl Easter sunrise service was cancelled again due to lack of interest and funds, but organizers vowed to be back next year. LAT
- Blogdowntown has given up being a non-profit affiliated with the Community Partners incubator program and will now be accepting and publishing ads. Blogdowntown
- Roxana Saberi, who spent nearly four months in an Iranian prison on espionage charges. will speak at the Society of Professional Journalists awards dinner on April 27 at the downtown Omni Hotel.