Follow LA Observed on Twitter here
Inventing the tea party express, Whitman's video reports, Jill Stewart on City Hall, Capitol Weekly's lower Top 100 and more — inside after the jump.
- The Sacramento-based Republican campaign firm Russo Marsh + Rogers created the Tea Party Express brand and other events around the tea party movement after consultant Joe Wierzbicki wrote a memo saying they could "give a boost to our PAC and position us as a growing force/leading force as the 2010 elections come into focus.” Politico
Plus: Bunch of tea parties around the L.A. area today. LAist - Meg Whitman's video news releases are no big deal, says Calbuzz.
- Jill Stewart weighs in on the DWP-City Hall mess with a take that leans heavily on City Council members Bernard Parks and Dennis Zine for support and says they are among "only five City Council members widely seen as capable of grasping the vast citywide budget and complex fiscal issues." LA Weekly
- The Times' City Hall reporters say "the 10-day standoff over electric rates in Los Angeles, and the budget crisis it provoked, has boiled down to a single problem: Too many members of the City Council don't trust the Department of Water and Power." LAT
- A potential conflict of interest involving airport commission chairman Alan Rothenberg's holdings in California Pizza Kitchen forced the commission to be disqualified from voting on concession contracts for LAX. LAT
- Capitol Weekly ranks Parke Skelton #51, George Skelton #52 and Dan Walters #53 on its list of Top 100 players in California politics, not counting electeds. Only the second half is out. CW
- Wall Street Journal travel editor Scott McCartney takes a look at the parking lot where several airline pilots who fly through LAX sleep in RV's. WSJ
- On Wednesday, the LAPD announced the arrest of 22-year-old cousins accused of breaking into more than 100 cars in the Koreatown, mid-Wilshire and Hollywood areas since February. Victims may be able to get their stuff back. NBC4
- Jaimee Grubbs, one of Tiger Woods' alleged mistresses, was arrested on outstanding warrants after being pulled over Wednesday evening in West Hollywood. KTLA
- Laura Dominick of the Los Angeles Times won an award for her headline writing from the American Copy Editors Society, which also honored the Times staff for headlines. Release