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It's safe to speed in Arizona again, John Edwards the movie, Ron Kaye's political aspirations, the L.A. River's kayaking biologist speaks, the LAT's Emmy nomination and a KTLA reporter heads to Iraq to work for the government. Details inside.
- As of today, Arizona has turned off its highway cameras designed to catch speeders and bring in revenue. Less than a third of the 1.2 million tickets issued since 2008 were ever paid, and the public objected to the intrusion. NYT
- John Edwards the movie: Aaron Sorkin is writing, and plans to direct, an adaptation of Andrew Young's "The Politician." Hollywood & Highland
- After farmers and other business interests objected, Meg Whitman backed away from her primary campaign proposal to have state and local officials do workplace inspections for illegal workers. Bee
- Attorney General candidates Steve Cooley and Kamala Harris teamed up to oppose Proposition 19, the marijuana legalization measure. Political Blotter
- Ex-mayor Richard Riordan will speak and KRLA talk host Kevin James will emcee at the Saturday kickoff for Ron Kaye's City Council campaign organization, LA Clean Sweep. Kaye's blog
- Some residents in Bell say they are unhappy about their city officials having the country's highest salaries, now that they know about it. LAT
- The interim city administrator and the new police chief in Montebelo both resigned their jobs on Wednesday night — or didn't they? SGV Tribune, follow-up
- More than 3,000 new naturalized U.S. citizens were sworn in at the Convention Center. DN
- The Coliseum Commission will discuss whether to continue allowing raves, but won't say how much money the events bring in. LAT
- Jon Friedman of MarketWatch calls former L.A. Times columnist Joel Stein "a smart guy but an insufferable journalist, whose top priority seems to focus on calling attention to ... Joel Stein." There's a flap over a Stein humor column called 'My Own Private India" that Time magazine editors apologized for after objections from offended readers.
- Ex-Corps of Engineers biologist Heather Wylie explains how she turned activist to kayak down the Los Angeles River and push for its declaration as a navigable waterway. LAT
- City Council members José Huizar and Ed Reyes and fire officials will unveil the Mt. Washington Remote Automated Weather Station at 9 a.m. at the Mt. Washington Radio Towers on Glenalbyn Drive.
- KTLA reporter Dave Malkoff has left for Iraq to be part of a "U.S. State Department mission to help train Iraqi journalists and to strengthen the budding free press in Iraq." He will be there a month. KTLA blog
- The L.A. Times has won Pulitzers but now the paper is nominated for an Emmy for an online documentary, "Alabama's Homeboys," produced by Katy Newton, Sean Connelly, Liz O. Baylen and Mary Cooney. It follows members of L.A.’s Homeboy Industries and their work with impoverished youths in Prichard, Ala. Readers' Rep
- Witness LA's LA Justice Report has been fully funded through Spot.US and reporter Matthew Fleischer will report in August on "how the city of Los Angeles is spending it’s $26 million of gang violence reduction money." WLA
- "Crude" director Joe Berlinger must turn over some outtakes to Chevron, a federal appeals panel ruled. LAT
- Do ultra-hyped film openings (speaking of "Inception") help or hurt films?. Film critics Andy Klein and Henry Sheehan talk with Larry Mantle and callers at 11:40 a.m. on KPCC's "Airtalk."
- Ban Billboard Blight nominates a Koreatown billboard as eyesore of the week.