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Cortines makes his exit plans, John & Ken turn against Meg Whitman, mixed week for Andrew Breitbart, defense fund for Richard Alarcon and the death of Silver Lake's walking man.
- LAUSD superintendent Ramon Cortines said he plans to retire by next spring. DN, LAT blog
- KFI's John and Ken have turned on Meg Whitman over her shifting position on illegal immigration. CalBuzz, KFI
- Former Democratic assemblywoman Nicole Parra, now registered as an independent, has joined the Carly Fiorina campaign for U.S. Senate. Sacto Bee
- Dan Schnur is "kicking up dust in his short and soon-to-conclude tenure" as chairman of the state Fair Political Practices Commission. Dan Morain/Bee
- Mixed week for right-wing media star Andrew Breitbart, who got a lot of attention and was on "Nightline" last night for his role in the Shirley Sherrod fiasco but whose website Big Government was also called "discredited" by Shepard Smith of Fox News. Politico, ABC News, HuffPost, LA Weekly
- The sheriff's investigations into the Mel Gibson situation will include evidence that Oksana Grigorieva wrote Gibson a text message that could suggest extortion as a motive behind the leaking of those inflammatory voice recordings of the actor. THR
- Sheriff's deputies used fake scanner codes to make it look like they completed their required rounds at the Men's Central Jail to check on inmate welfare and security, according to an investigation made public Wednesday. LAT
- Councilman Richard Alarcón raised $9,000 in the first half of this year to cover legal expenses he may incur as he defends a complaint that he has been living outside of the district he represents. Neon Tommy
- Michael J. Mishak joined the Los Angeles Times Sacramento bureau from the Las Vegas Sun. Gorkana
- The LAPD's Northeast station sells The Club for $11 to deter car theft. Eastsider L.A.
- Marc Abrams, known as the walking man of Silver Lake for his ubiquitous presence around the community, usually walking shirtless while reading, was found dead in a backyard hot tub at age 58. NBC 4