Wednesday notes

Jerry Brown announced plans for his Jan. 3 inauguration.
The Downtown Art Walk will name Joe Moller its first full-time executive director, says Blogdowntown and Deborah Vankin in the Times.
The Times will continue with plans to review Red Medicine in Beverly Hills despite the restaurant's refusal to serve critic S. Irene Virbila's party and attack on her credibility. Also, is this the review that ticked off the eatery's partner?
Plus: LAT media critic James Rainey, perhaps not realizing that Twitter is a public forum, posts an interview query on the controversy for former LAT and NYT critic Ruth Reichl. (Update: She later makes his blog post.)
Tavis Smiley plans to stay in Los Angeles despite signing a deal to make New York’s PBS affiliate WNET the co-production partner for his nightly talk show, says Fishbowl LA.
Jeremy Marks, the Verdugo Hills High student suspect featured in the LA Weekly, was bailed out of jail for Christmas by a Google software engineer.
Laura Chick's value as state inspector general "lay in not just another layer of auditing but in an outsider's sometimes brazen, sometimes naive but always fresh approach to how government does its work," an LAT editorial says.
Another Times editorial calls on Gov. Schwarzenegger to commute the death sentence of convicted killer Kevin Cooper.
The Betty Ford Center fired a technician who accused inmate Lindsay Lohan of assaulting her and pressed charges.
Though it's a stretch, Van Nuys Boulevard might get a streetcar in a semblance of the former Red Cars that used to run up the center of the Valley street.
Hate crimes in Los Angeles County were down in 2009 compared with the year before, but crimes against Jews rose almost 50%, the county Human Relations Commission says.
Donna Myrow, publisher of L.A. Youth, writes on the LAT op-ed page about the importance of having a youth newspaper such as hers.
Rick Caruso makes $6 million offer for Glendale hotel in the way of his Americana expansion plans.
AOL Travel News suggests 10 eclectic L.A. literary spots to visit.