Morning Buzz

Morning Buzz: Monday 1.24.11

Leiweke vs. Roski, Santos parents on Schwarzenegger, Villaraigosa staffer arrested, The King’s Speech wins the Producer's Guild, and who Richard Riordan escorted to the Golden Mikes. Plus much more.

Top of the news

Police in Southern California last year traced nearly 22,000 guns used in crimes. California Watch

Politics

Leiweke vs. Roski is "more about a clash of egos between two billionaires...and arguments over what works best for the region in terms of the real business of bringing tourists and conventions to Los Angeles," says Rick Orlov: Also: Dennis Zine is the roastee at the Los Angeles Political Roast March 24, Brad Smith. Orlov/DN

Why the NFL cherishes bygone cities, by former LAT editorial pages editor Andres Martinez. Zocalo Nexus

Consultants from the 2010 campaigns rehashed their strategies at a weekend conference and highlighted all the mistakes Meg Whitman made, though her people weren't there. Calbuzz, SF Chronicle, Sacto Bee

Fred and Kathy Santos, the parents of slain student Luis dos Santos, talk to Patt Morrison about their outrage over Arnold Schwarzenegger commuting the manslaughter sentence of Esteban Nunez. Nice, sad portrait by photog Dave Getzschman. LAT op-ed

Blanca Martinez-Navarro, a staffer on Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's anti-gang team, was placed on administrative leave after she was arrested in connection with a fight at the Conga Room at L.A. Live. LAT

City Council President Eric Garcetti is pushing a ban on the "open carry" of handguns within the city limits. LAT

Get ready for the CD 14 council race "to go from brutal to nuclear," says Jon Regardie. Downtown News

Deputy Planning Director Vince Bertoni is leaving City Hall to be Director of Planning for the city of Pasadena. Curbed

Becca Doten, communications deputy to Councilman Richard Alarcon, announces her running exploits on Twitter and posted proudly on Sunday night: "ran 7.22 mi on 1/23/2011 at 12:45 PM." Twitter

Media and media people

Keith Olbermann's separation agreement with MSNBC, in the works for weeks, prohibits him from commenting publicly on the deal or hosting another TV show for awhile. NYT

The Producers Guild of America gave its top film prize to “The King’s Speech” Saturday night, handing front-runner “The Social Network” its first loss of the awards season and "making the race for the best picture Oscar all the more interesting." The Envelope

Ex-mayor Richard Riordan escorted lifetime honoree Kelly Lange to Saturday night's Golden Mike awards.

Arts writer Barbara Isenberg visited with ex-Angeleno David Hockney at his home in Bridlington, England — and gets picked up by the artist at the train station. LAT

The day after the pilot episode of “Skins” was shown on MTV, executives at the cable channel were frantically meeting to discuss whether the salacious teenage drama starring actors as young as 15 might violate federal child pornography statutes. NYT

Barbara Demick, who is in Beijing for the L.A. Times, is a nonfiction finalist for the National Book Critics Circle awards for her book "Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea." Jacket Copy

"American Idol:The Untold Story" by L.A. journalist Richard Rushfield is out from Hyperion and was reviewed in the Wall Street Journal

NYT food columnist Mark Bittman is moving to the op-ed side with an online column about food policy, environmentally sustainable eating, and issues at the intersection of diet and health. The Cutline

More

Santa Monica Place has the nation's first camera-based "Find Your Car" system. Shoppers can punch their license plate number into a kiosk touch screen and get a photo of their car and its location. LAT

USC will greatly increase its security cameras and other steps west of Vermont Avenue. Daily Trojan

Predictions that climate change will drive trees and plants uphill, potentially slashing their range to perilous levels, may be wrong, suggests a new study that found vegetation in California actually crept downhill during the 20th century. The research, published in the Jan. 21 issue of the journal Science, challenges widely held assumptions about the effect of rising temperatures on shrubs and trees that play a critical role in mountain environments. LAT

Hector Tobar goes out exploring the roots of black Los Angeles along Central Avenue. LAT

Recently settled Boyle Heights resident Allon Schoener discovers the neighborhood on a walk with Survey LA, the Los Angeles Historic Resources Survey. Reluctant Angeleno

Redondo Beach police have responded 59 times since September to the rented home of a formerly homeless trumpet player. Daily Breeze

Ron Patterson, who with his then-wife Phyllis founded the Renaissance Pleasure Faire in North Hollywood in 1963 as a fundraiser for KPFK, died in Sausalito at age 80. LAT


More by Kevin Roderick:
Gustavo Arellano, many others join LA Times staff
Power out Monday across Malibu
Put Jamal Khashoggi Square outside the Saudi consulate on Sawtelle
Here's who the LA Times has newly hired*
LA Observed Notes: Clippers hire big-time writer, unfunny Emmys, editor memo at the Times and more
Recent Morning Buzz stories on LA Observed:
Thursday news and notes
A little bit of mid-week reading
A few links from a few different places
Let's talk about anything but the weather
A few links from here and there
A couple of links from a couple of places
A bit of news from a few places
Morning Buzz: Wednesday 4.16.14


 

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