Follow LA Observed on Twitter here
Climate change and water, the state of Black Los Angeles, a parking tickets audit and a new role for book agent Steve Wasserman — plus more.
The Urban League's 2011 State of Black Los Angeles report says that blacks were disproportionately hard hit by the recession, with the highest unemployment rate of any ethnic group at 16.3 percent. African Americans also have the poorest health and receive longer jail sentences.
Precipitation and runoff in California's major river basin will not fall dramatically with climate change, according to a new federal study that shows rising temperatures will have an uneven effect on the West's water supplies. LAT
A group opposed to gay marriage says federal Judge Vaughn R. Walker should have disclosed that he was in a long-term same-sex relationship and recused himself from presiding over the Proposition 8 case. LAT, WSJ, Chronicle, AP
City Controller Wendy Greuel will release an investigation of the City Department of Transportation that faults its parking citation scofflaw enforcement activities.
A proposal to create a "collections sheriff" to round up past-due tax revenue from Los Angeles businesses and residents was criticized Monday as being too loosely defined and lacking measurements for success. DN
A month after voters approved creating a new watchdog for the Department of Water and Power, city officials are trying to sort out how to get started, acknowledging the ballot measure left most of the bureaucratic details to the City Council's discretion. DN
Fox 11 reporter Phil Shuman calls the $42,000 in fines negotiated by Mayor Villaraigosa for his ticket reporting violations "a slap on the wrist." SO-SC-Encino News
Lindsay Lohan appears on the Tonight Show and gets a standing ovation. They taped her segment with Jay Leno at the end of Monday's show. AP
Melanie Sill, editor of the Sacramento Bee, will leave the paper and accept a six-month executive-in-residence position at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. Joyce Terhaar is the new editor. Bee
Yale University Press named Steve Wasserman, the literary agent and former books editor at the L.A. Times, as its Executive Editor-at-Large for General Interest Books. He will continue as a partner at the Kneerim and Williams agency.
Rich McKee, the Pasadena City College professor and media sunshine advocate who co-founded Californians Aware, died April 23 at age 62. Karen Ocamb, Whittier Daily News
Jason Reid is the latest baseball writer to point out that Frank McCourt was only able to buy the Dodgers because of Commissioner Bud Selig's help. Washington Post
Googie architect Eldon Davis is the topic at 9:29 a.m. on The Madeleine Brand Show on KPCC.