Morning Buzz: Monday 10.17.11

The L.A. Times on Sunday unveiled a multi-day investigative series on the Kabbalah Centre and its controversial founders, Philip and Karen Berg. The series continues Tuesday. LAT

At least 33 submachine guns high-powered weapons belonging to the LAPD's SWAT unit were stolen from a locked building in what the department is calling an "embarrassment." LAT

Sheriff Lee Baca did the mea culpa with Times reporters Robert Faturechi and Jack Leonard, who have been breaking all those jail abuse stories, and said he has been lax at overseeing his jails. "I wasn't ignoring the jails. I just didn't know," Baca said. LAT

The 1970s version of Jerry Brown favored initiatives going before voters on the primary election ballot, now banned by a bill he signed, notes Sherry Bebitch Jeffe. Prop Zero

“Proposition 13 set up an unfair and dysfunctional two- tiered system of property taxes,” says historian Kevin Starr in a loong study of the 1978 initiative's impact. Bloomberg

At least three state legislators are lining up to run for city office in 2013, not counting Assemblyman Warren Furutani now on the ballot in CD 15. DN

LAPD senior lead officer and political neophyte Joe Buscaino could pull off an upset in CD 15. Rick Orlov's Tipoff/DN

Eun Chavis, a clerk-typist in the city's housing department, pleaded guilty to a charfge after being accused of demanding payoffs in the third case to surface in recent months "involving a city employee accused of preying on immigrant communities they were supposed to be helping." LAT

Trustees of the California Medical Assn. called for legalization of marijuana but says it has little use medicinally. LAT

A service celebrating the life of Charles Manatt is scheduled for 11 a.m. at the Skirball Cultural Center.

Former City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo was named chief executive officer of the Los Angeles County Medical Association.

Steve Jobs was honored amid ultra-tight security at a Stanford service that included Rupert Murdoch, former Vice President Al Gore and Google chief executive Larry Page. Oakland Tribune

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former mayor Richard Riordan, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and numerous Times colleagues attended a book party Sunday for LAT columnist Jim Newton. Witness LA

Janice Min of the Hollywood Reporter gets a little profile in Elle.

L.A. writer Taffy Brodesser-Akner lays out the case for and against her getting the nose job she always craved. NYT Fashion

The Greater Los Angeles chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is seeking nominations for the chapter’s 2011 Distinguished Journalists Awards, 2011 Distinguished Work in New Media Award and 2011 Freedom of Information Award.

San Bernardino's poverty rate of 34.6 percent ranks first in California and is second only to Detroit among U.S. cities. SB Sun

Issue 14 of Black Clock, out now, is the first of the CalArts literary journal to be published simultaneously in print, ePUB and PDF and to be available for purchase in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and throughout Europe. Blackclock.org

Historians Peter Westwick and Matthew Hersch, curators of the aerospace exhibit at the Huntington, elaborate on the role of aerospace nerds in a piece for Zócalo Public Square.

The blog Hollywood Temp Diaries celebrates National Boss's Day with its third annual Brown List, ranking the most-liked and least-liked entertainment executives. HTD

Older residents of the Valley recalled when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. visited Woodland Hills in 1961. DN

The endangered murals in the lobby of the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance building in West Adams will be available for public viewing on Saturday, October 22, from noon to 3 p.m. as part of Pacific Standard Time. West Adams Heritage Association

LA Observed contributor John Schwada will be the questioner of Lawrence Lessig, the Harvard professor and expert on ethics and law and technology, at an Oct. 28 breakfast. Live Talks LA