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Villaraigosa to make "major address," City Council reneges on South L.A. park, killing the City Hall lawn is a good thing, KOST-FM goes holiday and a Munchkin dies.
On the same day that the Supreme Court met to consider taking the big challenge to President Obama’s healthcare law, justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas were dined by the law firm that will argue the case. LAT
Mayor Villaraigosa's office says he will make a "major address" on the topic of building a more livable city today at 12:30 p.m. at the Mayoral Housing, Transportation and Jobs Summit at UCLA's Ackerman Union sponsored by the Los Angeles Business Council.
Plus: Three mayoral candidates will take part in a morning panel. City Maven
The City Council changed its mind about putting a city park on the site of the former South Central Farm and instead gave its support to plans for apparel manufacturing facilities, along with improvements at nearby parks. LAT
The DWP began pushing for a new rate increase of more than $5 a month on the average water bill. DN, City Maven
Superior Court Judge James Chalfant ruled that the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Assn. must produce all pension data for 50,000 county government retirees, in a case brought by the L.A. Times. LAT
The county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday demanded changes to Gov. Jerry Brown's prisoner realignment plan, "alarmed that the month-old state law was putting unarmed probation officers in charge of violent criminals, one of whom is due for release Friday." DN
Like any good political campaign, stadium construction plans are hyped as solutions to whatever the problem of the day happens to be — and with AEG's stadium plan that's jobs, says former city official Greg Nelson. City Watch
City Atty. Carmen Trutanich issued a press release announcing that five people from Occupy L.A.'s camp have been charged with misdemeanor, including lewd conduct. LAT
Now that Occupy L.A. has killed the lawn around City Hall, Emily Green says how about a water-wise garden instead. LAT op-ed
The San Marino City Council last week voted in an ordinance creating a buffer zone for activists who protest at homes, requiring them to stand 75 feet from the curb or 150 feet from the home, whichever is farther. LAT
A judge's ruling that the belongings of homeless people cannot be summarily collected and discarded by the city has led to a profusion of encampments and refuse on Skid Row sidewalks. "A broken piece of furniture could be presumed trash before, but now we have to presume it's property," said LAPD Lt. Shannon Paulson. Downtown News
Businessman Craig Huey, who lost a run for Congress to Rep. Janice Hahn, says he will run as a Republican for the state Assembly in the 66th district. Daily Breeze
Peter Spiegelman sold an untitled novel to Knopf summarized as "an emergency medical doctor who runs a street clinic in the gritty downtown L.A. funded by his 'night job,' providing undocumented, off-the-books emergency medical service to criminals and celebrities with plenty of cash and a need for complete secrecy -- a modern day Robin Hood who takes from the wealthy and corrupt and gives to L.A.'s luckless and dispossessed." Publishers Lunch
KOST/103.5 FM switched to holiday music at 10 a.m. Tuesday. Register
Nothing could top the Ronni Chasen murder last November "for its exquisite, undiluted brand of L.A. noir," says Debra Levine. Arts meme.
Janet L. Robinson, president and CEO of the New York Times Company, will address “The Upside to Uncertain Times: Legacy, Leadership and Reinvention” at Town Hall Los Angeles today at lunch at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel.
Playwright and actor Alan Alda guests with Elvis Mitchell on "The Treatment" on KCRW at 2:30 p.m.
Two Manhattan Beach police officers fired for their roles in an off-duty hit-and-run crash are each demanding $10 million from the city, claiming they have been inhumanely treated, feel unsafe and might have to flee the country. Daily Breeze
Heal the Bay's Mark Gold doesn't really enjoy seeing Simon Cowell toss old cellphones into the ocean. Spouting Off
Karl Slover, one of the last surviving actors to play a Munchkin in the 1939 classic "The Wizard of Oz," has died in Atlanta at 93. AP
Note: On review I've gone back and capitalized Munchkin, since author L. Frank Baum coined the word as a proper noun, the name for the inhabitants of Munchkinland.