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Federal prosecutors filed their first criminal charge in the ongoing investigation of deputy misconduct in the Los Angeles County jails. Ex-deputy Gilbert Michel has agreed to plead guilty to felony bribery and is cooperating with the FBI. LAT
Steve Lopez notes the passing of his 102-year-old former neighbor, Mae Laborde, who stars in Hulu's most-watched video of all time. L.A. Now
Who has more strings to their bow than Quincy Jones? A Financial Times magazine profile by Matthew Garrahan.
Ron Burkle buys the Soho House chain of clubs, restaurants and hotels. FT
Actor Joshua Malina is drunk with excitement at the news that Mel Gibson is doing a movie on Judah Maccabee. He writes in the Jewish Journal, "It’s comforting to know that 5772/2011 will likely be the last year that we have to tell our kids the story of the Maccabees without the help of Mel Gibson."
The LA Times Media Group announced the launch of the Spanish-language website Hoylosangeles.com. Fishbowl LA
Singer Terri Nunn of the rock bank Berlin, Mark “Mr. Shovel” Sovel (former music director of Indie 103.1) and "international tastemaker" Sat Bisla are joining the weekend lineup at 88.5-FM KCSN. Release
The California Republican Party has hired Jennifer Kerns as communications director.
Petros Papadakis is the number one on Tom Hoffarth's latest annual best of L.A. sports talk hosts. He rates Dan Patrick the best national sports talk host who airs here, and Bill Seward of KFWB as the top of the local sports desk anchors. He ranks TV reporters and anchors on Jan. 20. Daily News
Before Tim Tebow, there was Orel Hershiser in the 1988 National League Championship Series. MLB.com
Legend is that teenage short-order cook Lionel Clark Sternberger invented the cheeseburger in the mid-1920s at “The Rite Spot” on Colorado Boulevard, then part of route 66. So now we have Pasadena Cheeseburger Week. Pasadena Sun
The Arroyo Seco Journal has a new look.
Don Hunt, a former longtime Los Angeles Times editor, died after a battle with cancer.