Follow LA Observed on Twitter here
Berman raising money fast, Brown's State of the State coming, Yaroslavsky gets exasperating, plus HuffPo, NPR's Alex Kellogg and a girls' basketball team on the Eastside
Rep. Howard Berman will report raising more than $1 million during the latest quarter, which is a pretty fast pace of campaign fundraising. Politico
Hours after his State of the State speech Wednesday morning in Sacramento, Gov. Jerry Brown is scheduled to speak at Los Angeles City Hall then hold a private meeting with teachers at Bret Harte Elementary School in Burbank. LAT
Jim Newton columnizes that Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky is enjoying being asked if he's running for mayor, but the evasive reply he always gives is becoming exasperating. Also a thought on Rick Caruso as a canddate. Plus: Zev running is also the lead item in Rick Orlov's Tipoff this week. LAT op-ed, DN
Victims of accidents with unlicensed drivers will show up at a Police Commission meeting at 6:30 tonight at St. Nicholas Church in Northridge. The Daily News editorialized against the LAPD's proposal to stop impounding cars for thirty very expensive days. DN editorial
Greg Nelson urges neighborhood councils to look ahead to the next city elections and "assume a leadership position by agreeing upon a few demands that they will present to the candidates in advance, and dare them to come to the meeting as endorsers." City Watch
Metro has released its final environmental impact report for the Regional Connector rail line. Metro, Curbed
The city's Department of Recreation and Parks has posted the proposals for rebuilding the City Hall grounds left in dust by the Occupy LA camp. LA Parks
Radio giant Clear Channel has tapped entertainment industry veteran John Sykes to lead a push into television, digital and live events. LAT
"Ad Age reports that HuffPo reports that Hollywood Life reports that Us Weekly is making the bold claim that Katy couldn't cater to Russell's sexual needs," says Simon Dumenco in a nice skewer of the Huffington Post. "And probably I should credit Twitter in there somewhere." Ad Age
Alex Kellogg, one of NPR's few black reporters, has left the network after 14 months. Journal-isms
Newsroom buyouts are being offered to cut costs at the Chicago Tribune, part of the Tribune Company chain that also owns the Los Angeles Times. CT
The new owners of the San Diego Union-Tribune would like to form partnerships and possibly acquire other media properties and house them at a media center they intend to grow at their headquarters. North County Times
Bil Plaschke columnizes on the girls' basketball team of Sacred Heart High, whose members practice and play home games at Lincoln Park Recreation Center, requiring a one-mile walk or jog through Lincoln Heights. They don't go alone since a girl got jumped by gang members last year. LAT
They will pass tiny shuttered houses with front porches filled with bored men in bandannas. They will pass a barbershop where men will turn their half-shaved heads and shout. They will pass a dry cleaner whose curb is home to a man who reaches out to them from his cardboard box.One minute, they feel the breath of charging pit bulls, the next minute they hear the whistle of a tattooed wolf, and eventually they will be confronted by the leering driver of a squeaking Chevy that has slowed to bounce alongside them. It's always somebody like him, and, confronted with the sight of a group of young women walking through gang territory in the middle of the afternoon, he always asks the same question.
"Where you going, ladies?"
The city has already paid a $5 million settlement, but two versions continue to be told of the 2009 accident in which Devin Petelski, 25, was killed when her BMW was hit on Venice Boulevard by an LAPD car speeding to a call without lights or siren. LAT
Dennis McCarthy columnizes on Richard Hilton's walking tour of "historic Van Nuys." DN