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A tentative agreement to shorten the LAUSD school year for the fourth consecutive year "is almost certain to weaken academic gains, and was driven, critics said, by expediency more than the best interests of students," says reporter Howard Blume. LAT
The school board decided Tuesday to remove a parcel tax proposal from the November ballot to avert an Election Day showdown over education funding. DN
Councilman Tony Cárdenas blasted the City Council’s 11-2 vote to hire the law firm of Best, Best and Krieger, noting that former Bell city attorney Edward Lee used to be partner.
The egregious behavior that took place in the city of Bell will go down as one of the worst abuses ever committed by a group of city officials, and it happened under the watch of Best, Best & Krieger, while Edward Lee was a partner at this firm. Lee is not working with this firm anymore, but I have yet to hear what checks and balances have been put in place to ensure that a debacle like this never happens again.
Singer-activist Michelle Shocked spoke at the Board of Supervisors during the public comment period Tuesday regarding Occupy LA's efforts against fraudulent bank foreclosures.
Mayor Villaraigosa is in Orlando for the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Kian Kaeni, the senior legislative deputy for Councilman Paul Koretz, has joined EKA Campaigns as a vice president and managing director.
Longtime theater critic Don Shirley notes that Monday's LA Times covered the Tony Awards with "five Tony-centric articles, two related sidebars and 12 photos, with a thirteenth photo on the front page of the entire newspaper. Online at the Times Culture Monster site — a slide show with 55 photos from the Tony ceremony." LA Stage Times
Of course other Tony articles preceded the day of the big event itself – all on behalf of covering the awards ceremony for one segment of the theater community in a city that’s roughly 2,500 miles from LA.
The Times-Picayune newspaper, a crucial and award-winning lifeline in New Orleans after the Hurricane Katrina disaster, will lay off 200 as it stops printing some days of the week. Romenesko
It's time again for applications to the annual USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Program. Info
Journalist Chuck Philips has posted a piece to the Village Voice blog contending that court testimony reveals that James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond implicated himself in the 1994 attack on Tupac Shakur. VV
Author Scott Turow's tracklist for the KCRW Guest DJ project:
1. We Shall Overcome - Pete Seeger 2. Can't Help Myself - The Four Tops 3. Runaway - Del Shannon 4. Free As A Bird - The Beatles 5. Rainbow Connection - The Muppet Movie
Anthony Pellicano, the former Hollywood private detective serving 180 months in a federal prison in Texas, filed a motion requesting bail pending the appeal of his two 2008 convictions on federal racketeering charges. The Wrap
The discovery of two active House Finch nests at the Vasquez Rocks Natural Area has forced postponement of an art-making workshop planned this weekend under the Civic Art Program of the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.
The county is back in the July 4 fireworks business at Marina del Rey, after a year off for budgetary reasons. Show starts at 9 p.m. and runs about 20 minutes. That costs $115,000. Viewable from miles around, including on the beach near the marina. Venice Patch
Hendrik Stooker, co-founder of the Arroyo Arts Collective and an arts activist in the Highland Park area, died at UCLA Medical Center. Arroyo Seco Journal
Henry Hill, the mobster and informant who inspired "Goodfellas" and was portrayed by Ray Liotta, died in a Los Angeles area hospital at age 69. TMZ
