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A short stack today due to time pressures.
The San Onofre nuclear plant, already idle for 17 months due to problems in the steam geerator system, will close for good, Southern California Edison announced. The plant provided power for about 1.4 million homes. LAT, AP
The National Security Agency has "obtained direct access to the systems of Google, Facebook, Apple and other US internet giants" under a previously undisclosed program called PRSIM that began during the Bush Administration and was continued by President Obama, according to a top secret document published by the Guardian. The program allows officials to collect search history and the content of emails, file transfers and live chats. Guardian, NYT
The top two leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee said today that the widespread monitoring of phone records revealed by Wednesday’s Guardian report has been going on for years and that Congress is regularly briefed about it. "It’s called protecting America,” said Sen Dianne Feinstein. Politico
It Won’t Be Easy, But Here’s How You Can Keep All Your Conversations Private. Wired
The FBI recently has raided at least two California businesses with connections to former Assemblyman Tom Calderon and his brother, Sen. Ron Calderon, whose offices were searched by federal investigators this week. Sacramento Bee
Mayor-elect Eric Garcetti will attend the President Obama fundraiser at lunch time in Santa Monica. But electric car advocate Paul Scott was disinvited by the DNC.
Critic Christopher Hawthorne considers Sunnylands, the Rancho Mirage estate where Obama will meet with the president of China. The former home of Walter Annenberg was designed by A. Quincy Jones, the late Los Angeles architect whose work we featured recently.
Authorities discovered after the fact that 24 homes were destroyed by the Powerhouse fire in the Angeles National Forest. LAT
The California High-Speed Rail Authority voted Thursday to award a $985-million contract to Sylmar-based Tutor Perini to begin construction of the state's bullet train system, 29 miles between Madera and Fresno. LAT
LAX inspectors fear travelers will bring in citrus crop-killing Huanglongbing disease, which authorities say has the potential to essentially wipe out the state's citrus crop. Daily Breeze
Upon the closure of lesbian bar The Palms, the Times' Noelle Carter does a first-person piece on the first time she visited the West Hollywood spot. LAT
Hear the 911 call: Alligator, kangaroo in the desert make for unusual traffic stop. DN
Quote of the day: John Schwada, the former TV newsman turned press deputy for political campaigns, reflecting on his work for the Carmen Trutanich campaign after a post-election trip to Oman: "I don’t think an hour went by during those months when I did not commit an offense that would have been imprisonable in Oman." Via email
