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Republican Andy Vidak leads in the 16th Senate district special election with about 54 percent of the vote counted so far. AP
Anthony Weiner's latest embarrassment began as an exchange with a 22-year-old woman from Indiana who was disappointed in him, then quickly turned sexual. NYT
Plus:The New York Times editorial boards says Weiner should remove himself from the race for mayor. NYT editorial
My favorite tweet of the Weiner episode, from Quinn Cummings: "Carlos Danger? Please. When I knew him in high school, he was Carlos Dangerstein."
Mayor Eric Garcetti plans to unveil at 11 a.m. the Mayor's Help Desk outside his office on the third floor of City Hall. "Staffed by his constituent service team, the desk will offer help with the full-range of city services and will be the only such service point in City Hall," says the flackage.
More than $1 billion is pouring into the coffers of cities, school districts and other public entities across Los Angeles County, as the state redistributes $4 billion formerly set aside for redevelopment agencies. DN
The Army Corps of Engineers is "putting the finishing touches on a much-anticipated, much-delayed feasibility study focusing on an 11-mile stretch of the Los Angeles River between Union Station and Griffith Park. The study, expected to be released Aug. 30, will weigh three ambitious plans aimed at restoring the river's natural ecosystem and improving public access to its banks." Christopher Hawthorne/LAT
The LA County Registrar-Recorder is looking for bilingual election assistants who speak English and Bengali, Gujarati, Japanese, Korean or Vietnamese. Earn up to $19/hr. Apply
The Hollywood Reporter philanthropy issue has Bill Clinton and Casey Wasserman on the cover. They "reveal secrets of their friendship [and] philanthropic bond." THR
"The Ocean at the End of the Lane" by Neil Gaiman has taken over as the #1 best-seller in hardcover fiction at SoCal independent bookstores. "Beautiful Ruins" by Jess Walter leads the paperback list. IndieBound
Todd S. Purdum, a former NYT correspondent in Los Angeles, will become Senior Writer at Politico and Contributing Editor at Vanity Fair, effective in September, the two publications announced. Politico
A Media Matters study finds that Reuters' coverage of climate change declined by nearly 50 percent under the regime of the current managing editor, a climate-change skeptic. Media Matters
American citizens born in Jerusalem cannot claim Israel as their place of birth on their passports, a federal appeals court in Washington ruled Tuesday. LAT
Workers in the back kitchen at Urasawa in Beverly Hills are routinely denied overtime pay and forbidden from taking breaks, according to former employees and a California Labor Department investigation. Now, the chef and owner, Hiroyuki Urasawa, is battling state and civil claims that he withheld tens of thousands of dollars in wages and overtime from workers. NYT
The imminent departure of Jeffrey Deitch from the directorship of the Museum of Contemporary Art after three short years was never really a question of "if" but only "when." The arrangement was bound to fail. Christopher Knight/LAT
Organized criminals in the troubled Mexican state of Michoacan were suspected of unleashing a series of attacks on government forces Tuesday that resulted in the deaths of 20 criminals and two federal police officers. LAT
CicLAvia will return to the center of the city on Oct. 6. The 7.4-mile route will pass through Chinatown, the Piñata District, the Historic Core, Boyle Heights, Westlake and MacArthur Park, Little Tokyo, Central Avenue and Grand Park/Civic Center. Info
Forest Lawn Memorial Parks & Mortuaries now has informational carts in some Westfield shopping malls. DN
The Los Angeles Unified School District unveiled an art project by Shepard Fairey that will be displayed on bus wraps and hundreds of billboards promoting the importance of creativity in education. DN
I’m sure we can all agree that there just haven’t been enough stories about Nate Silver’s decision to change jobs.
— Dan Kennedy (@dankennedy_nu) July 23, 2013
