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Curated news, notes and observations most weekdays from LA Observed.
Heavy fog forced some flights due to arrive at LAX this morning to be diverted to Ontario or San Diego. CNS
Healdsburg and 16 other California communities are in danger of running out of water within 60 to 120 days, state officials said Tuesday. Mercury-News
The Board of Supervisors named Orange County Undersheriff John Scott to fill the vacancy left with the retirement of Sheriff Lee Baca. Scott spent 36 years with LASD before heading south. DN, LAT, Opinion LA, KPCC, Witness LA
Prosecutors and criminal investigators are joining a Los Angeles City Hall effort to determine how two controversial Department of Water and Power nonprofits have spent more than $40 million in ratepayer money, The Times has learned. LAT
DWP chief Ron Nichols says IBEW stonewall on trust accounting 'dumbfounds' him. KPCC
Metro is asking drivers to avoid the northbound 405 Freeway through Sepulveda Pass during Presidents Day weekend as they anticipate planned lane closures will cause a massive traffic backup dubbed “Jamzilla.” DN
The two main Republican rivals to Gov. Jerry Brown's reelection, Assemblyman Tim Donnelly and Neel Kashkari, have not voted in several elections. LAT
Noted: Jon Christensen and Emily Green are due to be on KCRW's "Press Play" with Madeleine Brand this morning.
Meet the 6-year-old magazine — Pacific Standard — that just took the internet by storm. January has been the magazine’s biggest traffic month ever. CJR
Orange Coast's cover story this month, "Burger Queen," is a rare profile of In-N-Out Burger heiress and president Lynsi Snyder, at 31 among America's wealthiest women, and who also likes to drag race and wear turquoise nail polish. Orange Coast
Major layoffs are hitting the Patch sites today. Romenesko
Michael Hiltzik on the Register buying so-called "dead peasant" life insurance policies on its employees for the tax benefits and the payoffs should they die. LAT
The Register staff's internal Facebook page is brimful of questions and comments on an idea that sounds like it's designed to allow the company to profit from the deaths of its own staff. A meeting with management is being sought, we're told by sources inside the newspaper's Santa Ana headquarters.
Plus: Aaron Kushner's response. Romenesko
I didn't see it happen, but a reader posted on my Twitter feed that PBS SoCal cut away from President Obama's State of the Union speech for station identification and to list underwriters. A TV industry veteran replied that autoplay was probably left on by mistake.
"Duty" by Robert M. Gates has become the best-selling nonfiction hardcover book in local independent bookstores. Bookweb
Anthony Lovett, the author of "L.A. Bizarro: The Insider's Guide to the Obscure, the Absurd and the Perverse in Los Angeles" and a former publisher and editor of Adult Video News, died in his sleep at home in Simi Valley. He was 52. LAT
What are LA cops doing with your license-plate data? ACLU and EFF sue. LA Weekly, EFF
Several dead trees are marked for removal in Elysian Park. The Eastsider LA
The Dodgers have finished paying Manny Ramirez his deferred contract millions, but are still paying Andruw Jones. NBC 4
Pete Seeger's passing is to public radio what Justin Beiber's arrest was to TMZ. #backtobackcoverage
— Eric Garcetti (@ericgarcetti) January 29, 2014