Follow LA Observed on Twitter here
News, notes and observations from LA Observed and selected media sources. Sometimes daily, often in the morning.
Donald Sterling's team of lawyers has hired four private investigation firms to dig up dirt on the NBA's former and current commissioners and its 29 other owners, said a person familiar with Sterling's legal strategy. AP
How Michael Trujillo, California's Bad Boy of Politics, Screws the Opposition, by Hillel Aron in LA Weekly
At 18 he became the youngest city commissioner ever. Thirty-five campaigns later, after countless warm cans of Diet Coke, feuds and friendships and notorious emails that made him seem, at times, unhinged and un-hireable, he's still in the game.
Nikki Finke is back on the air as a free agent at NikkiFinke.com. Slogan: "Because you don't have time for bullshit."
Let me just admit it: I’m old. I’m beat up. I’ve been used for target practice by every moron with a byline. But this morning I’m excited and scared and most importantly back to writing more than 140-character Tweets. Because I’m posting on my own website after sitting out my non-compete for 7 soul-crushing months. And that’s why I designed my new logo to look the way it does – gritty and bullet-riddled with a fiery palm tree shooting sparks into the night sky more dramatically than any fancy klieg light. Let those wimpy Hollywood websites do glossy or garish or rewrite press releases or post stenography instead of sturm und drang. I’m all about this town’s gritty reality exposed through the harsh glare of my reporting. And if you don’t want to read about what’s really going on in Hollywood, then for crissakes don’t click here. I don’t give a shit who comes here or if the site gets traffic or if TPTB ever advertise. I’ve earned my street cred covering this biz for 28 years and starting Deadline Hollywood Daily by myself from ground zero 8 1/2 years ago. Then building it with a great journalism team and very little money or resources into a thriving business with 7-figure annual revenues and 75% profit margins. But that was then and this is now.
The city of Los Angeles will pay $215,000 to end a free-speech lawsuit over Michael Hunt being ejected from a Recreation and Parks commission meeting for wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood. LAT
Tom Waldman, Director of Communications for LA Unified, is moving to the newly created post of Executive Director of Board Communications. Lydia Ramos becomes head of communications. LA School Report
Parking tickets in LA would cap at $23 under a proposal by the Los Angeles Parking Freedom Initiative. LA Weekly
The Valley Industry & Commerce Association has launched a coalition aimed at bringing rail transit to the Valley: converting the Orange Line to light rail, a rail system along the East San Fernando Valley Transit Corridor and building the Sepulveda Pass Corridor as a rail system with a tunnel through the Santa Monica Mountains. Post-Periodical
In one of his final columns for the OC Register, T.J. Simers lauds his former sports editor at the Times, Bill Dwyre. "No one has done more trying to connect with readers in Los Angeles than Journalist Bill." OCR
New York Times tech columnist Nick Bilton is moving to Los Angeles and the Styles section, "to write a column about the way technology is changing society and culture."
In my new gig I'll also be based in Los Angeles, where tech, culture, media and style continue to collide.
— Nick Bilton (@nickbilton) June 12, 2014Jill Abramson, the former executive editor of The New York Times, will teach undergraduate courses in narrative nonfiction at Harvard this fall, the university announced on Thursday. NYT
5 hit songs to come out of Central Avenue's swinging jazz scene. Los Angeles Magazine
Glorya Kaufman's 48-acre estate with lake in Mandeville Canyon is going up for auction, starting at the reserve price of $14.5 million. LAT
How the Ace Hotel Is the invisible hand driving Downtown's gentrification. LA Weekly
The Onion debuted its BuzzFeed parody site and you won't believe what happened next Salon
Tonight's possible Stanley Cup game will not be shown on the LA Live screens, only inside the bars and restaurants. Look elsewhere for a public place to watch.
Congrats to #TimDuncan on passing me for the most minutes played in the NBA Finals - I appreciate the fact that you did it with class!
— Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (@kaj33) June 13, 2014