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News and notes from LA Observed on politics, media and place plus a couple of tweets of the day.
LA Observed archive
for March 2015
If you don't find what you want here, check another month or search below.
News and notes from LA Observed on politics, media and place plus a couple of tweets of the day.
Michael Fleming says last week's story suggesting there was too much diversity in TV casting was a big mistake: "Our hearts are heavy with regret."
Eloi Vasquez was struck and killed on the 10 freeway early Sunday morning, but did not carry any identification.
The director and ex-member writes about why hardcore Scientologists will just not see, or believe, the truth that the Alex Gibney documentary lays out for them.
Metro is installing the artwork for the elevated station at Sepulveda Boulevard. Westwood/Rancho Park and Palms went first.
Carly Fiorina likely to run for president. New Daily Show host. Good magazine relaunches. KPCC drops Multi-American blog. Plus more and tweets of the day.
Oh why not? Compliments of New York Magazine's Vulture site.
Sunday is the centennial of, arguably, the most significant public vote in the history of Los Angeles.
The city's first blue signs for the new district were unveiled on Sunday.
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino will open its new $68 million education and visitor center next Saturday, April 4.
It's all about the acronyms: SPJ-LA, ASNE, ACES and ASJA. Congratulations to all the winners.
This level of previously unknown biodiversity surprised scientists and makes them wonder: what other mystery species are living in our backyards?
Scientist Grace Peng reminds us there was a time when the Pacific inundated California with rivers of free water from the sky.
Alejandra Campoverdi is the former Obama aide named managing editor of #EmergingUS, the Times' multimedia venture on race and multiculturalism.
Fischbeck was Channel 7's weatherman for nearly 20 years in the 1970s and 80s.
Jeb Bush to raise cash in Bel Air. Supes look to raise minimum age. A new column in Daily News. More notes on politics, media and place.
Consumer columnist David Lazarus has been getting more openly anti-Republican on his Twitter feed. So get ready for cat videos.
S. Mitra Kalita says few jobs in journalism would make her "uproot my family, leave a neighbourhood and friends I love, and exit an innovative startup like Quartz."
Some news and notes of politics, media and place to get the week started.
In "Viva Gentrification!," Hector Tobar says whites are returning to Latino enclaves such as Highland Park.
Starbucks CEO says the order to write "Race Together" on cups ends Monday. Everyone in line says thanks.
In a personal note posted on the web, Nash says "In my nearly three years in L.A., I’ve never met anyone who didn’t show me anything but love and support for my efforts."
Angel Rodriguez is deputy editor for mobile innovation at the Washington Post. He had been in sports roles previously.
It's just the second time researchers have spotted a lion successfully crossing the freeway — and the first to leave the Santa Monicas.
Alejandra Campoverdi will be managing editor of #EmergingUS. She worked in the White House from 2009-2012 and has a media background.
The city's Board of Cultural Heritage Commissioners today voted unanimously to extend history-cultural monument status to the threatened Norms coffee shop on North La Cienega.
Roughly half of California's fresh water arrives in this quirkily engineered, mis-named place, writes Emily Green. 25 million Californians depend on freshwater from the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta.
Tobar writing for NYT opinion. Oreskes to run NPR news. KPCC adds veterans and military issues reporter. Plus more.
In an interview, former owner (who retains an interest in the parking lots) says "Chavez Ravine has always been a preferred location for the NFL."
S. Mitra Kalita will be managing editor for editorial strategy. This year's addition from the NYT also gets a new title.
Catching up with a full day's worth of news and notes on politics, media and this crazy place we call LA.
The traditional statement of total pages in each day's paper vanished last week from the printed LA Times front page.
With this drought year starting to look like the worst yet, the Metropolitan Water District is offering rich deals and Northern California rice farmers are selling.
Already, this year has seen the most stranding of emaciated sea lions in memory. Warmer waters driving away the food is suspected.
The early 1960s neighborhood of homes designed by A. Quincy Jones and partners was the first postwar tract in the Valley to be given Los Angeles historic district status.
Kimmel's audience for Obama was up 30 percent over the previous Thursday and turned out to be the show's fourth highest rating ever.
This officer from Hollywood division was trying to smuggle somebody. Henry Solis is still at large.
She was hit and given a black eye by actor Scott Shepherd in London, and now leads an effort to make the theater a safer place for the people who on productions.
Wayne Ratkovich says that getting a historic designation on a building can be a good thing. He should know.
Sunday on Pico Boulevard in West Los Angeles. Also: the sidewalk outside downtown's venerable California Club.
On Hoffarth's annual opinionated lists of the top LA sports radio talkers, McDonnell was an easy number one.
Police are looking for probationary LAPD officer Henry Solis in connection with a fatal shooting outside a Pomona nightclub Friday morning.
HBO could not have gotten a luckier PR break with the final episode of "The Jinx" airing tonight.
McDonnell died today at Good Samaritan after a brief illness. He "worked at almost every sports outlet on the local radio dial," LA Radio's Don Barrett said.
The board of Metrolink announced today that Leahy will become CEO on April 20 -- soon after he steps down at Metro.
Hewitt is breaking stories, getting the GOP candidates on his radio show and filling the role of most respected pundit by the Republican establishment, a new profile says.
Martin J. Smith writes about a book tour through the West in twin mini-vans. Plus David Ulin on The Offing, a new literary magazine in Los Angeles.
Choose your poison: the Hullabaloo Dancers or the Gazzarri Dancers?
The Obamajam trope is old and tired, and even I'll admit it was kind of parochial to begin with. But today, the LA Times loves it.
McIlvain was the Troubleshooter on Channel 2 news in Los Angeles for many years. He died Monday.
There's been some shuffling in the lineup of political advisers to the stars and big donors. And a new candidate for the Board of Supervisors.
Starting at the top of the home page, I count 22 headlines from various sections before they start steering us to older stories and features deeper on the site.
The president arrives Thursday afternoon to do Jimmy Kimmel and a fundraiser, then stays overnight.
Phil Washington is currently general manager of Denver's Regional Transportation District.
The typewriter belonged to Samuel T. Cohen, inventor of the neutron bomb that could kill people but leave buildings unscathed.
And in California, the threat of a magnitude 8 quake, the Big One for us, has been raised by USGS.
The Orange County Register just announced that Aaron Kushner and Eric Spitz, the co-owners of Freedom Communications, have both resigned from all executive duties.
Bruce Feirstein, the Los Angeles-based contributor to Vanity Fair, devotes this month's investigative VF chart to a compare-and-contrast.
The mayor also filed the paperwork to begin raising money for 2017.
Plans for an Old Bank District museum, plus a big day of notes in politics, media and place. And tweets of the day.
"Business, much like life, is not a movie and not everyone gets to have a story book ending," founder Om Malik posted.
The company told the LA Times that it's no longer pursuing the Farmers Field project.
The story of the LAPL map treasure collected by John Feathers is told in a video for the LA Review of Books.
Read the memo: Editors now meet at 7 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., with the focus the website more than the next day's front page.
Simon donated his fortune from "The Simpsons" to children, animals and other causes.
Sentence of ten years in a Georgia jail could result in about a year of time served and a lengthy ban on work as a director. Miller will be the first director to serve time for an on-set death.
The news doesn't really get better for fans of the Googie-style Norms coffee shop.
The son of the late Bud Furillo is transitioning to sports up in Sacramento.
Read the memo: The mayor's top spokesman is off "to pursue new opportunities."
"Pipeline" became "one of Southern California's most recognizable musical exports — an instrumental anthem to riding the waves and living the life..."
El Niño but so what. LA losing fog. Did Villaraigosa miss his last moment? Harrison Ford's crash. Plus more notes on politics, media and place and tweets of the day.
Designating Sawtelle Japantown has more local authenticity than Little Osaka or West LA.
On the day after Tuesday's sleepy city election, everyone seems to be suddenly concerned that almost no one votes in Los Angeles anymore.
LAT parent may buy the San Diego U-T. Steve Lopez still shocked by Skid Row. Who's in the City Council and school board runoffs. Plus more notes on politics, media and place.
Councilwoman Nury Martinez also reelected and Marqueece Harris Dawson elected to LA City Council. One runoff awaits.
A year ago friends were saying the former mayor had no assets and was living in an apartment. Now he buys in the Hollywood Hills.
Chief Beck opens the investigation by saying Sunday's police killing downtown appears justified, while Skid Row residents are upset.
Some LA City Council, some U.S. Senate, some Republican state convention and more.
Ana Marie Cox is still writing about politics and in her latest piece talks about her faith and being a liberal Christian.
The video shows a skirmish between officers and a flailing man, then an officer yelling to "drop the gun" before shots were fired.
Clinton fundraises in LA
Jim Henson Studios on La Brea became a presidential campaign stop on Thursday.
Brown declares disaster area
The natural gas leak above Porter Ranch now qualifies for various government actions. Story
Performing arts with cheer
Donna Perlmutter closes out 2015 with productions downtown and on the Westside.
