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Selected items from the media, our in box and other LA Observed sources. Posted occasionally — often in the morning.
Recent research shows that a fault that crosses under downtown Ventura "is extremely dangerous, capable of producing an earthquake as large as magnitude 8 as well as severe tsunamis that until now experts didn't believe were possible from a Southern California quake." LA Times
An obscure 1997 measure spawned in Silicon Valley that weakened the California Public Records Act shields the names of the top water users in the state and in localities. Reveal News
Rep. Loretta Sanchez is expected to announce her decision on running for the U.S. Senate. Register, Bee
The DWP's annual transfer of millions to the city general fund is now in jeopardy "because of both the city's billing debacle and an array of legal challenges." LAT
Restaurants are asking City Hall to count tips toward the proposed $13.25 or $15.25 minimum wage the City Council may require. LAT
A KQED and Maplight.org data analysis hows that the most powerful committee chairs in the state Assembly share a knack for prolific fundraising and a propensity to funnel this money to the Democratic Party and other Democrats running for office. The story leads with Valley assemblyman Matthew Dababaneh. KQED
Willie Brown follows up his suggestion of Gavin Newsom as a running mate for Hillary Clinton by suggesting Jerry Brown. SF Chronicle
Politico is looking to double the number of journalists it employs to about 500 over the next four years as it eyes further global expansion after launching in Europe last week. Guardian
BuzzFeed editor in chief Ben Smith explains in a weekend memo the circumstances around the deletion of 1,112 posts, including three that followed complaints by advertisers or the site's business side. BuzzFeed, NYT, Gawker
"60 Minutes" aired a graphic report on a 2103 attack in Syria using sarin gas that it called some of the most disturbing and graphic video it has ever put on television. CBS, Poynter
Here are the winners of the LA Times Book Prizes handed out Saturday night at USC. LAT
Yes, the mother pictured in two places in today's LA Times reading with her daughter at the Festival of Books is Ceci Bastida, the Tijuana-born rock star. Not sure if the paper knew it, but the Times has written about her more than once.
In a pre-festival interview last week on KPCC, publisher Austin Beutner "sees a bright future for the LA Times." Take Two
Without mentioning KPCC, former Washington correspondent Kitty Felde writes about life after her longtime job with the station vanished in January: "I admit I was surprised when they closed the Washington bureau….For the first time in decades, I have an open calendar. It’s been a blessing and a curse: the opportunity to reinvent myself – if only I can narrow down the possibilities." She does pieces from Washington now for KQED and Capital Public Radio. Career 2.0
Up close with Yvette d'Entremont, the Anaheim chemist who blogs as Science Babe and who recently got a lot of attention for unmasking the blogger known as Food Babe. LAT
The podcast "Serial" and a Chicago story by Vice News won Peabody awards. University of Georgia
The Pulitzer Prizes are announced at noon on this website and this YouTube channel.
An unusually warm mass of seawater spread along the Pacific Coast of North America a year ago, wreaking havoc on the marine food chain. Now some experts argue that this 500-mile-wide, 300-foot-deep wedge of warm seawater "may in fact signal an epic cyclical change in the Pacific Ocean — a change that could possibly bring soaking rains to Southern California this winter but also accelerate the rise in global temperatures." LAT
A Slate piece on the past and present mythologies of LA and the environment — "Los Angeles wants to shed its image as an auto-dystopia. In the era of the drought, can it sell the myth of a green, sustainable city?" — is from a media and journalism fellowship at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. Slate
Joel Kotkin's latest pessimistic take: "The Big Idea: California Is So Over." Daily Beast
"Already an exhausted cliché in Europe." Joseph Giovannini examines Peter Zumthor's design for LACMA. http://t.co/bVjyMfBDAP
— LA Review of Books (@LAReviewofBooks) April 20, 2015Exactly 65 years ago, Vin Scully made his MLB broadcasting debut... and he's still going strong! Simply a legend. pic.twitter.com/CRPR99F8bh
— Baseball Tonight (@BBTN) April 19, 2015California’s tomato crop uses about as much water as the entire SF Bay area. Why arent we demonizing spaghetti sauce? http://t.co/B7urny9EpB
— Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) April 18, 2015