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Selected items from the media, our in box and other LA Observed sources. Posted occasionally — often in the morning.
Shots were fired from an assault rifle during a daylight robbery of the Rolex store in the Westfield Century City mall -- reminiscent of a 2011 jewelry store heist at the mall. And the 2010 smash-and-grab at Tiffany by masked robbers. LA Weekly
As it happens, I talked about the future of the Century City mall (and Westside Pavilion and next month's mall opening in Warner Center) on Monday's LA Observed segment on KCRW. Listen
Kate Bedingfield, VP of corporate communications for the Motion Picture Association of America, is returning to the White House as communications director for Vice President Joe Biden. She was the spokeswoman for the 2008 John Edwards campaign.
LA Times political reporter Seema Mehta tweets: "Like Donald Trump, I too have been taken off the campaign trail by jury duty."
Former LA Times Sacramento reporter Shane Goldmacher is joining Politico to cover the 2016 presidential campaign. He had been at National Journal.
Twitter shut down a series of 30 sites owned by the Open State Foundation called Politwoops and Diplotwoops that store politicians' deleted tweets across 31 countries. AdWeek
The proliferation of small sidewalk sheds is complicating the homeless issue for City Hall. LAT
More than 100,000 children are homeless in LA County at some time during an average month, says a new report by the Economic Roundtable. DN, LAT, KPCC
The family of a mentally ill man shot to death by sheriff deputies outside his Lakewood home disputes the officially version of what happened to John Berry and they have a video. LAT
The second-highest paid Los Angeles County employee made nearly $790,000 last year, but he didn’t show up to work a single day, newly released salary data show. (That's because he was terminated and the pay is a settlement.) DN
Compton Mayor Aja Brown responds to allegations that her city's officials pad their pay with phantom meetings. KCRW/WWLA, LAT
A group representing San Gabriel Valley cities has removed the controversial 710 freeway tunnel proposal from its wish list of projects that might be funded by a new transportation sales tax. KPCC
After George Clooney and Jeb Bush on his first late-night show Sept. 8, Stephen Colbert will have Scarlett Johansson, Elon Musk and Kendrick Lamar as guests on day two. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, Amy Schumer and Toby Keith will also be on the first week. NYT
The New York Times is up to 33 email newsletters, produced by a 12-person team. Some claim an open rate of 70 percent. DigiDay
Los Angles Magazine's best of LA winners for 2015 are now online.
OC Weekly will give you $50 for a copy of the one cover it is missing from its 20-year run, which they celebrate in Thursday's edition. The missing paper is from 2006 and the cover story is about the five-year anniversary of 9/11. OC Weekly
Also: OC Weekly editor Gustavo Arellano opines on being one of the anchor babies that Republican candidates are demonizing. The Guardian
Longtime LA radio deejay Shotgun Tom Kelly is retiring from the afternoon slot at oldies station K-EARTH. He will become an ambassador for the station.
Former New York Times reporter Jennifer 8. Lee has co-created a website that tracks changes made to online news stories, which often are not transparent. LAT Op-ed
Ted Rall has a cartoon book coming out on Edward Snowden and at least one commentator sees similarities between Snowden's story and Rall's dispute with the LA Times. This guy also likens the making of an audio tape by an LAPD traffic cop to "secret state surveillance on Rall’s past life," so go figure. The Guardian
Kirk and Anne Douglas, married 61 years, have amassed an $80 million fortune and now are planning to give back to a range of causes, from Children's Hospital Los Angeles and the Anne Douglas Center for Women to their biggest passion, the Motion Picture & Television Fund. Hollywood Reporter
LA photographer Alex Scott is looking for Kickstarter support to publish a book of his photographs of mostly vacant freeways at night. He calls it Nobody Walks in LA.
The importance of Latino labor in Santa Monica. La Opinion
Lettuce is a vehicle to transport refrigerated water from farm to table. And that's about it, nutritionally.
USC football coach Steve Sarkisian said at a news conference this morning that his behavior at a booster event last weekend resulted from mixing alcohol and an unspecified medication, and that he would seek treatment to find out if he has a drinking problem. LAT
The $300 million Dodgers have the worst bullpen in the league now and the ability to improve is limited. ESPN LA
I talked to the woman who saw @realDonaldTrump's face in her butter. http://t.co/rkhq8ylBYA
— Gideon Resnick (@GideonResnick) August 24, 2015