July 2009 Archives

A home-loan firm founded by a former executive at Countrywide Financial Corp., the company at the heart of the mortgage meltdown, got a chilly reception Thursday on Wall Street, a day after its initial public offering fell short of expectations. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust, which buys distressed home loans and reworks the terms with the borrowers, on Wednesday raised $320 million with the sale of 16 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange. The IPO was trimmed from an expected 20 million shares and it raised $80 million less than planned, according to Reuters.

On Thursday, stock in PennyMac - founded by Stanford L. Kurland, the former president and CEO at Countrywide - closed at $19.10, down 4.5 percent from the IPO price of $20.

With California facing a possible lockout from a $4.35 billion federal education grant, Los Angeles Unified officials are hoping to branch out on their own to compete for the funds apart from the state.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

Superintendent Ramon Cortines sent a letter to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan this week requesting to apply for "Race to the Top," a competitive pot of stimulus dollars designated for school reform.

The grant is designed to be awarded through state departments of education, but recent criticisms by President Obama on California educational policies have led LAUSD officials to consider their own effort.

The message from Los Angeles to 924 vendors is one a lot of folks are using these days: The check is in the mail. Daily News.

And this time, hopefully, it won't bounce.

About $6 million in city checks dated July 24 that were sent to vendors were returned for insufficient funds, city officials said.

A month after taking office, City Controller Wendy Greuel and City Attorney Carmen Trutanich are fulfilling a campaign promise to resolve a dispute between their predecessors and allowing an audit of the City Attorney's Office to proceed.Daily News

Greuel released a letter to Trutanich on Thursday, saying she was prepared to audit the city's workers' compensation program - a plan that resulted in a lawsuit between former Controller Laura Chick and former City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo.

Home sales in the San Fernando Valley jumped 27 percent in June from a year earlier - the 10th consecutive annual increase - and prices continued to tick upward, a research center said Wednesday.Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

The median price for a previously owned house hit $381,500, up 3 percent from $369,000 in May and the third consecutive monthly increase. While the median was 19 percent below the $470,000 recorded in June 2008, year-over-year price declines have been narrowing.

A veteran administrator at Pierce College was tapped Wednesday as interim president while a permanent chief is recruited for the booming Woodland Hills campus. Dana Bartholomew in the Daily News.

Joy McCaslin, Pierce's vice president of student services, was awarded the top job by a unanimous vote of the Los Angeles Community College District board.

Los Angeles will get $16.3 million in federal funds to hire 50 police officers and boost the size of the Los Angeles Police Department to more than 10,000 officers, officials announced Tuesday.
Daily News.
The three-year federal program revives one started under former President Bill Clinton designed to reduce crime nationwide and create jobs. The grants cover the salaries and benefits and associated costs for the officers for three years.

With Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa out of the governor's race, the two leading candidates have amped up efforts to woo the critical Latino vote in next June's gubernatorial Democratic primary.
Tony Castro in the Daily Newsl
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has intensified his bid to win Latino hearts and minds as he tries to build a Southern California support base strong enough to take on Attorney General Jerry Brown.

Polls show Newsom will have his work cut out for him.

California's month-old tax-incentive program appears to be keeping some film and TV productions from fleeing the Golden State, officials said Tuesday. Bob Strauss in the Daily News.

The California Film Commission, which oversees the program, has allocated nearly $67.5 million in tax credits for 25 film and television productions with a total budget of $347 million.

ov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a revised $85 billion budget Tuesday that he said contained "the good, the bad and the ugly," including additional cuts to child welfare programs, health care for the poor and AIDS prevention efforts. AP in the Daily News.

Schwarzenegger used his line-item veto authority to save an additional $656 million that will let the state restore a reserve fund he said is needed for tough times. Democrats immediately questioned whether he had the authority to make some of the cuts.

Stepping into a controversy over the city's business tax, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called Tuesday for a procedural change that would prevent companies from being reclassified into higher tax brackets. Daily News.

In a letter to Finance Director Antoinette Christovale, Villaraigosa asked for an ordinance that would help resolve an "ugly" situation in which a firm was shifted into a new classification despite an administrative ruling 16 years ago.

Former Mayor Richard Riordan on Tuesday endorsed businesswoman Christine Essel in the City Council District 2 race, which has now grown to a field of at least six candidates. Daily News.

The six have been certified for the Sept. 22 election to fill out the term of Wendy Greuel, who was elected city controller. A seventh candidate, Los Angeles Unified school board member Tamar Galatzan, said she has been told her nominating petition will be certified for the election.

Just a couple of weeks after returning from two weeks in South Africa, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa left on vacation at noon today.
Villaraigosa was scheduled to be going to Iceland for the trip, the same location he went to after being elected in 2005.
He is scheduled to return on Aug. 4, city officials said.

An interim chief for Pierce College will likely be chosen Wednesday by Los Angeles Community College District trustees, who will vote on a candidate recommended by outgoing President Robert Garber, officials said Monday.Dana Bartholomew in the Daily News.

Garber announced last week that he is resigning Aug. 1 to care for his ailing son, Jesse.

Community college officials declined Monday to identify prospective candidates. A decision is expected to be announced during a trustees' meeting Wednesday afternoon.

Spurred by the threat of higher rates, Los Angeles residents cut water consumption in June to a 32-year low, but still fell short of the city's overall conservation goal, officials said Monday. Daily News.

Limiting lawn watering to just two days a week and hiking rates for excessive use helped cut overall consumption by 11 percent, well behind the goal of 15 percent.

Still, officials were happy with the progress made in the first month of a conservation program - one expected to last into the foreseeable future - as the state tries to manage dwindling water supplies amid a three-year drough

The Los Angeles City Clerk's office on Monday certified the petitions for five candidates in the Sept. 22 special election to fill out the City Council term of Controller Wendy Greuel.
Petitions for eight other candidates are pending,
Those whose petitions qualifed include Assemblyman Paul Krekorian, businesswoman Christine Essel, Candy Factor owner Frank Sheftel, county commissioner Jozef "Joe" Thomas Essavi and teacher Louis Pugliese.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting today that District Attorney Steve Cooley is investigating who launched a series of robocalls against him in last year's election.
Besides the question of a prosecutor using his own office to investigate something like this, one wonders if Cooley is looking to find the person to thank him. He ended up winning an historic third term in a landslide.

Tipoffs: Two proposals to change how Los Angeles does business.

In hindsight, considering the wild success of the Los Angeles Olympics, it might seem odd that anyone did not want to be part of the games that opened 25 years ago this week. Kevin Modesti in the Daily News.

The Soviet Bloc had its reasons, of course.

Less famously, so did the San Fernando Valley.

As a result of a fight that had classic Valley themes but far-reaching implications, this became the biggest Southern California community to miss out on hosting Olympic sports events - though that doesn't keep it from sharing in the games' financial legacy.

The fourth floor of City Hall has been full of bubble wrap, boxes and dust from old files these days.
It all began on July 1 when Councilman Jack Weiss left City Hall and new City Controller Wendy Greuel moved down to her new offices.
Council President Eric Garcetti quickly claimed Greuel's office, which has the same amount of space, but is divided up into more offices -- with windows -- than Garcetti had.
That prompted Councilman Richard Alarcon to claim Garcetti's office. New Councilman Paul Koretz was left with the space vacated by Weiss.
All of which means that whoever wins the Council District 2 election, will inherit the Alarcon space.
When the fourth floor council offices were created as part of the City Hall modernization, all of the offices have about the same amount of space, but there are preferences based on windows and proximity to the City Hall elevators.

The median price of a San Fernando Valley home fell 13 percent in June from a year earlier -- the smallest decline in 18 months and more evidence that prices are stabilizing, a trade association said Thursday.Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

The median price of a previously owned home was $375,000 last month, compared with $431,000 in June 2008, said the Southland Regional Association of Realtors.

The $56,000 drop is the smallest decrease since the median fell 12 percent to $537,000 in December 2007 from $613,000 a year earlier.

In a case advocates say exposes weaknesses in the nursing home inspection system, a 25-year veteran of the Los Angeles Fire Department has been charged with soliciting and accepting bribes from the owners of facilities in the San Fernando Valley.Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

Prosecutors allege that Fire Inspector Dennis Martin Archie accepted or solicited bribes ranging from $500 to $2,000 from operators of nursing care facilities run out of private homes in Burbank, Chatsworth, Northridge, Reseda, West Hills and Winnetka.

Prosecutors say they have identified seven victims, who were approached by Archie this year and last.

The mayors of Los Angeles and five other large California cities threatened Thursday to join forces in a legal action if the Legislature approves a budget that would use Daily News.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the five other mayors - all struggling with their own budget problems - said they will not allow the state to raid their coffers. Los Angeles stands to lose about $270 million under the tentative pact reached early this week by lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"I represent 4 million people in this state," Villaraigosa told reporters. "With these other mayors, we represent the majority of the state. We have to speak out to protect our residents from this budget."

Perhaps the quickest way to get a high profile job here and in Washington, D.C., these days is through the offices of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
Two top aides and a department head all are gone and a top staff announced Thursday he is leaving,.
Speechwriter Jonathan Powell has taken a job with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, to work on her speeches.
Powell is the latest to leave Villaraigosa.
Two weeks ago, the mayor's attorrny, Thomas Saenz, announced he is leaving to head MALDEF.
Earlier, Housng Department General Manager Mercedes Marquez left for a job in HUD and environmental advisor Nancy Sutley left to head the White House Office on Environmental Quality.

The state budget deal set for a vote today was decried Wednesday by local officials who characterized it as a money grab and a "Ponzi scheme" that will cause irreparable harm to public safety and services.Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

Officials have already threatened to file suit if the Legislature approves the agreement, which closes a $26 billion budget deficit by slashing health and welfare cuts, borrowing from local property tax revenues and diverting gas tax and redevelopment revenue from local governments.

But they continued to voice their outrage over the plan, tentatively reached Monday night after marathon negotiating sessions in Sacramento.

Former City Controller Laura Chick blasted new City Attorney Carmen Trutanich on Wednesday, saying he was a demagogue and liar who misled her to win her influential backing in his campaign.Daily News.

Chick said Trutanich has backed away from a pledge to allow the city controller's office to audit any city office or program.

"He stood at my side during his campaign to get my support, which I gave him and he made a promise ... (to) allow the controller to have the power to audit all programs," Chick said in an interview on the Doug McIntyre show on radio station KABC (790 AM).

Foreclosures plunged in Los Angeles County and across California in the second quarter from a year earlier, but default notices increased, a sign of more trouble for the housing market, a research firm said Wednesday.Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

Second-quarter foreclosures in the county fell 30 percent to 6,706 properties, compared with 9,609 a year ago, according to MDA DataQuick, based in San Diego.

Statewide, there were 45,667 foreclosures in the April through June period, down 28percent from 63,316 a year earlier.

Los Angeles city and county officials said Tuesday the proposed state budget agreement will lead to drastic health and welfare cuts, the elimination of anti-gang programs, the release of 27,000 prison inmates and threaten the ability of firefighters to protect the public from wildfires this summer.Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

"This will have the most devastating fiscal impact on local governments in the history of the state of California," said Paul McIntosh, executive director of the California Association of Counties. "The poor and elderly are going to feel these cuts right away. But every citizen is going to feel the impact of these cuts."

Under a tentative budget agreement reached Monday between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders to close the state's $26 billion shortfall, state officials proposed about $5 billion in cuts to local governments, McIntosh said. State lawmakers are expected to vote Thursday on the plan.

Los Angeles County will lose 168,000 jobs to the recession this year, although the San Fernando Valley will fare better than the region's other communities, according to an economic forecast released today. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

The projected losses amount to 4.1 percent of the 3.9 million people who had jobs at the beginning of the year and come atop a 1.3 percent decline - 52,800 jobs - reported in 2008, said the updated report from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

The organization's original forecast, issued in February, predicted a job-loss rate 2.2 percent this year, with a .9 percent decline in 2010.

City Attorney Carmen Trutanich said Tuesday he has uncovered "criminal aspects" in his probe into the use of taxpayer dollars to cover security costs for Michael Jackson's elaborate public memorial.Daily News.

Trutanich told the City Council that his inquiry "took an unanticipated turn that raised both civil and criminal aspects."

And while he said he could not yet discuss details of the investigation in public, he also failed to provide specifics during a 90-minute, closed-door meeting with the council.

Under pressure from runners and South Los Angeles church leaders, the City Council gave its approval Tuesday to a plan returning the Los Angeles Marathon to a Sunday in March, but with a new route. Daily News.

The agreement, which was sent to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for final approval, was reached after discussions among officials representing the city and the various churches to ensure the race is run in the early morning hours so it does not conflict with worship services.

City Attorney Carmen Trutanich and Superior Court Judge David Choate helped mediate the talks.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and California's top lawmakers are set to resume talks Monday with the hope of hammering out the final details on a deal to close the state's $26.3 billion budget deficit.AP in the Daily News.

The negotiations come as the state pays its bills with IOUs for the first time in nearly 20 years and as major credit agencies threaten the state's already basement-level bond rating. The dismal economy has forced a new round of cuts just 4 1/2 months after California closed a previous $42 billion deficit.

The state's four top legislative leaders had been scheduled to meet with the Republican governor Sunday to work out what all sides expected to be the final budget deal. But the meeting was abruptly postponed by scheduling conflicts.

One of the top contenders in the open race for September's Council District 2 election said Monday she was withdrawing from the race.

Laurette Healey, a businesswoman and one of the organizers behind the successful effort to rename a portion of Van Nuys as Sherman Oaks, released a statement saying the timing of the Sept. 22 election was not right for her.

Even though she said she had raised $100,000 for the campaign, Healey said she wants to use her entrepreneurial skills to concentrate on job creation and economic development.

"While I do not rule out the prospect of seeking public office in the future, I am fortunate to have other options available to me," Healey said.

Healey has run in the past for City Controller and served as a deputy state controller to former Controller Steve Westley.

The election is to fill out the term remaining when Wendy Greuel was elected City Controller.

Even with Healey's withdrawal, 13 candidates are in the process of collecting signatures on petitions to qualify for the ballot.

Hailing the end of federal oversight of the LAPD, city officials promised Monday there will be no backsliding on the reforms implemented under an 8-year consent decree. Daily News.

"This is an historic day," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said at a City Hall news conference. "This is no longer your father's LAPD."

Negotiated in 2002 in the wake of the Rampart Division corruption scandal, the consent decree mandated hundreds of changes in the operation of the Los Angeles Police Department and the training and performance of its officers.

Building on a pact signed earlier this year, the city of Los Angeles, CalTech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory agreed Monday to a three-year program to help the city cut water use and greenhouse gas emissions, develop new energy resources and create green jobs.Daily News.

"(We) are standing at the forefront of the clean technology revolution that will drive the 21st century economy," Villaraigosa said at a news conference at JPL in Pasadena.

"This will harness Los Angeles' creative capital and entrepreneurial spirit to develop clean and green technologies that will spur job growth."

LANCASTER - It could spot burglars breaking into homes from five miles away.Sue Doyle and Kevin Modesti in the Daily News.

It could record unsuspecting bank robbers making their getaways. It could detect car crashes and help police decide how to respond.

But would it also take pictures of you sunbathing in your backyard?

Lancaster officials are developing an "eye in the sky" surveillance system consisting of a camera attached to an airplane that would fly over the city 24 hours a day on the lookout for crime. It would relay instant footage to sheriff's deputies on the ground, capturing images up to five miles away from an elevation of 5,000 feet.

Tipoffs: Councilman Greig Smith exasperated with LAPD chief.

Sixteen years ago, Rick Newcombe fought a drawn-out battle with Los Angeles city bureaucrats over which tax category should apply to his business. Daily News.

After round after round of administrative hearings, Newcombe won out in a decision that he said kept his growing company, Creators Syndicate Inc. - which has 25 to 50 workers - in Los Angeles.

He thought that would be the end of his hassles.

He was wrong.

Concerned about a citywide opera festival next year that will honor composer Richard Wagner, whose musical legacy has been tarnished by his anti-Semitic writings, county Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich is asking the Los Angeles Opera to broaden the event to feature other musicians. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote Tuesday on Antonovich's nonbinding motion.

"To specifically honor and glorify the man whose music and racist anti-Semitic writings inspired Hitler and became the de facto soundtrack for the Holocaust in a countywide festival is an affront to those who have suffered or have been impacted by the horrors of Adolf Hitler's National Socialistic Worker Party," Antonovich wrote to LA Opera Chairman Marc Stern.

A federal judge Friday lifted the controversial consent decree that for more than eight years had guided an independent monitor overseeing sweeping reforms of the Los Angeles Police Department imposed after the Rampart corruption scandal.Tony Castro in the Daily News.

U.S. District Court Judge Gary Feess said the LAPD had sufficiently complied in reforming itself to no longer require the oversight of monitor Michael Cherkasky.

In his ruling, Feess cited the monitor's own 2008 report that the "LAPD has become the national and international policing standard for activities that range from audits to handling of the mentally ill to many aspects of training to risk assessment of police officers and more."

Barely two weeks into his term, City Attorney Carmen Trutanich is already acting like a grizzled veteran of political battles, instigating conflicts with other city officials from the Planning Commission to new City Controller Wendy Greuel. Daily News.

First Trutanich made a rare, unannounced appearance before the City Council last week promising to seek reimbursement for the city's costs on the Michael Jackson memorial, putting him directly at odds with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's position.

Then Friday he sent a sharply worded letter to the Planning Commission complaining about them ignoring his request for more time on an issue, calling it "an unfathomable lack of courtesy" and offering a veiled threat of legal action against them.

Two Los Angeles city councilmembers on Wednesday proposed an ordinance that calls on outdoor advertising companies to voluntarily remove their signs - a welcome plea for critics who say the city is saturated with 8,000 billboards that contribute to urban blight. Sue Doyle in the Daily News.

The proposal doesn't just rely on the good hearts of outdoor advertisers, who have shown little regard for city billboard ordinances in the past.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom boosted his Southern California credentials Wednesday when he named Sen. Alex Padilla as statewide chairman of his gubernatorial campaign.Tony Castro in the Daily News.

The announcement of Padilla, D-Pacoima, heading up the campaign came just hours before Newsom spoke at a town hall meeting at Taft High School in Woodland Hills, his first campaign appearance in the San Fernando Valley.

Some 400 Valley residents attended the 18th in a series of what the Newsom campaign calls "conversations about California's future."

Los Angeles is famous as the nation's capital of movie stars and rich and envied people. But its lesser-known distinction as the nation's homeless capital has earned it a new title: the "Meanest City" in America.Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

In a report released Tuesday, the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and the National Coalition for the Homeless named Los Angeles the No. 1 "Meanest City" out of 273 nationwide.

The report says a primary reason for the dubious honor was a new Los Angeles police crackdown called the Safer Cities Initiative that it claims has trapped tens of thousands of poor, homeless and disabled residents in the criminal justice system.

Facing opposition from employee unions and some community leaders, the Los Angeles Unified school board postponed voting Tuesday on a controversial plan that would let the community decide how new schools operate. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

Board member Yolie Flores Aguilar, who authored the proposal, said she would delay the vote until next month's board meeting to get feedback from her colleagues and community members, but she fully intends to move forward with the plan.

"I will in no way accept in my resolution a watering down," Flores Aguilar said. "The next step of our work has to be about choice and competition."

The hard-fought battle to rename a portion of Van Nuys ended Tuesday with a divided City Council - quoting the Bible and facing a barrage of nasty grass-root politics - approving a plan to call the area Sherman Oaks.Daily News.

The fate of the half-mile wedge, that includes more than 1,800 homes between the area bounded by Sepulveda Boulevard, Hazeltine Avenue, Burbank and Oxnard boulevards, has been angrily debated for two years, generating charges of racism and calls for secession.

"This is a bad, bad day for us," said Lydia Mather, president of the Van Nuys Neighborhood Council.

The Los Angeles Unified school board is scheduled to vote today on a bold plan that would transfer the power of deciding how new schools operate from the district to the community. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

With some 70 campuses set to open in the next three years, the plan would invite proposals from community members including educators, charter operators and union leaders. Parents and community members would then decide on the proposals, including whether they want a magnet, pilot, charter or other type of school.

"This resolution is an effort to try something new and desperately needed," said LAUSD board member Yolie Flores Aguilar, who wrote the plan.

As the City Council wades into the emotionally charged battle over renaming a portion of Van Nuys, the issue has gotten so hot that some activists want Van Nuys to form its own city rather than continue to be nibbled away by neighboring communities. Daily News.

The City Council is scheduled today to consider allowing the area bounded by Sepulveda and Burbank boulevards, Hazeltine Avenue and Oxnard Street to become part of Sherman Oaks - a move that has been opposed by the neighborhood councils in both jurisdictions.

Young and eager, John Pace entered the Santa Susana Field Laboratory one summer morning, ready to continue his lessons on how to operate a nuclear reactor. Susan Abram n the Daily News.

Instead, the then-20-year-old Pace became an expert on nuclear cleanup.

Now 70 and living in Idaho, Pace still thinks about the start of his shift on July 14, 1959, when tense supervisors assigned him the task of cleaning up after the partial meltdown of the experimental atomic reactor the previous day.

About 1 million square feet of office space flooded the San Fernando Valley market over the last year, creating a short-term glut that will boost the vacancy rate to more than 13percent by 2010 while driving down rents, according to a report released Monday. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News

The region's vacancy rate jumped 3.9 percentage points to 12.8 percent over the last 12 months as companies downsized or closed under the weight of the recession, said Encino-based Marcus & Millichap.

The construction of 838,000 square feet of space set for completion will push the rate to 13.4 percent by year's end, the company said. The glut of space and tighter credit markets makes it likely that developers will delay future projects.

In a very early endorsement, Councilwoman Janice Hahn announced she is backing businesswoman Christine Essel in the Sept. 22 election to fill out the term of Wendy Greuel, who was elected as controller.
Hahn said she is supporting Essel because of their work together when Essel serve donteh Airport Commisison and her privet secotr experience.
"Her experience is exactly what the council needs right now," Hahn said.
Essel is one of 14 candidates who have taken out declarations of intent to run for the seat.

Hrag Hamalian appreciates everything about the long-abandoned Panorama City Baptist Church school he'll be taking over this fall. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

Staring at dusty walls and well-worn desks and chairs, he envisions how new furniture, a fresh coat of paint and new carpet will set the perfect backdrop for lively class discussions and debates.

Studies show a need to engage middle school students to prevent sagging test scores and underachievement. Hamalian plans to bring just that to the East Valley when the new charter school opens this fall.

Valor Academy Charter School will focus on college preparation for neighborhood kids in grades five through eight.

Details of Sarah Palin's plans after she steps down as Alaska governor emerged Sunday after a California Republican group disclosed that the former vice presidential nominee is slated to appear at a private gala next month.AP in the Daily News.

Since announcing she plans to resign July 26, Palin hasn't made clear if she intends to return to private life after leaving office or will begin laying the foundation for a possible presidential bid in 2012.

Republican Women Federated of Simi Valley said in a statement that Palin is scheduled to appear at the group's 50th anniversary gala at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Aug. 8.

Tipoffs: Rules of local politics.

University of California faculty and employees could face 11 to 26 furlough days this year under a cost-cutting plan that will be voted on next week by UC Regents.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

A response to the 10-campus system's projected budget shortfall of $813 million, the plan would set furloughs based on seven salary categories.

Employees making up to $40,000 would face the lower number of furlough days - the equivalent of a 4 percent pay cut. Those making $240,000 or more would face the maximum 26 days -- a salary cut of 10 percent.

With sizzling temperatures expected this weekend, city officials reminded Los Angeles residents that they could face higher electric bills this summer if they fail to conserve energy.Daily News.

The Department of Water and Power this month launched a three-tiered summer rate system that is designed to encourage conservation by charging increasingly higher rates for energy use.

However, DWP officials say the average customer should see no increase in their bills, although some critics challenge that claim.

The race for City Controller Wendy Greuel's former City Council seat expanded again Friday as a businessman took out papers to become the 12th potential candidate to join the campaign. Daily News.

Augusto Bisani of North Hollywood declared his intent to enter the Sept. 22 election, for the seat representing Studio City, North Hollywood and Van Nuys.

A comprehensive federal study released Thursday on hospital mortality rates nationwide shows San Fernando Valley health centers are not the best places for emergency care -- but they're not the worst either..Laura Nelson in the Daily News.

The new survey, from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, lists the percentage of patients who die within 30 days after first receiving treatment for heart failure, heart attacks or pneumonia.

Of 4,600 hospitals surveyed nationwide, none of the Valley's 12 featured health care providers made the list for the 100 lowest or 100 highest mortality rates in heart attack patients.

After the assessed value of properties in Los Angeles County decreased for the first time since 1996, many homeowners are expected in October to see the largest property tax cut in decades, county Assessor Rick Auerbach said Thursday. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

Since the housing correction began, Auerbach's office has reassessed the values of hundreds of thousands of homes. With the drop in values, the annual property tax bill for the owner of a single-family residence is expected to drop an average of $1,400 this year. The owner of a condominium will see property taxes drop an average of $1,100.

While that helps taxpayers in this battered economy, it represents another hit for government agencies and schools that rely on property taxes to help fund services and programs.

The first real impacts of the city's budget problems will be felt soon in the city Planning Department, where nearly all of the staff will be forced to take off two days a month as part of the effort to close a $530 million shortfall.Daily News.

Planning Director Gail Goldberg said 244 of the 300 people in the department will be forced to take the time off -- with no pay -- because their union failed to come to an agreement on an early retirement program.

"We have been working to look at reducing our workload to manage the department, but this is the equivalent of a 10 percent cut in our staff, and we are already understaffed," Goldberg told the city Planning Commission.

California State University campuses will be forced to cancel new student enrollment for the spring semester in an effort to cut 40,000 students from the rolls by 2010-11 and chip away at a projected $584million budget shortfall. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

Also, CSU campuses operating under a quarter system stopped accepting applications for the 2010 winter term this week.

At California State University, Northridge, which has a large number of community college transfer and graduate students, the measure will affect 4,069 students - more than half the number of students the school enrolls in the fall.

Thousands of Los Angeles County residents have signed up to receive e-mails and text-message alerts under a new program that provides high-tech notifications in case of an emergency, officials said Wednesday. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

Alert LA County automatically calls the 7.1 million land-line phone numbers to alert residents in the event of a wildfire, natural disaster or other emergency.

But residents can also sign up online alert.lacounty.gov to get e-mail and text-message notifications.

Assemblyman Paul Krekorian and businesswoman Christine Essell head the list of candidates seeking to fill the open City Council seat in a Sept. 22 special election. Daily News.

The two were among the first to file their declaration of intention for the race, along with businessman Frank Sheftel of North Hollywood.

Five other candidates filed late in the day. They were community organizer Pete Sanchez; neighborhood council boad member Mary Benson, county commissioner Jozef "Joe" Thomas Essavi; community leader Laurette Healey and neighbohood council boad member Michael McCue.

The open seat in District 2 was vacated by Wendy Greuel, who was elected City Co

If you've been around the San Fernando Valley for at least a generation, long enough to watch half a dozen communities change their names in pursuit of neighborhood identity and higher house values, you might laugh wearily at the bid by an area at the south edge of Van Nuys to switch its address to Sherman Oaks. Kevin Modesti in the Daily News.

Maybe you think this is another comical square dance like the one in the early 1990s in which a status-conscious part of Sepulveda changed its name to North Hills, after which the other part of Sepulveda changed its name to North Hills, after which the first part angrily threatened to change its name again.

Tipoffs: Out with the old, in with the new.

Even with the prospects of higher rates, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is pushing to speed the conversion of the Department of Water and Power from cheap coal power to expanded use of renewable energy.Daily News.

In his inaugural address Wednesday, Villaraigosa declared a goal of achieving 40 percent renewable energy by the year 2020 and 60 percent by 2030 — in what he said would lead to a "path to permanently break our addiction to coal."

Councilman Tony Cardenas has hired Rabbi Allen Freehling, who headed the city's Human Relations Commission, as a deputy chief of staff.
The commission was a victim of this year's budget problems and combined into a new city agency with the Children, Youth and Families Commission.
Aides to Cardenas said Freehling, who was head rabbi at the University Synagogue in West Los Angeles for 30 years before taking on the city post, will be involved in a variety of projects designed to take advantage of his experience.
.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office announced late Thursday that he is out of the city on vacation thorugh July 10. No word on where he went, other than to say that Council President Eric Garcetti is acting mayor in his absence.
** Sources indicate the mayor is going to South Africa to participate in a scholarship program for 400 young people, which has featured Nelson Mandela and former President Bill Clinton in the past.
And, for the curious, the mayor is taking his new friend, television reporter Lu Parker, with him.

The Los Angeles Unified school board voted to convert Birmingham High School to a charter Wednesday, ending a long and bitter battle between teachers and parents at the district's largest campus.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

The board also made Birmingham's journalism and communications magnet a separate campus, housing about 500 students.

The 5-2 vote came a day after Birmingham's principal and athletic director, lead petitioners of the charter, were disciplined for their approval of student athletes being used in a racy GQ magazine photo shoot featuring "Bruno" star Sacha Baron Cohen.

Mayor committed to city
Chastened and humbled, Mayor Antonio Villaraiogsa took the oath of office Wednesday for a second term, saying he wants to be held accountable for promises he will "write in concrete rather than poetry" and pledging to focus on "deadlines over headlines." Daily News.

On a warm and sunny afternoon with more than 1,000 supporters on the South Lawn of City Hall, Villaraigosa said he recognizes he still has much to do to return to the popularity he had when he first took office four years ago.

Greuel, Trutanich promise transparency

A paper name plate reading City Attorney Carmen Trutanich covered the Rocky Delgadillo signs on his eighth floor office Wednesday as workers also finished installing Controller Wendy Greuel's new signs on her third floor office. Daily News

And, on the first day of their new job, the two showed clearly they plan to be different from their predecessors with the promise of greater independendence and more public transparency.

New LAUSD members
Two new school board members were sworn in to the Los Angeles Unified School District's board of education Wednesday, launching the district's 155th year. Connie Llanos in the Daily News

Nury Martinez, representing the east San Fernando Valley, replaced 22-year school board veteran Julie Korenstein in District 6. Steve Zimmer, representing parts of West Los Angeles and the West Valley, replaced Marlene Canter in District 4.

Following an unusually charged debate, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to scour the Sheriff's Department budget to look for other revenue sources instead of closing a Castaic jail. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

The vote came as Sheriff Lee Baca insisted he had no choice but to close the Pitchess Detention Center North Facility and redeploy 187 personnel unless the supervisors gave him additional funding.

"Instead of taking such a drastic measure that compromises public safety, all other options must be exhausted," Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich said.

Los Angeles Unified board members are expected to decide today whether to approve a plan to split Birmingham High School into an independent charter and a district magnet high school - putting to rest a months-long battle between faculty and parents at the 3,200-student campus.Connie LLanos in the Daily News.

Charter proponents say they want to bring reform and financial freedom to a school that has suffered from worse-than-average dropout rates and declining test scores over the years.

With the city facing one of its worst economic crises, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will be sworn in today to his second term of office, with a more humble tone and promises of specific goals to get the city moving.Daily News.

"You can call it a rededication to the job and a demand for accountability," spokesman Matt Szabo said. "Accountability from him and from others."

Villaraigosa, who was re-elected with 55 percent of the vote last March against a crowded field of relatively unknown and underfunded candidates, feels a sense of humility and appreciation in being re-elected to a second term, Szabo said.

Greuel optimistic about Controller's job

Her last day as a member of the City Council carried a number of surprises for Councilwoman Wendy Greuel. Daily News

They included proclamations, flowers, a sudden appearance by her husband, Dean Schramm and son, Thomas, in the City Council chambers and an hour-long tribute by the people she has worked with since 2002 - hailing her as the city's Pothole Queen for her inner toughness and sunny demeanor.