AM news: All Broken - Levees, Getty, Rampart

Despite claims to the contrary, the White House knew of the New Orleans levee breach Monday night. As Tuesday began, the NY Times writes, "The federal government let out a sigh of relief when in fact it should have been sounding an 'all hands on deck' alarm, the investigators have found." Here in LA, some Katrina victims are still rudderless.

When you left your last job did you give THEM $250,000? Well that's what's happening over at the Getty Turst; its head, Barry Munitz, announced his departure yesterday. Not only have the Getty's collection practices come under fire; some of Munitz' expenses have as well. The LA Times has the full story; art.blogging.la calls it the biggest art news of the year.

The Rampart scandal has folded back in on itself. After paying $70 million to victims of police abuse, the city has just been ordered to pay $15 million to the alleged abusers for false arrest and malicious prosecution. The Rampart scandal was long and twisted, with one dirty cop turning in other dirty cops — but parts of his stories were inconsistent and exaggerated. The city says it will appeal.