AM news: sushi, defamer, budget news and doggie balls

Oh, great sadness! An organization has tested the tuna served at local temples of sushi (Matsuhisa, Sushi Nozawa) and found the mercury levels to be twice the FDA standard; some came close to having so much mercury so the fish should not have been sold at all. Is marguro the new fugu?

Defamer has gone Hollywood and gotten a facelift. Really, it looks 10 years younger.

Mayor Villariagosa is planning to tighten the city's budget belt, according to the Daily News. His financial assumptions appear sound, LA economist Jack Keyser says.

Plans are afoot to make it prohibitively expensive to license a dog in LA County without getting it fixed; it's an attempt to cut down on dogs that end up euthenized in shelters. The effort started by focusing on Rottweilers and Pit Bulls, but owners successfully argued that the problem is bad owners, not bad dogs. Maybe they read this recent essay by Malcom Gladwell.

sushi photo by adactio via flickr