Despite the general consensus of constituents in their respective districts, three Democratic congressmen representing Los Angeles areas have voted to pass a controversial bill " that would offer retroactive immunity to telephone companies that cooperated with the federal government’s post-Sept. 11, 2001, domestic spying program and did so despite widespread opposition in their districts," reports the Glendale News Press. Adam Schiff (D-Pasadena), Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) and Howard Berman (D-Van Nuys) all supported the bill......

Live blogging the Democratic Debate 7:43 The spin is winding down and the media room is beginning to empty. Reporters are putting the finishing touches on their debate articles and the crew is beginning to clean up the bottles and box dinners provided. But the next six days until Super Tuesday will be anything but quiet. Commercials will continue to fill the airwaves, candidates will have events around Southern California and LAist will party......

Today City Councilman Greig Smith will propose new housing and pension incentives to help boost the LAPD's flagging recruitment efforts. Hmm... will the success of Crash have any effect? Matt Dillon's LAPD officer is a prick, but he's also kind of heroic, and he gets to handle Thandie Newton. The streets of the Valley are having their own crashes: hit-and-runs are up. Surface streets and highways together total to more than 9,000 in 2005.......

Today in Traffic: The Gilroy Dispatch came south for Thanksgiving and took record of the trip in the ride; new lamps in Hollywood; Brad Sherman got a little money for the Valley's traffic goals last week; and, a future with a west side subway is still a possibility. Tookie Watch: Michael Ackley takes issue with the media. Earl Ofari Hutchinson writes his 4th or 5th editorial in a week urging clemency. - Franklin Avenue......

Well, morning internet issues and a hangover kept us from taking a gander at the morning papers but can you blame us? It's Hollywood's 118th birthday today and we thought we'd get our celebrating in a little early. Now that we're coming out of the fog, we can check out the few interesting nuggets in the papers today like The Daily News's report on the nine county sheriff's employees that were fired last year......