President-Elect Barack Obama has reportedly chosen Leon Panetta, President Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff and a former California Congressman from Central California, to lead the Central Intelligence Agency. "Panetta was a surprise pick for the post, with no experience in the intelligence world," wrote the Associated Press, who obtained their information from "official" sources that spoke under the condition of anonymity. Panetta, who helped found California State University, Monterey Bay, currently directs the Sylvia the Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy at said university. more ›

On the heels of a whirlwind California journey that took him to Santa Barbara and Ventura Tuesday, presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain shuffled off to another campaign stop today, skipping out on the state's biggest city and one of the nation's largest metropolises. more ›

Bill Clinton canceled his UCLA Commencement Speech scheduled for this Friday due to the "never-ending" labor disputes between University of California officials and American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (it's not the first time for a celebrity to drop their speech for the same issue). more ›

It's over. Sen. Hillary Clinton will announce the end of her campaign for the White House on Friday. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had endorsed Clinton last year and became one of her national campaign chairs, often traveling the country for her during the Winter. That time spent on the road led to people asking if he was spending too much time away from the city he was elected to lead. more ›

• Hey, who's ready for another strike? The actors might be after the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists voted to split with the Screen Actors Guild, heightening fears that Hollywood may be in for another work stoppage. The last one cost Los Angeles County more than $1 billion. Time to switch from Whole Foods to Trader Joes, actors.
• OK, so the Dodgers lost last night, but the experience was pretty frickin' awesome. If you were not one of the 100 grand lucky enough to attend, read some prose from DodgerThoughts and view some of the sights from what was a very special day and night. But, it wasn't all pretty, the Daily News found.
• Guess who does not like Sam Zell. I'll give you a hint: most people.
• Former Laker, et al, Isaiah Rider was arrested Saturday and released Sunday for driving an allegedly stolen vehicle. This follows a string of arrests for the former basketball star who told courts that his life had spun out of control.
• A mom who stands accused of driving her son and a car full of other gang members to kill a 13-year-old will be tried for murder and could face the death penalty. Police say the mother plotted the attack.
• "There’s a crisis in L.A. city hall," City Councilman Dennis Zine said to LA City Beat about the city's financial deficit. By July 4, Los Angeles could be in a $400 million hole. Better get used to those potholes.
• Shoving matches, tense confrontations and police back-up have characterized a terse and ongoing battle for the state of Texas. First Clinton won the primary, then Obama won the caucus. Now no one is sure who should get all those extra delegates. more ›

"Somebody forgot to tell Hillary Clinton the Democratic presidential race is over and Barack Obama won." more ›

Sorry Republicans, but this is only for the Democrats in the house. You know who you are, you passionate Donkeys who like both candidates with equal abandon. You indecisive asses who can't decide between these two stong candidates. more ›

When Americans went to bed March 4, most believed that Hillary Clinton had taken the contest in Texas that observers said resuscitated her flailing hopes for the presidency. They pointed to her win in the primary as evidence that the New York Senator had taken the state that some said was vital if she wanted to stay in the running. more ›

As the country waits to see what the future holds for crusader turned illicit copulater Eliot Spitzer, it is worth examining what impact his prostitute predilection might have on the Democratic Party. more ›

In Rick Orlov's weekly Daily News column on City Hall and local politics, today he touches on the Democratic presidential race and Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa, who has recently been criticized for his time away from the city to campaign for Hillary Clinton. He defends his out-of-town moves and talks about what happens if Clinton loses: more ›

• Remember when we told you that Los Angeles tap water was the best tasting in the world? Turns out that our delicious H20 might have been sprinkled with delicious drugs. The AP found that a multitude of pharmaceuticals, like antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones, have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans including water in Southern California. Little Johnny has taken such a liking to water these days, I wonder what's gotten into him.
• On Friday, Newport Beach police were baffled when they found a fully clothed woman dead and packed in dry ice in an upscale hotel room near John Wayne Airport. The room was rented from known Cocaine dealer and the woman, whose body was well preserved, was apparently wanted on drug charges in Colorado.
• Before she was ousted for saying Hillary Clinton was a "monster" for some of the "underhanded" tactics used to defeat Barack Obama in the Ohio Primary, foreign policy adviser Samantha Powers took a few questions at LA City Beat. Nowhere in the interview does she disparage Clinton, but she does offer some pretty enlightening opinions, such as this opus on how to have a dignified foreign policy: "...if we could just sort of remember that there are individuals at stake, that the “human” in human rights is not an abstraction." On second thought, I'm glad she resigned. We can't have those sorts of hippie, drugged out commie type of relations with the world. It would be un-American!
• In other political news, a Democrat won a special election to fill a congressional seat left vacant in Illinois by outgoing Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert. Bill Foster claimed the seat partly on the strength of Obama, who campaigned for him. Obama supporters claimed this was a signal of things to come in what many observers said was a national referendum as John McCain campaigned for the Republican.
• An off-duty cop in Temecula allegedly shot 2 and killed 1 person over some sort of melee at a Mexican restaurant in Riverside. Guns don't kill people, crazy ass people with anger management problems do.
• A 21-year-old member of the San Fernando Valley Illegal Soapbox Federation died this morning when his adorable little vehicle collided with a light pole in Tarzana. Thing is, it may not have been so adorable. The motto of the local soapbox federation is, "Action, Mayhem, Destruction, Bodily Harm...All For Free". I'm sorry, it seems pretty tough to macho yourself out when riding in a little cart made for 6-year-olds.
• Andy LaRoche got some bad news this weekend. The Dodger third baseman who was expected to share time with Nomar Garciaparra at the hot corner this season is out 8-10 weeks with a ligament tear in his thumb after getting hit trying to catch an attempted pickoff at third during a pre-season game Friday against the St. Louis Cardinals. Learn this name kids: Blake Dewitt. He's been tearing up Spring Training pitching and flashing some great leather. He could get some time at third in LaRoche's absence.

• Sacramento to California's teachers: I love you, but I just can't pay you. Thousands of teachers across the state this week could receive pink slips in the wake of the $14.5 billion budget gap. Teachers to Sacramento: I'd like to see you try and force us out.
• The Air Quality Management District loves clean air so much they decided to impose fines on those who burn wood in fire places when the pollution is especially evident outside. "It's a fair trade off," they say. "Hands off my chimney," some homeowners responded.
• In political news, Wyoming professed their love for Obama by handing him a caucus win and Bush continues to be enamored of torture.
• On Tuesday, a Veterans Thrift Store owner returned a box with $30,000 that was left inside some clothes she was sifting through. She received a cash reward because the family loved that there are still some honest people out there. The thrift worker said she will send some of the reward to Mexico so her mother can have an eye operation and will use the rest to buy a digital camera.
• No love lost: A whistle blower claims that the state's Planned Parenthood overcharged the government close to $180 million for birth control pills. Planned Parenthood hasn't issued an opinion because they haven't seen the lawsuit yet.
• Birds and water lovers said, Where's the love as they looked on to the dry vestiges of the empty Silverlake reservoir. Now that the reservoir is free of the carcinogenic bromate-tainted water that was discovered a few months back, the LADWP can commence patching and other necessary repairs, Metroblogging said.
• How much do you love sunlight? At 2 a.m., it's officially time to set your clocks ahead one hour.

*Update 12:03 p.m.: Hillary Clinton is now the declared winner in Texas according to the LA Times. They also have a complete breakdown, state by state, for all the state primaries including yesterday

Not that we did not know already, but now it is official: Mike Huckabee announced shortly before 6:30 p.m. PST that he is dropping out of the race. The presumptive Republican nominee, John McCain is expected to hold his victory speech later tonight in Dallas (UPDATE: McCain began his victory speech at 6:48 p.m. PST -- "Stand up and fight for America, the contest begins tonight" MSNBC live on air reports that his teleprompter failed during the speech). more ›

No more are the days where Mayor Villaraigosa is a rock star celebrity who stood as a symbol of change for Los Angeles. The LA Times this weekend, along with LAist late last week, questioned the Mayor's time on the road with the Hillary Clinton campaign. The Mayor says the trip scheduled to end Wednesday comes to an end today because a lot was already accomplished, but the Daily News speculates the reason came "amid complaints." more ›

• Newly elected state speaker, a Democrat named Karen Bass who was raised in Los Angeles, has made friends on both sides of the aisle, the LA Times said. She is the first African-American to assume the top spot and has some pretty lofty goals, including providing healthcare and improving education. Wait, those are things EVERY politician should be doing.
• Of course, by now you know all about the L.A. Marathon. But you may not have heard that the Los Angeles Fire Department treated 73 participants; transporting 23 of them to area hospitals. None of the injuries were life-threatening, they said.
• What's one of the best part about Spring Training? Rumors! The Daily News reports that Nomar could play a "handful of games" at shortstop this season. Just four more weeks until Opening Day.
• The blood in my veins is Dodger Blue, but the color of my face when driving to games is sometimes red. So, I applaud the City Council for at least broaching the possibility of public transportation to Dodger Stadium late this week.\
• An El Segundo woman warded off an attacker last night with pepper spray as he pinned her to the ground straddling and fondling her. She reached for the pepper spray and ran away, gagging and coughing.
• But her weapon of choice would not have worked if she was a reporter at the Daily News. Yesterday, we told you that the Daily News laid off 22 staffers earlier in the week. Today, the list of the fireds was published. The deceased includes Alex Dobuzinskis, a great reporter who covered Glendale and Burbank and the News' lone Washington D.C. reporter.
• The newspaper business is not the only one hurting these days. Nearly 1,600 teachers could lose their jobs as Orange County's 28 school districts scramble to find ways to cut from their operating budgets amid a mounting state budget crisis.
• Is Hillary Clinton being subversively endorsed by Saturday Night Live? Last week, SNL feature a skit parodying the media's "love affair" with Barack Obama and last night, they had Clinton on the show getting two minutes of free campaign air time. SNL has not officially endorsed Clinton, but should media outlets allow candidates a free shot at advertising? If NBC allowed Obama two free minutes, don't you think the Clinton camp would be the ones needing a pillow?

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has once again set off for another city that is not his own to help a candidate that has no stake in running Los Angeles. And you could be paying for it. more ›

• A steady stream of Koreans moving into the northwest San Fernando Valley suburbs is giving the traditional K-Town in LA City a run for its money. Now you Valley-ists might not have to travel over the hill for karaoke bars.
• Japanese and Los Angeles police detectives solved a 26-year-old case of a Japanese business man who allegedly shot his wife while the two were on vacation here. Apparently, the long arm of the law uses chopsticks.
• Following Steven Spielberg's diss to the Chinese government when he refused to work with them in the run up to the Beijing Olympics, the state-run media there is returning the favor.
• So much pork was secured by California state legislators last year you would be remiss if you thought Sacramento was a meat packing town. More than $1 billion in pork barrel spending was set aside for pet projects by California lawmakers last year who funneled money to their district. Thirty-five Democrats collectively secured about twice as much money as California's 19 Republicans, but many of the state's individual GOP lawmakers received more money than their counterparts in the majority.
• A man fired a gun into his neighbors home in North Hollywood today, killing him. While the gunman was subdued, a witness stabbed him. How's that for poetic justice?
• Is Hillary Clinton losing it? At a rally today in Ohio, a "visibly angry" Clinton chided Obama for putting out materials she said he knows are "blatantly false." She also derided Obama for having "speeches and the big rallies." "Hillary knows it's over," LA Daily Blog said. The polls are very close in Texas while Clinton maintains a larger lead in Ohio, where both states will vote March 4, which Bill Schneider of CNN called "an end-game" for Clinton.
• Tonight SNL's newest cast member, Casey Wilson, who honed her skills at the Los Angeles Upright Citizen's Brigade, will make her debut, and just in time to play Hillary Clinton. Good Luck Casey!

Last Friday, Sarah Miller's Open Letter to Barack Obama in the LA Times Opinion section caught my eye. Got me thinking. Had me nodding my head. I'm not the only one, as the comments on her letter are getting heated. As an Obama supporter, she raised some concerns about his seeming inability to be concrete and clear about how he is different from Hillary Clinton. In short, Sarah Miller asked Obama to be specific so that people could know why they were behind him, other than wanting radical change in how our country is run.

Hope is an empty diversion without substantive, original arguments on issues. When will you discuss rebuilding New Orleans? Can you offer creative thinking on the Iraq war as it currently exists, instead of just reminding people you opposed it years ago? Why don't you demonstrate a respectful, nuanced view of the Middle East instead of referring to the "the terrorists," as you did in a recent debate? How do you envision the United States' role in Africa's many dire problems and conflicts? How do you plan to fix our decrepit infrastructure and invigorate the economy in just and environmentally responsible ways? Will you argue for the value of a well-regulated, domestically produced food supply, favoring produce over commodity crops, for our safety and environmental health? What are your positions on international trade agreements? Do you have creative ideas for generating more affordable housing in our cities? And how will you handle the responsibilities of the presidency when you can't unite and persuade, as will inevitably happen sometimes?

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has begun to get the word out that he plans on running for a second term. According to the LA Times, Mayor Tony made mention of his plans, along with "his most personal remarks to date about the political fallout from his extramarital affair" on Wednesday during an interview on the Charlie Rose show. more ›

Now that the writers' strike is over and it's full-steam ahead with the Oscars, you can bet that just about every TV channel is going to dogpile on the gala event. Yeah, the Grammys went ahead without interference but the Grammys are nothing compared to the Oscars. E! and CNN already have several shows lined up (look for Oscar host, Jon Stewart, on Larry King this Wednesday night) ready to tackle the exciting topics of: what will be in the gift bags? Who is Prince going to have perform at his Oscar bash? Where do the stars detox before and after the Oscars? etc. more ›

The election trail continues to heat up for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, as four looming primaries in the next couple of weeks could go a long way toward deciding the nominee. On Tuesday, voters in Wisconsin and Hawaii will go to the polls and on March 4, Texans and Ohio-ans will do the same. How are things shaping up? more ›

• An investigation by the Daily News found that, as the DWP has increased rates they continue to issue cars to more than 100 employees who are free to take them home. Proponents of the program say the cost of the vehicles is offset by the tax breaks the department receives from the hybrids they drive. Other people say, You're shitting me, right? Stop wasting my money.
• The LA Times had their own investigation party too. The paper found that about 33,000 state inmates served longer than they should have because they were not given all the time off they earned for good behavior and for working in prison. Hey, those license plates don't make themselves.
• In a scene straight out of "Ferris Beuler's Day Off," a valet crashed a Corvette during a joy ride Friday night in Van Nuys. Uh, what country do you think this is?
• A dead body was found on the 10 freeway this morning. Authorities say the body was already dead when they arrived and there is no truth to the rumor that it was Hillary Clinton's campaign.
• Pitchers and catchers reported to Spring Training last week and position players are due to arrive at camp soon. Let the season of sports writing begin. Tony Jackson shows you why you shouldn't mind the fact that the Dodgers don't have Don Mattingly as their hitting coach and Bill Plaschke writes lovingly of Matt Kemp: "He gets a plate full of catfish nuggets. I get a side dish of insight." How many days of this crap will we be forced to endure?
• Tomorrow is Presidents' Day. How will you celebrate? It won't be at these places, which will be closed tomorrow.
• Also closing tomorrow is the Kanye contest on LAist. Enter to win tix to what could be the second best show of the year (Radiohead is reportedly coming to L.A. in August).

In an e-mail early, early, early this morning, McCabe's announced something unexpected: The Swell Season will be playing tomorrow night in the guitar shop's intimate performance space. You may not recognize the band's name, but you know them as Irish singer Glen Hansard and Czech pianist Marketa Irglova from the movie Once. The gig got booked serendipitously yesterday when Glen brought his guitar into the shop for repair. Of course, the bad news here is that tickets sold out quickly, probably before the light of day hit. Tonight, McCabe's presents Jackshit, who we interviewed here on LAist last August. more ›

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It's hard to imagine someone surreptitiously making off with something that's 7 feet tall and made of bronze, but it seems that's what has happened in a park located in the Mid-City neighborhood of Carthay Circle. more ›

Political Briefs and Dispatches from around California more ›

Last week we created a map showing primary election results by county in California and today we'll break it down further. more ›

• As was reported today on LAist, the writer's strike, which cost the city about $1 billion, is nearly over. We all know how involved Mayor V has been nudging the two sides back together. Oh, wait. But at least he weighed in today: "This agreement is a blockbuster for the Los Angeles economy. It will put thousands of writers, set designers, caterers, and behind-the-scenes workers back on the job this week." Blockbuster! HA!
• Election central: Barack Obama added a Grammy to his momentous weekend and Hillary Clinton sacked her campaign manager today. Obama won the award for his oratorically smooth stylins, reading Audacity of Hope and Clinton announced today that she replaced her campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle with longtime aide Maggie Williams in what has had to be a long weekend for beset by four resounding primary and caucus wins by Obama in Washington, Maine, Louisiana and Nebraska.
• The rest of the Grammy winners can be found here and you'll be happy to know that Jimmy Sturr And His Orchestra took the prize for best polka album.
• Is Scientology a cult? Blogging.la found a few Anonymous people who might think so at a demonstration outside the L. Ron Hubbard center on Sunset today.
• A week after a plane crashed into the mountains near Banning Pass, rescuers reported Sunday that they have found the plane more than 11 miles from the site where it was originally reported missing. The fate of all four people on the plane is still unknown.
• Six kids and three adults from southern California fell ill today in D.C., where the group of students from West Covina and their chaperone's were visiting the White House. Insert [Bush Makes Me Sick, Too] joke here.
• From the turnabout is fair play department: A former Internal Revenue Service officer working as a tax preparer in Inglewood has been arrested in connection with an alleged scheme to defraud the government by filing false tax returns. How big of an economic stimulus check do you think he's getting?

On Friday we interviewed Jay Babcock of Arthur Magazine -- he books a series on Sunday nights at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica. More Eastwardly, Alex & Sam will play their second show of the Sunday residency spot at Tangier in Los Feliz (for all February residencies in LA, check out our guide). Last week we checked them out while others detoxed from their Super Bowl Sunday and we can say the band of eight or so musicians is an excellent way to end your weekend with. And if you're down in the Long Beach area, how about some George Clinton? more ›