Rick Orlov

WTF: L.A. Community Redevelopment Agency Loses Track of $1.7 Million, Blames Governor

Of $27 million that the L.A. Community Development Agency was supposed to collect from property owners in blighted areas and redistribute into the community, City Controller Wendy Greuel says she can't find $1.7 million. So. Did public employees at the agency (and their friends on the City Council) ... More >>

L.A. Controller Wendy Greuel Says She Wants To Be Your Next Mayor

L.A. City Controller Wendy Greuel​It's not all that unexpected -- we've been hearing this rumor for years -- but L.A. City Controller Wendy Greuel has announced that she'll be entering Los Angeles' mayoral race, according to Rick Orlov of the Daily News. L.A. City Council President Eric Garc ... More >>

Will L.A. Fire Chief Millage Peaks Have the Cojones to Demand Antonio Villaraigosa's Staffers Fill Potholes?

Kyle T. WebsterL.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa​Yet another budgetary dust up is developing at Los Angeles City Hall this week, this time involving Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Los Angeles Fire Department brass, whose 51 assistants may have to hit the streets to help fight fires due to a may ... More >>

Cop Gets $2 Million For Firing

​Here's another costly tale of incivility in the civil services, courtesy of the Daily News.Richard Joaquin, of Corona, was an LAPD motorcycle officer who had a simple dream of leaving work early. His supervisor reprimanded him. He filed a complaint against the supervisor. The conflict escalated. ... More >>

Who Wants To Be An L.A. Mayor?

Eric Garcetti.​Los Angeles City Council president Eric Garcetti is a perennial favorite. Councilwoman Jan Perry is rumored to be throwing her hat in the ring. And mall developer and former police commission member Rick Caruso says he's also leaning toward a run to replace Mayor Antonio Villara ... More >>

City Hall's 2010 DWP Debacle

How Beutner, Carr, Carson, D'Arcy, Freeman, Greuel, Raj, Santana, Szabo, Villaraigosa & Co. pushed L.A. to the cliff edge

City Department Heads Revolting Over Mayor's Proposed Cuts

​We have a mayor who last month trekked to Europe and this month made a cameo appearance on the soap opera "All My Children." All this was happening as the city faced its worst budget crises in many years. So you can hardly blame the city's department heads for bristling when L.A.'s absentee l ... More >>

Weed mags sprout across LOS ANGELES

Publications reap windfall from pot ads

LAPD, Sheriff's Unions, Longtime Foes, Join Forces On State Politics

​The unions representing Los Angeles Police Department cops and Sheriff's deputies have been foes since 1923, but they're now joining forces to weigh in on the state governor's race. Rick Orlov reports in the Los Angeles Daily News that the Los Angeles Police Protective League and the Associa ... More >>

Mayor V. Has 'Best Year' Ever (If You Close Your Eyes And Ignore Reality)

​They say that sometimes a leader's job is to will optimism in the darkest of times, like a Federal Reserve chairman saying the economy's alright, a president saying wars are going swimmingly or newspaper CEO claiming that print will make a comeback in 2010. As such Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa ... More >>

Trutanich Pushes New Pot Shop Ordinance for L.A.

On Monday, local medical marijuana advocates were buzzing about President Barack Obama's new, federal rules for not busting legitimate medical pot dispensaries and an L.A. Superior Court judge's decision to invalidate the Los Angeles City Council's moratorium on pot shops in this city, which never s ... More >>

LAPPL President Paul Weber: Next Chief Needs To Be 'People Person'

Los Angeles Daily News reporter Rick Orlov wrote yesterday that the Los Angeles Police Commission is now searching "in earnest" for LAPD chief Bill Bratton's replacement.LAPD Chief Bill Bratton​"There are at least six candidates who will be interviewed on Wednesday and Thursday - and they are said ... More >>

Bratton and Villaraigosa Stare Down City Council Over LAPD Hiring Freeze

Resembling a farewell tour of your favorite rock band, only this time there won't be any reunion gigs, Los Angeles Police Department Chief Bill Bratton and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa are together again for one last stare down of the L.A. City Council, which is mulling over a plan to place a "tempora ... More >>

New Prescription Card Features Villaraigosa's Mug

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa unveiled a new discount prescription card yesterday, writes longtime Daily News reporter Rick Orlov. Villaraigosa also announced the program on the Huffington Post. ​We'll give the mayor some credit -- on the face of it, a five to 40 percent discount on pres ... More >>

City Checks Bounce, Bank Blamed

LA Daily News​Whoops, there goes another rubber check! The L.A. Daily News' Rick Orlov reports that 924 checks worth $6 million issued July 24 by the city to vendors have embarrassingly bounced. L.A. is pointing the finger, however, to Wachovia Bank, which it says suffered a transition glitch when ... More >>

Greig Smith Hits Back Over LAPD Hiring Freeze

Now it's getting interesting. Last Friday night, 12th District City Councilman Greig Smith released his own salvo over a proposal to freeze the hiring of LAPD officers during Los Angeles's budget crisis, claiming Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was engaging in "scare tactics and fear mongering." Office o ... More >>

Villaraigosa's Strange Clean Air Claim

As L.A. Weekly often reports, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has a habit of making strange claims -- remember how he calls himself the hardest working mayor in America and says, with LAPD Chief Bill Bratton's blessing, that L.A. is as safe as 1956? This week, longtime Daily News scribe Rick ... More >>

The 11 Percent Mayor Villaraigosa Lashes Back

Blasting L.A. Weekly, he says we relied on bad facts. Aides say he misspoke

Parking Meter Woes

When does increasing revenue lose a city money? The answer, Daily News writer Rick Orlov reports, is when parking meter rates go up -- they are scheduled to, thanks to an L.A. City Council vote. Orlov reported that "Council members "suggested that the increase - in some cases going from $1 an hour t ... More >>

A nod to Tina Dupuy, Michael Higby and Doug McIntyre

Those of us blogging at LA Daily appreciate it when fellow journalists, bloggers and broadcasters make note of our efforts in print at LA Weekly, so we were thrilled to see Fishbowl LA's Tina Dupuy and Mayor Sam's Michael Higby weighing in on Patrick Range McDonald's coverage of Antonio Villaraigosa ... More >>

Villaraigosa, the All About Me Mayor, Is Still 11 Percent There

Rocky, Did You Bump Your Head?

A Billionaire’s Bark

Surgeon-inventor is behind shakeup of L.A.’s animal services

Free To Protest

Thanks to Judge Feess, you can say more things in more places