Darrick Rainey

Updated below with Villaraigosa responding to the Weekly's coverage, saying "I live in a bubble, and I love that bubble."

Please see today's L.A. Weekly cover story, "L.A. Mayor With Baggage Seeks Job: Antonio Villaraigosa's quest for Wall Street, Washington and wealth," and check out the mayor's original, unedited schedule, obtained by the Weekly, at the end of the next page.

In 2008, L.A. Weekly obtained Mayor Villaraigosa's official work schedule and discovered that he spent only 11 percent of his time on direct mayoral work. Critics dubbed him "the 11 percent mayor." Four years later, as he leaves office, we revisited his calendar. We found that Villaraigosa is deeply devoted to photo ops, ceremonies and travel, spending just 15 percent of his day on core duties such as deciding upon policy or weighing laws. He spends 42 percent of his working hours traveling outside Los Angeles.

During the 15-week period from September 1 to December 16, 2012, he logged roughly 1,234 hours of official work, 12 hours a day. He divides his time into the same five categories we unearthed in 2008: Trips, Gap Time (getting from event to event), Personal Time/Blacked Out, Ceremonial or PR, and City Work.

Here's the breakdown by category of how he really spends his time, 2012 versus 2008:

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Jessie Andrews by Nate 'Igor' Smith for LA Weekly.

The porn industry has lost a few battles in the last year or so. It faces mandatory condoms on-set in both the city and county of Los Angeles, for the most part. And when bareback production apparently tried to invade Ventura County, the government there also said prophylactics would be the law.

So you can't blame the biz, long resistant to such rules, for being a little bit giddy today: A state legislative committee blocked a law that would have made condoms in porn mandatory across California:

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Beth Cole

If the lesson to the media, and to FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal in particular is "mess with the Dodgers, you get burned," it's been delivered loud and clear, received, over and out. And I'm having piping hot soup for lunch, by the way.

Consider the Don Mattingly-inspired headlines following the manager's comments Wednesday: "Has Don Mattingly crossed the Rubicon?" and "Mattingly's Comments Turn Dodgers Season Into Circus of Turmoil," "Don Mattingly rips into players and makeup of Dodgers," "Has Don Mattingly fired himself with his comments?" and "Don Mattingly vents about the Dodgers," courtesy of Rosenthal, who previously predicted the exact day of the skippers firing, with the his "Ax to fall soon for Dodgers' Mattingly" piece.

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Ted Soqui for LA Weekly

For the first time ever -- well, not really ever, but almost -- the Los Angeles River will be open to kayakers and fishermen (and women). This new era of openness starts Monday, Memorial Day, and lasts through Labor Day.

This welcome mat applies to a 2.5 mile stretch of the river near downtown:

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Ravers at EDC Las Vegas by Christopher Victorio for LA Weekly.

Usually people in the lamestream media get raves all wrong. It's not as if most journalists have even been to one.

And then there were L.A. politicians, with pro-rave lobbyists whispering in their ears, who just a few years back described the events as "music festivals" with no more drug use than you'd see at a Hollywood Bowl concert. Well, one public figure got it right:

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The victim, via the LAPD.

What the hell is wrong with people these days?

Los Angeles has seen its second report of a dognapping in as many weeks. The latest involves a woman who went into a Van Nuys yard, took pictures, and then took a 5-year-old Siberian Husky.

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Charlie Sheen said last year that being Latino "was never a part of my life growing up ... My parents never infused it into our household."

A guy born Carlos Irwin Estévez who has displayed a reported penchant for cocaine and porn stars couldn't be any more Latino, if you ask us. (Jus' kideen!). But until now his Hispanic roots have always been optional:

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Simon Davison / Flickr

Are smart people better drivers? Maybe, maybe not. But your own casual research on the streets of Los Angeles would suggest a strong correlation between idiots and crap motorists, right? (Just look at their vacant, zombie faces).

New research published this week in the journal Current Biology says there's a clear connection between folks with high IQs and those who can track "the movement of small objects faster," according to a summary:

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Photo courtesy of Mercy for Animals

One of the nearly 3,000 pigs at Country View Family Farms in Fannettsburg, Pennsylvania. The far mis a supplier for Hatfield Quality Meats, which is sold in twelve Northeastern states.

This week's story, "The Ag Gag War," goes behind the scenes of the guerilla fight between animal rights groups and Big Agriculture.

For years organizations like the Humane Society and Mercy for Animals have being going undercover at America's largest farms, using hidden cameras to show exactly how our food is produced. The footage hasn't been pretty.

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Ted Soqui

A defaced Antonio Villaraigosa mural in East Hollywood

Read the scathing L.A. Weekly cover story "Antonio Villaraigosa's Quest for Wall Street, Washington and Wealth."

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa sure knows how to live it up on other people's money and the taxpayers' time.

Elected in 2005 to be the chief executive officer of Los Angeles -- the second largest city in the nation -- voters undoubtedly expected Villaraigosa to roll up his sleeves and tackle such issues as traffic, the proliferation of billboards, improving city servies, the city's shaky financial standing, and numerous other things. Instead, he constantly left town, held countless press conferences, and a lived a 1-percent lifestyle.

Here are the three days the mayor slacked off the most between September 1 and December 16, 2012...

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Metro

Chins were scratched and heads shook in 2011 when it was revealed that Metro's Crenshaw/LAX light-rail line would not feature a proper stop in the heart of African-American L.A., Leimert Park.

There were accusations that the black community wasn't seeing the same kind of resources thrown at the multibillion-dollar Westside subway along Wilshire Bouelvard. Well, today all that changed. The Metro board and the L.A. City Council put up the necessary cash:

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A mob-connected drug trafficker was living right under our noses in Beverly Hills, helping to stash kilos of cocaine, make deals with the Sinaloa drug cartel and move millions of dollars worth of drugs for the Rizzuto organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra.

Those are the facts of the case for 39-year-old Alessandro Taloni, who today pleaded guilty in New York to federal drug-trafficking charges:

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Susan Slade Photography for L.A. Weekly

The L.A. City Attorney's office this week said it would begin the job of telling most marijuana dispensaries in town that it's time to close up for good.

Of course, that actually happening is a believe-it-when-we-see-it proposition, since the city has been trying to do just that since 2007, only to see the opposite go down as more retailers open shop. On Tuesday you, the voter, said it's time to downsize our pot shop scene:

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Carmen Trutanich / Flickr

Mike Feuer took City Attorney Carmen Trutanich's job with 62 percent of the vote versus the incumbent's less than 38 percent, a more than 24-point spread.

Some think Trutanich's failed run for district attorney, which had him breaking a vow to stay put, killed his chances. You might also consider his mad-dog crackdowns on medical marijuana and the fact that pot-shop regulation was also on the ballot, perhaps bringing a hostile medicinal vote to the polls. In any case, his drubbing was historic:

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erin leigh mcconnell / Flickr

Tuesday's election was historic. We got our first elected mayor of Jewish ancestry. And our second mayor in modern times with Mexican heritage.

But most of you didn't bother to vote. The L.A. City Clerk registered a low-low "ballots cast" percentage of 19.2. Meaning one out of 5 of you -- and that's just of the ones who are even registered to vote -- bothered to show up. That number probably will increase to nearly 1 out of 4 as the final tally is certified by June 11. Still, it's kind of sad:

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Photo by Ted Soqui

Eric Garcetti relishes victory

Eric Garcetti, 42, will be the youngest mayor of Los Angeles in 100 years. At 42, he's not quite as fresh-faced as he was when he ran for City Council at the ripe age of 29. But he's still young enough to pop-and-lock and play keyboards with Moby.More »

Keith Allison/Flickr

Don Mattingly is on a plane home from Wisconsin as we speak, and may be handed a pink slip with his luggage upon disembarking.

Perhaps his firing comes during the team's day off tomorrow -- as has been predicted -- maybe Mattingly gets until Friday or through the weekend, and it's a physical possibility that he receives club support while actually keeping his job. But the prevailing wisdom -- summed up by Bill Shaikin, Chris Calcaterra and others -- is that the man best associated with the New York Yankees will be out of a job in Los Angeles soon. Very soon. And it's the right call.

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LASD

A nearly 100-year-old bicycle said to be quite valuable and rare was stolen from its owner's home in Lancaster, authorities said.

The red Indian Deluxe, which looks like Pee-wee Herman's dream ride, was made between 1914 and 1917, according to sheriff's officials:

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Susan Slade Photography for L.A. Weekly

Measure D. a law that would close nine out of 10 marijuana dispensaries in town, maybe more, was passed by you, the voter, last night.

But that doesn't mean it's over for hundreds or perhaps even 1,000 or more pot shops in Los Angeles that would have to close their doors under the ordinance. Backers of a competing measure (Ordinance F), which would have allowed many if not most of those cannabis stores to stay open, albeit with some new regulations and taxes, say they'll sue to survive:

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LuLu Hoeller

Echo Park said no to John Choi.

Hollywood and the Tri-Hipster Area are nothing if not independent, and on Tuesday they defied months of wrongheaded conventional wisdom that said John Choi, a guy nobody in City Council District 13 had heard of, could win an L.A. City Council seat thanks to riches from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and the hated DWP union.

Critics called it buying an election. It certainly appeared that way at times.

But voters defied the experts who said the obscure Choi was the frontrunner thanks to big money unions urging voters to the polls. Choi was not the frontrunner, ever. O'Farrell, the respected field deputy to Eric Garcetti, was. O'Farrell won decisively ...

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