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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Darrick Rainey

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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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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PHOTO BY TED SOQUI

Eric Garcetti at his victory party

By Kate Stephanus

Eric Garcetti's victory party last night at the Hollywood Palladium drew hipsters, activists and campaign pros -- along with a few people who had, shall we say, more unusual reasons for lending their support.

Some of these partygoers had a lot to say about the issues they were concerned with, which they were convinced Garcetti would pay particular attention to if elected. Others had more personal reasons. All had complete confidence that Garcetti will go above and beyond expectations, doing everything from generating jobs to providing pot for all who need it.

Here are the five most interesting reasons people gave us last night for their Garcetti vote.

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Stepp, left, and the at-large suspect via El Segundo police.

A woman who apparently offered escort services online was no easy prey when she was allegedly attacked by a suspect this week.

Police say the victim arranged to meet 33-year-old Wesley Robert Stepp at an El Segundo hotel room when the man identified himself as a cop who was conducting a "prostitution sting operation." Here's what authorities say happened next:

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Amitp

See also, City Attorney Trutanich announces he will notify shops they must close.

Proposition D's huge win on Tuesday was a clear message from liberal Los Angeles that it does not want more than 1,000 weed shops in virtually every business district of the sprawling city, as things stand today.

The new law becomes the first tricky and controversial test for Mayor-elect Eric Garcetti, a man with a great distaste for controversy. It shutters all dispensaries that opened in defiance of the L.A. City Council's 2007 moratorium banning new pot shops.

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Colin Young-Wolff for LA Weekly

Ready for summer? Ready to party? Be ready to have your ass busted if you drink and drive.

The LAPD, the sheriff's department and Pasadena police are rolling out the troops this holiday weekend, hoping that you won't be dumb enough to be a DUI motorist. We're counting 7 checkpoints and two patrol operations starting Friday. Here's what we know:

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Garcetti and Greuel

Eric Garcetti was elected mayor of Los Angeles on Tuesday, reassembling the coalition of Westsiders and Latinos that carried Antonio Villaraigosa into office eight years ago.More »

Joseph Adams / Flickr

Of all the good things marijuana can do for you -- enhance your hearing at reggae concerts, make you fall in love with otherwise unattractive people, inspire you say profound things while sitting in a hot tub -- this one is pretty amazing.

Researchers using five years worth of National Health and Nutrition Survey data compared 579 regular cannabis users to thousands of non-users:

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yenombackwards / YouTube

Remember that freeway marriage proposal that stopped interstate 10 earlier this year and got the groom-to-be, Hector Martinez, arrested?

Maybe it wasn't worth it after all. A ring said to have been used in the motorcycle takeover of the freeway in West Covina was not-so-quietly put up for sale this week on Craigslist:

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Ron Galperin, the newly elected L.A. city controller

The final tally is in: By 3:16 a.m., with 100 percent of precincts reporting, newcomer Ron Galperin had decisively beaten City Hall veteran Dennis Zine, getting elected L.A.'s new controller with 56.2 percent of the vote.

Galperin's victory is arguably the biggest upset of this city's municipal elections -- the Century City attorney was the only outsider to run for citywide office. He was able to beat Zine, a longtime member of the city council and the LAPD, despite raising far less money: $584,433 to Zine's $1.14 million.

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Laura Chick

The wrong city controller ran against Eric Garcetti.

As current Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel's run for mayor ended in defeat, one can't help but think that Laura Chick, the hard-charging, plainspoken controller between 2001 and 2009, would have mopped the floor with Garcetti.

"There is no way you can get your foot in the door [at L.A. City Hall] unless you start showing up to events for elected officials and making whatever the maximum donation is," Chick told journalist Kevin Roderick in 2004.

That kind of candidness from Chick, which maddened L.A.'s political elite, would have undoubtedly won over voters of all political stripes -- just as her hard-hitting audits did.

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