Suzanne Muchnic of the L.A. Times breaks the story that the Autry National Center has withdrawn its $175 million expansion plans. In a resolution announcing the decision, Autry Board of Trustees Secretary David W. Cartwright outlined a list of conditions, some of them proposed by City Councilman Jose Huizar, that made the expansion a no-go.

One of those stipulations was that the Autry commit to operating Mount Washington's Southwest Museum of the American Indian until the end of time. "Whereas," the resolution says, "based on the current experience at the [City of L.A. Board of Referred Powers], the many other required approvals for the Project, and the length of time it has taken the City to process those requests thus far, the Autry believes there is no reasonable schedule that the City will meet, nor is there any reasonable likelihood of 'final' approval of the Project in any form that the Autry could ultimately act upon."

Both advocates of the Southwest Museum, which has been absorbed by the Autry, and Mount Washington community activists, have looked upon the Autry's expansion plans as the death knell for the Southwest -- most of whose Indian artifacts collection would have been moved to the Autry's Griffith Park site for display.

Note: This post incorrectly identified a KPCC FM blog as breaking this story.