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Riordan Endorses Beutner for Mayor…Beutner Who?
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Riordan Endorses Beutner for Mayor…Beutner Who?

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Former LA Mayor Richard Riordan has endorsed Austin Beutner, former aide to Mayor Villagraigosa, to succeed Villaraigosa in 2013. Will that scare off a crowd of better-known hopefuls? What does it reveal about who runs the city? Also, what does President Obama's visit to Silicon Valley say about the role of the Internet in political campaigning nationwide? Plus, Major League Baseball takes over the finances of the LA Dodgers. On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, food safety and antibiotics for healthy farm animals.

Banner image: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (C) and First Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner during an event announcing naming rights for the new football stadium Farmers Field at LA Convention Center on February 1, 2011. Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Making News

MLB Commissioner Selig Takes Control of Dodgers ()

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig announced today that his office will take control of finances and day-to-day operations for the LA Dodgers, which he called "one of the most prestigious franchises in all of sports." The New York Times is quoting two sources as saying Selig wants to force Frank McCourt to sell the team. We caught up with LA Times beat reporter Dylan Hernandez, who was at Dodger Stadium this afternoon.

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Main Topic

Riordan Endorses Beutner for Mayor…Beutner Who? ()

Austin Beutner, a potential candidate few Los Angeles voters ever heard of, got a boost today from former Mayor Richard Riordan. Beutner is a former investment banker who made a dollar and a half for the past 18 months as Mayor Villaraigosa's First Deputy.  He's opened an exploratory committee to run when Villaraigosa is termed out in 2013 and today Riordan endorsed him. Also today, Villaraigosa announced next year's $6.9 billion budget, cutting 11 percent from his own office, 10 percent from the City Council and even some from the LAPD. Despite reductions, the Mayor said, "We're beginning to seen the light at the end of the tunnel."

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Reporter's Notebook

Facebook and Obama, Who's Courting Whom? ()

Facebook now has 600 million members, but President Obama caught on to its power a long time ago. Today, he conducted an Internet town hall from Facebook's headquarters in Palo Alto. We hear more about the role of the Internet in political campaigning nationwide from Jeff Chester, Executive Director of the Center for Digital Democracy, and Barbara O'Connor, Director Emeritus of the Institute for the Study of Politics and Media at California State University at Sacramento.

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Main Topic

Food Safety, Resistance to Antibiotics and Healthy Farm Animals ()

Antibiotics are essential to the so-called "miracle" of modern medicine. Now antibiotic-resistant bacteria have shown up at American grocery stores. Researchers in Arizona sampled meat and poultry sold at grocery stores in Flagstaff, Los Angeles, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale and Washington, DC. What they found has added fuel to the controversy over the use of antibiotics on factory farms. Some claim that's evidence that antibiotics are losing their effectiveness because of overuse on American farms.

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Underwriters

Which Way L.A.? is made possible in part by the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, and the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation, which supports study and research into policy issues of the Los Angeles region.

 

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