In Today’s News: Nobel for UCLA prof., Endeavour arrives, prison employees depart

A professor emeritus at UCLA will share the 2012 Nobel Prize in Economics. 89-year-old Lloyd Shapely used game theory to look into how different matching systems work best in various markets. The other winner is Alvin Roth, who recently transferred to Stanford University from Harvard. The pair will share a $1.2 million prize. Here’s more from CNN

Crews at the California Science Center have begun the job of welding Space Shuttle Endeavour into permanent place. The 85-ton spacecraft arrived at the science center yesterday afternoon. It came in 16 hours late but unscathed from its 12-mile journey from LAX to Exposition Park. An estimated one million people came out to see the shuttle during the trip. Check out this photo gallery from the L.A. Times.

Former L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan is expected to file language today for a ballot measure to overhaul the city’s pension system. The proposal calls for eliminating guaranteed pensions for new workers in favor of a 401(k)-style savings plan. Backers will need to collect about 250,000 signatures to qualify the measure for the May 2013 ballot.

The state Inspector General reports that 20 California prison employees have been fired or resigned for smuggling phones into state lockups. Most of the employees did it for money, but in several cases the smuggling stemmed from apparent romantic relationships between guards and prisoners. In one case, a prisoner was found with a phone that contained text messages with nude photos sent by a female guard. More on the story from the L.A. Times.

Meantime, a hunger strike is entering its sixth day at the high-security Tehachapi prison. The State Department of Corrections says 181 inmates went without food yesterday. Most of those prisoners have not eaten since Wednesday. The hunger strike is centered in the prison’s Segregated Housing Unit, which is reserved for the most dangerous offenders. More detail from the Times.