Which Way, L.A.?

FERC Orders California to Pay Enron, Others 270 Million

For the past few weeks, the media has been filled with audio-tapes, laced with profanity, in which Enron-s energy traders talked about driving up prices by creating artificial shortages of electricity. They joked about making big profits at the expense of -poor grandmothers.- The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission says Enron and others may have to pay $3 billion in refunds to California, but it also says that the state owes the energy traders $270 million. As California wrestles with FERC over who owes how much to whom, state Attorney General Bill Lockyer announced today that he-s suing Enron. We hear about fraud, market manipulation, and billions of dollars from Lockyer and Rebecca Smith, a national energy reporter for the Wall Street Journal. Making News: Bernard Parks Joins LA Mayor's Race Former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg announced today that four of Mayor Jim Hahn's appointed commissioners have resigned to support Hertzberg's challenge to Hahn in next year's mayoral election. Also today, after ten weeks of what politicians call "exploration," Councilman and former LA Police Chief Bernard Parks has formally announced that he wants Hahn's job. We hear more about discontent in the Hahn administration from Rick Orlov of the Daily News and mayoral candidate Bernard Parks.