Antonia Hernandez

Six additional members, including Roman Catholic Archbishop Roger Mahony, have been named to a City Hall ethics commission created by Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley. The formation of the seven-member panel was announced by Bradley last week, the morning after his surprisingly poor showing in the city election, which he attributed partly to a controversy over fees he accepted from financial institutions doing business with the city. The panel, to be headed by former California Common Cause Chairman Geoffrey Cowan, has been asked to draft a new, tougher ethics code for City Hall.

A citizens committee has been formed to encourage implementation of Police Department changes advocated by the now-disbanded Christopher Commission. Here are the 43 business, civic and community leaders on the panel and their business affiliations: * Aileen Adams--city of Los Angeles Fire Department commissioner. * Kermit Alexander--National Golf & Tennis Inc. * Roy A. Anderson--Lockheed Corp. * H.F. (Bert) Boeckmann II--Galpin Motors. * John E. Bryson--Southern California Edison Co.

An Orange County appeals court judge is one of two jurists, two civil-rights lawyers and a labor lawyer recommended by Sen. Barbara Boxer as candidates for a vacancy on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The judges are Sheila Prell Sonenshine, a justice on the state's 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana and Thelton Henderson, chief judge of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco and a former Justice Department civil-rights lawyer.

Linda Wong, an advocate for Latino civil rights, is leaving her post as associate counsel of the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund to serve as executive director of California Tomorrow, a statewide public policy group. For the last seven years, Wong, 39, has overseen immigration issues as the first full-time attorney in MALDEF's Los Angeles office.

When the Banks Huntley Building--an impressive 12-story Art Deco structure--was erected in the late 1920s at 634 S. Spring Street, it was the first building in the city of Los Angeles to have central air conditioning and heating. Today, after years of renovation, it serves as the national headquarters for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a leading Latino civil rights organization.

For its 20th round of fellowships to Los Angeles County visual artists, the California Community Foundation is awarding $280,000 in one-year fellowships to 15 emerging and mid-career artists in painting, photography, collage, drawing, sculpture and multimedia. "L.A. is sort of considered the creative capital of the world, and yet we cannot sustain creativity," foundation President and Chief Executive Antonia Hernandez said this week.

An ambitious downtown center created to celebrate the role of Mexican Americans in Los Angeles culture and history opened with great fanfare six months ago, fueled by more than $36 million in public funds and boasting a prominent board of directors. Today the center, La Plaza de Cultura y Artes, is staggering. Its chief executive was let go in August, and he's accused of mismanagement. Attendance has been sparse. The private foundation set up to run it hasn't raised much money.

Here's the rundown on guests and topics for the weekend's public-affairs programs: Today "Saturday Journal": 5 a.m. C-SPAN. "Evans & Novak": Marion Barry, mayor of Washington, D.C., 2:30 p.m., repeats Sunday, 7 a.m. CNN. "John McLaughlin's One on One": Michael Bloomberg, 2:30 p.m. (28). "Tony Brown's Journal": roots of music featuring black hymns, slave songs, 3:30 p.m. (28). "Inside Politics Weekend": 3:30 p.m.; repeats midnight CNN. "Capital Gang Saturday": Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.

The slow but steady effort to make the Los Angeles Police Department be all that it can be, as one U.S. military organization might put it, is moving forward. The city has named members of the key committee that will produce a final list of candidates for the job of new LAPD police chief. The seven well-respected members are representative of the many interests and cultures of Los Angeles, and that's as it must be if the city is to feel that the new police chief is chief of all the people.