Antonio Villaraigosa

The city's mayor is quietly taking control of a newly built high school in Boyle Heights, but the teachers union may challenge that conquest, part of a growing war between Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and United Teachers Los Angeles. The school at issue is the $106-million Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez Learning Center, which is to open this fall.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa came back Tuesday from a one-week vacation in Iceland, just as a private fundraiser for his signature antigang initiative took place at L.A. Live, the entertainment complex owned by Anschutz Entertainment Group. The event was held at L.A. Live's Grammy Museum, and AEG was credited as one of the sponsors of the bash, which raised money for the mayor's Summer Night Lights, a program to provide activities for youths.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa learned a major lesson in school reform Tuesday: It's hard to fix failing schools in Los Angeles, even those under his purview. That insight arrived with the release of the state's standardized test scores. They painted his reform efforts at 10 of the city's historically low-performing schools as an inconsistent work in progress. A similar story emerged at South Los Angeles' Locke High School, which just completed its first year under the management of a charter school operator.

As workers finished exploratory drilling Thursday for the planned Westside subway extension, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other elected officials said they want to speed up construction of the $4.1-billion transit project, which has been scheduled for completion in 2036. An outspoken advocate for the so-called Subway to the Sea, the mayor has long been frustrated by the project's timetable, and that was evident again when he and other officials gathered for a news conference in a UCLA parking lot. There, final soil samples had been drawn for a route that would follow Wilshire Boulevard from downtown Los Angeles to Westwood.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced on Thursday a shake-up of his administration, bidding farewell to two top advisors and elevating his anti-gang czar to chief of staff. Villaraigosa announced the departure of Chief of Staff Robin Kramer, who has run the mayor's office since the start of his first term in 2005. Replacing her will be the Rev. Jeff Carr, who has won praise for his handling of the city's anti-gang program. Kramer, who also worked for former Mayor Richard Riordan, said she informed Villaraigosa two months ago that she planned to leave.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa launched a prescription-drug discount program for city residents Monday, following up on a campaign promise he made five years ago while running for mayor. At a senior center in Montecito Heights, Villaraigosa said the city had contracted with Ohio-based Envision Pharmaceutical Services, which will negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to obtain lower prices for residents who carry discount cards. The discounts, which could range from 5% to 40% depending on the medicine, will be available at about 1,500 Los Angeles pharmacies that participate in Envision's network.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa drew cheers from environmentalists just over two months ago when he issued a new political promise: eliminating coal from the Department of Water and Power's fuel mix by 2020. Instead of waiting a decade to see if that promise comes true, a Sacramento-based advocacy group decided to stage a publicity campaign thanking the mayor. It bought advertising space on city bus kiosks showing a smiling picture of Villaraigosa and the word "Successful."

Four and a half years ago, a Los Angeles city councilman looking to become mayor promised to take the bureaucracy into uncharted territory by helping residents get better access to cheaper prescription drugs. The LA-Rx program, unveiled in the heat of Antonio Villaraigosa's campaign, was ambitious. It was innovative. And it took a back seat to other initiatives once he won office. When Villaraigosa finally unveiled the start of LA-Rx last week, it was one of several signs that the mayor -- now in his second term -- is trying to shed a reputation for being long on promises and short on follow-through.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday abandoned an early retirement plan his administration had negotiated with labor leaders as a rapidly worsening budget gap moved the city and some of its most powerful employee unions toward open conflict. City Council members offered to give union leaders until today to identify another $60 million in cuts that would be needed to salvage the early retirement plan. If the unions fail to do so, council members may be forced to back layoffs for as many as 926 custodians, recreation workers, building inspectors and other city employees.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's efforts to fast-track the long-stalled Westside subway faced a challenge Tuesday when a bipartisan group of congressional representatives said the current plan is unlikely to bring immediate federal funding to L.A. County. Villaraigosa has been pushing to have the subway completed in 10 years -- more than 15 years earlier than under current estimates. At his urging, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board agreed to submit the subway expansion, as well as a plan to build a light-rail through downtown, as the county's two projects to compete for a share of a national pool of federal funding.