Endorsement

City elections tend not to attract a large voter turnout, but just because Tuesday's municipal contests don't involve big bucks or big names doesn't mean they're not significant. At stake are several seats on the Los Angeles City Council and some key taxation measures, including a test of Angelenos' tolerance for medical marijuana. FOR THE RECORD: Ballot measures: The summaries of The Times' endorsements in the March 8 elections listed Measures G through Q as ballot initiatives.

California's Republican governor is endorsing independent candidate Charlie Crist in the high-profile Florida Senate race. Arnold Schwarzenegger, traveling in Russia, tweeted his support Tuesday afternoon. "Great leader, works with both parties, and our country needs someone like him in DC right now," Schwarzenegger wrote of Crist, who abandoned the GOP in the face of a strong challenge from the right in Marco Rubio. Crist quickly replied, also on Twitter saying of his gubernatorial colleague: "I'm honored to receive your endorsement.

Nike, Anheuser-Busch and other companies on Wednesday said they will end their endorsement deals with cycling great Lance Armstrong, a week after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency released a report detailing allegations of widespread doping use by Armstrong and his teams. Nike has remained loyal to some of its stained sports celebrities in the past, and it had sponsored Armstrong since 1996. But the powerful shoe and sports apparel company dumped Armstrong as an endorser, effective immediately.

For an event so politically fraught, it flashed by in what seemed like a New York minute. Donald Trump endorsed Mitt Romney for president Thursday in a brief joint appearance at Trump's Las Vegas hotel, an occasion more notable for its odd brevity and lack of theater than anything either man said. Stepping to the microphone in an area curtained off from the marble-and-chandeliered lobby, Trump praised the Republican presidential hopeful as tough, smart and sharp. "He's not going to allow bad things to continue to happen to this country that we all love," said Trump, who for months toyed with a run himself as he raised unsubstantiated questions about President Obama's birthplace.

The president of the University of California and the chancellor of the California community college system have quit the California Chamber of Commerce board of directors after the group voted to endorse Republican Meg Whitman for governor. The endorsement is the latest example of the state's largest business organization increasing its political profile. Jack Scott, a former Democratic state senator from Pasadena who was appointed as community college chancellor by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, announced his resignation Friday in a letter to chamber President Allan Zaremberg after the endorsement vote.

Hoping to add a little celebrity panache to its image, athletic shoemaker ASICS Tiger Inc. on Thursday signed two NBA basketball stars--Charles Smith of the Los Angeles Clippers and Isiah Thomas of the Detroit Pistons--to endorse its basketball shoes. The Japanese shoemaker, which has its U.S. distribution headquarters in Fountain Valley, also extended its endorsement contract with a third NBA star, former Laker Kurt Rambis, now of the Phoenix Suns.

The newly created 44th Congressional District sprawls from San Pedro to Watts and across to South Gate. Its many blue-collar communities have been hard hit by the economic downturn and share a need for jobs, safe and affordable housing, and a representative capable of pushing those priorities in Congress despite the political gridlock that has seized Washington. The two candidates for the job, Janice Hahn and Laura Richardson, are incumbent Democratic members of the House, pitted against each other as a result of redistricting.

In his bid for a second term, Mayor James K. Hahn received the endorsement Tuesday of local ironworkers. In a statement released by the Hahn campaign, Robbie Hunter, president of Local 433 of the International Assn. of Bridge, Structural and Ornamental Ironworkers, said the group supports the mayor for offering apprenticeships and job opportunities to young people from working-class families.

Woodland Hills businesswoman Tsilah Burman, who finished fifth in last week's election for the 3rd Council District seat, endorsed Judith Hirshberg on Tuesday. "I think of all of the opponents and people in the race, she is the most qualified," Burman said. "On most issues we agree." Unofficial returns from election night had police union director Dennis Zine finishing in first place and Hirshberg in front of council deputy Francine Oschin by 164 votes for the second spot on the runoff ballot.

For a long time, measuring more years than I care to count, I thought the movie that became "Zero Dark Thirty" would never happen. The goal, to make a modern, rigorous film about counter-terrorism, centered on one of the most important and classified missions in American history, was exciting and worthy enough, or so it seemed. But there were too many obstacles, too many secrets, and politicians standing in the way of an easy path. Somehow, though, thanks to the great persistence of my filmmaking team and an enormous dose of luck, we got the movie made and found studio partners with the courage to release it. Then came the controversy.