Feuds

State lawmakers moved to clear a roadblock that has stalled several thousand construction projects in the Southland that couldn't get required environmental permits and got caught in a court fight over permitting power plants. A compromise forged Wednesday would let the power plant dispute continue but would clear the way for unrelated projects. Supporters said the agreement would save about 57,000 Southern California jobs at 3,000 businesses and public agencies. At issue are pollution permits issued by the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The contest to elect a new leader of the Writers Guild of America, West, took an ugly turn Friday when the union's current president and a key figure in last year's contract negotiations blasted John Wells, the writer and producer who is campaigning to be the union's next president. In an e-mail to guild members, Patric M. Verrone, the union's outgoing president, and John F. Bowman, the former head of the negotiating committee, accused Wells of undermining their efforts during last year's contract negotiations.

When members of the Screen Actors Guild cast their ballots for president in the coming weeks, they will be voting for a leader who can best repair the damage inflicted on Hollywood's largest talent union over the last two years. With 125,000 members, the 76-year-old SAG is still the mightiest union in Hollywood. But its clout has been diminished by internal bickering, a divided boardroom and a disastrous power struggle with a smaller union that represents actors as well as broadcast journalists, disc jockeys and recording artists.

Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz has asked his colleagues to end the dispute between the former city attorney and the former city controller over whether the controller can audit programs in the offices of elected officials. Koretz wants the council to dismiss a lawsuit filed by former City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo to prevent his office from being audited. But a sticking point remains: Who should pay the more than $100,000 in legal fees incurred by former City Controller Laura Chick over the course of her legal fight with Delgadillo, who was forced from office this spring by city term limits.

A plan to keep dozens of domestic-violence shelters from closing sailed out of the state Assembly late Friday night with nary a no vote. Yet hours later, the bill lay in the legislative trash heap, one of many lost to politics as lawmakers reached the deadline for completing their work this year. Republicans in the Senate blocked more than 20 bills -- all needing GOP votes to pass, many approved by the lower house with bipartisan or near-unanimous support -- to leverage a trio of unrelated demands.

In his former life, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in the action-thriller "Collateral Damage." Last week, he had only a bit role in the collateral damage inflicted by fellow Republicans in the state Senate. In the flick, victims included his wife and son. In the Senate, they include millions of battered wives, children, home-buyers, taxpayers. . . . On screen, Schwarzenegger played "Gordon Brewer," a Los Angeles firefighter who saw his family blown up by terrorists and was out for revenge.

It began, as mortal disputes sometimes do in South Los Angeles, over a girl. On one side were the Main Street Crips, one of the more muscular gangs in the neighborhood. Main Streeters commanded respect, if only because they had a bit of money to throw around, even their own small record label. On the other side were the Hoover Criminals. The Hoovers were big, with turf that stretched from Vernon Avenue down past Century Boulevard and into "the hundreds," as the streets are known locally.

Arnold Hano grew up across the street from the Polo Grounds, home of the New York Giants, in the same apartment building as Giants slugger Emil "Irish" Meusel. So you could say he was born into the Giants-Dodgers rivalry. And there was a time, Hano says, when the animosity between the two teams was so strong that pitchers regularly knocked down batters and runners knocked down infielders. Once, in 1965, Giants pitcher Juan Marichal even knocked Dodgers catcher John Roseboro in the head with a bat. That one wound up in Superior Court.

Versus plans to televise an NHL doubleheader Thursday. First up is Washington, with reigning player of the year Alexander Ovechkin, against Boston at 4 p.m. PDT. Next is San Jose and Colorado at 7, featuring a retirement ceremony for Colorado's Joe Sakic. But an estimated 18 million DirecTV subscribers won't be able to watch unless the contract dispute that caused the satellite provider to pull Versus off its menu Sept. 1 is resolved. Besides the NHL, the network televises college football, Indy Racing League auto racing, cycling and bull riding.

Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich allegedly threatened to prosecute city building officials last week if they issued permits for six wall signs at the L.A. Live entertainment complex downtown, and a city councilwoman said he threatened her with jail time if she intervened. The actions generated more heat in L.A.'s contentious fight over billboards and intensified a feud between Trutanich and one of downtown's most politically connected corporations, Anschutz Entertainment Group.