Mayor Villaraigosa

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa spoke publicly for the first time Monday about the breakup of his 20-year marriage, saying he was responsible for the split even as he refused to talk about what caused it. In a somber meeting with reporters at City Hall, Villaraigosa declined to answer questions about whether the break with his wife, Corina, was triggered by another romantic relationship.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Thursday waded into the heated contest to choose his successor, calling for two ads aimed at Latino voters that attack candidates Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel to be taken off the airwaves. Both were financed with independent donations not controlled by the candidates. Villaraigosa, who has not made an endorsement in the race, said a TV ad from the super PAC Lots of People Who Support Eric Garcetti falsely portrayed Greuel as a supporter of Proposition 187, the 1994 state ballot measure that sought to deny illegal immigrants access to public education and other services.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and television news reporter Lu Parker, arm-in-arm regulars on the red carpet and at glitzy charity events in recent years, have broken up, a publicist for Parker said Monday. "I can confirm that Lu Parker ended her three-year committed relationship with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as of May 25," said Juliette Harris, the owner of It Girl Public Relations, which represents Parker. Harris would not provide the reason for the split. Villaraigosa was in Colorado on Monday attending the Aspen Ideas Festival and a spokesman had no comment.

California ports are going green. In a speech at the 28th World Ports Conference on Tuesday, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the city's port is at the forefront of pushing for clean energy alternatives and reducing pollution. The conference, which kicked off Tuesday in Los Angeles, attracted port officials from around the world to discuss issues such as climate change, piracy and other problems affecting ships and the ports where they dock. Greening ports was at the top of many minds.

California ports are going green. In a speech at the 28th World Ports Conference on Tuesday, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the city's port is at the forefront of pushing for clean energy alternatives and reducing pollution. The conference, which kicked off Tuesday in Los Angeles, attracted port officials from around the world to discuss issues such as climate change, piracy and other problems affecting ships and the ports where they dock. Greening ports was at the top of many minds.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Noting his family's historic roots in Mexico and his own up-from-nowhere story, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night that President Obama is far superior to Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney when it comes to protecting the rights of immigrants. Villaraigosa told the gathering, which he has chaired for three days, that Obama “is fighting for all of us,” particularly with his issuance of an executive order to prevent the deportation of about 800,000 young immigrants, who are in the U.S. without proper documents.

Mayor Villaraigosa and I have had our ups and downs. We had a couple of dinners early in our relationship, and then he never called. I think he got distracted. In fact, during most of his first four years in office, he was focused on things other than City Hall -- like trying to take over the schools and considering a run for governor. Some might suggest all that distraction helped dig the hole we're in today. He was so hard to find in Los Angeles during the Hillary Clinton campaign, I once had to chase him all the way to Texas.

The 30/10 transit plan is the most important initiative ever proposed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. If, as seems increasingly likely, it's embraced by Congress, it will become one of the nation's most significant public infrastructure projects.. Essentially, 30/10 proposes leveraging the half-cent sales tax increase to which 68% of Los Angeles County residents agreed when they passed Measure R with federal loans secured by those tax revenues. Those loans would allow the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to build the 12 crucial projects specified in the measure in just 10 years rather than the projected 30. When Villaraigosa first proposed 30/10 last fall, it seemed like the longest of shots, but his tireless lobbying — and the initiative's self-evident merits — won over powerful congressional allies, particularly Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice)

The Los Angeles technology scene isn't getting the respect it deserves, a situation that the city is looking to change, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Wednesday. At an event in West L.A., Villaraigosa said that despite a boom in new start-ups, so-called Silicon Beach still suffers from perception issues and funding problems that have hindered it from reaching its potential as a major tech hub. “We're known as the entertainment capital in the world, but we're not known for Silicon Beach, and that needs to change,” he told a crowd of reporters and tech enthusiasts.

Tributes to Lakers owner Jerry Buss, who died Monday at 80, are beginning to pour in, with people expressing their admiration for Buss. From Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, via Twitter: "RIP Jerry Buss. Your encouragement and support along with your stories of staying true to yourself had an enormous impact on me. " From L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa: "Dr. Jerry Buss was a cornerstone of the Los Angeles sports community and his name will always be synonymous with his beloved Lakers.

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg donated $350,000 to the Los Angeles school board campaign this week, records show. Bloomberg's contribution, which was filed Tuesday, will enlarge the already sizable war chest of the Coalition for School Reform, a political action committee led by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The goal of the coalition is to back candidates who will support the policies of L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy and pledge to keep him on the job. Before the March primary, Bloomberg contributed $1 million for the three board races - the largest contribution ever made in an L.A. school board campaign.

Nearly seven years ago, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa launched a program to plant 1 million trees. Since then, the city has planted more than 400,000 trees - in fact, 407,000 and counting. So is the program a success or a failure? As Villaraigosa prepares to leave office, should we be thrilled to have 400,000 trees we otherwise wouldn't have had, or should we be disappointed that his campaign promise has gone less than half fulfilled? And here's another question: Should we care?

For more than half of my 38 years in the news business, I've been a member of a union, though I'm not currently. And my late father was a proud Teamster for decades. So I appreciate the goods that unions deliver to nearly 15 million members in the United States: living wages and good benefits. Workplace safety. A measure of job security. And protection against management abuse. In other words, don't count me among those who vilify organized labor, which in many parts of the country offers the best hope for hanging on to a place in the middle class.

Heading for the exit at City Hall, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday proposed to cancel the last installment of the pay raises that he and the City Council granted thousands of city workers in late 2007. The raises, which totaled 25% over five years, contributed to a succession of budget shortfalls that forced the city to furlough workers and cut public services. Although Villaraigosa and the council persuaded city unions to delay some of the raises, Monday's budget was the first to propose that any of the increase be rescinded.

Ten weeks before he leaves office, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday offered a $7.7-billion budget that would begin reversing years of cuts to basic city services such as tree trimming and sidewalk repairs while avoiding employee layoffs and furloughs. Buoyed by an estimated $111-million uptick in revenue, Villaraigosa's spending plan for the coming year provides money to add 65 firefighters, purchase 533 new vehicles at the Los Angeles Police Department and trim an additional 35,000 trees - leaving the city on its most solid footing since it was engulfed in crisis five years ago. The mayor also offered a long-term blueprint for financial recovery that would require the city's elected officials to be far less generous to their public employees than he and the council were during his eight-year tenure.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will join tens of thousands of Angelenos in participating in the sixth CicLAvia, which will open up several car-free streets Sunday to cyclists, rollerbladers and thousands more on foot. Villaraigosa and other city leaders will gather in front of downtown's La Placita Church at 9:30 a.m. to help launch CicLAvia, said Ashley Rodgers, spokeswoman for the event. Villaraigosa is expected to ride his bike the entire length of the 15-mile route -- the longest ever -- running from downtown to Venice Beach, Rodgers said.

WASHINGTON - Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday called on Americans to recognize poverty as “the central issue of our time” during a speech to a Washington-based think tank. Villaraigosa delivered remarks to the liberal Center for American Progress Action Fund and the Half In Ten campaign , an organization dedicated to cutting poverty in half over the next decade. His remarks coincided with the release of Half in Ten's second annual report, for which he wrote the foreword.

Heading for the exit at City Hall, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday proposed to cancel the last installment of the pay raises that he and the City Council granted thousands of city workers in late 2007. The raises, which totaled 25% over five years, contributed to a succession of budget shortfalls that forced the city to furlough workers and cut public services. Although Villaraigosa and the council persuaded city unions to delay some of the raises, Monday's budget was the first to propose that any of the increase be rescinded.

Since retooling her campaign message last month, mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel has gone on the offensive against City Hall, telling audiences that the place is mired in mediocrity and needs to "return to a time of strong leadership. " "We must change the L.A. that has emerged over these past few years," she said in a recent speech. "Today, paralysis rules. " Yet a review of campaign records shows Greuel has publicly supported much of the current city political leadership. Over the last eight years, nearly two-thirds of the council's 15 members were endorsed by Greuel, who appeared in mailers, fundraising invitations and other campaign materials promoting them.

When I scolded deadbeat Angelenos for blowing off Tuesday's election, some of them had just enough energy to return fire. "I chose not to spit into the wind anymore," wrote Lou. "It is not an embarrassment to shun an embarrassment like L.A. 'government' and L.A. politicians," wrote Loren. Just as I was about to scold them all over again, along came Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who reminded us why there's such raging cynicism in Los Angeles. Let's go back to early February, when Villaraigosa endorsed Measure A. That was the proposal for a half-cent sales-tax increase that would have raised about $200 million a year in a city with a projected annual budget shortfall of roughly that very amount for years to come.