CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
November 23, 2011 | By David Zahniser, Los Angeles Times
The top two firms competing to secure a $100,000 public relations contract from the Los Angeles City Council Redistricting Commission abruptly dropped out of the running Tuesday, throwing the panel's work into turmoil. Dakota Communications and Cerrell Associates withdrew their proposals shortly before the 21-member commission was scheduled to vote. They did so the same day The Times reported that they have an array of lobbying clients at City Hall, including airport concessions and shopping malls — a fact that irritated some neighborhood activists and advocacy groups.
OPINION
November 1, 2011
Another controversy around beleaguered Dodgers owner Frank McCourt erupted last week when an attorney defending him against a lawsuit brought by the family of Bryan Stow raised the possibility that Stow might be held partly responsible for the beating that left him brain damaged. "In 23 years, I have yet to see anything at Dodger Stadium involving any form of altercation that didn't involve at least two willing combatants," Jerome Jackson, the attorney, said on an ESPN radio talk show.
BUSINESS
October 2, 2011 | By Joe Flint, Los Angeles Times
The gig: As chairman of News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox Television, Dana Walden, 46, oversees one of the most prolific production companies in town. The studio makes 33 shows, including the hits "Glee," "Modern Family" and "How I Met Your Mother. " Walden shares her title with Gary Newman. The two have run the TV operation for 12 years, and their partnership has outlasted many actual Hollywood marriages. Early riser: A Los Angeles native, Walden was obsessed with television from an early age. "On Saturdays, I would wake up at 5 o'clock in the morning to start watching cartoons.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
July 13, 2011 | By Abby Sewell, Los Angeles Times
With the weekend-long 405 Freeway closure fast approaching, public officials have kicked the public outreach machine into high gear, hoping to avoid the twin evils of crippling gridlock and angry constituents. The closure of the 405 through the Sepulveda Pass this week to allow for demolition of half of the Mulholland Drive bridge as part of a widening project and construction of new carpool lanes is the largest planned freeway closure in Los Angeles history. The stakes are high for public officials, who know that disruptions to the transportation system can win them praise if managed effectively or become a public relations nightmare when bungled, like the political fiasco New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg faced over last winter's blizzards that became known as "Snowmageddon.
BUSINESS
May 13, 2011 | By David Sarno, Los Angeles Times
Facebook Inc.'s efforts to portray itself as a trustworthy guardian of the Internet's town square are being undermined — once again — by accusations that the social network launched a covert smear campaign against rival Google Inc. The world's largest online network acknowledged Thursday that it had paid a high-powered public relations firm to push news organizations to report that a new Google feature was putting users' personal data in...
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
February 5, 2011 | By Christopher Reynolds, Los Angeles Times
In four decades as a public relations man in San Diego, David Nuffer rose to play key roles in the city's politics and tourism industry ? but he never let those responsibilities keep him from playing the ukulele in the office, following the San Diego Padres to spring training, singing with mariachis in Hussong's Cantina in Ensenada or tracing the footsteps of Ernest Hemingway in Idaho, Paris and Havana. "He really was a master at combining business and fun," said his son Larry Nuffer.