Why does a billionaire developer who wants to bring the NFL back to the L.A. area care about whether our state lawmakers have term limits?

For some reason, Ed Roski does care.  As the L.A. Times has reported, Roski donated more than $300,000 to a campaign for a measure that would allow some lawmakers to serve longer terms in Sacramento.

These are the same lawmakers that gave Roski's NFL stadium proposal in the City of Industry an exemption to state environmental laws.

Was there some kind of a quid pro quo?   Roski says no. His key aide John Semcken tells the L.A. Times the donations are "a continuation of Roski's history as a donor to campaigns in California and are not tied to the stadium bill vote."

But the leader of a group that wants to keep term limits intact has his doubts.

"This is Mr. Roski's payback to California lawmakers who created a special exemption so that he could build his stadium, and it stinks," says Philip Blumel, president of U.S. Term Limits.

"Californians should be appalled at this level of kickbacks and interference in California's political system by Mr. Roski," Blumel says.

To read the ballot proposal click below:

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Billionaire real estate developer Ed Roski is optimistic about his plan to bring an NFL team back to the L.A. area.

He says it's not likely for next season, but maybe by 2011.

I tried to get him to narrow down which team he hopes to buy, but didn't have much success.

Is it really so outrageous to ask actor Mel Gibson whether audiences will forgive him for his drunken behavior and his Anti-semitism?

I don't think so, but Mel does.   He calls a reporter an "a-hole" for bringing up the topic.

Maybe Mel needs to review the 12-step program to refresh his memory about what it means.

And for a really funny techno-remix of the remark, check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afaU9NfL6HA

Does attending the Grammys really help to promote L.A.'s entertainment industry?

LAPD Officers Patrick Fitzgerald (left) and Brandon Valdez (right) in mug shots released by the Whittier Police Department. Both men were booked for assault early this morning. They are accused of pistol-whipping a man outside a restaurant at the Whittwood Town Center last night.

An LAPD officer who is also an Iraq War veteran has been arrested for attacking a man outside a restaurant in Whittier.

Officer Brandon Valdez, 29, was off-duty at the time.

Whittier detectives say Valdez and LAPD Officer Patrick Fitzgerald, 38, got into a fight with a bystander outside the Panera Bread restaurant in the Whittwood shopping center last night.

Police say it started when one of the off-duty cops got angry because he felt the bystander was paying too much attention to an argument the cop was having with his girlfriend.

Detectives say Valdez and Fitzgerald pistol-whipped the man, sending him to the hospital with a serious head injury.

At one point, police say, the two off-duty officers tackled the victim and beat him, until he finally broke free and ran into a Target store.

Valdez and Fitzgerald were booked for felony assault.  Both are now on administrative leave.

Valdez is a U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Sgt. who was wounded in Iraq in 2004. Read more:

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He's been honored for his service, and has been prominently featured in an L.A. Times article about police gang patrols.

Just getting Whittier Police to release the names of these two cops was a real struggle.  They refused at first.  Then, they required me to fill out a formal written request.

I kept telling the police lieutenant that whenever anyone is booked for a crime, reporters are entitled to learn the person's name and age.

He responded that he believed the cops might be entitled to privileges under the Peace Officers' Bill of Rights.

Eventually, they gave me the names.

You can get up to Big Bear for the first time in several days.  Roads are open, at least until the next storm hits.

For awhile, the place was pretty much cut off to the outside world.  So much snow fell last week, it was too dangerous for large trucks to make it up the mountain.

Gas stations ran out of gas.  Grocery stores ran out of food.

County officials decided it just wasn't safe to let visitors in, until early today.  The CHP escorted a convoy of trucks up to Big Bear.  Now the stores and gas stations have reopened.

Many mountain residents are still without power, though.   And the U.S. Postal service was supposed to deliver mail today, for the first time since Wednesday.

What is that saying about 'neither snow, nor sleet..."?

At any rate, it took us a good three hours to make it up the hill, because we had to stop to put on chains and do a few broadcasts, too.

My first snow angels of 2010:

It's something you don't see very often: a light dusting of snow in the foothills above Ocean View Blvd.