The Los Angeles teachers union Wednesday night withdrew two endorsements and chose a new candidate to back for the March 8 school board elections.

The new choice of United Teachers Los Angeles is recently retired teacher Bennett Kayser, 64, who is running in the 5th District, which spans Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Eagle Rock and the southeastern portions of the Los Angeles Unified School District, including the cities of Huntington Park, Bell and South Gate. Incumbent Yolie Flores is not running for reelection.

Kayser previously ran for the 5th District seat four years ago, losing to Flores. In that contest, Kayser had drawn substantial backing from delegates in the union's House of Representatives, which has the authority to make endorsements for UTLA. But Kayser did not get enough votes to claim the endorsement, in part because that seat has long been regarded as one established to elect a Latino. In the end, the union made no endorsement in that contest. A union endorsement comes with substantial funding and volunteer labor, and Kayser had limited resources elsewhere.

The preference for a Latino also played into the initial endorsement of John Fernandez in the current election, although the well-liked Kayser again attracted significant interest.

Four seats on the seven-member Board of Education are on the ballot but District 5 is the only open seat. It’s become a proxy battle between the union and L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, whose allies occupy a majority of seats on the board. Villaraigosa is backing Luis Sanchez, the top aide to school board President Monica Garcia, and has helped amass a financial war chest to get him elected.

The union’s endorsement capped a lively meeting of the union’s House of Representatives.

State regulators are investigating the death of a security guard killed when the driver of a production company van blacked out and his vehicle slammed into a tent on the set of the CBS crime drama "NCIS" authorities said Wednesday.

The 52-year-old victim, who was not immediately identified, was pronounced dead at a local hospital after the 10 a.m. accident in the 25200 block of Anza Drive in Santa Clarita, Los Angeles County fire officials said.

CBS suspended production of the show. Krisanne Chasarik, a spokeswoman for the California Division of Occupational Safety and Heath, which investigates workplace injuries and deaths, said the driver "blacked out with his foot still on the accelerator."

The van sped through a parking lot on the set and slammed into the security guard, whose view was obscured by the tent. CBS released a statement saying the network, studio and "NCIS" were "devastated by the news." The statement said the network was "cooperating with the local authorities in Santa Clarita to help determine what caused this terrible accident."

-- Andrew Blankstein

[Corrected: An earlier version of this post said the accident occurred on "NCIS: Los Angeles."]

The No. 2 executive at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is stepping down, according to a memo issued Friday by the utility’s new general manager.

DWP General Manager Ron Nichols said that Raman Raj, hired in 2007, would return to a job in the private sector. He had been a supporter of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa who raised money for his 2005 campaign. “Effective today, any pending matters that would have required his attention should be forwarded to the office of the general manager,” Nichols wrote.

Raj, once criticized for being too close to leaders of the union representing utility workers, served in a key position last spring just as the DWP was threatening to withhold $73.5 million from the city budget unless the City Council agreed to approve a new electricity rate increase. He also was at odds with former General Manager H. David Nahai between 2007 and 2009, according to officials familiar with the DWP.

At one point, Nahai asked aides to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa -- who selects the DWP commissioners and the top utility executive -- if he could rework the DWP’s organizational chart so that Raj had less authority. Villaraigosa's staff refused, according to Nahai.

Not long after, the DWP paid an organizational psychologist roughly $50,000 to interview various DWP executives about management frictions at the utility and then provide a report to Villaraigosa. Subsequently, Nahai resigned.

Raj said the psychologist was hired at the instructionof S. David Freeman, a deputy mayor who also ran the DWP during the standoff over electricity rates.

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-- David Zahniser at Los Angeles City Hall

Several groups, including the Los Angeles public schools teachers union, are expressing concern that the L.A. Unified School District has postponed a decision on who will run three low-performing schools and 10 new campuses.

The Board of Education was originally supposed to decide in mid-February, but the nation’s second-largest school system announced this week that it has pushed back the deadline a month.

Groups competing to run the schools include local school district administrators, teams of district teachers and charter schools, which are independently run and usually nonunion.

Because of the delay, school board members will not have to vote on who gets to run the schools until after the March 8 school board election.

It means board members cannot be judged on election day on whether they favor charter schools or teacher-led groups, said Betty Forrester, an officer for United Teachers Los Angeles.

Labor allies of Forescee Hogan-Rowles have aired their first radio spot in support of her bid to unseat Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard C. Parks, who represents the 8th District in South Los Angeles.

The ads do not mention Parks, the former police chief who is seeking his third term on the council in the March 8 election. A female narrator describes Hogan-Rowles' work at the South L.A.-based nonprofit she heads, Community Financial Resource Center. The organization provides financial services and loans to business owners and residents in low-income communities in Los Angeles.

The spot credits Hogan-Rowles with delivering "over $15 million directly to business owners in our community" and says she "knows what it takes to get people working."

"Forescee is a mother like me who understands that our community's future is dependent on creating an environment in which our children can learn and thrive without the threat of gang violence," the narrator says.

The incoming leader of the nation’s second-largest school district is calling for free health, vision and dental care for any students who lack it.

John Deasy, who takes charge of the L.A. Unified school district in mid-April, spoke Wednesday night at Loyola Marymount University in Westchester, in what was billed as his first major address since being named superintendent.

Deasy had no clear strategy to pay for the benefits, but he talked in an interview of leveraging the district’s contracts with companies that provide health insurance to employees. He also wants to raise the profile of the issue to attract philanthropy.

In response to a question, the 50-year-old educator criticized former District of Columbia schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, whom he described as a colleague and friend, saying she allowed her work to become too political and polarizing.

He said her rhetoric, while making her a national touchstone on reform issues, was sometimes unhelpful in addressing problems, such as when she referred to some of her schools as "crappy."

She also fell prey, he said, to a hyper-orthodoxy on reform -- such as quickly evaluating teachers and firing the “bad” ones -- that closed the door to other ideas and to more fruitful collaboration with groups such as teacher unions.

There will be no new ship-building and repair yard at the Port of Los Angeles. At least not for now.

The City Council on Tuesday voted to scuttle a developer’s plan to revive the former site of the Southwest Marine yard, once a major ship-building and repair facility. The $50-million proposal by Gambol Industries of Long Beach envisioned a revitalized, state-of-the-art yard that would create more than 1,000 jobs and restore a historic complex that churned out Navy destroyers during World War II.

Lining up behind the concept during the last two years were elected officials, labor unions and conservationists eager to restore the Southwest Marine plant.

However, Port of Los Angeles officials objected. The Board of Harbor Commissioners argued that the shipbuilding idea would interfere with a more urgent priority -- deepening the main channel at the aging port to accommodate a new generation of super-sized container vessels and keep the port globally competitive.

United Teachers Los Angeles has abandoned its support of two candidates in the March school board election, throwing the union's political strategy into disarray.

Jesus Escandon has withdrawn from the race and John Fernandez has lost the endorsement of UTLA because of "serious concerns about Mr. Fernandez's truthfulness in the interview process and his qualifications and integrity to be a member of the school board," union President A.J. Duffy wrote in a Monday statement that was apparently faxed to union chapter chairs at schools in the L.A. Unified School District.

Escandon had filed to run in District 7, which covers the harbor area and portions of South Los Angeles, against one-term incumbent Richard Vladovic. Fernandez is running for an open seat in District 5, which covers a diverse area including Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Eagle Rock, East Los Angeles and the southeast L.A. County cities of Huntington Park, South Gate and Bell.

The issue with both candidates was lack of disclosure in the union interview process. A source familiar with the internal deliberations said the matter with Escandon related to one or more arrests and that the problems with Fernandez related to an arrest and his personal finances. A union spokesperson declined to confirm the specifics when contacted Monday morning.

Politically, the turn of events is an advantage for Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who is supporting other candidates -- Vladovic in District 7 and Luis Sanchez in District 5 -- in his effort to maintain an allied board majority.

The union has not ruled out endorsing additional candidates, although it would probably have to call an emergency meeting of its House of Representatives to do so. In District 7, the other remaining candidate is Roye Love, who has frequently run for office in the past. In District 5, the last standing alternative is recently retired teacher Bennett Kayser. Last week, Kayser won the endorsement of the union that represents district administrators. Administrators are endorsing Vladovic in the other contest.

Both Escandon and Fernandez were received with great favor by House delegates late last year when the body made its endorsements. Escandon is a well-liked staffer with the California Teachers Assn. and a district parent. Fernandez is a longtime community activist and was a union chapter chairman at Roosevelt High School prior to his recent retirement.

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Submit the tough questions you want L.A. candidates to answer before election day

-- Howard Blume and Jason Song

The race for campaign money among candidates for the Los Angeles Board of Education would suggest a sleepy, low-stakes election, but appearances are deceiving: An electoral shootout is still expected between the city’s teachers union and L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in the March 8 election.

The latest filings, which were due last week, cover the last quarter of 2010. Four of seven school-board seats are up for grabs in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

As of year-end, the most money has accumulated in District 5, where one-term incumbent Yolie Flores is not running for reelection. Luis Sanchez raised about $80,000 trying to establish himself as the frontrunner. Most observers expect he’ll claim the endorsement of Villaraigosa and the campaign funds that come with that. The mayor is vying to maintain a friendly majority on the seven-member school board. Sanchez is currently chief of staff to school board President Monica Garcia, the mayor’s closest ally on the board.

Bennett Kayser, a teacher, raised $1,900, more than half that amount a loan from himself. John Fernandez, a retired teacher, recorded no fundraising — not one dollar. But that picture will alter because he’s the endorsed candidate of United Teachers Los Angeles, the teachers union.

District 5 spans Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Eagle Rock and the southeastern portions of the L.A. Unified School District, including the cities of Huntington Park, Bell and South Gate.

A rules change in this election cycle will affect how money is donated and controlled. For the first time, donors to candidates will be limited to $1,000 contributions, said David Tristan, deputy director of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission.

The big money in this race is likely to come from independent expenditures — again with the teachers union and its allies pitted against the mayor and his allies. Before it's over, hotly contested campaigns could easily exceed a million dollars in spending.

To wit, in District 7, candidate Jesus Escandon reported raising $59 in the last quarter, but the union has endorsed Escandon and is expected to make a run at unseating one-term incumbent Richard Vladovic, a mayoral ally. Vladovic raised $50,676 in the last quarter of 2010.

A third candidate, Roye Love, has loaned himself $1,000 toward his campaign.

The union also is backing District 1 two-term incumbent Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte, who raised $3,200 in the last quarter and reported having just $170 cash on hand. Challenger Eric Lee raised $7,943.

District 1 covers substantial portions of south and southwest Los Angeles.

District 3 stretches roughly across the western half of the San Fernando Valley. There, one-term incumbent Tamar Galatzan reported raising $25,246. Challenger Louis Pugliese had no fundraising to report.

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-- Howard Blume

The Los Angeles City Council voted Friday to cut more than $18 million from this year's budget but postponed a decision on the two most controversial proposals -– new furloughs and a major reduction in graffiti removal services.

The council refused to back a $1.8-million cut to the Department of Recreation and Parks, which was expected to lead to more unpaid days off for its employees. But the council agreed to cut $1 million from the budgets for its own offices and that of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Friday's vote also included a $1-million reduction to the office of City Atty. Carmen Trutanich.

City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana, the city's top budget official, said he would come back with a report explaining what services would be reduced if the city moved ahead with his latest budget-cutting plan -– forcing certain civilian workers to take another 10 unpaid days off before June 30. Some are already required to take 26 days this year.

Villaraigosa and the council members oppose that plan.