MAYORAL MENTION: All that secessionist talk (B1)...

MAYORAL MENTION: All that secessionist talk (B1) apparently hasn’t soured Mayor Richard Riordan on the San Fernando Valley. . . . During his annual State of the City address Tuesday (A1), Riordan singled out several Valley residents and organizations for praise. Among those receiving his accolades were the Rev. Arthur Broadus of Pacoima, who sang “America the Beautiful” before the mayor’s speech, Rabbi Harold Schulweis of Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, Sepulveda Business Watch activist Flip Smith and El Camino Real High School’s academic decathlon team.

SUBWAY SUIT: The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy has entered the legal skirmish surrounding the Metro Rail Red Line. . . . The agency’s board of directors has voted to join a lawsuit that was filed by a group of Hollywood Hills-area residents against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Their goal: a judge’s injunction to block tunneling underneath Runyon Canyon without the completion of an environmental assessment.