The rift between Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson on the one side and council members Bernard Parks and Jan Perry on the other continued to widen at City Hall after Wesson stripped both Parks and Perry of key committee assignments last week.

Wesson removed Parks from the Budget and Finance Committee. Parks had been chairman of the committee for eight years. The powerful committee does much of the early vetting of the mayor’s budget proposals.

Hundreds of family and friends turned up at City of Refuge church in Los Angeles on Saturday to bid a final farewell to legendary singer Etta James. James, best known for such hits as the Jazz ballad “At Last” and the explosive rocker “Something’s Got a Hold on Me,” died at the age of 73, due to complications from leukemia. The Rev.