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• Jill Murphy, the Getty's 33-year-old chief of staff with no art background, is leaving and apparently won't be missed. Her mentor since college at Cal State Sacramento, Barry Munitz, concedes to the Times: "No one ever said to me, 'I'm leaving, and I'm leaving because of her'...But people did say to me, 'You need to know I'm having trouble with her.'"
• Tony Scudellari, the Villaraigosa appointee whose ethnic joking irked the mayor's office and others, did the honorable thing and withdrew from consideration for the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument Authority. LAT
• The case of Christian Julian Irwin, missing in Topanga Canyon since placing an early morning cell phone call for help, becomes curiouser. The cops discount any tie to the Nigerian Internet scam. The anony-bloggers at Independent Sources are double-teaming the story—from on the ground in the canyon.
• Area code 310 gets the overlay zone, meaning all calls will probably require 1 and a ten-digit number by next summer. New numbers will come with a 424 area code. Also, USC Annenberg prof A. Michael Noll talks about the area code issue this morning at 10:30 on KPCC's Airtalk. Times, Breeze
• It appears the Bob Hertzberg news-briefs blog BigIdeas4LA has gone dark again. Nothing posted since August 17. * Update: Editor Brian Hay advises that the site will return to life on Monday. 10:55 a.m.
• Gina Ruiz joins the lineup of writers posting at La Bloga.
• The Liberty Film Festival gets electronic ink at Human Events Online.
And also...
The L.A. Independent tries to find out just how hot Roberston Boulevard is these days. From Melrose Avenue to Santa Monica Boulevard is filled with home decor stores and upscale restaurants like Bossa Nova and Pearl, the story says. "Robertson has just exploded as far as luxury living is concerned," said Hunter Martin, home sales representative for Phyllis Morris. "It’s basically the ultimate stop for luxury living."