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Let's hope L.A. smells better today...
♦ Today's LA Weekly declares war on air pollution with a thirty-page special package that looks closely at the threat posed by ultrafine particles and the dangers faced by people who live near the ports: "Some 9,600 people will die this year in California because of a smog-related disease. This amounts to a public-health emergency. Why, then, are only a handful or scientists, doctors and public officials responding to the challenge?" The lead story is by William J. Kelly, a former spokesman for the Air Quality Management District.
♦ New York Observer journalist Alexandra Jacobs and retired L.A. Times publisher (and ex-Times Mirror CEO, if I recall correctly) David Laventhol were on Jet Blue flight 292 that landed safely at LAX yesterday. "When the back tire touched down, it was a surreal moment, then the front wheel touched down," Laventhol told the Times. "In a way it was a rush that we all survived." The LAT runs a "critic's notebook" on the media moment, but the website doesn't identify the critic. [* It was Paul Brownfield.]
♦ An anonymous emailer writes that on August 7, Jet Blue flight 296 out of Burbank also was diverted to LAX for an emergency landing without flaps after losing hydraulic power.
♦ The Times put a reporter on yesterday's mystery stench story, but didn't come up with any answers. A guy from the Surfrider Foundation speculated the odors came from storm channels. For what it's worth, the red tide was especially heavy at the beach.
♦ Headline of the day, from the Daily News: Men could be cleaner.
♦ Boeing reached a pre-trial settlement with neighbors of the old Rocketdyne test facility in the Chatsworth hills.
♦ Visions of La Bamba in Hancock Park fill the head of L.A. Independent editor Tony Castro at the thought of Mayor Villaraigosa moving his family into Getty House.
♦ Brenda You, the Playboy model turned West Coast bureau chief for Star magazine turned medical student, has written a first novel "filled with blind items based on real celebrities from her own years covering red-carpet events." It's called Blood Red Carpet, says Page Six.
And on the wayward alligator beat...
About two hundred people turned out for a "Reggie Rally" at the Harbor City Neighborhood Council meeting Wednesday night. Reports the Breeze: "There were alligator hats. And alligator T-shirts. And elaborate alligator costumes. There were signs: 'Reggie for City Council,' 'Reggie for Mayor,' and, yes, 'Reggie for President.' And there was all the Gatorade you could drink...'Don't you think this is great?' remarked Mary Oreb of Rancho Palos Verdes. 'With so much tragedy out there in the world today, this is bringing some joy to people.'" Reggie, of course, is the alligator that is (apparently) still at large in Machado Lake.