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Loyalty to Jill Murphy may have finally been Barry Munitz's undoing, the police commission waffles, going after Deaton, bomb on the 210 and another batch of morning media notes—all after the jump.
And in the picture, Hollywood throws a lunch party that Paris Hilton will never, ever be able to crash.
* Updated below
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♦ Sheriff Baca said the Latino-black violence in his jails is calming down, but he picked up a critic in Supervisor Mike Antonovich. The Supes' monitor, Merrick Bobb, also said the "Sheriff's Department lacks an ability to plan for known risks and contingencies." This time Baca will appear on KPCC's "Talk of the City" at 2 pm, because he taped the show yesterday.
♦ Some Getty trustees tell the Times that they knew Barry Munitz had to go when they learned he gave a $350,000 severance to Jill Murphy, the young, inexperienced, off-putting chief of staff he brought with him to Brentwood.
♦ The police commission might be rethinking its new do-not-disclose policy in officer-involved shootings. Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero appeared on Monday to argue the case.
♦ Ron Deaton and the Water and Power commissioners are clashing again, this time over $100 million the general manager approved without the commission's knowledge, Beth Barrett reports in the Daily News.
♦ An inert military bomb that fell off a truck closed the 210 Freeway in Sylmar for hours during last night's rush hour—you can imagine the mess. Too bad the city's new automated traffic signals just went in a few miles west.
♦ Chris Penn had an old, weak heart that killed him at age 40—but the prescription drugs in his system didn't help.
♦ Calling Gitmo a national disgrace, the Times editorial page calls for closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay.
♦ Nice Jon Thurber obit in the LAT on David L. Abell, the pianoman of Beverly Boulevard for four decades. He sold pianos to Frank Sinatra, Quincy Jones, Andre Previn, John Williams, Steview Wonder and Tony Bennett, among others.
Tuesday Media Notes: Steve Dilbeck and Paul Paul Oberjuerge are blogging the Olympics in Turin for the Daily News, but you'd never know who they are from the blog itself...Black Dahlia researcher and Times copy editor Larry Harnisch is blogging his fact checks as he reads the newest Dahlia conspiracy book, by Donald H. Wolfe. Harnisch warns, "If you're not into Dahlia minutiae this will be painfully tedious"....Blogger Zach Behrens posts about being the victim of a hit-and-run accident in Santa Clarita...Freelancer and former Hustler editor Mark Cromer is posting regularly at Mark Cromer.net...Bill Bradley claims that the Times' Michael Finnegan fudged the lede of a campaign story about Steve Westly [Update: The Times says Bradley fudged his item and the exchange reported by Finnegan is on tape: "Just because Bill Bradley didn't witness something doesn't mean it did not happen," emails political desk editor Cathleen Decker.] ...Don't expect a follow-up to the Times' Monday story on two-year-old Sarah Chavez, which left other journalists on the case wishing for more. Reporter Noam Levey is in Switzerland with Leslie Pollner, the deputy to Councilmember Wendy Greuel. IN L.A. has another piece this issue...Tom O'Neil, the LAT's lead Oscars blogger, finally moved from New York into an L.A. apartment.