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Turn the page for Orlov's return...how Heidi Fleiss got bugged and screwed...a new lead Tinseltown Spywitness...Huffington's mea culpa...political theater downtown...and the return of Fashion Week. Those items and a lot more, plus the expanded front page links.
♦ Back in the saddle: Daily News City Hall man Rick Orlov returns to his Monday column and explains that he missed three weeks of work due to complications of diabetes.
"What started as a common cold developed into severe breathing problems exacerbated by heart and kidney problems. It took the full three weeks to find a way to control it."
♦ Double standard: Today's Daily Journal remembers that, unlike in the Anthony Pellicano case, when Heidi Fleiss was illegally bugged by a private investigator no charges were filed—even though the prosecutor acknowledges laws were broken.
"There's no question that Fleiss had been illegally wiretapped," said [George B.] Newhouse, now a partner with Thelen Reid & Priest. "The evidence was incontrovertible." In the end, the wiretapping was "not something seen to be so important that federal resources should be devoted to it," he said.
♦ Marathon toll: Two runners died during the Los Angeles Marathon and a third suffered a heart attack.
♦ Busy journo: Jenny Peters of Fashion Wire Daily takes over today as lead gossip writer of Tinseltown Spywitness in the Daily News and she's the new editor in chief of Brentwood magazine, according to the LABJ.
♦ Clooneygate: The New York Times covers the Huffington Post's trouble with George and Arianna's Saturday promise never to do it again:
I now realize that I made a big mistake in posting a blog without clearly identifying that the material in it didn't originate as a blog post but was pieced together from previous interviews. I'm sorry I didn't see this earlier. But I see it now and here is what I'm going to do about it: 1. Going forward, any time the HuffPost uses repurposed material we will identify it as such and source where it originally appeared and link to it. (Thank you Jeff Jarvis) 2. Even though the point of providing George Clooney a sample blog was to show how it's done and encourage him to join the blogosphere, I will curb my enthusiasm and not do this in the future.
♦ Political theater: Jon Regardie in the Downtown News covers the latest skirmish in the battle for the soul of the Los Angeles Theater Company on Spring Street, now in the hands of the Latino Theater Company. The Times also kicks in a Monday story.
♦ Do I look jaded in these pants?: Hard to believe that it's Fashion Week again, that time of year when local fashionistas yearn for Los Angeles to be the center of the world and the blogs and fashion writers go along—except for Booth Moore of the LAT, who sometime during the week will be publicly scorned by a designer for not hyping enough. Pre-coverage from W, Los Angeles Business Journal, ClothesHoarse, Stylephile, Style Council and of course Moore:
Los Angeles Fashion Week may not be influential enough to set trends or lure major players from the East Coast. According to its producers, it's not even financially profitable. Still, the twice-yearly event becomes more strangely interesting with every coming season. The fall season begins today at Smashbox Studios in Culver City with more than 35 shows and a new "denim day," to capitalize on Southern California's chief fashion export.
♦ Near the end: Boeing's final 717 jet is 70% complete in Long Beach. The Press-Telegram is following the last plane to come off the assembly line.
♦ Big day at Shamshiri: At 10:25 am Irangeles will mark Norooz, the Persian New Year celebration.
♦ Book deal: Times national reporter Stephen Braun and author Douglas Farah have sold Merchants of Death, "about America's dangerous love-hate relationship with gray-market military contractors," to Wiley. Publishers Lunch terms it a "very nice deal," between $50,000 and $99,000.
♦ What's that blue light? Westwood's Saban Building has been retopped with a blue neon light announcing it is home to Helio, the wireless telecom provider where Earthlink founder Sky Dayton is chief executive.
♦ Adam Deadmarsh: The Kings tonight honor their last player to score a playoff clinching goal. Deadmarsh last played at age 27 after suffering too many concussions.
♦ Valley schools still rule: Taft High, an LAUSD school in Woodland Hills, won the state academic decathlon.
♦ LA Observed in the news: Dave Bryan on KCAL9 gave a shout-out to LAObserved's coverage in his weekend report on the Los Angeles Political Roast (video here). I'm told that LAO also got a nice nod from lobbyist Maureen Kindel at Saturday's memorial for Willie Grace Campbell. Thanks!