Friday, 4.07.06

Worst news yet for the Dodgers, but at least they're not the Kings...There's going to be a Hahn-era reunion in court...L.A. loves the Klimts...Rep. Millender-MacDonald finally denies being sick...Cory Doctorow is coming to town...and a major league prank is pulled on Caltech.

Plus some Pellicano stuff, couple of media personnel moves, a new blog from KCET and other blog notes. Might as well turn the page (or click on the Morning Buzz...)

♦ Front pages and news links

♦ Blue news: Dodgers reliever Eric Gagne will have elbow surgery again Friday and, until it's done, won't know if he can pitch this season. Dannys Baez will close while (the immortal) Takashi Saito will take Gagne's place on the roster.

♦ Political connections: Ex-mayor Jim Hahn and his former deputy Troy Edwards will be called by John Stodder's defense team in the Fleishman-Hillard overbilling trial. Former Fleishman execs Steve Sugerman and Monique Moret will testify for the prosecution. Opening statements were Thursday.

♦ LACMA's good luck: Christopher Knight weighs in on the exhibit of those liberated Gustav Klimt paintings and concludes "Los Angeles is the luckiest city in the world for Modern art right now."

♦ Feeling better: Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald finally spoke to reporters in Washington and says that she is not ill, but she wouldn't discuss why her son claimed in court papers that he needs to care for her rather than go to prison.

♦ Branching out: Pellicano-obsessed journo Ross Johnson unveils a new web column on the case, calls it Shakedown.

♦ Byline: Marc Cooper has an essay on immigration from the border in the May issue of The Atlantic.

♦ You forget how rural L.A. is: The fire department blog advises horse riders how to stay safe this wet season. Sample tips:

- Be sure your corral, gates and fencing remain in good shape.
- Closely examine your tack to assure the safety of horse and rider.
- Check your horse trailer for rust and tire rot following storage.
- Know the trails you choose to ride on and don't ride alone.
- For weeks to come, many trails may not be safe due to mud.

♦ Bravo!: Pranksters from MIT stole the two-ton Fleming Cannon from the campus of Caltech—and placed it in Boston next to a plaque referring to Caltech as "its previous owners."

♦ Cory Doctorow to USC: The sci-fi writer, online evangelist and co-editor of BoingBoing will teach for a year at USC's Center on Public Diplomacy as the first Canada-U.S. Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in Public Diplomacy. Via LA Voice.org.

♦ Fleeing the Merc: Jim Puzzanghera, Washington bureau chief of the San Jose Mercury News, is jumping to the L.A. Times as a Washington, D.C.-based entertainment and technology reporter.

♦ Could it be any more complicated?: The politics of getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

♦ Makes you want to scream: Yellow Cab won't send a taxi to Washington Boulevard because the computer says it doesn't exist. Call Checker, no problem.

♦ Life with a cop: Stereotypes vs. Reality, from LAPD Wife.

♦ New L.A. blog o' the day: From the folks at KCET's Life & Times, with video. "Engage, interact, debate" but in a fully moderated sort of way.

♦ Blog social note: Mr. and Mrs. (unmarried) Wit of the Staircase may decide to breed after all.

♦ Media agate: Shamrock Holdings has sold Southern California and San Diego Senior Life magazines to Southland Publishing. Laurence Vittes is history as editor.

♦ Sickest pro team in L.A.: The Kings have regressed five years as a franchise in the past five weeks or so, and in the waning moments of last night's ug-ly 5-0 loss longtime broadcaster Bob Miller got frank: "Another embarrassment on home ice, to be honest about it." After the game, the ex-players who do color on Fox Sports spoke delicately of jobs being lost and players needing to prove they even belong in the league. Ouch.