Follow LA Observed on Twitter here
The New York Times reports a pretty good break in the Pellicano story...rare LAO mention of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes...more fame for the 82-year-old ticketed for crossing on the red...plus a bunch of other items for a Friday. Click on the Morning Buzz for details...
♦ Hollywood earthquake: Paramount chairman Brad Grey and Michael Ovitz admitted to the FBI that they had much more contact with Anthony Pellicano than than they have publicly acknowledged, the New York Times reports. Grey told of using Pellicano to help with lawsuits, and Ovitz said he hired the private eye to get information on 15-20 of his critics, plus reporters Bernard Weinraub and Anita Busch.
♦ Field Poll: Steve Westly leads in the Democratic primary for governor by eleven points, a switch in position for Phil Angelides. Read the poll.
♦ Glad that's cleared up: Reuters lede: "Actor Tom Cruise says his Catholic-born fiancee, actress Katie Holmes, has joined him as a follower of the Church of Scientology but insists that doesn't mean she can't make noise when she gives birth to their child."
♦ UC compensation: A committee chaired by Bob Hertzberg told the UC Board of Regents it should immediately launch sweeping reforms of how the university pays top executives.
Regent Frederick Ruiz said the language was not strong enough. "People need to understand that in the business world, people go to jail over this kind of stuff," he said. "It's serious."
♦ 82-year-old jaywalker: Mayvis Coyle is calling attention to a truth about Los Angeles crosswalks—they are not friendly to the old or the slow—but if she started crossing Foothill Boulevard in the "don't walk" cycle as the LAPD says, she's part of the problem not the solution.
♦ Source building?: The Times runs a Q-and-A with Supervisor Gloria Molina, calling her "a trailblazing politician for nearly a quarter of a century."
♦ Hollywood note: The CNN tower on Sunset Boulevard will remain offices, the buyer says.
♦ Guest blogger: Ben Fritz of Variety is sitting in at Fishbowl LA.
♦ New paper: The Inland Empire Weekly hit the streets this week. Stacy Davies is the editor, Rich Kane the managing editor. "Few places on Earth are as misunderstood and misrepresented as the Inland Empire," they write.
♦ 76ed: Another Union 76 ball comes down, with photos.