End of week desk clearing

♦ Former VLife writer Steven Kotler, contributing at Hollywood Wiretap, explores the role of local agency Grace Hill Media in marketing "The Da Vinci Code" to Christians. Grace Hill's principal is a deacon at Bel Air Presbyterian Church.
♦ School Me, the LAT's education blog, has a predict-o-meter to handicap the chances of Mayor Villaraigosa's school takeover actually happening—and downgraded him this morning. Blogger Bob Sipchen also told an interviewer his plans include growing School Me into "more of a full-fledged web magazine." Says nice things about LA Observed too, including that his blog "is blatantly trying to rip off the model of Kevin Roderick’s LA Observed. Though we may be putting a bit more of an edge on School Me than he does on his indispensable roundup of Southern California news."
♦ The City Council voted 10-0 to accept the recommendation that the Derby at 4500 Los Feliz Boulevard be listed as a city Historic Cultural Monument.
♦ Mayor Villaraigosa appointed Richard Benbow as general manager of the city's Community Development Department. He retired recently as acting CEO of the Community Redevelopment Agency.
♦ Councilman Bill Rosendahl hired Deborah Weinstein as his environmental deputy. She comes from the U.S. Department of the Interior.
♦ KKJZ-FM's classic jazz at 88.1 FM has a murky future, but KCRW denies a report in this morning's LAT that the Santa Monica NPR station is a contender to take over the Long Beach outlet.
♦ Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez talks with Conan Nolan on NBC-4's News Conference Saturday at 4 pm. On the Sunday show at 9 am, KFI's John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou talk about immigration and Proposition 82 is debated.
♦ The Riverside Press-Enterprise is cutting about 50 jobs and restructuring as a 24-hour news operation with more focus on the website and "micro-local community web pages" put out by younger, cheaper contributors.
♦ Evan George in the L.A. Alternative bemoans the sharing of stories between sister papers CityBeat and Pasadena Weekly. LAA stories have a place on the website for public comments, and Pasadena Weekly editor Kevin Uhrich has his say—and George responds.
♦ Disney's 21-story office tower in Burbank is for sale, Andy Fixmer reports at the L.A. Business Journal website.
♦ This weekend's Venice Art Walk is not so popular with the locals, Venice Paper says.