Tuesday, 5.2.06

♦ Clippers do their part: Elton Brand and the Clips advanced to the second round and we'll have the first-ever Staples Center series if the Lakers can do the same. Clipperblog puts it in perspective. On the ice, the Ducks forced a seventh game in Calgary in their Stanley Cup playoffs series.

♦ Live with the chief: LAPD Chief William Bratton and KPCC host Patt Morrison take their regular Ask the Chief segment on the road and go live at 2 pm from a Town Hall Los Angeles lunch at the City Club downtown.

♦ Rare case: The city Department of Transportation wrote an unusual letter objecting to the traffic studies on the proposed new FBI headquarters in Westwood.

♦ Fact-checking: Blogger Brady Westwater critiques reporter Scott Gold's Times story on the 45th assembly district and finds it lacking in Los Angeles savvy and curious in concluding that Christine Chavez is "uniquely qualified" to be elected to the state Assembly by dint of being Cesar's granddaughter.

♦ Going private again: The food services conglomerate Compass Group is spinning off the company that owns the Patina restaurants in a buyout deal that involves Patina founder and chef Joachim Splichal, the New York Times says.

♦ In the spotlight: Jim Brown and his wife Michelle Gringeri-Brown of Atomic Ranch magazine are interviewed at LAist.

♦ Somebody had to say it: Hollywood Thoughts tackles a long-overdue media subject: the drawn-out way KTLA's Grant Rampy signs off his Washington reports.

♦ West Wing blogger: Scott Schmidt goes to White House to talk about blogger rights with an aide to Karl Rove.

♦ Isn't that cute: Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal become fathers again six minutes apart on Monday.

♦ L.A. Obituary: Hollywood publicist and manager Jay Bernstein died at age 69 of a stroke. (Variety)