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If the water in Santa Monica Bay doesn't make you sick, it turns out the sand might. Also in the Morning Buzz, there could be good news for L.A. today from the National Football League—and why you won't see Karen Carlson on Channel 7's news any more. Also, like every day, front pages of a bunch of local newspapers and some L.A. websites.
♦ Beach bacteria: Wet sand on Santa Monica Bay beaches acts as an incubator for the microbes that reach the Pacific through urban runoff and sewage releases, says a UCLA study to be released today.
Researchers found the worst offenders were the sheltered side of Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro, Mother's Beach in Marina del Rey, Santa Monica Beach near the pier and Topanga Beach in Malibu. Sheltered or enclosed beaches showed persistent elevated levels of bacteria...Health officials have long known that microbes, mainly E. coli and enterococci bacteria found in fecal material, can reach harmful levels in ocean water. Urban runoff from city streets, farms and industries carries a witches' brew of pollutants that are concentrated to unhealthful levels around storm drains and river mouths. The new study, to be published in the forthcoming issue of the journal Water Research, adds to a growing body of evidence that health risks extend to the shore. "People haven't looked at the sand until recently," said Alexis Strauss, director of the water division for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "Our urban existence yields bacteria year-round."
♦ Real target of Pellicano prosecutors: Entertainment industry lawyers, say Halbfinger and Weiner in the New York Times.
But it is only now becoming clear that powerful businesspeople and stars are just collateral damage in a hunt for the real target: what government lawyers see as corruption in a legal system that is suddenly being policed after decades of neglect. "They're following one thread — Pellicano — and it turns out that thread is wound deeply and deeply, through and around this entertainment law community," said John C. Coffee Jr., a Columbia Law School expert on white-collar prosecutions. "I'm not interested in the stars and divorcees, I'm interested in the fact that reputable law firms, bigger than one person and one case, were behaving systematically in an unlawful fashion. I find that almost unimaginable."
♦ NFL day: Los Angeles should hear today that the National Football League will commit several million dollars to looking more closely at the city's bid for a team, Rick Orlov reports in the Daily News.
♦ Registered travelers: LAX may have express security lines for pre-cleared passengers by the end of the year.
♦ Out at Channel 7: Reporter-anchor Karen Carlson's bio and pic were taken off the ABC-7 website following a loud, possibly profane newsroom blowup with news director Cheryl Fair, according to Ron Fineman's On the Record.
♦ L.A. Squares L.A. City Nerd totes up all the officially designated "squares" around the city, from Pershing downtown to Ray Charles at Washington and Westmoreland. I didn't know that the late reporter is honored with Theo Wilson Square at Camrose Drive and Glencoe Way.
♦ Web buy: Tribune Company bought ForSaleByOwner.com.