Bush calls papers 'disgraceful'
President Bush, VP Dick Cheney and Treasury Secretary John Snow
ramped up their criticism of the newspapers that published reports on the secret bank transaction monitoring program. The L.A. Times is one of the papers. (Editor Dean Baquet
explains his decision on today's op-ed page.)
Cutthroat gossips
How the bureau at US Weekly became suspicious that ex-editor Jill Ishkanian was reading their private email to get tips about celebrities is
detailed in the LAT. Ishkanian left the magazine to start Sunset Photo and News with backing from celebrity suck-up Fraser Ross of the Kitson boutique.
Sold
Univision
agreed to accept an $11.3-billion
offer from a group of investors that includes Haim Saban, says the LAT.
Phantom traffic on the Ventura Freeway
Unexplained
congestion made things awful on the 101 yesterday, Brent Hopkins writes in the Daily News.
This insidious phenomenon, which seems to present itself periodically at the least convenient times, has no direct cause, no singular reason why it comes or goes. No lane seems open, no relief appears down the road. Though people joke you can get anywhere in Los Angeles in 15 minutes, on days like this, a simple trip takes an hour.
A minor crash at 6:35 a.m. in Calabasas partially caused Monday morning's logjam on the 101, but its effects resonated for miles and hours after crews cleared it....The city's rotten traffic is nothing new, but it doesn't feel so bad when there's a clear reason for the hang-ups. But this morning, long after the Calabasas crash occurred, no car parts littered the lanes, no orange-vested workers shut down off-ramps.
Pellicano case not all about wiretaps
Wiretapping charges have received most of the press, but only 13 of the 112 charges are about that. Most allege that Anthony Pellicano paid police officers and phone company employees to access personal information, notes John Hanusz in the Daily Journal.
New guys in town
Becoming a snowbird
LAPD assistant chief
George Gascon says he will take the head job at the Mesa Police Department in Arizona.
Working the halls
LAUSD Supt. Roy Romer, board president Marlene Canter and member Jon Lauritzen
lobbied in Sacramento Monday against Mayor Villaraigosa's plan for grabbing some power over the district.
Choosing a side
A Daily News editorial
portrays the battle over Villaraigosa's school plan as a fight between "defenders of the education status quo in L.A., most notably Superintendent Roy Romer, members of the school board and the bloated bureaucracy they support" and the good guys.
LAPD and LAX agree to get along
Remember Chief Bratton's public outburst against the LAX police? Well, the two sides have quietly worked out a
working arrangement. Villaraigosa unveils it this afternoon.
Going quietly
Gardena city councilman Steve Bradford has finally
conceded defeat in the Democratic primary in the 51st assembly district, still trailing Curren Price by 114 votes out of 26,500 cast.
Supes approve $20 billion budget
Housing bond
City Council leaders and housing activists want to put a $1 billion bond on
the November ballot, even though the Assembly speaker and the mayor are reluctant.
Tribune buyback falls short
After the Chandlers and other big investors pass, the Tribune's offer to take back a quarter of its outstanding stock
drew only 15%, says the New York Times.
In praise of Malibu Magazine
The blog
Tabloid Baby waxes enthusiastic about the current issue on the beach town. Here's the magazine
website.
Loeb for Stewart
Satellite launch from Vandenberg
Scheduled for between 7 and 9 pm, but always subject to cancellation. Boeing will
webcast the launch.
New design museums
Scott Timberg in the Times
looks in on the A+D space on Wilshire—in the former home of the Carole and Barry Kaye Museum of Miniatures on the Miracle Mile—and the Museum of Design Art and Architecture Gallery in Culver City. Neither are museums in the sense of having a permanent collection, but at least they are open for public viewing.
A+D opened this month after being closed for almost a year.
The new space is 7,000 square feet, with 15-foot ceilings, large rectangular windows, newly sealed concrete floors and a gently industrial look in places.
"It's an exposed ceiling; you see all the duct work and cables," [Tibbie] Dunbar says. Fountains buffer the building from Wilshire.
A+D's current show is "New Blood: Next Gen," which Dunbar calls L.A.'s "real emerging talent in architecture and landscape architecture." The exhibition, which runs through Aug. 18, offered scaffolds to 39 design firms; some treat their scaffolds as large brochures, with promotional copy and scale models of recent projects.
Stuffing the ballot box
On the Dodgers'
website page where fans can vote for All-Stars, the team has placed a button urging visitors to vote for Nomar Garciaparra. The emailed team newsletter also pushes Garciaparra.
Posted late yesterday
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Big bunch of news nuggets this morning—click on the Buzz to come inside. Tonight is the satellite launch over the Pacific, which can make for an interesting sunset display if clouds and other considerations are willing.
