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Morning BuzzMel: "I am not a bigot"
Mel Gibson's people have a released a statement in which the actor denies having anti-Semitic beliefs and apologizes for his Jewish-conspiracy remarks to the Jewish sheriff's deputy who arrested him. Meanwhile, a "source intimate with his situation" told Nikki Finke that Gibson was borderline suicidal over his slippage back into alcoholism: "This was a death wish."
Pressure on arrest report came from above
Sources tell the Times that sheriff's officials downtown wanted to keep the details of Gibson's arrest out of public view.
Murder charges in deaths of homeless
Prosecutors filed against Helen Golay, 75, and Olga Rutterschmidt, 73, who have been in custody since May accused of defrauding homeless men they befriended. Then they killed them for life insurance—allegedly.
Spelled his name right
Introducing Tony Blair last evening at the Getty Villa, Mayor Villaraigosa quoted from that Dan Glaister piece in the Guardian that caught some attention last week. Glaister had called the mayor "the Latino Blair," about which Villaraigosa quipped, "I've never been more flattered!...I want His Excellency to know: I plan to cut this article out for the scrap book and share it one day with my grandchildren!"
Lohan watch
The blog Hollywood Thoughts kept an eye yesterday on the Sunset-Gower stage where Georgia Rule is filming to see if the crew would be held hostage again by Lindsay Lohan not showing up to work. Verdict: definitely no shooting. The official word, though, is that she was there on time.
AFTER THE JUMP: Ray Cortines begins today trying to help the mayor win on schools, Hancock Park's preservation fight goes to the Council, Garcetti's defiant on term limits, Tony Blair's speech and a Studio City woman's odd fascination with serial killer Wayne Adam Ford. And a lot more, of course.
Politics
Cortines starts today
Mayor Villaraigosa's new education adviser, Ramon C. Cortines, gives an interview to Howard Blume of the LAT and says he will play the role of peacemaker between City Hall and the LAUSD.
Going ahead with term limits vote
Sounds like Council President Eric Garcetti plans to go ahead and put a probably-doomed-anyway term limits relaxation measure on the November ballot, despite an opinion from City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo that it is legally flawed.
Hancock Park HPOZ
The City Council this morning is supposed to take up extension of the ordinance that gives protection to neighborhoods deemed historic. But things have gotten confusing. One one side will be the Hancock Park Home Owners Assn. On the other side? The Hancock Park Home Owners Assn.
Rogan headed for bench
Gov. Schwarzenegger will appoint former Republican congressman James E. Rogan to the Superior Court in Orange County.
Media
Was a longshot anyway
Erik Himmelsbach sent a letter to Village Voice Media applying for the editorship of Seattle Weekly. He decided not to say that he had previously bad-mouthed Mike Lacey in print. He got a reply.
Talker of the day
Weird fascination
Studio City actress and breast enhancement spokesmodel Victoria Redstall is making waves at the San Bernardino County courthouse for befriending serial killer Wayne Adam Ford, who is in the penalty phase of his murder trial. He has a thing for removing the breasts from his victims. She has a a life-long thing about serial killers. It's a match, but the judge and jailers aren't amused.
Noted
War on news racks
The city of Los Angeles is cracking down on non-conforming news racks. An LA Observed reader emails: "I was in Studio City today and several of the news racks outside DuPar’s at Ventura Blvd. and Laurel Canyon had been tagged by the city for various infractions of the municipal code. Removal was threatened within several days. Included were racks for the Times and Daily News. It’s comforting to know the city is on top of this – I was worried they might be out fixing the electrical grid instead."
Today
Blair's speech
The British Prime Minister's speech to the World Affairs Council at the Bonaventure is sold out, but it will be televised on Channel 36 starting Thursday at 11 am and repeating several times.
Angelides funder
Magic Johnson joins Bill Clinton at the Beverly Hilton dinner.
What's Antonio up to?
The mayor holds a UCLA press conference with Clinton and the mayor of London this afternoon, then visits "national night out" events in Reseda and Baldwin Village.
Around LA Observed
Earlier in News & Chatter:
Times to put ads on section fronts, new route for L.A. Marathon, inspectors arrive at King-Drew, and a Bon Appétit editor gets dissed at Spago.
On the blogs
LA Biz Observed: Who killed Pasadena's electric car? Plus some crisis PR advice for Mel Gibson.
Native Intelligence: "I Own Malibu," the stage play.
SoCal Sports Observed: What happened at the baseball trade deadline.
Native Intelligence: "I Own Malibu," the stage play.
SoCal Sports Observed: What happened at the baseball trade deadline.
In the media
I am quoted briefly in an L.A. Times story by Chris Lee about TMZ.com having its big media moment over the Mel Gibson arrest report. I'm also scheduled to guest with Patt Morrison on KPCC after 2 pm to talk about cliches in writing about Los Angeles.