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There's a big Monday helping of Buzz after the jump, nicely hidden away where you don't have to see it if you don't want. But there's lots of good stuff, so go ahead a click. And don't overlook these weekend posts:
Times redesigns the front page
Winners of the Southern California book awards
Mariel Garza's advice for Admiral Brewer
Weekend shorts
Plus: Jenny Price confesses her reality show sins at Native Intelligence, and an editor's dozen of top LA Observed posts from last week.
On to the Morning Buzz...
Politics
Ramallo moves up the hill
Villaraigosa press secretary Joe Ramallo is switching over to the Department of Water and Power as communications director. It "will allow the mayor to have a consistent voice coming from the agency," says Rick Orlov in the Daily News.
Brewer victory tour continues
Superintendent-designate David Brewer heads to Watts this afternoon to visit 96th Street School, where Academic Performance Index test scores have risen 278 points. He meets the mayor finally on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Roy Romer gives an exit interview to Adolfo Guzman Lopez at KPCC.
LAPD's flexible schedule
Officers like the 3- and 4-day work weeks that Mayor Hahn gave the Police Protective League, but we got screwed: response time is worse, overtime bills are higher and some area are short-staffed. The issue returns to City Hall, says Patrick McGreevy.
Mind the gap
Rather than just extend the Green Line a few hundred yards, the MTA is talking about a whole new light-rail line to LAX. Or is it just a way to boost the political fortunes of the Crenshaw line?
Starbucks by council district
The Times counted.
Thom Mayne has a radical idea
Build a new Dodger Stadium at the Cornfield and pay for it by erecting a new residential community up in Chavez Ravine. "Dodger Stadium will move - it is obsolete the way it is right now," says the architect.
Political junkies present
Raphael Sonenshein's new guide for the League of Women Voters, Los Angeles: Structure of a City Government, will be unveiled at a reception and Q-and-A Wednesday evening, Oct. 25, at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in Little Tokyo. KCRW's Warren Olney will moderate a panel that includes Prof. Sonenshein, William Deverell of the Huntington-USC Institute on California & the West and Connie Rice of the Advancement Project.
Media
Lacey back in town
New Times' — oops, I mean Village Voice Media's — Mike Lacey is expected to sequester in his favorite Santa Monica hotel again this week and summon selected LA Weekly staffers for little pow-wows.
Defanging the press
Will budget cuts mean the end of investigative disclosures like NBC's expose on Rep. Mark Foley and the LAT's piece on Rep. Curt Weldon? Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post thinks it might.
Personal take
Not sold on L.A. Rex
Gratuitous violence and not enough story dashed the joy of reading the mystery by LAPD detective Will Beall, says Paula L. Woods in a Times review. For a book set in 1998, he also shouldn't have used Hollywood and Highland as a setting.
Noted
Sandra and Jesse in a tree...
The Staples Center kiss cam zeroed in on actress Sandra Bullock and her husband Jesse James during yesterday's Kings-Ducks game. They took advantage to share a long smooch then flashed smiles for the crowd.
Didn't know that
Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak is a fashion store mogul.
Today
Digital Hollywood hits Santa Monica
The four-day trade conference takes over the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel.