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Click below for the full Buzz, of course, but don't miss weekend posts on a new Doug Dowie profile, the death of Richard Jeni, Ruby the Elephant's liberation and why elite runners boycotted this year's L.A. Marathon.
Starters
Beware of Tampa and Nordhoff
The corner at ground zero of Northridge's shopping mall hell had the most traffic accidents of any intersection in the Valley last year: 52. Laurel Canyon and Ventura was next with 49, says the Daily News. DN Speaking of, the DN also finds that lifeguards on L.A. County beaches have driven over five sunbathers in recent years.
Politics
More WiFi skepticism
Mayor Villaraigosa's plan to cover the city with wireless internet access is "more likely to be a fiasco than a help," Los Angeles Business Journal Editor Charles Crumpley writes in this week's issue. Steven Titch, a Reason Foundation analyst, also writes in the LABJ that "Villaraigosa’s plan isn’t as good as Anaheim’s and isn’t as bad as the government-run route pushed by some in San Francisco. The mayor’s timetable calls for WiFi roll out in 2009, but chances are that by then, working on its own, the free market may well have pre-empted city’s broadband goals." LABJ
Monday columns
Media
Risky Biz blogs on
Anne Thompson has left the building, but the Hollywood Reporter keeps the Risky Biz Blog going. They just don't tell us who's writing it now.
Reinventing Time
The venerable weekly magazine gets a new look and a new editorial writing style with Friday's issue. NYT
Zell proposal for Tribune worth $13 billion
Barron's says the investor wants to take Tribune private and become chairman of the new entity. Reuters
Promotions at Daily Breeze
Toni Sciacqua moves to managing editor from news and design editor. Frank Suraci becomes executive city editor, up from city editor. E&P
Jerry Roberts benefit
Friends of the much-honored former Santa Barbara News-Press editor are throwing a roast Tuesday night in San Francisco.
Leaving L.A.
Elaine Zinngrabe, publisher of Times Community News, goes to senior vice president for The Denver Newspaper Agency's online division. E&P
Police beat
Stolen violins turn up in Paris
French police recovered those rare violins taken from the West Hollywood home of Los Angeles Philharmonic musician Mark Kashper in December. One is by Carlo Tononi, the other by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume. AP, LAT
Noted
Saving L.A. Conference
The Los Angeles Neighborhood Councils Congress, city planning department, Los Angeles Conservancy and the Getty Institute are helping hold a conference on saving the city's physical, cultural and social history. It's Sunday March 18th from 10 AM – 4 PM at the Los Angeles Theatre on Broadway downtown. Website.
