Morning Buzz: Thursday 5.17.07

The sheriff's department decides in advance that she will serve 23 days on her 45-day sentence for repeatedly driving without a license, and will be kept in a special segregated section of the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood due to her celebrity. That area has two-person cells. LAT, DN

Councilman Herb Wesson declared himself out of the race to replace his former boss, Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, if she steps down next year. That clears it for a battle between Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas and Councilman Bernard Parks. LAT

Cross-examination began and will continue Monday. LAT, DN

Leads by 88 votes in college district runoff. LAT, DN

The satellite radio service suspends Opie and Anthony for off-color remarks about Laura Bush and Condoleezza Rice, and discovers that XM listeners want raunch for their money. LAT

Who puts inactive World War II mortar shells in their luggage? Apparently a woman in her 30s traveling to Canada. DN

Yet another study finds that the San Fernando Valley is big, intermixed and diverse: 40% foreign-born. "Welcome to the United Nations.' It's a very culturally diverse place," said Dan Blake, director of the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center. DN

The former contract investigative reporter for the L.A. Times is the subject of a long piece in Washington's City Paper that critically evaluates his reporting through the years, including the controversial 1992 Iraqgate stories with now-managing editor Doug Frantz that the piece suggests were "hooey." City Paper includes an editor's note saying that Waas disputes the piece and that it has been attacked for months in Daily Kos and elsewhere.

Foothill Cities blog has its lawyer write back to the city of Pomona. The blog also has a new location and design.