Friday desk clearing

Dana Goodyear visits Chateau Scientology in a Letter from California in this week's New Yorker. She followed up with a blog post about a Dianetics spoof written in 1950. TNY
Examining the Spinka sect indictments on tax fraud and money-laundering charges and the informant at the center of the story. Jewish Journal
The great draining of Silver Lake reservoir has begun. It will take 45 days to send all of the mildly tainted water to the Pacific via Ballona Creek. What will be found in the dregs at the lake bottom? CurbedLA
Johnny Grant's final interview, for an LAT Magazine piece. Franklin Avenue
Now that's a miracle headline: Man kills self before shooting wife, daughter SGV Tribune
Avoid the 405-101 freeway interchange in the Valley on Sunday morning. Bottleneck Blog
Secret Headquarters comic bookstore in Silver Lakes shows up at #4 on a Brit writer's list of ten best bookshops in the world. Guardian Unlimited
The California Planning and Development Report has put out its first all-green issue and publisher Bill Fulton blogs, "is there any doubt that the greening of the planning process will be the No. 1 story in 2008 � and maybe No. 2 and No. 3 as well?" CPDR
B-Side Blog is the repository of screenwriter Ben Mandelker's "ramblings about Los Angeles, food, travel, and various other exciting subjects." He was co-creator of TVGasm.com.
Bibliocracy, a new book show, debuts at noon Monday on KPFK with an interview of novelist and California state poet laureate Al Young. The host is Andrew Tonkovich, editor of the Santa Monica Review. Blog
Gary Scott, the Sacramento reporter for the Los Angeles Daily Journal and formerly politics editor for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune and Pasadena Star-News, has joined the staff of Warren Olney's "Which Way, LA?" and "To the Point" as a producer. The shows air on KCRW.
Artillery's new issue lands in L.A. galleries this weekend, with a column on the Murakami show at Geffen/MOCA by Gordy Grundy. I'm told that Charles Rappleye has left as publisher and that Paige Wery is in. Artillery