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Today's Los Angeles Times front page
Two stories about sex and a Bill Plaschke column on the Lakers make A1, but no mention of the murderous weekend in Los Angeles this weekend and only a small refer on the salmonella scare that removed tomatoes from most grocery shelves. Writes an LAO reader who works (prominently) in the Los Angeles media: "If you wanted to bring in readers, wouldn't you put 11 murders (B3) and 140 salmonella cases (C1) on the front page? I just don't get it." Both are mentioned high on LAT.com this morning.
Times assesses blame for bad traffic
Millions of individual choices — to live far from work, to drive solo — contribute to SoCal's unfixable traffic mess, but "actions by government at the state and local level also bear a big share of the blame," the Times says in the second part of four about traffic congestion. Diverting billions in transportation funds to other uses is a big part of it, but politicians' insatiable hunger to let developers build is also cited. Santa Monica's decision to build the Water Garden, which helped reconfigure traffic patterns across the region, and City Hall's approval of L.A. Live at the downtown nexus of two freeways come in for some scrutiny. LAT
Also: Since elected officials won't do anything, business leaders form a new group to attack the mobility issue. LABJ
Howard Rosenberg back in Calendar
The once-popular TV critic and Pulitzer winner for the Times has a piece on the "the smug histrionics, the relentless needling, the shameless self-puffery" of MSNBC's Keith Olbermann. Rosenberg "will be writing occasional commentaries about news on television and the Internet." LAT
NYT analyzes Tribune's cutting strategy
News analysis by media reporter Richard Perez-Pena asks, "Is a thinner, flashier, more local newspaper, with a smaller newsroom staff, the best financial model for an industry that is enduring a painful contraction with no end in sight?" Alas, no clear answer. NOTED: The NYT story budgeted on Friday about the L.A. Times magazine never ran as far as I can tell.
LAT catches up on Fuentes bill
A week after the Daily News did a pretty good story, the Times' Sacramento bureau jumps on the bill by Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes that would stop the city from weighing in on MWH Development's plan for 229 homes on the Verdugo Hills Golf Course. LAT
Also: Patt Morrison blogs about the bill. Opinion L.A.
Montaņez will keep six-figure state job
Even after former assemblywoman Cindy Montaņez starts her $12,500-a-month gig as an advisor to Department of Water and Power chief David Nahai, she will keep her $130,000 a year salary as a member of the state Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board. "The appeals board, as you may know, is an engagement that is only one day a month," Nahai tells David Zahniser, thereby raising eyebrows about the state boards where Speakers typically stash ex-legislators who need to keep drinking at the trough. LAT
Also: Nahai talks about his Iranian roots to Howard Fine at the L.A. Business Journal.
Villaraigosa wants to perform gay marriages
He's already told some couples he's their man. "I will marry as many people as possible," he tells Rick Orlov. DN
Ridley-Thomas, Parks and the White House race
Four times as many voters might cast 2nd district ballots in November than they did this month, political scientist Raphael Sonenshein notes. Sunday Opinion
Another Grand Avenue project delay
Supervisor Mike Antonovich wants the Grand Avenue Authority to put the project out to bid again. LAT
Brentwood to get a bookstore
Diesel Books is scheduled to open in September in the Brentwood Country Mart. LAT
Breeze site to become medical offices and parking garage
The newspaper still occupies its old place in Torrance, but the land has been sold and now Little Company of Mary plans to expand. Daily Breeze