Morning Buzz: Thursday 10.23.08

The City Council asked for reports on the billboard conversions and the inventory of illegal boards. DN
About 100 acres burned this morning in Sepulveda Pass near the Getty, closing the San Diego Freeway for several hours before being put out. LAT
Should attacks on the homeless, such as the murder of John Robert McGraham, be hate crimes? Time
The author of that ACLU report on the LAPD says he found "persistent and statistically significant racial disparities in policing that raise grave concerns that African Americans and Latinos in Los Angeles are, as we put it in the report, 'over-stopped, over-frisked, over-searched and over-arrested.'" LAT Op-Ed, Witness LA
A PUC judge ruled in favor of activists and said the Expo Line must include pedestrian bridges near Dorsey High and Foshay Learning Center, delaying the project. LAT
A 70-year-old woman was killed when struck by a bicycle being ridden by a Palisades High School student. LAT
Mayor Villaraigosa's rooftop solar plan " has 'backroom deal' written all over it." DN editorial
Spoofing the L.A. Times redesign. Not the LA Times
A reviewer of the video game Midnight Club: Los Angeles writes "having lived in Los Angeles for seven years, I was enthralled by the amount of detail given to not only famous landmarks, including the Chateau Marmont, but little known ones like Carney�s, a burger joint on Sunset Boulevard." NYT
Harper's Bazaar closed its Los Angeles sales office in a cost-cutting move. Women's Wear Daily