Morning Buzz: Thursday 3.19.09

• President Obama will depart from Long Beach Airport about 6 p.m. after today's town hall near downtown and afternoon taping with Jay Leno in Burbank.
• The Los Angeles Planning Commission deadlocked on a series of votes to overhaul the city's billboard law, taking no action pending another try next week. LAT
• The corner of Hollywood and Western is "the epicenter of an underground world [where] homeless youth, many cast off at 18 by the foster-care system, root out lives in a dim, moldy labyrinth of “abandos” — abandoned buildings hidden behind storefronts and the busy boulevard." Daniel Heimpel/LA Weekly
• Kanye West was charged with misdemeanor vandalism, grand theft and battery for a scuffle with photographers at LAX in September. LAT
• Supervisor Mike Antonovich wants to revive that whole tedious debate about whether to include a cross in the Los Angeles County seal. DN
• An LAT editorial addresses NPR's decision to stop paying for newspaper subscriptions. LAT
• KPFK host Gustavo Arellano says another show on the station, La Causa, "allows some of the worst anti-Semitic bile to soil Southern California since La Voz de Aztlan." OC Weekly
• Former Daily News managing editor Mark Barnhill is part of Platinum Equity, the group that purchased the San Diego Union-Tribune. Also, real estate is key to the deal. Voice of San Diego
• There's a candidate's forum for the 32nd congressional district tonight hosted by the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project and the Latino Professional Network at the Los Angeles River Center & Gardens on West Avenue 26. But it'll cost you $15.
• The Bobby Shriver for AG whisper campaign mentioned last week gets fresh rehashing at L.A. Now.
• News industry pundits Jeff Jarvis and Alan D. Mutter are discussing the future of newspapers at the Times' opinion site. Dust-Up
• Spoofing the L.A. Times' undiscerning love of social networking tools: all stories as plays on 25 random things. Not the LA Times
• The Los Angeles Press Club will honor Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal and KCRW next Thursday at the 2nd Annual National Entertainment Journalism Awards.
• Ken Burns guests on KPCC's "Patt Morrison" at 1:25 p.m. to discuss his latest documentary for PBS, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.”
• Mort Lachman, a longtime Bob Hope writer and TV producer, died Tuesday at age 90. LAT

Mark Lacter's morning headlines | Native Intelligence