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That Long Beach State student and two other L.A. County residents are confirmed cases of the new H1N1 or swine flu. More local cases are expected, but the outbreak appears to have peaked in Mexico and the flu itself has been mild. LAT, NYT
Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott offer open memos to studio heads, producers, straight filmmakers, Hollywood's "liberal elite" and the Internet—among others. NYT
Jay Leno's illness: exhaustion. People
Candy Spelling is enjoying her book tour and her thousands of new "friends" via Twitter, Facebook and MySpace: "I've certainly never learned so much in 31 days." Huffington Post
Daily News sports columnist Tom Hoffarth penned a column reacting to the layoff of colleague Tony Jackson, the ongoing cuts at his paper and emails from readers, only some of who are sympathetic: "It gets tougher and tougher, and sadder and sadder, each day to love something that doesn't want to seem to love you back." DN
LAO contributor Deanne Stillman won a California Book Award in nonfiction for "Mustang: The Saga of the Wild Horse in the American West." She also has sold a new book to Nation Books based on her "Mojave Manhunt" story for Rolling Stone that was a PEN awards finalist in 2006 and was included in the "Best American Crime Writing" anthology.
Patterico calls Perez Hilton a "copyright thug" and reposts video that Hilton had gotten removed from YouTube. Patterico
Firing incompetent public school teachers: it really is hard to do. LAT
This week's New Yorker profiles Steve Barr, owner of Green Dot Public Schools. TNY.com
Adult education classes for seniors are being gutted, and they are low on the priority list. Tony Castro/DN
Remains found near Escalante, Utah have been confirmed as those of Los Angeles artist Everett Ruess, a contemporary of Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams who has been missing, and part of Navajo legend, since 1934. LAT, NYT
How gun issues are playing out in the L.A. City Attorney's race. LAT
Democrats in the South Bay are jockeying to be in position to run for the seat now held by Assemblyman Ted Lieu, who's going for state Attorney General. Breeze
Nice little roundup of public art in Los Angeles, from Chris Burden's "Ubran Light" in front of LACMA to Shepard Fairey's mural of Lance Armstrong on the side of the Montalbán Theater to Piero Golia's aluminum sphere on the Standard Hotel. NYT
While L.A.'s politicos still talk about illegal billboards, activists in New York City replaced 120 unregistered advertisements with original art installations. Consumerist
The City Council approved a $130,000 settlement in a sexual harassment complaint against departing Animal Services Director Ed Boks by animal activist Mary Cummins-Cobb, who alleged that he tried to hug and kiss her, called her frequently and used vulgar comments with her. DN
KPCC producer Queena Kim ("Off Ramp") and Tanya Jo Miller have started a new podcast series and blog Cyber Frequencies, with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Jack Kemp, the former NFL quarterback and Republican congressman who graduated from Fairfax High and Occidental and first signed with the Los Angeles Chargers, died Saturday at age 73. He had cancer. LAT, NYT