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Today's news and notes are hidden after the jump. Mark Lacter will return later this week at LA Biz Observed. Follow Mark and Kevin on Twitter.
- L.A. Times columnist Tim Rutten argued over the weekend that "Congress needs to move quickly to grant the newspaper industry at least a temporary exemption from antitrust and price-fixing laws so that publishers and proprietors can, in essence, collude for survival" on online content. LAT Op-Ed
- Human rights advocates, bloggers and Christian pastors in South Korea are accusing Laura Ling and Euna Lee of needlessly endangering North Korean refugees and the activists who help them. NYT
- L.A. Times alumnus Brian Lowry views editor Russ Stanton's admission that the new slimmer LAT can't compete with the NYT through the lens of the upcoming PBS documentary on the Chandler family. Variety
Plus: Stanton pretty much said it before. CityBeat - Sam Zell's machinations to sell Wrigley Field to the state of Illinois may have cost the Tribune Company $150 million, the Chicago Sun-Times posits.
- Zell "could have shuffled off this mortal coil with his legend as a real-estate genius intact, but instead he'll mostly be remembered for helping to drive the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times and his other papers more quickly into the ground," writes Simon Dumenco. "Surely he'll be the last big man to try to become even bigger through media moguldom." Ad Age
- Slate has replaced its morning Today's Papers feature after 12 years with a news roundup called The Slatest updated three times during the day. NYT
- Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will hold a 10 a.m. press conference with business and civil rights leaders to push school choice.
- An early poll in San Francisco finds Mayor Gavin Newsom trailing Jerry Brown in his own city. Matier & Ross
- New York Times bureau chief Jennifer Steinhauer had a piece from Beth Court in Moreno Valley — "a series that explores how a block of eight homes...has been reshaped by the housing bust and recession" — on the Sunday front page. NYT
- This week's New Yorker issue has a Letter from California on comedy driving schools by Elif Batuman.
- Unraveling the tangled web of convicted smog market schemer Anne Sholtz. Pasadena Weekly
- The 36th annual Daytime Emmy Awards, formerly held in Hollywood, will take place Aug. 30 at the Orpheum Theatre on Broadway. Downtown News
- Friday's "Deadline L.A." on KPFK was a one-hour special talking to involved parties on whether more LAUSD schools should be opened to private operators. Link to audio
- Quoting from the LAT's 1953 review of "Farenheit 451" on Ray Bradbury's 89th birthday. Jacket Copy
- KPCC alumnus Ilsa Setziol had a gardening piece in the LAT Home section on cannas, though her byline was misspelled.
- Lisa Leslie prepares for her life after basketball. NYT
- Writers Bloc has added departing NYT food critic Frank Bruni (Sept. 15) and LAPD chief William Bratton (Sept. 21) to its schedule.
- Zócalo Public Square is plugging its first fundraiser, a cocktail party on Oct. 10 at Union Station featuring Jonathan Gold.