From the weekend papers

Spinach mystery: Coverage focuses on the ban of all spinach - except frozen - and the origin of E. coli bacteria that has killed one person and sickened more than 100. Along the way, we're learning more about the spinach processing business. Natural Selection Foods, also known as Earthbound Farm, is at the center of the investigation, but the San Juan Bautista-based company processes spinach under 31 brand names, including Dole Food and Trader Joe's. Natural Selection is said to control more than 60 percent of the organic bagged salad mix market. LAT

Insurance scare: It's bad enough you're shelling out many thousands of dollars a year in individual health insurance coverage. But then your kid is diagnosed with a serious health problem and the insurer decides to pull the plug on your coverage. Says you failed the disclose your kid's condition at the time of the application. But the condition wasn't diagnosed at the time of the application. And good luck trying to find a new carrier. A hair-raising P1 LAT story explains that such take-backs are becoming more common.

Moving on out: The Daily Breeze examines the pattern of California residents migrating to other states, noting that as of last year, the state's outflow was at its highest point since the recession in the mid-1990s. Most of the piece covers terrain that's been examined at length over the years. The more interesting question, it seems, is how the local and state economy can keep doing so well despite all those people leaving? For much of the summer, L.A. County had a lower unemployment rate than the nation overall.

Video mania: The NYT's Richard Siklos is mostly bullish about the recent efforts by Apple, Amazon, NBC et al to package video in bunches of new ways. "The term video itself is already starting to sound old — the equivalent of songs before the advent of MP3’s and downloads," he says. Here's his main point:

Video delivered over the Internet is shaping up to be an actual business that advertisers are interested in. The broadcasting (netcasting?) of television programs and clips on the Web moves the debate away from Internet-versus-TV because if TV executives put their best material online and get paid for it, the proposition becomes Internet-cum-TV.

Smile into the camera: There are new rules for producing content that play well on mobile phones - tighter closeups, no establishing shots, nothing dark. And be wary of the short attention span. News, sports and music videos seem to fare the best, along with lots of interactivity. The Ventura County Star lays out the details.

That's B as in billion: The proposed swap of News Corp. and Liberty Media assets would save the two companies as much as $4.5 billion in capital gains taxes. Under the plan, News Corp. would give Liberty control of El Segundo-based DirecTV in return for Liberty giving up its 19 percent stake in News Corp.

Seamier side: Silicon Valley has not gotten very good press as of late. First there's the raft of companies being investigated for backdating options contracts. Now it's the Hewlett-Packard mess in which the company hired snoops to examine the phone records of board members. Could these be examples of how the region encourages executives to bend the rules in pursuit of bigger profits? The SF Chronicle ponders the big picture.

O'Donnell shift: Ok, I give up. Why would a Business Journal item about attorney Pierce O'Donnell starting up his own firm after his former partner skedaddled fail to mention that the guy pleaded no contest in June to five misdemeanor counts of making campaign contributions under phony names? He was fined $300,000 and banned from making political contributions and contracting with the city for three years. Too bad LABJ readers would only know what O'Donnell told the newspaper - that he wants to focus on, ahem, helping Katrina victims.

I am realizing a longtime ambition to use whatever talent and resources I have to represent the vulnerable in our society who too often lack competent counsel and access to justice.

By the way, there wasn't a peep in this week's Business Journal (FD: my former employer) about publisher Matt Toledo being one of those L.A. civic leaders who called on Tribune Co. to provide more resources to the L.A. Times. But wait a second, isn't the Times a competing publication? (This is a bit like your parents asking the school bully to shove you just a little harder down the stairs.) Since you won't see the explanation in the Business Journal, here's how Toledo explained it to me in an e-mail:

I’m more concerned about the sustainability and the quality of the LAT than the potential threat they may be to me. I see the LAT as much of a threat to us as the WSJ – they both are in a very different business. I feel they need to leverage the resources they currently have to make the paper better rather than make cuts in staff at this critical time.

Er, a different business? I thought they both report the news.