Results tagged “latimes”

CNN is reporting that Michael Jackson's body will be transported to Neverland Ranch on Thursday for a public viewing on Friday and a private memorial service on Sunday. However, the LA Times says things are not exactly confirmed: "A source knowledgeable about Neverland affairs said that no decision had been made. 'Nothing has been confirmed,' the source told The Times. 'The family is still trying to work it out.'" Jackson's will has been found and a service is scheduled for next week in Gary, Indiana, where he might be buried, is in the works, says CNN.

Pulitzer Prize winner and 18-year LA Times veteran Drex Heikes will join LA Weekly as their Editor later this summer. Most recently, Heikes was at the Las Vegas Sun where he was honored with the Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal for Public Service for an investigation he assigned and edited. While at the LA Times, he served as editor of the Sunday magazine and as foreign affairs editor in the paper's Washington bureau. He will take the Weekly's reigns on August 17th. Earlier this month, Editor Laurie Ochoa parted ways with the paper.

The LAPD's high public ratings in an LA Times poll may partly be due to Mayor Villaraigosa, but he earned a 55% approval rating with the same poll takers. The upside? With LA voters, he could win the Democratic nomination for Governor's seat at 38%, beating out Jerry Brown (32%) and Gavin Newsom (13%). Goverornor Schwarzenegger's approval rating was 29%.

Last night, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger tweeted, asking followers to try to fix the budget themselves on LA Times' wicked-cool budget calculator. "Tell me how you do," he said. Now that's Government 2.0, or whatever, at its prime. So, this is how we did, amazingly earning the state an extra $840 million. Of course, that came at the expense of the education system and your taxes. Here's how we solved the budget crisis, making enemies the whole:

They just won't go away. Not even eclipse-able by Frozen Yogurt, the ubiquitous cupcake has held Los Angeles in its sugary, frosted, portable grip for the past few years, and doesn't seem to be letting go. In today's LA Times, food writer Mary MacVean looks into the cupcake phenomenon and tries to unravel its sweet mystery. Why do we still adore cupcakes?

Earlier this year the LA Times launched their "Mapping L.A. Neighborhoods" project, when they released some maps with basic neighborhood boundaries and offered themselves up to the mercy (or malice) of the public for feedback and input. And spoke we did, giving the project managers plenty to work with, prompting them to make "nearly 100 boundary changes, producing an updated map showing 113 neighborhood subdivisions within the city," they say.

            

Before a recent trip to Tokyo, the LA Times published Steve Lopez's column entitled "L.A. could learn some lessons from Tokyo". In his piece he praises Tokyo for its clean taxis, beautiful parks, and bike commuters.

Did you watch Southland on NBC last night? Only four shows in and it looks like they'll be green lit for season two already. Last night's episode was extremely interesting, literally ripping topics from the headlines just months old:

In the streets of Los Angeles millions of connections are made, be it with a friendly gesture or flirty smile. Yet often times fear gets in the way and connections go unrealized as a person passes up a conversation to continue with their day, only to end up thinking, “What if?” Enter Craigslist Missed Connections, where individuals put up posts detailing random interactions they’ve had with others, ultimately hoping it will catch the person’s eye and a relationship can be made.

The 2009 Pulitzer Prize winners were announced today, and LA Times Metro staff writers Bettina Boxall and Julie Cart were named as awardees in the category of Explanatory Reporting. The duo were behind the series "Big Burn," which examined the "growth and cost of wildfires." The category seeks material that "illuminates a significant and complex subject, demonstrating mastery of the subject, lucid writing and clear presentation, in print or online or both," and the committee hailed Boxall and Cart's work as "fresh and painstaking."

As expected, readers and writers alike were not happy about yesterday's NBC fake news story advertisement paired with horizontal ad on the front page of the Times. Around 100 newsroom staff apparently signed this petition:

Playa Del Ray resident Joe Talamo is not your average 19 year old. The guy's already earned $4 million in purse money as one of horse racing's hot young stars, he's been featured on a reality television series, Animal Planet's Jockeys and in all likelihood is on his way to one of the biggest events in sports - The Kentucky Derby.

It's almost a sport these days: Spotting the gaffes in the print edition of the LA Times. After this week's most recent rounds of letting-go at the city's fledgling old guard news source, readers keep wondering if maybe they let a few too many people go, namely the ones who would make sure the stories had, you know, like, headlines. Yesterday, Lies.com noticed a few things missing from the news; instead of headlines the placeholders "tag briefs subhead large," "tag briefs subhead," and "ALL-CAPS LEDE-IN" were left in place. Says the blogger of the flubs: "In an earlier era, the editorial folks would have said, 'No way can you print it like this. We have to eat the cost of fixing it, or our reputation for competence will suffer horribly.' But if that conversation took place, apparently the editorial folks at the Times don’t have that kind of pull anymore." [h/t Patterico's Pontifications]

It's a sad day for transportation news in Los Angeles. Veteran journalist Steve Hymon was one of the many laid off at the LA Times today, according to Kevin Roderick at LA Observed. Hymon, in our opinion, was one of the best writers at the paper. He's succinct, clear, creative, has an ear for bullshit coming out of city officials mouths and is happy to call them on it. Before covering transportation issues, he was on the city hall beat and on a team that was honored with a public service Pulitzer for covering the King-Drew medical center in 2005. More than 50 people are expected to be laid off today at the paper.

If you only read the LA Times local section online, you wouldn't have noticed know the difference, but today the paper dropped the California section, rearranging the " A section, with local news starting on page A2, followed by national and foreign news, editorial pages and obits," notes Kevin Roderick at LA Observed. "The second or B section now has Business and some classified ads."

Jon Weisman, like many of us, wears many hats. A former reporter for the Daily News, Weisman, 41, is now a full-time editor for Variety Magazine, Dodger blogger and father of three. By his own admonition, it is a tough balancing act made even more difficult by his blogs' move from a domain with other baseball writers to the LA Times. The transition from Baseball Toaster, which recently shut down after Weisman and others left, to the Times, could represent a seismic shift in sports journalism. At once, it shows that the mainstream media is continuing to recognize blogs (and bloggers) as writers to be taken seriously while also giving great credence to the multitude of fans who regularly read Weisman's posts. Or it could mean very little in the scheme of things, if the humble Weisman is to be believed.

Established in 2002 thanks to a donation by warehouse owner Richard Meruelo, Skid Row's Excess Personal Property Warehouse is still the only of its kind in the nation. The Central City East Association created the warehouse out of the need clean up the streets and decrease the amount of homeless encampments by providing Skid Row's homeless with a place to keep their belongings.

LA County Board of Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky has jumped on the bandwagon of politicians begging the LA Times not to kill the California section of the paper. "Despite its profitability even in the current market, the Times recently boosted its street price by 50% even as it was accelerating plans to further degrade its news product by eliminating sections and cutting additional staff," he wrote in the letter (via LA Observed). "Charging the newspaper's customers more while giving them less is never sound economic policy, nor is it a sustainable journalistic practice. In essence, the Times' current trajectory can be described succinctly as follows: 'We are going to save the newspaper by destroying it.'" LA City Councilmember Eric Garcetti started a popular Facebook group to urge the section's survival.

After hearing the news of the the LA Times' decision to cut the California section, which gives us local, regional and state news, Councilman Eric Garcetti went on Facebook and created a group that now has over 1200 members. "Save the California section of the LA Times before it is too late," Garcetti writes. "We need a dedicated section that focuses on the news of the Los Angeles area and the state of California. Cutting the section is the latest blow in cutting the coverage of our community" (the NYT has also chimed in on the matter). Apparently, the Times had a choice in the matter--the Business section could have been axed. In related news, a Superbowl story in the paper this morning ended like this: "Editor's note: This review has been ended because of cutbacks. We wish the writer success in his future endeavors." Some say it was dissent, others say it was a contextual joke, but hey, there's truth in comedy.

LA Observed broke the news late last night that the LA Times will be cutting the state and local news section of the paper, the California section. "The publisher decided to fold local news inside the front section," Kevin Roderick wrote.

                     

On Monday night, while Norwegian rocker Ida Maria (MySpace) wowed the Spaceland (MySpace) crowd, Santa Barbara's Katy Perry (MySpace) returned to her singer-songwriter roots by headlining a sold out show at the Hotel Cafe (MySpace) in Hollywood, with support from last-minute openers Holly Conlan (MySpace) and Meiko (MySpace). LA-Underground observed that, "If [Perry] returned to the 50-capacity Genghis Cohen Cantina or Highland Grounds where she really started now that would be something (especially since Highland Grounds/The Dive closed last year)." But to say that this intimate show wasn't highly anticipated would be wildly inaccurate, as fans flew in from as far away as Vancouver, offering as much as $200 for a pair of tickets, and upwards of 15 paparazzi camped outside at the front and rear entrances for the duration of the evening.

It's probably one of the biggest cultural shocks for people relocating to Los Angeles for the very first time: the high cost of living, specifically renting. While most natives don't bat a single eyelash at $1200 studio apartments or $2500 two-bedrooms, the recently arrived are dumbfounded by exorbitant rates for totally mundane, even run-down apartments (Westwood Village, anyone?).

LA Lakers defeat Golden State Warriors 114-106. Pau Gasol got 33 points and tied a career high 18 rebounds as the Lakers needed an strong fourth quarter push to withstand the Warriors offensive onslaught. After getting only 10 points against the Hornets the night before, Gasol seemed make the Warriors pay for it especially in the fourth quarter. With a 28-6 record the Lakers are tied with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the best record in the NBA.

In what has to be one of the grossest holiday-themed articles published this year on the LA Times (whose online content may or may not be controlled by gnomes) comes the breakdown of bacteria, as it can perhaps be found on the buffet table of your next holiday gathering.

Now that the Tribune company has filed for bankruptcy, and the L.A. Times has cut its staff to the bone, it's no wonder that they don't have enough staff to keep up with the fast-paced dynamics of news on the Web. So yesterday, when NPR West had its own bloodletting, the city's paper of record unfortunately had some trouble keeping up. Check out the above photo and read the caption. We're pretty sure that isn't Renee Montagne. (Note to LATimes.com: You can edit photos at picnik.com -- for free.)

The owner of the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Cubs and other properties has $13 billion in debt.

Continue reading "LA Times, KTLA Owner Tribune Files for Bankruptcy"

According to the Wall Street Journal, media mega-corp Tribune, parent of our Los Angeles Times, has sought legal counsel recently that would help the fumbling company "for a possible trip through bankruptcy court." The filing, some speculate, could happen as soon as this week. The WSJ explains:

Tribune has been on wobbly footing since last December, when real-estate mogul Sam Zell led a debt-backed deal to take the company private. Tribune so far has stayed ahead of its $12 billion in borrowings with the help of asset sales, but now dwindling profits are tightening the noose. The company's cash flow may not be enough to cover nearly $1 billion in interest payments this year, and Tribune owes a $512 million debt payment in June.

The LA Times Food section embarks on a perilous and ambitious project today: collecting 1,001 recipes featuring that porky product most commonly known as bacon (less commonly known as "Taste Explosion Happy Fat Yummy Time!" and "Vegetarians, Weep"). Why bacon? Well, apparently because "bacon works so well in so many dishes, from soups and salads to chili and stuffed pork chops". Uh, yeah guys: is a pig's pussy pork? Anyway, so far the list is only five items long, but includes such creative (if questionable) items as a Candied Bacon Martini (ew?) and a roasted potato salad (that's definitely more my steez). They're welcoming comments and suggestions from readers, so head on over and school those fools on how to add some dazzle to your dinner.

Murray Fromson of USC laments the end of the LA Times' Washington Bureau today on the Huffington Post: "Neither the Chicago Tribune or its subsequent owner, Sam Zell, have understood the degree to which the Times' reporters and editors in Washington helped subscribers and other readers in Southern California and beyond understand the complexities of national politics. Neither television or the internet did that... The Washington bureau peaked at 40 reporters and seven editors by 2004 under Doyle McManus who then was forced to watch the bureau disintegrate in recent weeks."