Being still somewhat youngish, there are few people that I open up to on the Obit page that have impacted my life greatly (except maybe musicians and TV actors from the 70's). Seriously, all of the great movers and shakers out there, industrialists, world leaders, inventors, Nobel Prize winners, I feel little connection to. Yesterday, when a friend told me that Gary Gygax had passed, the high school, geeky girl in me felt the end......

Carole Meyers, the first female rabbi to lead a congregation in L.A., died at age 50 of bone cancer this past Thursday. A month-old wildfire in Santa Barbara County continued to grow and burned through another 1,000 acres, prompting evacuation orders for a dozen homes. An LAPD officer was killed earlier today after crashing his motorcycle on the 101 freeway. The Belmont Shore team won the 2007 ViewSonic Long Beach Dragon Boat Festival yesterday.......

Janet Leigh, famous for her screaming battle with a knife-wielding madman in Psycho, passed away yesterday in Beverly Hills. She was 77. "Leigh's portrayal of Marion Crane in the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock thriller Psycho earned her a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress. The experience of watching the final cut of the famous shower scene made Leigh take baths for the rest of her life. Born Jeanette Helen Morrison......

The L.A. Independent also thinks the Mayor's in trouble. But they call the Stanley Miller affair a potential "sword in the heart".... ? LAist doubts the issue will dictate much by March of next year. The City Council will back a ballot initiative to spend $500 Million to clean up the city's rivers and lakes. Apparently, it's the only way we can meet the Clean Water Act benchmarks. (Times) The Times also reports that ships......