Thursday shorts *

Some collected items, from here and there (updated a couple of times):

• District Attorney Steve Cooley told the SPJ gathering Tuesday that Robert Blake is "as guilty as sin. He is a miserable human being." Cooley is quoted in the Times saying the jurors were "incredibly stupid."
• Harold Meyerson responds in the new LA Weekly to Joel Kotkin's thoughts on Jews and the mayor's race. Also, Bill Bradley analyzes why Gov. Schwarzenegger gave up on the whole bipartisan thing.
• Joe Scott blogs today that Latina dislike of Villaraigosa may block an endorsement by Hertzberg, whose wife, Cynthia Telles, is active in Latina politics. Scott notes the gathering storm of so-called independent expenditures for Hahn.
• Nikki Finke answers today's "One Question" at I Want Media, about Robert Iger's biggest challenge.
• El Segundo's refusal to name library rooms for Jack London because he was a "communist" (actually, socialist), and Agatha Christie because she wasn't American, was dinged by David Kipen on KCRW this week. Also, writer Rodger Jacobs chides the Segundans.
• The Times ran an AP obituary of baseball pitcher Dick Radatz with the improbable stat that he struck out Mickey Mantle 44 of 63 times they faced each other. Despite emails from fans, the AP and the LAT have declined to correct the error. The claim came from Radatz himself, but a website that debunks the bad memories of old ballplayers says he fanned Mantle 12 of 16 times. Sports Illustrated goes with that this week.
• R. Gregory Stevens, the Republican media advisor who died in Carrie Fisher's home last month, overdosed on cocaine and oxycodone, the L.A. coroner says.
• Warren Girard, who retired as dean of the Times foreign desk in 1992, died of a heart attack at age 71. Known as Fujiyama Fats, his obit circulating at the paper says, "Warren enjoyed a drink, a good story, an occasional sports wager, and the company of women." His friends will gather April 1 at 5 p.m. at the Redwood downtown.