First thing Monday, Halloween

♦ After attending the services for former Rep. Edward Roybal, Mayor Villaraigosa delivers the keynote speech at 12:45 am at the Milken Institute's State of the State Forum at the Beverly Hilton.

♦ City Controller Laura Chick has scheduled release of her audit of the city planning department for 11 am in her City Hall East office. Hmm. I won't be surprised if Chick and many of the reporters will actually be on the Spring Street steps for the Roybal tribute at that hour.

♦ Chief Bratton gets a passing third-year report card from Dan Laidman at the Daily News. Also, Rick Orlov gives the 14th district race the once-over and touches on it again (and Herb Wesson) in his Monday Tipoff column.

♦ Councilwoman Jan Perry on Sunday's LAT op-ed page: "What was Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa thinking last week when he nominated Ramona Ripston, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority?"

♦ Michael Hiltzik writes that his new Times blog Golden State (officially debuting today but up since last week) "is a test of my hypothesis that the economic model of blogging will inevitably evolve into one that resembles the traditional, or 'mainstream,' media — complete with brand names and standardized formats."

♦ Judy Miller has been berry, berry good for the Huffington Post, the New York Times says.

♦ Hollywood's Halloween-only ban on Silly String makes the New York Times.

♦ The Times' Bill Shaikin says the Angels have become the stable and respected L.A. team, while the Dodgers' president is the wife of the owner and their 24-year-old son is the marketing director. Tom Lasorda's record as a front-office adviser at Dodger Stadium is eviscerated by Matt Welch, while blogosphere dismay over the LAT's Bill Plaschke builds: "It is always a bad idea to allow sportswriters to run your team," writes Steve Smith. A management analyst-blogger says McCourt fired DePodesta way too early: "In the absence of a complete breakdown, the worst decision you can make in the middle of a change initiative is to dump it..." He calls DePodesta "a lightning rod for the Bitgod contingent (Back in the Good Old Days)."

♦ Theresa Duncan blogs about convening the October gathering of the Los Angeles Lunar Society in New York, eventfully: "I am sorry Cutty for the damage to the hull of your parents' boat, for replacing the cheerful L.L. Bean yachting flag with our decadent death rocker banner, and for the sight of me diving off the 'plank' into the (very chilly) waters of Long Island Sound in a bikini, drunk on your uptight WASP Dad's oldest brandy and pockmarked by Los Angeles Lunar Society ritualistic hickeys."

♦ Kausfiles' Mickey Kaus picked up a "special recognition" award for web journalism at the Online News Association conference this weekend in New York. The Palm Springs Desert Sun also won in the breaking news category.

♦ Fifteen-year-old quarterback Miranda McOsker turned down Oprah, Ellen and Letterman. "I don’t think I really deserve it. It’s just because I’m a girl,” she told AP.