LAT's Gold jumps to Washington Post
Annual issue is out this weekJust a few that caught my attention...
⇒The Times launched a four-part investigative series on abuses of the elderly by "professional conservators," looking at every instance in Southern California between 1997 and 2003 where a court gave away control over a person's life to operators "subject to less state regulation than hairdressers or guide-dog trainers." The first installment of Guardians for Profit led the Sunday paper and reported "in the hands of this new breed of entrepreneur, a system meant to safeguard the elderly and infirm often fails them." The series is by Robin Fields, Evelyn Larrubia and Jack Leonard with photographer Francine Orr.
⇒Times art critic Christopher Knight takes down the conflict-riddled "independent inquiry" of the Getty and Barry Munitz that an LAT editorial had praised: "Not only does this plan not pass the smell test, it's an offense to the olfactory system."
⇒The Daily News led Sunday with a piece saying that "five years after President Bill Clinton pledged billions of dollars to former nuclear employees who got sick from their Cold War-era jobs, just seven of the nearly 600 claims filed by workers at the Santa Susana Field Lab and other local facilities have been compensated." Story is by Kerry Cavanaugh.
⇒Gregory Rodriguez debuted as a regular Sunday columnist in the LAT Current section with a piece arguing the "most profound political division in the country is...baby boomer versus baby boomer." Also in Current, a trio to make liberals shudder about the new Scheer-less Times: Dennis Prager, Cathy Seipp and the pseudonymous "Jack Dunphy," who gave his take on Villaraigosa's new police commission.
⇒Steve Lopez columnizes in the Times on an LAPD lieutenant who was a conservative war hawk all the way until his son-in-law died in Iraq and so much about the aftermath was bungled.
⇒The city Building and Safety department holds fundraisers for charity and accepts donations from the construction industry it supposedly regulates. Not any more, says Mayor Villaraigosa.
⇒Pajamas Media profiles Jane Hall, a former L.A. Times and People magazine writer on its editorial board.