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Scary talk about bird flu, a third deputy sheriff dies, Cecelia Estolano for CRA chief, Los Angeles lawyers breaking away and a little online dust-up between CBS and the Times' television blog...those and more after you turn the page.
♦ Avian flu: Birds infected with the avian virus could be in California within two months. From the Daily News:
If the virus transfers from birds to humans - which officials say is very likely - the pandemic is likely to start in California and spread across the country in two to four weeks.
[And in the LAT:] "Even if there were enough beds — which there won't be — there won't be enough people" to staff the hospitals, added Dr. Jonathan Fielding, Los Angeles County's public health director. "We have trouble with getting enough nurses now."
♦ Horrible week: A third Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy, Paul Wilms, died after shooting himself by accident inside the station.
♦ She's back: The Times says that Mayor Villaraigosa will tap former coastal commissioner and ex-senior deputy to Rocky Delgadillo, Cecilia Estolano, to be the head of the Community Redevelopment Agency. She served on the mayor's transition team and is at Gibson, Dunn. It's to be announced officially today at 2 pm.
♦ Odd couple?: Villaraigosa holds a media availability at 10:15 am with Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, on the subject of gang violence.
♦ Feels late: At the end of the week of protests, the LAT weighs in with a look behind why and how some students decided to walk out.
♦ Los Angeles lawyers on the move: Howard Weitzman and eight other lawyers at Greenberg, Glusker, Fields, Claman, Machtinger & Kinsella are expected to leave and start up a rival firm. The triple-byline Times story links it to the Pellicano case.
♦ CBS vs. LAT: CBS blogger-in-chief Vaughn Ververs and Times blogger Scott Collins have a difference of opinion at Channel Island.
♦ Catchy lede: From the L.A. Daily Journal:
Call it poetic justice. A famous 350-pound Venice Beach beat poet who was jailed for having sexual contact with a teenager, fell ill and finally expired when the medical staff was unable to lift him out of his own excrement now has scored a legal victory in death. A federal appeals court has ruled that the widow of John Thomas can move ahead with a federal wrongful death suit after Thomas died of cardiac arrest while serving a 120-day sentence at the Los Angeles County Jail in 2002.
♦ Media brief: Former LAT reporter and editor Jim Schachter is the new magazine development editor at the New York Times (via Gawker).
♦ For political junkies: The other Michael Berman talks about all the weight he has gained and lost during Democratic campaigns.
♦ Nice link of the day: Jon at Hollywood Thoughts remembers Greg from the Sherman Oaks newsstand. Via Tabloid Baby.