Notes from around...

♦ An estimated 5,000 students are protesting outside of school today in San Pedro, Compton, Bellflower and the Valley, according to NBC4.

♦ There's a 1 pm press conference said to be "an opportunity to debrief with the main organizers" of Saturdays big downtown march. AFSCME District Council 36 Headquarters at 514 Shatto Place.

♦ KPCC's Talk of the City is going live from 1 pm to 3 pm with a special on the walkouts and the immigration debate. John Rabe hosts.

♦ The Times' Opinion pages blog has gone all immigration all the time, with a smattering of moderated comments on the discussion entry and links to items in the paper and on a few blogs. Entries are unsigned, but I detect the hand of Assistant Editorial Pages Editor Matt Welch (and not just because the still-developing links column leans to his pals: Cathy Seipp, Tony Pierce, Amy Alkon, Mickey Kaus, Heather Havrilesky, Luke Ford and Welch's wife, Emmanuelle Richard, et al.) Unlike others on the LAT opinion staff, Welch has blogged at Reason's Hit & Run, at the late LAExaminer.com and for himself and knows the form. Mostly links and pointers so far. (Statment of purpose: "The best in Southern California opinion journalism, Monday through Friday")