If you were in Los Angeles ten years ago today — or near a television — you probably remember the 44-minute gunfight that terrorized a residential section of North Hollywood. Twelve police officers and two civilians were shot; the two gunmen were killed, one of them bleeding to death on the pavement from 29 gunshots while officers hesitated to call for paramedics, perhaps fearing there were other suspects still loose. It was a bank heist gone bad, but the robbers wore body armor and carried an arsenal of assault weapons. LAPD bullets seemed to bounce off these guys while they reloaded and sprayed fire at police — all on live TV. By the end 370 LAPD officers had responded to the scene, according to the Wikipedia entry. The aftermath included 17 LAPD Medals of Valor, a ramping up of police firepower around the country, and a made-for-cable movie called 44 Minutes starring Michael Madsen. Mayor Villaraigosa, Chief Bratton, four City Council members, two police commissioners and Assemblyman Richard Alarcon will mark the anniversary at 4 pm outside the Bank of America branch at 6600 Laurel Canyon. Daily News has a story.

Villaraigosa and Bratton will also announce the capture of one of the city's ten most-wanted gang members.

A 15-year-old student accused of tagging Mayor Villaraigosa's bus while the TV cameras rolled was arrested. LAT lede: "He goes by the nickname 'Zoner' and he apparently tagged the wrong bus in the wrong place at the wrong time."

The big development in the flats along Ballona Creek won't have to do a disputed environmental review, as local activists and Councilman Bill Rosendahl wished. LAT

After the website run by Cardinal Mahony's lawyer attacks Times columnist Steve Lopez, he calls up Michael Sitrick for a chat. It's kind of amusing.

The Santa Barbara News-Press owner had a reporter fired for "bias" for writing a story that included facts that differed from the spin on her editorial page, according to a recently departed city desk editor.

From yesterday's LAT:

Academy demands it. Variety

That's how many people the health department thinks may potentially have been exposed to food that came from the Wolfgang Puck Catering kitchen in Hollywood while a worker infected with hepatitis A was on the job. LAT

The firing of top fundraiser Craig Prizant has caused "a blanket of silence to descend on the city's largest Jewish philanthropic organization," the Jewish Journal reports online.