Friday desk clearing

New LAUSD Supt. Supt. David L. Brewer has discovered what most of us knew — that things in his district are seriously awry. He releases a scathing 115-page report that concludes big changes are needed.
Jacob Soboroff videoblogs from along the Rio L.A. with author and Friends of the Los Angeles River co-founder Lewis MacAdams (right), tour guide and LA Observed contributor Jenny Price and LAist's Zach Behrens — and manages to fall in the river on camera. See the video at Native Intelligence.
This is the weekend that CBS2 and KCAL9 leave Hollywood behind and switch over to broadcasting from Radford Avenue in Studio City. Those desks better be clean!
Former KPPC/KROQ jock Sandy Beach, whose real name was Brad Sopel, died yesterday at age 54. He was at KFXM in Lancaster.
Video interview with John Amato of big-time politics blog Crooks and Liars by Andy Sternberg at LAist.

Mrs. LA Observed and intern Sean share the hots for Dustin Hoffman, partly due to The Graduate and partly because of a letter he wrote 39 years ago. Details at Native Intelligence.
The latest edition of SportsLetter from the Amateur Athletic Foundation features interviews with Tommie Smith (known for his black-gloved salute at the Mexico City Olympics and former track coach at Santa Monica College) and ESPN broadcaster Jeremy Schaap, among other items.
L.A.'s Dopest Attorney Allison Margolin has gone pretty mainstream — an L.A. Times Column One included — since we first noticed her a couple of years back. Now World of Wonder is flacking a "development deal" with the self-promoting lawyer who has become famous for being famous.
Will Swaim talks about why he left the OC Weekly and started The District in Long Beach on KPFK's "Deadline L.A.," noon Saturday on 90.7 FM