Gang czar, eight "gang reduction zones" and $15 million in new spending. Gang violence replaces bad schools as the mayor's official "most important challenge we face." LAT, DN

LA Weekly's David Zahniser reminds everyone that the courts have not struck down school reform, just the legally dubious method that Mayor Villaraigosa chose to pursue it to ensure the public wouldn't get to vote thumbs up or down. So why, Zahniser asks, do the yes people around Antonio keep congratulating each other? LAW

Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald was diagnosed with cancer and is taking leave of absence for treatment. Breeze, Our Weekly

Dozens of whales, dolphins and sea lions have washed ashore dead or dying on the coast from Venice to San Luis Obispo. The latest was in Ventura, where a dead 8-foot juvenile minke whale washed up at San Buenaventura State Beach. LAT

Academia Semillas del Pueblo says that morning talk jock Doug McIntyre targeted the Eastside school in a slanderous, racially motivated campaign last summer "that resulted in a bomb threat to the school and ongoing security risks." That's where a KABC reporter was assaulted on the sidewalk outside the school. LAT

NBA playoffs begin in Phoenix for the seventh-seeded Lakers. LAT, DN

The Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center at California State University, Los Angeles, cost $102 million and will be the largest municipal crime lab in the nation, combining the LAPD and the sheriff's lab functions. DN

Media op is at 10:30 am at the Jim Gilliam Recreation Center, 4000 South La Brea Avenue. DN

Winners of the 2007 USC Annenberg Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Television Political Journalism are honored at an awards luncheon that will include a keynote address by Federal Communications Commission member Michael Copps. Before lunch, honorees participate in a panel on Politics as Television; Television as Politics. Winners include George Stephanopoulos of ABC News, Brian Ross of NBC News and Bob Long of KNBC-4. USC Davidson Conference Center starting at 10 am.

An Alcoholic Beverage Control posting has gone up at the closed Eurochow site in Westwood Village for transfer to Yamato Restaurant LLC.

Managing editor Paul Steiger jumped to the Wall Street Journal originally from the L.A. Times business section. The new WSJ managing editor is Marcus Brauchli, 45. WSJ, NYT

Cybele May of Candy Blog argues in the Times against the FDA's plan to let fake stuff be called chocolate. LAT