Morning Buzz: Tuesday 5.1.07

Downtown is the big one this morning, though it's expected to be much smaller than last year's. The second march leaves 3rd Street and Vermont Avenue at 2 pm for MacArthur Park, where will be a 5:30 pm rally. Mayor Villaraigosa urged students to stay in school. LAT, DN, La Opinión, LA Indymedia

Chester Dewayne Turner was convicted of killing ten South L.A. women and a fetus in the 1980s and 90s. Times

The mayor departs today for El Salvador and returns via Mexico. The nine-day trip is billed as a trade mission, but he has been working on his answers to questions about immigration. LAT

Ralph Drollinger, the former UCLA basketball star, has been criticized for saying women legislators are sinners for leaving their children to serve. He speaks Thursday at the Mayor's Prayer Breakfast in Valencia. Also on the bill is Santa Clarita mayor Marsha McLean. SCVTalk.com, DN

Many of the names that were on last year's letter to the Tribune company asking for a better Times signed a letter to the Police Commission backing Chief Bratton for a second term. Signers include attorney George Kieffer, LABJ publisher Matt Toledo, La Opinión's Monica Lozano, Geoffrey Cowan of USC Annenberg, Blair Taylor of the Urban League and former councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski.

Judge tentatively rules for the city on one aspect of the black firefighter's lawsuit. LAT

UTLA appears to be writing off the Board of Education incumbent. DN

The magazine's backup system didn't work and all the artwork and page layouts for the June issue were lost in a crash. They have the copy-edited stories only because they had been emailed to lawyers. The mag still hopes to come out on time. NYT

From journalists Celeste Fremon and Michael Goldstein.

The Times does a story on people who draw their own maps of what a mass transit system in Los Angeles could look like, but probably won't.