Good morning 8.28.07

Bumping jets at LAX, gardens on wheels on Skid Row, and Wonder Bread leaves LA. Enter for info.

Bump in the night

Two Alaska Airline jets had a minor collision at LAX last night while pulling away from the gate, KNBC reports. No injuries, minor damage. FAA to investigate. Whether this somehow provides grist for the political mill re: reconfiguring the airport and runways remains to be seen.

FAA investigators will be busy. Stuart Silverstein's story in today's LAT says they're already looking into a close call between two jets at the north airfield of LAX.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a weekend runway safety breach at LAX in what apparently was the second such incident at the airport in less than two weeks, officials said Monday.

Better make that three incidents in the last two weeks.

No more Wonder Bread in LA

The maker of Hostess products, in bankruptcy these past three years, calls it quits in SoCal.

The company said its secured creditors are running out of patience with its inability to develop a consensual plan of reorganization.

“We have weeks, not months or years, to act,” Jung said.

That's 1,300 jobs on the block.

Lightning strikes?

The fire that burned 12 acres in Altadena on Sunday was possibly caused by a lightning strike, Molly R. Okeon of the Pasadena Star-News has details.

Rolling in the green

Portable gardens add life and color to Skid Rown, Evan George writes in the Downtown News.

The garden is part of a new and unusual experiment to green Downtown's grittiest streets, fostered by artist Lauren Bon and her Downtown-based organization, Farmlab, the unconventional but well-funded collective that evolved from the Not a Cornfield project.

Skid Row residents are fiercely protective of the mobile plots, even crooning Elvis tunes to slow-bloomers.

More blogger vacations

Mark Sarvas of The Elegant Variation puts his litblog (mostly) on hiatus until Labor Day.

DItto for Donna Wares at CaliforniaAuthors.com, who's finishing SoCal So Cool, a travel book for Norton/Countrymen Press.

Light posting on both sites.

Shut up and drive

New legislation could make all cell phone use by teen drivers illegal, Nancy Vogel reports in the LAT.

Teen drivers would be barred from driving while using cellphones of any kind -- even if fitted with hands-free equipment -- under legislation that passed the state Assembly today.

The bill would also prohibit drivers younger than 18 from using text-messaging devices, laptop computers or pagers. If signed by the governor, the bill will take effect in July.

Time management

Browsed the blogs and still not ready to work? Google Sky could be just the ticket. Media Bistro has the how-to.


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