Glendale's water went for a pot farm in the Verdugos, Merv Griffin's sexual orientation, and some advice to avoid the Century Freeway near LAX this weekend — plus Betty Pleasant takes a ride with South L.A.'s Sweet Alice Harris through the saga of King-Drew-slash-Harbor. And some more hires at Image — and more.
News
Creative pot farm busted
More than 5,000 plants hidden away in the Verdugo Mountains were irrigated with a drip system that tapped a city of Glendale cistern for fighting fires.
LAT,
DN Spector lawyers in trouble
Judge Larry Paul Fidler says there will be sanctions for ambushing the trial with surprise evidence from forensics expert Michael Baden, and the jury will be told it can consider "defense misconduct" in deliberations.
LAT,
AP Writing about Merv Griffin being gay
Ray Richmond at the
Hollywood Reporter talks about Griffin choosing to stay in the closet while alive, and Richmond apparently decided it was time for him to come out. "Unworthy of the trade and more suited to a tabloid," blogs
Nikki Finke.
Whole Foods can swallow up Wild Oats
Stores get the OK to merge.
LAT I-105 near LAX to close for filming
The eastbound Century Freeway between Sepulveda and La Cienega will close Sunday for filming of a Will Smith film,
John Hancock. The CHP will block traffic on westbound lanes as needed. Just another way to torture drivers headed in or out of LAX.
Breeze Future traffic toll
Tolls and higher taxes almost certain "to make sure the tsunami-sized population surge headed our way doesn't cripple the regional transportation system."
DN,
LATNoted
Betty Pleasant on closing of King-Harbor
The Wave columnist was there when the hospital opened in 1972 and when the clock ran out. She
writes :
Thirty-five years of political indifference, bureaucratic mismanagement and professional incompetence, coupled with happenstance and whimsy, brought me full circle last week...
I was there when that hospital — such a towering source of pride and jobs to a community in dire need of both — was dedicated and formally opened in 1972, and I was there again when it died from the incurable disease of abject failure. The hospital is located a couple of blocks from Sweet Alice Harris’ home and she, too, attended its opening ceremonies. And as luck would have it, the hospital’s final day found Sweet Alice, Eldora Winston and me on a serendipitous odyssey that ended with us being the unwitting witnesses to another historic moment.
More hires at 'Image'
The Times feature section had already grabbed Variety style editor Monica Corcoran and now adds Emili Vesilind, who was West Coast retail editor of Women’s Wear Daily, and Enid Portuguez of from LA.com.
Joel Stein's tips for celebrities
The columnist tells them how to be interviewed by journalists like him.
LAT 
