Police surveillance, valiant dogs, no more Mt. Whitney outhouses, and a view of KPFK that includes the word "hazmat". A deeply peculiar mix of stories near the end of a kind of weird week. In here, gentle readers.

Every move you make

LAT takes on the police, secrecy and surveillance. R. Scott Moxley has details. OC Weekly.

Privy information

The end of bathroom lines on Mount Whitney, the NYT reports. In fact, no more bathrooms at all. That's right, 19,000 backpackers each year now have to carry their own toilets.

The highest outhouse in the continental United States is no more.

High-altitude sanitation is too hazardous a business. Helicopters must make regular journeys up the steep-walled canyons in tricky winds while rangers in hazmat suits wait below to tie 250-pound bags or barrels of waste onto a long line dangling below the aircraft.

Light rail funding

A Valley view of the California Transportation Commission's move to fund Westside light rail. Harrison Sheppard in the DN

Big day at Black Rock

Judith Lewis and Randall Roberts do Burning Man. Tell all. LA Weekly

More on KPFK turmoil

Marc Cooper sends a different kind of memo regarding charges and changes at the radio station.

Buckle up your hazmat suits and adjust your air mask, as we’re going to take a late summer plunge into the bubbling cesspool of our local “people-powered” radio station, KPFK.

The dogs of war

Veterans make their annual pilgrimage to March Field Air Museum in Riverside to pay tribute to the dogs who served in the armed forces, and to raise money (they're $3 million short) for a national monument. Jonathan Abrams in the LAT.

John Burnam, a Vietnam veteran who spent countless days with his German shepherd, Clipper, credits the dog with saving his life several times.

Once while on combat patrol, Clipper stopped, his muscles tensed and ears perked toward the sky. Burnam, who always followed the dog's lead, ducked to the ground. Machine gun fire erupted, killing a soldier in front of them.

Burnam said he and Clipper played dead for 10 minutes before help arrived.

If not for Clipper, Burnham said, he has no doubt that he would have died. "We were basically leading combat patrols, and the dogs, with their natural abilities, were leading us."

Meanwhile, down in Long Beach

Sandow Burke, Alice Sebold, the Foo Fighters, Jane Fonda, John Prine and Naked Puppets? The city's vibrant art scene gears up for fall. An equally stellar line-up - Miles Clements, Ellen Griley, Dave Wielenga and Chris Ziegler - are your guides. The District Weekly.

We would if we could but we don't so you can't

So this is a straight answer about whether Rocky Delgadillo's out to gut Hollywood’s historic preservation protections? Check this graf in Patrick Range McDonald's story in the LA Weekly and let me know:

Redevelopment agency officials refused to discuss with the Weekly their use of mitigated negative declarations — or Delgadillo’s role in pushing the scheme. The agency’s top dog in Hollywood, Rudd, referred the Weekly’s questions to other city bureaucrats. CRA spokeswoman Kiara Harris refused comment, citing the lawsuit by Hollywood Heritage. Deputy City Attorney Young failed to reply. Delgadillo’s bustling press office — quick to promote softball stories about Delgadillo — ignored four phone calls. Weitzer, LaBonge’s chief planner, failed to respond.

Truckin'? No, trucking.

How cleaning up port pollution could turn semi drivers into a new middle class. Greg Katz in City Beat.