Robot farmers, Arnie versus the GOP, nuns get the boot, Phil and Kobe agree, and a baseball card sells for $2.8 million. Bring weekend fun that much closer by clicking here...

Eye robot

Farmers look to fruit-picking robots and high-tech tractors as tighter borders shrink immigrant work force. ABC news.

Long division

The 747 area code headed for landing in The 818. Valley not happy. Harrison Sheppard in the DN.

See ya, sister

Sister Angela Escalera served the poor in Santa Barbara for 43 years. Now she's the one being served. By her church - with eviction papers. Rebecca Trounson in the LAT.

But she and the other two nuns at the Sisters of Bethany house recently received word that their convent, which is owned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, will be sold to help pay the bill for the church's recent, multimillion-dollar priest sex abuse settlement.

Angel City Classic

Teams arrive for the first black college football classic to be held in Los Angeles in more than a decade. Cynthia E. Griffin in Our Weekly.

Phil ♥ Kobe

Coach backs star's criticism of Laker management.

Bill Plaschke in the LAT.

So Kobe Bryant has finally found a wingman, somebody to stand beside him and blast away at the Lakers, blowing up bridges, burning down fences, two soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder in the fight for justice and truth.

Good for Bryant, but bad for the Lakers.

Because his wingman is, um, ah, er, their coach.

Richard Riordan sues Ron Burkle. Hours later, the former friends settle. See, we can all get along. Beth Barrett in the DN.

More Tribune layoff news

At the end of a column about Oprah as presidential king-maker. Chicago Tribune.

As part of a plan to centralize and consolidate some of its advertiser-customer accounting functions, Chicago-based Tribune Co. intends to eliminate 100 positions companywide, roughly 0.5 percent of its workforce, by the end of the year.

The move will affect back-office operations at some of the media company's 11 daily newspapers, as well as at the corporate level. Some positions will be eliminated by attrition. Tribune Co. owns the Chicago Tribune.

Mayday

More lawsuits from protesters' clash with LAPD at May Day rally. KPCC.

News flash!

Governator, GOP - don't get along! Evan Halper in the LAT.

Air waves

Radio ads to fend off a ballot proposal crafted to help Republican presidential candidates start airing in LA today. AP by way of SF Chron.

Grand slam

The Honus Wagner baseball card once owned by Wayne Gretzky sells again - for $2.8 million. NYDN

(And to think we were laughing at that $52,000 purse.)

About that Patt memo...

A teensy tweak to the official word about Patt Morrison: she's a longtime Los Angeles Times columnist whose work, carried by the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service, appears in more than a hundred newspapers.

They'll be watching you

No - not The Police, or even the police. It's bloggers who are keeping tabs on Jack McClellan, self-described pedophile who left LA and surfaced in Oregon last month. Tomas Alex Tizon in LAT.