Daily News wakes up to the real Valley

Three-part series by Tony Castro called "San Fernando Valley: The New Ellis Island" focuses on the influence of Latino cultures and, in particular, immigrant and activist Edwin Ramirez's reaction to the demographic changes. DN

"Sometimes it feels like I didn't leave Central America at all," he says. "I look around at Pacoima - and it seems like 90 percent of Pacoima are emigrants from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador - and it's as if Central America has immigrated here, and I think it's a different world than the one I came to live in."

The irony and the sociological phenomenon are not lost on Ramirez as the Valley in the past generation has undergone a transformation from "America's Suburb" to the "New Ellis Island" of Southern California and perhaps the nation.

E3 returns, but so what?

The E3 Media & Business Summit comes back to Downtown today, but it's no longer the biggest convention of the year and tech writer Alex Pham likens it to "an overgrown teenager grappling with an identity crisis and longing for the world to take it seriously." LAT

'Rumors swirling' around LAT's Hiller

Variety's Cynthia Littleton picks up on the newsroom gossip that Times Publisher David Hiller has been called to Chicago today amid much speculation that he's out. Variety, LA Observed (Friday)

Also: Lee Abrams' latest missive to Tribune employees. Romenesko

MTA transit tax uncertain

Even with supporter Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa taking over as MTA board chairman, political battles "could easily stop efforts to place the measure before voters on Nov. 4." Rick Orlov/DN

Bastille Day with Ron Kaye

KABC-AM morning show host Doug McIntyre, author-activist Sandra Tsing Loh and Steve Barr, founder and CEO of Green Dot Public Schools, are scheduled to speak at the Saving LA Project rally at noon at City Hall, organized by the former Daily News editor. Kaye blogs, "I've struggled mightily to find the words and ideas to hand you all the perfect Contract for a Great Los Angeles. But it's not that simple." Ron Kaye, his op-ed in DN, DN wires, Saving L.A. Project

'Rough and Tumble' takes a break

Jack Kavanagh, who runs the widely read Sacrament news site, announces "I'm at Kaiser Hospital in Sacramento being treated for a nasty stomach flu. The site will update as soon as I'm released." Rough & Tumble

Howard Rosenberg on TV's 'absurd' cult of celebrity

Handwringing over whether Katie Couric stays or goes got the former, and now current again, Times columnist thinking about the networks. LAT

It matters because even though their popularity has steadily fallen since their glory years, and more and more Americans turn to the Internet for news, the flagship newscasts of NBC, ABC and CBS together still attract more than 21 million viewers on weeknights, according to Nielsen Media Research. That's nearly seven times the combined prime-time audience of cable's Barnum & Bailey gang of Fox News, CNN and MSNBC.

Montecito not sure about Caruso's Miramar project

L.A. developer Rick Caruso's plan to be the savior of the hole in the ground that used to be the Miramar beach resort beside the 101 freeway has hit a few Santa Barbara community snags. LAT

The Hollywood Reporter lays off closes two bureaus

Longtime bureau chiefs Brooks Boliek in Washington, D.C., and Alex Woodson in New York were laid off as part of cutbacks revealed last week. The position of managing editor/international was also eliminated. L.A. Business Journal [A THR editor emails that the Business Journal got it wrong, and that while Woodson has left, he wasn't the bureau chief. New York soldiers on under chief Georg Szalai.]

L.A. business headlines with Mark Lacter