Register couldn't pay its bill to LA Times, report says*

OC Weekly editor Gustavo Arellano says the final blow to the Los Angeles Register came when the company could no longer pay the LA Times to distribute the paper. "Enough was enough...and the Times had essentially told Kushner he had 30 days to pay up--or else," Arellano posts. "That else came last week, when someone or someones convinced Kushner that the Times refusal to distribute the LA Reg would be the prime moment to pull the plug on the paper once and for all."

Arellano, by the way, isn't surprised the LA Register folded and maybe a little relieved: " I remember promising in one of my KCRW-FM 89.9 'Orange County Line' commentaries that I'd eat an entire issue of the paper if it went past its one-year anniversary."

Owner Aaron Kushner announced late last night that the Los Angeles Register would shut down immediately — just over five months after the paper debuted.

* Update: Register staffers are starting to be notified of layoffs this morning, Arellano reports.