Monday news and notes: Box office green, drought and mummies

Selected items from the media, our in box and other LA Observed sources. Posted occasionally — often in the morning.

Civil rights leader Julian Bond died on Saturday night in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. He was 75. NYT, NPR

Jonathan Alter on how Hillary Clinton should be more like Donald Trump. Daily Beast

Rowena Avenue is a case study in how the city's new mobility plan may physically alter streets to slow down vehicle speeds and add a safer bike lane, in a tradeoff that increases traffic congestion at busy times. LAT

In city elections, "business entities routinely donate to city candidates, but it isn't always clear who owns them. That makes it difficult, if not impossible, for the public to get a full picture of who is financially backing candidates." LAT

Jay Mathews again defends suspended LAUSD teacher Rafe Esquith in print. Washington Post

While there is always the possibility that district officials have turned up something serious, I don’t believe for a second that they have. Esquith is the most imaginative, most energetic and most influential classroom teacher I have ever seen.

Cathleen Decker columnizes a second time on the Tom Bradley depicted in the new documentary by Alison Sotomayor and Lyn Goldfarb airing Tuesday on PBS SoCal. LAT

The LA Times follows the LA Weekly on the case of J. David Sackman, who won his challenge to having his van impounded for parking on the street more than 72 hours. LAT

A lengthy New York Times story on the brutal work culture at Amazon draws a counter-memo from Jeff Bezos and the publicizing of his email address (if it wasn't out before.) NYT, GeekWire

With "Straight Outta Compton" showing real muscle at the box office, Universal Pictures is looking at yet another new record and is predicted to have crossed $2 billion at the North American box office Sunday, the fastest time that any studio has ever reached that figure. THR, Variety

From the Wall Street Journal bureau chief in LA:

Universal Pictures has made more money in 7 months than any studio's ever made in a year http://t.co/x6PSVbhOZS

— Ethan Smith (@ethanwsj) August 16, 2015

How "Straight Outta Compton" re-created the L.A. Riots, N.W.A. concerts and epic parties. Vanity Fair

Former columnist Peter King's byline returns to the Los Angeles Times, on a drought story that looks into the future of water storage and use in California. LAT

Also: How California is winning the drought. NYT Sunday Review

Get ready for the new California normal: dry and drier. LAT Op-ed

The Guardian in the U.K. did a story on cartoonist Ted Rall's insistence that the LA Times dropped him based on a flawed conclusion from an inaudible LAPD tape. Guardian

Stephen Colbert opens up about faith, loss and Charleston. GQ

KPFK and new general manager Leslie Radford aired a 30-hour program, “Afrikan Mental Liberation Weekend,” that was previously taken off the air over complaints it was anti-semitic and homophobic.

Out of Bethlehem: The radicalization of Joan Didion. New Yorker

Former LA Times reporter and editor Ray Herndon died at age 77 after a three-year battle with cancer. LAT

Clifton's has been letting selected media outlets get a sneak peek at the hipsterized cafeteria on Broadway and has been getting the hoped-for enthusiasm. Los Angeles Magazine

A month of LA graffiti cleanup efforts turned into a animated map. KPCC

Mammoth Mountain ski area founder Dave McCoy turns 100 on August 24. He was a city of Los Angeles hydrogapher when he came up with the idea to start to a ski area in the Eastern Sierra. YouTube

Tickets are now on sale for the world premiere of Mummies: New Secrets From the Tombs, the first touring exhibition of America’s largest collection of mummies from Egypt and Peru, at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Info

David Denson, a Milwaukee Brewers prospect from West Covina, has become the first active pro baseball player to come out as gay. ESPN, Journal Sentinel

E’Dena Hines, 33, an actress related by marriage to Morgan Freeman, died Sunday after she was found with multiple stab wounds in the street outside her Washington Heights apartment in New York. NYT

Congratulations in advance to Alfred Molina for his Emmy win for playing Trump in some inevitable biopic.

— Alex Litel (@alexlitel) August 17, 2015

ESPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: I am on the team creating the new Pixar Day of the Dead movie titled "Coco". pic.twitter.com/tQ5MzOisbq

— Lalo Alcaraz (@laloalcaraz) August 16, 2015