* Couple of updates after the jump

Author Pat Jordan's profile of Frank and Jamie McCourt ran in the LAT Magazine and talked about their rough reception in Los Angeles and their marriage, which began with her parents boycotting the wedding over religion — she's Jewish and he's Irish Catholic. Jordan observed that "Frank and Jamie are nice people, they love each other, they love their kids, they love baseball, they love L.A., but none of that much matters, because the McCourts have bungled just about every attempt they've made at communication and public relations. They know that--and, then again, they don't." Some tidbits:

"I'm sooooo happy here!" Jamie McCourt says. "It's sooooo L.A.!"

She's sitting in a booth at the leafy outdoor restaurant of the Hotel Bel-Air on a sunny, late morning. She is a tanned, noticeably thin woman with blond-streaked hair, wearing a fitted, lime-colored sleeveless shift with stiletto heels. Not hot pants, but not the matronly dresses she used to wear in Boston, either, where she lived with her husband, Frank McCourt, a construction and real estate tycoon, before they bought the Los Angeles Dodgers 2{dagger} years ago and moved to L.A., settling into a house in Bel-Air with their sons, ages 24, 23, 19 and 16. Jamie, a quick study, looked around at the L.A. women her age, then got a tan, streaked her brown hair blond and bought some short skirts. Too short at first--and people noticed--but now fashionably short. Jamie isn't the first person to reinvent herself in the Land of Dreams....

At 52, Jamie is girlish, but matronly, too. She says she's a cross between Gloria Steinem and Julia Child. "I'm a chicken soup mom," she explains.

[skip]

Frank and Jamie make a great production of their closeness. They were once caught on television at a Dodger game kissing in the stands.

He's also 52, a trim, handsome man, not unlike Paul Newman in "The Verdict." He has short gray hair, a determined jaw, an Irish tan and the map of County Cork on his face. He can be stubborn. When challenged, he clamps down like a pit bull and refuses to let go...

Region 9 of the Environmental Protection Agency covers California, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, the Pacific Islands, and over 140 tribal nations. The new administrator is Jared Blumenfeld, director of the San Francisco Department of Environment.

I never understood why the Los Angeles Times made A Movable Buffet, by Las Vegas writer Richard Abowitz, one of its first blogs four years ago. But it did, and now that there are threats of more editorial cuts in the air, the decision has been made to wrap Vegas news and gossip into the other dozens of blogs the Times publishes. From Abowitz's final entry:

I became one of the first bloggers in the history of the L.A. Times. Vegas was booming in those years, and tourists from California were pouring into town, many buying investment homes. The idea of a blog that documented daily the happenings and entertainments that drew so many to Vegas made sense on a lot of levels. Obviously, much has changed since then, and I am sad to report the Movable Buffet blog is being discontinued.

Abowitz will continue to contribute a column to the print Sunday calendar. Reaction by a fan of the blog, journalist Michael Goldstein.

* And adds a D.C. blog: D.C. Now bills itself as "News from Washington, minute by minute."

In court this morning, Jamie McCourt's bid to be immediately reinstated as CEO of the Dodgers was rejected. Frank McCourt's lawyer dismissed her former role as "ceremonial" anyway (something they never said when she was there, by the way), but argued returning her to the ownership suite would disrupt the team. There will have to be a trial to decide the complex issue of who owns the team, Commissioner Scott Gordon said. Neither battling spouse was in court, just lawyers.

Next up: a Dec. 15 hearing on Jamie's request for a sizable monthly support payment.

Yesterday: No cameras at McCourts hearing

ABC has begun rolling out Diane Sawyer's interviews with Rihanna about the attack by Chris Brown in Hancock Park last February and her relationship with the violent singer. She talks about being embarrassed by letting love cloud her view of Brown, and the personal wake-up call she felt when she realized how many young women look to her as a role model. This clip is from today's "Good Morning America."

Also: Rihanna's other L.A. connection

More analysis of Charlie Beck, plus the state's big water deal, blacks and pot in Pasadena, Andrew Breitbart and more after the jump. Also see Mark Lacter's morning headlines at LA Biz Observed, and follow Mark and Kevin on Twitter.

By the way, since posts from yesterday are already rolling off the front page, here's a quick look at the last 24 hours, and the last 48.

The top story on tonight's SoCal Connected makes the case that homeowners in South Los Angeles are being forced to buy expensive flood insurance based on flawed FEMA maps. Check out the video preview, with reporter Judy Muller. Also on the episode, airing at 8 p.m. on KCET: Author Michael Connelly on learning to write about cops while on the police beat, and Charlie Beck before he was chief.

Also: The KCET website is trying to lure new visitors with a feature called Name That Spot, offering you the chance to guess where in Southern California this fence is located.

New programming changes at Pacifica Radio's station: Ian Masters, the Australian journalist who hosts a provocative Sunday show, will air at 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Activist and writer Earl Ofari Hutchinson returns to KPFK on Saturdays at noon. Plus other new shows. "Deadline L.A" remains on Fridays, at 3:30 p.m., and Saturday mornings still go Uncle Ruthie, "The Car Show" and "Digital Village." Release after the jump.

Cecelia Estolano has resigned as CEO of the city's Community Redevelopment Agency after 3½ years. Mayor Villaraigosa's release says she will join an environmental firm, Green for All. Estolano had been a key player in the city's campaign to establish a Cleantech Manufacturing Center in Downtown, knocked asunder by the collapse of talks with rail-car maker AnsaldoBreda.

What happens in a region when the dominant local newspaper starts to die? In the Bay Area, first the New York Times comes in with local pages, and starting tomorrow the Wall Street Journal does too. The Journal pages are up now for perusal.

The media advisory has gone out for tomorrow's Game One of McCourt v. McCourt: no cameras, thanks to a ruling by Commissioner Scott Gordon. "Once again, we are seeing the L.A County Superior Court's reactionary nature when it comes to celebrity proceedings SINCE the OJ Simpson case," blogs Steve Kindred, the local radio veteran who is on the freedom of information committee of the Radio Television News Association, but who stresses he doesn't speak for the group. (The board meets Thursday.)

The advisory, posted by Kindred:

MEDIA INSTRUCTIONS FOR JAMIE MCCOURT V. FRANK MCCOURT HEARING (BD 514309)

Media representatives covering Jamie McCourt v. Frank McCourt hearing tomorrow, Nov. 5, 2009, should check in with a PIO staff member outside Dept. 88 on the 8th floor of the Stanley Mosk Courthouse (111 N. Hill St, downtown LA, 90012) by no later than 8 a.m.

Commissioner Scott Gordon denied media requests to film/photograph the hearing. Sketch artists will be in attendance. The use of electronic equipments, such as PDAs, BlackBerrys, laptops, cell phones, etc, will not be allowed. They must be turned off and put away.

Once the hearing begins, reporters will not be permitted to leave the courtroom until proceeding is concluded or there’s a break. If someone needs to leave before the hearing is over, this person will not be allowed to get back in.

Also:

• Bill Shaikin, reporting from New York, says "The Dodgers are the talk of the World Series....The buzz is about all those titillating details in the his-and-hers McCourt divorce filings, about how Frank fired his wife and branded her with a scarlet letter, about how the annual expenses Jamie claims she needs to maintain the lifestyle of a baseball owner are greater than the combined salaries of Kemp, James Loney, Clayton Kershaw, Jonathan Broxton and Chad Billingsley." Shaikin, the Times' national baseball writer, details how the Dodgers have been spendthrifts recently and wonders if the McCourts' lavish lifestyles are part of the reason.


• The lawyers skirmished anew in court papers filed in advance of Thursday's hearing on Jamie's bid to be reinstated as Dodgers' CEO. LAT, TMZ


• A primer on the hearing from new blog Dodger Divorce.

Plus: Jamie and main squeeze Jeff Fuller look to be pretty friendly with KNBC anchor Ana Garcia, KCAL anchor Pat Harvey and other TV news women in this TMZ video.

That, of course, is the roller derby name for KPCC's Alex Cohen, local host for NPR's "All Things Considered." She was on "Oprah" today in a piece on the Derby Dolls.