Los Angeles Times Dummy Hed Here

 Page A22 of The Times this morning

Some readers in The Los Angeles Times' East zone, which includes the San Gabriel Valley and Riverside, got a peek at a classic newspaper mistake today when they saw "dummy" headlines in the National Briefing column on Page A22, readers' representative Deirdre Edgar writes. About 55,000 editions rolled off the press before the mistake was discovered.

Readers feared that all the copy editors had been laid off, or even "massacred," as one put it.

But according to Operations Editor Dave Rickley, Page A22 for the East zone was not touched -- or seen -- by the newsroom.

The page was sent by editors to the pressroom with headlines written and in place.

The only thing that was supposed to change on the page was advertising. However, Rickley said, a technical problem apparently replaced the edited text with an earlier, incomplete version.

The pressroom caught the error early in the press run and notified editors. That quick work allowed the newsroom to send a new, correct version of the page, which limited the damage.

LA Times Layoff Names Starting to Become Public

Kevin Roderick of LAObserved.com has been compiling names of some of the layoffs at The Los Angeles Times this week. Here is some of his report:

Arts reporter Suzanne Muchnic sent a brief farewell message to the newsroom this morning — "Saying goodbye is hard to do. Sending my new e-mail address is easy..." Assistant book editor Orli Low's note this afternoon was a bit longer:

["]Words cannot describe my feelings, both upon entering this place in those first few days of working here and upon leaving it today. It's really hard to leave the best job you can imagine, but I do so knowing that those who pre-deTimes-ed me and those still here fighting the good fight are among the finest and most talented people there are. I have enjoyed every last minute of it and wish you all only the best.["]

Her exit, and that of longtime book section writer Susan Salter Reynolds, appears to leave only editor David Ulin and deputy Nick Owchar in what used to be the Book Review pod, plus Jacket Copy blogger Carolyn Kellogg.

On the science desk, the exit via layoff of John Johnson leaves — at least for now — plenty of health and medical writers, but no reporters with hard science as a specialty. ...

When ESPN Los Angeles debuts Monday, its team is expected to include LAT Lakers bloggers Andrew and Brian Kamenetzky and the Times' Dodgers bligger Jon Weisman, according to the website The Big Lead.

LA Times Announces It Will Cut 300 Jobs

The Los Angeles Times announced yesterday it will cut 300 positions. Here is Editor Russ Stanton's note:

As you know from reading our front page and our homepage, not a day goes by that we don't give our readers the latest news and analysis on the deepening troubles of the US economy. The same challenges that face the companies we report about also are affecting us. We need to implement changes to our flagship print product, and throughout our organization, that will ensure our future as the #1 source of news and information in Southern California.

In the coming weeks, we will introduce a number of changes to the way we do business, including a new sectional line-up for the paper. These are necessary to facilitate greater efficiencies in how we approach our operations, production and distribution and, as a result, we expect to eliminate approximately 300 positions.

The Times later said 70 of those positions will be editorial, representing 11 percent of the department.

LA Train Toll Up to 25, Engineer Blamed for Missing Signal

Had the engineer stopped, Friday's Metrolink accident would not have occurred, officials with the Los Angeles-area commuter rail said today. As the reported death toll reaches 25, officials say the search for additional victims has come to a close, Esmeralda Bermudez, Garrett Therolf and Gale Holland of the Los Angeles Times report today:

The death toll rose throughout the day as at least two dozen bodies were pulled from the wreckage and at least one other victim, a teacher from Oaks Christian School in Westlake Village, died at a hospital.

"We want to be honest in our appraisal," Tyrrell said at the scene of the crash, as rescue workers, now in recovery mode, continued to use heavy machinery to untangle the twisted remains of the most damaged passenger car.

"Barring any information from the NTSB, we believe our engineer failed to stop and that was the cause of the accident," she said, referring to the National Transportation Safety Board. "Of course, it is your worst fear that this could happen, that the ability for human error to occur could come into the scenario."

Nagin: Flee the 'Mother of All Storms'

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin late tonight ordered a mandatory evacuation of the west bank of New Orleans for 8 a.m. Sunday and the east bank for noon.

Leslie Williams of the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports:

Warning that Gustav is the "mother of all storms," Mayor Ray Nagin late Saturday ordered a mandatory evacuation of the West Bank of New Orleans for 8 a.m. Sunday and the east bank for noon.

"We want 100 percent evacuation," Nagin said. "It has the potential to impact every area of this metropolitan area."

Katrina had a footprint of about 400 miles, he said. Gustav is about 900 miles and growing, Nagin said.

"This is worse than a Betsy, worse than a Katrina," he said.

The mayor speculated that Gustav is so fierce Baton Rouge likely will experience 100 mph winds.

"You need to be scared and you need to get your butts out of New Orleans right now," Nagin said.

Nagin said he expects Gustav to "punch holes in the Harvey Canal," which could cause the West Bank to become a bathtub.

The West Bank has 8-foot-high to 10-foot-high protection, he said. Gustav's storm surge may be 15 to 24 feet high.

Anyone who opts to remain in New Orleans "will be on your own," Nagin warned, adding that services will not be available.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the airport in New Orleans will shut down for commercial flights at 6 p.m. Sunday.

The American Red Cross is getting ready. See its press release here.

LA Times, Olbermann, Maddow''s Sexist Reaction to Palin

Keith Olbermann's first word of note in his comment tonight concerning Sarah Palin was that she was a beauty pageant queen. Rachel Maddow chimes in that "John McCain's mate - Cindy McCain - and his running mate - Sarah Palin - are beauty pageant ladies, which may tell us something that we didn't know before about what John McCain likes in women."

Would they make the same comments about a liberal who backs Obama? This is where the double-standard in today's media is so troublesome. Can you imagine the howls from MSNBC if Rush Limbaugh had said something like this about Michelle Obama?

On the other hand, in her defense, Maddow talks about how from what we know about the ethics investigation concerning Palin's firing of a state official in Alaska does not seem to be something that will be politicized because of the events surrounding the case.

Also, is there any more evidence of MSNBC's lack of professionalism when someone put up the graphic: "How many houses does Palin bring to the Republicans?" under the Breaking News banner?

The Los Angeles Times didn't do much better. Its headline on a feature story about the sitting governor read: "Palin a gun-toting former beauty queen known for ambition and grit."

The question is, would the paper run a headline about a male governor just named as a vice presidential candidate in the same way? Would the paper write a headline about a liberal office-holder running for national office in such a snide manner? I don't think so. On Aug. 24, the Joe Biden sidebar in the Los Angeles Times was headlined "In his home state, Biden is a regular Joe."

Disunity in Denver for the Democrats

All is not well in Denver. Matter of fact, it's almost reminiscent of the Wild, Wild West.

The Democratic faithful is split into two camps. The Obama camp wants to control every visual, every word, and almost every thought at the convention, The Clinton camp is busy at work seeing a slight or being offended at anything.

Case in point: The Obama camp has been cooking up a deal where delegates would actually cast their votes from their hotel rooms tomorrow morning. This would put out the image Wednesday night that Unity does exist in the blue universe.

The problem is, a move like that would make Clinton supporters virtually disappear.

Chuck Plunkett, Allison Sherry and Kimberly Johnson of The Denver Post reported it this way this morning:

Supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton furiously circulated petitions on the floor of the Democratic National Convention last night, hoping to stave off a plan to hold the convention's roll call at breakfast Wednesday — out of the public eye — sources inside the delegations said.

Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette, [pictured at right] a former state co-chair for Clinton said she knows the camps are in negotiations about what to do. "My view is we need to come together as a party," DeGette said. "I admire Hillary Clinton greatly, but I think it would be divisive to have a vote on the floor. We need to have a unanimous vote."

Divisive to have a floor vote? That doesn't sound like unity to me. It's more like the Obama camp is forcing a vision of unity on not only the American public, but its own party.

UPDATE at 6:35 p.m. Eastern: And the clock is still ticking on a decision. Don Frederick of the Los Angeles Times, in his blog, quotes an unnamed DNC member this afternoon:

"Whether or not there will be a roll call -- and. if so, under what conditions -- is entirely up to the Obama campaign. And they have not yet decided what the roll call is going to look like."