It was anything but a typical Tuesday morning at the Wilshire Blvd. headquarters of KNX 1070 Newsradio and friends. Per a dispatch by LA Times reporters Kate Mather and Richard Winton:

The office was cleared after a beeping package was dropped off at a second-floor lobby about 8:20 a.m., according to Los Angeles police. A bomb squad is en route.

KNX’s Randy Kerdoon (pictured) tweeted that two packages were discovered and confirmed one was beeping. “Ive never been part of BREAKING NEWS before, COVERING it yes, part of it no,” Kerdoon tweeted. “Just another surreal day in LA.”

Read more

It appears as if the truth may never be fully known regarding what exactly led Natalie Wood to fatally wind up in the waters off Two Harbors on the night of November 28, 1981.

Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department chief of detectives William McSweeney tells LA Times reporter Richard Winton that several weeks of interviews and other footwork have turned up nothing new and that only a few minor aspects of the investigation remain active. However, he stresses that a case such as this, even if it is to be deemed once again cold, could always be re-opened once more if warranted. Then follows the key sentence of Winton’s dispatch:

But McSweeney said he’s doubtful that more investigating will change the overall conclusion that her death was an accident.

Read more

O.J. Simpson back in court: The alleged armed robber was dragged back to Las Vegas from Miami by a bail bondsman who claims Simpson violated terms of his bail. Also, Simpson owes the guy $18,750. So, there’s that.

Cloverfield As Studio Model? We’re hearing nothing but good things about Cloverfield, and we wonder: can a movie that incorporates footage shot by the actors themselves become the new Hollywood model? Would Juno have been any different than if Ellen Page held a camcorder and posted the whole thing on YouTube? Just a question.

Brad Renfro, Dead At 25: Cause still unknown, but the guy had a drug problem — one that ended up on the front page of the LAT in 2005, when reporter Richard Winton and photog Mel Melcon did an LAPD ride-along the day the actor was busted in a drug sweep on Skid Row.

Funny Or Offensive? Online critics praise and skewer BET’s “Read a F@&%ing Book” campaign. Greg Braxton does a nice job of pointing out that the campaign’s coarse langauge is “bleeped out when it is broadcast on BET, which is part of Viacom, the owner of CBS, which earlier this year fired shock jock Don Imus for using what he called hip-hop-flavored humor in his comments about the Rutgers women’s basketball team.”

Super Simple Life: In a Richard Winton two-fer we learn that pregnant pothead Nicole Richie is out of jail after 82 minutes and that Lindsay Lohan bargained her way into serving just one day on cocaine and DUI charges. Suck on that, Paris.

Hello? Rupert Here. How Are You? New WSJ owner/feared madman Rupert Murdoch called three reporters who were thinking about ditching the Journal and asked them, pretty please, to stay. Tara Parker-Pope, Kate Kelly and Henny Sender received the calls. Parker-Pope was apparently unimpressed and will be heading to the NYT, while Kelly “told others she had already decided to stay. Sender hasn’t decided.” Nice “hands-off management,” Rupert.

Spring Street By Way Of Fleet Street: Crime writer Richard Winton will chat live with readers today at 1 p.m. about Lindsay Lohan’s sweat and all things criminal. Winton, a lovable conspiracy theorist with a British accent is likely to amuse and delight. Think of it as a discussion about celebrity justice with a kooky male Mary Poppins.

And In The Next Bit Of Unlikely News: Geeks at Comic-Con will be elbowing each other’s light sabers tonight trying to get into the screening of snipets of … Beowulf. We keep sipping our coffee wondering if we woke up in the same world we fell asleep in last night.

OK. It’s Officially An Alternate Dimension: Giant squid have invaded California and are eating up all of our fish sticks. That’s it. We’re going back to bed.