Can it get any worse for The Los Angeles Times?

In a year when the paper has cut far more editorial staffers than any paper in the country, it appears the're not quite done yet.

Keven Roderick at LA Observed is reporting that more job cuts are on the way, and the number could be as high as 75 editorial positions.

Among those expected to lose their job is Leo Wolinsky, the assocate editor of the paper, according to two souces who spoke to Media Mob.

Sources also told us the job cut rumors have been flying for a few weeks now. One source tells us that the number will be about 50 people let go.  read more »

Unofficially, the bill to change the city’s term-limits law will pass the City Council with about 35 votes in favor, according to Majority Leader Joel Rivera, who spoke to me on the City Hall steps after the Council's Democratic caucus meeting.

As far as what divides the two camps, Rivera said there isn’t much of a split between members who will be term-limited out of office if the law doesn't change, and those that could run for re-election this year. The split, he said, fell along ideological lines: those who are willing to change the law legislatively through a Council vote, and those who think it needs to go before the voters.  read more »

It is touching whenever Sarah Palin, mother of little Trig, promises to give America’s special needs children a big hug, you betcha. But as the New Republic reports today, her actions as Governor of Alaska have surely increased their numbers – by encouraging the release of the horrific pollutants that cause birth defects.

Thanks to a long history of permissive regulation of the oil and mining industries, Alaskan newborns suffer from a rate of birth defects that is double the national average. Let me repeat that, as Joe Biden would say: Double the nation average of birth defects in Alaska due to industrial pollution.  read more »

CB Richard Ellis has gotten the nod to be the exclusive leasing agent for the Hearst Tower's last two bits of retail space. The bits cover 14,720 square feet at Eighth Avenue and 57th Street.

CBRE snagged the assignment from archrival Cushman & Wakefield.

Release follows:  read more »

Beatrice Inn co-owner Andre Saraiva has come out with a clothing line called Andrewear. [NY Times via The Cut] 

Having grown tired of pegged boyfriend jeans, Katie Holmes is now experimenting with head scarves. [Just Jared] 

Kate Winslet will reportedly play Vivienne Westwood in the upcoming biopic about the designer. [Vogue UK]

Jessica Stam is learning how to fly planes. [WWD]   read more »

Via BlackBook, we were reminded of the existence of 12-year-old Tavi, maintainer of occasionally hyped style blog Style Rookie. Despite our better instincts, we find the precocious Twiggy lookalike rather charming (though we find ourselves worrying about her habit of posting post-midnight!), and we're not alone.

And now we’ve grown to love her even more. Rather than complacently accept her position as the undisputed princess of underage sartorial scribes, Tavi has begun lobbying for her sisters in arms. In a post this morning, she pays tribute to a long list of her worthy competitors, humbly explaining:

"While I don't deserve the publications I've been lucky enough to receive, younger bloggers both individually and as a group certainly do! Not only for the amazing outfits, photography, and writing that comes from many of these blogs, but the confidence it takes to wear something unusual to school and post your outfits on the internet for the world to see and critique.

 read more »

The Atlantic's PR reps just sent out some PDFs of the magazine's new look, as overseen and conceived by editor James Bennet and Pentagram's Michael Bierut.

In an essay in the November issue of the 151-year-old magazine, Mr. Beirut writes:

I was both honored and daunted to receive the commission to create a new design for The Atlantic. I know the magazine well, having been a faithful reader for the past 20 years, and unlike many designers, I have a sometimes unhelpful suspicion of change. How could we make it new and better without threatening the things that readers like me enjoy so much? It's a hard problem.

One possible solution: Andrew Sullivan. A lot of Andrew Sullivan. Like, full-page spreads of Andrew Sullivan's face, as the above layout shows.

The above chart from Colliers ABR says it all about the Manhattan office market as it enters 2008's final stretch. Vacancy rates, including for top-flight Class A space, continue to rise as asking rents remain flat. The Wall Street crisis, damaging as it is to one of Manhattan's prime office leasers, financial services, won't help matters in 2009.

Five firemen and one officer were “admonished and instructed” on the rules about politicking after they were filmed wearing FDNY uniforms and carrying food into Sheldon Silver’s campaign office on Primary Day last month, according to FDNY spokesman Jim Long.

Long said none of the firemen, whom he did not identify, were docked pay or suspended because of the incident. Long also said the matter was reviewed by an FDNY official who made a report to the borough commander, but said that the report would not be available to the public.

So, no major penalty for anyone involved.

Last week, we predicted that New Yorkers would defend Woody’s honor against the latest onslaught of fall films and keep Vicky Cristina Barcelona safely ensconced in the top ten. We weren’t entirely wrong. Though Vicky’s earnings fell more than 35 percent, Woody Allen’s latest stubbornly held on in tenth place during its seventh week in theaters. None of the opening films in this week’s list did spectacularly well on their own, but the five of them together—led by Peter Sollett’s Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist—managed to knock Vicky down five spots to the bottom of the pack.

In other words, the city’s moviegoers simply replaced one of the most-recognizably New York filmmakers in the world with one of its most recognizable stories: boy meets girl meets big city meets rock ’n’ roll.  read more »