LAPD Chief William Bratton has no hope for a city councilman Dennis Zine law’s protecting celebrities from paparazzi. Such a law – one we’ve dubbed the “Leave Britney Alone” law, which aims to create a “personal safety zone” for registered celebs – would be too ambiguous and impossible to enforce. Rather, he suggests using existing jaywalking laws to keep over-aggressive cameramen at bay. And also: Speed limits.

If Los Angeles Councilman Dennis Zine can’t get his “Leave Britney Alone Law” passed – where licensed celebs would be entitled a 20-yard “personal safety zone” perimeter from all paparazzi – then perhaps current statutes will do the job: The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department is arresting photogs for cheap offenses like jaywalking. The story was reported by TMZ. Among those detained: two TMZ photogs.

Are the paparazzi mobs that surround celebrities like Britney Spears dangerous enough to enact a new statute?

Los Angeles Councilman Dennis Zine hopes so. He’s drawn up legislation that, if enacted, would create a 20-yard perimeter, or “personal safety zone,” around people worthy of an Us Weekly cover.

In order to have the instant restraining order to keep photogs at bay, celebs would need to be licensed, with a permit issued by City Hall. The law would also call for the confiscation of all profits from paparazzi who snap shots taken in violation of that safety zone, though who would get those dollars – the celebrity or the city – isn’t clear.

Such status isn’t as exclusive as a Centurion card, but even American Express’ “ask us for anything” concierge can’t guarantee a star’s ability to back out of a parking space.

If the law does pass, one question will remain: How to allow celebrity-sanctioned paparazzi – you know, the lensmen they call before leaving the house, or the photogs they arrange to shoot faux candids with in exchange for a sales cut – to breach the perimeter? Would Britney have to put X17 on file with City Hall?

[Photo]

Forget about the networks, who are forced to rebroadcast late night programming and the writers, who are currently out of work. No, they’re not the real victims of the writers strike. Nor are the American people, who very soon will have to resort to reruns for entertainment, or the show runners who are caught in between the writers and the producers.

No, the real victims of the writers strike are the L.A. coffee shops whose clientèle have left them for the picket line.

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Michelle Rodriguez—you know her, she was in that car movie and that show people were obsessed with two years ago—was sentenced to 180 days in L.A. County jail for DUI and hit and run.

Meanwhile, that same county is likely to pass on cocaine charges and multiple DUI charges brought on Lindsay Lohan—you know, that one from every magazine cover, ever.

Is it just us, or did Michelle Rodriguez just get six months in jail for not being famous enough?

[Mollygood]

Mirthala Salinas, the Telemundo broadcasters who reported on and caused LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s divorce, did not show up to her first day of work after a two-month suspension.

Telemundo had reassigned Salinas to Riverside, a demotion from her old position as fill-in evening newscaster. According to a source, she didn’t care for the new position. She will not be returning to Telemundo.

Choosing a man over her career, Salinas is a role model to women everywhere. After all, he is a powerful man.

[LAT]

“By its very nature, gossip does not respect the distinction between public and private because it doesn’t acknowledge the existence of such a dichotomy,” writes LA Times media wagger Tim Rutten. His newspeg? L.A. mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, whose extramarital affairs with Telemundo’s Mirthala Salinas made his paper, the Los Angeles Daily News, LA Weekly, and even bubbled-in Manhattan media types interested for a hot minute. Villaraigosa would not be in the position he’s in – defending himself against everything from conflicts of interest to being a bad human being – if it weren’t for the online space, argues Rutten, and the way it’s reduced the news cycle to minutes and a platform for salacious gossip.

That is, if it weren’t for nosy shits like us, Villaraigosa might still have a shot at the White House one day. Sorry ’bout it.

Remember when CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo got caught schtooping Todd Thomson, an exec for Citibank, who she regularly covered? Well there’s a new story to fill your “TV news lass screwing her way through conflicts of interest” appetite.

Up this round is Telemundo’s Mirthala Salinas, who’s been sexing Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa — who, surprise of all surprises, she covers regularly! In fact, she was the one who, on June 8, broke the news that he was leaving his wife: “The rumors are true. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa confirmed today that he is separating from his wife, Corina, after more than 20 years of marriage.” And indeed, absent from Salinas’ report was the fact that she was the one responsible.

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With an extended stay on the West Coast, we had the chance to catch some of that homegrown Los Angeles morning TV. Herewith, a clip from today’s Good Day LA on Fox. It’s sort of like that childhood game, where you look at two pictures and spot the things that are different. We did the same here, only our reference point was New York morning shows. Can you spot all the differences?

We’ll start you off with a cheat sheet: In the LA version, on-camera talent acknowledge they’re not all the same skin color, and perhaps it wasn’t a divine hand that brought together a cast of multicultis. Also, on LA morning TV, it’s appropriate to show up to work in last night’s top.