​Associated Press is confirming a story we foreshadowed Monday: The nonprofit Trust for Public Land has secured an option to buy 138 acres of undeveloped land west of the Hollywood Sign for about $12 million.

Trust president Will Rogers said the real estate meltdown has worked in its favor: The Chicago company that owns the parcel had put the land on the market two years ago for $22 million, but apparently didn't get any viable offers. The group hopes to raise the money -- it states it has half in hand -- and transfer the land to the city of Los Angeles so it can be incorporated into Griffith Park.

​Residents of county foothill areas prone to mudslides were told to evacuate ahead of another strong winter storm expected to hit Tuesday and Wednesday.

Residents of specific neighborhoods in La Canada Flintridge, La Crescenta and Acton were ordered to take off by 10 a.m. as a result of "the risk of debris flows in the Station Fire burn area,'' according to a statement by Los Angeles County's Foothill Incident Unified Command.

​The nonprofit Trust for Public Land was expected to make an announcement soon about 138-acres of land behind the iconic Hollywood Sign that was only a few years ago proposed for a housing development.

A source familiar with the operation of the Hollywood Sign told LA Weekly that the announcement, which will include a covering up of the sign Thursday, regarded the land behind the sign.

​The iconic Hollywood Sign is scheduled to be covered up Thursday as part of an "international campaign" the details of which city officials would not divulge. A Los Angeles police department official confirmed the planned cover-up to LA Weekly Monday, and Metblogs Los Angeles and LAist have published a community alert put out by the Los Angeles Police Department:

"On February 11, 2010 the Hollywood sign will be covered up for an international campaign. The sign will be covered until further notice," it states. "Do not be alarmed, the sign will remain in place and there will be no changes done to the sign. This is just an informational e-mail so we do not receive phone calls from worried citizens."

​Conrad Murray, the doctor who was with Michael Jackson during the pop star's final hours, pleaded not guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter in connection with Jackson's June death.

Jackson parents Joe and Katherine, brothers Randy, Jackie, Jermaine and Tito, and sister LaToya were in attendance at the LAX courthouse for the hearing Monday afternoon. Fans across the street held banners that stated "The King of Pop: Michael Jackson Gone Too Soon," and "Conrad Murray is a murderer."

U.S. Attorney's Office

Fake Marshal's gear worn by a suspect who allegedly kidnapped and deported a woman.

​As the United States goes through a critical wave of terror threats -- Obama administration officials have expressed their certainty that an Al-Qaeda attack would be attempted within the next six months -- the organization representing LAX police is urging federal authorities to allow off-duty cops to carry weapons onboard commercial flights.

"We believe that additional armed, trained law enforcement personnel aboard aircraft is a prudent measure to be taken at this time," states Marshall McClain, president of the Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers Association (LAAPOA). "We join FLEOA (Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association) in urging President Obama to issue an executive order to authorize all law enforcement officers, active and retired, and certified by the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act (LEOSA), to carry firearms aboard domestic flights as an added line of defense against terrorists."

​If any one media outlet can be credited with Toyota Motor Sales' massive recall and the attention the Torrance-based company has received for alleged out-of-control acceleration problems, it's the Los Angeles Times, whose Ralph Ralph Vartabedian and Ken Bensinger broke the story, or at least hammered it home like no others, starting in October.

For the most part, the New York Times has been playing catch up with the L.A. paper, continually covering ground that had already been cleared by the the L.A. Times. However, the blog nytpicker notes, the New York publication has failed to credit the L.A. Times with breaking the stories despite the New York Times' ethics policy, which states, "When we first use facts originally reported by another news organization, we attribute them."

​A company that purchased 149 condo units in a new Koreatown high rise at a low point in the recent market announced Monday that the building is sold out -- perhaps indicating a turnaround for residential real estate in the Los Angeles' core.

The 238-unit, 22-story Mercury building at Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue opened in 2008 just as the real estate marketing was imploding. In June, 2009, real estate company Kennedy Wilson bought 149 unsold condo units in bulk and Monday announced "After 32 weeks on the market, Kennedy Wilson has successfully sold all 149 units."

Mayor V.

​Daily News columnist and KABC 790 TalkRadio personality Doug McIntyre opined in the newspaper today that Charlie Sheen has what it takes to be Los Angeles' mayor because the Hollywood star has a lot in common with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Sheen has "been arrested multiple times, he has an eye for the ladies, he's always on TV and his car went off a cliff," McIntyre writes. "I say he's got what it takes to be the next mayor of L.A." (The mayor has been known for his own eye for the ladies, although whether or not he's been arrested multiple times -- he has acknowledged a troubled youth growing up on the city's Eastside -- is a matter of conjecture).

​Active cyclists in Los Angeles are a whiny and righteous bunch. While barking to be treated with equal rights and deference on the road, we've all-too-many times seen group runs burn just about every traffic law imaginable. On the other hand ... facts speak louder than anecdotes. Here's one:

Nearly one out of four bicycle-involved traffic collisions in the city of L.A. involve hit-and-run motorists, according to the latest data from the Los Angeles Police Department, which were obtained by the blog Westside Bikeside. That's right, 23 percent of car-versus-bike crashes end with a driver taking off. Twenty percent of those hit-and-runs are felonies, too, according to the LAPD.