Diana Love

Diana Love, a deputy in the Los Angeles County district attorney's environmental crimes unit, has been appointed to the newly created post of chief prosecutor of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the latest move to strengthen the smog agency's crackdown on polluters. In announcing last month that he intended to name a chief prosecutor and reorganize the AQMD's legal office, AQMD Executive Officer James M. Lents said that his purpose was to send "a clear and unmistakable signal . .

The easiest way to generate some differences of opinion in a group of jazz fans is to start a conversation about jazz singing. Listeners who can agree upon the essential merits of such dramatically diverse players as, say, Johnny Hodges, Lee Konitz and Ornette Coleman can be equally divided over the comparative virtues of, to name only a few, Lee Wiley, Sheila Jordan and Nancy Wilson. Recordings by two talented young performers--Diana Krall, 32, and Kitty Margolis, 41--offer cases in point.

The easiest way to generate some differences of opinion in a group of jazz fans is to start a conversation about jazz singing. Listeners who can agree upon the essential merits of such dramatically diverse players as, say, Johnny Hodges, Lee Konitz and Ornette Coleman can be equally divided over the comparative virtues of, to name only a few, Lee Wiley, Sheila Jordan and Nancy Wilson. Recordings by two talented young performers--Diana Krall, 32, and Kitty Margolis, 41--offer cases in point.

Diana Love, a deputy in the Los Angeles County district attorney's environmental crimes unit, has been appointed to the newly created post of chief prosecutor of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the latest move to strengthen the smog agency's crackdown on polluters. In announcing last month that he intended to name a chief prosecutor and reorganize the AQMD's legal office, AQMD Executive Officer James M. Lents said that his purpose was to send "a clear and unmistakable signal . .

I would suggest that Madonna's next release be a remake of Diana Ross' "Love Child." ELIZABETH MAVITY FRAZIER Santa Ana

The city of Los Angeles will be required to pay its first $5,000 penalty into a community trust fund for illegally excavating buried waste at the Lopez Canyon Landfill, officials said. South Coast Air Quality Management District officials decided Wednesday to cite the city for failing to notify the agency before workers dug up buried waste at the landfill on Sept. 12, said AQMD chief prosecutor Diana Love.

Gordy Speaks to Press: Legendary Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr. broke a 33-year policy against speaking to the press to condemn a new book on singer Michael Jackson. Gordy told a press conference that he is suing "Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness" author J. Randy Taraborrelli and his publisher, Carol Communications, for $100 million. Gordy claimed that the book defames him and sullies the reputation of Motown. Gordy's representatives were unable to produce a copy of the suit.

The city of Los Angeles has agreed to pay a $1,000 penalty for each day it fails to meet deadlines in installing an expanded system to control methane gas emissions at Lopez Canyon Landfill in Lake View Terrace, city and regional air quality officials said Wednesday.

Los Angeles city sanitation officials said Friday they would delay taking to the City Council a civil agreement with regional air quality officials to reduce methane gas emissions at Lopez Canyon Landfill in northeastern San Fernando Valley. The agreement, reached this week between the city and the enforcement staff of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, was to have been submitted Tuesday.

Regional air quality officials have cited the city of Los Angeles for violating state air pollution laws at Lopez Canyon Landfill in the northeastern San Fernando Valley on 28 separate occasions, exposing the city to fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars, city officials said Wednesday. The violations carry fines of up to $25,000 a day, or a total of $700,000, but a lesser settlement is being negotiated and should be announced by Friday, Deputy City Atty. Christopher Westhoff said.

City officials are asking that the city's new trash incineration plant be allowed to release more pollutants in short intervals, in exchange for reducing such emissions overall. The $100-million plant, which burns trash to create electricity, has been plagued by occasional bursts of nitrogen oxide, a major component of smog. Operators try to control the bursts by injecting ammonia, which produces a chemical reaction that neutralizes the nitrogen oxide.

Misdemeanor charges were filed Monday against six Los Angeles County companies that allegedly released toxic gases, improperly stored gasoline or violated other air-pollution regulations. Deputy Dist. Atty. Diana Love said a Burbank company was responsible for a toxic gas leak that sent 23 workers scrambling for fresh air and a Compton company was responsible for a leak that sickened scores of students and teachers at an elementary school.