Commuters heading south

If trying to drive against traffic is one way you cope with urban life, consider this: Right now more people travel from their homes in Orange County to jobs in L.A., but by 2020 that flow could be tipped in the other direction.

That’s the prediction of a government study. If it pans out, one big reason for the shift will be available land. Orange County still has room for industrial growth; L.A. County doesn’t.

Observers point to the growth of new employment and industrial centers in Orange County, such as the Irvine Business Complex, as contributing factors to the changing commuter patterns. How the region’s transit systems will accommodate the shift, though, is tougher to pinpoint. Page B1

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Annan demands truce compliance

In Beirut, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan says Israel and Hezbollah must take more actions to comply with the 2-week-old cease-fire. Specifically, Annan says Hezbollah must release two Israeli soldiers captured July 12 and that Israel must stop interfering with Lebanon’s air and shipping travel.

Meanwhile, observers in Lebanon say public opinion has begun to shift away from Hezbollah as the Lebanese government reasserts itself. Page A4

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Tom Cruise lines up new financing

Spurned by Paramount, Tom Cruise falls into the arms of some sports-world hotshots, although the comfort they’re offering isn’t as cushy as what he used to get.

An investor group including Washington Redskins owner Daniel M. Snyder and Six Flags Inc. chief Mark Shapiro -- a former programming chief at ESPN -- will underwrite some of the costs of Cruise’s production company, according to a source. But the group will provide the actor with $2 million to $3 million per year, rather than the $10 million he had been getting from Paramount, the source said. Page C1

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Cars’ final resting place -- or not?

They’re part of the Southland landscape: rusted, mangled cars resting at the bottom of canyons. Get close enough and you might see large Xs painted on the vehicles, an indication that they’ve been inspected for bodies.

So why aren’t the cars hauled away? Sometimes it’s next to impossible for tow trucks to pull them out. And usually it’s deemed too expensive, or too dangerous, to airlift them.

A few of the more accessible wrecks could soon be removed, though. The CHP recently inspected Carbon Canyon -- the one near Malibu, not the one near Brea -- and counted at least 14 cars littering the canyon floor. Ignoring the junk “just doesn’t seem appropriate,” says a CHP commander. Page B2

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Cheney praises anti-terror efforts

Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, in separate appearances, vigorously defend the administration’s handling of domestic security and the war in Iraq. Cheney says the U.S. has not been hit by terrorists since the Sept. 11 attacks because of “sound policy decisions” by the administration. Page A16

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A long, leisurely life

Tranquillity works. At least it did for Maria Esther de Capovilla, who died Sunday at the age of 116. Determined to have been the oldest living person, the Ecuadorean great-great-grandmother led a calm, privileged life. Her daughter said last year: “She does not get upset by anything. She has been that way her whole life.” Page B10

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CALENDAR

Hollywood has high hopes for high-def discs

We came. We saw. We DVD’d. We made it the fastest-growing consumer electronic product in history.

But the bloom is fading from that techno rose as the market reaches saturation and sales of DVD players slow. Hollywood and Wall Street are concerned about how to juice a product when everything new is old again. Enter the Blu-ray player and its high-def HD-DVD competition. Although the dueling-format issue simmers, consumer interest is palpable. Page E1

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The daily breadth of nightly news

Journalists are supposed to be dispassionate, but a year ago when NBC news anchor Brian Williams reported live from the ravaged city of New Orleans, his disgust was as much a part of the story as his cellphone photos of the ripped-roof Superdome.

“I saw fear, I saw death, I saw depravity, I saw firearms being brandished, I saw looting,” he says in an interview with Matea Gold. “It’s always going to be a part of me. I don’t think I’ve ever been so angry about a subject that intersected with my work.”

Excellence and passion have helped keep NBC atop the nightly network news ratings, but its news program has suffered from the general decline in network news viewership.

But Williams remains sanguine about the role of TV news and assured that, when it comes to stories such as Katrina, its reach exceeds the grasp of competing media. Page E1

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Finally, a day for a knight

Alfred Lord Tennyson. Walt Disney. Vanessa Redgrave.

The common thread? Anyone?

Yes, of course, it’s the legend of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table, a story, notes book reviewer Merle Rubin, that has retained its wonder and power to inspire writers throughout the centuries.

Curiously, the once and future king’s most important press agent is little known himself.

So the new book, “Malory: The Knight Who Became King Arthur’s Chronicler,” is a welcome addition to All Things Arthurian.

English knight Thomas Malory wrote the seminal story, “Le Morte D’Arthur,” in the 15th century, a time of social and political upheaval.

He got around and got into trouble, but truly held to a chivalric ideal. His biographer, Christina Hardyment, acknowledges a high degree of conjecture in “Malory,” which helps to make it a pretty good tale. But not, of course, anything like the luminous story her subject originally captured. Page E2

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Been a long day, let’s say goodnight

Overheard at the post-Emmys Governors Ball:

“I had to put my shoes back on when we won.”

“I watched the ‘in memoriam’ and wondered if when I died I’d be up there. Now it’s a tiny bit more likely I will be.”

“That’s awesome. I just hit Ron Jeremy.”

“A cash bar! Eleven dollars a drink! And it was not a generous pour!”

“It seems pretty ill-conceived to throw a party where you’re guaranteed four-fifths of the guests will be losers.” Page E1

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BUSINESS

Shadow falls on ‘Painter of Light’

Thomas Kinkade, whose art is based on dreamy, luminescent landscapes and street scenes, and whose business empire was built on his Christian ideals, is being investigated for fraud by the FBI, according to former dealers. They claim that he and his top executives induced them to invest in galleries, then undercut their prices.

The investigation involves the same issues raised earlier in civil litigation, charges Kinkade denied. “They really knew how to bait the hook,” one ex-dealer said. “They certainly used the Christian hook.” Page C1

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SPORTS

When football scored big

In January, a happy moment in West Virginia history collided with one of the most tragic. As the underdog Mountaineer football team met Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, 13 coal miners were fighting for survival in a mining accident in Sago, their families riveted to radios and TVs in hopes of hearing good news.

It was not to be. All but one of the miners died in a wrenching episode that gripped the nation, and only the temporary salve of the Mountaineers’ upset over the Bulldogs seemed to bring a small interlude of relief to an inconsolable state. Today, on the brink of a new season, and with the team poised to contend for a top ranking, people remember that sometimes sports can serve a higher purpose than fun and games. Page D1

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Tennis gets its priorities right

Stop the presses! In naming New York’s U.S. National Tennis Center for Billie Jean King, writes columnist Bill Dwyre, the U.S. Tennis Assn. not only acknowledges her athletic and humanitarian achievements, it does so at the cost of commercial naming rights estimated to be worth $6 million. Page D6

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ON LATIMES.COM

Blue Note blog on Reds series

Red scare: Precariously, now just barely atop the National League West, the Dodgers go into a stand against the Cincinnati Reds. After all the ups and more recent downs, keeping afloat here will be crucial as the team enters the final stretch. Blue Note bloggers Andrew and Brian Kamenetzky offer a relatively optimistic look at the series ahead, suggesting the bullpen is in decent if not phenomenal shape for the matchup. Share your views and get into the discussion with Dodger fans and detractors at latimes.com/bluenotes

HD stalemate: Jon Healy explores the convergence between the entertainment and tech industries on his Bit Player blog. He reports that the latest gear-head cravings in Blu-ray high definition disc players are welcome news to Hollywood, which has been alarmed by the flattening sales of conventional DVDs. Early adopters will buy anything in small quantities, he says, but the real question is how long the format war between Blu-ray and a competing high-definition format, HD-DVD, keeps the masses on the sidelines. So far, the signs aren’t good. Read Healy’s analysis and share your thoughts at latimes.com/bitplayer

Opinion L.A.: The best of Southern California opinions and editorials, brought to you by the editors of The Times: the day’s op-ed pieces and local bloggers. latimes.com/opinionla