A wave of obesity blamed (at least in part) on kids slurping cheap slushies and scarfing chips from local convenience stores has the Los Angeles City Council considering an unusual proposal: limiting the development of new corner stores in South L.A. Is the council's proposed moratorium a smart way to address a public health epidemic? Or is it an unfair attack on the convenient storefronts that serve low-income neighborhoods, where big chain grocery stores don't dare to enter?

We speak to public health expert Dr. Deborah Cohen; Lark Galloway-Gilliam, the executive director of a nonprofit health policy and education organization in South Los Angeles; and Jeff Lenard, the spokesperson for the National Association of Convenience Stores.

Wildfires blazing around the Los Angeles area have threatened nearly 12,000 homes in their path. The fires killed two firefighters yesterday, destroyed at least 18 homes, and are now threatening the complex at the Mt. Wilson Observatory.  Mt. Wilson is both a historic space observatory and, with its high vantage point and many antennas, the effective telecommunications nerve center for Los Angeles.

We talk to Justin Seastrand, natural resources specialist for the U.S. Forest Service, on the latest news.

Michael Jackson will be laid to rest this morning in Los Angeles in a private ceremony in the Hollywood Hills. The funeral is for family and friends only, but at LA's Staples Center thousands of his fans are gathering to say their goodbyes to the King of Pop. Over 16,000 lucky fans were able to get tickets to the service, while many thousands of devoted fans are expected to line the streets surrounding the arena. Joining The Takeaway from outside the Staples Center is Josh Rogosin, independent public radio producer and downtown Los Angeles resident. Also joining the conversation is Belinda Luscombe, Time Magazine's editor-at-large, who wrote much of the magazine's Jackson coverage.

The streets of Iran seem quiet for the moment, but Iranian Americans gathered in the streets of U.S. cities. One of the biggest gatherings was in Los Angeles, which almost 500,000 Iranian-Americans call home. Siamak Kalhor has lived in the U.S. for over 30 years and is a radio host for two technology programs on KIRN, an AM radio station in Los Angeles that broadcasts exclusively in Farsi, 24- hours a day. He has opened up his phone lines to callers who want to talk about Iran. He joins The Takeaway to talk about what he’s heard from these callers and about his own feelings about the crisis. Also joining the conversation is Baqer Moin, former head of the BBC's Persian language service. He grew up in Iran, and is the author of the book Khomeini: Life of the Ayatollah..

The motto of the Los Angeles Police Department is "To protect and serve," but the LAPD hasn't always delivered. The most famous example is the Rodney King beating in 1991, which provoked widespread rioting. Endemic problems with the department led to federal oversight. Now the LAPD says it has served its time, dealt with its problems, and that it's time to end the oversight.

The Takeaway is joined by Mark Rosenbaum, the Legal Director of the ACLU of Southern California and one of lawyers in Federal court seeking to extend the consent decree involving the LAPD. Also joining The Takeaway is Chris Stone, Criminal Justice Professor at Harvard University who wrote a nine-month study of the LAPD that came out last month.

The Los Angeles Lakers took their 15th NBA championship title, beating the Orlando Magic in five games. The Takeaway Sports Blogger Ibrahim Abdul-Matin says Kobe has finally escaped Shaq's shadow and predicts whether the Magic will be contenders again next year. Read Ibrahim's post Kobe in Disneyland.

To see the Lakers' champagne celebration, watch the video below.

My aunts and uncle called me from L.A. just as the game was ending. All I could hear was a loud buzzing from my phone – it was them cheering, hooting, hollering, letting the world know that the Los Angeles Lakers are now the NBA champions.

Did the Orlando Magic realize they were in an NBA final? They looked lost. The Lakers, on the other hand, knew exactly where they were. Their five-game series win doesn't quite sweep away the drubbing they got from the Boston Celtics last year, but they did become one of only two teams to win the NBA championship a year after losing. As a franchise, the Lakers have won 50 percent of the finals they have played in. They can legitimately claim to be one of the most dominant franchises in sports.

This is the tenth NBA title for legendary coach Phil Jackson. (Jackson won as a player with the Knicks.) He coached the Chicago Bulls to six titles and the Lakers to four. Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher now have four each. But this year the NBA playoffs made stars out of some previously unknown players. Guys like Trevor Ariza, Houston's Aaron Brooks (whose play brought the Lakers to the brink in seven games) and the Celtics’ Glenn Davis, whose heroics on a team playing without star Kevin Garnett, made the C’s still feel like a contender before they went down to the Magic in seven. This year also brought some players like LeBron James and Dwight Howard back down to earth. In the end, though, this NBA season was all about a 30-year-old veteran named Kobe Bryant. He showed that he can win without Shaq; he is the best player in the league; and he’s got a lot more left in the tank. He's also got a team around him that is young and hungry for more.

Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez shocked the sporting world yesterday when it was reported that he tested positive for a banned performance-enhancing substance. The result? Immediate suspension for 50 games. Dodgers fans aren't the only ones who are crushed. So are the thousands of members of baseball fantasy leagues. The Dodgers slugger was owned in 100% of fantasy leagues hosted on CBS Sports Web site, and 99% of the leagues hosted on Yahoo (where no player has a 100% ownership number). What's a fantasy leaguer to do? The Takeaway talks to Nando Di Fino, Sports Reporter for the Wall Street Journal.

For more, read Nando Di Fino's Wall Street Journal article How Fantasy Teams Can Cope Without Manny.