Monster Mash: Breaking News and Headlines

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-- L.A.’s Museum of Contemporary Art is in deep financial trouble. Read Mike Boehm’s front-page report in today’s Times.

-- Boehm’s story also reveals that billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad, a key figure in launching MOCA as its first chairman and the donor behind the $56-million Broad Contemporary Art Museum at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, has approached the city of Beverly Hills about building a museum and foundation offices in Beverly Hills. Another report on that possibility here.

-- Nominees for the 59th annual National Book Awards will be announced tonight in New York. They include novelists Peter Matthiessen and Marilynne Robinson.

-- Tony Award winner Marissa Jaret Winokur, who enjoyed recent acclaim as a contestant on ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ will re-create the role of Tracy Turnblad in Broadway’s ‘Hairspray,’ beginning Dec. 9.

-- A $23-million ceiling painting by artist Barcelo, criticized for its high price tag, was unveiled today at the U.N. offices in Geneva.

-- Arts patron Alberto Vilar, at one time a major contributor to Los Angeles Opera, and business partner Gary Tanaka of Amerindo Investment Advisors were convicted in a $20-million fraud trial.

-- Art thieves who tried to sell a Florentine painting worth $3.15 million to undercover officers have been arrested in Romania.

-- A federal appeals court has ruled that the painting ‘Girl from the Sabine Mountains,’ forcibly auctioned by Nazi officials, should remain with the estate of the Jewish art dealer who lost it.

-- A group of classical musicians on their way to a Riverside Philharmonic concert shot video of Southern California’s wildfires during their drive on the 91 Freeway -- and they’ve set it to music. A link to the video.

-- Diane Haithman