Monster Mash: Whitney Museum’s expansion; art theft gets complicated; Artes Mundi prize

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-- Expanding: The Whitney Museum of American Art (left) is moving ahead with plans to build a new museum near New York’s High Line. (The New York Times)

-- Plot thickens: The recent $80-million art theft case in Pebble Beach gets weirder as police investigate whether one of the victims was trying to swindle his partner. (The Boston Globe)

-- And the nominees are: Eight artists have been named finalists for the Artes Mundi, Britain’s biggest visual-arts prize. (BBC News)

-- What goes up...: China’s contemporary art market is experiencing a plunge in prices. (Reuters)

-- Ultimatum: Iran has given the British Museum a two-month deadline to loan an ancient artifact called the Cyrus Cylinders. (Bloomberg)

-- Unconventional parking: A planned automobile museum in China will allow visitors to drive through the building. (Daily Telegraph)

-- High culture: Not everyone is happy about efforts by Henri Loyrette, the director of the Louvre Museum in Paris, to loosen up the institution. (The New York Times)

-- Eureka: Santa Fe Opera upsets locals after it gives permission for oil drilling on some of its property. (Associated Press)

-- Blackout: Esa-Pekka Salonen runs into electrical problems during a recent performance in London. (The Guardian)

-- Flat note: Contract negotiations at the New Mexico Symphony have hit a wall. (KRQE)

-- Soldiering on: Lynn Redgrave is still scheduled to open in the New York run of her solo show despite a recent undisclosed medical diagnosis. (Variety)

-- Le divorce?: Opera star Roberto Alagna confirms that he has separated from his wife, soprano Angela Gheorghiu. (Le Figaro)

-- And from the L.A. Times: Tim Robbins discusses the latest initiative by his theater company, the Actors’ Gang. (Los Angeles Times)

-- David Ng