• A dead blue whale washed up on the shores of a beach near Ventura today; scientists from all over the state are at the scene to examine the body and determine why it beached.
• Lucille Ball and Larry King had streets renamed in their honor this week: the block surrounding the CNN building in Hollywood will now be known as Larry King Square, while the intersection of Melrose and Plymouth Boulevards has been rechristened "I Love Lucy Square".
• Attention you crustacean-loving foodies: Los Angeles Lobster Fest kicks off in San Pedro tonight -- check out video here; tickets are $8, lobster meals $17.
• Magic stumps for Hill in the Hills: Magic Johnson held a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton at his home in Beverly Hills last night.
• Two Riverside residents -- living on opposite sides of the county -- died of West Nile Virus this week. Urge to make jokes at the expense of the 951 have now been properly suppressed.
• Hey, dumbass! You might want to try taking off those bright orange gloves before you go robbing banks. Oh, and get a real gun: police are searching for a man suspect of attempted bank robbery -- "he's definitely not a highly intelligent person," one cop said.
• A fire broke out this afternoon near Big Bear Lake; no homes are threatened at this time. This is totally ruining our dreams of a fall vacation. THANKS ENDLESS DRY SEASON!!! Droughts are the GREATEST!
• On that conservation note, the City of Long Beach is also now asking its residents to use less water: that means shorter showers, less grass-watering, and no water in restaurants unless patrons request it.
• New developments in the story of missing aviator and adventurer Steve Fossett: witnesses are now saying that they saw a plane fly into the Pinenut Mountains near the California/Nevada border, but not fly out.

Photo by nopantsxris via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr