When you read something you like on LAist, we love it when you hit the "recommend" button, and we love it even more if you put your two cents' worth in the comments. Getting a dialog going with our readers and making sure we're giving you content you can use are top priorities for us. So here are this week's top posts, as endorsed by you via the recommend feature, or as indicated by the level of talk going on in the comments:

Most Recommended
Welcoming Drew Doughty to the LA Kings: "There's a new hockey player in town. He's 6' 1, 219 pounds, 18 years old and from Canada. Meet defenseman Drew Doughty, who was the Los Angeles Kings' 1st round choice and 2nd overall in the 2008 NHL draft."

Road Rage Motorist vs. Cyclists on Mandeville Canyon Road (also our #1 Commented post): Cyclist Christian Stoehr tells the story best: "[Fellow cyclist Ron Peterson and I] were riding downhill at approximately 30 mph when a car came up behind us, must have been doing 50 mph, and the driver started honking at us. We moved to the right in single file within seconds and the motorist pulled along Ron and started screaming at him. He then pulled in front of us with 3-5 feet to spare and slammed on his brakes, giving us no time to stop. I swerved and almost made it, clipping the car and flying through the air and landing in the street. Ron had no room to move and he went straight into the back of the car, putting his face through the back window."

Mandeville Canyon Motorist Vs. Bicycle Incident Deemed 'Road Rage'*: The official verdict of the July 4 incident involving a 58-year-old physician in his vehicle versus two bicyclists near the doctor's Mandeville Canyon home is that the encounter is classified as "Road Rage." (Charges were filed against Thompson this week, on his 59th birthday, as a matter of fact.)

Most Commented
LA's Finest - Taking Care of Business - Personal Business: So a cop car pulls up to a red zone and the cop inside leaves the car running while he goes to the ATM to do some personal banking. He's on City time, in a City car, spending City money to keep the car running...but doing his own work. Does he need to keep the car on? You had lots of thoughts on the issue!

Councilman Calls for Mandeville Canyon Bicycle Meeting: Local politicians respond to the July 4 "road rage" incident in Mandeville Canyon, and call for a meeting. Of course, the meeting--after a venue change--is now canceled. Civic inaction, hooray!
UPS Makes the Case For Simple Steps: What's the biggest turn-off for the men and women in brown? Their engines! UPS has a solid no-idling policy, which earns them a big thumbs up from LAist, and is inspiring many Angelenos to debunk myths about how much gas is used when starting/stopping motors, and to think about how to change our driving (and idling) behavior.

Photo of cyclist Ron Peterson being prepped for transport to the hospital by Chris Roberts