Extra, Extra: Back To School

Photo by !Manny! via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr

• Parents Celebrate... Children Mourn: Thousands of kids head back to school today. We're sure you've noticed the increase in traffic. However Mayor Villaraigosa had a more optimistic look at the first day. Of course, he's not stuck behind smoke belching buses in the morning.
• Speaking of back to school, the famous (infamous) Belmont Learning Center, now called the Edward R. Roybal Learning Center, opened today... 10 YEARS BEHIND SCHEDULE. Toxic fumes and a fault line underneath caused delays but did not prevent the city from forging ahead. So class... what did we learn $400 million later?
• Leaving Nothing To Chance: Inglewood officials are investigating the shooting of a homeless man by seven police officers. Word is that they fired over 40 shots.
• Eat At Joe's... But Don't Smoke: The LA Council are working on a proposal that would ban outdoor smoking at restaurants. Bars, and nightclubs will not be affected by this however so clubbers rejoice or not... depending on where you stand with that.
• Not Exactly Coyote Ugly: Orange County is cracking down on wayward coyotes that are reportedly in the streets and scaring parents with little kids. No reports of coyotes with signs reading "Oh No!" on them though.
• I'm Not A Cop, But I Play One On TV: Hollywood is objecting to a plan by the LAPD to replace set security with real LAPD officers. The cops say that security "officers" on the set are not accountable to the LAPD. Hollywood says that having real cops would cause delays and budget increases that would further endanger the industry.