News: July 2009 Archives

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The second annual Brew Haw Haw last Saturday attracted a medium-sized but lively (not rowdy) crowd 'Drinking for a Good Cause' to benefit of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. It was nice to not have to wait in big lines for the food or beverages as the weather wasn't as blisteringly hot as last last year or days just prior.

As the sun sets and dusk prevails over the city tomorrow night, Nissan will be unveiling their new fully electric car (not a hybrid) in Los Angeles and other West Coast cities. It won't be an event, but rather something more guerilla as a team crosses town from Santa Monica to West Hollywood, Hollywood to downtown with a projector strong enough to show images for fifteen minutes on the sides of buildings (think temporary billboards of sorts, which could be illegal, too, with our current signage controversy).

The music industry has never been the savviest when it came to the internet and its possibilities. Suing kids, grandmas and college students left and right. But when the latest, happiest and most popular YouTube video with a Chris Brown song became a hit last week, they profited instead of becoming another lawsuit headline.

A series of innovative and futuristic type of lighted and magnetic studs will be placed along the 110 Freeway out of downtown to help ease traffic congestion on the the northbound 5 freeway later this year. Basically, "at peak hours, the 'smart studs' would illuminate to automatically open a second connector lane on the 110, easing the long lines," explains the LA Times. If you know anything about this particular connector, you know it can be traffic hell.

After nearly a year of grueling and dramatic meetings between Sunset Junction Festival organizers, the city and local neighbors and businesses, the festival will be likely be permitted for August 22nd and 23rd after addressing concerns, according to City Council President Eric Garcetti's office.

Intent on adding arms to a very tired bullpen, the Dodgers finalized a trade bringing them left-handed relief pitcher George Sherrill from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for minor leaguers Josh Bell and Steve Johnson. Sherrill, the Orioles All-Star closer, became available when the Orioles fell out of playoff contention sometime between Spring Training and Opening Day when it was confirmed the team was still in the AL East alongside the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays.

Police have found that a man with a similar motive and description is approaching young girls in an attempt to sexually assault them after enticing them into apartment buildings. The most recent attempt was partially caught on a security video (embedded below).

As the United States Post Office seeks way to save money and "weather this storm," today a list of 677 branches were given to congress for review as possible closures. Only 200 are expected to close and a number are listed in the Los Angeles area, but none within the city limits, according to the LA Times.

• Speaking of all the local food lately, Your Daily Thread posts a list of seasonal summer fruits that can be found at local farmer's markets.
• Live in the Valley? Here is the final list of candidates running for Council District 2.
• Concerned about increased traffic, the Glendale City Council voted to oppose a proposal to extend the 710 Freeway from its current northern terminus to the 210 Freeway in Pasadena.

The NoHo Arts District has over 20 live theatre spaces, but no movie theatre of note nearby. Part of the redevelopment of the neighborhood--besides adding public art that LAist readers dislike--is the third phase of the NoHo Commons development that includes a mixed use building, Phil's Diner, a parking garage and a seven-screen Laemmle Theatre, which is being delayed. "Laemmle Theatre is working on their architectural drawings and hoping to secure financing to be able to start construction," according to Curbed LA.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced today that they are fining a container company nearly $50,000 for environmental violations. APM Terminals Pacific Limited-- one of the world’s largest container terminal companies--reportedly discharged industrial-activity storm water at its marine shipping container terminal facility, a violation of Clean Water Act and the California National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, according to the agency.

State parks may be threatened, but worse is the total elimination of domestic violence funding in the 2009/10 budget signed by Governor Schwarzenegger. It was a surprise to many when he added nearly a half billion in extra cuts including more to parks and to various health programs on Tuesday. The Domestic Violence Center in the Santa Clarita Valley is the only agency that provides domestic violence services in the 200-square mile valley. As a result of Schwarzenegger's cut, which is immediate, they've lost 45%, or $207,222.00, of their annual funding

When City Attorney Carmen Trutanich sat down with the L.A. City Council a couple weeks ago, he said his investigators found both "civil and criminal aspects" in their research that could lead to potential lawsuits. He would not discuss details publicly, but did go into a private session to talk about the civil aspects.

Yesterday the nonprofit that has taken the lead to build a streetcar in downtown Los Angeles by 2014 held a public meeting to update the community on the latest developments and present the options they could take next. LA Wad at MetroRiderLA attended the meeting and heard some interesting facts:

The poshest gas station in Los Angeles--directly abut the Beverly Hills border at Olympic and Robertson--just recently changed its branding from BP to the company-owned and consumer friendly ARCO. Usually, the brand is cheaper or seems so without the 45-cent charge to use a card. But that's clearly not the case here. Catty-corner in Beverly Hills, the listed prices are same, sans credit charge.

One morning two weeks ago, a clerk at Daisy's Market was tied up as two suspects robbed the store and police yesterday released screenshots of them from video surveillance. It was 9:40 a.m. on Wednesday, July 15th when the first suspect entered the store at 3214 Sunset Blvd.. He bought something and then left.

Although the only Pulitizer Prize winning food critic, Jonathan Gold, believes a major component of the Los Angeles restaurant scene is locally sourced food, and with the multitude of farmers market and the year round weather suitable for growing food at your home, our city has not made a top 10 list at the Huffington Post. Luckily, that can change: We here at HuffPost Green think the local food movement is a thriving and exciting part of the discussion about sustainability. After researching the best local food in the United States, we compiled this slideshow of our discoveries, focusing mainly on restaurants.

Now that the Los Angeles Marathon is back on a Sunday in March--the 21st to be exact--the new "Stadium to Sea" route is being hashed out. Under current Santa Monica law, only 5K and 10Ks are permitted, but on Tuesday the City Council instructed staff "to return with an ordinance or policy change that would allow marathons to be held in the city," according to the Santa Monica Daily Press.

• In light of the additional budget cuts to state parks, the California Parks Foundation is already asking the public to send letters to state politicians. It takes a second to do on this webpage.
• Los Angeles had its first beer float showdown last weekend and no surprise here, Golden State in partnership with Scoops won.
• Let the trend continue! Now the folks behind Kogi BBQ are exploring the possibility of becoming consultants for other mobile food vendors.

When compared to New York City and Chicago, Angelenos score a cheaper price when buying organic, finds a study release by IBISWorld. "The study looked at three product categories: Private label or store brands, commercial brands, and organic items," explained Wallet Pop. The cost of groceries depends largely on what part of the country you live in. Chicagoans get a cheaper groceries than the next two bigger cities (but pay among the highest sales taxes), except for organic items. If you want to eat more naturally, you'll pay less in L.A. But organics in general will set you back more, about 18% more than branded products and 37.6 % more than store brands, according to the findings."

At a Zocalo food panel focused on defining Los Angeles' cuisine moderated by the Pulitzer Prize winning Jonathan Gold last year, there was no specific dish or item that could be defined as owned by this city. Tacos, burritos, sea food, sushi were all brought up (mind you, this was before Kogi BBQ and the mobile food truck culture ever existed, so much changes in less than a year, right?), but none felt like the quintessential L.A. food. But one consistent theme was apparent with Gold and others: a chef's long-term relationship with farmers and farmer's markets. In other words, what L.A. should be known for is not one specific food or dish, but the locally grown and sustainable food trend, the panel seemed to agree.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced yesterday that after four decades, they were ending their much-loved weekend film series, but hopes to reassure fans and patrons that they aren't abandoning film altogether, reports the LA Times.

For UCLA students, the quarterly Undie Run wasn't just an opportunity to frolic on campus late at night in their skivvies (and be snapped in pics that quickly made their way to teh internets) but the "unofficial campus tradition" was "a way of relieving stress during finals week," according to the UCLA Newsroom. It's pretty self-explanatory, but for the uninitiated: Students run "through campus, many in their underwear, in the middle of the night at the end of the fall, winter and spring academic quarters."

You want to eat fresh seasonal produce that's grown by area farmers. You want to help your local economy and not line the coffers of corporate America. You appreciate that an Oxnard-grown strawberry--one that's softer, smaller, redder, riper, and sweeter--is about a thousand times tastier, better for you, better for the environment, and better for your fellow Californians than the one that's bigger, harder, paler, less flavorful and found in a big plastic box inside the store that feels like a big plastic box.

Blame pollution: 2008 was another banner year for troubled waters at our nation's beaches, according to the results of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) annual study. Although last year was a dry one, "aging and poorly designed sewage and stormwater systems hold much of the blame for beachwater pollution [and] stormwater runoff contributed to two-thirds of the closing/advisory days in which a contamination source was reported."

World-renown acrobatic entertainers Cirque du Soleil have been dangling a 2011 permanent stay here in Los Angeles for several months now. Talks to have the troupe set up their act at Hollywood & Highland's Kodak Theatre for a ten-year residency at the venue have been in the works for sometime, but now it falls to the City Council to decide if Los Angeles can afford to have them here, according to the Daily News.

St. Louis Cardinals defeat LA Dodgers 10-0. Chad Billingsley started out strong for the Dodgers pitching a one-hit shutout after five innings. Then the sixth inning happened. Billingsley crumbled giving up two two-run singles and one one-run single. After the dust settled, the Cards put a six-spot on the Dodgers. After Claudio Vargas got two out in the eighth inning with a runner on third, Brent Leach came in and got no outs allowing the runner on third to score (run charged to Vargas) and giving up three more on his own.

• Celeste Freemon at WitnessLA dives into the alleged killer's past and the evolution of reporting in regards to the weekend murder of 17-year-old Lily Burk.
• A La Mesa man was convicted today for making death threats against Barack Obama during the presidential race. He faces up to 10 years in prison when sentenced in late October.
• LACMA has canceled their weekend film series, at least for now.

California State Parks director Ruth Coleman said that the agency faces a total of about $39 million in cuts after the new budget, which directly states a $14.2 million cut, was signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today. Additionally, $2.4 million was siphoned from a cigarette tax fund because less people are smoking. Furloughs and salary cuts round out the large number (Note: a full budget fact sheet is embedded below).

Roughly 600 city, fire and police department employees are part of the $100,000 pension club, writes Ron Kaye at OurLA.org. Councilmember and former LAPD Chief Bernard Parks topping the L.A. Fire and Police Pension Fund's list at about $265,000 annually while John Driscoll, former head of LAX and City Personnel director, leads LACER's list with about $204,600.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger finally signed California's budget today, making additional cuts to fill a $1.1 billion gap left by legislators in their approved package. An additional $6.2 million was cut from state parks after an $8 million cut was proposed last week. That makes a total of $14.2 million, a number the Schwarzenegger's office predicts "will result in the closure of probably more than 100 parks."

Mr. Brainwash, aka MBW, is no stranger to Madonna (remember his Optical illusion mural of Britney and Madonna kissing?). Now one of his ubiquitous street poster works of the pop singer has been chosen as the album cover art for her "Celebration" album, due out on September 29th.

No matter how legal a marijuana dispensary is, drugs and money make them popular targets for crime. One of those such incidents last year on an October afternoon left Noe Gonzalez, a security guard, dead when a robbery attempt by four men went wrong at La Brea Collective on the 800 block of La Brea. And although two of the suspects were immediately caught, two others were on the loose and put on L.A.'s Most Wanted list.

With the Friday trade deadline rapidly approaching for Major League Baseball, teams are looking at themselves in the mirror asking the perennial question: “Are we buyers or are we sellers?” With a one-game lead on the New York Yankees for the best record in baseball to coincide with their eight-game lead over the Colorado Rockies in the NL West, the Dodgers are clearly buyers.

They say Los Angeles is best compared to Paris. Well, both cities share rankings in a report released yesterday showing the busiest airports in the world: Paris at 5th, Los Angeles, formerly at 3rd and 5th in recent years, now at 6th. At its peak in 2000, Los Angeles served 68 million passengers. In 2008, 59.5 million travelers.

Here's a cozy north Pasadena story. Early this morning around 1 a.m., a group of 10 people were gathered on a street in Pasadena when about three shots were heard. The group dispersed and four houses down, a bullet that made its way through a window was found between the legs of a 1-year-old in his crib, according to the Pasadena Star News.

St. Louis Cardinals defeat LA Dodgers 6-1. For the second game in a row the Dodgers have gotten 10 or more hits yet lost a game. Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter was just that good. Although he gave up nine Dodgers hits he allowed only one run in seven innings pitched striking out two and walking two. Dodgers starter Randy Wolf had a decent outing going six innings giving up only two runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out four. The Dodgers were in the game trailing 2-1 until the bottom of the seventh when James McDonald came into a game and had his first pitch taken out of the park by Mark DeRosa. Although Albert Pujols would hit a single only to get thrown out trying to advance to second by Matt Kemp, Matt Holliday would reach first thanks to a throwing error by third baseman Casey Blake. After Ryan Ludwick flew out to Kemp and Yadier Molina walked, Brent Leach came in for the Dodgers and gave up an RBI single to Rick Ankiel and Guillermo Mota gave up a 2 RBI double to Brendan Ryan. That was all she wrote.

• Will fellow "big house" resident Phil Spector be the album producer Charles Manson has waited his whole life for?
• An OC judge has appointed a financial guardian to oversee the new TV careers of OctoMom Nadya Suleman's 14 kids.
• The University of California is reporting a rise in their graduation rate, from 76 to 82 percent from 1992 to 2002.

17-year-old Lily Burk's murderer is allegedly Charlie Samuel, a parolee transient, who was arrested for drinking in public and possession of drug paraphernalia. Already behind bars, he was later connected with Burk's murder after fingerprints from inside her car matched. Sameul's "quality of life" arrest under the LAPD's Safer Cities Initiative has received a lot of heat as of late. Calling it an "oft-criticized quality of life arrest," Eric Richardson at blogdowntown puts this weekend's events into that context:

California's budget has passed both houses and now awaits Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's signature. Until then, nothing is set in stone and parks and open space advocates await the final verdict on state parks. As it stands now, $8 million will be sliced off for this year, which could translates to the closure of 30 to 50 parks. Schwarzenegger's original proposal included a two-year cut that would close 80% of parks.

For someone living in Los Angeles, 500 Days of Summer was not only a cute and hilarious movie (watch the trailer here), it was equally pleasing to see a film shot in downtown Los Angeles that had a story line taking place and recognizing the burgeoning neighborhood for what it is. From the Redwood Bar to the Broadway Bar, Bunker Hill to the Civic Center Mall, it was exciting, for once, to go, "hey, I know that location and it's not being masked as New York City," and not go "why are they filming downtown but calling it North Hollywood? NoHo isn't that urban."

About 30 minutes after Charlie Samuel allegedly killed 17-year-old Lily Burk Friday, leaving her body in her car parked off a Skid Row street, he was detained by police a few blocks away for a Drinking in Public violation. As he was being searched by officers, narcotics paraphernalia was found and he was arrested and booked for Possession of Narcotics Paraphernalia.

If it's broke, fix it, right? Only what happens when the people who are supposed to fix it are the ones who broke it in the first place? And they happened to have run out of the money it's going to likely take to do the fixing? Easy solution: Sell management of the school(s) to the highest--well, "superior"--bidder.

Talk about opposites. An Orange County man who owns 320 acres abut the internationally famous poppy reserve in the Antelope Valley wants to build a 3.6-mile course race track. The owner says there won't be much of an impact as it will be built for car clubs and racing organizations with no grandstand for spectators. Still, there are other concerns, explains the LA Times in a feature story:

Water use by Los Angeles residents and businesses were down by 11% in June when compared to June 2008 making it the lowest demand in 32 years, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power announced today. June 1st of this year marked the beginning of a new water conservation law aimed mainly at sprinkler usage, limiting it to certain hours on Mondays and Thursdays, and a new "shortage year" rate structure.

Down 8-0 to the Florida Marlins after five innings, the Dodgers rallied to keep fans on the edge of their seat but ultimately fell short losing 8-6. "These guys play hard," Torre said. "Aside from the one inning that [Jeff] Weaver pitched, the bullpen did a good job to keep us close and put us in the position where we had the tying run at the plate a couple of times."

• It's been a busy weekend for the police with 11 shootings and 7 homocides. One of which include a grizzly axe murder in Pasadena.
• The LA Times has a nice look at the Santa Monica pier and carousel then and now.
• Counter-terrorist investigators broke up an identity theft ring that included some bribed members of the DMV.

As I sit here and write these words on this glorious day, in Cooperstown, NY, Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice are being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Henderson's career spanned from 1979 to 2003 playing mostly left field for the Oakland A's, New York Yankees, San Diego Padres, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, LA Dodgers (in 2004), Anaheim Angels (in 1997), Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays. In 1982 he broke Lou Brock's stolen base record by stealing 130 bases. By the All Star break that season he had already stolen 84 bases.

Galaxy forward Landon Donovan scored his 8th goal of the season at the 33rd minute as the blue-and-gold played to a draw against the Kansas City Wizars last night. Kansas City had taken the lead at the 26th minute when forward Claudio Lopez picked up the ball at the center circle and sent a long arching shot towards the Galaxy goal. Galaxy 'keeper Donovan Ricketts was caught off his line and despite his desperate attempts to recover

For the 10th time this season the Dodgers have won a game in walk-off fashion leading the Majors. Tonight Casey Blake in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Florida Marlins broke a 3-3 tie with an RBI bloop single with the bases loaded to give the Dodgers the 4-3 win. "The real credit goes to the at-bats leading up to that," Blake said after the game. "I'm just trying to put the bat on the ball there, and I found a hole."

Tonight the Dodgers send Hiroki Kuroda to the mound. As discussed previously, Kuroda has been scuffling this season since coming of the disabled list on June 1. With a 2-5 record he has not gotten a win in his last three starts, the last coming on July 8 when he went 5 1/3 innings in San Diego giving up three runs.

• Five teenagers were wounded at a party in Long Beach last night after two or three suspects opened fire.
• The LAPD has conducted raids on several underground clubs, thought to be operated by members of the 18th Street gang. The raids netted 34 arrests on local and federal charges.
• Despite being scheduled to surrender yesterday, former OC Sheriff Mike Carona remains free as he awaits an appeal ruling by a federal court.

It's a dream come true for the woman known as OctoMom: A European production company has hired the 14 children of the OC's Nadya Suleman and papers have been signed and filed guaranteeing each kid a $250 a day salary for their upcoming work in a reality TV show, reports the LA Times. The Suleman brood, including the octuplets born amid a flurry of flashbulbs and headlines earlier this year, will begin work September 1st.

The state budget has finally been passed, and as a result billions of dollars have been cut from the coffers that help support education at all levels. Included are cuts to the large University of California and California State University systems, necessitating the respective campus network leaders to push through their own budgets cuts that include layoffs, furloughs, pay cuts, fee hikes, enrollment caps, and decreased resources. Despite student and faculty protests, the UC and CSU passed the proposals on the table that aim to stave off the shortfall.

      

It's a storm in the tropics that is reverberating on our SoCal shores in the form of massive--and deadly--surf these days. LAist's Lifestyle Editor Julie Wolfson sent over these shots captured this morning on the shores of Salt Creek Beach in Laguna Niguel, and some of the brave (foolish?) surfers who couldn't turn down an opportunity to hang ten in the huge waves.

Dangerously high surf is still expected today at the beaches, as predicted earlier--all part of the same system of swells that "pounded Orange County beaches on Friday, killing a surfer at the Wedge" according to the OC Register. Massive waves can be awe-inspiring, but the 4-7' swells "and occasional sets up to 9′" and higher in some places mean even the pros should think twice about hitting the water.

Kudos to MLS Commissioner Don Garber for fining Galaxy midfielder David Beckham for his actions at last Sunday's match versus A.C. Milan at the Home Depot Center. While the amount is trivial ($1,000), the action restores some credibility to the league and perhaps signals the beginning of the end of the special treatment Beckham has received.

• Test teachers or else... The US Education Secretary Arne Duncan is saying that California could lose millions in federal education dollars unless law makers change their policy of not using student test scores to measure teacher performance.
• Sad news at the LA Zoo. Asali, a Masai giraffe that has lived at the zoo for over 25 years died from possible complications after giving birth to a stillborn calf.
• The heat that has been leaning on us the past few days is expected to last about another week. Hang in there, keep cool and enjoy the sunshine!

Finally, the budget has passed both houses--the Senate early this morning and the Assembly this afternoon--and Governor Arnold Scwharzenegger says he plans to sign it next week. However, the LA Times hints that Schwarzenegger may do some line item vetoing and a $1.1 billion deficit still remains to be solved.