There are a million reasons LA is better than Gainesville, but both are home to major state universities with their own Taser-happy police forces. Earlier today, 21-year-old Florida student Andrew Meyer was apprehended by police and stunned with a Taser gun at a town hall meeting with Senator John Kerry on the UF campus. It seems he was tailed by the police as he came to ask the question -- challenging Kerry for not......

On a Thursday night in Los Feliz, the dudes who throw on the Fuck Yeah Fest set aside an hour to sit on a stoop and have a lengthy, convoluted conversation with me. Despite the perpetual interruptions and digression, I arrived at a very straightforward conclusion. Keith Morris (of Black Flag, The Circle Jerks, and Midget Handjob) and Sean Carlson are two friends who are real characters. They hate doing interviews, they love ice......

No doubt you have already heard about Reggie the alligator, who for two years lived in Machado Lake in Harbor City. He was captured a few months ago, and hauled to the Los Angeles Zoo. And NOW Reggie the gator is ready to make his grand debut, and strut his stuff in his newly adapted environment at the LA City Zoo. "Reggie looks great," said Council member Janice Hahn. "He is healthy and ready......

#180 - Fuckers can't even spell the Space Shuttle's name right - Local 6 #181 - Lake Mary dance instructor busted for giving teenage girls Ecstasy and boinking 'em - Local 6 #182 - Gulf Shores 11-year-old girl arrested after 100+ mph car chase and for DUI - AP #183 - Florida ranked #2 for most amount of foreclosures. Only Nevada is worse. - Forbes #184 - 18-month-old baby hippo in Pensacola murdered by......

If it were not for the LAPD's e-policing program, we would have never known about the below incident near our home. Are you signed up? Maybe you should be. COMMUNITY ALERT NOTIFICATION LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF FILL IN TEXT HERE [hehehehe] It is not very often that we have a armed street robbery in Studio City but on Thursday June 7th we had one. At approximately 3:55am the vict was walking......

Face it, California: we'll never be able to match Florida in sheer dysfunctionality. We try to have a messed up election that the whole nation snickers at , and they come up with something so jaw-droppingly stupid that, well, our jaw drops. (And no, that's not a reminder of the 2000 "Thanks for George Bush" travesty. This is, though.) We never expected their sports figures to top ours, though. Sure, we had the Shaq......

Max Hardcore aka Paul Little was indicted by the Feds yesterday on 10 counts of obscenity in a Florida court. The ultra-hardcore (and downright violent) producer / actor / director was swept up in the actions of a post-9/11 administration who has launched an aggressive attack against adult entertainment. Little's Altadena studios were raided two years ago by the Feds which lead to these charges. A Justice Department spokesman said the prosecution was an......

There are many perks of being LAist. The wine, women, and song are just the tip of the iceberg. Sometimes an email will come through that says "hey would you like to go here for free" or "would you like to listen to this" or "would you like to try this"? And sometimes it's a crappy cd created by people who know nothing about music delivered by people who really should reconsider everything in......

In the next several weeks, LAist will embark on a series of hikes and present to you an ambitious 6-part photo essay. This is the fourth one. Here is parts 1, 2, and 3. As always, LAist encourages you to get out and take advantage of and experience the beautiful landscape of Southern California. Most of us forget that we are fortunate to live in such a diverse and ecologically unique locale that offers......

In what seems like a sad Ashlee Simpson-esque flashback, poor Britney had some technical difficulties at her most recent “comeback” gig last night at the House of Blues in Orlando. No, no, her new wig (which was long and blond by the way) didn’t fly off. According to People, when the cd or record she was lip syncing “Do Something” to began to skip, she was forced to improvise, which in this case meant......

Coca-Cola worked out a deal yesterday where they will pay off four plantiffs $500 each plus lawyers fees because two of their soft drinks - Fanta Pineapple and Vault Zero - were discovered to contain ingredients that can form cancer-causing benzene. And Coke will give them newer versions of the soda that now has less of the cancer-causing chemicals. Mmmmmm. While we're grateful to the plaintiffs for suing the sugar water giant, the incredibly......

Say what you will about traffic in LA, people driving while texting, and tailgaters boiling over with road rage, but according to AutoVantage, a Connecticut-based auto club, similar to AAA, Miami is home to more road-ragers than LA, so take that Florida. For the second year in a row Miami has claimed the dubious crown of having the meanest, worst, angriest, and dumbest commuters who run red lights, talk on their phones, and slam......

#174 Naked Optometrist in a Sweet Ride offers women Cash Michael Lange, 45, of Ocala, was charged with two counts of assignation to prostitution, two counts of lewd and lascivious behavior and two counts of exposure of sexual organs. According to police, one of the victims called 911 at about 4 p.m., saying that a man driving a black Mercedes S550 pulled up next to them on Highway 441 in Leesburg and said that......

#162 Florida Marlins has the lowest value of any major league baseball team at just $244 million, Dodgers are worth $632 million - AP #163 A panther in Central Florida was killed by vehicle this week, the seventh in Florida this year. 11 were killed last year. Wait, panthers are just cruising around out there? - AP #164 The University of Florida is being accused of stealing Gatorade from Florida State - Fanblogs #165......

#155 Drunk driver who killed a Gainesville Police lieutenant (whose body flew over the hood and windshield of the pick up truck) claims he had no idea why he was later pulled over for manslaughter - gainesville.com #156 "As far as racist, antiquated state songs written in minstrel-show dialect go, Florida sure has a doozy with Stephen Foster's 'Old Folks At Home.'" - Tallahassee.com #157 A preacher in Jacksonville has taken it upon herself......

So here we are again. Familiar faces all around. 40 minutes. How will you be remembered? Making history or rewriting history? Henry has already laid out the LAist position for tomorrow's national semifinal matchup between Florida and UCLA. Of course, most of the sports world believes the Gators will outclass the Bruins. Vegas has Florida listed as 3 point favorites. Virtually every writer from every major sports publication (ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Sportsline) is picking the......

Last night several regulars of the Howard Stern show were in Lakeland, Florida doing a comedy night. Anchored by Artie Lange, last night's show brought about appearances by Crazy Cabbie, Richard Christie, Sal the Stockbroker, and Gary "Babbabooey" Dell'Abate, among others. Everything was fine until Fla Fla Flunkie got on stage as Sal was dancing to a re-working of the Kanye West hit "Golddigger". It appears that right as the horse-toothed jackass reached out......

• #147 - A Tallahassee prison warden and two of his assistants were removed yesterday after an inmate had his ass kicked by four guards - NYT • #148 - Crooks stole customer information from the parent company of T.J. Maxx to create credit cards which they then spent on Wal-Mart and Sam's Club gift cards in 50 of Florida's 65 counties. Are these crooks saying that Florida Wal-Mart's are easy to rip off?......

The Juice says Anna Nicole's infant daughter comes courtesy of his own "slow-moving" juice -- and for the first time ever, we are hoping he actually did it. Imagine the repercussions. He could pay the Goldmans and the Browns, he could rebuild his old house in Brentwood that they tore down, and imagine all the good he could do with all that Texas money. Money he would get for sure if he was the......

#140 Vietnam vet and retired paratrooper dies in Palm Coast. Family pays over $4,000 to have him dressed in a jumpsuit and placed in a crate enclosed in cardboard box and sent to his family in Kentucky. His nude body arrived in a wet cardboard box tied with two pieces of nylon. [Kentucky.com] #141 A pack of pit bulls is still on the loose in Deerfield Beach. They have attacked a man at a......

#132 Largo city manger's plans to become a woman got found out by the local paper. So instead of letting the paper announce it, he announced to the people of Largo to be understanding of his upcoming procedure. Nearly 500 people squeezed into City Hall and most asked for his head. At the end of the meeting the council decided to fire their city manager of 14 years. [Post-Trib] #133 That teenage hiccuping girl......

#124 Tampa Bay middle school principal caught buying a $20 rock of crack from an undercover cop in the school - AP #125 Manatee County 13 year old kidnapped while waiting for the schoolbus. Escapes before kidnapper could get ransom - WGHP #126 What does NASA in Orlando have ready for astronauts who go-nuts? Tranquilizers and duct tape of course - Local 6 #127 A Sanford high school cheerleading coach is given a paid......

#118 Boyband creator fixin' to say bye-bye-bye-bye good credit - Local 6 #119 Smallest baby in the world born in Miami. Weighed less than 10 ounces - AP #120 Ever wonder why there are a lot of homeless people here in LA, maybe that's because Florida ranks as the most dangerous place for the homeless - CBS4 #121 Disney having to throw in water parks in order to get Floridians to give them $100......

#113 The court martial of the Eglin Air Force medical support officer accused of drugging and raping six men began today. He could get life - Miami.com #114 Gainesville man had four ounces of pot stolen from him so he called the cops, they found the weed but now they don't know whether to return it - Local 6 #115 Tampa Bay's $144 million desal plant is expected to cost an additional $94 million......

#106 Electricity is not restored to elderly woman's Cutler Bay home for 15 YEARS - CBS4 #107 The FDA says that marijuana has no medical value, but then goes ahead and approves the "LaserComb" from a Miami company that claims to be able to restore hair to balding scalps - EarthTimes #108 Palm Harbor man found guilty of sexually touching an 8 year old girl on a Southwest flight - Local 6 #109 And......

#106 Former Miami Heat star Tim Hardaway went on a Miami sports talk radio show and had no problem going on and on about how he hates homosexuals, flat out admitting to being homophobic. Later he apologized, but the NBA decided today to ban the former All-Star from any activities from this year's All-Star Game in Las Vegas. "It is inappropriate for him to be representing us given the disparity between his views and......

Two teenage lovebirds, Amber and Jeremy, decided to get naked and take pictures of each other. Now maybe you've never been a teenage boy before, but if you had ever been one, and your girlfriend not only allows you to see her naked but invites you to take pictures of her, you'd do it. Fast. Just like how you do everything else with your naked girlfriend. Especially if she's letting you take pictures of......

#101 "A laid-off funeral home worker was arrested for allegedly arranging phony funerals that included carrying caskets in a sport utility vehicle and having his girlfriend act as a priest." - AP #102 The State of Florida hired an untrained executioner which is why the last lethal injection execution lasted twice as long as it should have. "“I have no medical training and no qualifications" - AP #103 Fake Batman trying to sell $100,000......

#95 A 6th grader protecting himself from two 8th grade bullies, pulls out a paring knife and stabs one of the boys three times. No one is seriously hurt, but the 6th grader now faces felony charges for possessing a knife on school grounds. - Miami Herald #96 Jacksonville woman given 15 years for her role in a labor camp and selling crack and beer to the laborers - Fox 21 #97 Man kicked......

#92 Female astronaut drives from Texas to Orlando in a diaper (so she wouldn't have to stop) to try to kidnap a woman boning the dude she wants to be boning. - NPR #93 Group of bull sharks ram, sink shrimp boat - Local 6 #94 Palm Bay Police Chief says F the FAA, he wants his drones - Florida Today photo by Peggy Archer......