Back for the second season of VH1’s “Sober House With. Dr. Drew” is its matriarch, Jennifer Gimenez. Last year’s debut season, featuring Gimenez and a host of celebrities trying to clean up their act, was one of reality TV’s most dynamic in memory. more ›

City Attorney Carmen Trutanich and other public safety officials gathered yesterday to announce a plan to create an injunction in Skid Row to curb drug dealing in the area. "The single biggest criminal threat facing this area is the open and notorious drug dealing," explained Trutanich at a press conference yesterday in Gladys Park, where protestors from the L.A. Community Action Network surrounded him, chanting loudly against the proposal. more ›

Last week the news of the death of Adam Goldstein, better known to many as DJ AM, shocked many people. Although authorities are still working to determine if his death was accidental or suicide, Goldstein apparently died of a drug overdose in his New York apartment, where drug paraphernalia was found. The 36-year-old DJ had recently finished working with Dr. Drew Pinsky on a television show about addiction, and "was said to have agreed to go back to rehab just hours before he died," according to the LAT's blog The Dish Rag. more ›

Anna David (writer/TV personality/Twitteraholic) recently told LAist she’s obsessed with writing about the “seedy underbelly” of “so-called glamorous things.” In “Bought,” her second novel, David does just that, exploring the sexy, dysfunctional world of Hollywood's "kept women." “Bought” follows Emma Swanson, a young journalist who would call herself “up and coming” if her superiors asked, though they're not. As a complacent red carpet reporter, with no luck tracking down important A-list interviews, she finds the only thing less satisfying than her work-life is her dating-life. more ›

This ad is the first Yes on Prop 5 spot and is entitled "Warden." It features Jeanne Woodford, former warden of San Quentin State Prison and former Director of the California Department of Corrections. Against a backdrop of images of San Quentin, she speaks of her 25 years working at the prison, where she began as a prison guard. "Let me tell you," Woodford says, "too many of the men I dealt with started out as kids with drug problems. But California doesn't have treatment for kids." She goes on to say that the youth treatment provisions of Prop. 5 are one of its main draws for her. "I can't tell you how good I feel," Woodford says, "when I think of all those kids who will never wind up in prison." more ›

New York author, media maven and baker extraordinaire Felicia Sullivan is in town this week to read from and sign her Brooklyn-based memoir of family addiction, recovery and hope in The Sky Isn't Visible from Here. Sullivan will be reading tonight @ Pi Restaurant next door to Book Soup at 7pm and tomorrow @ Vroman's at 4pm. more ›

Chances are you’ve heard of Dr. Drew Pinsky, board certified addiction medicine specialist, either through his popular late night radio program Loveline, or recent TV hit show, Celebrity Rehab. What you may not know is that in addition to the two programs, Dr. Drew also has another radio show on KGIL 1260 AM. Monday through Friday, from 11 am -1 pm, Dr. Drew opens up the phone lines and explores broader health topics, from his vexation with medical insurance companies to rebuilding lives and relationships following addiction. In his daytime radio show, Dr. Drew’s no nonsense, to the point discourse illuminates listeners and provides them with a better self and social consciousness. more ›

Earlier this week, UCLA researcher and professor Edythe London had an incendiary device left on the porch of her home on the West side. London has been the target of such protest activities before, and remains as such, because of the project she is helming at the school to study nicotine addiction. more ›