74 members and associates of the Armenian Power organized crime group were taken in this morning as part of "Operation Power Outage,"--an ongoing effort by the Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force to take down the gang. Most of those arrested in Los Angeles today are named in two federal indictments that charge a total of 88 defendants linked to Armenian Power, which is commonly called AP, explains the Department of Justice. more ›

This sort of charming, slightly unsettling, slice-of-life image of a couple's engagement at the South Coast Plaza popped in our AP feed and we feel it would be a great diservice to allow it to exist without an opportunity for additional interpretation. What do you see here? There's a crying lady into the arms of a faceless man while a blurry, clapping Santa watches over her shoulder. Go forth and comment a caption, and then brag about how awesome you are. more ›

Los Angeles-based artist Shepard Fairey might be left with only his "hope" when it comes to the suit and counter-suit battles being waged in court right now regarding his iconic adaptation of a photograph of Barack Obama for use in his 2008 Presidential campaign. more ›

First the Associated Press threatened to sue artist Shepard Fairey by tomorrow. Now Fairey is beating them to the punch. Today he filed suit against the news agency to vindicate him from accusations that he violated copyright laws. more ›

The Associated Press has claimed that the famous "Hope" portrait of President Barack Obama created by Eastsider Shepard Fairey infringes its copyright in a 2006 photo. The AP is seeking credit and compensation, according to, err, the AP. more ›

After a 5-month investigation, the Associated Press found that Los Angeles drinking water has traces of Anti-epileptic and anti-anxiety medications. "To be sure," the AP noted "the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose." more ›

How much Britney coverage is too much? Whatever it is, it's not enough. In an e-mail memo, obtained by Gawker, sent this morning from Frank Baker, Assistant Bureau Chief, Los Angeles, he tells staff that "virtually everything involving Britney is a big deal." more ›

The numbers are in. My very unscientific hypothesis from last week was correct. Kanye West crushed 50 Cent in the battle of hip-hop heavyweights. According to Nielsen's SoundScan, Kanye's Graduation sold 957,000 copies, the biggest first week total of 2007. 50 Cent's Curtis on the other hand only sold 691,000 copies. While 50's nearly 700,000 copies sold is the second biggest total for week one sales, it is still a considerable drop-off from his two... more ›