As gas prices rise and government coffers tighten, the city of Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus service is asking for Santa Monican's and the public-at-large's help for an issue that reaches far beyond the oceanside city's boundaries. The state is planning cuts to the transportation budget, something that already resembles swiss cheese. If passed, the proposal would wipe out 50% of transit funds by diverting half of gasoline sales tax to the general budget in......

Averaging more than one incident a week so far in 2008, there have been nine incidents between people/cars, or in one case, a fire hydrant, and mainly Metro busses, except for one incident involving a Big Blue Bus, Santa Monica's transit agency and another with an unknown transit agency at this time. According to Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) records, there have been a total of forty-three injuries, ranging from minor to critical (some......

There was an article in the LA Times some time ago about the Downtown arts and culture scene suffering Westside patronage due to rush hour traffic. Unless residents we're already Downtown, buying a ticket to a play, symphony concert or opera was not worth the frustration stuck in traffic. On Wednesday, the LA Opera announced their new weekday service to take ticket holders on a luxury motor coach from the Federal Building in Westwood to......

Douglas E. Hanes became the new publisher for the Daily News today with the goal of strengthening the Los Angeles Newspaper Group's presence in the Valley. If you haven't noticed, it's still freaking hot out and it's not going away. Over 11,000 customers lost power today in Laguna Beach and it wasn't heat related. If someone is trying to rob you, throw a hot cup of coffee in his face. That's what a woman......

Guest Day Editor Fred Camino of MetroRiderLA will be joining LAist with a few posts throughout the day. Read his introductory interview here and check out his site. MetroRiderLA promotes what I call the "Los Angeles Public Transit Lifestyle" (it's not really trade marked, feel free to use those words in anyway you please). The idea behind the Public Transit Lifestyle goes something like this (from the website): "The implication is simply that the citizens......

As Guest Day Editor, Siel, a.k.a Green LA Girl, will be joining LAist with a few posts throughout today. Read her interview here and check out her site. Drinking and driving isn't cool -- Which is why I made the logical decision to ditch the car a few months ago. Now, not only can I drink all I want most nights, I also have a few hundred extra bucks for my drink budget each month.......

Just when you thought the public transportation and traffic situation in Los Angeles couldn't possibly get any worse... it did. Yes, in a true stroke of brilliance, the State Assembly decided to cut close to $1.3 billion in funding from mass transit transportation in this year's budget bill. As Siel over at green LA girl notes, this means we can probably kiss that planned Expo line expansion from Culver City to Santa Monica good-bye.......

- LA Weekly wins seven awards from the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies awards. - Tomorrow is “Community Day” at all California Whole Foods — 5% of the day’s net sales statewide are gonna go toward California coastal Cleanup Day, which happens on Sept. 15, 2007. - Cook like a fireman with the Los Angeles Firefighters Family Cookbook. - Changes are coming to this year's Sunset Junction festival with a new "route." - Big Blue......

One of the nice things about having so many tv channels is there is so much selection. There once was a time when there was only one late-night talk show option: Johnny. Then there was Letterman and Leno. Now there's also Craig Ferguson, Conan of course, and Jimmy Kimmel. There's so much selection that there's even an audience for Carson Daly's terrible mess of a show. In order to keep up with the O'Brien's,......

- If you're looking for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in LA public libraries, you will be sorely disappointed - LAT - Right now Eddie Van Halen is in rehab - TMZ - The USC football lockerroom is colorless, says black Trojan running backs and special teams coach Todd McNair, who dubbed the kickoff team The White Nation, and calls the other black coaches Brojans. Controversy brewed yesterday when one of the students created......