Hailing the West Valley, Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine appeared on Comedy Central's Daily Show to talk up the Britney Spears law. Be warned, this video is aurally NSFW. Related - Britney Spears' $25000 6-Mile LAPD Escort - LAPD Says 'No Thanks' to Paparazzi Law - Paparazzi Get Arrested Blocking Sidewalk Stalking Britney Spears - No Paparazzi Gangbang at Britney Spears' Court Hearing - Video of Paparazzi Running in Traffic - Some Justice......

"6th Street Bridge Skyline", by the_mule via LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr. Britney Spears may be on her way out of Los Angeles, but she's not going quietly. The pop star was involved in a minor collision last night on the 134 in bumper to bumper traffic where she hit the car in front of her, causing that vehicle to bump the car in front of them. No one was hurt and the......

The paparazzi's extreme Britney coverage is costly to taxpayers | Photo by pointnshoot via Flickr Citing that there are already laws on the books, the LAPD opposed a proposal to make a "personal safety zone" paparazzi law to the Police Commission today. 3rd District Councilman Dennis Zine introduced the idea after the LAPD used $25,000 to transport Britney Spears to UCLA Medical a mere 6 or so miles in order to keep her safe......

It all started in the media with Britney Spears. Staff at UCLA Medical snuck an unauthorized look at her medical records which led to the hospital looking into firing thirteen employees, suspending six others and disciplining six physicians. And UCLA admitted to the LA Times this wasn't the first time staff had spied on Spears' records leading to sackings. It happened in 2005 when she gave birth to her son Sean Preston at Santa Monica-UCLA......

Photo by kristi.nicole via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr One week after being subdued in his cell with a taser gun and lapsing into a coma, 35-year-old Orange County inmate Jason Jesus Gomez has died, officials announced today. Gomez, who was in jail for a probation violation, stopped breathing after officers used the taser on him during a scuffle. Say cheese: LA City Council voted today to approve a contract that will put......

Last Thursday, San Diego-based singer-songwriter (and avid surfer) Tristan Prettyman (MySpace) returned to Los Angeles, headlining at The Roxy (MySpace) in West Hollywood. Australian Whitley (MySpace) was the opener. A self-confessed tabloid junkie, Prettyman performed her signature acoustic cover of Britney Spears' "Toxic," lamenting afterward that she's never around town where the celebrities are. And If there was a theme for (what she repeatedly referred to as) the "spicy" night, it was audience participation, whether......

Hope you took advantage of the weather this weekend | Photo by Tha_Sco via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Temperatures this weekend hit near record highs with 87 in Downtown, 88 in Long Beach, 83 in Malibu, 86 in parts of the Valley and the highest at 89 in Riverside. The pop sensation turned train wreck is getting some pressure from her family to turn in that Malibu mansion for a Louisiana......

New mural of Madonna and Britney Spears making out, found in Los Angeles I Photo by Osmany Rodriguez for LAist> Remember that one time Madonna and Britney Spears made out in front of millions of people, and more importantly Brit's ex Justin Timberlake. Before the new Tila Tequila MTV where girl-on-girl kissing is encouraged, preferably in front of parents.......

Photo by ChazWags via Flickr He already served a month of jail time when he was convicted last Spring, but today, sleazy wannabe slumlord Darren Stern, who also goes by Henry Shalom, was ordered to pay millions back to rent-control tenants that he mistreated in order to get them to move out so he could raise rents, eventually selling the buildings at "inflated" prices, according to CBS2. The money will be split and given......

It's Monday and that means it's a big residency night in Los Angeles. And since it's the first Monday of March, that means a new list of Monday night bands below. Of note tonight, Working for a Nuclear Free City (pictured right) will be playing along Spaceland's March Monday night tenant -- Voxhaul Broadcast. Also, another very exciting residency that begins tonight are The Chapin Sisters, whose profile rose when they covered Britney Spears' "Toxic,"......

And you thought your monthly rent was high... TMZ has gotten their hands on some paperwork form Love Shack Trust sent to Britney Spears over her Malibu rental home. Says TMZ: "The documents, dated February 14, states that Brit was more than two weeks late in paying her $35,000-a-month rent. A $2,100 late charged kicked in, which was not paid. The documents state that Love Shack must either pay up or "surrender and deliver up......

You can't block a sidewalk, it's a public right-of-way, and in West Hollywood doing so can get you arrested as TMZ reports:By our count, six camerapeople were busted last night; two outside the salon where Brit was getting her hair done and four outside Villa nightclub where Lindsay was partying. Two TMZ photogs were among those busted. [...] One TMZ photog says he had just stepped off the sidewalk when he was cuffed and thrown......

Some say photo agencies are hiring gang members to follow Britney with cameras | Photo by pointnshoot via Flickr Yesterday's Britney Spears conservatorship hearing was like a ghost town. You see, only lawyers representing both sides of the family were there and in the end, father James Spears' temporary control over her life and estate was extended until at least March 10, allowing him to handle financial matters at the moment such as her......

Video found via Markland at blogging.la This is Britney Spears on Wednesday after being released from UCLA. She may be troubled these days, but who is insane? The Paparazzi. Is anything being done about this? One City Councilman is trying, but non-paparazzi media worry how it could affect them.......

KNX1070 is reporting that "a police manhunt is ongoing West of a Washington Mutual bank at Ventura and Topanga Canyon in Woodland Hills. Authorities are searching for two armed kidnapping suspects." Things were something close to touch-and-go late this afternoon on the Blue Line near 5501 S Long Beach Ave when a female pedestrian fell near the tracks as a train passed by, but did not have any direct contact with the train itself.......

"Found on sidewalk near Hope & 8th" Ball-busting: The City of Los Angeles is considering mandating spaying and neutering for all cats and dogs because shelters are overcrowded and so many animals go unadopted. Enforcement is expected to be easygoing, as in if your pet minds its own business you'll stay under the radar, but if your neighbor logs in a complaint about your barking dog and his junk is still ready to make......

The paparazzi's extreme Britney coverage is costly to taxpayers | Photo by pointnshoot via Flickr It took the LAPD nearly "two dozen police officers, a helicopter and a special team" to block roads and escort Britney Spears in an ambulance with covered windows from her Mulholland Drive Studio City Home to UCLA Medical Center early yesterday morning. They even had a code name, The Package, for her so paparazzi listening to police scanners would......

RUDY GIULIANI leaves after announcing that he has dropped his bid for the Republican Presidential nomination and is now supporting JOHN McCAIN at the RONALD REAGAN Presidential Library where the Republican Debate is being held. Don't forget to join the LAist staff next week at our Super Tuesday Party at Seven Grand in downtown Los Angeles! Come out to drink with us, watch the primary race unfold, and even tell off your least favorite......

Be careful who you root for. L.A. County Federation of Labor's leader Maria Elena Durazo is taking some heat for her recent endorsement of Barack Obama, and her subsequent decision to take a leave from her post to work on his campaign. Speaking of labor...today was the launch of the Los Angeles County Business Federation, a coalition of local businesses hoping to emulate--and perhaps defend against--the organizational power of unions. The group "so far......

Imagine you're a little kid minding your own business (wait, what kid minds their own business?) and playing on the school yard when a rambling, confused, and chain-smoking woman shows up in a skimpy outfit looking for her kids. No, scratch that--looking for her lawyer's kids. Oh, and that woman just happens to be Britney Spears. That was the scene earlier this month at an elementary school in Beverly Hills, as described this week by......

In Britney We Trust! Despite the fact that Britney Spears seems only able to produce crappy albums and awkward shows, have very public meltdowns, eschew court dates, check in and out of rehab, vacillate about her religious affiliation, flash her nether-regions to eager photogs, and drink away her liquid assets in Starbucks Frappucinos, the truth of the matter is, the business of being Britney is extremely profitable...for everyone else in her world. An article......

Video grab image from TMZ. Watch a video of the incident over there. Some of the most annoying and disgusting people in Los Angeles are the cut-throat paparazzi. There is a special circle in hell reserved for them. Last night around 11:20 p.m., Britney Spears was driving in Mission Hills in the Valley. LAPD Mission Division officers on routine patrol observed several vehicles traveling at a high rate of speed and making dangerous lane......

The first is, be a police officer, do your duty. The second choice is, leave the job, join the the ranks of the paparazzi. From TMZ last night: TMZ has learned that a message was sent down loud and clear today to LAPD cops working the Britney court beat today -- no photos allowed! Law enforcement sources confirm to TMZ that an order came down to officers at the courthouse today, mandating that no cell......

The general consensus about last night's one-hour Golden Globes "Awards Show" (quotation marks make for great sarcasm indicators, yes?): Less than stellar. The snorefest reading-of-the-nominees and "the winner is" naming was about as thrilling as the reading of a will, with Time's Richard Corliss declaring in his post-mortem that the reporters delivering the news "all sank into a sea of blandness and blondness." Local Latino politicians are endorsing Barack Obama in his Democratic Presidental......

Breaking News: Britney goes to church! Meanwhile, children are starving in the Inland Empire and being held hostage at gunpoint.......

Jessica Morgan and Heather Cocks. Have you ever wondered why the very people that have tons of cash to drop at swanky stores can be such fashion trainwrecks? Often celebrities have the nerve to flaunt both their big paychecks and free designer clothes. Lucky for us, it's always fun to watch. That's where you'll find Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan of the super-popular Go Fug Yourself. Every day they skewer the super famous and......

Pop the pink champagne and slip on that tiara to help welcome the arrival of 2008's first celebrity socialte and rock star spawn, Harlow Winter Kate Madden, who came into the world at the nicest hospital money can buy, aka Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, today. Harlow's mommy, 26-year-old Nicole, is now free to return to her pre-pregnancy and eerily thin body weight. Let's just hope she doesn't take any parenting tips from fellow fan of the......

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." "That doesn't mean every rumor makes it on the wire," he continues, "But it does mean that we want to pay attention to what other are reporting and seek to confirm those......

Yesterday, famed and veteran Los Angeles fashion designer, Mr. Blackwell, talked up his worst-dressed women list, just released this morning, with LAist. He began the annual list 48 years ago. "I was sick of the ugly clothes that were being presented in the fashion industry and as dress designer I wanted to express my opinion. I never expected it to be this big." This year's list (which is after the jump) left Britney Spears alone,......

After Britney's standoff with police last week and the ensuing tornado of paparazzi, internet rumors, and unconfirmed accounts of the incident, there is one story that is causing a stir and its not centered around Britney, but rather, Dr. Phil McGraw, TV host. Early Saturday morning, as Britney was packing to leave Cedars Sinai, Dr. Phil paid an unexpected visit to her room on the 7th floor as he was requested to do by her......