If your Saturday evening plans have you a) drinking and b) traveling in or through Van Nuys, a word to the wise via the Daily News: "Cops will be out in force tomorrow night in Van Nuys doing a sobriety checkpoint from 6 p.m. Saturday to 2 a.m. Sunday to cut the number of DUI-related traffic collisions." The location of the checkpoint has not been revealed, but the reasoning is as clear as a shot......

Traffic diverted to Griffith Park at Hyperion/Fountain. Taken at 2:04 p.m. by LAist reader and friend, Lisa Borodkin Shortly before noon, a crash on the 2000 block of Hyperion Avenue between a postal truck and car resulted in the death of a postal worker. The female employee, between the ages of 25 and 30, was thrown from the truck before the vehicle landed on her, according to Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson d'Lisa Davies.......

To help balance Los Angeles' massive budget for the next Fiscal Year, parking fines are to be increased $5 across the board. The move begins July and will raise an additional $6.6 million towards filling the $406 million gap in the budget, according to the Daily News. Originally, City Council looked into increasing the fines $10 to $15, raising up to $20 million extra, but had worries it would lead to voter anger and violence......

There's a little sporting event going on in Los Angeles tonight, just in case you hadn't heard... Of course, these folks really take being fans of our side of the NBA Finalists to a whole new level in their purple-and-gold emblazoned ride. LAist Featured Photos contributor victoriabernal snapped this shot of these Lakers uber-fans driving near the Staples Center. Ready for tonight's Game 4 match-up between our boys and their longtime Bostonian rivals? Here's......

Few words overcame LAist Featured Photos contributor concheven when he posted this photo taken in Venice over the weekend: "I love LA." Yes indeed, so does LAist.......

A fireman checks the remains of three burnt-out hulks after six-vehicle collision in South Los Angeles Monday evening, May 26, 2008. Police say five people including a 12-year-old boy died in the fiery crash. (AP Photo/Mike Meadows) In all, eight people died and as many as 28 people injured on Los Angeles roads Memorial Day, as reported by the Los Angeles Fire Department. Two incidents occurred in the Hollywood area and two others in......

Not only were six people injured in a collision in Pacific Palisades this morning when an ambulance was involved in a collision, but now more Los Angeles first-responders have been involved in crashes. Shortly after 2:00 a.m. this morning, an LAPD squad car traveling on Westbound 118 collided with another car, prompting the shutdown of all lanes on that side of the freeway. As of 8:30 this morning, only the car pool and lane #1......

Photo by Plankton 4:20 via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr More on the arrest of Kazuyoshi Miura, who is accused of killing his wife in LA in 1981 and is being extradited from Japan: Turns out it was his blogging that got the authorities' attention. Bad blogger! Bad! Another one from the Cold Case Files solved: 47-year-old Wayne Osbourne of Virginia has been charged in the 1988 murder of Diana Michael, who......

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......

It could be a better day for Metro. The second Metro incident within the city limits of Los Angeles of the day occurred at 8:50 p.m. tonight when a Gold Line train crashed into a vehicle near the Highland Park station. The motorist, a 30-year-old male, was transported to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries, reported Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department. Two Gold Line vs. car crashes occurred in September......

Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist *Update 5:00 p.m.* A beige Lexus SUV attempting to enter into the neighboring commercial building couldn't complete the turn, and mistakenly hit the accelerator rather than the brake. The motion sent the driver on a diagonal path through the awning of Barry's Tickets, then through the patio and front of Tokyo Ice, a sushi restaurant at 16161 Ventura Blvd. The business was preparing for its 5 o'clock opening and was......

The Malibu fire is now 25% contained. At least 35 structures have been destroyed and thousands were forced to flee as wind whipped flames ravaged the coastal town. The cause of the blaze is not known at this time, but crews haven't ruled out CNN's Glen Beck. In other fire-related news, two people died this morning when a house fire ripped through their Pasadena home. The cause of the fire is unknown. A woman......

Before I even start this, let me just say that I fall WAY outside of this movie's target demographic, so I'm expecting to be shouted down by hoards of Red Bull-addled teenage boys about this. Also, this movie will probably make more money than we've spent on Iraq in the past three years, but what the hell. Transformers sucks.......

In the wilds of Santa Monica, just south of Montana on a little street named Lincoln, lives this wonderful and mysterious creature. Some say its tears cure the sick, but I think those people have it confused with the Unicorn that lives on Pico. This is just a car that looks like a giant chicken. And thank God for that. More finger lickin' goodness after the jump.........