Photo by delara-photos via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr The trial of Juan Manuel Alvarez began today. Among his charges are 11 counts of murder for the January 2005 incident involving him parking his car on the tracks and causing a Metrolink train to derail. The stretch of San Diego beach closed to the public last week following a fatal shark attack has reopened. Swimmers are cautioned to keep close to the......

“Last night was the first night I could open my windows and enjoy my home undisturbed by the roosters,” a neighbor said to the Los Angeles City Animal Cruelty Task Force (ACTF). He lived near or on the 10400 block of Variel Avenue in Chatsworth where someone tipped the ACTF off to an alleged cockfighter. But when the special task force, made up of Los Angeles police officers and detectives, animal services’ officers and city......

View Larger Map In what Los Angeles Fire Department officials called a "dramatic collision," a full size white SUV, brand new still with paper license plates, tumbled off the southbound 170 Hollywood Freeway off-ramp late Saturday night onto Burbank Blvd. barely missing an LAPD squad car that passed by the very same spot just moments before. It was said the sergeant saw the crash, feet away, in his rear view mirror. It appears that a......

Update on why Ventura Blvd. in Studio City was shut down this afternoon by the LAPD: according to the North Hollywood Police Division, the shooting took place at De Soto Ave and Gresham St. in Chatsworth. Later, the suspect's car was found at the Studio City 7-11, prompting the LAPD shut down the area to search (hence all the helicopters). The suspect was later found in the city of Fontana and was arrested without......

In the photographer's own words: "This shot was taken Sunday morning behind the Chatsworth Courthouse on Penfield Ave. It was one of those bright, clear, brisk mornings we get right after a rain. The place was deserted and the scene just seemed a little surreal. The sploches are reflections off the building's windows." Ken Elias is a frequent contributor to our LAist Featured Photo pool on Flickr. Photo by kpe II (Ken Elias) via......