The city's much-ballyhooed switch to Google for official city business two years ago — for e-mail, documents and other Google apps — has been an utter failure for the Los Angeles Police Department, according to documents obtained by the consumer advocacy group Consumer Watchdog. more ›

A controversial study showing that crime actually increased in the neighborhoods around shuttered dispensaries has been yanked from the the website of the think tank that commissioned the study. more ›

A new study shows that shutting down pot dispensaries could actually increase crime in neighborhoods — a finding that flies in the face of conventional wisdom. Local politicians have created laws to limit dispensaries, argue that they are magnets for crime. But the RAND Corporation's study pokes holes in that argument. more ›

Your chance to see Hanson take the stage at the Sunset Junction Festival could be hanging in the balance if organizers don't cough up fees from last year's festival, according to the Los Angeles Times. Organizers are already selling tickets. But the city is withholding permits that would allow the show to go on, until the festival pays back $267,000 in fees for police staffing and police closures from last year's event. more ›

Country bees may be at a disadvantage to their city swarming counterparts, despite their access to greater plots of flowers. Bees everywhere are fighting for survival, and studies are being conducted to determine the causes of the drop in population plus environments where bees thrive. more ›

If you're a college student in Los Angeles, does the city meet your needs? more ›

With one Los Angeles Times article, suddenly we're talking apples and oranges here in Los Angeles. Specifically, L.A. being nicknamed "The Big Orange." For years New York City has been referred to colloquially as "The Big Apple," as millions of visitors and residents have sought to take their own bite out of the major metropolis. The origins of the moniker stem from the early 20th century, and a sportswriter who peppered his horse racing stories with popular slang, and seemed to employ "The Big Apple" as a term for any major city... more ›

In addition to the $70 million Los Angeles could lose via raided redevelopment funds, another $166 million could be lost if $120 million in property tax revenue and $66 million in gas tax revenue are taken to fix the state budget, which will be voted on later this week by state legislators. The County of Los Angeles also stands to lose major funding, which could have long term effects in the billions. The county says they would lose $313.4 million in redevelopment, $109 million in gas taxes, $53.3 million from CalWorks (welfare program), $22.1 million in substance abuse crime prevention, $21 million for mental health managed care and $5.7 million in AIDS/HIV treatment and prevention, according to the LA Times. more ›

Nothing really happened yesterday in the capitol other than the Democratic plan to fix the budget went nowhere (for those following the possible closure of most all state parks, this means more time to advocate). Now Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg is vowing to work everyday to pass the budget by July 1st. If that date is not met, the state will begin sending IOUs instead of payments to bills. Here's to another day of being $24 billion in the red. more ›

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will release his proposed budget later this morning promising to to close the $530 million deficit for the upcoming fiscal year (July '09 through June '10) all while continuing to build the LAPD and preventing layoffs--up to 2,800 by his estimates--by asking employees to share the sacrifice. more ›

Budget cuts recently led to the Los Angeles Animal Services Department announcing they would no longer be able to offer low-cost spay/neuter services, despite the fact that just a year ago the City made spaying and neutering mandatory--a law that went into effect last October. more ›

Throughout the world, in major cities, there are legends of strange humanoids and elusive creatures living beneath the streets. In New York there were once many rumors of alligators occupying the sewer systems, and such creatures have been dredged up from below. In London there was once lore pertaining to subterranean folk inhabiting the gloomy, unused tunnels, but such whispers were never proven. Los Angeles is no exempt from the weirdness... more ›

The Information Technology Agency (ITA) of the City of LA is beginning the redesign of the City's official website. This is a god send considering the outdated website is a product of some ancient time, possibly 2004. They want residents to take this survey in order to help them make a new website that serves our needs. So the more of you that take it, the better the city will be able to serve you, in theory. Earlier this year, the city released a pretty killer tool that let's you follow city council motions vis RSS and E-mail. UPDATE: Today's the last day for this survey, so hurry up! more ›

Mahalo Daily has been locally focused the past couple of days. Yesterday, they spoke to people at the Santa Monica promenade about the effect of gas prices on their lives. Today, they tag along with the city's Bureau of Sanitation in South LA for a day of bulky item pickups. Good times. more ›

. more ›

As the country waits to see what the future holds for crusader turned illicit copulater Eliot Spitzer, it is worth examining what impact his prostitute predilection might have on the Democratic Party. more ›

American Flag. Check. more ›

The Hollywood Coalition of Neighborhood Councils is hosting a Town Hall on Thursday night to address "Parking, Planning and Transportation." more ›

more ›

In Rick Orlov's weekly Daily News column on City Hall and local politics, today he touches on the Democratic presidential race and Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa, who has recently been criticized for his time away from the city to campaign for Hillary Clinton. He defends his out-of-town moves and talks about what happens if Clinton loses: more ›

• Remember when we told you that Los Angeles tap water was the best tasting in the world? Turns out that our delicious H20 might have been sprinkled with delicious drugs. The AP found that a multitude of pharmaceuticals, like antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones, have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans including water in Southern California. Little Johnny has taken such a liking to water these days, I wonder what's gotten into him.
• On Friday, Newport Beach police were baffled when they found a fully clothed woman dead and packed in dry ice in an upscale hotel room near John Wayne Airport. The room was rented from known Cocaine dealer and the woman, whose body was well preserved, was apparently wanted on drug charges in Colorado.
• Before she was ousted for saying Hillary Clinton was a "monster" for some of the "underhanded" tactics used to defeat Barack Obama in the Ohio Primary, foreign policy adviser Samantha Powers took a few questions at LA City Beat. Nowhere in the interview does she disparage Clinton, but she does offer some pretty enlightening opinions, such as this opus on how to have a dignified foreign policy: "...if we could just sort of remember that there are individuals at stake, that the “human” in human rights is not an abstraction." On second thought, I'm glad she resigned. We can't have those sorts of hippie, drugged out commie type of relations with the world. It would be un-American!
• In other political news, a Democrat won a special election to fill a congressional seat left vacant in Illinois by outgoing Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert. Bill Foster claimed the seat partly on the strength of Obama, who campaigned for him. Obama supporters claimed this was a signal of things to come in what many observers said was a national referendum as John McCain campaigned for the Republican.
• An off-duty cop in Temecula allegedly shot 2 and killed 1 person over some sort of melee at a Mexican restaurant in Riverside. Guns don't kill people, crazy ass people with anger management problems do.
• A 21-year-old member of the San Fernando Valley Illegal Soapbox Federation died this morning when his adorable little vehicle collided with a light pole in Tarzana. Thing is, it may not have been so adorable. The motto of the local soapbox federation is, "Action, Mayhem, Destruction, Bodily Harm...All For Free". I'm sorry, it seems pretty tough to macho yourself out when riding in a little cart made for 6-year-olds.
• Andy LaRoche got some bad news this weekend. The Dodger third baseman who was expected to share time with Nomar Garciaparra at the hot corner this season is out 8-10 weeks with a ligament tear in his thumb after getting hit trying to catch an attempted pickoff at third during a pre-season game Friday against the St. Louis Cardinals. Learn this name kids: Blake Dewitt. He's been tearing up Spring Training pitching and flashing some great leather. He could get some time at third in LaRoche's absence.

• Gothamist found that an explosive set off outside the Times Square army recruiting center may be similar to five past bombings in New York City.
• Seattlest worried when severed right feet and bottles of rat poison started washing up on local beaches.
• Shanghaiist was surprised by Bjork's rooting for Tibetan independence at her concert (see video), and the political fallout has only just begun.
• SFist debated the merits of new bronze plaques that will be placed in locations where San Francisco's homeless have died.
• DCist was obliged to respond to the worst Washington Post Outlook column ever published, in which conservative writer Charlotte Allen tried to make the case that women are dumb.
• LAist found Satan's ice cream truck trolling the streets, and they recorded the music.
• Some crafty Torontoist readers didn't like the dearth of ski hills in downtown Toronto, so they just built one of their own on their deck and (of course) recorded a video of them all taking turns on it.
• Bostonist knows the city's subway and bus system, the MBTA, has problems. So does this 17-year-old who submitted a report and told the MBTA brass how to fix it.
• Phillyist explored the possibility of an Ivy League prostitute, while their commenters debated the most ethical approach to proving or debunking the story.
• Londonist spent a little too much time looking at airbrushed operatic private parts, and enjoyed an enlightening comment from someone who was there. more ›

more ›

Getting a parking ticket just downright blows, agreed? It can be the ultimate day-ruining moment, especially if you're having the proverbial "one of those days" to begin with. more ›

more ›

• Councilman Tom LaBonge: luh-BONJ
• County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky: yaar-o-SLAV-skee
• Councilman Jose Huizar: WEE-sar

View Larger Map more ›

Update 8:25am, 3/7: "Laura Eimiller, an FBI spokeswoman in Los Angeles, said an individual was questioned there about the letters to Congress and "there is no evidence linking the letters, which contained no threat, to the bombing," according to ABC7.

more ›