An LAPD prostitution sting along Lankershim Boulevard last Thursday ensnared a county worker, who just happened to be driving a county-issued truck at the time. Mitchell Tharp, 49, a 12-year veteran of the county was arrested for trying to pick up a prostitute, according to the Daily News. more ›

The infamous sprawl of the Southland and its many municipalities makes it a challenge compared to other cities. That's why Metro is hosting meetings to think about the big picture: what would a county-wide bike-sharing program look like? 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 ›

The Department of Justice announced that they are probing the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in the Antelope Valley, where deputies have been accused of violating the civil rights of minority residents in Section 8 housing. "In interviews with affected individuals and community representatives, we heard troubling accounts of allegedly unjustified stops and searches," Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez said, in a statement. more ›

Polystyrene food containers will soon be a thing of the past at buildings and concessions owned or operated by the County of Los Angeles, according to the LA Times. more ›

The Los Angeles County Public Works Department is using Twitter to keep people connected with the latest updates on the lay of the land. Just launched, @LACoSurveyor aims to use the free social media service to keep people apprised about "tract map and parcel map recordations throughout Los Angeles County, including the unincorporated areas and all 88 cities," via daily updates. more ›

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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 ›

The County of Los Angeles has gone ahead and busted themselves. "This is government at its worst," Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky was quoted saying in the LA Times. "We have a problem, no question about it. But we are going to move quickly to fix it." The county started auditing themselves after they found over 300 unused lines at the now-closed Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital. The $1.5 million number only totals what they've discovered so far and it could double when they finish with 16,000 useless lines. Any savings is good news, especially in this economy, but the County has a long way to go. The $22.8 billion budget has department heads trying to cut as much as 13%. more ›

Following suit with the LA Department of Water (LADWP), a city agency, the LA County Board of Supervisors declared a water emergency today for three the county areas. Residents served by the Department of Public Works (LADPW) will have to meet a lower 15% tier usage rate or face higher fees, a similar system to the city of Los Angeles. Also, the Board approved to charge customers for "water service availability" in Kagel Canyon, Malibu, Val Verde, Acton and the Antelope Valley. 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 ›

Yesterday a panel of hospital and government officials voiced concerns over overcrowding in Los Angeles emergency rooms and called for the creation of more community health clinics in the county.ER overcrowding is a growing problem in California for a number of reasons. more ›

One day after winning the election for the 2nd District seat on the LA County Board of Supervisors, the heavily union supported Mark Ridley-Thomas set his agenda that included "better compensation for county workers and a pledge to reopen Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital by January 2010," the LA Times reports. more ›

In a race against former LAPD Chief and current LA City Councilman Bernard Parks, State Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas won the 2nd District LA County Board of Supervisors seat by nearly 23 percent. more ›

The bloggers who helped bring the taco truck ban in unincorporated areas of Los Angeles to national headlines have done some sleuthing with a particular commenter's IP address (it's like a digital fingerprint) who left comments bashing the cause to save the savory street food. When they compared the address left on their website to the address listed on Wikipedia page edits about the County, it was the same. more ›

LA Times Road Sage Steve Hymon went on a bike ride last night around the Pasadena area. He hit a red light in an unincorporated part of LA County and sat there waiting for it to turn green. He waited and waited. It never did... until a car showed up and activated the signal loop finally turning it green. "By which time my face is red." One has to ask, will County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, whose district this happened in, come to champion bicycle issues? more ›

Last year in May, Edith Isabel Rodriguez died at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital. Her death became national headlines because Rodriguez was dying (literally throwing up blood on the floor) in the waiting room as nurses and other hospital staff continued to ignore her as they walked by. Rodriguez's husband, Jose Prado, and another person in the waiting room called 911 explaining that she was in need of help. But dispatchers refused saying she was already a hospital. more ›

The Los Angeles Times conducted a survey of all 58 counties in California asking about policies relating to same-sex marriage. 35 stated that employees were not allowed to opt out of officiating over marriages for any reason; or, at least, no reservations were expressed by clerks in those counties. more ›

Yes, as reported in various LA Newspaper Group dailies, there is an East L.A. Taqueros Union. And they are going to fight a law that the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted "yes" on Tuesday -- taco trucks have to move every 60 minutes or face $1000 fines or jail time. more ›

It was a bloody weekend all across the Southland: after a body was found under the 118 overpass, two separate party shootings with fatal results and two more dead in separate incidents in the O.C., more violence broke out in South L.A. late last night. An adult man and a teenage girl, aged 14, were wounded in a seemingly random shooting attack last night outside of a housing project in South Los Angeles. The shooting took place around 11:30pm last night. more ›

Now that Thanksgiving is over and Christmas Tree shopping is in order, it's a good time keep in mind that when it comes time to get rid of that tree, you can recycle it. If you have a green yard trimmings container, then you can the tree up and place it in there. If not, it's a good thing the Department of Public Works is already pushing their Christmas Tree Recycling Program that will be... more ›

Even Flat Stanley pays his Orange Line fare. The Daily News has an idea. We're not so much into it, but here is how it goes. While Metro contracts with LA County Sheriff's, the LAPD has a man who knows something about enforcing ticketless travelers on transit systems and he happens to be top cop Chief William Bratton. Some will remember that he became famous for his "broken windows" theory that enforced smaller crimes... more ›

Only one major event for the Los Angeles Fire Department today in which 30 firefighters quickly fought a three-story commercial building at 515 S. Los Angeles St. Lindsay Lohan lawyers claim she's innocent in the crash involving Raymundo Ortega and his black Mercedes, citing that Ortega made an illegal U-Turn to snag a parking space putting him in Lohan's tracks. The case will go to trial in April. Five oriental fruit flies have been... more ›

The LA Times has definitely had its fair share of scandals in the near past with firings and hirings. Yet recently, content wise, the watchdog coverage of scandalicious politicians has been riveting. There is Mayor V and then there was the daily pounding of Rocky Delgadillo. The newest politician in the ring is 74-year-old 2nd district county supervisor Yvonne Burke who represents Watts, Culver City, Compton, South LA, Hollywood, Marina Del Rey, Inglewood to... more ›

Do we need to say much more than that to give you a "ha!" and an "uhhhhh?" at the same time (now this should be the definition of interrobang)? Supposedly, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's were in the midst of a training exercise that included this bag of dummy explosives. But someone who wasn't supposed to get to them, got to them first and stole it. Metro stopped the Gold and Red Lines before hitting... more ›

Since I was hired to work on one of the LAUSD campaigns as an e-mail marketer, I have been keeping my mouth shut on this blog about it. And I am not going to sit here and tell you why you should vote for my candidate in the runoff election or am I really going to talk about "life on the e-campaign trail," but I am going to tell you that this election was... more ›

We didn't say it. Tony Bell said it to the LA Times' Steve Hymon. Who is Bell? Bell is the communications director for Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich. And to be fair, Bell thinks "light rail down one of the major east-west streets on the Westside might be the better solution." So trains are not totally out. Here's another Bell quote: "The supervisor understands — as do most county residents — that we... more ›

Did you know that you don't need health insurance to get tested for AIDS and STDs in LA County? The County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health Sexually Transmitted Disease Program is complimentary to its residents. So don't wait. Go and use it. We are not AIDS experts here, but we believe in a simple idea. If everyone would get tested at least once a year, the spread of AIDS and STDs would... more ›