If you have a hankie, please reach for it now: The cutest, palest, sweetest, veganest alt-rock couple are donesville: Ben Gibbard and Zooey Deschanel have announced the are breaking up. more ›

A man and woman are both hospitalized but expected to live after being shot this morning in Pasadena, reports the Pasadena Star News. The shooting happened around 2 a.m. The man was hit in a hand and a leg, and the woman was hit in the lower abdomen. more ›

After 25 years of marriage, California's former governor and first lady are putting their marriage on hold, according to the L.A. Times. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver announced their separation tonight, revealing that Shriver will move out of the couple's Brentwood family home. The two high-profile personalities say they plan to live apart while they "work on the future of [their] relationship." more ›

Maybe all headline-making R&B star Chris Brown needed was some face time with girlfriend Rihanna under her beach "Umbrella." It seems the pair are back together now, three weeks after their Grammy no-show, Brown's arrest, and Rihanna's battered mug made news and drove the young lovers apart, according to People magazine. The rag mag relies on unnamed sources to spill the dirt on the duo, who were expected to next meet in court here in LA, and not "at one of Sean 'Diddy' Combs's homes, on Miami Beach's Star Island," where they are reported to be right now. Says the anon source: "While Chris is reflective and saddened about what happened, he is really happy to be with the woman he loves." Many had hoped this horrible incident would lead to Rihanna speaking up for herself and on behalf of abused women everywhere, perhaps bringing to light--as Tina Turner did more than a generation ago--that physical abuse in a romantic pairing still happens in the spotlight. It seems this latest chapter only teaches us that love hurts. Ouch. more ›

After LAist learned that Los Angeles County was suspending marriage licenses for gay couples, we asked Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan for some more detail on why and what next, especially in light of the millions of uncounted ballots. Here's what he said: more ›

My oh my, how things change fast. California's marriage licenses identified each of the couples by either bride and groom before gay marriage was legalized in May when it changed to Party A and Party B. But after many complaints and one couple threatening to sue, the state changed it back--this time with a few changes. "The new form will apply for same-sex and heterosexual marriages, and applicants may also decline to check any box at all," reported The Granite Bay View who quoted Suanne Buggy, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Public Health, saying "You could check bride and groom, bride and bride, groom and groom. And it is completely optional if a couple decides they don’t want to check anything at all.” The new forms will be available in November. more ›

The big day has arrived and today, as of 5:01 p.m., the first same-sex couples in California will be married. But like in most counties, Los Angeles County will not officially begin ceremonies until tomorrow morning. Only three counties throughout the state -- Alameda, Sonoma and Yolo -- opted keep offices open after hours to perform marriages. more ›