Nick's, home of delicious breakfast burritos, by Rebecca~James via LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr 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......

"...And the ancient empty street's too dead for dreaming" by kpe II via LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr Newly elected state speaker, a Democrat named Karen Bass who was raised in Los Angeles, has made friends on both sides of the aisle, the LA Times said. She is the first African-American to assume the top spot and has some pretty lofty goals, including providing healthcare and improving education. Wait, those are things EVERY......

Photo by atomicshakespeares via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Suffering from an Oscar hangover? Then check out the next generation of hot filmmakers at The Beverly Hills Shorts Festival, which begins tonight and runs through the weekend. The studio that brought you such blockbusters as the "Lord of the Rings" franchise will soon become only the merest shadow of its former self: Warner Brothers will be absorbing New Line Cinema, which employs......

"Banksy phone booth crashes Downtown LA?" by xxjetlab via LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr Five are dead and one person was hurt in an apparent murder-suicide in Yorba Linda, close to the Richard Nixon Library. A 14-year-old called in to report that his father had shot him. Police later found that the gunman shot his wife and 3 of his children before turning the gun on himself. As we have pointed out before,......

Both the Democrat and American Independent parties held open primaries on Super Tuesday. Voters who declined to state an affiliation were handed a "nonpartisan" ballot and were allowed to select a presidential candidate in either of the open primaries. The Los Angeles Times is reporting today that a large number of those voters in LA County may have failed to mark a special bubble on their ballots which could mean their votes won't be counted:......

Since Proposition 93 was rejected by voters yesterday, termed-out assemblymembers are out of a job come next year -- that includes Los Angeles Democrat Fabian Nunez who represents downtown (and south of it) and has been Speaker of the Assembly since 2003. Now, assemblymembers from up and down the state are looking to fill the speaker's shoes. But what the heck is so special about being Speaker of Assembly? What does this person do?......

Calling it the "double bubble" where Decline-To-State/Non-Partisan voters had to ink a Democratic bubble at the top of their card in order for their ballot to count, Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo called on the Los Angeles County Registrar and California Secretary of State to review and make sure the intent of everyone's vote counted. "In Los Angeles County alone, 776,000 voters are susceptible to double bubble trouble," Why Tuesday? writes in a......

Video by Zach Behrens/LAist LAist and Video The Vote teamed up to visit Dharma & Greg/Pump Up The Volume actor Mimi Kennedy over at her Van Nuys polling location where she is the poll inspector. She also happens to be the National Chair of the Progressive Democrats of America and sits on the California Election Protection Network. In the video, see the spot you're supposed to check if you are registered as a non-partisan......

This morning at Elysian Elementary in Echo Park | Photo by Andy Sternberg/LAist *UPDATE, 5:33 P.M.: More problems continue throughout LA County at the beach, in Santa Monica. At Los Angeles City Hall, two City Councilmembers had an emergency press conference telling voters to pay attention when voting and Dharma & Greg Actor Mimi Kennedy explains what's going on in a video interview with LAist. Also, Hillary Clinton answered our interview questions. We're getting......

While the remaining Republican candidates converged on Simi Valley yesterday to debate who was most like Ronald Reagan and the two Democratic candidates still standing in the race meet in Los Angeles later today to hash out who is most unlike Reagan, other political news sent shock waves through Washington D.C. that did not portend well for the Grand Ol' Party. Congressman Tom Davis, a Republican who represents the suburban 11th District of Virginia, said......

If you plan on participating in either the Republican or Democratic primary on February 5th (in two weeks) you MUST register to vote by midnight tonight. Don't panic, you don't have to rush out into traffic, just make sure your application (download it here) is postmarked by midnight. Dig the last-minute madness? You can drop your application in person at the LA County Clerk's desk in Norwalk (map) by midnight (see the OC Registrar [map]......

Los Angeles is $75 million in the red and the state is using the same colored crayon at $14 billion. And where's the Mayor? He's spending a lot of time with Hillary Clinton. Naysayers may suspect Mayor Villaraigosa is bored with LA already and is ready to climb the political ladder ASAP, but columnist Rick Orlov at the Daily News says it more has to do with a future run at Governor and better federal......

Daily News has a report on what Valley state representatives are planning to bring to the table in 2008, many of them green such as Glendale Democrat Paul Krekorian's push to have the state use more renewable energy while giving grants to local municipalities and school districts for that and reusable water. He also is looking into "permeable concrete," which lets water seep into the ground versus into a storm drain to the ocean.......

With two months left until the Feb. 5 California Primary and 31 days until the Iowa Caucus, candidates from both parties are in full election cycle mode as they try to convince voters of their cause. As we countdown to the Jan. 31 caucus and the CA. Primary, let's take a look at each candidate from the parties in a primer that is not intended to be complete but is meant to offer a brief......

1. The Obvious- My parents and sister are the most important people in the world to me. They support me in every boneheaded endeavor I partake in, and believe me, there are tons. It's astonishing how many, actually. 2. My friends. Once again, totally obvious. Once again, they're totally awesome. Much love to Porter House, SLC, Shalhevet, AU, and everyone who fits into all, some, or none of those categories. World rockers, each and every......

John Edwards is everywhere in LA this weekend. Today, at the Presidential Forum on Global Warming and yesterday, images are pouring in all over these internets of Edwards in Burbank at the WGA Strikes. Best photo caption goes to Variety's Strike Blog, Scribe Vibe, for this picture of Edwards screaming into a bullhorn: "John Edwards was campaign shoutin' like a Southern Democrat out there on Alameda Avenue." A statement released by John Edwards on November......

The Lovely Mistresses of George W. Bush Calendar....

- Franklin Ave: Photo of Elaine from Seinfeld as she was out on the picket lines, her new show is one of a half dozen that had to stop production today - LA Observed: No LA blog has covered the SB News Press fiasco better than Mr. Roderick, which is tricky since the N-P's website is decidedly Web 1.0. Today we learn that another staffer had to be escorted from the premises. - Defamer:......

Those of you who've been following the presidential race as closely as I have (and, really, who hasn't?) are no doubt aware of the conventional wisdom surrounding Hillary Clinton's candidacy – namely that she now appears unbeatable. Pundits and reporters alike have been buzzing about her insurmountable lead – often clocking in in the high double digits – over her next two closest rivals, Obama and Edwards, for what has seemingly been weeks now.......

Núñez represents downtown Los Angeles, to the south of, and East LA in the state assembly. It is rumored he wants to run for Mayor. It is not like Democrat Fabian Núñez, Speaker of the California State Assembly, is some bogus politician with bad intentions and total self-serving motives. I am not going to argue with him for looking into universal preschool, high speed rail and global warming solutions for California; in fact, I......

The TelePromTer-readers and out-of-touch-hate-mongers of the mainstream media thought that they were being super-cool by discussing/bitching about the presidential candidate debates that were posted on YouTube. So since that new, interesting, and youth-vote promoting aspect of the next election has been talked to death by the talking-heads, I have found these candidate related webpages to occupy me during my early in the ante meridian down-time: At SuperBook.com, you can go to their "Exotic Lines"......

If there's one thing I hate more than the MSM's obsessive coverage of the presidential campaigns, it's the gross fickleness and inanity inherent in the coverage itself. Given that the next president will need to tackle a whole host of weighty issues immediately upon taking office — global warming, the Iraq war, healthcare and the deficit, just to name a few — you might think the press would be busy providing in-depth and insightful......

Everybody's favorite "spoiler" third party candidate, Ralph Nader, may be gearing up for yet another encore in the forthcoming 2008 presidential election. According to a recent article in USA Today, Ralph Nader "told the Green Party's national convention that he is considering a 2008 presidential run." Apparently not yet satisfied with having already helped cost two prior Democratic nominees the presidency, Nader is primed and ready for another go if he deems it sufficiently......

Last night we showed you the Rosie O'Donnell vs Elisabeth Hasslebeck catfight. We felt sorta lame posting it because it was already 14 hours old and figured everyone had seen it by then, but today it was the most popular post all day on LAist. During the onslaught of traffic we got an email asking if we saw what happened to Elisabeth right after the break. Whaaaat? Apparently Alicia Silverstone, despite being a vegan......

If you don't know Melrose Larry Green, you might recognize him from Howard Stern. Or maybe you know of his book, Why The Clintons Belong in Jail. Maybe not. Maybe you knew him in Brooklyn in the 50s as Laurence Victor Greenblatt. Whatever the case is, Green is a local celebrity of some sort. Last Saturday at the Keep America Beautiful launch, where Hillary Clinton spoke, Green popped into our little video as we......

A Word Or 62: I hope to get a hold of at least a couple pints of this new Ben & Jerry's flavor. I am perennially pissed that I can never make it to the local B&J store to get the Pumpkin flavor so I know that this is all a conspiracy. Hopefully this will make red staters boycott B&J which just means - more for me!!! [Note that a lot of late night......

Next for the New York Times in LA: Gangs "At twilight on Friday, in the heart of the territory of the latest notorious Los Angeles gang, a woman in a passing car calls out a tip to Officer Dan Robbins, sending him racing toward a corner and a man he believes is a member of the 204th Street gang." (New York Times) Occidental College claims Obama "U.S. Sen. Barack Obama is usually described as......

LAist Exclusive! The Los Angeles Republican's Coalition apparently had their email list hacked on Monday, spamming as many as 1,500 subscribers. The one-line message unintentionally originated from the Congressional email address of a field representative for Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles). It read: "I've started to get spam through the address. Please, unsubscribe." The broadcast wasn't well received by the list's owner, because it suggested that the GOP organization was sending out junk mail to list......

A shirtless man walked toward them along a mud pathway. His muscles were young and hard, but his face was devastated with wrinkles. His eyes were so red that they appeared to be burned by fire. A naked boy ran happily toward him from a little plot of dirt. The man grabbed his young son in his arms, turned him upside down, and put the boy’s penis in his mouth. When we saw that......

Election season is in the air, and now the real fun -- trash talking, negative campaigning, more walking backwards in TV spots, etc. -- begins in earnest. But LAist stumbled upon this funny and semi-educational site, courtesy of Phil Angelides' campaign. (He's the Democrat running against the gubernator next month, in case you didn't know the name.) The Bush Buddies site (www.bsbuddies.com) allows users to design their very own "Bush Buddy Arnold" -- selecting......