"Fire in the Sky" by manmadepants via LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr Sacramento to California's teachers: I love you, but I just can't pay you. Thousands of teachers across the state this week could receive pink slips in the wake of the $14.5 billion budget gap. Teachers to Sacramento: I'd like to see you try and force us out. The Air Quality Management District loves clean air so much they decided to impose......

Bikes and graffiti are on tap for today. / Photo by Lush.i.ous via LAist's flickr pool. GRAFFITI ART Ghettogloss presents the graffiti art of Jersey Joe in Silverlake. The exhibit runs until March 20, but the opening reception is tonight from 7-midnight. 7 pm // Ghettogloss // 2380 Glendale Blvd #C, Los Angeles // Free. RIDE & TALK * RIDE-Arc monthly ride -- themed "Trolly" -- happens tonight. The group rides along for awhile......

"Sister Cities" | Photo by Stephanie Asher via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr An update on yesterday's Harbor-Gateway shooting of a 6-year-old in a car. LAPD Chief Bratton announced: "We are very confident that we have the people who were involved in the actual shooting in custody." For the Lakers fans out there, LA City Councilman Bernard Parks declared today as "Derek Fisher Day." 1,817. That's the number of teacher layoffs so......

View Larger Map *UPDATE, Weds. 3/5, 10:00 a.m.: The suspect who was shot is believed to be the North Hollywood-area's "Skeleton Bandit." He died in hospital from his injuries after being removed from the scene. *UPDATE, 11:24 p.m.: The alleged robber who was shot by the U.S. Marshal is now at the hospital in critical condition and the suspected accomplice is still at large according to Officer April Harding of the LAPD. So how was......

Reeve Oliver plays Tuesday nights at the Key Club this month | Photo via their MySpace Tuesdays are usually slow nights in LA for music and as bands prep to head Texas-way for SXSW, we'll probably see even fewer choices like tonight. But fewer doesn't mean worse. Mountain Goats and Jeffrey Lewis (great video below) play at the Troubadour tonight (and tomorrow), Working For A Nuclear Free City is back with another concert, this......

Photo by pink_fish13 via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Police are investigating the tragic shooting death of Los Angeles High School's Jamiel Shaw. The football MVP was gunned down by gang members last night. The 17-year-old's mother is on her second tour of duty in Iraq. The suspect in last week's shooting at a South LA bus stop is facing 15 felony counts and was arraigned today on the charges. The 24-year-old......

Test Your Reflex plays this month at Hotel Cafe on Wednesdays | Photo by Luke Wooden via their MySpace Despite SXSW starting up this week with 100+ Los Angeles based bands heading over there, residencies are growing stronger and more venue-diverse across the line, especially on Monday nights where the volume makes it hard to choose from. Here's to a great month of residencies, rock on. Mondays The Chapin Sisters @ The Echo (Free),......

Tonight is round three of an ongoing David & Goliath battle between LA’s Eco-Village Community and the heavily funded Los Angeles Unified School District. The Los Angeles Eco-Village Intentional Community (LAEV-IC) is an internationally recognized sustainable community and is part of the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED-Neighborhood Development pilot program. At issue the fact that in order to build Central Region Elementary School #20 in the neighborhood, the LAUSD wants to raze approximately 40 units......

Don't try this at home -- or at the Civic Center Metro Station. / Photo by puck90 via LAist's flickr pool. TRANSIT TALK Metro is studying alternatives for connecting the Gold, Blue and Expo lines through downtown Los Angeles. This study will examine linking the future Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension (near the Little Tokyo/Arts District Station) and the 7th Street/Metro Center Station. Tonight Metro will update the public on the project and allow......

One of my favorite food writers, Jeffrey Steingarten, once did an elaborate and methodical taste test of several different varieties of tap and bottled water. After much research and even more adjectives, he came to the shocking conclusion that New York tap water was most pleasing to the palate. And now Los Angeles tap water has every right to brag as well: it won the award for best municipal water at the 18th annual......

Arthur Paul Carmona, 26, an advocate for people wrongly accused of crimes who was wrongly accused himself and incarcerated for 2 1/2 years as a teenager in Orange County was killed this weekend. His name became widely known when he was arrested when he was 16 and convicted of robbing two juice bars in Irvine and Costa Mesa:His mother mustered support for her son and political and community outrage followed over police tactics that led......

Only a few more years of this before the Oscars moves out of Hollywood and Cirque de Soleil moves into the Kodak Theatre for a permanent show in 2010. Luckily, six days until the big event and impacts particular to tonight are minimal. From 10 p.m. tonight to 6 a.m. Tuesday morning, closures include Hollywood Blvd. from Highland Ave. to Orange Dr., part of the Hawthorne Alley on the east side of the El Capitan......

Plans to expand the Long Beach airport have cleared a long-standing hurdle, as a Superior Court judge ruled yesterday that "that the city did not violate state law when it approved an environmental report for the expansion." There has been tremendous tension between the city and residents regarding the potential harm to air quality and noise in the area if the airport receives the addition of a new parking garage and an expanded terminal. The......

The eighth grade student who was shot by a classmate at Oxnard's Green Junior High School on Tuesday died in hospital Wednesday. 15-year-old Lawrence King was shot twice at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday in a computer lab where at least 20 students were working. 14-year-old classmate Brandon McInerney was behind the trigger, according to witnesses. *UPDATE 12:30 p.m.: The 14-year-old suspect was charged with attempted murder (likely to be upgraded to murder) with a hate-crime enhancement......

Last week we created a map showing primary election results by county in California and today we'll break it down further. Below is a map with a headshot of the winning candidate in the center (more or less) of each district. Click on each placemarker to see that district's results. View Larger Map Hillary Clinton beat Barack Obama by a similar margin in LA County as she did in the state, and by significantly greater......

Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist Last Monday, State Senator Bob Dutton, a Republican representing the 31st District (cities East of Los Angeles including Riverside and Rancho Cucamonga), introduced Senate Bill 1142, a bill that would make changes to 21455.5 of the Vehicle Code. You may be more familiar with the law when put this way: it allows enforcement cameras at intersections (don't run a red light or you'll be on candid camera). The Legislative Counsel......

Vegan Waffles and 'Chicken' | All Photos by Zach Behrens/LAist All good things come from the Valley first. Lucky for those who stay "over the hill," Executive Chef David Anderson at LA's fanciest and tastiest vegan affair in the Tarzana Safari Walk (yes, that's an official Los Angeles Neighborhood, city blue sign and all), there is plans to open up a new vegan eatery with full bar on the Westside according to VegNews, who......

Yes, kids, Clinton took the state for the Dems, and McCain nabbed a GOP victory here in California, but the rest of yesterday's ballot had some very important propositions and measures on the line. Here's how things shook out:Proposition 91 (Gasoline Tax): DEFEATED Proposition 92 (Community College costs lowered): DEFEATED Proposition 93 (Term Limits): DEFEATED Propositions 94-97 (Indian Gaming): PASSED LA City Proposition S (the "phone tax" prop): PASSED Area-specific Measures: Measure B, a communications......

What's more shocking: Kids in LAUSD high schools are apathetic towards their education, or LAUSD high schools aren't providing students with enough assistance in moving them towards post-secondary education? According to a report released Monday, a multitude of LAUSD high school students are coming up close--but not close enough--to qualify for admission to schools in the UC and CSU systems. The LA Times explains that the "report is a snapshot of 20 high schools......

These neighborhood projects are a heck of a lot of work. All of the writing, research, fact-checking, map-making, walking around, metro-riding, photographing, uploading, downloading, sun-block wearing, and image re-sizing is not easy. Trying to maximize my lazing potential, I volunteered to document the Jewelry District figuring that the neighborhood's mere six square blocks shouldn't be too much work. I got off the Metro thinking "I've been here a million times, I know where the......

Photo by Wm Jas via Flickr After the Humane Soceity of the United States released a video (seen below) of abused cows at a Chino slaughterhouse, the U.S. Department of Agriculture began an investigation on Wednesday. With a quick response, The California Department of Education Nutrition Services Division urged all public schools to check where their cafeteria meat was coming from and two fast food chains cut their ties with the Chino based Westland/Hallmark......

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......

A reader, Zach, submitted a question last week about RVs parking on his street in Hollywood: I live on Gower, south of Sunset, and my street is always filled with homeless people living in RVs. Is there any recourse I can take to get them to leave? Are they breaking any laws?Technically, these folks are not breaking the law... yet. And all this can change in a matter of a few months all because LADOT......

UPDATE: Looks like the forces of Truth, Justice and the Irishican Way prevailed everyone - It's not hard in here for a Once after all: "The Academy’s music branch executive committee has met and endorsed the validity of 'Falling Slowly' as a nominated achievement. The committee relied on written assurances and detailed chronologies provided by songwriter of 'Falling Slowly', the writer-director of Once and Fox Searchlight." So there you go - The good guys......

Downtown's historic Broadway Theater District could soon be getting a boost from the City. The Downtown News is reporting that a press conference on the area is planned for tomorrow morning, and that City Coucilman José Huizar (14th district) and Mayor Villaraigosa will be on hand to share with local business and land owners their goals and intentions. As revitalization takes place throughout LA's downtown area, many are seeking to extend the developments and improvements......

Pasadena ARTS Bus/Gold Line Map We are not all drivers, we are not all cyclists, we are not all transit riders, but we are all pedestrians. Every trip we take starts and ends with a walking trip. And no matter what part of the Los Angeles area you're in, walking can be, well, no walk in the park. There's always something: a bad sidewalk, ditzy drivers, driveways, the lack of a sidewalk, zero street......

Fairfax Avenue is the Bomb!!! Declining enrollment and rising costs means less expansion and construction to help relieve overcrowding in LAUSD schools. The LA Times reports that "since the fall, the school system has canceled plans for 19 new schools and additions to existing campuses in South Gate, Bell, Van Nuys, San Fernando, Sun Valley and central Los Angeles, among other areas, citing new enrollment projections." Kids, you don't mind sharing that book, do......

A reader submitted a question last week about pigeons in Downtown: pigeons droppings are a major nuisance and a health hazard here in downtown LA, where people keep feeding the birds. Please let me know if there is an ordinance against that, and as a private citizen where does one go to enforce it. Thank you. So, to answer this question, we turn to the Los Angeles Municipal Code (that pesky LAMC that is......

Tonight's episode of HBO's "Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel," will investigate the Reggie Bush controversy. This segment will include an interview with Lloyd Lake, the man who claims to have given Bush $291,600 in cash, living arrangements and other benefits while he was playing at USC. If these allegations are true, Bush may be stripped of his Heisman Trophy which he won in 2005 as a Junior and the Trojans' may be forced to give......

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......