Ah, the dark underbelly of local politics... The Mayor of El Monte, Ernie Gutierrez, has been accused by a resident of being intoxicated at a city-sponsored event recently, which may have led him to shout vulgarities and publicly grope his alleged girlfriend, Graciela Solano. Gutierrez, who is married, did not respond to the accusations, which were raised earlier this month in a City Council meeting. In response, City Manager Jim Mussenden says "a report on......

Photo of unrelated puppy by droid via Flickr In Lancaster last night, a six month old dog was lit on fire. Luckily, witnesses heard the yelping puppy and extinguished the fire with a jacket. The dog, a pit bull mix, was taken to an animal shelter while police investigated looking for the culprit. More odd news came out of Lancaster earlier this year when a man was killed by an arrow while crossing the......

Photo by _ROXANNE_ via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr After heisting a rental car that was just about to be rented out, a woman led police on a wild three-county tour of SoCal which ended with her being put out by a spike strip. The chase began in Anaheim and ended near Camp Pendleton. A pot bust took place late last night in a gated community in El Monte, netting cops 1,000......

Photo by Try Hank via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr The "severely decomposed" body of an infant has been found in Santa Ana. An area resident saw a dog playing with something unusual, which turned out to be the baby, whose body has been taken to the Orange County coroner's office for an autopsy. Police may now be ruling yesterday's 101 freeway death a suicide, reports the Daily News. Initial reports intimated......

On the Pier in Santa Monica Mr. Lincoln, we like your pennies, says the US Postal service, just a day shy of his birthday. To celebrate, they announced today that postage will go up by 1 cent to 42 cents, effective May 12th. A 15-minute car chase had CHP officers trying to catch up with a woman wanted in a forgery case today. The pursuit began in El Monte and ended in Sylmar, reaching......

Last week Monday, Metro released a series of service enhancements and additions including the new Gold Line schedule. In the additions bucket came two new Metro Rapid lines, both starting in Downtown. The 728 runs between Downtown and Century City, mostly along Olympic Blvd. A ride review by Wad at MetroRiderLA finds that the busy thoroughfare "has a cross-cultural crosstown aspect" as it runs through Central American community of Pico-Union, Koreatown, Little Ethiopia, South Carthay......

Late last week the MTA board announced plans to convert some of LA County's car-pool lanes on heavily traveled freeways to toll lanes. The Daily News reported thatUnder the plan, solo drivers could use the car-pool lanes if they pay a toll. Vehicles with two or more occupants - which currently use the lanes for free - would also pay a toll, although less than solo drivers. It's unclear how the plan would apply......

Company the runs LA County jails inmate stores underpaid services - Daily News Trapeze artist plunges to death in South El Monte. Well, there go my dreams of going to circus school. - LA Times Phil's trial delayed because of his attorney, Bruce Cutler's, illness. He's probably allergic to those wigs. - TV Guide LA Immigration rally experiences low turnout. Maybe traffic wasn't that bad today after all. - AC LAWeekly co-founder Jay Levin's RealTalkLA......

Get stuck at the office tidying up the PowerPoint decks and missed the fireworks last night? Maybe you got drunk in the afternoon, took a little nap "just to rest the eyes" at 6p and didnt wake up till midnight. Or perhaps you were snorting rails off the flawless bellies of two of the cutest little hollywood starlets you've met in a very very long time, and forgot to open up the drapes of......

Earlier this week when we were hurting from the evils of drink, we got this advice over and over: exercise. Realizing you may have had a bit of liquor last night -- and keeping in mind that weather may soon make this impossible -- we suggest a series of walking/hiking resources. Because the air might do you good. The new book Walking LA by Erin Mahoney has a great set of walking tours that......

We're not quite sure how Captain Smith could have been confused by what he saw when El Segundo officers dropped off a homeless gentleman on Skid Row with his bag but El Segundo's Police Department claims he must've been. See, they, like Pasadena, Burbank and El Monte would never do such a thing. That the LAPD had to issue an order to stop other out-of-area police whom they suspected of delivering their homeless to......