American Airlines Flight 81 made an emergency landing at LAX around 9:30 this morning, temporarily shutting down the airport as passengers exited on the runway via the plane's emergency chutes. The pilot of the Honolulu-bound 757 reported smoke in the cockpit shortly after liftoff. The plane circled around the airport and landed soon after on runway 7-Left. LAFD assisted passengers down two emergency chutes. No injuries were reported. No fire was found and the cause......

Painted out graffiti is reminiscent of a Mark Rothko painting | Photo by Lord Jim via Flickr In light of the new graffiti law Gov. Schwarzenegger signed into law this week, the Associated Press has looked into a concerning pattern about graffiti taggers and the public's safety. Over the past couple years, four people have died when approaching or witnessing taggers in action. To see how insane some taggers can get, one former tagger......

President Bush today declared the entire state of California to be in a state of emergency and ordered 75 percent federal funding for firefighting efforts. "I just took off with the plane down from Los Angeles and, literally from Los Angeles all the way up here, there was smoke, so you can see that there's fire everywhere," Gov. Schwarzenegger noted in an earlier request for federal aid. "This fire season has started with a vengeance,''......

A fire that began with a spark of lightning in Big Sur is now responsible for burning over 42 acres and is reportedly only 3 per cent contained. A 12-mile segment of the Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1) has been closed down as firefighters work to control the blaze. Over 1,000 fires have been burning in Northern California for the past week, many of which were ignited by lightning strikes. President Bush has declared a......

An American Airlines Boeing 757 made an emergency landing today at LAX due to smoke reported by the pilot. The flight carrying passengers from San Francisco to Miami was also carrying hazardous materials, but, at first it was unknown if they were the cause the incident that diverted the plane to the airport. Later, FAA officials said that the material was hydrochloric acid and it was not the cause -- it probably came from a......

A magnitude 7.8 earthquake scenario could play out like this The Great Southern California ShakeOut was officially announced today where millions of Southern Californians will “Drop, Cover, and Hold On” (register at www.ShakeOut.org) as thousands of emergency responders statewide take part in the largest-ever earthquake response drill called "Golden Guardian." The hypothetical magnitude 7.8 earthquake will rupture the San Andreas Fault at 10 a.m. on November 13. "An enormous earthquake is definitely in our......

The media has been reporting various small quakes over the last week. But is that really something to worry about? "It’s not uncommon for Orange County to experience several microquakes every week," Sciencedude Gary Robbins said at the OC Register in a brief about the three recent microquakes in Orange County. His statement goes for all of Southern California -- small quakes happen all the time. A daily viewing of the USGS' recent earthquake map......

Jan. 17, 1994: the covered body of Los Angeles motorcycle officer Clarence W. Dean lays near his motorcycle which plunged off Highway 14 overpass that collapsed onto Interstate 5 (AP Photo/Doug Pizac) Hollywood studios are not the ones behind the latest script detailing a massive future earthquake hitting Los Angeles. This time, it's scientists and other quake experts... over 300 of them. Specifically, the U.S. Geological Survey and California Geological Survey have collaborated to......

Thirteen Injured: An explosion at the Bayfront Hilton in San Diego sent multiple victims to the hospital this afternoon. Two were reported to have suffered major trauma and six were seriously hurt, according to NBC San Diego. It was said that natural gas was smelled before the explosion. Culver City Evacuation: It appears that the Pacific Culver Stadium 12 at Culver Blvd. and Irving Place was evacuated after a gas line rupture was reported near......

What a man had been in procession of for some time and brought to a Huntington Beach fire station at Heil Ave. and Springdale was not something the firefighters wanted in their house. They evacuated and called the Orange County Bomb squad who in turn called Marines from Camp Pendleton who are expected to arrive at 3:00 p.m. A man bought what he thought was a dummy mortar round from an estate sale. He planned......

Can we say embarrassing? The LA Times reports in an investigation that there are major problems with cell phone 9-1-1 emergency calls.Elementary school counselor Brad Edwards said he waited eight harrowing minutes last year before a dispatcher picked up his cell call about a boy who had collapsed on a Los Angeles schoolyard and begun foaming from the mouth. "The fire station is just a few blocks away. I could have run there faster......

Hey, we know that our constant nagging at you to get yourself some water to store away for that ominous future disaster that everyone thinks is going to happen can get exasperating -- we call it Chinese water torture. And we really shouldn't say 'think' either. Let's say, "we know it's going to happen." It's true; people are still out there living their lives day to day without any thought to preparing for a......

There was a 6.6 earthquake yesterday in Hawaii. It gets us thinking... 1. Buy water for your home. 2. Do you have at least a half tank of gas in your car at all times? It would kinda suck if you were nearing empty when the big one struck. 3. Buy water for your car. 4. We would hate to be stuck at the office when a major earthquake that doesn't give us the......

You work a 9-80, freelance like us, or maybe you don't have job. Whatever the case is, Councilman Tom LaBonge has something for you tomorrow morning. So be alert and be ready to report to Fire Station 27 in Hollywood for the new First Fridays: "Growing up in Los Angeles during the Cold War, we practiced drills every first Friday each month as the city's air raid sirens went off. While the Cold War......