Entries from LAist tagged with 'fbi'
March 7, 2008
Photographs of the damaged recruiting center (above) and Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly (below) by Mary Altaffer/AP After reports that 10 members of congress, including California Senator Dianne Feinstein, received letters and photos in the mail that possibly claimed responsibility for yesterday's bombing in Times Square, the FBI did the obvious thing: go to the man's house who was listed on the return address. Nothing turned up when they questioned the man. "We're......
Continue Reading "Hollywood Hills Man Not Connected to NYC Bombing"March 6, 2008
Photograph of police investigating the explosion scene in Times Square by Mary Altaffer/AP Update 8:25am, 3/7: "Laura Eimiller, an FBI spokeswoman in Los Angeles, said an individual was questioned there about the letters to Congress and "there is no evidence linking the letters, which contained no threat, to the bombing," according to ABC7.This morning's explosion in New York City's Times Square has a possible Los Angeles connection in the form of a return address......
Continue Reading "LA Connection to NYC Times Square Bombing*"February 11, 2008
Two Chinese immigrants in different parts of the country were charged in separate cases of espionage today, the Associated Press reports. One of them was based here:In Los Angeles, former Boeing engineer "Greg'' Chung was arrested on charges of working as an unregistered agent for the Chinese government who stole trade secrets from the defense contractor. Prosecutors say the stolen data largely focused on aerospace programs. Chung, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was indicted last week......
Continue Reading "Alleged LA Based Chinese Espionage Revealed Today"February 6, 2008
It sounds a little like something you might see on COPS: What was just going to be a routine traffic stop in Glendale turned out to be a major nab for the FBI. Police pulled over Sarkis "Sako" Militonyan on January 27th because his white Chevy Tahoe had no plates and was positioned in two lanes. According to the Daily News, the cops "discovered he was a fugitive and a search of his SUV turned......
Continue Reading "Bad Boys, Bad Boys: Glendale Traffic Stop Yields Man Wanted by FBI for Health Care Fraud"January 31, 2008
Live blogging the Democratic Debate 7:43 The spin is winding down and the media room is beginning to empty. Reporters are putting the finishing touches on their debate articles and the crew is beginning to clean up the bottles and box dinners provided. But the next six days until Super Tuesday will be anything but quiet. Commercials will continue to fill the airwaves, candidates will have events around Southern California and LAist will party......
Continue Reading "Liveblogging the Democratic Debate"January 31, 2008
CLICK HERE to read the entire liveblog Live blogging the Democratic Debate 11:45 If the measure of a campaign's success is its support before a debate, Obama would be the clear favorite. I counted at least 30 placard waving, sign holding, Obama chanting campaigners while no one from Hillary's camp was anywhere to be seen, yet. The Obama peeps included your run of the mill students, youngish staffers and street vendors, some who claimed......
Continue Reading "Liveblogging the Democratic Debate"January 28, 2008
After last week's SoCal teen and his planned hijacking, this morning a hoax threat was called in about an LAX bound fight from New York City. The United Airlines flight landed safely here in Los Angeles, but taxied to a remote location, according to the Daily News. AP: "FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said the move Monday afternoon was strictly precautionary and that the person who made the call to a law enforcement agency is under......
Continue Reading "Another Hijacked Plane Threat"January 25, 2008
Tuesday, a 16-year-old California teenager was arrested in Nashville after a Southwest Airlines flight Los Angeles. The AP reports that "Authorities searched the teen's home in California and found a mock cockpit... The teen's parents were reportedly unaware he was traveling to Nashville." Rumors floated around the media saying the teen planned to crash the plane into a Louisiana Hannah Montana concert. The 16-year-old was taken into custody by airport police without incident on Tuesday......
Continue Reading "CA Teen Arrested for Plans of Plane Hijack"January 21, 2008
The 80th Annual Academy Awards are scheduled to take place Feb. 24 at Hollywood & Highland's Kodak TheatreAuthorities have released the names of the victims in yesterday's deadly airplane collision in the skies above Corona. According to KNBC.com, "one of the victims -- Earl Smiddy, 58, of Moreno Valley -- was on the ground when he was hit by falling debris. The other victims were identified as Anthony Joel Guzman, 20, of Hesperia; Scott......
Continue Reading "Extra, Extra: Oscars, Lesbians, and Airplanes, Oh My!"January 12, 2008
It seems the Valley isn't the place to be if you're a gang-affiliated criminal. One year ago, Mayor Villaraigosa held a press conference in North Hills at the LAPD's Mission Division, mapping out their plan for a crackdown on gangs. This past Thursday he returned, along with Police Chief William Bratton, to the same spot to announce that the plan had been successful. The Daily News reports on Mayor Tony's proud assertion, and 2007 statistics:......
Continue Reading "Gangs and Cops Keep Battling it Out in the Valley"December 19, 2007
This morning the Daily News is reporting that the FBI is looking for "Arcesio Escobar, a 49-year-old laundry cleaner worker" who is the alleged supplier of the drugs that caused a 15 year old girl's lethal overdose this summer. Jennifer Elias, from New York, was found dead in a converted garage in North Hollywood "with only a jacket on, about 2 p.m. on June 27." Although her official cause of death remains uncertain, it is......
Continue Reading "Supplier in NoHo OD Case Wanted; Called 911 While Fleeing"November 18, 2007
We told you they were coming to speak on global warming, now here's what happened at yesterday's Presidential Forum in West LA. For the second time this month, fire officials are preparing for more wildfires as dry winds approach. Mission Viejo in Orange County is dubbed safest city in America. Sorry Detroit, you're back at the bottom of this list. However, these numbers came from a private research group and people, including the FBI,......
Continue Reading "Extra, Extra: Walking Pico Blvd., end to end."November 14, 2007
The Los Angeles Michelin ratings are out! No three-star restaurants for LA, and many Angeleno foodies are already complaining about the non-starred status of places like Lucques, Grace, and JAR. They couldn't get Ackroyd? Meryl Streep will be playing Julia Child in the upcoming movie adaptation of the book "Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen." The sequel will be based on Carol Cooks Keller, hopefully. The kids over at......
Continue Reading "Foodie Round-Up: Los Angeles Still Looking For its Third Star"November 11, 2007
Fun Fun Fun Fest 2007 Recap from Super!Alright! on Vimeo. Austinist attended a town hall meeting about proposed noise ordinances that could undermine the city's future as the Live Music Capital of the World, and lamented the possible loss of Texas's only feminist bookstore. Throughout the week, they interviewed a bunch of indie fashion designers and D-I-Y websites—Etsy, Ornamental Things, 31 Corn Lane, and Aorta Designs—for the upcoming Stitch Fashion Show. They also did......
Continue Reading "Week Around the -Ists"November 8, 2007
This is why we do all of our Christmas shopping online: first the FBI reported possible terrorist threats to Chicago and Los Angeles malls this holiday season, then took it back. Hey kids! You too can grow up to be a pervert with a social conscience! Dov Charney just signed on for a deal with American Apparel's partner company that could net him millions per year. A Small World it's not: Disneyland is remodeling......
Continue Reading "Extra Extra: False Alarms and Fat Asses"October 7, 2007
Hide the knives, Joan Didion: the Santa Anas are coming! The Santa Anas are coming! The new assistant director over at the Los Angeles branch of the FBI has experience in the domestic terror, white-collar crime, and foreign relations divisions; he has also spent time in Mexico City as an FBI legal attache. This week's Sign of the Apocalypse: kids as young as thirteen and fourteen are now getting into the paparazzi business. We......
Continue Reading "Extra Extra: A Hard Wind's a Coming"August 30, 2007
2,000 DWP customers lost power today in Sun Valley. At noon, power was threatened to be cut from large energy consumers. But as the afternoon progressed, the Stage 2 was unlikely to happen. Yes, this is a heat wave. At age 18, having a DUI conviction, being a tagger and dealing in drugs is bound to get you caught up in murder charges in Van Nuys. A brush fire broke out in Castaic today......
Continue Reading "Extra, Extra - Labor Day Travel Traffic; Gay Marriage or Global Warming?"August 28, 2007
"Constance" by Mr. J. Medeiros of Echo Park Being stuck on the Hollywood Freeway during rush hour, trapped in a metallic expanse of automobiles, counting the minutes of your life that you will never get back on the dashboard clock is a nasty predicament to be in...But that isn't the kind of traffic I'm talking about here. I'm talking about the human traffic -- the trafficking of people. Human cargo. Coerced labor. The exploited......
Continue Reading "Upcoming Events to Help Solve the Traffic Problem"August 17, 2007
All eastbound lanes between Sepulveda and La Cienega boulevards on the 105 Freeway will be closed from 3 AM to midnight this weekend and next for filming. L.A. 11st District City Councilman Bill Rosendahl introduced a resolution today to impeach President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. An ideal way to find all the farmers' markets in the L.A. region: LA Farmers' Market Mapplet. Jamie Foxx is shooting for another Oscar with......
Continue Reading "Extra, Extra: Local Calls for Impeachment and the 105 Freeway Closing"July 27, 2007
Two extortionists have been arrested for trying to blackmail Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. David Hans Schmidt got his hands on some photos of the blessed wedding of the oh-so-happy couple. Schmidt wanted one million bucks for the return of the pics. But when he contacted Holmes and Cruise, they didn't reach for their checkbook -- they contacted the FBI. The Smoking Gun explains that Schmidt specializes in peddling sex tapes and nude photos of......
Continue Reading "Baddies can't touch Tom and Katie!"July 15, 2007
- You don't have to be in snow to say "mush." Try urban mushing in Costa Mesa. - "Cardinal Roger M. Mahony today apologized to victims of sexual abuse by priests in the Los Angeles Archdiocese." - Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa skips his monthly appearance on KABC-TV's Eyewitness Newsmakers because of personal questions. - By the 1930s, the Los Angeles streetcar system had nearly 600 miles of track and used more than 1,200 cars. Downtown......
Continue Reading "Extra, Extra: Bring Back the Streetcar! Ride in a Balloon!"June 29, 2007
- Two Long Beach teens are heroes after rescuing two kids in apartment fire - CBS2 - The LAFD and the FBI are investigating a tip that animal rights extremists placed a bomb under the car of a UCLA eye doctor - LAT - The LA Times has a new managing editor? Yes, no, maybe so? - FishbowlLA - Heck of a job, BushCo - Milk could cost $5 a gallon by end of......
Continue Reading "Smile, it's Friday"June 12, 2007
The new models for Frank Gehry's massive $900 million Grand Avenue project downtown have been unveiled. We're not sure that we dig them completely, but we're not sure that we don't. What do you think? Certainly more interesting than the bland FBI-ish towers he presented in the first round of design. While the project is progressing rather quickly since that announcement made two years ago by city officials, Gehry, and architect wanna-be Brad Pitt, there......
Continue Reading "Gaga for Gehry?"June 5, 2007
Love it or hate it, Twitter does not appear to be just a passing fad as some suggest. You may find such nano-blogging tools to be annoying vehicles for unsolicited TMI, overly mundane ramblings, or instances reminiscent of grade-school crushes and "cyber-stalking." But how you view / receive / ignore your tweets is left up to you. You'd be surprised how much you can say in 140 words. But once you start receiving Twitter......
Continue Reading "Get LA Daily News Updates via Twitter"May 14, 2007
- FBI Top 10 Most Wanted caught in Canada. The former Long Beach gun club president accused of child molestation - AP - 150 people in the North Hollywood Washington Mutual were evacuated by firefighters because of fumes. 11 taken to the hospital - Daily News - NBC is spinning off "Heroes" after just one season - AP - Maypole erected in front of Brentwood girls school - LAT - Researchers discover that the......
Continue Reading "Extra, Extra - Not Yet Banned by the DOD"May 13, 2007
- 3.0 quake in The Valley this afternoon - Major League Soccer: New England 3, Los Angeles 2. - Environmentally friendly and affordable bras and panties guides by GreenLAGirl. - 2 die at Mother's Day Flower Stand when car plows through. - Why do the La Brea Tar Pits bubble? - California man on FBI's Top Ten List arrested in Canada - 60 to 80 acres burned in Pacoima off Osborne Street. - American......
Continue Reading "Extra, Extra"April 10, 2007
Plans to tear down the hideous 17-story Federal Building at 11000 Wilshire Boulevard are moving swiftly. Before you get all excited about the tearing down of ugliness in the hopes that such ugliness will be replaced by a Gehry-esque fantasy of steel and movement or a Meier-esque tribute to clarity and light, consider that it could get uglier. That's right. The FBI plans to setup shop in its place. See...we told you it could......
Continue Reading "FBI Headquarters in Westwood?"April 1, 2007
I guess you can't call them a do-nothing Congress any more from Barefoot Bum House Judiciary Passes Article of Impeachment Against President Bush WASHINGTON – The first article of impeachment against President George W. Bush was passed by the House Judiciary Committee in an emergency special session late Saturday. The article appears to have been prompted by new evidence that the FBI had abused its power under the direction of the president, who had blocked......
Continue Reading "Finally!"March 6, 2007
Not a TOTAL lie, as Irve Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Jr. actually was found not guilty of one of the 5 charges leveled against him. FoxNews.com has regressed from the "fair and balanced" schtick to an even more ridiculous "We report. You Decide." Now that's pretty commanding when spoken by apes. Anyway, for those of you keeping score at home, the Libby trial has gone the Martha Stewart route, as in, he lost, although he......
Continue Reading "Fox News. We Lie. You Laugh."January 19, 2007
Not to pooh-pooh the gang sitch in LA, as yes, Coulter is a bimbo, but it was only yesterday that Mayor Tony said the following (regarding the 204th Street gang -- not WeHo's licensed weed vendors) with FBI Director Robert Mueller at his side:"We have a message for these gang leaders: We are coming with everything we have. We are coming with services and suppression, and we are putting you out of business." See......
Continue Reading "Coulter: Iraq is Like LA"