More advertising on street furniture can help raise revenue for the city | Photo by el monstrito via flickr Today, Wendy Greuel announced a top ten list of sorts on new measures to save the city millions of dollars. It's good timing. On February 5th, we go to the polls and vote on Measure S, which will determine if $270 million will be taxed on our phone bills or not. If no is the......

Starting a business in Los Angeles is what thousands of people do. In fact, in the City alone there are over 300,000 registered business, which means their is one business for every 13 residents (no matter their age). Starting a business is the realization of a dream for many, and can be lifechanging. But how do you start? Like LAist reported early this week, many people look at the new year as the time to......

Tribune Company CEO Dennis FitzSimons will be stepping down at the end of the year, letting Chicago businessman Sam Zell take over the company. The Tribune Company owns the Los Angeles Times. President Bush signed a huge Energy Bill yesterday, in hopes of "reducing our dependence on oil, confronting global climate change, expanding the production of renewable fuels and giving future generations of our country a nation that is stronger, cleaner and more secure."......

He's gone to Middle Earth and now he's back again: Peter Jackson has finally agreed to executive-produce not one, but TWO films of "The Hobbit." New Line Pictures, which produced the massively successful and critically acclaimed "Lord of the Rings" films, had originally dumped Jackson from the "Hobbit" sequels because of ongoing disputes over profits Jackson claimed he was owed for "The Fellowship of The Ring." But this morning's press release declares that all litigation......

The LA Times has definitely had its fair share of scandals in the near past with firings and hirings. Yet recently, content wise, the watchdog coverage of scandalicious politicians has been riveting. There is Mayor V and then there was the daily pounding of Rocky Delgadillo. The newest politician in the ring is 74-year-old 2nd district county supervisor Yvonne Burke who represents Watts, Culver City, Compton, South LA, Hollywood, Marina Del Rey, Inglewood to......

Just when you thought the public transportation and traffic situation in Los Angeles couldn't possibly get any worse... it did. Yes, in a true stroke of brilliance, the State Assembly decided to cut close to $1.3 billion in funding from mass transit transportation in this year's budget bill. As Siel over at green LA girl notes, this means we can probably kiss that planned Expo line expansion from Culver City to Santa Monica good-bye.......

· The 210 freeway's last 7.25 mile stretch will open Tuesday, thus completing its route. · A 17-year-old girl dinged her car when out too late with her boyfriend. Fearing her strict father and his would-be punishment, she told the police a made up story about being kidnapped from Valley College, locked in a trunk and left on a dirt road near Santa Clarita. · "Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says he didn't use a penny......

File this under the "no kidding" category: according to a new report just released by the state Department of Finance, California's population is expected to surge by almost 75% over the next half-century with Riverside the likely recipient of a large fraction of the influx. Analysts predict it will surpass its neighbors to become the second most populous county in the state after Los Angeles. The state's population will have almost doubled in size......

Even when you are an dishonest person, a tiny bit of honesty can go a long way. LA City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo could have avoided a week of scrutiny if he only told the truth a week and a half ago when asked by reporters if his wife was using his city-assigned vehicle when it was damaged and paid for by the taxpayers. Instead, he avoided questions for a simple answer until the LA Times......

I interviewed Jamie Denenberg, International Marketing Exec for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Democratic Fundraiser (currently for Senator Obama's Presidential Campaign) to find out how she got started in fundraising, her political influences and what she thought were the best things about the LA political arena. What's your background in Los Angeles politics, how'd you get started fundraising? I first came out to LA in 1999 where I got my master's degree in journalism......

The US Postal Service this week implemented their newly inflated rates, again. And to distract us from the fact that the government agency is sticking it to us despite continuing making hundreds of millions of dollars in profit, they rolled out the new Forever Stamp. The Forever Stamp allows you to buy a 41-cent stamp today and use it for a regular letter, like, say, a nice card to your favorite city-based blog with......

In like a fox and out with a yodel? Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo for $50 billion. Many have speculated that Microsoft would eventually spring for big Y, as a marriage with the online media giant increasingly appears to be the most viable option to compete with Google in the great war of search and online advertising. Always a fun rumor to kick around, but today it's being corroborated by the WSJ, and considering......

Some interesting tech-related news from around the web this week. • Imitation may be a form of flattery (the sincerest kind, so they say) but AOL, I think you might have taken it a bit too far. • AT&T Chief Edward "Moneybags" Whitacre is retiring. His going away present? $158.5 Million. Not a bad present. I bet he won't try to return it. • Apple issues a fix for the battery issues that plague......

UPDATE: The deal went down this morning according to the Tribune. It's liberation day. The LA Times reports:Billionaire real estate mogul Sam Zell has reached an agreement to buy Tribune Co. in a two-stage deal valued at $8.2 billion, or $34 a share, the company said this morning. The Tribune Company auction has been all show -- nice bids but no bite -- kind of like those "30 percent chance of rain" days when there's......

- Mack Reed steps down from LA Voice, hands over the reigns to two new editors, Ryan Knoll and Scott Schmidt. Congratulations, Mack for your years of dedication and great blogging - LA Voice - Ozzfest will be free this year, and it will kick off in LA - Ozzfest - LAPD's story is different than witnesses stories in the death of a 31 yr old who some say was beaten while handcuffed -......

So, you get into work this morning, and the first thing that happens is you hear Janine from Finance complimenting the "fine, muddy grog" as she gestures toward her coffee mug. Then Andre claims his papercut is actually a swashbuckling injury. Uh oh. It's International Talk Like A Pirate Day again already? Your attempt last year to participate by adding "arr" to the end of every sentence came off a little limp, and your......

Tuesday, 6/6/06 is Election Day again in California. You can download a voter guide and find your polling place here. You wouldn't know it from the recent run of attack ads, but the two frontrunning Democratic candidates Phil Angelides and Steve Westly have in the past seemed like fairly rational, decent guys. (Disclosure: this LAist contributor volunteered a bit on Angelides's campaign.) They're both state-level finance guys, which seems useful given that California's current......

Sometimes there are stories that slip through the cracks, big and small, around LA and we don't get to them during the week. Stories We Missed is here to catch them and bring them to you. Better late than never, right? - There is a whole lot going on at UCLA. Ladies are getting assaulted, the UC system might be getting its money out of Sudan and the "liberal education system" is under attack.......

As members of the excellent American Cinematheque, we couldn't help but notice that the film-screening nonprofit recently launched a second venue: the newly-restored Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. The Max Palevsky Aero Theatre, to be exact. We keep seeing the name, in the Cinematheque e-mails, on the wall at LACMA, on the cover of this book, even in the credits of a handful of films. Once shrouded in mystery, now Google explains all: Max......

There's so much to do this weekend...if you can wedge one more thing into your overcrowded calendar, please consider: REMEMBER, DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME STARTS ON SUNDAY, APRIL 3RD SO SPRING YOUR CLOCK AHEAD ONE HOUR ON SAT NIGHT. 1. The Los Angeles Book Arts Center's annual Edible Book Tea Party on Saturday, April 2, 2005. Everyone who’s interested – book artists, book lovers, foodies, children – is invited to participate by cooking up a......

In a remarkable setback for the Mayor, yesterday the Council rejected the proposed half-cent sales tax increase for more cops for the May ballot. Needing 2/3 of the Council vote, the measure passed 9-6, falling short by one vote. Councilmembers Villaraigosa, Parks, and Weiss voted against it from the “Anything The Mayor Wants is a Bad Idea” camp. From the “Any New Taxes Are Bad Because We’re From the West Valley” group came Councilmen......

Traffic in LA is bad. The State of California is unable to provide money to help alleviate said traffic. What's a cash-strapped transit authority like the MTA to do? Borrow the money, natch. The MTA is looking to float up to $1.1 billion in bonds to finance transit improvements across LA county. The hope is that by accelerating plans already on the drawing board, the region can hold the line on congestion, and perhaps......

LAist has just learned that Pasadena's Fuller Theological Seminary, which is among the world's largest seminaries, has embarked on a 10-year, $79 million expansion project. The scarcity of affordable housing in Pasadena prompted the expansion effort, officials said. The campus has a 200-plus waiting list for the current 350 units of student housing in Pasadena. "The seminary's master plan calls for building 700 units of affordable housing on campus; a worship center with a......

Governor Arnold continues to disappoint as the budget discussions get jammed. Republicans want two "anti-business" laws repealed, and they're willing to stall the budget until they get what they want. In response to the controversy, Arnold's administration flips on the spin cycle: "They are policy issues that are relevant to the budget discussions," said Finance Department spokesman H.D. Palmer. "These kind of issues are always going to be inextricably linked to budget discussions." Thanks for......