digg_url = 'http://digg.com/world_news/Photos_from_1st_Gay_Marriage_in_CA_in_Beverly_Hills'; The two women who challenged California's law denying same-sex couples the right to marry that ultimately led to the state's Supreme Court ruling, were one of the first to receive a marriage certificate in the state early this evening. Diane Olson and Robin Tyler have attempted to marry at the Beverly Hills courthouse for the past eight years, each time being denied. The two, who live in Los Angeles' San Fernando......

Photo by Jonathan Alcorn via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr The Los Angeles Times conducted a survey of all 58 counties in California asking about policies relating to same-sex marriage. 35 stated that employees were not allowed to opt out of officiating over marriages for any reason; or, at least, no reservations were expressed by clerks in those counties. "We're not going to make accommodations for someone to practice illegal discrimination," Nevada County Clerk-Recorder......

Thanks to soaring gas prices and relentless airline woes, the hip thing to do this summer is to go on a "staycation." Of course, if you are one of the many local couples soon to be celebrating your legal same-sex nuptials, a honeymoon may be in order. After shelling out the bucks for the license, the tux rentals, the tastefully done floral arrangements, and the last night out as a singleton drinks bender at Rage,......

Photo by Patrick Doheny via Flickr Update (10:41 a.m.): The CA Supreme Court has ruled that gay and lesbian couples should have the freedom to marry. Read the entire opinion here. _______________________________________________ The California Supreme Court today will issue it's decision on whether or not lesbian and gay couples will have the freedom to marry in the state. The Court heard oral arguments for the case on March 4, 2008. If the Court rules......

Photo by rink_rat via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Stay in school kids, especially if you live in the Valley. Yesterday the truant police hauled in 137 middle and high school kids who were ditching classes and chilling in public. 5 members of a church group were involved in an accident this morning on the eastbound Pomona Freeway. Sadly, three of the victims were killed and the others injured. The driver had......

In 2000, California voters passed Proposition 22, which denied the freedom to marry for gay, lesbian and transgender couples. Today, the California Supreme Court heard oral arguments challenging that law. Maybe you remember back when Gavin Newsom, former Mayor of San Francisco, provided marriage licenses to same-sex couples and then those licenses were revoked. His actions were a challenge -- albeit one that didn't pan out -- to the law. Now, if the Court votes......

Restaurants have no love for dogs, but dogs sure do love their owners | Photo by Tom Andrews via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Steve Poizner has no love for Allianz: The state Insurance Commissioner announced a $10 million settlement with Allianz Life Insurance Company, the biggest seller of annuities in California, today in Burbank. Allianz swindled hundreds of 84 and 85 into bad deals that cost them thousands of dollars. David......

I probably wouldn't have pointed to Amazon.com as a champion of progressive thought and equality, but what do I know? Gaywired.com reports that Dana Rudolph, publisher of Mombian.com, was interested in entering an Amazon.com contest that offered a prize of $25,000 in college tuition. The recipient of the prize could either be the winner or the winner’s immediate family member, which the website categorized as “his or her spouse, children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents and......

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......

By week's end, LA is littered with dozens of free rags. LAist reads the weeklies so you don't have to. If there's anything we missed, let us know, or better yet drop it in the comments section below. LA Weekly reviewed the gaffe-filled Q & A between Democratic presidential hopefuls and Hollywood gays. While not one candidate came out clearly in support of gay marriage, Bill Richardson slipped so hard as to insinuate that......

As part of the 25th annual Outfest, director Pilar Prassas’ moving documentary debut In Sickness and In Health will screen tomorrow and Sunday. Taking an intimate look into the lives of Diane and Marilyn, the feature examines the battle for gay marriage rights as the couple must deal with Marilyn’s debilitating struggle with Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Prassas shot 250 hours of footage over five years to bring viewers this touching portrait of seven New......

All across the Ist-A-Verse (or at least the American parts thereof), writers and editors are in the midst of enjoying their three-day weekend. But after the week we've all had, we feel like the break is not only needed, but deserved. Just look at everything we've been doing! Gothamist headed into the Memorial Day weekend with a number of tasks accomplished. They worried about Long Islanders giving New Yorkers a bad name. They tried......

Sunday. Usually, a quiet, contemplative day in the Blogosphere. But not here in the Ist-a-Verse. Nonono! Just look below and see all of the wild and crazy stuff our staffs are up to. In Austin, bands are beginning to confirm for SXSW and the rumor mill is up and running. Good thing, too, because we all know how much Austinites love live performances. Austin also found itself in the national spotlight, with Longhorn Legend......

This has been a rough week for your -ist pals, though you wouldn't know it from the great posts all over the network. Plagued with server problems, our tech team (led by the great Neil Epstein) toiled around the clock to solve the glitches as they arose. Seriously, we've said, typed, and thought the phrase "server problems" more in the past week than we have for the last 35 years combined. Why not say it......

Lotus Festival Congratulations to team blogging.la for winning in the media category at the Lotus Festival's dragon boat race! They beat the wussies over at KTLA. In the end, all of that doesn't matter 'cause LAist is going to kick everyone's ass next year (that means you too Mack Reed). It's on! Your Commute If there is one article you read in the news today, read Gridlock, schmidlock: When it comes to automobile travel,......

As if the ghetto birds weren't enough, now the LA Sheriff is checking out unmanned drones for survelliance. Farewell privacy! The long-awaited Biggie Smalls retrial pushed back to 2007, American Airlines red-eye flight from LA to Chicago lands at O'Hare this morning without its nosegear lowering and locking. Pilots are amazing. The editors of the LA Times are bashing their parent company's CEO today. Hugh Hewitt says "This is a classic hit piece, standard......

The American Girl dolls and books now made by El Segundo-based Mattel are set in various, often polarized periods of American history, so that the plucky heroines experience, and have to make their own decisions about, situations in the American Revolution, the Victorian Industrial Revolution, the abolition of slavery, and other American turning points of the past. Now some groups are warning families off the American Girl dolls and products because American Girl has......

First off, The Stranger's Seattle books department has hit another one out of the park with "Being Savage: Dan Savage's Older Brother Reviews His Younger Brother's New Book." Read it and chuckle in that pleasant feeling of being included in the inner circle. Ben makes comments like "Danny doesn't go far enough, he pulls his punches." This about a man who writes one of the most sexually explicit columns in Internetville? It's funny to......

- City Beat looks at high school from the perspective of local high schoolers. - The Gay Marriage bill isn't the only bill the Governor is feeling the pressure on. - Don't you want to buy your own post office? - The City Council can't ignore the Valley if they start meeting regularly there, right? - Sister City has two posts of interest this morning: Many of our first responders that went to help......

The 23rd annual Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (Outfest 05) kicks off tonight with a screening of the French comedy Côte D’Azur at the Orpheum Theater downtown. While the opening gala’s ticket will set you back $50-$150 at the door, the festival’s other general screenings are prices even we at LAist can afford. The 12-day festival boasts 232 films and videos from 28 different countries, including the romantic comedy Adam and Steve,......

Larry Kramer's 1985 groundbreaking AIDS-related drama The Normal Heart is enjoying a 20th Anniversary run in Silverlake, by LA's oldest repertory theatre, Company of Angels. The play relays the personal, social, medical, and familial struggles of Ned Weeks (Steven Tynan) in the earliest days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic's outbreak in New York City's gay population. Weeks is based on playwright and activist Kramer's own experience, and his formation of the Gay Men's Health Crisis.......

After much discussion and publicity for Arianna Huffington's foray into celebrity group blogging, The Huffington Post launched this morning. It'll be interesting to see how timely the blog stays. Initial posts by the well known names cover well treaded topics like gay marriage and the death of Hunter S. Thompson. We will always appreciate any opportunity Harry Shearer has to take a closer look at the oddities and inaccuracies of news media and Laurie......

We have to confess that we didn't watch the State of the Union last night. Every year, no matter who the President is, we're increasingly more convinced that little of substance is going to be said and last year when the President railed against "Steroid Abuse in Professional Sports" and "Gay Marriage" we realized our lofty ideals about political discourse had been officially dashed. With Republican members of Congress coming with ink on their......

What a sad legacy for a hospital named after Martin Luther King, Jr. and Charles R. Drew. The Los Angeles Times reports that King/Drew Medical Center is losing accreditation from a National Health Agency. While it won't force the hospital to close, it will prevent several insurance companies from paying for services there and will likely end several of the doctor training programs the beleaguered facility is famous for. This is as good as......