"Noon-Five," by Tyler S. Andrews via LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr. Q: How is the San Fernando Valley like 1950's Mississippi? A:Apart from the wide lots, racism is once again rearing its ugly head. Hate crimes have nearly doubled so far this year from the same period last year with Jews and blacks taking the brunt of the attacks. Q: When is it time to say goodbye to your dog? A: How about......

Four Los Angeles area schools went into lockdown yesterday, the one thought to have the most potential danger in Pasadena at Blair International Baccalaureate Magnet School. An early morning report by a student saying someone had a gun prompted a lockdown that lasted throughout the day. Later in the day, police detained one male juvenile for questioning, but no further details have been released. The Pasadena Star News reported students inside the school "got on......

The Daily Breeze is reporting that police were searching earlier this morning for a possible gunman at California State Dominguez Hills in Carson: Two students apparently reported around 8:30 a.m. they saw a gunman carrying an AK-47 assault rifle and wearing a green jacket and no shirt, according to news reports. The alleged gunman may have also had additional canisters of ammunition around his waist and he was headed toward Lacorte Hall, an building of......

Photo by Phillyist's Matt Johnson, SkyscraperSunset.com, December 19, 2007. Phillyist explored an impending implosion and lived to tell the tale.Gothamist marveled at the city's new NYC-branded condom campaign - especially the use of a Toronto landmark in the advertising. (Also, fun fact: Gothamist turned five years old yesterday.)Tired of the worldwide Scientology protests? Torontoist totally isn't: they covered the big downtown protest the day it happened, and followed up with an examination of all......

UPDATE, 4:12 P.M., FRI., FEB. 15: KNBC reports that the Oxnard boy has been taken off life support and "his organs have been given away." UPDATE, 7:00 A.M., TH., FEB. 14: The shooting is now being treated as a murder case with possible hate crime motives. Go to our latest story on the Oxnard school shooting here. UPDATE, 5:33 P.M., WED., FEB. 13: Contrary to what CNN said below, the shooting victim, Lawrence King, is......

The robbery spree of an OC couple in their twenties came to an end this week after a purse-snatching and pepper-spraying incident at a Wal-Mart. The two are also suspected of a robbery in Santa Ana, and were taken into custody after police stormed their Surf Cove home. Yesterday in Pomona Superior Court, the three white men accused of attempted murder, assault, and hate crime against a black man in Claremont last year were convicted......

The MTA will be testing a new 65-foot-long prototype bus - which can hold up to 131 sitting and standing passengers - on the Orange Line busway for one year starting this week. Nicely done: L.A. City Councilman Richard Alarcon drafted a measure 2 months ago that would've drastically reduced traffic congestion on one block of one street in Panorama City - namely the one where his house is located. Who's down with Gov.......

It is a shame Oprah does not upload video clips to YouTube, especially important and touching ones dear to us here in Los Angeles. Such is the amazing rerun segment from last Wednesday (originally aired in April) where she brought together two men who met in an alley on an almost fateful night in WeHo: Twenty years ago, Matthew was a young teenage runaway - he now currently works as a manager at the......

"The state has so far received 74,108 applications for an allotment of 75,000 decals permitting hybrid owners to drive solo in HOV lanes." ~ L.A. Times Blogging.LA does the math on hate crimes in LA: "...for every one hate crime in San Diego and San Francisco counties combined, there were five in Los Angeles. By any explanation, that's a lot of hate." Pasadena goes WiFi. (via LA Voice) In city politics and news, fines......

Sheriff Lee Baca reportedly asked that the arresting deputy re-write the arrest report so as to withhold the anti-Semitic statements Mel Gibson allegedly delivered early Friday morning, TMZ.com says. Sources tell TMZ that Lt. Crystal Miranda told the arresting deputy that Captain Tom Martin talked to Sheriff Lee Baca who expressed concern that the explosive report might leak to the media and that it needed to be re-written in a sanitized form. Top Hollywood......