"Sister Cities" | Photo by Stephanie Asher via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr An update on yesterday's Harbor-Gateway shooting of a 6-year-old in a car. LAPD Chief Bratton announced: "We are very confident that we have the people who were involved in the actual shooting in custody." For the Lakers fans out there, LA City Councilman Bernard Parks declared today as "Derek Fisher Day." 1,817. That's the number of teacher layoffs so......

As we lamented in February, Beyond Baroque was in danger of losing its lease and Venice was in danger of losing one of the most unique places for poets to gather and perform their work. Mere hours before their lease was to expire, L.A. City Council voted to extend the lease for 25 more years - at only $1 a year! What could be more exciting than Beyond Baroque getting a stay of execution? The......

For the last ten years, state representatives from Los Angeles have dominated the role of Speaker of the Assembly, including Mayor Villaraigosa, LA City Council Herb Wesson and Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle. Today, Karen Bass, the assemblywoman who represents neighborhoods from West LA to Culver City to Baldwin Hills, had enough votes to become Speaker of the Assembly up in Sacramento. The job of speaker is to be the leader of the California State Assembly,......

One of L.A.'s most unique and important centers for poetry, literature, and art, the non-profit center Beyond Baroque, may be in danger of losing its lease. According to an email sent out by the group's Board of Trustees, City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo would like to begin the auction process for the building, offering it up for other non-profits to bid on. City Councilman Bill Rosendahl had promised to extend Beyond Baroque's lease for another......

Alternative 9 combines a Wilshire and Santa Monica alignment for two subways Update*: Metro called to strongly emphasize that the projected 10-year-period (three for environmental studies, seven for construction) is the reality under the most ideal circumstances (that circumstance is if we had the funding today). Metro confirms this is the timeline and the 5-year hypothetical may have been misheard or said. At the meeting, the freakily fast timeline was mentioned in the context......

Saturday morning was the first community meeting to discuss the Hollywood Freeway Central Park. Meeting in an elementary school auditorium, like they do in the Simpsons, those that attended saw Assemblyman Mike Feuer, LA City Council President Eric Garcetti and others speak about this park and the story behind it. In part I, I wrote about the failures of design in Los Angeles and a need to use architecture to embrace our 36 freeways.......

LA cyclists are joining LA City Council President Eric Garcetti on a bike ride in support of Obama. Cyclists will gather at the Eco-Village on February 2 at 11:00 am for a leisurely ride through Silver Lake and ending in Elysian Valley with snacks and the opportunity to help with some campaign phone banking. Cyclists in search of Leadership have to search hard to find Presidential hopefuls who support cycling and walking as transportation solutions......

Home Depot has been trying to build a Sunlund-Tujunga location for awhile now, but community activism and the LA City Council has put a stop to that, or at least a major delay. Now, in a suit brought forth by The Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust and the University Park Estates Neighborhood Assn., a Home Depot planned for southeastern Long Beach was given a major setback in court yesterday. The Long Beach City Council......

Norman Mailer, the controversial and beloved novelist and winner two Pulitzer Prizes died today in New York City of acute renal failure. The author of almost 50 books, Mailer lived a life beset by tragedy, triumph and tribulation. He once ran for Mayor of NYC and was almost stabbed to death by one of his wives. Mailer was 84. Out of the ashes of one fire in San Diego, a man sold a charred,......

Over 1,300 illegal immigrants have been arrested and deported over the course of the past two weeks -- many are convicted criminals but many are just undocumented workers. No word on whether or not their bones will be used to build a road to nowhere. LA City Council Member Greig Smith makes a weekly public transportation effort -- but most city movers and shakers do not. LA CityBeat examines what kind of example is......

As the Sunday morning sunrise warmed the lawn of the San Gabriel Mission, dedicated celebrants gathered with the Pobladores 200 to recognize LA’s upcoming 226th birthday by retracing the steps of the original settlers who established El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles in 1781. San Gabriel is quite proud of its contribution to the “birth” of Los Angeles and a significant contingent of enthusiastic San Gabriel volunteers were on hand to outfit and......

When Angelenos want to find out what restaurants are good, they used to turn to Citysearch. Now, though, it appears that Yelp is the go to source for this kind of information. A recent perusal of the site shows that The Griddle is "the most bookmarked in the last month." So, what does this have to do with the LA City Council, you ask? The LA City Council has their own Yelp Review page. Yes,......

- Michael Moore says Harvey Weinstein begged him not to expose Hillary - WaPo - LA City Council gets behind high speed rail - Bottleneck Blog - The LA Weekly has a writer in Europe following Pearl Jam - LA Weekly - Two masked men stab and rob a former cop in North Hollywood - Daily News - NBC sells reruns of The Office and My Name is Earl to TBS. Syndication already? -......

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......

- Local politicians react to President Bush's State of the Union - LA Daily News - Palms Springs residents react to the State of the Union - The Desert Sun - Dick Cheney and Karl Rove are accused of using Libby as a sacraficial lamb - AP - Tom Cruise is the Jesus of Scientology - The Sun - Shortest railway in the world, Angels Flight, will re-open this summer and actually be useful......

Maybe you've seen them. They might be congregated like an ominous gang in the shadows of the parking lot at the Jons. Maybe a lone one watches you get off the bus while leaning up against a palm tree. Or perhaps you'll see and old one wading in the LA River, frozen, like if it doesn't move you won't notice it. Shopping carts are loved by small children and the homeless alike, but Van......

If you see the LA City Council around any of these intersections, may we suggest that you honk if you're horny. According to CBS2, they've got the green light to put digital cams in 22 intersections and these 22 are on their radar. -- Griffin Avenue and North Main Street -- Beverly Boulevard and Western Avenue -- Broadway and Vernon Avenue -- Arlington Avenue and Venice Boulevard -- Balboa Boulevard and Vanowen Street --......

Remember when the Talking Heads had that sweet song "Nothing But Flowers" from their Naked album? Remember albums? There was a line in the idealistic song that went "Once there were parking lots / Now it's a peaceful oasis". If the LA City Council gets it together we might see peaceful oasises on top of parking lots as well as on top of city buildings. The ultimate LA win-win. L.A. Deputy City Engineer Deborah......

OK, can we just agree right now that Eric Garcetti is the coolest LA City Council President, like, ever? That's him on the red carpet — the one crouching down, taking the photo of other guests. The occasion was last night's screening of The New LA on the Paramount lot. So much LA political high-wattage was there that I couldn't get them all down: three or four city council reps, Mayor Villaraigosa, controller Laura......

Rising star Martin Ludlow is stepping down from his post as the head of the Los Angeles Federation of Labor after an investigation that seems to have found campaign spending improprieties in his 2003 bid for the LA City Council. Apparently he illegally used union funds to support his campaign work. He may be asked to pay more than a quarter million in fines and restitution for using about $53,000 inappropriately. The LA AFLCIO website......

That there black goo bluging streets and seeping through manhole covers in downtown seems to be oil, indeed. Workers at a nearby oil well were flushing old lines with high-pressure water to get any last drops of oil out — and started wrecking havoc on Olive Street. And havoc continued online. It's craziness in LA blog world this week! Blogging.la redesigns, embracing gray! LA Voice re-appends, from .org to .com! What could be next?......

The Small Lots, Smart Designs townhouse design competition was launched by the City of LA this fall. Architects, city planners, design professionals and students are encouraged to submit designs for affordable housing on narrow lots. The grand prizewinner design will be commissioned to build their design on a lot owned by the Enterprise Home Ownership Partners. The LA City Council passed a new zoning rule to allow for housing to be built into "infill......

We have yet to find the details on the LA City Council website but according to ABC 7, Olvera Street has been granted up to 12 million dollars for improvements. Among the work that is likely to be done includes construction of the transportation museum, new restrooms and infrastructure repairs (sewers, electrical and streets). The on-going preservation of many of the murals (several of which are quite old now) will also continue. Just a......

Nick Pacheco has announced his candidacy for LA City Council Member from District 14 in Northeast Los Angeles. Pacheco held this position two years ago, then lost it to Antonio Villaraigosa, who will now be vacating it to become mayor. The LA Times suggests that school board president Jose Huizar and state senator Gil Cedillo are also likely candidates for the seat. What do these guys stand for? Judging by a recent interview with......

LA City Council Member Eric Garcetti is providing a way to give support to the victims of the Metrolink tragedy. He explains: We have had a lot of people in the blogosphere who have asked how to help--we have set up a donation account at PayPal and are working with relief services and the Red Cross to determine the greatest needs. We will have this on the City of Los Angeles web site, but......

Editor's Note: Darren Faulk joins LAist to cover the politics beat. Ho, hum, you say? Keep reading... Contrary to popular belief, LA politics isn’t boring, it’s just really poorly covered. That’s somewhat a problem with the structural nature of news coverage. There’s quite a lot actually going on, and quite a lot of really interesting personalities, each with their quirks, closeted (and not-so-closeted) skeletons, and dreams of power. It’s just hard to fit all......

After complaints at Mayor Sam’s Sister City and the relaunched West L.A. Online blog about the lack of news (and websites) in the LA City Council District 11 race, we have a sudden spate of updates. First, current 11th District representative Councilmember Cindy Miscikowski, has endorsed Flora Gil Krisiloff to replace her. Krisiloff, former president of the West LA Area Planning Commission, is the chair of the Brentwood Community Council. Miscikowski, who is well-respected......

Here are a few top news stories making the rounds today: 6.0 Quake Rocks Central California on Tuesday AM, Los Angeles Times...Wonder if UCLA's Vladmir Keilis-Borok feels vindicated "Virgin Galactic Joins SpaceCraftOne in Vying for Commercial Spacecraft Prize," Los Angeles Times "Desert-Dwelling Students Granted Shorter Week to Beat the Heat," Los Angeles Times "LA City Council Bans Silly String at WeHo Halloween Celebration," Los Angeles Times "Roy Disney Still Not Satisfied," Los Angeles Times "Bryant......