Previous cop, current actor, Dennis Farina was arrested yesterday morning at LAX in the United Airlines terminal after he allegedly forgot that he had a gun in his suitcase as he went to through security. "I apologize to anyone and everyone that I have caused any embarrassment or inconvenience to," he said in a statement quoted by KCBS. "It is my own stupidity to find myself in this embarrassing situation. I'll be spending the next......

Photo by Daniella Zalcman via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Maybe actor Dennis Farina was taking his former role as an L&O detective too seriously when he packed his suitcase and headed to LAX this morning. Authorities arrested Farina on charges of carrying a concealed weapon when a .22 caliber handgun was found in his carryon. Homicide detectives are working on the case of an infant found dead inside a Lancaster home......

Photo by alistairmcmillan via Flickr In response to a comment in yesterday's piece, Train to LAX Getting Closer, Metro Doesn't Want It, Kymberliegh Richards writes a good history of what happened and why. Richards runs a website called the San Fernando Valley Transit Insider as well as a Metro San Fernando Valley Governance Council member and a board of directors member at the Southern California Transit Advocates. I always love seeing people who say......

Photo by hinducow via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Over 300,000 troops returning from campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering from some sort of mental illness, including PTSD. Over half admit they are not seeking medical treatment. "Trainwreck"? More like "how many college students can we fuck in the ass?" The answer is pretty much all of them: Sallie Mae, the largest student loan company in the United States, says the......

Photo by alistairmcmillan via Flickr To connect the Metro Green Line light rail to LAX, simply put, it would take about two miles of track and some money. This week, the Senate Transportation Committee passed SB 1722 by Sen. Jenny Oropeza, a bill that would allow a separate construction authority the single-focused job of connecting rail to the airport. The bill will now make its way to the Senate floor. Metro opposes the idea,......

"Of the 595 flights American scrubbed today, eight were at Los Angeles International Airport, where the carrier has 92 daily departures. A small number of flights were also canceled at airports in Burbank, Ontario and San Diego," reported the LA Times just after 10:00 a.m. Also, today came the news that the fourth carrier this month, Frontier Airlines, filed for bankruptcy protection but they say they will continue flying. The other three airlines, Skybus, ATA......

Anyone like Amtrak? Road trips? Private jets? Really long bicycle rides? Because the airline industry is just not fun these days, especially for American Airlines customers. After yesterday's blow to the travelscape, it was announced this morning that an additional 900 flights were cancelled. Locally, 15 of the 92 LAX departures were axed -- an improvement from yesterday's 25. Additionally, airports in Burbank, Ontario and San Diego all had a small number of cancellations according......

Photo by dsearls via Flickr Just after 6:00 this morning parts of Terminal 2 at LAX were evacuated following reports of bomb in the building. According to reports, a man told authorities he saw "writing in a restroom that said a bomb was in the women's restroom" (cbs2.com). Within an hour the police had conducted a full search of the area and determined there were no explosives and re-opened the terminal to passengers and employees.......

Los Angeles once again mourns the loss of one of its bravest after yesterday afternoon's explosion on Sepulveda Blvd. near LAX. Firefighter Brent A. Lovrien, age 35, was a 10 year veteran of the LAFD assigned to Fire Station 95 since October 2005. He died shortly after arrival at the Centinela Freeman Regional Medical Center, Marina Campus. LAFD Spokesman Brian Humphrey breaks down the incident at the department's blog:On Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 1:57......

Delta and American Airlines are playing their "better safe than sorry" cards today after canceling a 133 and 132 flights respectively this morning on MD80 aircraft that were due for wiring inspections, at least 8 of which were domestic flights out of LAX. Hundreds of passengers hoping to take off were faced with the news that their flights were grounded and that they would need to revise their travel plans. In what is being touted......

Before boarding a flight, a woman claims she was forced by the TSA to remove her nipple rings. They gave her pliers to do it with says her attorney. The TSA currently does not have a nipple ring policy said a spokesman, but said he was "really curious to know what this woman had in her nipples." He also mentioned that he was not aware of this incident and that employees are required to check......

One politician won't give up on his mission to get the Green Line moving directly to LAX. And Metro won't give up on saying "no" to that idea. It's not that Metro is trying to destroy any hopes of public transportation in Los Angeles, it's just the conservative and realistic tones they put out there when it comes future projects and funding. They say they want a connection to LAX and that possibility comes via......

Chikezie Eze was voted off "American Idol" last night, "taking with him 50 percent of this year's Idolette Top-10 personality pool," Lisa de Morales sniped in her Washington Post TV column. For the second week in a row, Chikezie chose to sing a ballad -- “If Only For One Night” by Luther Vandross -- after judges warned him last week that song choice is of the upmost importance at this stage in the contest. Last......

Photo by Tom Andrews via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr 45-year-old murder suspect Hovik "John" Mankyan, who engaged police in a lengthy standoff on Good Friday in Palmdale, is reportedly "clinging to life" in the hospital. Mankyan, who is wanted for a 2004 North Hollywood homicide "ingested poison and severed arteries" prior to surrendering. Honors on Ice: The Anaheim Ducks will honor SWAT officer Randal Simmons, who died in the line of duty,......

Photo by Rafahh via Flickr One firefighter has died at an explosion near LAX this afternoon. Check here for updates.Terminal One was evacuated early this morning after security screeners saw something that resembled a grenade, prompting a near 40-minute evacuation of the Southwest Airlines terminal. After officials identified it as a toy grenade, operations went back to normal. LAX officials told KNBC that passengers should be reminded "not to pack anything that resembles a......

*UPDATE 5:01: One firefighter was killed and another critically injured after reporting to the scene of an explosion that blew manhole covers off the ground and damaged part of a building in Westchester. The firefighters were responding to a report of an underground explosion and blown manhole covers in the 8800 block of Sepulveda (between Manchester and La Tijera) and were injured in a second, larger explosion after reporting to the scene, according to LAFD......

Photo by El A'shantiq via Flickr Late Monday night at LAX, an Australian-bound Qantas Boeing 747 blew four tires while attempting to take off. The pilot aborted the takeoff after a warning light went on, braking suddenly, damaging the tires as the plane came to a rest to the side of a taxiway. It is unknown what caused the light Rescue crews took everyone off the plane and Qantas provided hotels for passengers as......

The city of Ventura has been taken off the map. Specifically, the Greyhound Bus Line service map. This week the company shut down the station in Ventura, and wiped it off their route, to the surprise of many who had been hoping to hop a bus out of town. So is busing it a relic of a bygone era? One possible reason behind the elimination of the stop is "Greyhound’s owners are trimming costs," according......

The MTA says it's time to cut the lines--20 bus lines, that is. Because of low ridership and operating costs, the city's transit system is looking to trim the fat from their service. The current proposal being voted on consists of the elimination of 20 bus lines and reduced service on 24 other lines, for a total of 375,000 service hours cut altogether. The Bus Riders Union is vehemently opposing the proposed cuts, with spokesman......

Photo by Andrew at Here in Van Nuys A couple weeks ago, Andrew Hurvitz at the Here in Van Nuys blog snapped this photo of the Sherman Way tunnel under the Van Nuys Airport and questioned the state of security. "Is it just my foolish and suspicious imagination that sees this tagged up tunnel as something which raises questions about security at Van Nuys Airport?" he asked. "This is evidence that security right on......

Photo by Plankton 4:20 via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr More on the arrest of Kazuyoshi Miura, who is accused of killing his wife in LA in 1981 and is being extradited from Japan: Turns out it was his blogging that got the authorities' attention. Bad blogger! Bad! Another one from the Cold Case Files solved: 47-year-old Wayne Osbourne of Virginia has been charged in the 1988 murder of Diana Michael, who......

"Banksy phone booth crashes Downtown LA?" by xxjetlab via LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr Five are dead and one person was hurt in an apparent murder-suicide in Yorba Linda, close to the Richard Nixon Library. A 14-year-old called in to report that his father had shot him. Police later found that the gunman shot his wife and 3 of his children before turning the gun on himself. As we have pointed out before,......

And then there was a train... There could be a day when you go from Wilshire Blvd. down Crenshaw Ave, crossing the path of the Expo Line (under construction right now), through Leimart Park, into Downtown Inglewood and eventually hit LAX before route ends, connecting to the Green Line. That's one option, at least, for Metro's North/South Crenshaw-Prairie Transit Corridor Study. Tonight is the first of four public meetings to get a status report of......

Photo by [Kwasi B.] via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Just when you thought they had faded into obscurity, Segways are reappearing on the scene. This time they'll be the mode of transport for patrols in LA-area Target stores' parking lots. The company says they like to use them because they add 8 inches of height for the rider, and run on batteries. Some passengers at LAX were evacuated for about two......

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......

Score one for the passengers: budget airline carrier JetBlue is announcing that they will begin service between LAX and airports in New York and Boston this May. They also have plans to increase service from their Burbank and Long Beach locations, meaning more flights for consumers to choose from, which will increase competition with other carriers (like Southwest) and thereby lower airfares. They'll now be flying to JFK Int'l three times a day, and......

Has the New Year got you asking those “life, the universe and everything” kind of questions? If, like me, one of your resolutions in 2008 is to improve your mind, body and spirit, a great place to get busy is at the 6th Annual Conscious Life Expo, which takes place Friday through Sunday at the LAX Hilton. The Expo features lectures, workshops and intensives presented by nationally and internationally renowned speakers, teachers and authors, as......

You may have heard that February is Breakfast month here at LAist, in which we celebrate the glory that is the morning meal. But our celebration is twinged with sadness for those who may have been fans of the a.m. food fare served up at Starbucks. The company has announced they are ditching their breakfast sandwiches and declaring that their Mission: Lure Customers Back from Fast Food Joints that Sell Breakfast Eats that Include Some......

As you may have guessed, we're focussed on breakfast this month. And this February is a chilly one. Last week we were cycling through storms like planes landing at LAX. When it's like this, you need a little something extra for breakfast in the morning to keep you warm. And, since having different kinds of grains is good for you, oatmeal is just the ticket. Everyone likes theirs different -- some people like it......

Our crack political team is projecting "reason to believe" that both Rudy Giuliani and Gov. Schwarzenegger will endorse John McCain for the Republican nomination very soon. We've sorted through various flight plans and itineraries, deciphered a number of "no comments" and left several voice messages on Wolf Blitzer's cell. Schwarzenegger will endorse "within days," Sen. Lindsay Graham told reporters before McCain took off for Burbank this morning. It's unclear whether that means today, or......