In a 2-1 decision on Friday, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca was not "immune" to the lawsuit brought by Dion Starr, a former county jail inmate who claims he was stabbed 23 times in a racially motivated attack "abetted by jailhouse deputies," reports LA Nows. The court determined that Starr had "sufficiently argued in his complaint that Baca showed 'deliberate indifference' to dangerous conditions in the jail." more ›

Two male gang members whose names remain unreleased were arrested last night in the case of the murder of Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Juan Abel Escalante which took place outside his Cypress Park home this August 2nd as he prepared to leave for work. According to the LA Times, "investigators have had a difficult time determining a motive for Escalante's killing," however after working on the case at great length the team of detectives from both the LAPD's robbery-homicide department and the LA County Sheriff's Homicide Bureau isolated two members of the Avenues gang. It is possible that the murder took place due to the ongoing tension between the Avenues and the Cypress Park gang, which runs the area where Escalante lived, as opposed to Escalante being a specific target due to his work at the Men's Central Jail. The 27-year-old Escalante "was shot in the back of the head and never saw the assailants coming." He had been a deputy for less than 3 years when he was murdered. more ›

When police arrived last night to a call, the suspect was standing in the middle of the street holding a handgun. Luckily, no struggle occurred. Unfortunately, moments before it was not so good:

Two women and a 4-year-old girl were killed and two other children were wounded in a shooting Monday night in a Baldwin Park neighborhood, police said. more ›

At 11:13 p.m., the Los Angeles Fire Department alerted of a small helicopter has crashed at the southbound 110 Freeway and Century Blvd. One person was dead on board the fiery crash. Fire officials are describing it as a "small, private type, possibly home made type" aircraft. more ›

L.A. County Sheriff's Dept. just announced that Mischa Barton was pulled over at 2:46AM this morning while driving in the 900 block of north La Cienega Boulevard in West Hollywood. According to the police report, her vehicle was seen "straddling two lanes of traffic and failed to signal when making a turn." more ›

LAist Featured Photos contributer Jonathan Alcorn caught this scene in Compton on Saturday: "In an effort to reduce violence, 156 guns were collected by Los Angeles County Sheriff's representatives in Compton during the first three days of an annual exchange program, officials said today. People turning in guns to sheriff's personnel receive $50 gift cards for use at Best Buy, Home Depot, Ralphs or Target. Gift cards worth $100 were given for each of the first 50 guns turned in." more ›

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.... more ›

At least a camel is much more entertaining and inspiring than Patch Adams. more ›

In the wake of the most recent King-Harbor tragedy, where concerned witnesses called Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department 9-1-1 to report that the medical staff was doing nothing about a woman dying on the floor of the hospital, only to be told that 9-1-1 would not dispatch any help, comes a plan by the LAPD to improve their handling of 9-1-1 calls. Yesterday officials told the L.A. Police Commission that they were beginning to... more ›

Do we need to say much more than that to give you a "ha!" and an "uhhhhh?" at the same time (now this should be the definition of interrobang)? Supposedly, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's were in the midst of a training exercise that included this bag of dummy explosives. But someone who wasn't supposed to get to them, got to them first and stole it. Metro stopped the Gold and Red Lines before hitting... more ›

Expect delays between 6 a.m. and noon on Saturday: On Saturday morning, April 28, transit patrons utilizing Union Station between 6 a.m. and noon are advised that they may experience service delays of 15 minutes or longer on inbound and outbound rail and bus services due to a scheduled joint security training exercise.Union Station transit operators, including the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro), Metrolink and Amtrak, will join the Los Angeles County... more ›

Oprah's favorite weight loss doctors, Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz, would be proud of Los Angeles this weekend. In their most recent book, You: On A Diet, they say you should walk thirty minutes every day no matter what. "No excuses. It doesn't matter if you do this in one whole block or broken up into as many as three shorter sessions." Inspired by Franklin Ave's Wilshire Walk, Will Campbell from Metroblogging Los Angeles... more ›

"My Scooby-Doo detectives are looking closely into that." more ›

LAist has been following the story of the Compton pre-teens killed on a joyride organized at a slumber party. more ›