Update 7:00 p.m.: Sepulveda is still shut down and now crews expect to open it around 9 p.m. tonight. Update 5:11 p.m.: "Crews Hope to Clean up Sepulveda Landslide by 5:30pm Rush Hour" says Fox 11 News. Update 4:04 p.m.: Power has been restored to all effected except 700 residential customers in Brentwood and Bel Air. Update 11:14 a.m.: This morning's landslide even caused power to go out at the Getty Center. Luckily, power in......

Sunday's Grammy Awards weren't just about honoring the best in music, they were also about supporting environmental awareness and conservancy. And the The Recording Academy® hoped to set the precedent with getting the Grammys to go green. The show itself was produced to have a reduced environmental impact, which, according to their press release, meant that in partnership with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (LADWP) and......

As the second wave of the massive storm system that wailed on the area last night approaches, here are some updates on conditions and storm-related happenings:We have the power: CBS2.com reports that "Power has been restored Saturday to 31,000 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers who lost service" due to the rainstorm. A quarter of the outages were located in the San Fernando valley. Some customers, including a few hundred in OC with......

CityWatch is reporting that Gloria Jeff, fired Los Angeles Department of Transportation General Manager, wants her job back. "She says the Mayor … who did the firing … did not give her an annual performance evaluation, gave her no explanation for the firing and demanded that she resign within 21 hours." A spokesman for the Mayor, Matt Szabo, countered: “Gloria Jeff received numerous indications from the mayor’s office that her management of the Department......

The LA Department of Water and Power seem to think that LA will just sit back and let them raise rates, hide money, and allow themselves to get rich. In the last few weeks the public utility has been exposed for a few troubling trends and actions that we quietly await to see what Mayor Tony, and our other elected officials, will do about it. On Sunday the LA Daily News discovered that over......

Last year Kaiser Permanente donated $1.2 million to the city to help keep 15 city swimming pools open an extra two weeks at the end of the summer. This year Kaiser cut their donation by 90%, and still, magically the city announced that thanks to the HMO, 14 city pools will remain open two weeks longer than originally scheduled. Because of a $121,000 donation from Kaiser Permanente, 14 swimming pools operated by the Los......

While vermin living in the kitchen of a restaurant might make for an entertaining animated Disney flick, you wouldn’t be too amused if you found out that furry creatures were running wild in the kitchen of your favorite establishments. Unfortunately, however, they are. A list of these kitchens can be found on Los Angeles Department of Public Health website, which lists all establishments recently shut down for reasons ranging from "vermin infestation" to "gross contamination......

Michelle Mowery is the Bicycle Program's Sr. Project Coordinator for the Los Angeles Department of Transportation. As Spring is basically here, we think it's a good time to ride your bicycle around town. It's much better than in the heat. Michelle is extremely busy serving this city with bicycle love. We are happy to get a few moments with her and hope to visit her again for some more bike fun. Here, we learn......

When it rained this weekend 150 tons of trash from LA's sewers flushed beneath us and ended up in the ocean. This is why we can't have nice things. "The volume of trash collected at the L.A. River boom is a powerful reminder that everything in the street - trash, cigarette butts, pet waste, even oil that leaks from cars - washes into the ocean after each heavy rainfall," said Emma Ayala, Head, Public......

Did you know that you don't need health insurance to get tested for AIDS and STDs in LA County? The County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health Sexually Transmitted Disease Program is complimentary to its residents. So don't wait. Go and use it. We are not AIDS experts here, but we believe in a simple idea. If everyone would get tested at least once a year, the spread of AIDS and STDs would......

Well... sorta. Everyone's been having a pretty great summer, right? Dodgers are in first place, "Snakes on a Plane" didn't suck, and the heat hasn't been competely unbearable. So to add to the sweetness of the season, Kaiser Permanente and the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks have joined together to keep the city swimming pools open for 13 additional days. According to CBS-2, the $1.2 million donation by the HMO creatively called......

When DWP starts off an e-mail with these words in red, it can't be good: "San Fernando Valley Customers Can Expect Musty Odor in Their Water." But not to fear, this seasonal algae growth, known as Anabaena, "produces a smelly compound which is harmless and common..." DWP's full e-mail to the public:Los Angeles – The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is notifying customers in the San Fernando Valley that they may......

Mayor Sam's Sister City blog informs us that the City of Los Angeles proposes to increase the sewer service fees in order to cover escalating sewage treatment costs. The City wants to increase fees over a five year period, starting March 1, 2005. The City of Los Angeles Department of Public Works has issued a "helpful" FAQ for those playing at home and has scheduled a slew of community meetings (see below for the......

Who said nothing in LA was free? If you can believe it, under the guise of saving the City of Los Angeles a little bit of power for those A/C-heavy summers, the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power is offering up a program called "Trees for a Green LA." The program gives homeowners up to eight (count 'em), eight free trees of varying shapes and sizes for planting on your own property. Why?......

Turmoil at the planning department! It may not sound very exciting, but the Los Angeles Department Of City Planning dictates the way our city is built, and thus, the way we live. According to the L.A. Weekly, Planning Department wonks are sick and tired of director Con Howe's listless leadership, and want him out. “He’s been very good at lowering expectations,” says one disheartened former Planning Dept. employee. That doesn't really sound like an admirable......