When third-generation Angeleno Mary Melton took over as editor-in-chief of Los Angeles Magazine in 2009, one of her charges was to continue expanding the magazine out of its Westside comfort zone. Melton discussed this change and why it's important for wealthy Westsiders to know what's going on with the have-nots in the rest of the region in a Q&A with Frying Pan News. more ›

The Los Angeles Times announced today that Executive Vice President and Editor Russ Stanton will step down from his position on December 23. The Times' Managing Editor Davan Maharaj will assume Stanton's role. more ›

Rumor has it Maria Shriver had been dishing to close pals for some time about wanting out of her marriage to action star and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. As the gossip churns, TMZ reports today that it was actually the Shriver camp who leaked the intel about Schwarzenegger's affair and son with the onetime family housekeeper. more ›

Initially separate--though not equal, by a longshot--last year's inaugural Food & Wine Taste of Beverly Hills has merged with the Los Angeles Times' Celebration of Food and Wine and their spawn is called The Taste. The event will be a four-day celebration of epicurean delights, showcasing local chefs, restaurants, food personalities and more over Labor Day weekend, September 2-5, 2011. more ›

The largest travel show in the West has brought exotic lands to our backyard, and this morning LAist got in on the action (though we must admit we only looked at the scuba tank) during Day 1 of the Los Angeles Times Travel & Adventure Show featuring a full slate of adventures throughout California and around the globe. more ›

For the first time in its 16-year history, the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books will not be at UCLA. It's going to be at rival school USC. The annual event for the bookish, writerly, and book-curious will be held April 30-May 1 2011 on USC's University Park campus. more ›

If I could go back in time and make a checklist for myself for what to bring to the Los Angeles Times Celebration of Food and Wine event held Sunday, I would have included: Sunscreen, giant hat, wallet full of cash, water bottle, and infinite patience. Why? Because for many of those who paid $55 in advance, or $65 at the door for general admission, the event was anything from a slight hassle to a total disaster. Those who forked over the $125 for VIP seemed to fare better. So what happened? more ›

The Los Angeles Times is poised to release a database of performance data for teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District. This is to follow on the heels of a recent analysis published by the paper that examines the efficacy of 5th grade teachers as part of their series "Grading the Teachers." more ›

With one Los Angeles Times article, suddenly we're talking apples and oranges here in Los Angeles. Specifically, L.A. being nicknamed "The Big Orange." For years New York City has been referred to colloquially as "The Big Apple," as millions of visitors and residents have sought to take their own bite out of the major metropolis. The origins of the moniker stem from the early 20th century, and a sportswriter who peppered his horse racing stories with popular slang, and seemed to employ "The Big Apple" as a term for any major city... more ›

The Chautauqua Series at Temescal Gateway Park welcomes Paolo Davanzo, filmmaker, educator and founder of the Echo Park Film Center, for the program Grassroots Media Literacy and L.A.'s Neighborhood Youth. He’ll discuss the power of film media to create social change. The film center has worked closely with the community and neighborhood youth to foster cinematic activism. The 1.5-hour program meets at Woodland Hall. 7:30 pm. Free. more ›

The LA Times is reporting that veteran sportswriter Mike Penner, 52, was found dead in his Los Angeles home. Suicide was the suspected cause of death. more ›

Figures are in this morning for newspaper circulation nationwide, and the numbers reflect the downward trend symptomatic of a changing media landscape. Here in Los Angeles, the Times' circulation for a six-month period ending September 30th, "was at 657,467 for the Monday-Friday run," notes LA Observed, which shows an 11.05% drop from the same period for 2008. more ›

While filling in for injured starter Josh Howard, the Dallas Mavericks' Jose Juan Barea surprisingly strung together four straight double-figure scoring efforts including a 22 point performance against the Atlanta Hawks on December 9th. The unexpected output of the 5-11 guard in his third year out of Northeastern University has not gone unnoticed by the NBA media, including Los Angeles Times NBA columnist Mark Heisler. Yesterday, Heisler recognized the play of Barea in his NBA Rankings, calling the Dallas guard a "Mexican smurf." While "smurf" isn't exactly the most becoming word to call a sub-six-footer it is actually the more accurate of the two words used by Heisler to describe Barea, who is a native of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. more ›

The owner of the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Cubs and other properties has $13 billion in debt. more ›

According to the Wall Street Journal, media mega-corp Tribune, parent of our Los Angeles Times, has sought legal counsel recently that would help the fumbling company "for a possible trip through bankruptcy court." The filing, some speculate, could happen as soon as this week. The WSJ explains:

Tribune has been on wobbly footing since last December, when real-estate mogul Sam Zell led a debt-backed deal to take the company private. Tribune so far has stayed ahead of its $12 billion in borrowings with the help of asset sales, but now dwindling profits are tightening the noose. The company's cash flow may not be enough to cover nearly $1 billion in interest payments this year, and Tribune owes a $512 million debt payment in June.

The fight over the ballot initiatives, as you know if you've turned on the TV for even half a second in the past few weeks, is heating up fast. Last week, the Los Angeles Times' Dust Up blog featured Miriam Gerace, Spokesperson for the No on 4 Campaign for Teen Safety and director of communications for Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, and Katie Short, coauthor of Proposition 4 and legal director of the Life Legal Defense Foundation duking it out over Proposition 4, which would require the parents to be notified of a minor's abortion. The opinion pieces are truly worth the read, containing zingers from both sides, such as: "Who are you trying to kid?" and "[We're] living in the real world...we do hope you'll join us." more ›

Looks like proponents of Proposition 4, which would require doctors to notify the parents of minors seeking abortions, are hoping that people don't remember what's been said about this initiative so far. In an op-ed published in today's Los Angeles Times, Yes on 4 Communications Director Margaret Pearson tries to convince voters that Prop 4 isn't an anti-abortion initiative. more ›

The Sunday LA Times has a new addition--well, an old addition reinvented, sort of. It's LA, the new Los Angeles Times Magazine, but it's only available in print. more ›

FESTIVAL*: The first ever Downtown Film Festival – Los Angeles began yesterday and continues through the weekend with 23 feature and 180 short films at venues throughout Downtown L.A., from the historic movie palaces on Broadway Avenue to Barker Block and SCI-Arc in Downtown’s Arts District. Featured tonight are A Beautiful Life at the Laemmle Grand and Audie & the Wolf at the Los Angeles Theatre. more ›

Today some LA Times staffers decided to tell owner Sam Zell what they think of his stewardship -- with a three-story banner. On the LA Times building. more ›

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The thing about author Junot Diaz is, one minute he’s on the phone with you, rapping about meringue, Malcolm X, comic books, and how shit never gets done on time in the Dominican Republic – and the next minute, he’s winning the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. He describes himself as just another ordinary, poor immigrant kid from Jersey, but the book tells a different story: that of an author alive with passion for his roots, for language, and for the moments of silence, linguistic and cultural, that can bring a family together and also tear it apart. more ›

A 33-year-old white woman from Sherman Oaks, now living in Eugene, Oregon, has made national headlines today as news comes that her memoir was largely fabricated. Last week, Margaret Seltzer who goes by the pen name Margaret B. Jones was featured in the New York Times' Home & Garden section in a fascinating story about her book, "Love and Consequences." One LAist reader explains her fascination about it in an e-mail: more ›

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is always kicked off by a ceremony that awards one book in each key category with a Book Prize. The nominees in each category were just announced and we're both thrilled and a tad flummoxed by some of their picks, listed below. more ›

Despite being considered as quirky nonsense, the mystery of freakish falls from the sky has become a regular occurrence over the years, and Los Angeles hasn't been exempt from such bizarre downpours and surreal showers. more ›

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A swipe from back east today shows that the NY Times couldn't help but point out the frequency the LA Times names a new head honcho; a headline in today's paper reads: "New Top Editor for Los Angeles Times, the 4th in 3 Years." Ouch! (Hey, we noticed our own local Daily News getting snarky in their headline last night!) more ›