Occupy Wall Street has beget Occupy L.A. has beget Occupy LAUSD. The movement states "This is a call out to the 99% in the Los Angeles Unified School District. It is time we Reclaim Our Schools from the 1% wealthy." But what does "the man" have to do with huge class sizes, dirty classrooms, empty libraries, fallow gardens and laid off teachers? more ›

Every year Capitol Weekly releases a list of the 100 most powerful people that are not politicians. These include reporters, state employees and business people. The Weekly has released the second half the list today (first half here). Here are some local notables: more ›

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In Los Angeles, there are some important streets named for some important people. Beaudry, Wilcox, Van Nuys, Lankershim, Wilshire, Micheltorena, and hundreds of others named for leaders, developers, owners, and others. But, in Los Angeles, there are streets that have been changed in honor of an individual. Santa Barbara Avenue in South Los Angeles was changed to honor civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1982 and Brooklyn Avenue & Macy Street were changed in 1993 to honor civil rights leader Cesar Chavez. Tom Bradley had a section of First Street named concurrently in his honor in 2001. These are the most recent street name changes of major lengths. (Yes, Chick Hearn Court was also changed from Eleventh Street, and Johnnie Cochran Vista was named just last year from Seventeenth Street; but neither are of major street length). There is one other street, though, that needs mention here: James M. Wood Boulevard. more ›

Stevie Wonder was the first of two surprises led to the Pauley Pavilion floor by Michelle Obama at yesterday's Get Out the Vote for Obama Rally. After a short explanation of his history as a Clinton supporter turned Obama believer, Wonder led the crowd in a rather difficult vocal exercise based on the candidate's name (see video below). more ›

"If Barack Obama was a state," California's First Lady said, "he'd be California." more ›

7:43 The spin is winding down and the media room is beginning to empty. Reporters are putting the finishing touches on their debate articles and the crew is beginning to clean up the bottles and box dinners provided. But the next six days until Super Tuesday will be anything but quiet. Commercials will continue to fill the airwaves, candidates will have events around Southern California and LAist will party as we watch the results. Thanks for tuning in and stay tuned to LAist for all your political coverage. more ›

Photo by kpe II via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr more ›

Hoping to reach out to Latino voters, Barack Obama is using Spanish-language television advertising on Telemundo and Univision here in Los Angeles. more ›

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. more ›

One-time congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham has been sentenced to more than 8 years in jail for taking $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors. His crime included not paying $1 million in taxes. Cunningham told the court that he'd fought in Vietnam "because it was the right thing to do." If that was the case (and we think it's an arguable point), his moral compass has since slid out of whack. more ›