In Sunday's wee hours, an unusual car chase took place on our local freeways, between the LA County Sheriff and a Vons big rig. According to the San Jose Mercury News:Officials say the hourlong pursuit began when LA County Sheriff's deputies responded to a report that a big rig was weaving. Sheriff's Sergeant Dan Raimo says the driver failed to yield and headed onto Highway 101. The big rig eventually stopped near Cerritos and......

When the chips are down and you need cash to settle up some legal matters, unloading some real estate is a good move. Which is precisely why the Roman Catholic Archdiocese has sold off their 3424 Wilshire Boulevard Archdiocesan Catholic Center to Jamison Properties for a cool $31 million. Of course, that $31 million is just a drop in a bucket with a pricetag of $660 million for the church's past sins. According to the......

What started off as some goofing off on the escalators at the Hollywood & Highland shopping complex turned deadly last night, when an unnamed man fell to his death. He had been trying to slide down the bannister of one of the upper escalators when he reportedly lost his balance and fell several stories onto another escalator below. The fall caused a severe head injury, and the man was pronounced dead at the hospital. It......

Orlando Bloom will not be prosecuted after an October 12th incident in which he injured his two passengers in a car crash involving parked cars. He said he was avoiding a photographer who suddenly changed lanes. Seeing these paparazzi in action, we suspect it was them who caused the crash, most likely on purpose for some higher dollar photo sales. Starting from last week today, the San Jose Mercury News has a great timeline......

Around 4pm today a one-acre fire broke out within sight of the Griffith Park Observatory. ABC has been running indepth coverage, although there is very little news online and no photos available at this time. Hikers have been evacuated. If anyone knows anyone who may be hiking in the park, they are being asked to contact them on cell phones. Visitors to the Observatory were evacuated from the building and were being kept in......

Even in death, Sopranos fans are trying to prove that their favorite character is dead. On Sunday the critically-acclaimed mob drama The Sopranos wrapped up their series with a controversial ending that has left fans either applauding or jeering, but it seems like the fans who loved the show the most are the ones who are looking for clues to prove that the main character, Tony Soprano, was whacked. Many are claiming that there......

Dodgers 4, Blue Jays 3, 10 - It was a strange interleague game against Toronto. Brad Penny allowed one run in 7 and 2/3 innings, but got no decision. Takashi Saito blew the save, but didn't lose the game. Rudy Saenez only faced one batter, but it was enough for the win. Olmedo Saenz finally won it with a two-run blast in the bottom of the tenth. Angels 10, Cardinals 6 - The Halos hung......

Los Angeles based blogger and advice "goddess," Amy Alkon, was featured on last night's Nightline about Blog Slapping. (Nightline) Who are the Chandlers? They are a famous Los Angeles family and you should know something about them. (Morning Edition, NPR) LAist parent company Gothamist, LLC is featured on CNN about NYC 911 callers being able to soon send pictures and video when reporting a crime. The CNN video is unlinkable (ZDNet) Muslims are protesting......

- Courtney Love was a good girl, judge removes her from probation, she cries. "Thank you for not taking me into custody... You've been a good, fair judge. Sorry for crying." E! News - SUV chased by LAPD crashes into a house near Exposition Park - Mercury News - LA Opera gets $4 million to help recover music suppressed by the Nazis - Playbill - Teen Soccer sensation Freddi Adu gets traded to SLC's......

- "These days, consumers are like walking TiVos, filtering out so much of what they see and hear in advertising. To reach this media-savvy demographic, advertisers have to 'give to get.' In other words, they have to give viewers something special, something unique, in exchange for their attention," Mark Kingdon, chief executive, Organic Inc. said regarding the fact that YouTube is opening its floodgates to movie studios, record labels, and other companies who want......

Stuart Alexander, the Sausage King of San Leandro, died in his prison cell today. He was on suidice watch. He was also on Death Row. SFist has his bizarre story. Alexander was a handsome (looks a little like Howard Hughes, huh?) businessman and one-time mayoral candidate who went bezerk when he was visited by four state meat inspectors who had heard he wasn't cooking his sausage at a high enough temperature. Bezerk as in......

The San Jose Mercury News day-trips down to downtown and finds a safe, bustling community much different from when the reporter lived here ten years ago. It reminds us that we really want to check out Checkers Hotel bar one of these days and that maybe we should visit downtown one week day and just walk and spend the entire day into night. LAist has done Olvera Street but we should take it all......

As World Changing looks at the most pressing concerns in the aftermath of Katrina, The San Jose Mercury News (reg. required) is helping LAist by reminding us, once again, of the kindness of strangers. Locally, corporations like Disney and Occidental Petroleum had donated over $3.5 million to the cause while the Dodger Stadium Red Cross center had collected over $350,000 in individual contributions by early evening yesterday. And that's not to mention the people......

As the whole world knows, Pope John Paul II died on Saturday. He was 84. "Our Holy Father looks very much at peace. It was very satisfying for all of us to see him so serene," said LA's own Roger Cardinal Mahony after paying respects to the Pope. USA Today visited Our Lady of Solitude Church on Sunday to see how LA was mourning his death. The Pope visited Los Angeles in 1987. The......

Abdul Ghafoor Mahboob, a U.S. citizen, is safe at home in Culver City after a week-long ordeal of detention courtesy of the Egyptian government. Abdul had spent 7 months in Egypt studying Arabic. On his way home, he was arrested and blindfolded at the airport. He was interrogated and held for a period of 6 days until his release on Thursday. U.S. and Egyptian officials are silent on the reasons for his arrest. A press......

The San Jose Mercury News had a totally condescending article yesterday titled "Los Angeles, San Joaquin lead nation in particulate pollution." Well lah-de-dah, San Jose! I guess we just weren't aware that our air could get pretty dirty! At least we get to wash down all those particulates with a sparkling glass of fresh (and stolen) NoCal water. The AP report says that "paved road dust" was among the biggest sources of pollution in this......