A middle-school student was disciplined for doing something silly with her smart phone: videotaping her friend in the girls' locker room, where a bunch of other girls were changing for PE. Fearing that the girl's video would go viral — as the school's rumor-mill indicated — the school's administration responded swiftly and got the police involved, according to Murrieta Patch. more ›

Opening statements in the first-degree murder trial of Brandon McInerney begin Tuesday in Los Angeles for a Southern California accused of "gunning down a gay classmate" in front of other students at a Ventura County middle school in 2008, according to the Associated Press. more ›

A 12-year-old boy was fatally stabbed outside an apartment building in Anaheim, reports KTLA. The boy, whose name hasn't been released, was found lying on the ground by police officers and was taken to a local trauma center where he later died. He's thought to be a student at nearby Sycamore Junior High. more ›

A middle school in Diamond Bar was on lockdown yesterday afternoon as authorities searched the area for three men suspected of robbing a nearby home. Police were called to the area by a witness who saw the men break into a house on Chandelle Place. Deputies arrived at the scene as the men were leaving the home. more ›

Authorities in Compton are investigating the death of 13-year-old Luis Fraire, a 7th grade student at Whaley Middle School [map]. Fraire "collapsed on Tuesday while walking toward the boys' locker room," according to abc7, and was pronounced dead at a local hospital. He had allegedly "complained of chest pains," and suffered from heart problems. more ›

Jason Alexander, perhaps known best for his run as George Costanza on the sitcom Seinfeld, struck a cycling middle-schooler early this morning, according to LA Now. The 14-year-old boy was on his way to campus when he was struck by Alexander at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and June Street. The "was taken to a hospital in stable condition." However, while the LAPD "took an accident report and are investigating the incident," Alexander was not cited. A spokesman for the actor says he was "shaken up" and that he "stayed with the cyclist until the paramedics and police arrived and all indications are that the injury was minor." more ›

Middle school can be tough. For one Riverside County teacher, however, her way of coping with her 7th graders was to allegedly perform her job while intoxicated, according to cbs2. Tonya Neff, a 47-year-old teacher at Toro Canyon Middle school, has been arrested on charges she was drunk and on prescription drugs, and was carrying a container with an alcoholic beverage inside on campus. She "was taken to the Indio jail Tuesday afternoon and booked for investigation of felony child endangerment." Neff was placed on leave. Coachella Valley School District's superintendent says "there was never a threat to her seventh-grade students." more ›

Just one day after the Los Angeles Unified School District voted in favor of the plan to give control of struggling schools to non-profits, a lawsuit filed against the LAUSD by the ACLU is focused on layoffs at three schools--two of which are operated by Mayor Villaraigosa's non-profit "Partnership" program. more ›

Three boys have been arrested, following an ongoing investigation of a series of attacks against redheaded classmates November 20th at a Calabasas school, abc7 is reporting. 7 students, four girls and three boys, were victims of "Kick a Ginger Day" attacks at A.E. Wright Middle School. A LA County shefiff's spokesman said "Two 12-year-olds were arrested for suspicion of misdemeanor battery, and a 13-year-old was booked for misdemeanor cyberbullying." The attacks are thought have have sprung from a plot point in a 2005 South Park episode, and propagated online via a Facebook group advocating redheads be targeted. more ›

A total of 7 students from A.E. Wright Middle School are now reporting they were victims of attacks last Friday on what was known as "Kick a Ginger Day," LA Now is reporting. Investigations into the first reported incidents indicate "at least four redheaded girls and three boys are believed to have been victims of the so-called ginger attacks at a Calabasas middle school that authorities believe were inspired by a Facebook message." The message is thought to have stemmed from a 2005 episode of South Park. "Detectives have identified eight boys at the school as formal subjects of the investigation," however so far there have been no arrests. more ›

Kids at A.E. Wright Middle School in Calabasas hopped on the bandwagon fueled by a Facebook group posting that declared last Friday "Kick a Ginger Day." more ›

Even going 10 MPH can be deadly. A supposedly distracted mother who just dropped off her own child to Toll Middle School in Glendale hit an 11-year-old girl as she drove through a marked crosswalk yesterday morning. Vehicles going in the other direction had yielded for the children, according to TV news reports. The driver stayed at the scene and was cooperative with police. She was let go, but her Nissan Pathfinder was taken by investigators. more ›

Now that Water Reed Middle School in North Hollywood unexpectedly and mistakenly has become part of the debate about John McCain (read the background on this story here), principal Donna Tobin posts a statement on the school's blog: more ›

The school lockdown bug has hit! Here's what's happening out there: more ›

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Yesterday thousands of people participated in the weekend long Big Sunday event: more ›

Yesterday on doorsteps of homes in Studio City came flyers telling people to vote in today's Studio City Neighborhood Council (SCNC) election. Yesterday in the e-mail boxes of many Valley residents was an e-mail telling them to vote tomorrow. If you know anything about Neighborhood Councils... Actually, let's rephrase that. If you don't know anything about Neighborhood Councils and these elections, there is a good reason to that: outreach is hard. So one would think... more ›

#8 Woman pissed off that she got the wrong change sets an Orange County Walgreens on fire with her cigarette. Quoth store employee Harry Ambriose: "You see flames all over the store, smoke all over the store, it was crazy...I smelled smoke in the cooler and I was like, 'What's going on? What’s going on?' Ran out and I see big black smoke all over the store, black on the ceiling, black everywhere...She just... more ›

Council President Eric Garcetti represents the Thirteenth Council District which includes all or part of the communities of Glassell Park, Atwater Village, Elysian Valley, Echo Park, Historic Filipinotown, Silver Lake, East Hollywood and Hollywood. Otherwise known as LAist's 'Hood. Because we're represented brilliantly, when we sent our councilmember a request to take part in this collection of Best Of lists not only did he respond quickly and wonderfully, but he reached behind our ear and... more ›

LAist continues its series of interviews with cool Angelenos under 30. Last April, the Pasadena Jaycees nominated Priscilla Angelita Tjio-Hervey as one of the year's Outstanding Young Californians. It's easy to see why Priscilla received the nomination. She teaches science to middle schoolers in Arcadia, runs a comic book publishing company with her husband, John Hervey, and served as Miss Los Angeles Chinatown in 2003. more ›

MySpace just can't win this week. First the community of Calabasas was alarmed enough to hold a vigil for two missing teenage girls; the parents insisted they'd been cyber-napped by someone on MySpace. Turned out the two had girls had taken off together for a little romantic R&R. more ›

Much thanks to Here in Van Nuys who pointed us towards another Van Nuys based blog - We's in California. Bluntly and comically, a Canadian couple shares accounts of their new homeland, including seeing a rapper in the bank and dealing with Homeland Security. After perusing this crackup blog, we had to share some of our favorite quotes with you: more ›