It's a bird! (No.) It's a plane! (Well, yes.) It's sky graffiti! (WTF?) California-based graffiti artist SABER sent skywriting planes over Downtown L.A. today to leave his mark, and the mark of other prominent graffiti artists, in the form of sky tagging. more ›

For those in search of a little consumer-based titillation in the OC city of Lake Forest, your options will remain strictly limited. Yesterday, the Lake Forest City Council "established a temporary moratorium on adult businesses," of at least 45 days, according to the OC Register, giving them time to evaluate if they can allow them to open up anywhere in the city at all. more ›

A Los Angeles City Council committee voted to approve a new ban yesterday on "stand-alone" fast food restaurants in South Los Angeles, according to the Daily Breeze. Under this new ban, which can be viewed as an extension of the previously instituted moratorium on new fast food establishments, fast food restaurants cannot open "within a half-mile of existing establishments." more ›

For City of Los Angeles residents who opt to go solar for their power, the DWP has a rebate incentive. However, today the City Council is urging the DWP to put their rebates on hold, and to consider reducing the dollar amount of the rebates, according to the Daily News. Though the Council "unanimously rejected a proposal to slash" DWP rebates today, they are asking that the DWP make a new plan that will safeguard against the program going bankrupt. more ›

If you live in Los Alamitos, and you're contemplating getting some ink done, a rubdown, or some permanent eyeliner put on, think outside the lines. As in, outside the city lines, since the Los Alamitos City Council "voted last night to extend a 45-day moratorium on new tattoo parlors, permanent make-up salons and massage services until September 2011," according to the OC Register. more ›

The Commission that runs the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum has overturned a ban on raves at the venue initiated in June of this year, according to the LA Times. The moratorium on the events was issued following the drug-related death of a teenager who had been at the Electric Daisy Carnival. more ›

Many people remember the freeway murals painted for the 1984 Olympics or the Los Angeles Marathon, but today they are hardly recognized as such. Between corrosion and graffiti the murals stand as a sad reminder of the issue... more ›

Today the Los Angeles City Council could place a one-year moratorium on annual rent increases to the city's stock of 630,000 rent-controlled apartments [Update: the motion under consideration today would only do it for four-months]. Based on a study by the city's housing department last year, landlords have been raising rents even when the Consumer Price Index was considerably low. more ›

The Los Angeles City Council has once again opted to postpone a vote on a proposed action to curb the influx of medical marijuana clinics around town, reports the LA Weekly. In a meeting described as "raucous," the city's Planning Department showed "hurriedly created maps showing that only five of 137 pot shops envisioned under a City Council cap could remain at their current locations if the city adopts a buffer zone to keep them at least 500 feet from schools, youth centers, libraries, religious institutions and residential properties." more ›

A superior court judge today told Los Angeles city officials in a preliminary injunction that they were the ones breaking the law, not a medical marijuana dispensary that was told it could not operate under a 2007 moratorium--since extended twice--banning new medical marijuana facilities. more ›

Nearly two months into a ban on new digital billboards and supergraphics, a judge sided with the city of Los Angeles after one advertising company challenged the law. Liberty Media said exceptions had been granted in the past and that City Council had violated state law dictating open meetings. U.S. District Judge Audrey B. Collins said "none of theese claims have merit" in her tentative decision. more ›

The City Council is slowly but surely making their way through hundreds of applications for medical marijuana dispensaries that applied for permits and set up shot during a moratorium from 2007. 42 of the 779 applications have been denied so far and yesterday, 18 of them were recommended for denial by a City Council committee, according to the LA Times. The moratorium, which has not been lifted, let 186 already-existing dispensaries to continue operations. more ›

The hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries that cropped up all over town in the past few years are now facing uncertain futures, as City officials mull the next step in the process to close them down, reports the LA Times. They are working on a short list of pot shops "targeted for extinction by a City Council chagrined that it allowed hundreds to open in Los Angeles despite a 21-month-old moratorium." more ›

The storefronts denied today had all applied for hardship exemptions before it was removed from the city's marijuana dispensary moratorium earlier this afternoon. Only owners from two stores appeared to speak during public comment, noting they were unprepared because notices of today's hearing were only sent out last Friday. more ›

Since a moratorium went into effect on new dispensaries, the exact opposite happened--more than 500 opened because of a hardship exemption loophole in the ordinance. Today, a few months shy of the moratorium being lifted, the City Council will vote on to whether or not close that loophole, as recommended by its planning and land use committee, and will look at 16 (of the many hundreds) hardship applications, either passing them or denying them. more ›

A motion to fill a loophole in Los Angeles' moratorium on new medical marijuana dispensaries was approved by a City Council committee today. In 2007 when the ban was set, routine ordinance language provided dispensaries a chance to apply for "hardship exemptions," demonstrating why they should not be included in the ban, even if they had not fulfilled basic requirements like showing proof of insurance, a business tax license and other documents. Around 500 applications have been submitted, according to the city's Council File Management System (search "marijuana") and none of have acted upon, but dispensaries continue to open around the city. The moratorium will expire in September. A copy of today's motion, which should move to the full City Council soon, is below: more ›

"The billboard industry is like a creature in a science fiction movie that expands to fill any space that you make for it, and then asks, 'Have I got your attention yet?' Yes, the city believes it is fighting 'Swamp Thing.' An extremely wealthy Swamp Thing." That's City Planning Commissioner Michael Woo, as quoted by Curbed LA, at today's billboard press conference dealing with new legislation that proposes to place a two-year moratorium on digital billboards until safety studies come out. As usual, lawsuits from the billboard industry are expected to be filed against such an action. (Photo of digital billboard via Ban Billboard Blight) more ›

Along with a moratorium on foreclosure-related evictions, the LA City Council yesterday also passed a three-month moratorium banning any new signs (billboards, supergraphics and the conversation to digital billboards) for three months while the City Attorney and Planning Department draft permanent changes to the City’s sign ordinance to better regulate advertising in the City. more ›

There's good news coming out of City Council President Eric Garcetti's district about a problem largely unreported in the home foreclosre crisis. When a landlord goes into foreclosure, renters, even the ones who are in perfect standing, are being pressured by the new property owner--banks--to vacate. Tomorrow, the 13th distric councilman will present a motion to halt this activity via a moratorium. From the press release: more ›

• In part to honor the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr and in part to "increase the peace" a 40-hour moratorium on violence goes into effect for the City of Los Angeles starting at 6:01 p.m. tonight. Do your part!
• Because "You can't fire me...I QUIT!" lacks that certain je-ne-sais-quoi, perhaps? An employee in the midst of getting the boot today in Industry stabbed his boss with a pocket knife.
• 31-year-old Keven Lee Graff was sentenced to two life terms in prison today for two murders he committed in June 2004. Graff, a former Marine who is homeless, beheaded a 91-year-old screenwriter then murdered his 69-year-old neighbor.
• The mother of the dead baby found earlier this week near a home in Santa Ana has been arrested by US Marshals after a short stand-off in Henderson, NV. 20-year-old Michelle Pedroza used to reside in one of the houses near where the infant's corpse was discovered by a resident.
• A crowd of about 4,500 gathered today to honor firefighter Brent Lovrien, who died on the job last week in an explosion. His services were held downtown at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, and he was remembered as a man with "a true sense of loyalty."
• Actor Chris Rock took the stand for about 15 minutes this morning to testify in the trial of pro-snoop Anthony Pellicano, who allegedly used some shady methods to do is generally shady job. Rock hired the private dick to dig up dirt on a model who claimed the comedian knocked her up.
• Ever wonder if renting a garage is legit in the city? CurbedLA reminds us about housing and tenancy laws in their Ask Curbed column.
• In the days before WeHo, there was grub The Gay Way... EatingLA gives us a culinary chuckle and throwback with a photo of a 1940s era downtown eatery.