Photo by delara-photos via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr The trial of Juan Manuel Alvarez began today. Among his charges are 11 counts of murder for the January 2005 incident involving him parking his car on the tracks and causing a Metrolink train to derail. The stretch of San Diego beach closed to the public last week following a fatal shark attack has reopened. Swimmers are cautioned to keep close to the......

The Daily News has more details on those marijuana vending machines. Besides, you know, the fact that they are TOTALLY AWESOME! A rash of gang violence in Watts since the weekend has led to two shooting deaths and the injury of at least 13 others. Yahoo is not doing so well: a major drop in fourth quarter profits is going to mean layoffs somewhere in the neighborhood of of 7% of the workforce. Four......

In like a fox and out with a yodel? Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo for $50 billion. Many have speculated that Microsoft would eventually spring for big Y, as a marriage with the online media giant increasingly appears to be the most viable option to compete with Google in the great war of search and online advertising. Always a fun rumor to kick around, but today it's being corroborated by the WSJ, and considering......

Lately it seems that the LA Times' A Section has at least one Iraq-related article on nearly every page. While the rest of the media world speculates on the fate of the TribCo and the designs the Times' potential suitors may have in mind, is the paper covering Iraq better than anyone else? The general trend of newspapers focused on cost-cutting and boosting readership is to expand local coverage. But as recently as last......