Tito Ortiz and Oscar De La Hoya are going head-to-head tonight...sort of. The arenas - bookstores. Tito is signing copies of his book at the Virgin Megastore in Hollywood while Oscar will be signing copies of his book at Barnes & Noble in The Grove. In the last five years, mixed martial arts has experienced a surge in popularity, thanks largely to the mainstream emergence of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. With MMA on the......

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......

Unrelated photo of Ben & Jerrys' shipment of dry ice via AmyMo's flickr. *UPDATE, Monday, March 10, 11:10 a.m.: The woman was on dry ice, apparently for 'religious reasons' and does not appear to be murdered. Full story can be found here.What killed a 33-year-old woman discovered packed in dry ice in the Newport Beach hotel room of a cocaine dealer? The few details are embarrassing sketchy at best pending CSI-style detectivery. The body......

The fountain at the LA Central Library is rather strange and fantastical "I'll have a footlong Subway club on white, hold the mayo, and GIVE ME ALL YOUR MONEY!" Police are looking for the man who held up a Subway sandwich store at gunpoint Monday on Beverly in the Wilshire area. The owner and manager of a Burbank apartment building was found liable for their role in the murder of one of his tenants, who......

Authorities in Anaheim are working on putting together the pieces of a very disturbing puzzle they uncovered on Thursday on North Lemon Street near the 91 Freeway. The LA Times reports that police found 34-year-old Rene Lopex Montez "with unexplained second- and third-degree burns over 80% of his body." His clothes were burned off, and Montez told police "he'd been doused with gasoline and set afire at another location, then dropped off." Family members of......

California Highway Patrol Officer Joshua Blackburn, charged with stealing $1 million worth of cocaine being held as evidence, has had his arraignment postponed at his lawyer's request until early next month, KTLA is reporting. The 32-year-old Murietta man (pictured) has been with the CHP for six years, and remains in the Orange County Jail on $4 million bail. His arraignment had been scheduled for yesterday, but the alleged drug nabber's attorney has stated that he......

What would you do to see a newly reunited Rage Against the Machine playing on the same stage and day as Wu-Tang Clan, Cypress Hill, Public Enemy, The Roots, Nas and Talib Kweli? If you said: Drive over an hour, stand in a line for 80 minutes in the 99 degree sun, avoid a restroom for nine hours, sit in possibly the worst parking lot traffic the Western Hemisphere has ever seen and inhale......

- El irony: Mayor Tony cancels media appearance b/c media will ask him about the fact that he's been playing hide-the-taquito with... the media - Daily News - LA Times' advertising and cash flow sunk by 27% last quarter - Bloomberg - It really is a gorgeous building, Remembering Bullocks Wilshire - Franklin Ave. - Tijunga alleged burglar ends up in a standoff with cops in Glendale - Daily News - Pro-lifers are calling......

- Jimmy Kimmel's Jake Byrd, the fake fan who howls "nooooo" at the end of the announcement that Paris is going to go back to jail fools the AP - TV Tattle - Barry Manilow, Superior Court spokesman, separated at birth? - LA Observed - Local tv news websites overwhelmed with Paris coverage - Franklin Ave. - Famed forensic scientist Henry Lee accused of talking to the Chinese press as the Phil Spector trial,......

- With all the hoopla, you'd think that more than just 200 acres of the 4,212-acre Griffith Park had gone up in flames, but no, 200 is the number in the Griffith Park fire... and zero deaths. Then who's the winner? CBS2, because that's who Drudge is linking to on his banner headline - CBS2 - More pics of the fire on Defamer, blogging.la, and of course flickr - La Habra man decapitates woman,......

"The Humane Society of the United States said it purchased coats from reputable outlets, such as upscale Nordstrom, with designer labels -- Andrew Marc, Tommy Hilfiger, for example -- and found them trimmed with fur from domestic dogs, even though the fur was advertised as fake." - NBC4 - LA Olympic leaders ready to throw $112 million at the Coliseum - OC Register Woman, 30 miles outside of LA, in a secret spot, is......

- Is LAX really trying to more than double the rent on several low-cost airlines? - Daily News - Speaking of LAX, SkyWest celebrated their 30th anniversary with the airport - Yahoo - Speaking of anniversaries, Little Ethiopia is preparing to celebrate Big Ethiopia's millennium - Nazret - Brandy is being sued by the sons of the woman who died in last year's car crash - AP - The LA Daily News takes a......

LAist loves animals as much as the next guy, maybe less because we don't have any pets. But still we get into Do-Something mode when we get an email like this: Long time well informed citizens of Orange County know the facts. They say, The Huntington so called 'Humane Society' is not closing but renovating. Which means essentially all the animals will be killed save for 15 kennels only. The owner is merely trying......

- In a new book, Gay LA, two authors discover that "more gay-oriented organizations have been founded in Los Angeles than in any other city in the world" - SF Gate - Former LA news anchor Jim Lampley accused of felony domestic abuse in San Diego - AP - Pamela Anderson demands that her next boyfriend be an editor of a city-based blog - UPI - Blonde chick from Lost divorces after just six......

- New Hybrid marijuana plant found in Mexico; grows year-round, can't be stopped with pesticides - AP - Cannabis is the largest cash crop in the USA. Worth $36 billion - Norml - Is Bong Rip a Drug Dealer or just a stoner with a shitton of buds? - OC Weekly - "The Best of Times", 2006 advances in drug reform laws - stop the drug war - Tuscon car chase leads to cops......