Photo by marcn via Flickr Not too soon after McCain was berated for avoiding Los Angeles on the campaign trail, an announcement comes this morning that he's opening a campaign headquarters in Torrance at 23211 Hawthorne Blvd. Also today, the campaign announced its California Small Business Leaders for McCain coalition members, that is small business owners who endorsed John McCain's economic plan (list below). Some interesting LA figures: three landscaping/florist shops, a furniture store,......

As the average price for a gallon of gas tips over $4 across the country (in Los Angeles, the average is about $4.46 for regular), the Senate will vote today on a "windfall tax" that would snag some of the top oil company's profits at the tune of $17 billion -- in other words, the tax breaks they would expect in the next ten years. $36 billion was earned by the top five oil companies......

After LA County's troubles with the ballot on California's Super Tuesday, today's election ballot made it clear that this is not happening again. "Nonpartisan voters are no longer required to mark an additional bubble to crossover," the NP ballot reads. On February 5, initial reports said 50,000 votes could have been thrown out due to the confusing crossover bubble, known as the double bubble, nonpartisan voters had to check in order to vote in......

California is still very much in play for this 2008 presidential race, Republicans be damned. McCain does not plan on conceding the state that carries the most electoral points. Will he win CA? Not likely. Is it possible? It’s not impossible. Our own Governor thinks it’s possible. But this won’t be your typical Republican campaign run by the Republican machine that was successful in the past (the same one that concedes California from the beginning).......

Now that McCain has secured the Republican nomination, much work has to be done to keep his name in the news while that other party decides how to actually produce a winner. So how does McCain’s campaign plan on doing that? To start, The Man himself is planning a national tour promoting his life story, an overseas trip to promote his foreign policy experience, and town hall meetings leading through the general election. But......

Nick's, home of delicious breakfast burritos, by Rebecca~James via LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr Remember when we told you that Los Angeles tap water was the best tasting in the world? Turns out that our delicious H20 might have been sprinkled with delicious drugs. The AP found that a multitude of pharmaceuticals, like antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones, have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million......

At a press conference today wih presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, Pres. Bush (who, despite popular opinion, is still president) officially endorsed the Arizona Senator and took a few questions from those wacky reporters who still have the gall to ask questions. During the ten minute media bonanza, Bush showed how little he cares for the free press and, apparently, for McCain. He continually interrupted the Senator and attempted to show, with body language and......

Photograph, left, of Hillary Clinton at Herrera's Mexican Cafe in Dallas, TX by Carolyn Kaster/AP; photograph, right, of Barack Obama at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo 2008 by Rick Bowmer/AP *Update 12:03 p.m.: Hillary Clinton is now the declared winner in Texas according to the LA Times. They also have a complete breakdown, state by state, for all the state primaries including yesterdayAs 7:53 p.m., PST, MSNBC projected that Hillary Clinton, at 57%......

Not that we did not know already, but now it is official: Mike Huckabee announced shortly before 6:30 p.m. PST that he is dropping out of the race. The presumptive Republican nominee, John McCain is expected to hold his victory speech later tonight in Dallas (UPDATE: McCain began his victory speech at 6:48 p.m. PST -- "Stand up and fight for America, the contest begins tonight" MSNBC live on air reports that his teleprompter failed......

"Banksy phone booth crashes Downtown LA?" by xxjetlab via LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr Five are dead and one person was hurt in an apparent murder-suicide in Yorba Linda, close to the Richard Nixon Library. A 14-year-old called in to report that his father had shot him. Police later found that the gunman shot his wife and 3 of his children before turning the gun on himself. As we have pointed out before,......

Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist A few weeks ago, we reported on Senate Bill 1142, which would widen the use of enforcement cameras in California from intersections to roadways where photos and video could capture speeding cars on streets, ultimately sending the violator a ticket in the mail. Senator Dutton's office said it was a spot bill and later released a statement to highwayrobbery.net, an enforcement camera advocacy site: "Senator Dutton will not move any......

Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist Last Monday, State Senator Bob Dutton, a Republican representing the 31st District (cities East of Los Angeles including Riverside and Rancho Cucamonga), introduced Senate Bill 1142, a bill that would make changes to 21455.5 of the Vehicle Code. You may be more familiar with the law when put this way: it allows enforcement cameras at intersections (don't run a red light or you'll be on candid camera). The Legislative Counsel......

Mitt Romney, by pauladamsmith via Flickr Mitt Romney, a Republican Governor from a Democratic state, quit the presidential race today following huge gains made by John McCain on Super Tuesday. Romney received 175 delegates on Tuesday, compared with at least 504 for McCain and 141 for Huckabee. In his goodbye speech, made today at the at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, Romney sought to end the Democratic march toward the presidency,......

This morning at Elysian Elementary in Echo Park | Photo by Andy Sternberg/LAist *UPDATE, 5:33 P.M.: More problems continue throughout LA County at the beach, in Santa Monica. At Los Angeles City Hall, two City Councilmembers had an emergency press conference telling voters to pay attention when voting and Dharma & Greg Actor Mimi Kennedy explains what's going on in a video interview with LAist. Also, Hillary Clinton answered our interview questions. We're getting......

The following is not an endorsement of LAist, it is the opinion of the writer. It all went down on a rainy, chilly Los Angeles evening. It was this past Thursday, actually. Curled up on the couch, I listened to the sky cry bitter tears over God’s inability to produce a clear choice in the Democratic race. I watched as Barack stole my heart, then Hillary, then Barack again. How was I ever going to......

Obama and Clinton onstage last week in Hollywood | Photo © 2008 by Jonathan Alcorn (sundogg) via LAist Featured Photos Pool Everyone's a songwriter when there's something big going on. YouTube is busting at the seams with song parodies of candidates and campaigns; some mourn for better choices, some simply sing their support, and some poke lots of fun at the candidates' foibles. Recently a couple of professional songwriters were asked by Weekend America......

RUDY GIULIANI leaves after announcing that he has dropped his bid for the Republican Presidential nomination and is now supporting JOHN McCAIN at the RONALD REAGAN Presidential Library where the Republican Debate is being held. Don't forget to join the LAist staff next week at our Super Tuesday Party at Seven Grand in downtown Los Angeles! Come out to drink with us, watch the primary race unfold, and even tell off your least favorite......

While the remaining Republican candidates converged on Simi Valley yesterday to debate who was most like Ronald Reagan and the two Democratic candidates still standing in the race meet in Los Angeles later today to hash out who is most unlike Reagan, other political news sent shock waves through Washington D.C. that did not portend well for the Grand Ol' Party. Congressman Tom Davis, a Republican who represents the suburban 11th District of Virginia, said......

Our crack political team is projecting "reason to believe" that both Rudy Giuliani and Gov. Schwarzenegger will endorse John McCain for the Republican nomination very soon. We've sorted through various flight plans and itineraries, deciphered a number of "no comments" and left several voice messages on Wolf Blitzer's cell. Schwarzenegger will endorse "within days," Sen. Lindsay Graham told reporters before McCain took off for Burbank this morning. It's unclear whether that means today, or......

The eyes of the nation are turning to the Ronald Reagan Library today, where debates for the Republican front-runners will begin. This is the last debate opportunity for the GOP before "Super Tuesday" next week (LAist is throwing an Election Party to celebrate). Pundits are now anointing John McCain as a front-runner thanks to his campaign success this week in Florida, with Mitt Romney cast in the role of his fiercest opponent. The question......

President Bush landed this morning at LAX for a Southland visit to promote the free trade agreements he mentioned in Monday's State of the Union address with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea. LAX shut down temporarily to accommodate the arrival of Air Force One, and at the airport Bush was greeted by sisters Marni and Berni Barta, two Harvard-Westlake students who founded a program called Kid Flicks, which "collects new and used DVDs that are......

Photo by decadentyou via Flickr The Daily News has an interesting and thorough report on an alleged Iraqi spy living in Canoga Park, a neighborhood in the Northwest Valley. William Shaoul Benjamin, 65, an Iraqi-born naturalized U.S. citizen, goes on trial today on federal charges that he failed to "register, as required by law, as an agent for executed Iraq leader Saddam Hussein's feared intelligence service, whose leaders are believed by U.S. officials to......

President Bush's final State of the Union address by Just Say K.B. via Flickr President George Bush delivered his final State of the Union address this evening. As we mercifully begin the transition out of the Bush era, let us examine the President's speech in typical Washington fashion: taking out a few lines here and there for the most opportune response. We have faced hard decisions about peace and war, rising competition in the world......

If you didn't see this video from earlier this week, it's a good laugh. From Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's YouTube page: "Just before the Michigan Primary this week, Matt Romney decided to take a some pressure off his dad with a little comic relief. Those that know him recognize that he loves a good practical joke."......

Photo by Here in Van Nuys via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr The chief of the Environmental Protection Agency is testifying to a Congress panel that he was not pressured into shutting down California's attempts to create its own global-warming laws: "It was Johnson's first appearance on Capitol Hill since he acted last month, and he drew the ire of not only Boxer, his usual critic, but other Democratic senators whose states......

There are less than two weeks to go until OMG Tuesday!, when almost half of America will likely decide on what Democratic nominee will butt heads with the next Republican nominee. But, while the presidential election gets most of the attention, there are seven propositions on the Feb. 5 ballot this year covering a wide range of issues that could affect this state in lasting and meaningful ways. In the last three weeks, we......

If you plan on participating in either the Republican or Democratic primary on February 5th (in two weeks) you MUST register to vote by midnight tonight. Don't panic, you don't have to rush out into traffic, just make sure your application (download it here) is postmarked by midnight. Dig the last-minute madness? You can drop your application in person at the LA County Clerk's desk in Norwalk (map) by midnight (see the OC Registrar [map]......

"Ducttape Superhero" by The Eye of Brad via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr With exactly one year to go until a new president is inaugurated (and one more year of Jon Stewart's hilarious Bush headlines), the field of Republican hopefuls just got smaller. After poor showings in, well, every primary, caucus and poll, San Diego Congressman Duncan Hunter is ditching the presidential race. No word on what he will do now, but......

Projected Nevada Democratic caucus winner Hillary Clinton campaigned here in California this week, visiting supporters gathered at CSUN As the results of today's caucuses--including one being held at Caesar's Palace--in Nevada continue to stream in, most are projecting Senator Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney the winners of the Democratic and Republican races, respectively. The LA Times is reporting that "with 78% of the precincts reporting, Clinton had about 51% of the vote and Obama 45%.......

WORDS SCI-Arc’s spring lecture series on design and architecture kicks off tonight with Jeffrey Kipnis, professor of architectural design and theory at Ohio State University. Kipnis will discuss “happy,” “zany” and other important political trends in architecture. So the title of his lecture -- *@$#*!#!! -- does make sense. Kind of. 7 pm // W. M. Keck Lecture Hall SCI-Arc, 960 East 3rd Street, Los Angeles // Free. MORE WORDS David Frum is a former......