The LAist tipster who saw something from his Beverly Hills office window wasn't the only person to see the fireball. While few reports came in the Los Angeles area (the LAFD told LAist there were zero 911 calls), most calls came in from Riverside and San Bernardino counties. A San Bernardino County dispatch supervisor told the LA Times that "fire crews in Barstow and on I-15 near Stateline came up on the radio and reported......

"The city of Palm Springs invites same-sex couples to come to our welcoming community and experience this historic opportunity," writes Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet on a website encouraging couples to marry in the desert city. "We are prepared to help you with all your wedding needs and embrace you on this, this most wonderful day of your life." Pougnet, two Palm Springs city council members and former Mayor Rod Oden, all openly gay, have......

After a 5-month investigation, the Associated Press found that Los Angeles drinking water has traces of Anti-epileptic and anti-anxiety medications. "To be sure," the AP noted "the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose." Across the nation, the report found tainted water supplies in 24 major metropolitan areas, five of those in California: Los Angeles: 2 (meprobamate and phenytoin)......

That's Chanell, from Riverside County, who graciously let us photograph her tattoo last night at the Beverly Hilton. Causing the most commotion on the red carpet was Eduardo Verastequi, the star of "Bella," who would shortly walk off with The Grace Award for Most Inspirational Movie Acting in 2007. A small group of women in front of me swooned and reached for their cameras, grabbing him before he even made it on to the carpet......

The 80th Annual Academy Awards are scheduled to take place Feb. 24 at Hollywood & Highland's Kodak TheatreAuthorities have released the names of the victims in yesterday's deadly airplane collision in the skies above Corona. According to KNBC.com, "one of the victims -- Earl Smiddy, 58, of Moreno Valley -- was on the ground when he was hit by falling debris. The other victims were identified as Anthony Joel Guzman, 20, of Hesperia; Scott......

Phew! Today, be thankful this is not you. Apparently, Arnold Schwarzenegger said this at one point: "I love Thanksgiving turkey... it's the only time in Los Angeles that you see natural breasts." Parking in Beverly Hills is now a little better, just in time for Holiday shopping. Four parking structures will double their free parking from one to two hours. Residents, merchants and New York City retailers are rejoicing. 167 people in Riverside County......

Only one major event for the Los Angeles Fire Department today in which 30 firefighters quickly fought a three-story commercial building at 515 S. Los Angeles St. Lindsay Lohan lawyers claim she's innocent in the crash involving Raymundo Ortega and his black Mercedes, citing that Ortega made an illegal U-Turn to snag a parking space putting him in Lohan's tracks. The case will go to trial in April. Five oriental fruit flies have been......

Even with their lead singer and co-founding member Paul Stanley flat on his back with doctors temporarily stopping his heart to rectify a ticker pulsing at 190+ beats-per-minute, rock group KISS went on with the show Friday in San Jacinto. Performing as a trio for the first time ever in their storied 33-year career, Gene Simmons led Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer through more than a dozen classic Kiss tunes at the Soboba Casino......

File this under the "no kidding" category: according to a new report just released by the state Department of Finance, California's population is expected to surge by almost 75% over the next half-century with Riverside the likely recipient of a large fraction of the influx. Analysts predict it will surpass its neighbors to become the second most populous county in the state after Los Angeles. The state's population will have almost doubled in size......

the dwarfs are a hit! - West Magazine's cover story is on bullfighting Little People in Mexico (with online video, cha cha). What with Little People, Big World and the paper's own massively popular story of the battle between Little People Kiss cover bands — which made it all the way to the Daily Show — we see a trend. Little People are hot! fire starter - Speaking of hot ... authorities have announced......

A younger look: The LA Times health section is scraping the bottom of the barrel with a story about cosmetic surgery. We're used to local TV covering plastic surgery as "health" stories, but we'd thought the paper wouldn't confuse vanity with health care. Anyway, here's the gist: "Couples are making a date for cosmetic surgery as men seek to stay in step with their transformed spouses." Or wives 25 years younger. A look back at......

Every December hundreds of folks on motorcycles participate in toy drives for needy kids. Which is just sweet. But we kind of long for the time when we used to call them "bikers" and they were scary. Before nice guy Jay Leno was riding a hog with a jet engine. Well, just in time for Christmas, the bad boy bikers are back. The LA Times reports that yesterday's Spark of Love toy drive in......