Photo from the Getty by Rick O! via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Students, faculty, staff, and parents associated with Lincoln Elementary school in Santa Monica are trying to come to grips today with the weekend arrest of Thomas Beltran, who taught ESL at the school. Beltran, 60, has been charged with molesting four young girls who were his students. An auto fire turned into a brush fire late this afternoon near......

Photo by Tom Andrews via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr 45-year-old murder suspect Hovik "John" Mankyan, who engaged police in a lengthy standoff on Good Friday in Palmdale, is reportedly "clinging to life" in the hospital. Mankyan, who is wanted for a 2004 North Hollywood homicide "ingested poison and severed arteries" prior to surrendering. Honors on Ice: The Anaheim Ducks will honor SWAT officer Randal Simmons, who died in the line of duty,......

"Fire in the Sky" by manmadepants via LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr Sacramento to California's teachers: I love you, but I just can't pay you. Thousands of teachers across the state this week could receive pink slips in the wake of the $14.5 billion budget gap. Teachers to Sacramento: I'd like to see you try and force us out. The Air Quality Management District loves clean air so much they decided to impose......

Clippers 116, Kings 109, 2OT - Down by 17 points, it looked like Los Angeles was about to give Sacramento their first win this year against a Pacific rival. Anybody seen Sam Cassell. Two overtimes later, the Clips pulled off a wild victory and send the Kings to 0-9 in the division. LA led the entire second overtime. Al Thornton led the game with 27, Chris Kaman had 17 points and 11 rebounds, and Dan......

For the last ten years, state representatives from Los Angeles have dominated the role of Speaker of the Assembly, including Mayor Villaraigosa, LA City Council Herb Wesson and Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle. Today, Karen Bass, the assemblywoman who represents neighborhoods from West LA to Culver City to Baldwin Hills, had enough votes to become Speaker of the Assembly up in Sacramento. The job of speaker is to be the leader of the California State Assembly,......

We love when politicians and government officials chime in on LAist's comment section. The latest political celebrity, Senator Jim Battin (R- La Quinta), caught wind of an article this morning about SB 1374, a bill he submitted last week that would allow car pool lane access for any car owner who off-sets their emissions with carbon credits, ultimately letting solo drivers of all sorts, including SUVs and Hummers, onto California freeways. Commenters brought out ammunition......

Photo by billaday via Flickr If you thought Sacramento politics was like watching paint dry on a wall, then it's time to revaluate that thought... at least for the moment. On Friday, the Sacramento Bee's Capitol Alert blog picked their Press Release of the Week and if the proposed bill is passed, it could effect the roadways here in Los Angeles by letting solo drivers, including Hummers and other SUVs, gain access to car......

"orange chair with cushion," by kpe II via LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr A steady stream of Koreans moving into the northwest San Fernando Valley suburbs is giving the traditional K-Town in LA City a run for its money. Now you Valley-ists might not have to travel over the hill for karaoke bars. Japanese and Los Angeles police detectives solved a 26-year-old case of a Japanese business man who allegedly shot his wife......

OK so the PBS examination of the Haditha massacre is going to be pretty heavy duty tonight, there's a couple options for lighter fare, and of course the season finale of Nip/Tuck will be the pornographic prime time finish. 8:00pm American Idol FOX - The 12 remaining male contestants perform. 8:00pm Tour of California: Stage 2 From Santa Rosa to Sacramento VERSUS - Fabian Cancellara is in the lead by 2 seconds, American Levi Leipheimer......

The AMGEN Tour of California has returned and it started a couple days ago with a time trial in Palo Alto. The tour makes its way to Sacramento today and then starts heading south towards Los Angeles. The race concludes on Sunday, February 24th with Stage 7 which starts in Santa Clarita and finishes in Pasadena. You can watch the Tour nightly on VERSUS at their 8:00pm slot. The professional commentators that bring you the......

It's National Almond Day today, along with "Do a Grouch a Favor Day," and the day that Nylon was patented by DuPont. Somehow I can make these three categories work, because you could do this grouch a favor by passing the almonds and reminding me that I don't have a job where I have to wear nylons every day. That's actually a misnomer, because the nylons invented by Wallace Carothers in 1938 were not......

Since Proposition 93 was rejected by voters yesterday, termed-out assemblymembers are out of a job come next year -- that includes Los Angeles Democrat Fabian Nunez who represents downtown (and south of it) and has been Speaker of the Assembly since 2003. Now, assemblymembers from up and down the state are looking to fill the speaker's shoes. But what the heck is so special about being Speaker of Assembly? What does this person do?......

Red Wings 3, Kings 0 - The best hockey team in the NHL was in Staples Center on Tuesday night. Unfortunately for local fans, the worst team in the NHL calls it home. The Kings lost to Detroit for the 17th time in 18 games. Next up, LA hosts Anaheim, then gets some time off for the all star break. That means plenty of rest, since it's not like the Kings will have many......

When the UC Board of Regents held a meeting this past Thursday, students and staff were on hand to express dismay with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recently announced proposal for increased fees, enrollment limits, and salary freezes. According to the LA Times, the organized protest included approximately "50 students carrying protest banners" who spoke out about the possible fee hikes because of the troubled state budget. Students feel it is not right for them to have......

What will Hike The Geek do?!?! In order to face up to budget-balancing woes and a state-wide financial crunch, Governor Schwartzenegger has proposed to close 48 different national park sites, as well as cut funding to many school, health care, and criminal justice programs. Parks in the L.A. area like the Will Rogers State Historic Park, Topanga State Park, and Pio Pico State Historic Park in Whittier will all be shut down, affecting many......

After declaring a fiscal emergency, Governor Schwarzenegger yesterday unveiled his budget plan which seeks to close the gap in California's budget. The governor proposed a 10 percent cut across the board for state programs, including education, health care and social services. Democratic state representatvies are stongly opposing the plan, including Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez of Los Angeles. The Daily News reports: "All of the cards ought to be on the table," said Assembly Speaker......

Why do all these prisoners love our governor? Because in his budget cuts that were released today, it proposes just that -- an early release for 22,000 low-risk inmates. "The governor says the cuts are necessary to erase a $14 billion revenue shortfall over the next 18 months. Schwarzenegger's new budget would spend 3 percent less than the one he signed last summer," according to the AP. Here is some of what is also......

Daily News has a report on what Valley state representatives are planning to bring to the table in 2008, many of them green such as Glendale Democrat Paul Krekorian's push to have the state use more renewable energy while giving grants to local municipalities and school districts for that and reusable water. He also is looking into "permeable concrete," which lets water seep into the ground versus into a storm drain to the ocean.......

Kings 8, Sabres 2 - Halfway through, it looked suspiciously like an SEC football score. Los Angeles was up 7-0 midway through the second period and coasted the rest of the way, making life easy on goalie Jonathan Quick. Due to injuries, Quick was making his first appearance in the NHL. For those keeping score at home, the Kings have tried more goalies this season than they had goals against the Sabres. Only in LA......

Jazz 102, Lakers 81 - This game looked bad on the scoreboard but it was even worse on the court. Los Angeles was 3-of-19 in the first quarter, and Kobe missed his first eight shots overall. They were down 21 at halftime. By the final buzzer, three different Utah players reached double-digits in rebounds. Fortunately, it's just the preseason ... A bad omen of things to come, Lamar Odom is out for a little longer......

!!! aka Chk Chk Chk (or any other triple repeated expletive) played at the Avalon a couple weeks ago to a large crowd of friends, supporters, party-people, and folks who just effing wanted to dance. The band is 8 months into touring to support their incredible album Myth Takes and are about to embark for another pass through Europe. !!! loves LA - they have a lot of friends here, they make a pilgrimage......

Núñez represents downtown Los Angeles, to the south of, and East LA in the state assembly. It is rumored he wants to run for Mayor. It is not like Democrat Fabian Núñez, Speaker of the California State Assembly, is some bogus politician with bad intentions and total self-serving motives. I am not going to argue with him for looking into universal preschool, high speed rail and global warming solutions for California; in fact, I......

Rally champion Colin McRae dies with son in helicopter crash. McRae participated in the last two X-Games, rolling his car both times at the Home Depot Center. He last competed here on August 5th, his birthday by the way. Complete with an interactive map, Daily News finds that Pedestrian vs. Automobile accidents are high in the Valley. (Author's note: after being hit by a car in a hit and run when I was legally......

Just out of college, I worked at a small record store that was actually a front for a much larger music bootlegging operation. The owner was a coke-fuelled mafia wannabe, who rarely stopped by the store, except to empty the register. I would always have to give customers huge discounts, because I couldn’t make change for them. The boss was completely moody and unpredictable. You never knew if he was gonna scream at you......

Today, notable incidents for the LA Fire Department included mutual aid with the LA County Fire Department for a brush fire at the 14 and 5 freeway junction and a near drowning of an 8-year-old boy at a public pool off of Foothill Blvd. He was saved by lifeguards and airlifted to a hospital. A small plane crashed in Kern County with 4 adults and two children, all residents of Santa Monica. Another tornado......

With unseasonable weather descending upon much of North America, schools getting ready to reconvene, and sports seasons getting exciting, it's a busy time of year for us here in the Ist-A-Verse. Luckily, even with all the things we have to do, we still managed to get together to let you know what we've all been up to. After cooling down from a hot weekend of many badass Sunset Junction Street Fair photo dispatches, LAist asked......

Fun froo-froo drinks like Smirnoff Ice, Seagram's Coolers, Bacardi Silver and Mike's Hard Lemonade got a vote of approval in the form of a $3.10 per gallon tax (from 2-cents for a 12 oz. bottle to 31-cents), raising the price of six-pack malt liquors near $2.00. The proposed tax increase is due to reclassification of "alcopops" from beer to distilled spirits. The process for the increased tax could take a year to complete. Interestingly......

While Sacramento scrambles to cut hundreds of millions of dollars of funding for public transportation and other programs around the state, a serious group of underground marijuana professionals are offering to pay at least a billion dollars in taxes, if only California would legalize pot. A coalition of California marijuana growers and dealers has offered Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger one billion dollars to solve the current state budget crisis. The group, calling itself Let Us......

Galaxy 2, Pachua 1 - The Galaxy was without its biggest star (Beckham wasn't on the bench, much less the field), but 19,317 people still showed up to watch the struggling squad knock off one of Mexico's best club teams. Landon Donovan scored go-ahead goal in the 81st minute. Next up, the Galaxy will host Chivas -- the real Chivas of Guadalajara -- in more SuperLiga action on Saturday. Astros 7, Dodgers 4 - When......

Dodgers 10, Houston 2 - Los Angeles has been consistently inconsistent since the All Star break, and didn't show true dominance until going on the road. Chad Billingsly improved to 7-0 with a complete game, and even held the Astros scoreless until the final out. The Dodgers also looked good at the plate, with 3 RBIs from both Luis Gonzalez and James Loney. Jeff Kent (who scored on a wild pitch) had four hits before......