Lt. Jeff Eley, the acting Chief of Police for the city of San Fernando, has gotten into some hot water and is now under investigation for allegedly making a traffic ticket issued to a politician's aide disappear. more ›

The Los Angeles Fire Department are responding to a reported explosion at a commercial building located at 12349 Gladstone Avenue, which is near the 210 Foothill Freeway in the San Fernando/Pacoima area. The building has suffered a partial collapse, there are at least four people with serious injuries, and more people may be trapped inside. more ›

The Board overseeing California's 800-mile high speed rail project are scheduled to meet next week and hear reports on possible station locations in the San Fernando Valley. One of the four will eventually be chosen, according to the Glendale News-Press. They are: near the Burbank Airport, in the city of San Fernando, near the Tujunga Wash at Branford Street and near the Pacoima Wash. Specific details are expected to be posted on July 7th or 8th, just prior to the Los Angeles-based meeting (.pdf), according to a high speed rail spokesperson. more ›

A 1.6 microquake struck near Newhall in the Santa Clarita Valley this morning. The 7:33 a.m. shaker was located in the San Gabriel Mountains, equidistant from Newhall in the Santa Clarita Valley and the city of San Fernando. Four minutes later, a 1.8 magnitude microquake struck near Devore in San Bernadino County. Then at 7:59 a.m., another 1.8 hit the Claremont Colleges/Rancho Cucamonga area. more ›

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• 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 Americans including water in Southern California. Little Johnny has taken such a liking to water these days, I wonder what's gotten into him.
• On Friday, Newport Beach police were baffled when they found a fully clothed woman dead and packed in dry ice in an upscale hotel room near John Wayne Airport. The room was rented from known Cocaine dealer and the woman, whose body was well preserved, was apparently wanted on drug charges in Colorado.
• Before she was ousted for saying Hillary Clinton was a "monster" for some of the "underhanded" tactics used to defeat Barack Obama in the Ohio Primary, foreign policy adviser Samantha Powers took a few questions at LA City Beat. Nowhere in the interview does she disparage Clinton, but she does offer some pretty enlightening opinions, such as this opus on how to have a dignified foreign policy: "...if we could just sort of remember that there are individuals at stake, that the “human” in human rights is not an abstraction." On second thought, I'm glad she resigned. We can't have those sorts of hippie, drugged out commie type of relations with the world. It would be un-American!
• In other political news, a Democrat won a special election to fill a congressional seat left vacant in Illinois by outgoing Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert. Bill Foster claimed the seat partly on the strength of Obama, who campaigned for him. Obama supporters claimed this was a signal of things to come in what many observers said was a national referendum as John McCain campaigned for the Republican.
• An off-duty cop in Temecula allegedly shot 2 and killed 1 person over some sort of melee at a Mexican restaurant in Riverside. Guns don't kill people, crazy ass people with anger management problems do.
• A 21-year-old member of the San Fernando Valley Illegal Soapbox Federation died this morning when his adorable little vehicle collided with a light pole in Tarzana. Thing is, it may not have been so adorable. The motto of the local soapbox federation is, "Action, Mayhem, Destruction, Bodily Harm...All For Free". I'm sorry, it seems pretty tough to macho yourself out when riding in a little cart made for 6-year-olds.
• Andy LaRoche got some bad news this weekend. The Dodger third baseman who was expected to share time with Nomar Garciaparra at the hot corner this season is out 8-10 weeks with a ligament tear in his thumb after getting hit trying to catch an attempted pickoff at third during a pre-season game Friday against the St. Louis Cardinals. Learn this name kids: Blake Dewitt. He's been tearing up Spring Training pitching and flashing some great leather. He could get some time at third in LaRoche's absence.

It's a new record for Los Angeles -- $3.49 a gallon, as of this morning reports KFWB 980 AM. The price of the barrel, also at an all time high, is $105.10. more ›

A 33-year-old white woman from Sherman Oaks, now living in Eugene, Oregon, has made national headlines today as news comes that her memoir was largely fabricated. Last week, Margaret Seltzer who goes by the pen name Margaret B. Jones was featured in the New York Times' Home & Garden section in a fascinating story about her book, "Love and Consequences." One LAist reader explains her fascination about it in an e-mail: more ›

• 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 while the two were on vacation here. Apparently, the long arm of the law uses chopsticks.
• Following Steven Spielberg's diss to the Chinese government when he refused to work with them in the run up to the Beijing Olympics, the state-run media there is returning the favor.
• So much pork was secured by California state legislators last year you would be remiss if you thought Sacramento was a meat packing town. More than $1 billion in pork barrel spending was set aside for pet projects by California lawmakers last year who funneled money to their district. Thirty-five Democrats collectively secured about twice as much money as California's 19 Republicans, but many of the state's individual GOP lawmakers received more money than their counterparts in the majority.
• A man fired a gun into his neighbors home in North Hollywood today, killing him. While the gunman was subdued, a witness stabbed him. How's that for poetic justice?
• Is Hillary Clinton losing it? At a rally today in Ohio, a "visibly angry" Clinton chided Obama for putting out materials she said he knows are "blatantly false." She also derided Obama for having "speeches and the big rallies." "Hillary knows it's over," LA Daily Blog said. The polls are very close in Texas while Clinton maintains a larger lead in Ohio, where both states will vote March 4, which Bill Schneider of CNN called "an end-game" for Clinton.
• Tonight SNL's newest cast member, Casey Wilson, who honed her skills at the Los Angeles Upright Citizen's Brigade, will make her debut, and just in time to play Hillary Clinton. Good Luck Casey!

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: more ›

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LAist Featured Photos Pool contributer delara-photos submitted this shot of an exit sign that calls to mind elements of surrealism or, at the very least, makes you wonder "exit to WHERE, exactly?" From the position of the sign, it looks like the way out leads to either the big blue sky, or the mountains that curtain the San Fernando Valley. The photo was taken in North Hollywood. more ›

What's in a name? Well, for residents and leaders who have won the battle to keep the San Fernando Valley designated as "America's Suburb," it means everything. more ›

A member of the Los Angeles Police Department's elite SWAT team was shot dead in a gunbattle with a barricaded suspect in the San Fernando Valley this morning. more ›

• Don't forget: LAist Super Tuesday Election Party tonight at Seven Grand! Details and RSVP here.
• Did you have any problems voting in Los Angeles today? The Los Angeles Times and LAist report on problems in the precincts, especially for non-partisan voters.
• Is it still a long strange trip if it's only just begun? The last remaining members of the Grateful Dead are reuniting tonight in San Francisco to show their support for Obama.
• The HuffPost says that Obama AND Clinton will be the big winners on Super Tuesday...of course, that depends on what "win" means.
• Polls are closing one by one over the next few hours: so far Huckabee has won West Virginia and Obama has Georgia.
• If prisoners can vote, so can you! Even California's inmates have been swept up in election fever this year.
• Want to know about where LAist, your absolutely favoritest ever LA city blog, will be headed in the next year? Check out this interview with the your favorite cute n' cuddly Editor, Zach Behrens, over at the San Fernando Valley Business Journal (paid subscribers only, sorry, email Zach and harass him if this upsets you as much as it upsets me).
• Tired of election news? Why not take a break with this classic Disney cartoon from the 1950's: Willie the Operatic Whale. Why not, you know?

We're getting reports of problems from readers, writers and the media. John Ennis, one of the founders of Video the Vote, gave LAist this update. Most of the confusion today is over people who are not registered as Democrat or Republican who want to vote in the primaries. The issue might be that they moved and they thought they were up to date. If you are a non-partisan voter, all you have to do is go to either a Democratic or Republican voting booth. Other than a few precincts not opening on time, Ennis says things seem to be running smooth, but it's early in the day he warned. To report a bad voting experience, call Video the Vote at 866-OUR-VOTE more ›

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Turns out "Economic Roundtable" talks really happen at round tables. They also happen in the backyard of a campaign supporter in Van Nuys, in the case of this week's visit from Democratic Presidential nominee-hopeful Barack Obama. The Illinois Senator held the discussion a the home of Mimi Vitello, and was apparently not daunted by the large rake that rested against the wall behind him. LAist Featured Photos pool contributor Jonathan Alcorn (aka Sundogg) captured this amazing shot of Obama's day in the San Fernando Valley, where he has been campaigning vigorously of late, with the local primary just a couple of weeks away. more ›

It seems the Valley isn't the place to be if you're a gang-affiliated criminal. more ›

Last night's powerful rains beat down on Los Angeles, and Southern California in general, with a vengeance. Widespread power outages, mudslides, and flooded roads are just some of the consequences of the overnight downpour. more ›

Photo by C-Monster via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr more ›

LAPD detectives in the San Fernando Valley have an unusual series of convenience store holdups on their hands. Eleven late night robberies have occurred in the past month from North Hollywood to San Fernando, with two women as the gun-wielding perps. more ›

If good things come in threes, it seems bad things come in twos, at least today in LA: more ›

As 2007 winds down to its close, local law enforcement agencies anticipate the year's homicide numbers to be lower than the low set in 1970. The Daily News is reporting that "As of Dec. 15, 379 people had been killed in Los Angeles this year, with about 200 of those incidents gang-related. The overall homicide rate is down 17 percent from last year." In 1970, 394 people were killed in Los Angeles. more ›

Details continue to emerge about the strange case of the woman whose body was found at a towyard the day after she died in a car crash in the San Fernando Valley. The woman had been driving with her son, who now claims that his epilepsy caused him to crash the car -- and to forget he had his mother in the car with him. He believes a seizure may have led him to drive his car into a building. From the Los Angeles Times:

"The man whose 72-year-old mother was left behind in a crumpled car towed to a police impound lot said Wednesday that he remembers little about the car crash that killed her and put him in a hospital intensive care unit. more ›

How's this for a lede? "If you get in a car crash in the San Fernando Valley, there's about a 50-50 chance you'll flee the scene - and get away with it." Ha! That's almost instructional. In a comprehensive report on hit-and-runs by the Daily News, it is found there is a lot of hitting, running and general douchebaggery in Los Angeles. Yes, we all knew that after day one, but here are some... more ›

Last Thursday, pornstar and director (and Fleshbot Crush Object, link NSFW) Dana DeArmond (MySpace) and her boyfriend Daniel (MySpace), along with pornstars Justin Long (NSFW) and Jon Jon (NSFW), were featured guest speakers in Professor Kassia Wosick-Correa's Sociology of Sexuality course at UC Irvine. more ›

Norman Mailer, the controversial and beloved novelist and winner two Pulitzer Prizes died today in New York City of acute renal failure. The author of almost 50 books, Mailer lived a life beset by tragedy, triumph and tribulation. He once ran for Mayor of NYC and was almost stabbed to death by one of his wives. Mailer was 84. Out of the ashes of one fire in San Diego, a man sold a charred,... more ›