In the latest of Los Angeles immigration raids by federal investigators, ICE raided a two-story house in South LA near Normandie and 103rd, arresting at least 61, according to KNX1070 live on the radio. Officials say a criminal investigation into smuggling led to the raid at the house, which was home to sixty or so people, all members of four families. One woman was pregnant and those detained are from Guatamala, Nicaragua and El Salvador.......

This morning's greater alarm structure fire in Hyde Park was knocked down after one hour and twenty-two minutes with over 100 firefighters responding to the scene. One civilian male was injured with second and third-degree burns and is in stable condition. Ron Myers said the fire started in a cabinet shop when a flammable liquid fell and spilled near a power tool which ignited fumes. The fire, located at 2327 Southwest Drive in the Hyde......

Just a few blocks away from last week's massively big fire that nearly leveled a city block at Gage and Gramercy in the Hyde Park neighborhood of South LA comes another fire this morning at 2327 Southwest Drive that was called in at 10:38 a.m. this morning (map below). Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Ron Myers reported via a text message alert that a two story office building was showing heavy smoke from the upper......

A man who ran a red light in South LA led police on a chase that ended in the Harbor area, more specifically off the Port of Los Angeles' Berth 194 in the water. For fifteen minutes, he "stood shirtless on his van's roof, dove into the water and eluded officers by swimming around for 15 minutes," according to KCBS. Finally, he boarded a Los Angeles Fire Department boat and was taken into custody. Then......

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Smoke as seen from the Arts District in Downtown Los Angeles | Photo by Callie Miller On air news reports are saying that one whole city block is basically destroyed in a fire that started in the Hyde Park neighborhood of South Los Angeles around 2:15 p.m. this afternoon near the major intersection at Western and Slauson, more specifically at the industrial block of Gage and Gramercy. As of 4:30 p.m., fire officials said......

A strong fire is rocking through a one-story commercial warehouse that manufactures and stores wooden palettes in an industrial part of the Hyde Park neighborhood in South LA at 6236 Gramercy Place (map below). The wooden palettes are fueling the fire so much, it is being described as a huge bonfire. Not too long after the arriving, Los Angeles firefighters had to evacuate the building because the damage to the building made it unstable and......

Photo by Steven Fernandez via Flickr The results of a recent survey administered in seven public schools in South Los Angeles are downright depressing. Students feel scared, unmotivated, unsupported, and ignored, and it's causing many to experience the symptoms of clinical depression. Administrators and psychologists agree, noting that the multiple killings of youth in the community leaves a pall on the students, and that their choice to skip school because they are "tired, had......

In a big "oops, that was the gas pedal" moment, a Silver Lake Teen accidently ran over his dad at their home this morning. The 4:45 a.m. incident took place at the 700 block of North Occidental Avenue, which is near Sunset and Silver Lake Boulevards. The father was freed from under the vehicle and taken to the hospital in stable condition. The LAPD said there was no evidence of drinking. In North University Park,......

A 19-year-old woman was shot and killed early this morning when exiting the northbound 110 Freeway at the West Slauson Avenue Offramp. Only one witness has come forward so far for the 12:30 a.m. shooting. He said at least five shots were fired and a truck was seen fleeing the area. After noticing a car had sat still on the off-ramp for many light cycles, the witness investigated and found Samantha Padilla dead inside. News......

To mark the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Los Angeles author and political commentator Earl Ofari Hutchinson thought up the idea of having a 40-hour "murder moratorium" from 6:01 p.m., Friday, to 10:01 p.m. Sunday. Those 40 hours this past weekend saw three murders across Los Angeles county, two of which were in South LA, reported KNBC. A man was murdered one block away from the Watts Tower around noon......

View Larger Map Yesterday evening, an explosion rocked a home a 1108 E. 32nd St., injuring one man. It was caused by a "bug bomb." No, it's not terrorism, it really is something to get bugs. This one just got out of control. This morning around 6:45 a.m., at 1258 W. 58th St. 1 story single family home caught on fire with two people trapped inside. Only on person survived. According to KCBS, it was......

Reporter Leo Stallworth and Chief Bratton have a difference of opinion and at yesterday's press conference about violence in South LA, the no-nonsense East Coast sensibilites of LAPD's top cop came out in front of everyone... and ABC aired it. Stallworth asked about racial tensions, maybe in a more speculative way, based off interviews with community members. Bratton did not like that and responded. "We have to work with fact and speculation... You're a......

75 killings this year equal a 27% increase from this last year, but the LAPD says they are random and unrelated, according to KFWB News 980 on air. One of those include a murder this morning. There has been a 5% decline in violent crime overall and a 25% drop in gang-related homicides. "Try telling that to the people I represent," said LA City Councilwoman Jan Perry in the Daily News report on gang violence.......

Sherman Oaks and South LA made national news yesterday when a Los Angeles native, now based in Oregon, became the latest decried author who penned a fraudulent memoir. Yes, Margaret Seltzer grew up in the Valley, no Margaret B. Jones (her non de plume) did not gangbang in South Central as her book said. Today, the fallout came in the form of experts giving quotes to the media about this reoccurring theme. What first comes......

Photo by pink_fish13 via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Police are investigating the tragic shooting death of Los Angeles High School's Jamiel Shaw. The football MVP was gunned down by gang members last night. The 17-year-old's mother is on her second tour of duty in Iraq. The suspect in last week's shooting at a South LA bus stop is facing 15 felony counts and was arraigned today on the charges. The 24-year-old......

There's something scary about this scene that took place a few weeks ago in Glassell Park, which ended with LAPD Officers shooting two alleged gang members, injuring one and killing another: The Nissan suddenly stopped and Daniel Leon, 22, and Jose Angel Gomez, 18, jumped out and began shooting at officers, Leon with an AK-47 rifle and Gomez with a handgun. Now, this past week, we hear of three more officer involved shootings. Are criminals......

An innocent victim meeting a stray bullet is not a completely unexpected occurrence in any of the regions detailed on the LAPD's gang injunction map (view the PDF). But it is not often that bullets are sprayed on an unsuspecting crowd (of mostly kids) at a bus stop at 3:15 on a sunny Wednesday afternoon, which is what occurred earlier near Vernon and Central in South LA. Three girls, ages 10, 11 and 12, and......

It could be a better day for Metro. The second Metro incident within the city limits of Los Angeles of the day occurred at 8:50 p.m. tonight when a Gold Line train crashed into a vehicle near the Highland Park station. The motorist, a 30-year-old male, was transported to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries, reported Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department. Two Gold Line vs. car crashes occurred in September......

Last week we created a map showing primary election results by county in California and today we'll break it down further. Below is a map with a headshot of the winning candidate in the center (more or less) of each district. Click on each placemarker to see that district's results. View Larger Map Hillary Clinton beat Barack Obama by a similar margin in LA County as she did in the state, and by significantly greater......

Inside a Fatburger location in Van Nuys Lovie Yancey, who launched what eventually became the popular Fatburger chain of burger-and-fries joints, died January 26th of pneumonia here in Los Angeles. Initially called Mr. Fatburger, the fast-food restaurant first opened in 1947. Hoping to capitalize on the burger trend that was becoming increasingly popular, Yancey dropped the "Mr." in 1952 and by 1981 was offering franchises of what was now known as "The Last Great......

As Cloverfield set a box office record for a January opening this holiday weekend, we Angelenos should be glad at the local economic boost, but we should also question if it could have been even more successful had the film been set in Los Angeles. Yes, the New York setting drew memories of 9/11 and classic monster movies, but Los Angeles is the city in which this monster would have done so much better......

It was a bloody weekend all across the Southland: after a body was found under the 118 overpass, two separate party shootings with fatal results and two more dead in separate incidents in the O.C., more violence broke out in South L.A. late last night. An adult man and a teenage girl, aged 14, were wounded in a seemingly random shooting attack last night outside of a housing project in South Los Angeles. The......

It was 10 p.m. when two men fought at West 86th Place and Main Street in Broadway Square, an official Los Angeles neighborhood in South LA near the 110 and 105 freeway junction. One man, the apparent "winner" of this fight, which took place for unknown reasons, slashed the victim's throat, "doused with a flammable liquid and set alight," according to the Daily News this morning. The victim, who has not been identified and his......

The answer is yes, there was good chance that these two domestic violence related homicides could have been prevented. If it took place in another part of the city, say the Van Nuys area, Eagle Rock, Hollywood, South LA, or even the Pacific Palisades, something maybe could have been done. Though, in Tunjunga where two murders took place yesterday, under the jurisdiction of the the LAPD's Foothill Division, the funding just wasn't there for a......

As the dark settled over Los Angeles last night, we awoke to an unfortunate number of deaths. Any number is sad -- especially four. Vermont Knolls, Los Angeles: In an alley off of 73rd St. in South LA, the Los Angeles Fire Department reported a "vehicle fire in alley with apparent human remains" in a news alert. The LAPD is treating it as a homicide. 110 Freeway @ Manchester Ave: In another LAFD alert, there......

As of 12:30 a.m. tonight, 10,300 LADWP customers went without power throughout the city, primarily due to downed wires from the weather, according to a press release from the city agency. Crews have been deployed to the scattered outages, affecting the following areas and number of customers: South LA 1,153 Cheviot Hills 1,442 Knollwood 151 Mid City 561 Granada Hills 12 Belair Estates 4 Country Club Park 29 Studio City 38 North Hollywood 3,257 Westchester......

Vitals details in the killings of two South LA residents who were found shot to death in their 11th Ave apartment remain unknown. The LAPD was notified late Monday afternoon of gunshots heard, and soon after discovered the bodies of Shelton Sumerall, 32, and Monica Youngblood, 23, both of whom suffered fatal shots to their heads. The motive and a shooting suspect have not been determined. A Van Nuys man was stabbed yesterday when he......

Since 2001, about 230 people have died in the U.S. after being shocked with a Taser. One of the most recent incidents was in an unincorporated part of South LA last Friday night when a 32-year-old man died after being shocked twice by LA County Sheriffs. Apparently, Cesar Silver was under drugs or alcohol and fought and struggled with five sheriffs before the Taser gun was brought out. "Eyewitnesses indicated there was a real struggle.......

This LAist poster trudges through Union Station every day for work. Usually the long hallway that connects old Union Station to Gateway Plaza is bland, beige and just plain boring. But once in awhile, some advertiser will cover the walkway with wallpaper for eye candy for tired commuters. Recently, Starbucks commandeered the area to wish everyone a good holiday season. And this morning, we finally noticed it. Move over Santa and elves -- there......