Police confirmed that a girl who was discovered naked and eating out of a trash can is the same 12-year-old girl who went missing overnight back in December. more ›

Your local mall could be monitoring your cell phone signal this holiday season. This Black Friday some malls in the US will be rolling out a new technology that allows retailers to track customers' cell phone signals while they're shopping. more ›

Remember that movie "Bad Teacher?" Well, James Seishin Pinckard's educational practices may be much, much worse than those of Cameron D. Pinckard, a 56-year-old math teacher at James L. Day Middle School, was arrested on Tuesday night. He is charged with suspicion of unlawful intercourse with a minor. The teen, whose identity has not been released, is a 17-year-old girl and former student of Pinckard's. more ›

Your television, a couch, or some concert tickets are smart things to put up ads for on Craigslist. Crystal meth, not so much, even when you disguise your product using its ladylike nickname. Two SoCal men were busted recently "on suspicion of dealing large amounts of crystal methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia," reports Temecula Patch. more ›

Authorities in Southern California had their hands full this week by way of cases of men in various stages of undress at the wrong place and time. more ›

Thanks to the fun daily e-mail newsletter, The Rundown, we were treated yesterday to a bounty of naughty activity ideas--you know, doing it at Leo Carrillo State Park or on Mulholland Drive--but one especially caught our eye and made us giggle. It was doing it in the air: more ›

We may have not been feeling them directly here in Los Angeles, but the ground is shaking somewhat east of us. Since Saturday evening, three earthquakes have rattled the Inland Empire, first in Riverside County (3.3), again this morning east of Temecula (3.6) and then this afternoon more northward in San Bernardino County (4.6). Yesterday, there was a 4.3 magnitude quake near San Nicolas Island, which is one of two Channel Islands controlled by the Military. 3.0 and 4.0 magnitude quakes are categorized as "minor" and "light," respectively. more ›

Earlier today, Norco officials were optimistic that the La Sierra Fire would be out by now. However, the fire is currently 50 percent contained and has burned through some 175 acres, according to numerous media reports. It began in Norco near the city of Riverside. "What we didn't see before were the driving winds," explained Bill Peters of CalFire to ABC7. "The driving winds are really what create the catoshpric fires in Southern California." Three other smaller fires--located in Riverside, Redlands and Temecula--also broke out this afternoon. more ›

A reportedly fast-moving 50 to 60-acre fire has prompted evacuations and the closure of Highway 79 in the Temucula area around Vail Lake, near the Cleveland National Forest, this afternoon. At least two homes have been damaged in the fire that began shortly before 3:00 p.m. UPDATE: Conflicting reports say it began before 4 p.m. Also, it that it has now burned through 200 acres, according to CBS2. more ›

Update, 10:31 p.m.: The jewelry thief was shot dead

• 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.