When millions of people in Southern California, and neighboring Arizona and Mexico, were plunged into the dark and left without power for several hours in early September, everyone wanted to know how such a massive outage could happen. When the lights came back on, it seemed to be just one worker's fault, but that employee's error doesn't explain how widespread the blackout was. more ›

Authorities are warning residents of Long Beach to beware of a man impersonating a gas utility employee to gain access to homes. According to police, two incidents were reported Friday "where people tried unsuccessfully to enter homes after identifying themselves as employees of Long Beach Gas and Oil," reports the Long Beach Press-Telegram. Ask before you open the door -- all city employees carry identification at all times and are required to present it upon request. more ›

Brick-and-mortar restaurants assert that food trucks are killing their business. Food truck operators will say it's a free market and healthy competition is healthy. However, if you are looking to make the "greener" of the two choices, are you eating lunch at a sit-down restaurant, or from a four-wheeled truck? more ›

Guess what? We live in a desert and water is scarce! And now we are the number one large American city on a list of ten that are running out of water, according to a report assembled and published by 24/7 Wall St. more ›

When the L.A. City Council last week approved an electricity rate hike, it was done quickly and without public notice. Citing an emergency--the Board of Water and Power commissioners were meeting the next day--the city council took action at the end of a meeting already in progress. more ›

Word on the street via a neighborhood watch in the Valley is that at least one house received a phone call from someone claiming to be from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The man on the phone said the customer's bill was not paid--the customer said it was. Upon calling the LADWP themselves, a representative said there was no record of an outbound phone call and that, in general, accounts past due notifications are made using an automated system. In the past, we've seen fake LADWP workers steal bikes and attempt burglaries. more ›

The city of Burbank is ready to make their energy a whole lot greener, the Leader is reporting. There, "construction crews are set to break ground on a $14.9-million Burbank Water and Power project as part of what officials called an aggressive plan to serve as a model of sustainability." more ›

It was hinted towards on Monday and yesterday it came true. Pacific Gas & Electric donated a quarter million dollars to the No on Prop 8 campaign, which seeks to defeat a proposed amendment change that would eliminate gay marriage in California. "The utility also said it will spearhead the formation of a business advisory council that will seek to get other businesses around California to to defeat the ballot initiative," reported the LA Times. The working theory behind businesses getting on the No on Prop 8 bandwagon is that if passed, the ban would be bad for business and many more gay employees are out and in higher ranking positions. more ›

Pacific Gas & Electric, a utility that most serves Northern California, may join the No on Prop 8 campaign tomorrow at a press conference. "They know exactly what they are doing here. They need some credibility with the left, especially in San Francisco," writes Brian Leubitz at Calitics. "As for other companies, I expect we'll see a few other businesses." Which businesses in Southern California will join in? Will Southern California Edison? How about Southern California Gas Company? more ›

There was an iPocalypse this morning when owners of the now older version of the iPhone went to upgrade the phone's software via iTunes. Users found that the process ended up resetting their phones and because iTunes servers became overloaded as thousands of people across the nation bought the new iPhone 3G, they could not activate the phone, therefore rendering the phone useless for hours. more ›