A bill to dissolve the barely-there city of Vernon was introduced yesterday by Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles, and Assemblyman Cameron Smythe, R-Santa Clarita, reports FOX LA. more ›

State Attorney General Jerry Brown today announced sweeping efforts to curtail highly paid local officials around California. In a series of announcements, the gubernatorial candidate said he was taking filing lawsuits against eight city of Bell officials while serving a subpoena to neighboring city of Vernon where one employee apparently made $1.64 million a year (another highly paid one was recently let go). Meanwhile, Brown, who apparently earns a considerable pension himself, is also looking into sky-high salaries and pensions across the state, from hospital to county administrators. Brown will formally announce his plans at 10 a.m., but the news was given early to the LA Times, which broke the Bell salary scandal story in July. more ›

Donal O'Callaghan was one of several city employees in Vernon, the 5.2 square-mile area south of Downtown L.A. whose public employee's salary was found to be sky-high in the wake of the Bell salary scandal. Now O'Callaghan has been "relieved of his duties while," as officials probe his financial dealings, reports the LA Times. more ›

What's up southeastern L.A. County? First there was Bell, which was paying its part time city council about $100,000 a year and it's city manager nearly $800,000, which added to his total compensation of $1.5 million a year. The L.A. Times broke that story and now they've found sketchy salaries in neighboring Vernon. more ›

Although the rescue of a dog in the LA River last week was national (and controversial) news, the Spanish-speaking owners had no idea how much of a superstar their dog had become. "It didn't get a lot of play on Spanish-language TV," an Animal Control director told the LA Times. Spikey (or Vernon as he was nicknamed by firefighters) was airlifted by firefighters last Thursday and will remain under quarantine until next Tuesday because he bit his rescuer. Spikey's "brother" was also picked up the same day when found wandering the streets. It appears a gate was left open in the yard. more ›

It's not just local news, this is national news (MSNBC, FOX News and Headline News are airing it). The Los Angeles Fire Department is currently trying to rescue a dog near the 26th Street bridge near the Los Angeles-Vernon border. The black canine was sitting in the river looking up at rescuers, but once they entered and got near it, it ran away. It's being webcasted live by Fox. Update: The dog airlifted out of the river and placed on a bridge. "That was surreal," said BuckeyeGirlLA on Twitter. Yes, that was, indeed, surreal. more ›

Ten cities in two separate categories are up against each other for an award naming them the most business friendly city of the year in Los Angeles County. Starting in 2006, the LA Economic Development Corporation began the Eddy Awards to "celebrate individuals and organizations that demonstrate exceptional contributions to positive economic development in the region." For example, Santa Clarita does not assess a utility user tax and Glendale has no business tax, license fees and no gross receipts tax. more ›

Reader Apollo Sputnik was down in Vernon and happened upon this treasure. Thankfully, he shared with us so we could share with you: more ›