The Orange County Health Care Agency has reported the first 2008 death in California resulting from the West Nile virus infection. The victim was a 72-year-old woman from Buena Park. Deanne Thompson, spokesperson for the agency told LAist that Southern California is seeing the biggeset increase in West Nile since 2004 when there were 62 cases in the OC alone. This year, the county has reported 26 cases not including "four asymptomatic dramatic blood donars."......

A dead blue whale washed up on the shores of a beach near Ventura today; scientists from all over the state are at the scene to examine the body and determine why it beached. Lucille Ball and Larry King had streets renamed in their honor this week: the block surrounding the CNN building in Hollywood will now be known as Larry King Square, while the intersection of Melrose and Plymouth Boulevards has been rechristened......

Two weeks ago today, a motorist on Wilshire Boulevard came to an intersection and found herself behind somebody who was preparing to turn left. Under normal conditions this would mean slowing down and waiting but since it was a cyclist, the motorist accelerated and screamed “Get out of the road!” The incident escalated and resulted in the arrival of Beverly Hills Police Officer Prenesti who greeted the cyclist by yelling “You idiot!” It’s clear......

Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, i.e. Bush's "war czar," thinks it "makes sense" to consider a return to the military draft. Students are teaching educators about the crises facing many local high schools and teenage dropouts. Health officials are cautioning that Panorama City residents may be at great risk of contracting West Nile virus - with most confirmed cases arising in that region. Residents of Borrego Springs, a small resort and retirement community in......

Was last night's earthquake cause to some full moon effect madness? Breaking News: "A man from the San Fernando Valley has contracted this year's first human case of West Nile virus in Los Angeles County, health officials said Thursday." (NBC4) A female suspect has been shot by police in a Sylmar Bank robbery. (KABC) "A SWAT standoff in the parking lot of a Taco Bell ended early this morning with the arrest of a......

Civic Center developments still struggling amidst Downtown construction boom. Nothing like a good Saturday scandal story: a manager for the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles was found to have illegally steered almost $800,000 in contracts to family members and corporate allies. One begets another: an inmate serving a life sentence for the murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer in 1989 was stabbed 11 times by another inmate. Taking animal cruelty to a......

Tonight is National Night Out. Do you know where your neighborhood night out is taking place? Bugs! Mosquitoes with West Nile at the Sepulveda Basin. A Japanese man is arrested at LAX for trying to sneak in rare butterflies. Black Widows are charged with killing homeless men. But these are no typical widows and LA's Homeless Blog is not happy. It's all about ordinances over at blogging.la: New Spay/Neuter Ordinance for Dogs & Fixed-Gear......

LAist has noticed that the West Nile frenzy has reached a fever pitch, especially in the Valley, with many calling for the city to remove all standing water across the 498 square miles of our fine municipality. For a cash-strapped town like Los Angeles, this seems unlikely. What's a panicked citizen to do? Some have suggested returning to aerial pesticide spraying (DDT, anyone?). We could also turn off the sprinklers and let nature and......

While the rest of the country might jeer at our na�vet�, we Southern Californians pride ourselves on our paradoxical relationship with nature. Proximity to the mountains and the sea are touted as a major regional advantage, but it was sheer human will in the face of ecological challenges that helped build this city. And the ever-present prospect of earthquakes makes living in Southern California even more, well, special. The utter unpredictability (and potentially huge impact......