Andy Sternberg

Charles Laufer, the founder of legendary teen mag Tiger Beat among other fanzines and publications has died. Laufer, who co-founded Tiger Beat with his brother Ira in 1965, died of natural causes at Northridge Hospital Medical Center on April 5th, according to a family member who notified the L.A. Times. He was 87.

Prince is in town. We wouldn't know about this, of course, if not for George Lopez and his late-night show on TBS -- y'know, the one that comes after Conan. On Monday night his purple majesty called in to Lopez Tonight to announce a 21-night stand at The Forum in Inglewood. But Wednesday night Prince got down with Team Loco, performing three songs (including new ones) and rapping with George about everything from Olive...

Mayor Viilaraigosa made education reform a focal point of his annual State of the City address Wednesday evening. In an address at Thomas Jefferson High titled "A New Contract," Villaraigosa called for renewed teachers' contract in a battle to recover from losses in state funding that have led to the layoffs of thousands of LAUSD teachers. But this approach did not fall lightly on the ears of many civic leaders, many of whom are concerned...

Arts entrepreneur and philanthropist Sidney Harman died Tuesday night in Washington, D.C. of complications from leukemia. Harman was an instrumental figure in the development and advancement of high fidelity audio technologies as founder (in 1953) of harman/kardon, inc. and in 2010 rescued Newsweek from financial ruin, purchasing it from the Washington Post last August and overseeing its merger with The Daily Beast. According to a letter from the Harman family published at The Daily Beast:He...

Coordinating set times for nearly 200 bands over three days on six stages is no simple task. It's one aspect of Coachella that always creates tension among festival-goers who've had fingers-crossed that none of their favorite acts would have conflicting set times ever since the nonspecific daily schedules were released in February. And you only get 48 hours to figure out what band is playing at what time and on what stage.

You are in control of the patterns and designs you encounter (at least within the confines of the cubicle or office). Instead of zoning out on the desktop wallpaper that you never change or the series of cacti that has occupied prime real estate on your desk for years without requiring much water, perhaps it's time for action. Today is the day for discourse -- if not action -- according to design advocacy organization AIGA's One Day for Design campaign.

UPDATE 11:01 AM: Streets around Chabad House are being reopened. FBI determined it was not a bomb or incendiary device that caused the explosion, according to a live report on KNX. A four-block area is closed off while authorities investigate the possibility of a hate crime after a pipe bomb explosion was reported near a Jewish synagogue at 17th and Broadway in Santa Monica.

Less than 3 months after firming up a lease on at least 100,000 square feet of office space in 3 buildings surrounding the Frank Gehry-designed Binoculars in Venice, Google is buying up more prime office space, presumably to base its growing entertainment and YouTube operations closer to Hollywood. Beverly Hills City Council approved Google's 11-year lease on 13,465 square feet of office space on the 4th floor of the city-owned building at 331 Foothill Rd....

Billy Crystal made his web video debut this week with the 4 1/2 minute When Harry Met Sally 2 at FunnyorDIe. We're all dying to know what happened with Harry and Sally -- right? -- so Crystal and Rob Reiner run with it.

Photo by Atwater Village Newbie via LAist Featured Photos Pool. The Dodgers have retained the services of former LAPD Chief William J. Bratton in response to increasing pressure from community and civic leaders to tighten security at Dodger Stadium in the aftermath of an Opening Day post-game beating which left one man critically injured. For the first time since 2005, the Dodgers opened the season without a full-time head of security, according to the...