Andy Sternberg

Imagine if you could make urban graffiti disappear with a shake of your iPhone.... It's not that easy -- yet -- but LA-based FreedomSpeaks.com launched a new mobile tool that comes close. CitySourced enables anyone with an iPhone to report to 311 with the click of a button. See a pothole, snap a photo, and send it off.

Trent Reznor has fallen ill, forcing Nine Inch Nails' Wave Goodbye tour to be put on hold. Reznor said he had a cold during last night's concert at the Palladium, which included an appearance by Gary Numan joining NIN on Numan's "Cars." Soon after the show ended the band released the following message on its website:

A section of the Pacific Coast Highway was closed this morning after part of a tree fell on a bus around 8 a.m. in the area of Chautaqua Boulevard. The tree fell onto some power lines and a Metro Route 534 bus, knocking out electrical service to about 1,200 customers, according to Kim Hughes of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. No injuries were reported. Eastbound PCH remained closed between Las Tunas beach and Temescal Canyon Road while crews worked to clear the scene.

As new media consumption goes mainstream, so goes the geekfest; this week's Twiistup includes panels featuring the likes of Brooke Burke (of Wild on E! and Dancing with the Stars fame) discussing her new-found success as an online entrepreneur and Chamillionaire (he of the many mixtapes and much Patron) talking digital music. Since 2007, Twiistup, has served as both a memorable party for the entrepreneurs and media savants and a matchmaking event for select SoCal startups and wide-eyed venture capitalists. But this week Twiistup, now in it's sixth version, is expanding to add a day-and-a-half conference with top speakers to complement a night of open bar mingling.

Superintendent Ramon Cortines is going apeshit over photos of Sacha Baron Cohen with Lake Balboa high school football players published as part of a GQ magazine cover story. Cohen's salacious poses with the stars of Birmingham High's football team appear in the middle of this GQ fashion spread.

Nestlé voluntarily recalled Toll House chocolate chip cookie dough today after an outbreak of illnesses possibly linked to eating the raw delicacy. More than 60 people have fallen ill so far in 28 states. Toll House cookie dough already comes with a warning to not eat the dough raw so in lieu of returning the product for a full refund, you might consider preheating your oven to 350° F and utilizing your nearest cookie...

Cirque Berzerk's extended run at the Big Top in the park opened last night to ooh's and ahh's from the 1,750 circus-goers in attendance. This year's show, under a 45-foot tall big top, benefits from a $650,000 budget and a dynamically talented cast of 150 aerial daredevils, firethrowers, burlesque dancers, all in elaborate costume (and body paint)! All that and the music stylings of Vaud & the Villains! LAist reader heathervescent summed it all up...

If you've been by Los Angeles State Historic Park in the past week, you've likely noticed a gigantic red-and-white-striped big top tent. Perhaps you wondered why a tent would be necessary in LA, the stationary circus town in which you live. But this time, we implore you to take a closer look. The circus is in town this month and it's not your grandmother's circus. LA-based Cirque Berzerk is returning to the old "Not...

A USC Annenberg School reporting project was one of eight community journalism initiatives to be awarded $25,000 in grant money from the Knight Foundation's New Voices program, the Institute for Interactive Journalism announced today. Intersections: The South Los Angeles Reporting Project, spearheaded by The Annenberg School at the University of Southern California, features multimedia reporting on south Los Angeles community news and issues. "One of the main things Intersections has been able to do...

No that wasn't the neighbors getting it on again... A couple microquakes -- small earthquakes measuring 2.0 and 2.5 on the Richter scale -- rumbled through Silver Lake (at 7:47) and Echo Park (at 10:07) tonight. Didya feel it? Such microquakes are common along fault lines but we're reminded again that earthquakes will rock across the LAist vicinity (remember the Marina boomer earlier this year)?...