Andy Sternberg

We've all seen phishing e-mails before (thank you eBay, PayPal) but it's a bit trickier when the e-mail deliberately asking you to pony up your e-mail username and password comes from a sender purporting to be USCTEAM. The e-mail received today by several USC e-mail account holders suggests that the user's e-mail account will be terminated "permanently" within 7 days lest the recipient respond with account details including username, password, date of birth, and "country...

A man who kidnapped, raped, tortured and stabbed a woman dozens of times with a screwdriver while holding her captive last February was apprehended today in Riverside. Raul Carillo Alderete, 28, had dodged authorities for nearly a year despite allegedly kidnapping his infant daughter last month, soon after being profiled on America's Most Wanted. Alderete was captured this morning by U.S. Marshals who were staking out a Riverside apartment, according to the Daily Bulletin. He's...

Sen. Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have spent the past couple days traipsing around the Golden State uncomfortably responding to allegations that their campaign is connected to a lawsuit brought last week by the Nevada teacher's union that would prevent casino workers from caucusing on the job. Many casino workers and hotel employees are members of the powerful Culinary Workers Union Local 226, which endorsed Barack Obama. The Nevada Democratic...

The LA Phil's richly-curated Concrete Frequency festival is capping two weeks of events with a special show featuring Cornelius and Plaid tomorrow night at Walt Disney Concert Hall. What defines a city and how does urban living influence art? Tokyo's artsy electro-indie-pop producer-musician Cornelius (born Keigo Oyamada) and UK electro-ambient duo Plaid will offer up their unique sonic (and visual) interpretations tomorrow night. Limited tickets were still available online at the time of this...

Photo by brainylagirl via flickr LA Mill finally (soft-)opened its "boutique" in Silver Lake last Friday and we were lucky to get there in time to sample the goods -- for free. The space is impressive but the environment -- almost pretentiously over the top. But let's discuss the coffee: I had two clover-style (filtered French drip) cups, one Kenyan, was an average medium-dark blend, with an acidic yet moderately rich, roasted coffee bean...

Mitt Romney is the consummate, cookie-cutter, robot-like Republican. Forget about eliciting animation or human emotion from this wanna-be prez. Even his campaign henchmen lack the ability to opine on, well, just about anything, as evidenced below. Romney is lucky to have 30 delegates on his side after Iowa and New Hampshire. Problem is, it takes 1,191 to win the Republican nomination. The 60-year-old former Massachusetts governor does have one or two things going for him,...

Real Time with Bill Maher returned to HBO Friday night sans Maher's talented staff of writers (nominated once again by the WGA for outstanding achievement in a TV Comedy/Variety Series). Following a somewhat contentious panel discussion with Tony Snow, Mark Cuban, Matt Taibbi and Catherine Crier, Maher delivered an emotional critique of the strike, now heading into its 10th week....

Haven't you always wanted to grow your favorite fruit in your own backyard? This month you can have your tree -- for free -- thanks to TreePeople and SEE-LA. Just go to one of the Farmers' Markets listed in the flyer at right or fill out this form and you'll be on your way. * LA Mill Opening - Stop by the long-awaiting opening of LA Mill's new coffee shop in Silver Lake. You might...

We've been hot on the trail of friend-of-LAist Jacob Soboroff and his Why Tuesday? voting-system reform initiative and 2008 campaign coverage. This morning he sent in an interview with our very own Secretary of State Debra Bowen, who was in New Hampshire yesterday to check out the efficiency of that state's No. 2 pencil-driven computerized voting systems. Visit Why Tuesday? for more on SoS Bowen's commitment to certifiable voting machines as well as '08 presidential...

Well, whatcha know, Radiohead's In Rainbows, which hit stores on New Year's Day, sits atop the Billboard charts nearly three months after the band offered the album as a pay-what-you-want digital download via their Web site. Today we have confirmation of the cities (albeit neither venues nor dates) that our favorite Glaswegians Englishmen will visit this summer. California stops include Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Diego, and San Francisco:The first leg will come prior...