Callie Miller

Rabid bat counts have doubled this year and The Department of Public Health is urgently reminding residents to be sure that pet vaccinations are up to date to guard against rabies. County officials are not sure why there has been an increase in rabid bats, but have asked Angelenos to report all questionable bat sightings to local animal control. The most urgent warning: don't touch the bats! Several people attempting to rescue bats have...

Photo by jessicamelling via Flickr As Thanksgiving gets closer and Beaujolais becomes ubiquitous in wine stores and supermarket check-out lanes all over Los Angeles, we're craving something - anything - other this holiday season. This is Los Angeles after all, land of secret doors leading to secret bars with secret drinks served by secret drink agents. Surely we can do better than standard Beaujolais this year. To point us in an entirely new direction,...

Photo by neonspecs via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr THEATER Get your Mama Drama on as Mary Birdsong presents her one-woman show "3 Days in the Tub: A Mama Drama" at The Fake Gallery tonight. Based on painful, awkwardly, wish-it-wasn't-so-but-it-is-so-let's-laugh-about-it true events from her very real life, Mary will twist her way through demented mommy madness via storytelling and rock-song performing. You should go, if only to feel a hell of a...

Photo by stopnlook via Flickr LAUSD has cancelled a $3.7 million contract with four long-time district consultants after a report revealed "irregularities" with the deal, according to The Daily Breeze. The Inspector General's Report was prompted by whistleblowers in LAUSD's construction program who have repeatedly raised concerns about many of the current construction contracts totaling $65 million. The four consultants in question, all working for Consilia LLC, were asked to hand over their badges...

Photo by Ray-Franco Bouly via on Flickr Update your status, browse a co-worker's vacation photos, and check if anyone you know was recently arrested for a DUI? Yep. Huntington Beach is fed up with the traditional methods of curbing drunk driving and is considering a new approach: posting the names of DUI arrests on the city's Facebook page. Where did they get such an idea? According to the LA Times, the Huntington Beach Independent...

Despite approval from the planning commission in September, council members have unanimously voted against the opening of a hydroponics and indoor gardening store in Old Town Tustin, according to the OC Register. While proponents view the hydroponics store as a good use of small space that would be difficult to lease to other tenants, councilman John Nielsen says selling hydroponics is "not compatible with Old Town Tustin businesses and homes" and suggests the store...

Photo by Easylanish via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Thought the legal settlement against PG&E for too-high levels of hexavalent chromium in Hinkley's water supply was sorted out? It was. Wasn't there a Julia Roberts movie made about this that should have placed these issues firmly in PG&E's containment planning for, well, ever? There was. Are we experiencing déjà vu? We might be. Erin Brockovich is back in Hinkley this week to...

Fois gras is on the menu tonight at Providence and animal rights activists are planning to protest, according to the LA Times. Providence is hosting tonight's fundraiser for the Bocuse d'Or USA Foundation, an organization that preps and sends the American team to compete in the Bocuse d'Or, a famed international culinary competition named after chef Paul Bocuse. Several celebrated LA chefs will be on hand tonight to offer their interpretation of signature Bocuse dishes and Animal Protection & Rescue League advocates are none too happy that foie gras will make not one, but two appearances on the multi-course menu.

Color Pencils Photo by lars5 via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr With CalArts, Otis, Art Center College of Design, FIDM and SCI-Arc dotting LA's education landscape, students need the tools to get their art school on and Los Angeles Magazine has named six shops the "best" for art supplies in LA....

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck Photo by NewsSpy via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Citing evidence that two Los Angeles Police Department officers were caught discussing their use of racial profiling in a recorded conversation, LAPD has received warning from the U.S. Department of Justice that LAPD's own investigations into racial profiling are inadequate and that "some cops still tolerate the practice," according to the LA Times....