Callie Miller

14-year-old Matthew Mezza, a Freshman at Santa Monica High School, committed suicide on Friday afternoon in a series of events that have left students, teachers, family and friends horrified and saddened and confused, according to the Santa Monica Daily Press. Mezza attended baseball practice on Friday afternoon and "abruptly fled" from practice to run across the street, enter the Sheraton Delfina hotel and jump from a 10th floor ballroom balcony. Witnesses said Mezza yelled...

As the debate swirls around Miguel Santana's quest to cut L.A.'s graffiti removal budget in half to balance the city's budget, the Chatsworth Patch wonders if graffiti vandals are stepping up their game and getting bolder. Their evidence? A recent vandalization of a DWP building at the corner of Devonsire Street and De Soto Avenue. Does graffiti on DWP property demonstrate an increased boldness? Or is this just a matter of us noticing it...

Parents, teachers and police officers are concerned over a dramatic increase in drug arrests at Santa Monica High, according to the Santa Monica Daily Press. 35 drug arrests have been made so far this school year, up from 17 during all of last year. Are these students getting mellow with a little marijuana? Oh no. Most of the arrests have been for prescription drugs and the school is now focused on educating parents about keeping pills out of their kid's hands and recognizing signs of drug abuse.

Miguel Santana, Administrative Officer for the City of Los Angeles, wants to cut the graffiti removal program in half to save city budget dollars and residents in graffiti-heavy neighborhoods are none too pleased, according to the Venice Patch. Slashing the graffiti program down to the bare essentials will save the city $1.5 million - a figure that many supporters of the program believe is paltry compared with other programs that could be cut and would save the city far more dollars with less negative impact.

LIVE MUSIC The Daniel Rosenboom Septet, brainchild of composer and trumpet artist Daniel Rosenboom, will be jazzing it up at ROYAL/T tonight. If you're down for saxophone, progressive jazz and good vibes, this could be just the thing. General admission is $10, lucky students get in for $5. Show starts at 8:00 p.m. MUSICAL DISCOURSE Tom Morello -- guitarist for Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave and The Nightwatchman among others -- will be talking political...

Photo by ~db~ via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr 94-year-old Mid-City artist Erma Winfield has finally completed a 40-foot mural that depicts the many "seasons" of her life. It took eight months of daily work, $150 worth of exterior house paint, some good-natured ribbing from friends and willing neighbors, but the mural is now a welcome addition to Spalding Avenue, according to the LA Times. Winfield's initial Los Angeles experiences weren't exactly...

When Arnold reduced Esteban Nuñez's prison sentence from 16 years to 7 years in the stabbing death of a San Diego college student for what appeared to be overtly political reasons attributed to his close relationship with former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez, many California residents were outraged, including the vicitm's family. The victim's family is so upset, they may file a lawsuit calling for the commuted sentence to be overturned, according to LA Now. The...

While investigating suspicious activity in a car parked in a red zone last night at 7:20 p.m., a sheriff's deputy was shot in the face by a paroled gang member, who was then shot and killed by a second deputy, according to ABC. The injured deputy, 27-year-old Mohamed Ahmed, was in his third week of training and was shot during his first assignment in the field. He remains in critical condition at USC Medical Center with a bullet lodged in the right side of his face.

Turns out the MySpace rumors were true. The Beverly Hills-based social networking company will give roughly 500 employees the heave ho, according to Mashable. The site relaunch and logo rebranding wasn't enough to stop the declining traffic and revenue woes that have plagued MySpace for some time and CEO Mike Jones acknowledged that "today's tough but necessary changes were taken in order to provide the company with a clear path for sustained growth and...

Riding public transportation saves you roughly $10k a year, according to the monthly Transit Savings Report released by the American Public Transportation Association. Los Angeles ranked 8th in the transportation savings report, showing that on average, a Metro-riding Angeleno can save $860 per month just by ditching their car and taking public transport.