Callie Miller

The investigation into the fallen power line that killed three in their own San Bernardino backyard is under way and "it could be months" before it's clear what happened last week, according to LA Now. Steven Vega, 44, came into contact with a fallen power line in his backyard after a windstorm last week. His wife and 21-year-old son rushed to his aid and were also shocked by the 12,000 volt line. All three were electrocuted.

More details have emerged in the case of the coke warehouse in Valencia. The two Canadians that were arrested for stashing 100 pounds of cocaine and $2.4 million in a Valencia warehouse were tracked from LAX to NoHo by police, according to CBS Los Angeles. A task force made up of Santa Monica officers and federal law enforcement investigators raided the warehouse on January 12th and seized the cash and the coke after tracking suspects from the airport to the location of the stash.

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...

Photo by sfxeric via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr The Los Angeles Business Journal asked readers "Will Jerry Brown be a better governor than Arnold Schwarzenegger?" The answer was a resounding "YES" with a strong hint of "who really knows given how jacked up our state is at the moment." Here are the poll results: 48% YES 31% NO 21% DON'T KNOW The journal singles out a particular poll comment as representative...

Photo by Mick ㋡ via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Flavorpill recently created this really cool list of 10 books for America's 10 most literary cities. The annual results are in on Central Connecticut State University's ranking of the 75 most literary cities in the country and Flavorpill wanted to do each city proud. Cool, right? So what book did they ascribe to L.A.? They didn't. Out of seventy five cities, Los...

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...

Photo by GarySe7en via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr While en route to the hospital with his about-to-deliver-our-baby wife at 1:30 a.m. this morning, a father realized his daughter wasn't going to wait until they reached the emergency room at Los Alamitos Medical Center to make her world debut so he had to act quickly. KTLA reports that he pulled his SUV over on the shoulder of the 605 and called 911....

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.

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.

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.

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.

In response to the overwhelming offers of support for the family of Los Angeles Dodgers scout John Green after the tragic death of their daughter Christina in Saturday's gruesome attack on Gabrielle Giffords in Tuscon, the Dodgers have created a special email address (greenfamily@dodgers.com) where family, friends and Angelenos can send their thoughts and condolences. The Green family has also created a charitable memorial fund to honor the memory of their daughter. You can...