Carolyn Kellogg

LAist's "20 Under 30" interview series with interesting Angelenos under 30 continues with Jody Kent, a passionate activist who works for the ACLU. She monitors the jails, advocates for inmates, and can tell you that if you get arrested, the last place you want to to end up is Men's Central Jail. Age and Occupation: 26, Jails Project Coordinator for the ACLU of Southern California How long have you lived in Los Angeles, and...

Every week in Living in Sin, Jen Sincero provides advice to LA's sexually curious. You can see her column in print, too, in the LA Alternative Press. Ask Jen your questions: all are posted anonymously. Dear Jen, I have a question, and since you're a chick I can pretty much guess which side you'll be on, but in hopes that you can be somewhat diplomatic, I want to ask you: why is it that...

We had no idea that Simi Valley was the site of America's first nuclear accident (obviously we should watch more History Channel). At the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, a liquid sodium reactor had a partial meltdown in 1959; the facts weren't made public until UCLA investigated 20 years later. Researchers speculate that the radiation released was as much as 240 times that of the Three Mile Island accident. Exactly what was contaminated in the...

Does a girl get to be Princess if her father is a real life Prince who had a fling with her mom? That's what they're asking in Palm Springs, where 14-year-old Jazmin Grace Rotolo lives. Her mother dallied with Prince Albert during a trip to Monaco in 1991 and today the Prince, Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre Grimaldi, acknowledged that yes, the girl is his. She's the Prince's second out-of-wedlock child — that we know...

Two cases of mistaken identity are in the news today. In the first, charges against Michael Lee Brown were dropped in Riverside. He'd been accused of — and pleaded not guilty to — a series of bank robberies across southern California. He was arrested last year and spent time in jail after a photo lineup, without any physical evidence tying him to the crimes. Another man, who looks a lot like Brown, was busted...

the fish live! - Since March 6, two goldfish have been living in LA River water in the newsroom at the LA Times. It's now June, and the fish are still doing swimmingly — although the tank could use a cleaning. serial prowler - If you live in Arcadia, you might try using the AC at night instead of leaving the window open. Police warn that a petty thief has taken advantage of open...

LA photoblogger Malingering has a keen sense of how ridiculous Angelenos can be — and how idiotic we can look. She (we think she's a she) also has a keen eye for the too-low low-rise, the belly fat, the mullet at the ballpark. So why, we wonder, did she subject herself to a Memorial Day bikini contest on Venice Beach? She sounds bitter, sure, but we think it secretly makes her very, very happy....

In the swashbuckling 1940 Zorro movie, called The Mark of Zorro, the handsome Tyrone Power plays the hero; he was so impressive, even the actor playing his nemesis swooned. Basil Rathbone said, "Power was the most agile man with a sword I've ever faced before a camera. Tyrone could have fenced Errol Flynn into a cocked hat." We've never seen Power's Zorro, and now we think we really should. On the big screen. And...

Jeffry Ellis was a bartender at the Burgundy Room until earlier this year when he got very sick very fast; he died two weeks ago. And apparently the Burgundy Room doesn't give its employees a fat health insurance package, because Jeffry's illness left his family with a pile of hospital bills. Tonight, to raise funds and celebrate what would have been his 31st birthday, friends are going to be donating $10 or more to...

LAist's "20 Under 30" interview series with interesting Angelenos under 30 continues with Leah Dieterich, a 25-year-old who lives in West LA. You might have seen her at galleries, or run across a video she's made, or heard her playing drums in her apartment's bedroom. You might bumped into her buying coffee (she tells us she buys a lot of coffee). But it's a big city, so maybe you don't know her. Yet we're sure...