Danielle Directo-Meston

The LAPD officers who used "questionable tactics" in their response to protesters on the 2007 May Day immigration march will not be prosecuted, reports the LA Times. The LAPD investigated the incident in which video footage showed police firing rubber bullets into the crowd Park May Day Melee. Their report reviewed the actions of 30 officers and "blamed poor leadership and overly aggressive tactics", but prosecutors were unable to "establish that any particular officer's...

Before introducing the band to the stage at Teddy's bar in the Roosevelt Hotel last night, Universal Music VP of Marketing Kim Garner told the crowd the upcoming act made her "excited about music again". Sure, cue the comparisons of Florence Welch to Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Annie Lennox or any other flame-haired songstress, but Welch, who performs with a backing band as Florence & the Machine, deserves her spot amongst the red-tressed legends.

If you're already tired of hearing that rhetorical question, "What recession?" surfacing in your conversations about that little thing called the economic crisis, you'd better buy some fancy earplugs. During the international Fashion's Night Out event, L.A. fashionistas came out of hiding to boost the economy in their Louboutins and Manolos. Over at Neiman Marcus, scores of botox-faced shoppers enjoyed mini bottles of champagne and NYC-style cheesecake and hotdogs as models strutted their stuff down...

Photo by gozalewis via Flickr State test score results released this morning showed 10 schools monitored by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's education reform panel, along with the charter-converted Locke Senior High School, earned an average grade when compared to the rest of the LAUSD. Most LAUSD schools' test scores rose, according to the L.A. Times, and among those that made the most progress include Hollywood and Fairfax High. The results also show no change in...

CSUN Mass Communications grad student Esha Momeni, who was arrested in Iran last October while working on a documentary on the Middle Eastern country's women's rights movement, finally returned home Tuesday after a 10-month travel ban. “I didn’t believe I was leaving until I got into the plane, they closed the plane’s door and started going,” the 29-year-old told CSUN's Daily Sundial.

Photo by Anya_ via Flickr Roughly 600 city, fire and police department employees are part of the $100,000 pension club, writes Ron Kaye at OurLA.org. Councilmember and former LAPD Chief Bernard Parks topping the L.A. Fire and Police Pension Fund's list at about $265,000 annually while John Driscoll, former head of LAX and City Personnel director, leads LACER's list with about $204,600. The city's pension funds will cost taxpayers $1 billion next year, with...

Photo by Fred Camino via Flickr At yesterday’s Metro meeting, officials said they may do with the current rush-hour bike-on-rail ban to accommodate the system’s growing cyclist ridership, but they’re also considering implementing a two-bike-per-car rule. During their 6 p.m. meeting, which was considerably quieter than their earlier one at noon, officials said they also want to improve signage that directs cyclists and clearly state the rules (no blocking doors or walkways). In the...

Continuing its Engagement Party series, tonight's "Flesh Car Crash" at MOCA features art/music collective OJO. Art collective OJO brings a new kind of social networking to MOCA tonight from 7 to 10 p.m. with their interactive "Flesh Car Crash," where the audience will be encouraged to take part in a communal music session. Musicians will pack themselves into two small cars, and each vehicle powers a variety of instruments and noise-making objects. Sound chaotic...

Photo by biofriendly via Flickr The city is looking into installing new parking meters that could potentially bring in $1 million in additional revenue to help fill the budget gap, but officials say they don’t have enough resources to do so. LADOT told councilmembers at last week’s Transit meeting the plan would not make any money in its first year because the meters would cost $1 million to install. Additionally, officials said the department...