Emma G. Gallegos

Los Angeles has a problem with massive cracks in its sidewalks, after the cash-strapped city just let things go for way too long and federal help dried up. Now the city is considering a plan to make those monster cracks the responsibility of homeowners.

The alleged operators of a chop shop messed with the wrong car owner. When a 1949 Ford Shoebox was stolen last May, the classic car's owner took matters into his own hands. It took him five months, but eventually he found the parts of a car like his being resold on Craigslist.

If you wondered what the people who hastily dumped Osama bin Laden's body in the sea were smoking, you now have your answer: synthetic pot. The Navy has busted 64 San Diego-based sailors connected to a synthetic pot ring — 49 of those sailors were aboard the USS Carl Vinson, the aircraft carrier that was used to bury Osama bin Laden at sea.

Now that the city's red-light camera program is dead authorities are trying to figure out a new solution to deal with the city's high number of traffic fatalities. The LAPD saw the program as a way to reduce fatal accidents caused by red-light runners and at one point police offers even hoped they could use the cameras to catch other kinds of violations.

If you're a sex offender and you've already moved away from nearby schools, parks, swimming pools and libraries in Riverside County, you've got to one thing to your rather lengthy not to-do list. When Halloween rolls around this year, you have to tear down your decorations, turn off your lights and promise not to open your front door. The supervisors of Riverside County believe that Halloween is a loophole for sex offenders, because it's the one day every year when the children come to them instead of vice-versa.

The controversial conservative talk-radio duo John & Ken apologized on the air Monday for the threatening calls their listeners made to an immigrant rights group. The radio show hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou had earlier released the phone number of local advocate Jorge-Mario Cabrera from the Coalition of Humane Immigration Rights of L.A. (CHIRLA) as part of their campaign to drum up public dissent for the DREAM Act.

The search for a man who raped a woman in the backseat of his car at knifepoint on Monday got a little easier when detectives figured out the victim had dropped her cell phone in the man's car. Detectives tracked her phone to the car of Charles Lee Kelly, a security guard who lives in Inglewood.

The next time you visit the happiest place on earth, you may be greeted with signs at Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, the Haunted Mansion and Minnie's House in Toontown warning you that the place is teeming with lead.

Dan Wheldon was killed in a fiery 15-car crash in Vegas today, educators aren't sure how to teach LGBT history and Sheriff Lee Baca admits to being out of touch with what is going on in county jails. Plus: Keep up with us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter: @LAist @LAistFood @LAistSports.

This Wednesday Lindsay Lohan is going to go before judge Stephanie Sautner, who will probably have a lot of questions about her lackadaisical attitude toward her addiction recovery and probation.

Three women were killed yesterday afternoon in San Dimas when their jet ski slammed into a powerboat at Puddingstone Reservoir.

Check out what is going on around the Ist universe: DC legalized Bloody Marys at brunch, a toddler run over in Shanghai is ignored by everyone and Kanye West showed up to Occupy Wall Street.