Jason Toney

A man in San Diego has what appears to be the same strain of "Super HIV" that a man in New York City was diagnosed with last week. Gothamist has the details on the New York case while Slate's Explainer goes into all the different strains of HIV there are out there. We know you're all smart enough to practice safe sex but we feel like we wouldn't be doing our job if LAist didn't...

First, when we said it was going to rain yesterday, we kind of lied. We got some bad intel. The showers are now not expected until tomorrow. We also should probably apologize to Seattlest for the crack we made about them and rain. This season, we have twice the waterfall as our northern friends so we'll just shut up about all that. While the aftermath of the Devin Brown shooting is interesting all on...

First of all, showers are expected to begin today throughout the southland and continue for the rest of the week. Yay for us. We're doing an all quick notes edition of the Morning's Stories today as none of the major local stories is grabbing our attention much. Quick Notes: - the LAPD plans to crack down on dog and cockfighting. - Michael Jackson's defense names a witness list chock full of celebrities...for no apparent...

A piece in the Toronto Star of all papers about the appeal of vinyl records reminds us of one of our favorite local record shops, The Basement. Tucked away on Ventura near Van Nuys boulevard in Sherman Oaks, the hip hop focused record store features some of the coolest and little known live in-store events around town. We were there when Pigeon John and others rocked the mic and the energy of Los Angeles...

My name is Jason Toney and I'm the new editor of LAist.com. Hi there. Happy Valentine's Day. I've been a contributor here for just a little over three months. I wasn't born in LA but I've spent most of my life here and in the San Fernando Valley in particular. I work in television. I also have a personal blog. LAist currently has 11 regular contributors covering news, sports, events, art, architecture, and the people...

We're terrible at this Valentine's thing. Every year, we alternate between crying into our drink at home while watching sappy movies because we're lonely, fretting about whether or not the one we like likes us back, or forgetting to come through with the perfect gift for our current sweetheart. Well, not this year. We talked with Little Lady Red (aka Tracy Sandler, personal shopper to the stars) and she agreed to give us a...

While we only watched a little bit of the Grammys last night, all the local papers lede with the results of the Awards ceremony. The Daily News notes that Ray Charles was the night's big winner with 8 post-humous awards while The Los Angeles Times's Robert Hilburn wonders if the accolades aren't just a little too late for a man whose most creative and significant years were decades ago. Details about the Devin Brown...

- Topanga Canyon has more problems than the big boulder. - Isn't there a better Hollywood maverick than Ashton? - The LA Taxi Industry (parts one and two). - Less police, more politics? - The Intolerables (did we really imagine someone as a wigger?). - We like the beige tiles in the Civic Center Mall. - Tom Sizemore isn't a Whiz kid....

We're noticing a trend here as art and dance seem to come together more and more often downtown. Create:Fixate has its first show of 2005 tonight when The Optical Lounge and Audio Lab comes to the Spring Arts Tower at 453 S. Spring Street. The Gallery opens its doors at 4 PM and the party starts at 7 PM. General Admission is $10 but if you get there early (like before 7), you can...

Much like the New England Patriots, Taft High School seems like a team of destiny. The two time national Academic Decathlon champions have won the district tournament and move one step closer to another national championship. Their win comes on the same day that Governor Schwarzenegger called for the breaking up of LAUSD while throwing his support in the Mayoral race to Bob Hertzberg. In other Mayoral news, former police chief and current councilman...