Lindsay William-Ross

Wait, the love isn't flowing for the Los Angeles Department Water and Power, with their excellent and responsive customer service, their easy-to-read bills, and their ever-increasing rates? Yep. Not so much. The LADWP has been ranked by Business Insider as #13 out of the #19 most-hated companies in the nation. Ouch.

As Californians, do we call one state more than others? Do people phone home to families in their geographic region, or across the country? New maps produced by MIT's Senseable City Lab shows the social connections between cities and states based on individual mobile phone call data.

Anti-Panda sentiment? A loathing of pencils and rulers bedecked with animals? Triggered by T-Shirts targeted at tourists? The motive for a suspect to set a gift shop at the San Diego Zoo ablaze has yet to be determined, but police say the cause was indeed arson.

The driver arrested recently for a May confrontation with a bicyclist in Mount Washington has a history of violent encounters while behind the wheel. Highland Park-Mount Washington Patch points out a 1999 Los Angeles Times article about Louis Mraz, who was sentenced to probation and Caltrans road duty for punching a 72-year-old man "during a road-rage dust-up."

The dynamic duo of Chef Ludo Lefebvre and his wife Krissy took their act on the road for a new series on the Sundance Channel called Ludo Bites America. With the series debuting on Tuesday July 19th, we had the chance to ask the Lefebvres a few questions about the show, the food, and life in front of--and behind--the cameras. Here's Part One of our two-part interview.

Today in Los Angeles!!! Double alien love with E.T. and Close Encounters screenings, bike with friends at the CicLAvia group ride and free Shakespeare in the great outdoors.

In today's Extra, Extra we've got Trojans on the beach, a maybe Senator Maria Shriver, solar power, and Octomom in an airplane fight, plus more news of the day. Plus: Keep up with us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter: @LAist @LAistFood @LAistSports.

The Los Angeles Police Department will be conducting a Sobriety/Driver’s License checkpoint tonight as part of their ongoing campaign to remove dangerous drivers from the roads and educate the public on safety risks of driving under the influence. The checkpoint will be held from 6 p.m. tonight to 1 a.m. Sunday morning, westbound on Imperial Highway between Main Street and San Pedro Street in South Los Angeles.

One man is leading the movement to have Caltrans replace the bicycle safety signs destroyed by the Station Fire along Angeles Crest Highway. In fact, Trent Sanders of La Cañada says he's willing to pay to have them made and put up himself, according to the Glendale News-Press.

Michelle Nicole Stearns of San Juan Capistrano was sentenced yesterday to six years in state prison for her role in the death of a cyclist who died after she struck him while she was driving drunk. Stearns, 30, pleaded guilty in March to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated for the 2007 Dana Point collision that took the life of 32-year-old Jose Umberto Barranco-Patino.

Actor Ryan Rottman, who the Daily News says is probably best known for his role on the show Gigantic, has become first known to us as being the dude who got busted by the LAPD for drinking and driving in Hollywood Thursday night. Rottman, 26, was reportedly enjoying a night out with pals Zac Efron and Rumer Willis at Dillon's Irish Pub, marking the first time we've heard of anyone actually going to Dillon's Irish Pub.

If ever there was a cause to drown your sorrows in a pint of craft beer, well, the permit woes of Eagle Rock Brewery is a prime one. With their conditional use permit on the line (again) the brewery could get the smackdown by City Hall next week and be forced to stop serving the very product they make.