Lindsay William-Ross

A Los Angeles County fire helicopter makes a water drop on flames in the Crown fire near Palmdale, Calif., Friday, July 30, 2010 (AP Photo/Mike Meadows) As of early this morning, firefighters working diligently to control the Crown Fire have met with much success, and have reached a reported 87% containment, according to LA Now. Although the air was hot and dry, calmer winds aided in the effort to keep the blaze from spreading....

Photo by Mark Luethi via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr A surge in traffic deaths on PCH has prompted Malibu residents to push for more safety on the busy roadway. An LA County parolee was shot to death in Hemet, and authorities in the area are conducting an investigation into the incident. How is Los Angeles working to be the nation's leader in public transit? Former California Assemblyman Keith Richman has died...

Chef Rick Bayless' Chicago garden (Photo via Chicagoist) Chicagoist stepped back into yesteryear and then stepped into Chef Rick Bayless's garden. Torontoist invited readers to come up with a new slogan for their city. SFist visited Dore Alley, the city's annual hardcore fetish street fair. Londonist traveled back in time a century to discover that their city was bombed from giant airships. Back on terra firma, they gave London's new cycle hire bikes a...

via LASD Actress Lindsay Lohan is expected to be released from jail soon, possibly even today, according to KTLA. Once she leaves the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood she must report to a rehab facility within 24 hours, as ordered by Judge Marsha Revel the day Lohan surrendered to the court in Beverly Hills. She is likely to go to Morningside Recovery in Newport Beach, which Revel endorses and expects to be tougher...

The LAPD want you to have many more future Saturday nights alive, so tonight they'll be running a sobriety and license checkpoint in the North Hollywood area as part of their ongoing effort to get drunk drivers off the road and educate the public about the perils of driving while intoxicated. The checkpoint will run from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Cahugena Boulvevard West at Broadlawn Drive [map] which means that if you...

US Rep. Maxine Waters (D-35th District) will likely face an accusation "of at least one ethics violation in her efforts to help a bank with ties to her husband," according to LA Now. Waters was made aware of the allegations on Friday, and has told an anonymous source that she "plans to fight the charges in a House trial." The charges against Waters, who serves a swath of Los Angeles that includes Inglewood, Hawthorne,...

Photo by LA & OC Foodventures via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Have you had breakfast yet today? This Guac & Cheese omelet croissantwich might tempt or inspire you to hit up Porto's Bakery in either Burbank or Glendale to check it out. Known for their tantalizing pastries, as well as savory sandwiches, this popular bakery seems to have it going on at breakfast time, too....

Filming a music video, El Matador State Beach (Photo by J. Nordberg via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr) LA County's Board of Supervisors may ask for an independent audit of the Department of Children and Family Services after an 11-year-old boy committed suicide following a social worker's visit. Authorities in Burbank are investigating a fire that tore through a warehouse full of scented oils last night. Campus police at UC San Diego...

Photo by nomsnotbombs via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr The industrious food-lovers of Serious Eats are at it again, and this time they've broken down and reconstructed a SoCal classic: The In-n-Out Double Double Animal Style burger. Using a serious of mathematical formulas, a care package shipped overnight from California, and some kitchen intuition, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt of the site's "A Hamburger Today." completely breaks down everything on the burger from spread...

Photo by Adrian Miles © via Flickr A bondage club located near LAX was allegedly set afire yesterday, and firefighters found the charred remains of a man thought to be the business' owner inside. Authorities in Lennox discovered 53-year-old David Edward Albert across the street from the fire he is thought to have set at Passive Arts [map], according to LA Now. He was "hiding in the bushes," and "bleeding and said he had...

Photo by RobeRT Vega via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Firefighters took under an hour to tackle a small grass fire that burned in Elysian Park earlier today. This was the third small fire in three days in the area. Police are searching for a suspect who may have caused a Valley Village house fire that left its occupant, a 34-year-old woman, dead. Officials in Laguna Beach are cracking down on downhill...

Image via Gothamist Gothamist got a double dose of pop culture invading reality: A woman based her sex life on Sex and the City's Samantha Jones and Darth Vader robbed a Long Island bank. DCist covered the testy battle between a popular local cafe and the advisory neighborhood commission which coarsely opposed the cafe's application for an alcohol license. LAist took on the not-too-terribly-awful task (wink) of locating and eating all the restaurant Lobster...