Lindsay William-Ross

Photo by kristi.nicole via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Last year's inaugural Taste of the Farmers Market event was such a success that they've brought it back for another year, and it's happening this Tuesday. A $25 ticket gives you access to all the bits and bites provided by the Original Farmers' Market's many food vendors, restaurants, and purveyors, and a coupon book ($5 more gets you two drink tickets for wine...

A brush fire that broke out this afternoon on the side of the 118 Freeway near Rocky Peak Road [map] has now been designated a major emergency brush fire, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. The blaze began over 5 acres on the north side of the freeway, and with Ventura County Fire responding initially, now over 100 LAFD personnel are on scene and en route. The fire is moving northward, though there...

In honor of "the 83rd Birthday of America’s favorite convenience store chain, 7-Eleven has launched its own Summer Slurpee Truck to bring FREE Slurpees to all its fans," we're told. They're having a 7-Eleven Day Pre-Party on Friday, July 9th in Hollywood from 7-11 p.m. (naturally!) at the 7-Elven store located at 5763 Hollywood Blvd (at Taft Ave) [map]. This year, Slurpee cups are getting a new look; check it out here, and don't forget to get your free Slurpee on Sunday, 7/11.

Inside the Coliseum during this year's Electric Daisy Carnival (Nadia Kovacs/LAist; see more photos here) In the wake of the recent Electric Daisy Carnival, a rave-like music festival held at the Coliseum, the "Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has voted to form a task force to examine safety hazards at rave parties," according to the Daily News. Of the over 100 medical cases that required hospital visits originating from the two-day-long event, one...

Photo by Gibson Claire McGuire Regester via Flickr Blame the budget: Several libraries in Los Angeles County will close one or two days a week starting Monday, according to the Star-News, thanks to "an $8.8 million budget cut." Libraries that will implement the new operating hours are located in Baldwin Park, El Monte, La Mirada, La Puente, Montebello, Norwalk, Pico Rivera, Rosemead, San Dimas, San Gabriel, South El Monte, Temple City, Walnut and West...

This afternoon a Blue Line train traveling southbound on Long Beach Blvd. near 16th Street collided with a Long Beach Police Department patrol car. The force of the train pushed the patrol car over 100 feet, according to a live report on KTLA. The officer is alive, conscious, and alert; it is not known at this time if he was en route in response to a call or why his vehicle was in the...

Photo by breksquish via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Passed by voters in 2008, Proposition 2 ensures that our state's poultry "be able to freely lie down, stand up, extend their wings and turn around by 2015," explains SF Gate. "The law essentially bans the use of small cages that cram the animals so tightly they sometimes cannot turn around." But now the law is expanding, and will affect egg-laying hens outside...

Inside the Dakota Lounge (via Dakota's website) An early morning fire that broke out yesterday at the Dakota Lounge in Santa Monica essentially gutted the popular restaurant and music club, leaving all but the sound board and stage destroyed, reports the Santa Monica Daily Press. The fire damage was intensive; by the time firefighters arrived on scene the roof had already collapsed. Dakota Co-owner Sabrina Roark took in the devastation: "There's no roof, my...

Photo by red.dahlia via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Lindsay Lohan may have been sentenced to 90 days in jail, but it's likely she'll serve far fewer days because of overcrowding. How one billionaire has changed a Brentwood neighborhood. Hail to the Chief: There's a new man in charge of the Culver City Fire Department. South L.A.'s troubled Fremont High re-opened today, but not everyone is pleased with the changes. An argument...

Do thieves have their eyes on your car's side-view mirrors? Police in El Segundo think they might have a theft trend on their hands, according to the Daily Breeze. A first in the area, last week there were 5 reported such thefts, with thieves popping the glass out of mirrors from GMC and Chevy SUVs. In Carson, similar thefts took place in March. In other parts of the country side-view mirror theft seems to...

Photo by bossco via Flickr In the past few weeks, five California Highway Patrol officers have died in the line of duty. "Three of the five were struck and killed while performing traffic stops on California freeways," notes the SGV Tribune. However, the CHP says they aren't likely to make any policy changes regarding how and where they pull over motorists on the freeway, and instead are turning to the public--the drivers--to ask they...

Photo by alexbcthompson via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr The movement to recall Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa took shape in April, when former mayoral candidates Walter Moore, Phil Jennerjahn, and David Hernandez, as well as former City Council candidate Augusto Bisani, joined forces to ask Angelenos to "Recall City Hall." But the movement didn't really sprout wings, despite the widespread criticism of Villaraigosa, including the recent "ticketgate" controversy. At this point, "the backers...