Lindsay William-Ross

Studio No. 1 in March 2008. Photo by WagonMaster via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr People are pretty p-o'd about The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, aka ACORN, and the recent videos that have been released showing undercover conservative activists posing as a pimp and ho pair getting a bit too much help from staffers at several of the group's locations. Anti-ACORN activists expressed their dismay through graffiti left on...

Keep your eyes peeled for the perfect spot--not to park your car but to park your butt or two feet in a comfy, welcoming, back-to-nature focused space meant to remind us that in all this concrete we need to have some green space. You'll find spaces all over town converted into mini-green getaways, complete with all manner and variety of benches, greenery, decor, motifs, and opportunities to socialize with people from the neighborhood. Hosted by citizens, groups, architecture firms and others, these once-a-year spots are worth checking out today.

The Orange stands alone. Photo by ccharmon via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Users of the business-oriented social networking site LinkedIn who are based in Orange County are sick of being considered part of "greater Los Angeles." One user, Laguna Niguel's Sven Johnston, has "spearheaded the campaign to get the O.C. recognition," apart from L.A. explains the OC Register's Jan Norman in a blog post. Johnston, who works in Irvine, "started pushing...

Two water mains ruptured in the early morning hours in the West Valley today, the first in Winnetka close to 2:30 a.m., and the second around 4:30 a.m. a mile and a half south in Warner Center, according to MyFOXla.com. City leaders and DWP customers are worried that there seems to be more significant main breaks lately than usual, but it could just be that we all have water (mains) on the brain because of the two high-profile breaks that occurred earlier this month in Studio City and Valley Village.

Photo by CarbonNYC via Flickr A 30-year-old woman was shot to death last night in the parking lot for a student housing complex at the University of California Irvine, according to abc7.com. The shooting took place around 7 p.m. outside the Verono Apartments, and appears to be "a deadly domestic dispute," between a couple who lived on campus with their four-year-old child who "was nearby when the gun fire rang out." Preliminary investigations and...

End of the Gold Line (Federal Funding?) Photo by LA Wad via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Senator John McCain has his eye on several transit projects all over the nation that he is labeling "wasteful government spending," including two here in Los Angeles, explains StreetsblogLA. His target is the US Department of Transportation's 2010 spending bill, which comes up "for a vote this week in the upper chamber of Congress." McCain...

Next week, the first ever Los Angeles Bicycle and Pedestrian Count will take place all over the city in the hopes of gaining a better sense of the number of bike-riders and pedestrians who use the streets. With a better sense of who is out there on foot and two wheels, the city can take those numbers into account when planning for the future, explains the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition (LACBC), who are running the count...

It's your day off. You're uninspired and under-funded (aka bored and broke). "But I live in Los Angeles!" you remind yourself. "There's got to be something I can do that won't break the bank." Art, music, museums, theatre, workshops, gardens, and more always seem to come with a price tag, unless you're totally in the know. Well, it's not too complicated to file yourself under the in-the-know column. Free L.A. is a publication that...

As a courtesy to students on the USC campus who cannot access the tram lines the safety department offers use of the Campus Cruiser service, which "provides [students] with either a walking or vehicle escort to [their] destination," through a request service. However, the campus has issued a warning today that there is a "man driving a van that looks like the Campus Cruiser vans is offering female students rides," according to abc7.com. Students...

The Station Fire had its way with La Cañada-Flintridge just last week, but fires still happen when people are careless. Actually, in the case of a house fire yesterday in the area, it wasn't a human who made the flub, it was the dog. A "hyperactive dog" knocked over a candle, which set the furniture ablaze, followed by the entire house, reports the Pasadena Star-News. The house is considered a "total loss," and "damage...

Assorted deliciousness of Compartes (Photo by oranges are not the only fruit via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr) Okay, so at lunchtime one of the city's ever-growing fleet of mobile eateries may park outside your workplace, but for many of us we don't emerge from studio lot bungalows or Wilshire Blvd. high-rises midday--we have to go to where the lunch is. And while some of the trucks offer up sweet treats, they...

It's been a while since we updated our list of Food Trucks that Twitter, so we gave the internets another scour, recalled some of our own recent food-on-wheels excursions, and have added a whole bunch of eateries to the growing ranks. Some are just getting on the road, and some are in the works, so of course the best way to know where to go is to follow them on Twitter, and get ready...