Lindsay William-Ross

Get ready to reach a little deeper into your pockets come July 1, as several Southern California communities will be seeing a hike in sales tax. The increases are the result of voter and California Board of Equalization approval, explains abc7, although some local areas will actually see a drop, like Orange County's Laguna Beach, where the "city council discontinued a temporary tax increase." Here's where you'll be paying a half-percentage point more in...

A man dressed in a business suit entered the Pizza Hut at 1261 S. Central Ave. in Glendale on Sunday at 11:10 a.m. He produced a gun and crossed over the counter, demanding money from the 18-year-old female shift manager, who was working alone. "He confronted the young woman in the back of the building and, at gunpoint, demanded money from the safe. After getting some cash, he turned around, shot the victim in...

Photo by STERLINGDAVISPHOTOS via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Transit projects are long-range, costly, and eagerly watched by Angelenos, and the MTA's Gold Line Extension is no exception. Years in the making, the six-mile stretch of tracks from Union Station to East LA is actually ahead of schedule, but also now behind. How's that? Well, in recent months the projected opening date was June 19th, but now that seems to have been...

Photo by A. C. Thamer via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Reporter fetish? Mayor Villaraigosa has a new girlfriend and she's former Miss USA, current KTLA reporter, Lu Parker. His last known girlfriend was Telemundo's Mirthala Salinas. So we know Laurie Ochoa is out at the LA Weekly, but who will fill her shoes? Perhaps you'd like to answer the Craigslist job posting for the gig... California wants us to work towards...

Restaurant Week is a good time to explore Old Pasadena. (Photo by aurora.leonard via Flickr) Today is the first day of Old Pasadena Restaurant Week, when 27 eateries in the Old Town section of Pasadena offer three-course prix fixe meals until June 8th, with 10% of the event's proceeds going to support Union Station Homeless Services. Lunches are set at either $15 or $25, and dinners at $25 and $35. Participating restaurants confirmed are:...

CSU Long Beach is one of the many campuses that will suffer from the hundreds of millions of dollars in budget cuts next year. (Photo by LA Wad via LAist Featured Photos/Flickr) With the failure of Prop 1A in last month's statewide election comes the reality of painful cuts to higher education in California. On the books for the upcoming academic year are announced enrollment cuts at both the California State University and University...

Will he or won't he? That seems to be the question of late when it comes to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's 2010 bid for California Governor. In an item run this weekend in the San Francisco Chronicle, the seeds of the no-go rumor were planted, watered, and sprouted: "Our sources in L.A. say Villaraigosa has come to the conclusion that the time is just not right for him to make a state run - given that he hasn't even been sworn in yet to a second term, and that he's facing bloody political fights at home."

Torontoist looked at whether it's okay for a commercial printer to invoke religion in order to refuse their services—in this case, refusing to print a graphic novel with (non-explicit) gay content. DCist kept track of the ongoing same-sex marriage debate in the District, including a number of heated Democratic party meetings, plus, of course, intervention by members of Congress. Shanghaiist saw a man in Hong Kong verbally berate and hit a toddler and his...

In just the first two days of the Memorial Day long weekend, authorities made more than 420 arrests for "suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs in Los Angeles County," the Pasadena Star-News reports, up from the 387 arrests in the same time frame last year. The count began at 12:01 a.m. Friday and these figures represent arrests logged until midnight Saturday. Motorists may have noticed the upped presence of patrols...

An 18-year-old man was eating at the Louisiana Fried Chicken on Rosecrans Avenue in Compton shortly before 10 p.m. Sunday when he was shot and killed, cbs2 reports. The restaurant is part of a chain of fried chicken fast food joints, known locally not just for their eats, but their distinct "decor." One Yelper notes that the restaurant has an obvious concern about safety: "The staff and food is behind bulletproof glass, which was...

Photo by sirimiri via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr More information has been made public regarding the teenager murdered at a Compton fried chicken restaurant. Dannie Farber was a football player at Harbor City High, set to graduate next month. Has the LAPD achieved racial diversity? It's the even before the expected announcement regarding the legal fate of Prop 8, and many are praying for the outcome they favor. Some wonder if...

NASA has decided to land Space Shuttle Atlantis here in Southern California this morning, after first scrapping plans to land in Florida yesterday in favor of landing here, and then opting to hold off the landing for one more day in hopes of more desirable weather back in Florida. But Atlantis is coming in for its landing here, at Edwards Air Force Base. "So Cal residents should anticipate twin sonic booms just prior to...