Lindsay William-Ross

Jamiel Shaw The tragic March 2008 murder of 17-year-old high school football standout Jamiel Shaw made national headlines, and led to a movement to get legislation on the books that would grant "Los Angeles police officers the right to arrest undocumented gang members before they commit crimes," according to cbs2. But "Jamiel's Law" and its supporters "did not obtain enough signatures to place the measure on the May city election ballot." Now Shaw's parents...

Picture a BlackBerry in place of that Grilled Cheese and you've got a Twittering City Council President Garcetti (Photo by imjeffro via LAist Featured Photos) This morning's Daily News raises an important question in the era of social networking: "What do you do if you're a local official on a political mission to Washington, D.C., but find there's no media there to cover your activities?" The answer, of course, is to use services like...

Photo by scani via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr A brush fire moved through 20 acres in Topanga Canyon but did not damage any homes, and was put out just over an hour after it was first reported. Today's "gun buyback" event, which saw the City trading gift cards for surrendered firearms, was so popular the City ran out of loot to give out. Comedian Mort Sahl, 81, who was reported missing...

Cortines, during a Board Meeting last month. In a closed-session meeting yesterday, the LAUSD Board of Education voted unanimously to file suit against the teachers' union, UTLA, charging that their planned May 15th "work stoppage" is "unfair labor practice," reports abc7. The planned walkout organized by the UTLA is meant to signal protest against last month's Board of Ed vote to allow massive teacher layoffs across the district and classroom size increases in order...

Photo by [Kwasi B.] via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Fugitive film director Roman Polanski has made it clear to the LA courts he's got no plans to leave France and to appear at a hearing. Police are still trying to determine the identity of a deceased homeless man, whose body was discovered on Glendale Boulevard Saturday morning. Woodlawn Cemetery is considering allowing non-Santa Monicans (SaMoians? Santa Monicanians?) to be buried there...

Photograph of a Boeing 747 and a fighter jets flying near lower Manhattan by istolethetv on Flickr Gothamist's week started off with a slight shock—the Boeing 747 that's used as Air Force One, plus military fighter jets, flew without warning over lower Manhattan, causing people to evacuate buildings. It turned out to be a badly-planned photo op for White House files and the FAA told local and state authorities not to tell the public....

Planting trees in Downtown/Photo by BitBoy via Flickr Just what we all need: One more social networking site to sign up for, one more profile to make, quirky picture of ourselves to upload, badge to import to our blog. Except Irvine-based Greenwala is a social networking site that gives something important back to the world with each new member. The site has launched a Million Tree Challenge, and they pledge to "plant a tree...

Photo by atomicshakespeares via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Today is the deadline to register for the May 19th California special and consolidated election. You'll want to register if you qualify (US Citizen at least 18 years old, not on parole for felony conviction, residing in Los Angeles County), and/or if you've moved since the last time you voted. Included in the statewide election are the 1A-F Propositions: Proposition 1A: State Budget....

It's official: There are three confirmed reported cases of Swine Flu, aka H1N1, in Los Angeles County. The word comes from the County health department, who made the announcement last night. One case is a female student at Cal State Long Beach, whose status as "Swine Flu Sufferer" has been in question for several days now, and "the other confirmed cases are in residents of central and southeast Los Angeles," according to the Daily...

Photo by Atwater Village Newbie via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr A homeless man was found beaten to death in Echo Park today. He appears to have been struck in the head with a blunt object. Fears of Swine Flu spreading have led to Ventura County Sheriff's halting visits for prison inmates. Residents of the Oakridge Mobile Home Park in Sylmar, displaced since last fall's Sayre Fire, were allowed into their homes...

If you're an area resident and ready to dig in and get your hands dirty (and grow yourself some tomatoes and the like), there's a morning-long (9 a.m. to noon) work day happening today for the Fountain Community Garden at 5260 Fountain Avenue. The garden is the fruit of the neighborhood's labor; they have been working together to transform this empty lot at the southwest corner of Fountain and Mansfield Avenue into a beautiful...

Photo by [Kwasi B.] via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Not to steal all the hype from the Swine Flu, but mosquitoes in LA have tested positive for the West Nile virus. A 14-year-old has been arrested for the stabbing death of a 16-year-old over the weekend at an Ojai party. Remember last year when cars were overflowing at the Port of Long Beach Now Port Hueneme in Ventura County is filled...