Lindsay William-Ross

Val Zavala/SoCal Connected KCET's SoCal Connected blogger Val Zavala shared this photo a couple of days ago, which spotlights a bizarre sight in our city. Says Zavala, of the mysterious floating telephone pole: "L.A. has some strange sights. But this one is a winner. I took this photograph in Silverlake on March 10th. My caption is attached, but I invite you all to add your own. (No, I did NOT photoshop it.)." The caption?...

Lindsay William-Ross/LAist (see more here) In the next few days and weeks, cherry blossoms are about to blanket the branches of local trees with their gorgeous blooms. Last weekend LAist headed out to Encino to the Lake Balboa area to see some early blooms, and today the Daily News has a listing of other places around town where you and yours can enjoy the cheerful springtime sight of cherry blossoms, take a stroll, snap...

Rose Palmisano/OC Register Oh, to be young and inclined to run around a campus at night in your underwear... The longing was put into action on the UC Irvine campus last week, as about 150 co-eds stripped down and sprinted out under the relative cover of night. "It's not illegal to run around in your underwear, as long as all the appropriate parts are covered," remarks the OC Register in their story on the...

US Labor Secretary Hilda Solis California's 32nd Congressional District seat is now vacant thanks to its previous holder, Hilda Solis, going to Washington to assume the post of U.S. labor secretary. Now "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has scheduled a primary election for May 19," to fill the seat, reports the Pasadena Star-News. "The winner of each party primary will face off in a July 14 special general election to fill the remainder of Solis' two-year...

Photo: Dan4th via Flickr With their counterparts in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) staging sit-ins to protest pink slips yesterday, Glendale Unified School District (GUSD) teachers are whining about smaller things in today's LA Times. Smaller things as in small kitchen appliances. In order to save $60,000 a year via reduced energy use costs, the GUSD has put a ban on the use of small kitchen appliances in their classrooms. This means...

A late-night solo vehicle crash on Jamboree Road near Camelback Street in Newport Beach left the driver dead, the passenger injured and the red Ferrari they were in split in half, according to the Press-Telegram. "The Ferrari crashed into a light pole, causing it to topple onto the luxury Italian sports car [and] was split in half, its front portion crushed by the pole." The driver was declared dead on scene, and the female...

Photo by forcedmeaning via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr The FBI boarded a Princess Cruise line ship in San Pedro this morning to investigate the allegation a crew member sexually assaulted a passenger on board during the boat's 2-week Panama Canal voyage. Need another reason why smoking is bad for you? How about when you suffer burns on 90% of your body when your clothes catch on fire? Bad news (maybe) for...

British singer and headline-maker Amy Winehouse has revealed via a spokesman that her Coachella performance next month is a (No, No) no-go, according to the Associated Press. Because Winehouse is facing legal woes in the UK stemming from recent charges she allegedly attacked a fan last fall in London, getting the songstress to the States would be no easy feat: "Being charged with a crime often makes it difficult for people to get U.S....

Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Kenneth Garner was a 31-year veteran of the force and one of their highest-ranking black officers. Garner will be laid to rest today, reports cbs2.com. The 53-year-old died suddenly at home on March 1, and the cause of death has not been released. He "started with the LAPD in 1977 and was most recently promoted to commander of the South Bureau, which included the 77th Street, Southwest, South...

'Holy shit' indeed... (AP Photo/Richard Vogel) LAist saw how messy things can get when a naked suicidal man climbed atop a large cross and spent a few hours up there, hanging out and, well, pooping. Chicagoist talked to the mastermind behind Circus Cats. Londonist wondered if the entire city was really "aghast" over President Obama's supposed "snub" of Gordon Brown. Torontoist wrote about a curious new method of film promotion: filling full-page newspaper ads...

Image courtesy Gary Minnaert via Wikipedia The Wilshire Theatre Beverly Hills began its almost 80-year-long life as the Fox Wilshire when it opened in September 1930. The 1900-seat late Art Deco-style venue began as a movie house, and was designed by S. Charles Lee, the architect behind other Los Angeles movie palaces such as the Los Angeles Theatre, the Tower, the Bruin, and the Academy. The theater was a top showplace for Fox studios,...

Tom Andrews/LAist An 8-year-old girl remains listed in stable condition at Children's Hospital today after she was "wounded in crossfire during a shootout between LAPD narcotics officers and three suspects," according to the Daily News. The child "was struck in the chest and suffered a bruised lung," when officers returned fire on suspects who shot at them from inside a black 1998 four-door Toyota police had followed into an alley in the North University...